This is a first for me.  I abhore cars and usually avoid racing games besides Need for Speed.  My wife is a huge Nascar fan and watches it as much as possible.  She knows the drivers and the numbers of their cars.

I asked her if she would like me to check out a Nascar game that we could play together since most of my games are single player.  She said yes and I checked online until I could find something that sounded interesting.

It came down to either Nascar Thunder 2002 or Nascar Heat 2002.  Thunder won out, because the majority of Nascar race fans seem to feel it is the better game.

As I it turned it on, a large #3 appeared on the screen and I was informed by my wife that it was the number of Dale Ernhart senior's car.  He died in a race accident and was left out of the game by request of his widow.  It was nice of them to ask her permission.

During all of the menus you hear Lynyard Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama.  If this becomes annoying you can always switch to a crappy techno beat.

There are over a hundred licensed cars along with their drivers to play or you can create your own car.  I chose to make my own car since I do not know who anybody is anyway.

The create-a-car feature allows you to choose from many color schemes, designs, sponsors and input information about the driver and team.  It will definitely help you to stand out from the pack.

I was Alpha Lemur, Team Zoboomafoo from Zabooland, Alaska (you couldn't choose outside of the U.S.).

The options allow you to make the game as realistic or not as you like.  I chose to make it more like an arcade rather than a simulation game.  I turned off yellow caution flags since the one time we had it on the damn yellow light stayed on for over 5 minutes and it got really boring watching the computer drive in circles.  Hell, we tried it again and the race ended while we were still on yellow.  That was truly rough.

I turned on unlimited fuel and no tire damage.  I also set it to limited damage so that I could repair the car with the push of a button.

It was very intimidating when I saw that you could actually race for 500 laps.  I was not ready for a commitment like that and so set the race length to 3% of normal.

Once you finally get into a race you will notice the lack of music, but if it was between that or having 43 cars on the track at once I would choose the opponents.  You still get the sounds of speeding along the track and of crushed metal from the many accidents you will cause and that is what really matters.  The sound of the engine is much louder when you switch the view to inside of the car.  There are no pileups, but your car will catch fire and get smashed up by the other cars on the track.  I have seen a screen shot of the 2003 game and it had a major pileup on the track.

During multiplayer (up to 4) it was my wife, myself and 17 other cars.  I am not sure why, but you can not use your rear view mirror during multiplayer games.  There is one less view to choose from at this time.  In single player there is a view from the driver's seat where you can see the driver shifting gears and steering.  The frame rate drops during this, but not as much as if all of the other cars had been left in.

It is a bit tricky learning to control your car during turns as you seem to scrape the walls much more than is neccessary.  It is most likely due to my being used to arcade style controls and never having actually taken a turn at over 100mph.

I have learned not to hit the gas too much if you start to spin out or you will continue to spin.  Just let it go and then hit it again and you shoud be fine.

It is best to take the time to do a qualifier before the race so that you can get used to the track and get a better position in the actual race.

The game is actually fun once you get the hang of it.  I managed to get into first place after a while which pissed my wife off to no end.  She is the racing fan and it took her much longer to get decent at the game. (Nya nya)

The graphics are quite realistic as I have seen a few races while my wife was watching them.  The one thing that bothered me was the lack of a driver in the car.  It was like watching 19 ghost cars race around.  The only exception is the view option that I mentioned earlier in single player mode. (This apparently only occurs during multiplayer games as the driver showed during my singles races).

There are cool reflections on the surfaces of the cars and plenty of dirt gets kicked up when you slide off of the track. 

The game has good sound and you hear your crew chief talking to you, keeping you informed of your position and that of the other racers on the track.  The engines sounds are a bit on the low side, except when in driver seat view which I think is odd in this sort of game.  There is no music played during races.

You can compete in season and career modes or just jump into a single race.  There is an odd points system in place which apparently follows that of actual Nascar racing.  I do better with the points than at placing first in a particular race.

The game has plenty of replay value if you have some friends over, but I am not sure how much longer I will want to play the single player modes.  The difficulty is adjustable to your playing level so the better you get, the better you can make the competition.

I should mention that I have tried the game with limited fuel and tires that wear out and the pit stops and how you manage them add an interesting bit of strategy to the whole thing.  If you go pit too soon you will have to make another stop later on and this will cost you needed time on the track and give the competition an opportunity to pass you by.  You are also fined a number of extra senconds if you go into the pit stop at over 100mph.

I recommend this for all fans of Nascar since you do get the feel of what it might be like to experience the real thing.  It is also cool for those like myself who have no real interest in cars, but like a good and challenging game.