EA Sports NASCAR, alternately known as NASCAR Thunder, was a series of NASCAR video games published by EA Sports. The series began with NASCAR 98 and NASCAR 99 in 1997 and 1998. EA Sports released NASCAR Thunder 2002 in 2001, and ever since then, Jeff Gordon (2002), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2003), and Tony Stewart (2004) were on the cover. In 2004, they changed the name of the game to NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup and added the new features to make the game more up-to-date with the recent changes to NASCAR. Kevin Harvick was on the cover.
The next year, they changed the name yet again to NASCAR 06: Total Team Control. Jeff Gordon and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson were on the cover. The new features were swapping cars with teammates and voice-recognition support for use with the crew chief. The following year, the game was titled NASCAR 07 and features Elliott Sadler on the cover. The new features include a new speed blur effect and an all-new momentum system, used to describe drivers' strong and weak racetrack types. In 2004, the feature was a "Grudges and Alliances" feature in which if the player hits a car, they could retaliate. The feature received a mixed reaction.
After NASCAR Kart Racing was released in 2009, EA discontinued the series due to budget cuts and the expiration of EA Sports' contract with NASCAR. Polyphony Digital has since bought the rights to develop official NASCAR cars and tracks in their simulation video game Gran Turismo 5, marking the end of the series under the EA Sports label.
Eutechnyx later acquired the license, starting the NASCAR The Game series with NASCAR The Game: 2011.
Games Game Season Platform(s)NASCAR 981997PlayStation, Sega Saturn NASCAR 991998PlayStation, Nintendo 64NASCAR Revolution1999WindowsNASCAR Road Racing1999WindowsNASCAR 20001999PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, WindowsNASCAR Rumble2000PlayStationNASCAR 20012000PlayStation, PlayStation 2NASCAR Thunder 20022001PlayStation, PlayStation 2, XboxNASCAR Thunder 20032002PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, WindowsNASCAR Thunder 20042003PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Xbox, WindowsNASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup2004PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCubeNASCAR SimRacing2005WindowsNASCAR 06: Total Team Control2005PlayStation 2, XboxNASCAR 072006PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox, J2MEEA Sports NASCAR Racing2007ArcadeNASCAR 082007PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360NASCAR 092008PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, J2MENASCAR Kart Racing2009Wii
References
See also F1 List of NASCAR video games NASCAR 09 Page on EA Mobile site