NASCAR Thunder 2003

NASCAR Thunder 2003 is the sixth edition of the EA Sports' NASCAR racing simulator series. Developed by EA Sports and Budcat Creations and published by Electronic Arts, it was released for PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube on September 19, 2002, then for PlayStation 2 on September 29 and for PC on October 16. The product features Dale Earnhardt, Jr. on the cover.

Released: 19 September 2002
Platforms: GameCube Xbox PlayStation 2 Windows PlayStation
Genres: NASCAR Racing Sim racing Simulation Sports
Developers: EA Sports
Publishers: Electronic Arts EA Sports
Modes: Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Third person
Country: United States
Age ratings: ESRB E
Languages: English

About

NASCAR Thunder 2003 is the sixth edition of the EA Sports' NASCAR racing simulator series. Developed by EA Tiburon and Budcat Creations and published by EA Sports. It was released for PlayStation, PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox on September 18, 2002, and for Microsoft Windows on October 21. The product features Dale Earnhardt Jr.

on the cover. It was the first time the NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award recipient was featured on the cover, although he did not win the award for the first time until the following year. Dale Earnhardt appeared in the game as a driver as a result of entering his name as a Create-A-Car driver's name; he did not appear in the previous game due to his death. He appeared as a legend in subsequent games.

Keywords

year in the title
connectivity
xbox 360 backwards compatibility

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Being a racing simulation, NASCAR Thunder 2003 places the player in control of a stock car in a NASCAR race. Players battle AI drivers for race position for a preset number of laps. As the race progresses, players are forced to make a pit stop to refuel, replace tires and repair damage.

For multiplayer support, NASCAR Thunder 2003 becomes split-screen and eliminates much of the field. Normally featuring the NASCAR number of 43 drivers in a race, it is limited to 18 or fewer with more than one human driver. As an option, the AI drivers can be disabled, allowing the players to just race each other.

Reception

The game received "favorable" reviews on all platforms except the PC version, which received "average" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.

The GameCube version was a runner-up for the "Best Driving Game for GameCube" award at GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2002 Awards, which went to NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona. The game was also a nominee for "Console Racing Game of the Year" at the AIAS' 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, which ultimately went to Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2.