NASCAR Thunder 2004 E3 2003 Preshow Report

Electronic Arts has today released the first information on NASCAR Thunder 2004, which is currently in development for the PC and all current-generation consoles. The game will feature an impressive 23 authentic tracks in addition to 11 fantasy tracks, and you'll be racing on them against a pack of no fewer than 42 real-world stars. Each of the AI drivers in the game will not only drive intelligently, but will also be capable of remembering incidents from races and building alliances or carrying grudges as appropriate for multiple seasons in the game's new career mode--in which you'll also have to concern yourself with management decisions relating to car construction, sponsorships, and the like. The PC version of the game will allow you to race an infinite number of seasons in your career, but the console careers will span a maximum of 20.

NASCAR Thunder 2004 will feature a total of 70 drivers--including Grand National drivers and NASCAR legends as well as current NASCAR regulars--and more than 175 authentic car skins. The PC version of the game will allow you to customize and swap your own car skins if you wish. More conventional garage options will also feature heavily in the PC version of the game, and you'll be able to customize your car with a number of options including fender flares, antiroll bars, rear spoiler angles, gearing, wedge, and tire pressures.

The game will feature more than 60 different authentic and fantasy NASCAR events for you to race, and the console versions will also feature around 40 challenges based on real-life events from the past year of NASCAR, hosted by Daytona 500 champ Michael Waltrip. These challenges will also feature MRN's actual radio calls from the races.

While the PC version of NASCAR Thunder 2004 will support up to 16 players, the only console version of the game to support online play is the PlayStation 2 version, which will feature peer-to-peer racing, online rankings, text chat, and buddy lists. All four versions of NASCAR Thunder 2004 are scheduled for release this fall. We'll bring you more information on the game as soon as it becomes available.