A competent ride if you're a NASCAR fan. Those who prefer racing that involves turning in more than one direction will probably want to stick to Forza 2.

I am going to make one thing perfectly clear right here.  I am not a NASCAR fan.  Spending a weekend under the blistering sun surrounded by rednecks named Clem who are swilling beer and munching Corn Nuts as they hoot for Rusty Wallace or Jeff Gordon does not a good time make. 

I wasn't devastated when Dale Earnhardt went to the Winner's Circle in the Sky (although I wished the man no ill will either) and I have never expended any energy wondering whether the Richard Petty Experience is all its cracked up to be.  I can also say with great confidence that I don't need to watch Top Gearshift - erm, I mean Days of Thunder to know that it sucks.

These are my opinions, of course, and not those of GWN or any of its affiliated companies.  Death threats and promises of divine retribution can be sent to me, not the site.  I also promise that said opinions will have no bearing on my review of EA's new racer, NASCAR '08.  Who wouldn't love a game that's all about continuously turning left at high speeds?

I am a fan of racing games, however, and NASCAR '08 is a fairly competent one.  It won't blow you away with stunning graphics and spot on driving simulation like a Gran Turismo or Forza Motorsport title and it won't allow you the amazing levels of customization found in a street racer like Need for Speed Carbon.  It won't give you an arcadey good time like Flat Out and you don't get to shoot at other cars ala Full Auto or Twisted Metal, no matter how much you may want to.

What it does provide is a pretty accurate representation of NASCAR racing.  A good number of actual NASCAR raceways are represented and nearly every major driver appears in the game.  There are several racing seasons you can undertake but there is, for some unexplained reason, no career mode.  Instead the game provides a mode called The Chase.  In The Chase mode you start as an unknown driver and attempt to land a contract by completing various driving challenges to earn licenses. 

These challenges serve to teach you the game and get you familiar with the basics of drifting, overtaking opponents, and the like.  Like the license systems in Gran Turismo, some of these challenges are insultingly easy and others are frustrating enough to have you throwing your licensed NASCAR foam rubber beer insulator at your TV screen - with the beer still in it.  You do have the option of playing The Chase at various difficulty levels, however, so you do have some control over just how easy or how hard each individual license will be to obtain.