EA Sports NASCAR

"NASCAR Thunder" redirects here. For the NASCAR exhibition race, see NASCAR Thunder 100. For the defunct retail chain, see NASCAR Thunder (retail chain).
EA Sports NASCAR
Retired EA Sports NASCAR logo used from 2005 to 2009
Genre(s)NASCAR, Auto racing, Sim racing
Developer(s)EA Sports, EA Tiburon, EA Mobile
Publisher(s)Electronic Arts, EA Sports
Platform(s)PlayStation, Saturn, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Windows, J2ME
First releaseNASCAR 98
1997
Latest releaseNASCAR Kart Racing
2009

EA Sports NASCAR, alternately known as NASCAR Thunder, is a series of NASCAR video games published by EA Sports. The series began with NASCAR 98 and NASCAR 99 in 1997 and 1998. EA Sports released NASCAR Thunder 2002 in 2001, and ever since then, Jeff Gordon (2002), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2003), and Tony Stewart (2004) were on the cover. In 2004, they changed the name of the game to NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup and added the new features to make the game more up-to-date with the recent changes to NASCAR. Kevin Harvick was on the cover. The next year, they changed the name yet again to NASCAR 06: Total Team Control. Jeff Gordon and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson were on the cover. The new features were swapping cars with teammates and voice-recognition support for use with the crew chief. The following year, the game was titled NASCAR 07 and features Elliott Sadler on the cover. The new features include a new speed blur effect and an all-new momentum system, used to describe drivers' strong and weak racetrack types. In 2004, the feature was a "Grudges and Alliances" feature in which if the player hits a car, they could retaliate. The feature received a mixed reaction.

After NASCAR Kart Racing was released in 2009, EA discontinued the series due to budget cuts and the expiration of EA Sports' contract with NASCAR. Polyphony Digital has since bought the rights to develop official NASCAR cars and tracks in their simulation video game Gran Turismo 5, marking the end of the series under the EA Sports label.

Eutechnyx later acquired the license, starting the NASCAR The Game series with NASCAR The Game: 2011.[1][2][3][4]

  1. ^ Martin, Ed (January 17, 2015). "An open letter to NASCAR fans from DMi". dmigames.com. DMi Games. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  2. ^ HC2 Holdings, Inc. (January 15, 2015). "HC2's Subsidiary DMi, Inc. Acquires Exclusive NASCAR Gaming Rights With Multi-Year Agreement". marketwired.com. Herndon, Virginia: Marketwired. Retrieved 12 April 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Davis, Ryan; Caravella, Vinny (July 19, 2012). "Nascar The Game: Inside Line Gameplay". youtube.com. Giant Bomb. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  4. ^ Sharkey, Mike (September 30, 2010). "News: Activision Dates, Details NASCAR The Game 2011". gamespy.com. GameSpy. Retrieved 23 May 2015.