List of NASCAR video games

NASCAR, the most popular motorsport in the United States, has worked with video game developers to design several video games.

In 2003, EA Sports received an exclusive console license to produce NASCAR games, eliminating Papyrus and Hasbro Interactive as competitors.

Beginnings

NASCAR did not gain industry until years after such games as NHL Hockey and Madden NFL Football (both created by Electronic Arts) had several titles under their specific names. However, before NASCAR Racing took the simulation racing world by storm, there was another, lesser-known racing game released four years before it that donned the NASCAR license. This game was known as Bill Elliott's NASCAR Challenge (released in 1990 by Konami). This game was not only the first game to have the NASCAR license, but it was also the first game to have several NASCAR tracks (including Watkins Glen and Talladega) and a NASCAR driver in it (which was Bill Elliott). Even though NASCAR broke into the video game market in 1990, it would take several more years until NASCAR would see another title hit store shelves.

Papyrus Design Group

In 1994, Papyrus Design Group, an up-and-coming simulation racing developer (at the time) that was best known for the IndyCar Racing series, released the first installation to the NASCAR Racing Series into the video game market. The game was a huge success. This game, with its revolutionary and dynamic car physics system, changed the image of many people that NASCAR was "just a boring sport where you watched cars make left hand turns all day".

Over the next decade Papyrus teamed with Sierra Entertainment and continued producing games for their NASCAR Racing series. The NASCAR Racing games were universally praised for their accuracy in terms of physics and track feel, with NASCAR Cup and Busch series drivers regularly practicing for upcoming tracks using the games. Many believe that NASCAR Racing 2003 Season is still, years after release, the most realistic stock car racing game ever released. Unopened copies of NASCAR Racing 2003 Season are selling for upwards of $130 is testament to this fact. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Denny Hamlin, and Martin Truex, Jr. still use the game for training. Prior to sweeping both races at Pocono in 2006, Denny Hamlin had only seen the track on the NASCAR Racing 2003 Season Game.

Electronic Arts

The company developed NASCAR games for the original PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Nintendo 64 under names such as NASCAR 98, NASCAR 99, NASCAR 2000 and NASCAR Road Racing. Also, a big hit for the company was Nascar Rumble, a spin-off of the normal NASCAR racing games. The company expanded into NASCAR games for PC, Game Boy Color for their 2000 game, and the PlayStation 2 for their 2001 game, the last under the old name. For 2002, the series was renamed NASCAR Thunder, and by 2003, has simultaneously been released on GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 2, PC, and the original PlayStation.

EA Sports decided to split their old "Thunder" titles into two separate racing lines; one for consoles focused on gameplay, and one for PC, which attempted to focus on technical accuracy in the spirit of the old Papyrus/Sierra lines - indeed the PC game used many former members of the Papyrus development teams (although David Kaemmer, the heart and soul of Papyrus, was not involved). The games were given differing names, as to not confuse the two, with the console series renamed NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup (released in 2004, a reference to the new NASCAR playoff format) and the PC series renamed NASCAR SimRacing (released in 2005). Sweeping gameplay changes meant that the "Chase for the Cup" name was dropped from the 2006 edition of the console game. Instead, the game was titled NASCAR 06: Total Team Control. The new name is derived from the new feature by which a player who has teammates in the field can actually switch to their teammates' cars and control them during a race. It was released on August 30, 2005. Released on September 6, 2006, NASCAR 07 is EA Sports' tenth game in the series. NASCAR 09 is the most recent game in the EA Sports NASCAR series. It is available on both next generation consoles, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as well as PlayStation 2.

Other Developers

Other NASCAR games include Hasbro Interactive's NASCAR Heat; Papyrus' NASCAR Legends, which took players back to the 1970 season, featuring a different point system, and many different tracks. There is also a pinball game. This game was based on the NASCAR Racing 3 engine; EA Sports NASCAR Revolution (released between NASCAR 99 which came out in 1998, and NASCAR 2000, which came out in 1999); and NASCAR Rumble, an EA game incorporating some of the features of Nintendo's Super Mario Kart, but with NASCAR car designs.