The Drivers
NASCAR is home to a variety of interesting personalities. Here are a few of the prominent drivers available in the game.
Dale Jarrett:
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Jarrett won the Winston Cup in 1999 and finished in the top five in 2000 and 2001. A professional racer since 1977, he has 28 career Winston Cup race wins. |
Rusty Wallace:
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The Winston Cup rookie of the year in 1984 and the champion just five seasons later, Wallace is one of only 11 drivers with more than 50 Winston Cup race wins. |
Ricky Rudd:
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Rudd was rookie of the year in 1977 and has 18 top-10 season finishes. |
Sterling Marlin:
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Marlin was gold during his first Winston Cup season in 1983, earning rookie of the year honors. He finished third in 2001. |
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.:
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What do you do when your dad is a popular NASCAR driver? Follow in his tire tracks, of course. Despite the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt during a 2001 race, Dale Jr. continues to race as he strives for his first Winston Cup championship. |
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Kyle Petty:
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The Petty family has a long history of NASCAR racing. Kyle’s grandfather, Lee, founded Petty Enterprises in 1949 and won three NASCAR championships. Kyle made his Winston Cup debut in 1979 and his oldest son, Adam, followed him into the sport but died during a 2000 race. |
Tony Stewart:
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The 2002 Winston championship winner, Stewart finished in the top ten in 2000 and 2001, and was another rookie of the year (1999). |
John Andretti:
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Like the Petty family, the Andrettis have gasoline in their veins. John is the cousin of Michael Andretti and the nephew of Mario Andretti, both renowned Indy car drivers. He’s been a Winston Cup driver since 1993 and was the first to compete in both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. |
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Tips and Tricks
Make sure you read this section first or your debut race could be a very short one.
Take it easy.
True, you can play NASCAR Racing Season 2002 in arcade mode and forget about the physics, but real racers play by the rules, including the scientific ones. So when you’re out on the track, remember that you can’t simply hit the gas and go — you need to be careful and get used to the controls and how your car reacts to them before you can hope to be successful.
Think ahead.
Just like you do when you’re driving in the real world, pay attention to not only where you are now but also where you will be in the next several seconds. Anticipate those curves as soon as you can, and watch out for any cars that are bunched up ahead of you. One wrong move by one of them and you could find yourself steering through a multi-car crash. Be prepared.
There’s more than one way to steer.
Since we assume you don’t drive at NASCAR speeds in real life, we don’t expect you to know this: at top speeds, your tires have less grip on the track. To compensate for this, you need to use your throttle and brake to steer the car. Braking will transfer weight to the front of the car and allow you to steer more while applying the throttle will push the weight back and allow you to steer less.
So how does that apply during a race? Without moving the steering wheel, let up on the throttle as you enter a turn; the car should move toward the inside of the track. As you enter the straightaway, leave the steering wheel where it is and increase the throttle; the car should move to the outside. As you practice these maneuvers, use the steering wheel to compensate if you go overboard.
And remember to be gentle with the brakes and the throttle. Don’t be hard on them and your car won’t “wander” back and forth across the track, which will preserve your tires too.
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 | Mac OS X (Mac OS X version 10.2.3 or higher required for Force Feedback support)
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| 733MHz PowerPC G4 processor or higher (Dual Processors supported, 500MHz x2 or above)
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| 256MB of RAM
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| 3D Graphics Card (ATI Radeon, NVIDIA GeForce2 or better — MX series not supported)
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| 665MB of free hard drive space
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| 4X CD-ROM drive (16X or better recommended)
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| 56K Modem, LAN, or better required for multiplayer
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Compatible Wheels*
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| Logitech — MOMO Racing, MOMO Force, Wingman Formula Force GP, Wingman Force 3D, Strike Force 3D
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* According to publisher.
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