Long story short, I like it.

A good way to describe this game would be to compare it to previous versions, namely Nascar '06 for the original Xbox. So far I would recommend sticking with the oval/tri-oval courses (which are, by far, the majority here), otherwise you might as well go buy Forza 2. If your up for some evenly matched, very tense racing though, this game is definitely the way to go.

Likes:

• Good graphics and special effects
• Improved sound effects and vocals
• Improved framerates and sense of speed (it feels faster)
• Great soundtrack. Appropriate, modern rock + country
• Superb user interface for the menus (very well done)
• XBL Functionality. Use of the EA servers feels integrated, not separate like past games.
• Attention to detail functionality wise i.e. my camera view preferences are saved even after turning off the console.
• Improved view from the rear view mirror
• Turn the camera left/right with the right joystick
• Bump drafting doesn't spin out your teammates as easily
• Lots of options setup wise, as well as HUD and control
• Great looking crash damage
• Share car setups over XBL
• "Stats view" by pressing the blue X button during gameplay
• The fully customizable ESPN sports ticker at the bottom of the screen, I know this is in other games, but it's still pretty damn cool.
• Full replays, that way arguments can be settled as to who spun out who in those wrecks.. trust me you'll need it.
  

Dislikes:

• When people are talking during an online race, some text displays the name of who is speaking. This text is directly in the center of my view of the track and it makes me nearly wreck every time it pops up (I use roof view). Move this text please. I would like to personally stick a boot to the ass of the person who thought of this feature.
• No party system on Xbox live.
• Caution flags need to be tweaked. During a wreck, every now and then the caution flag will be thrown before the wreck has a chance to play itself out and cause the really cool crashes.
• Network jitter is less prevalent, however when there is some, sometimes the cars will jump around the track back and forth and dent the heck out of my car, slowing me down for the rest of the race. This also happens at times during cautions when the computer is in charge of your car. On occasion, during a caution where I didn't even wreck, my car will be banged all to hell. This could be fixed by disabling damage during cautions.
• Network problems still persist. I was disconnected from a few games. I'm not sure if this has a correlation with the amount of people in one game or not. Further testing is required.
  

Conclusion (click 'read more' for the conclusion):

I'm a Nascar fan, but if your like a lot of people, you probably wonder why in the world anyone would like a racing event where the drivers do nothing but drive in circles for hours at a time. Much less, why would you want to play a video game where all you do is turn left.. drive straight.. turn left. Well it's hard to explain, but I guess the sport really comes alive when you put your full "fanship" behind a particular driver or couple of drivers. Lots of people inherit their drivers from their parents, sortof the same way football team loyalty is passed down through the generations.

My parents were never big racing fans, but strangely I've always been a fan of sorts. I watched Indy Car racing throughout high school and went to a few go-cart and midget races around town here. In the past few years, my wife has inherited Nascar's Tony Stewart as "her" driver. We got tickets to Talledega last year, and the rest is history. Seeing a race in real life is a great experience that I'd recommend to anybody. Once you start to get to know some of the drivers' personalities, you begin to get interested in who's winning, who's crashing, and how the races play out.

Tony Stewart is widely known as a hot-head. He races just about anything with four wheels on a weekly basis (Nextel Cup, Busch Series, Open wheel racing, Dirt tracks) even if he's got the money to just stick with Nascar-only events. Stewart's post race media sessions have been known to get lively if he feels