If you’re on social media and follow a large number of NASCAR fans, you’ve probably seen some people posting clips of themselves playing the newest NASCAR video game: NASCAR 21 Ignition.
The game, produced by Motorsports Games, was released a handful of days early (official public release set for October 28) for a select number of people that stream on Twitch.
The company is also the owner of the new IndyCar franchise that will be released in 2023.
Here’s some of the first impressions that we’ve seen:
Davin – or @DriveThrough_ on Twitter – was one of the few that got the game early. He had a great thread that we’ll both link here and go through. His first few observations were positive.
after 3 hours played, these are the things that NASCAR 21 Ignition got right:
– the presentation and atmosphere is awesome
– the soundtrack is bangin
– the animations are great
– the paint booth exists
– they gave me a free copy to review and that's cool
– looks very pretty— Davin (@DriveThrough_) October 19, 2021
Maybe perhaps the biggest oversight they made is that the game does not feature stage racing.
NASCAR has had stages in every points race dating back to 2017. This would be like putting out a hockey game without periods.
also there are no stages in the video game
they do not have stages
— Davin (@DriveThrough_) October 19, 2021
There is also no way to check how much fuel you have left.
also there is no way to check fuel / tire status during a race
I understand that this is meant to be immersive but having absolutely no idea how far my fuel will go is incredibly frustrating
with ~15 laps left my spotter starts telling me that I have to pit in "a few" laps
— Davin (@DriveThrough_) October 19, 2021
You can view Davin’s entire thread by clicking the tweets above. He’s also got a compilations of black flag penalties at a majority of the race tracks due to exceeding track limits.
It looks as though the game recognizes two tires going over the line as a penalty, rather than four like it is in real life.
NASCAR 21 Ignition
Drive Through Penalty Compilation pic.twitter.com/pkQqgyLCJf
— Davin (@DriveThrough_) October 19, 2021
The graphics as well as the paint booth on the game seem to be top notch.
The @NASCARignition paint booth is pretty cool pic.twitter.com/q5pxw7w9sN
— Lefty (@lefty_designs) October 19, 2021
However, the AI on the game is not responsible enough to notice that there is an amount of cars wrecked ahead on the track, so they will just go full speed into the wrecked pack.
Here's the MASSIVE crash I had in NASCAR 21 pic.twitter.com/oC1owGjnNc
— Gary Owen | GOWEN (@GOWENYT) October 19, 2021
On top of the gameplay issues, Denny Hamlin – a 3-time Daytona 500 winner, has a 59 rating on superspeedway tracks. Michael McDowell, who has five top 5 finishes on superspeedways in his entire career, has a 99.
A 3-time Daytona 500 champ gets a 59 SS rating. Michael McDowell has a 99. Let that sink in. pic.twitter.com/VSzCUA4Av6
— Payton @ Habs 0-3 🏁🏳️🌈🎃 (@KPA1_) October 19, 2021
Now, it’s important to note that a lot of these content creators mentioned a Day 1 patch that might be coming out to alleviate some of these issues.
The bigger question is if all of them get addressed.
For the sake of the game, hopefully someone says something about the issues gamers are running into here. Some have already posted that they are requesting refunds for the game.
Got my refund request for NASCAR 21 approved. Lovely W for today.
— Avery Hage (@AveryHage) October 19, 2021
We’ll see what transpires and we’ll have all of the updates as they come in. Feel free to send us more examples that aren’t covered in here and check back for updates.
