NASCAR Coursebuilders, Drivers Consult Videogame Version

Thanks to the St.Petersburg Times for their article discussing how NASCAR videogames are giving the real-life drivers tips on a newly redesigned course. According to the piece, which discusses the "$10 million... redesign of Homestead-Miami Speedway", the drivers are checking out EA Sports' new NASCAR title for tips on the as yet undriven new layout: "'The boys playing the video game said Homestead's going to be real fast,' said Busch Series driver Scott Riggs in September... 'With that new banking in there, they could be pushing 180 (mph) in the straightaway'." The coursebuilders at the International Speedway Corporation also got their first look at racing conditions from the game, according to an EA spokesman: "The first time we went down and showed the game to the ISC people they were jumping around the office... [the redesign] was going to add roughly 30 mph to the top speed and shave five seconds off a lap."

Comments

5 Seconds

[Usquebaugh]

Shave 5 seconds, thats not so much a shave as a slash. 5 seconds is a huge difference in laps times.

Re:Flame away friends

[rekkanoryo]

Well, what's the point of football, soccer, baseball, basketball, etc? The same arguments can be made against them:

• Football is basically a bunch of musclebound men running around on a grass field beating the hell out of each other chasing a brown oval-shaped "ball".
• Baseball is people running in circles on a grass and dirt field hitting and chasing a white ball with red stitches in it.
• Basketball is a bunch of people running back and forth on a wood floor chasing an orange ball.
• Soccer is a bunch of people running back and forth on a grass field chasing a white and black ball.

"Hillbilly bumpercars" is an outdated view. NASCAR is a bunch of teams spending at least $200,000 per week to put a car on the track. Then there's the seven crew members allowed over the wall on pit road, the crew chief that makes the decisions, the spotters trying to keep the drivers out of accidents, etc. And half the time if you hit someone you're dragged into the "Principal's Office," a trailer where the NASCAR brass dole out monetary and championship point penalties for the stupidest things (get pissed off and say "Fuck off!" or "That dirty son of a bitch!" on the radio? $5,000 fine.)

Racing is a lot of work, and it's the fastest growing sport in the US. It's no more pointless or stupid than any of these other sports that people get so wrapped up in. So NASCAR drivers drive 500 miles and get nowhere. Players in other sports run around the whole game and never get anywhere. No real differences there. The biggest difference is with NASCAR you have 1 winner and 42 losers each race, but in other sports you have 1 winner and 1 loser each game

Just food for thought.

Re:Flame away friends

[pmz]

I'm sorry, american car racing is the dumbest spectator "sport" ever.

NASCAR and drag racing, for example, are primarily drivetrain and pit crew competitions. The driver is the figurehead of the team and does, well, the driving.

I hate to say this, but it's like ballet. I don't personally "get" either NASCAR or ballet, but there are obviously a lot of people who do. Those people develop an appreciation beyond the trivial aspects of driving in circles or jumping up and down like a monkey on a stage. At the least, it gives them a distraction from their everyday arbitrary lives. So, I suggest you be happy for them for finding something they enjoy, and, then, you should go off and find something that you enjoy. I'm open-minded, so if you enjoy barnyard masterbation or flatulence spectral analysis, then more power to you!