Now I would like to give you some information about my PC as it may help you gauge what you have and what you will need to run HEAT in an “acceptable” manner.

Here is what HASBRO has listed as its System Requirements:

Operating System: Windows 95/98
Processor: Pentium II 233 MHz or higher
Memory: 32mb RAM
Hard Disk Space: 20mb Free
CD-Rom: 8X speed
Video: Any Direct 3-D compatible video card (4 MB AGP or better)
DirectX: DirectX version 7.0 (included) or higher
Modem: 33.6 baud (for modem/Internet play)

Recommended Devices: Sound: DirectX compatible sound card
Control: Windows compatible joystick or steering wheel

As anyone with any experience with sim racing (or any other type of sim or game) knows, the minimum system requirements are usually just enough to get the title to show with minimal graphic quality and probably less than adequate framerate. After playing around with many of the graphic and sound settings, I have developed what I believe is the minimum system required to run NASCAR HEAT at an enjoyable level. Please be advised that this is MY OPINION on what I feel is necessary. This is highly subjective and what I consider “acceptable” may not agree with your or someone else’s definition of such.

HEAT is somewhat demanding on system resources, but not horrible at lower resolutions and detail levels. I believe you need to run at least at 800X600 resolution. If I were to state the minimum system to run HEAT at a decent level, I would suggest a P3-600 (or AMD equivalent) or above with at least 128mb of RAM. I would also recommend any GeForce 2 or MX card on the market. I happen to prefer ASUS products as they are very stable and come with some excellent software utilities for overclocking and tweaking your video performance configurations. Not to mention HEAT has a high demand for textures that the 3dfx cards just do not handle well. I can run NASCAR HEAT at the maximum resolution with details and sound qualities maxed with a full field and maintain a decent framerate. I do, however, experience some stuttering with the full field so it required a little giving on the graphic details to keep me solid in the low 40s for fps (frames per second). In my opinion, you do what you have to to get your fps to a minimum of 30fps to enjoy any simulation or game. Again, this is subjective and only my opinion. Regardless, the more fps the better! My definition of ‘acceptable performance’ may very well differ from yours and I prefer a high level of “eye candy” if at all possible without jeopardizing too much framerate. I know many sim racers who will do anything to max out the framerate and could care a less about the graphics quality and eye candy. Unlike Papyrus titles that are generally framerate capped, HEAT will allow you to push it as hard as your system will allow.

GRAPHICS

Graphics quality in HEAT is very nice. Although at times they might trigger a feeling of ‘cartoonish’, I think overall the graphics are of very high quality. Running at high resolutions with all the details maxed produces a very attractive and realistic environment. There are a variety of camera angles to view from for replays, etc but they are not as robust as you found in GPL or N3. The biggest problem with the graphics in HEAT is the lack of a damage model. Out of the box HEAT is very much suffering from a case of the Quarter Arcade damage model. You can roll and flip your car over and land on all 4 tires and proceed to set your best lap time on the very next lap. The reasoning behind this can be found in an email from Ed Martin you can find below regarding the patch. NASCAR HEAT was intended to capture a very large market and although I think they succeeded in that objective, the lack of a solid damage model in expert and hardcore mode was a pretty major miscalculation on the reaction from the ‘sim’ community.

NASCAR HEAT does have a “Vertex Damage” model available, but it is an unsupported feature. You have to edit your options.cfg file in order to enable it. Be warned, doing so will cause HEAT to load VERY slowly on start-up and you cannot use this feature and the detailed cars option at the same time. I know personally I truly wish the guys at MGI had implemented the damage model from Viper Racing, as it was superb.

Most of the tracks in HEAT are simply terrific. The first time I ran Watkins, my home track when I raced SCCA, the hairs on my arms stood up. They did a fantastic job of modeling that track. Sure there are a few very minor items and I can’t run the “Boot” section of the track, but overall the tracks in HEAT are first class and on the money. I’ve read many people complaining about the tracks being unrealistic. I think many of them are basing that on the many unrealistic characteristics found in the Papyrus titles and watching the races on television that does not give you the greatest perspective. Now I’m not saying there aren’t any flaws in the tracks as of course they are not going to be absolutely perfect, but overall this is definitely a high point for NASCAR HEAT. My two personal favorites are Bristol, and of course Watkins.

On my machine, framerate is not much a problem with full fields and details. However, on an ‘average’ machine, you will of course suffer the consequences of ‘stutter’ if you try to run a full field with all graphic quality settings maxed out. The ‘load’ on your system to run HEAT is about average with most other racing sims or perhaps a tick above. One nice little option in HEAT is the ability to select all your graphic settings and then benchmark your PC performance (in fps – Frames Per Second) with those settings. This makes it a bit more convenient to get all the ‘details’ out of the way prior to starting a race.

Those familiar with the Paintshop in Papyrus titles will feel at home in the HEAT Paintshop as the functions are very similar with perhaps a few more details available. However, painting vehicles in HEAT is a bit more involved than with Papyrus titles. The template is definitely different and you need to know which section of that template does what. The best way to learn how to paint cars outside of the HEAT paintshop using a graphics program such as Photoshop or Paintshop is to visit some of the sites out there that are known for providing top quality paint jobs for downloading. (Sorry – I will not recommend any specific site ) This will be absolutely necessary if you want to drive different manufacturer nameplates. A little birdie whistled in my ear that a few sites are working on utilities to help those who want to create custom cars for HEAT, a very necessary feature to put it on par with Papyrus titles.

The 3d cockpit in HEAT is the best representation of being inside a NASCAR racer to date. What the developers have done is include a 3d environment where you actually have the effect of acceleration and deceleration on the positioning of the cockpit. Although I’m not 100% thrilled with the wheel in the cockpit, I find it’s not as bad as I originally expected it to be. The infield is nicely 3d modeled and you won’t find 2d images plastered around the scenery.

The overall ‘environment’ of the racing experience is all very well done. The surrounding grandstands, pits, sky, billboards, etc offer a very well done atmosphere that helps in that all important ‘immersion’ effect. The environmental lighting does seem to have some ‘weird’ effects at times as the shadows don’t quite seem to match the situation when you are near a wall or seem to be lacking in general.

SOUND

The best I can describe the sounds in HEAT is, Average. They aren’t horrendous, but at the same time they could do much more to add to the intensity of racing a Winston Cup racer. Although I am hopeful that some of our better creators in the sim community will be working to improve this aspect of HEAT in the very near future. The spotter isn’t as ‘refined’ as you will find in a Papyrus title, which isn’t the largest of compliments in its own right. Again, there is nothing outrageously bad about the sounds in HEAT, but there is just some kind of “oomph” missing. It’s very hard to identify and describe. Perhaps it needs some frequency adjustments along with some reverberations.

AI

The artificial intelligence competition in HEAT is probably the best of any racing sim. They are very aggressive but not so much that it makes racing them feel ridiculous. Although at times their drafting seems to be exaggerated, overall racing them is very fun if you are into racing AI. Personally, I am a multiplayer sim racer at heart and it pains me to see the lack of quality multiplayer components enabled in HEAT. However, I know many of you may never race online due to any myriad of reasons and HEAT allows you to race the AI or compete in Beat the Heat or Race the Pro scenarios which will be further discussed below. Be warned though, one of the major problems with HEAT is the implementation of flags. The AI can be a nightmare under caution and/or black flag conditions. This too is being addressed in the patch. Along with the driving characteristics, the ‘mode’ in which you drive HEAT affects the level of the AI competition as well. I suggest the ‘hardcore’ mode of course ;)

INTERFACE AND OTHER CHARACTERISTICS

The overall Interface of NASCAR HEAT does imply a more arcade feel than sim. That is not to say that it isn’t functional, because it is and everything is laid out in a very clean and organized manner. It’s just the ‘feel’ that brings back a sense of something you would find in perhaps an arcade driving game rather than a serious simulation. Again, the goal for MGI/HASBRO was not to produce an all out sim, so please keep that in mind in the overall review.

The replay system in HEAT is very functional. You can record the entire race and view it from any available camera angle or view. If you are familiar with other replay controls in titles such as GPL or N3, then you will have no problem using the replay feature in HEAT. A neat addition to the replay feature though is the ‘stats’ button, which will allow you to see race statistics and various items of your car control. Although the ‘telemetry’ could have been a bit broader, it is a nice little feature regardless. You can save your replay and viewing them from different angles or the somewhat unique chassis view can be very informative. Not to mention replays of races where you might watch the line your competitor is running and find something useful to implement into your portfolio of skills.

In single race mode, you get to race with a full field and compete against many of your favorite drivers in a single race while driving the NASCAR driver’s car of your choice. All tracks are available and you can select all the characteristics such as length, if there are two events at a track you can choose which event to run such as a day or night event, flag settings, etc. Championship mode allows you to compete in a full season racing under the NASCAR Winston Cup points system.

Beat the Heat mode is the first unique characteristic to HEAT. In Beat the Heat mode you have scenarios that challenge you to specific situations that gradually get more difficult with each set. You can earn Silver, Bronze, or Gold for your performances. Beat the Heat has 6 sets:

1. Superspeedway
2. Speedway
3. Short Course
4. Advanced
5. NASCAR Race
6. High Octane

Allen Bestwich gives you an introduction at each set and gives you your objectives that you must achieve in order to win a given trophy level. Don’t worry; if you fail to win the Gold, you can always keep trying until you succeed. After you successfully complete a set, a new set becomes available. So in order to progress, you need to succeed at the beginner levels first. Beat the Heat mode helps you learn some of the techniques that will make you a more successful sim racer in Heat such as drafting, driving the proper line in turns, avoiding accidents, and groove blocking. One little item I noticed is that at one of the Beat the Heats at Martinsville, Allen talks about you driving Kenny’s car and beating one of the best at the short tracks, his brother. Well, in the session Rusty is nowhere to be found.

In Race the Pro format, you get the chance to race various NASCAR drivers in head-to-head competition. You select the driver with whom you wish to compete and then select the difficulty level. The driver you are competing against will show up as a ‘ghost’. A ‘ghost’ is a mildly transparent car of the driver you are competing with. It is on the track at the same time as you are, but you do not physically interact with that car. In other words, you can’t make contact with that vehicle.

FORCE FEEDBACK

I currently use the ACT LABS Force RS wheel, as it is my personal favorite steering device. I found some of the settings for FF in HEAT to be a little odd. It seems that you only feel the forces take hold if you are actually turning your wheel. I was wondering if others noticed this and sure enough, someone has. Gary DeRoy, whom I consider one of the best force feedback authorities in the sim racing market outside the makers themselves, also notice this. In fact, I highly suggest you visist Gary’s site at http://www.slottweak.com and let him know I sent you! Gary is a great guy and is very helpful.

Other than the phenomenon I mentioned above, FF seems to work very well in HEAT. I don’t feel it provides the same level of useful input as say Grand Prix Legends does with it’s force feedback implementation, but I do feel HEAT has at least par, if not better, than NASCAR Racing 3 FF effects.

RACING FEEL

This of course is one of the big goals of any sim, to articulate a very strong sense of authentic racing physics and overall environment of the racing genre. In many regards, HEAT does a fabulous job. The driving feel of HEAT is the best to date in any NASCAR title. You can definitely get the sense of what it’s like to whip those heavy cars around ovals and road courses. You also get an excellent representation of the track surface. Bristol has a lot of bumps and you feel that when you drive the track. Accelerate out of a bump and the rear end can easily kick out on you. You can bottom out and get wheel hop/spin, etc. Not to mention the apron at a lot of tracks make you pay the penalty just like they do in their real life counterparts. Hit the curbing, you could find yourself getting the left side of the car airborne (or right side at road courses ). The 3D cockpit is done very well in HEAT as I mentioned above. The motion of acceleration and deceleration is a bit confusing at first, but once you get use to it you find it to be a very nice touch. HEAT has a very nice driving model.

At the same time, there are characteristics that just aren’t correct. For example, if you watch Winston Cup races, I’m sure you have probably heard Benny, Ned, or Buddy talk about how you could reach out the window and literally spin the car next to you while at speed at Superspeedway tracks. Well, HEAT missed the boat on this one as you can really lean into the cars next to you and not spin them. In fact, it’s downright difficult to purposely spin the cars around you. Sometimes I also sense that the aerodynamic draft is over exaggerated. There are many times where the effect of the draft just seems extraordinary and a bit too generous. This is very unrealistic in that regard, particularly the difficulty in causing spins. Then there are very minor items like the pylons at the Glen not being real. IE – you can drive through them without knocking them over. Again, this is very minor but does demonstrate a point about the track being ‘live’. Another item I found disheartening was the lack of a tow truck. If you severely damage your car, you have to drive it back to pit road, as there is no option to call the tow truck. Another item left out that detracts from the overall racing environment we all seek in a racing simulation.

As I mentioned before, there are various modes of racing in HEAT (Normal, Expert, Hardcore). 99% of my testing and evaluation was done in Hardcore mode. The Hardcore mode definitely gives you the most accurate driving model to simulate racing a true NASCAR Winston Cup racer. Again, to enable Hardcore you will have to edit the options.cfg file but setting it to ‘yes’ instead of the default ‘no’.

HEAT also gives you the option of setting the tire ‘wear’ level. Such as normal, 2x, 4x, etc. I found 2x to be about on target for tire wear. One other item I would recommend you change is the controlled pit stops. If you want to drive the car once you enter pit road, make sure you select this option off. Another item that needs to be edited is the controlled pit road speed. In your options.cfg, change the line force_legal_pitspeed to no. If this is on, you will not be able to speed. However, if you turn it off you have complete control over your speed and thus can get a black flag for speeding on pit road.

Do you like tweaking setups? If you do, HEAT gives you more options than any other sim to date outside GPL. Here are the items you can adjust on your car: