"DIRT TRACK RACING REVIEW" >Page 1, 2, 3
The Less Good
My very first race in the sim was in career mode. I had just purchased my street stock, chosen a series and was thrilled to see that my very first race was going to be at Can-Am Speedway in Lafargeville, NY. This is the racetrack where I first learned the smell of racing fuel and the thrill of a great door-to-door battle for the win. Saturday nights in Lafargeville were a staple of my childhood.
But when I started qualifying I was crushed to discover that, unlike the real racetrack, the game had put up a wall around the track and that the grandstands and scenery were nothing like the real Can-Am Speedway where the only wall is along the outside of the frontstretch. Given the precise racing physics and the other obvious attention to detail in the game why bother to license real racetracks if you are not going to model them more accurately?
One other inconvenience is the user interface. The sliding menus get old after the first three times you see them, it takes an excessive number of clicks to move around from the garage and race to race and I still have not figured out how to check the point standings during a season.
The Verdict
Without a doubt, this is the finest dirt track racing simulation in the world. The physics, the computer racers and career mode play will keep any race fan glued to their screens for hours on end. This game has great playability and, more importantly, re-playability. Every computer-racing fan should have this title sitting next to their copies of NASCAR Racing 3 and Grand Prix Legends (both from Papyrus / Sierra Sports.)
On the Top Row Seat scale from 1.0 to 5.0 Dirt Track Racing deserves a 4.5. If they clean up the interface and more accurately draw the scenery (both minor points) this is a full 5.0 on anyone's scale.
