NASCAR Heat 2 Coming to PS4, XB1 and PC This Fall

[Elitekilla29]

Here's the dev diary of the career mode. I know game informer had an article talking about it but here's the video of some of the new stuff.

Also they hosting a Live stream tomorrow.

I gotta give 704games credit, they have added so much this year. The career mode looks like it will actually have longevity to it now with the rivals and moving up the ladder system and also building a underfunded team up. We can drive for ourselves as well if we don't wanna drive for a real life team. Another thing is that we don't have to move up to cup or Xfinity if you don't want to. Say for example if you wanna stay in the Xfinity series then you can. Same for the trucks. This is looking good. Of course we need stats badly along with a trophy room, social media being implemented into the game, an agent, driver retirements and a few other things. I wanna see this stuff in heat 3. But this a good step in the right direction. I didn't mention presentation because it might be in this game. They described the presentation but we haven't seen it yet. I hope it's not a short presentation of Rick Allen talking again and that's it.

 

[GTPNewsWire]

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

Latest NASCAR Heat 2 Dev Diary Focuses on Career Mode

This article was published by Kyle Patrick (@SlipZtrEm) on August 16th, 2017 in the Gaming category.

 

[chances14]

I like the features they are adding to career mode. but if there is no ability to turn off AI rubberbanding, combined with no offline stats, is really going to shorten the replay value of this mode for me. And since career mode is pretty much the only mode I play, I don't see myself playing this game for more than a couple months after I get it

 

[Elitekilla29]

I like the features they are adding to career mode. but if there is no ability to turn off AI rubberbanding, combined with no offline stats, is really going to shorten the replay value of this mode for me. And since career mode is pretty much the only mode I play, I don't see myself playing this game for more than a couple months after I get it

I didn't notice it tbh. Slowing the AI down when you're in bad equipment I can understand. If they didn't do that then you'll get your doors blown off and wouldn't be able to progress in career mode. That's how it was in NASCAR thunder 03/04 as well. My problem with the rubberbanding AI was when you are so many seconds back or you about to go a lap down and then they slow down for you all the sudden. If im struggling and about to go a lap down then just let it happen don't have the AI slow down for me.

 

[Elitekilla29]

My bad for double posting but I went back to the live stream and yea I did notice the AI rubberbanding. That has to go or at least make it optional. No matter how many features these guys add to the career mode it won't matter if the rubberbanding AI is still there.

 

[GTPNewsWire]

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

NASCAR Heat 2 Now Available on PS4, XB1 and PC

This article was published by Kyle Patrick (@SlipZtrEm) on September 12th, 2017 in the Gaming category.

 

[ss3]

Got it downloading now! and got all dlc so far

 

[Fryto]

Got it downloading now! and got all dlc so far

Really looking forward to the first impressions. Especially on the rubberbanding front...

 

[ss3]

Really looking forward to the first impressions. Especially on the rubberbanding front...

Me too hopefully they have a "look back" button unlike NASCAR heat evolution. And that is practically a must for me, use that about 1/4 of a race lol

 

[FuzzyFassbender]

No look-back, but for me the rearview mirror is sufficient.

 

[CCM284]

The game is quite an improvement over last year. However, there is one big problem for me. While using my T300rs wheel with T3PA pedals, the game assigns the gas to the clutch pedal instead of the gas pedal. The brake pedal has no problem. Do you guys know of any fixes to this, because I'm pretty sure this is something on their end?

 

[Elitekilla29]

There is no such thing as rubberbanding AI anymore. That's been known for awhile.

I'm just gonna list the pros and cons real quick after playing it just about all day.

Pros:

-AI is really good, gives room and really races you back.

- No more rubberbanding AI in career mode

-the career mode is much better. A lot more longevity to it this time.

-online is smooth and it's some new additions/improvements

-bump drafting is much better at plate races

-side drafting actually works (I'm surprised to be honest)

-graphics look a little better

-the twitchy feeling is gone and the ping pong effect is gone as well. So now you can make contact with another car without completely losing unlike NASCAR heat evolution

-Not that many game breaking bugs or glitches so far.

-no fantasy drivers

-Great looking UI and nice soundtrack

Cons:

-The game has a stutter at times during the race. But it doesn't happen every race.

-Cautions don't work all the time. It's very inconsistent. Needs to be fixed ASAP

-Frame rate is still meh at times

-You will always qualify last no matter what. The field is two seconds faster in qualifying. Idk why but that has to be fixed as well. I think the only way to get at least a midpack starting spot is to put a very good qualifying setup in or something.

-The AI doesn't get off the track when he or she has a problem. I already had a couple of incidents where I got involved in a wreck just because the AI was just in the way. If they down a cylinder or whatever then they need to go to pit road.

Overall im pretty happy with the game so far. I'm having fun and the game is working pretty well and that's what's most important. They got a long way to go but this game is a step in the right direction.

 

[FuzzyFassbender]

There is no such thing as rubberbanding AI anymore. That's been known for awhile.

I'm just gonna list the pros and cons real quick after playing it just about all day.

Pros:

-AI is really good, gives room and really races you back.

- No more rubberbanding AI in career mode

-the career mode is much better. A lot more longevity to it this time.

-online is smooth and it's some new additions/improvements

-bump drafting is much better at plate races

-side drafting actually works (I'm surprised to be honest)

-graphics look a little better

-the twitchy feeling is gone and the ping pong effect is gone as well. So now you can make contact with another car without completely losing unlike NASCAR heat evolution

-Not that many game breaking bugs or glitches so far.

-no fantasy drivers

-Great looking UI and nice soundtrack

Cons:

-The game has a stutter at times during the race. But it doesn't happen every race.

-Cautions don't work all the time. It's very inconsistent. Needs to be fixed ASAP

-Frame rate is still meh at times

-You will always qualify last no matter what. The field is two seconds faster in qualifying. Idk why but that has to be fixed as well. I think the only way to get at least a midpack starting spot is to put a very good qualifying setup in or something.

-The AI doesn't get off the track when he or she has a problem. I already had a couple of incidents where I got involved in a wreck just because the AI was just in the way. If they down a cylinder or whatever then they need to go to pit road.

Overall im pretty happy with the game so far. I'm having fun and the game is working pretty well and that's what's most important. They got a long way to go but this game is a step in the right direction.

Thanks for the early report. Question, did you ever play Nascar Racing 2003?
I recently reinstalled NR03 and after tweaking it runs and looks very good. On top of that, it's a very good sim with a ton of very good mods (some very recent). Yes, hard to believe a 14 year old game can look this good but Papyrus knew what they were doing! I'm interested in Heat 2 but if the playability is a major step down then I'm not going to be happy with it.

 

[Elitekilla29]

Thanks for the early report. Question, did you ever play Nascar Racing 2003?
I recently reinstalled NR03 and after tweaking it runs and looks very good. On top of that, it's a very good sim with a ton of very good mods (some very recent). Yes, hard to believe a 14 year old game can look this good but Papyrus knew what they were doing! I'm interested in Heat 2 but if the playability is a major step down then I'm not going to be happy with it.

Nope. I never played games on a PC. Always been on consoles. I like where 704 is going though. Hopefully next year game they can use a different engine and ditch the unity engine. Physics and graphics needs to be the next focus along with packing a lot more into the career mode.

 

[GregOr1971]

The game is quite an improvement over last year. However, there is one big problem for me. While using my T300rs wheel with T3PA pedals, the game assigns the gas to the clutch pedal instead of the gas pedal. The brake pedal has no problem. Do you guys know of any fixes to this, because I'm pretty sure this is something on their end?

On the wheelbase on left side there is a 'mode' button. Press it and it will switch gas/clutch pedals. It is done that way,so you can use t3pa pro pedals which can be used in inverted position.

 

[RacerDude08]

Huge step in the right direction from last year. The unity engine kills the graphics though. Terrible drawing distance/frame rate issues, MOSTLY in Cockpit view. AI and gameplay is fun. Career is fun as well. Haven't tried online yet but I hear it's better. They need to tweak physics, improve framerate and add stats for Heat 3. Pretty sure there will be a decent paint booth next year as well. They are also planning to add a dirt series for Heat 3. If they do all that it will be even better next year. They are listening to people and making good choices. They have a subreddit where they are asking for feedback since release.

 

[BIG CAROLINA]

If anyone wants to add me on the PS4, feel free (BIGKC777). I tried racing online with the general public and got what I deserved for being so trusting.

 

[Elitekilla29]

If anyone wants to add me on the PS4, feel free (BIGKC777). I tried racing online with the general public and got what I deserved for being so trusting.

I'll add you. I race with a clean group of guys on a daily. Feel free to join if you want.

 

[chances14]

just reading around the subreddit, it's kind of disappointing to see so many of the issues present in last years game are still present in this year's game. can't believe that AI pit strategies and cautions still aren't fixed.

 

[RacerDude08]

AI pit issues are present both on long and short races. On Short races the AI pits for fuel only and even if your tires are worn and you need them. The AI gets just enough fuel to get to the finish. If I get anything other than what they get then I pretty much drop to last.

On longer races the AI will pit 2 laps after a stage starts when they could have pitted during the stage.

Edit. Cautions has issue if its a single car spin. The yellow will not fly unless multiple cars are spinning. Even if you spin and hit 3 or 4 other cars. If they don't actually spin then yellow does not fly. They pretty much said this was a preference and that they was trying to find a balance and that it will be adjusted in a patch.

 

[BIG CAROLINA]

I have decided to race using last years format (no stages) to avoid the stage pit stop issues. I had a great 50% distance truck stage race that was ruined by poor pit decisions by the A.I.

I will report back on my next 50% race, hopefully it's just a stage racing issue. Other than that, I am really enjoying racing the A.I.

 

[RACECAR]

Was watching videos and they added a custom Victory Anthem feature when you can select a tune that plays win a race. One of the choices..a Mexican carnival theme. Best feature ever

 

[Elitekilla29]

First patch came out for PC a few days ago. The career save data loss that Xbox players been dealing with will be fixed in this patch as well. They said it should be out sometime this week.

From the Steam update page:

"Hello everyone.

Thanks for playing NASCAR Heat 2. We hope you're enjoying the game. We just released our first patch. Here are the notes:

1. Fixed a crash when viewing schedule in Career during Hot Seats.
2. Fixed VSync.
3. Victory Anthem volume is now tied to Music volume.
4. Fixed a bug where Elliott Sadler's Road America Challenge would not reward you if you completed it successfully.
5. Added functionality to switch between Global Leaderboards and Favorite Driver Leaderboards.
6. Added gear/speed overlays when in cockpit mode.
7. Fixed an achievement issue where the track type achievements were not awarded correctly.
8. Fixed doppler effect so that it is correctly calculated preventing unusual pitch shifting during some events.
9. Set Furniture Row Racing to a 5 Star team in career.
10. Added a Stats page to Career.
11. Minor bug fixes."

 

[RacerDude08]

I just want them to balance out the AI speed. Also Legend is far too easy once you gain momentum.

 

[Elitekilla29]

I just want them to balance out the AI speed. Also Legend is far too easy once you gain momentum.

I agree. If you drive for a 5 star team then no doubt you're gonna get at least 10 wins during that season. I guess until they adjust that (hopefully) I'll just drive for 4 star teams to make it more fun and challenging. I drove for a 4 star team in my first season in the trucks and only collected 4 wins. I made it to the final 4 but came up short because the lack of straightaway speed. The race was really fun by the way. I'm in my second season in trucks and now im driving for a 5 star team (Nemco Motorsports) and dominated alanta. It was times I got put back because of slow pit stops and stages and stuff but at the end of the day I clearly had the fastest truck. I signed with a 5 star team so I can hurry up and get to Xfinity.

 

[RacerDude08]

I agree. If you drive for a 5 star team then no doubt you're gonna get at least 10 wins during that season. I guess until they adjust that (hopefully) I'll just drive for 4 star teams to make it more fun and challenging. I drove for a 4 star team in my first season in the trucks and only collected 4 wins. I made it to the final 4 but came up short because the lack of straightaway speed. The race was really fun by the way. I'm in my second season in trucks and now im driving for a 5 star team (Nemco Motorsports) and dominated alanta. It was times I got put back because of slow pit stops and stages and stuff but at the end of the day I clearly had the fastest truck. I signed with a 5 star team so I can hurry up and get to Xfinity.

I drove for NEMCO my rookie season. I did stupid stuff just to make it harder on myself. Got 6 wins and lost the championship by .001 seconds to Matt Crafton. 2nd year and now I'm in Xfinity driving for Roush Fenway. I'm about a quarter of the way through the season and only have 1 win. I should have about 4 realistically. I'm just trying to make it as hard on myself as possible. I've done several Hot Seats for Cup and I won talladega in the #66 but I got the lead on strategy and just blocked the last 2 laps. Fun stuff. If they make the AI hard at all tracks it'll be fine. Some tracks the AI are actually really difficult .

 

[Elitekilla29]

I drove for NEMCO my rookie season. I did stupid stuff just to make it harder on myself. Got 6 wins and lost the championship by .001 seconds to Matt Crafton. 2nd year and now I'm in Xfinity driving for Roush Fenway. I'm about a quarter of the way through the season and only have 1 win. I should have about 4 realistically. I'm just trying to make it as hard on myself as possible. I've done several Hot Seats for Cup and I won talladega in the #66 but I got the lead on strategy and just blocked the last 2 laps. Fun stuff. If they make the AI hard at all tracks it'll be fine. Some tracks the AI are actually really difficult .

Do you run stages? Because that kinda shakes things up at times. It doesn't go well all the time for the player. The AI actually plays some strategy sometimes and it works out for them.

 

[RacerDude08]

I'm only doing 13% races with stages. Truck races and xfinity are really short. Most tracks it is hard to qualify above 30th so I usually make it to the top 5 by beginning of the last stage. I usually get gas and tires when I pit and AI takes gas only most of the time. I have had to wreck on purpose to try to kill my momentum cause I was easily winning races in the trucks. Momentum gives a 10% boost is speed. That is way to much IMO. Should be like 2% maybe. I've tried to keep from getting momentum in xfinity

 

[Elitekilla29]

I'm only doing 13% races with stages. Truck races and xfinity are really short. Most tracks it is hard to qualify above 30th so I usually make it to the top 5 by beginning of the last stage. I usually get gas and tires when I pit and AI takes gas only most of the time. I have had to wreck on purpose to try to kill my momentum cause I was easily winning races in the trucks. Momentum gives a 10% boost is speed. That is way to much IMO. Should be like 2% maybe. I've tried to keep from getting momentum in xfinity

Exactly why im gonna run with a 4 star team until they make the AI more difficult in a upcoming patch hopefully. And here's that championship 4 battle i had in my first season in trucks.

 

[RacerDude08]

Niceee. I wish I would have saved mine. It was epic.