New NASCAR Heat Game Coming To PS4/Xbox One/PC This Fall

Stock-car racing is coming back to PS4, Xbox One, and PC this fall with NASCAR Heat 2, the sequel to last year's Heat Evolution. Publisher 704 Games revealed the title today, further announcing that it will launch on September 12.

Heat 2 is in development at Monster Games, which also made Heat Evolution, and the publisher states that it features a variety of improvements over last year's installment. There will be "enhanced online multiplayer, a deeper career mode, track updates, [and] additional drivers," according to a press release.

Richard Garcia, president of Monster Games, stated, "We added a slew of new features designed to take NASCAR games back to their roots, while delivering an authentic racing experience for fans."

The publisher is working with Toyota for a cover-athlete competition which fans can participate in. Until May 19, you can vote at the game's website on which of four athletes you want to be featured on Heat 2's cover. Of the top two choices, the one who finishes first at a May 20 NASCAR race will be the cover athlete. A similar competition was held last year for Heat Evolution.

The NASCAR Heat series stretches back to 2000, when the original NASCAR Heat was released by Monster Games. The studio also made NASCAR Heat 2002 and NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona but didn't work on a NASCAR game until Heat Evolution. Monster has provided support on several other games, however, including Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and the New Nintendo 3DS port of Xenoblade Chronicles.