If you are a fan of any kind of NASCAR or auto racing series, and are looking for a realistic simulation, look no further than NASCAR Racing 3 by Sierra Sports. NASCAR Racing 3 brings the high speed thrills of NASCAR Winston Cup and Busch Grand National Racing to your PC in the most realistic simulation to date. NASCAR Racing 3 features 24 Official Winston Cup series drivers, and 20 Official Busch Grand National drivers including you favourites such as Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett, and many others! The game includes 29 Official NASCAR Winston Cup and Busch Grand National Tracks. From the Monsterous Talladega Superspeedway, to the small Martinsville raceway, there is a wide variety of tracks with varying difficulties to choose from. But all this is just a tiny bit of what NASCAR 3 has to offer the sim racer! Diehard sim fans can finally experience the thrill of racing three inches behind your favourite driver and blowing past them at 180 miles per hour.

NASCAR Racing 3 boasts a state of the art graphics including transparent smoke and animated flagmen. The graphics in NASCAR Racing 3 are simply the best graphics ever created in a racing simulation. The crisp and clear 3D cars and tracks are amazing The only downside to options such as the translucent smoke is thats that a 3D video card is required to see them, one which suports Glide or Direct3D.

The damage model in NASCAR Racing 3 is very well done. There is three damage setting players can choose from. Realistic damage is just amazing. Give a driver a hard shot into the rear, and his bumper literally flies off. Your front hood is usually crumped after an incident like that. If a car comes in contact with the wall, the damage is very severe, and usually takes a competitor out of the chase for victory. Arcade damage is like realistic, but the damage is not as severe, and more bumping can be done. The final setting is no damage, which is exactly what it states.

The handling of the cars in NASCAR Racing 3 feel like they would while driving in a real NASCAR Stock Car. Racing around the high backs of Bristol braking hard into the corners, and ease off the brake into the centre of the corner, and hammer the gas to the floor on the straights, and then there is tracks like the Talladega Superspeedway where you only use the brake in the game to avoid ramming other cars. Two road corses are included in the game, Sears Point and Watkins Glen. Most people dont realize how hard it actually is to get around a road course is a stock car! Iff you dont like the feel of your race car, take a trip to the NASCAR 3 Garage to change the handle of your car.

The sound effects in the game are top notch. The engine affects sound exactly like their real life counterparts. A spotter is also included, and he will inform you of wrecks on the track and about in race conditions such as cars passing high and low. Papyrus has really outdone themselves by offering 3D sound effects!"

The NASCAR 3 Garage allows racers to change almost everything on the car. Add a round of wedge, or adjusting the tire pressures can have a significant affect on a race car. Players also have the ability to change the amound of tape on the grill of their race car, creating downforce, but dont put too much on or that engine wont last!

The tracks in the game are excellent and modelled to their real life counterparts. The fine details on the tracks are incredible, such as darker grooves around the track, and track lights to warn you of track conditions. The backing on the tracks is excellent, and the speeds you can run around the tracks is very realistic.

The cars in NASCAR Racing 3 are very well done, and the Artificial Intelligence for the cars is good. They no longer race single file around the whole race, and let you go by if you get a nose under them like Papyrus's previous simulations, but they will race you very hard into the corners and will not give up a single inch!

NASCAR Racing 3 presents many options and challenges to the diehard sim fan, including championship seasons and the ability to customize your car using the paint shop and create a race team. Along with this is the ability to customize your own driver lists and drive with the pros. Many simulation sites across the internet offer great cars and updates for NASCAR Racing 3 as well, such as spotter patches, track updates, and more!

The NASCAR 3 Paintshop allows drivers to customize there cars from scratch, putting their own sponsers and colours on the car. Players can customize almost every part of the cars, including the cars underbody paint scheme and even the pit crew's suits. Painting in the game han be a hassle at times, so this is why Papyrus included an option to paint cars using third party painting software. One mention was Paint Shop Pro, by Jasc Software. It is a little more difficult to paint cars using these types of third party software, but the extra work is worth it. Anybody can paint an amazing looking car using this software, it just takes a little practice.

Right now your probabily sitting there saying "Show Me More!" Well, we have just gone skin deep into this great simulation! NASCAR Racing 3 includes a state of the art multiplayer mode which allow up to 32 players to participate in a single race via the Internet, Local Area Network, or via TCP/IP. And best of all, multiplayer play is free if you have a connection to the internet! Racing against programmed cars in single player action is nothing like racing against human opponents. There are two types of online races. Pickup races are most common, and usually involve about 20 drivers or more racing a a track. These races is where you will meet new people but amy only race them once. The second type of online race is a passworded race. Only drivers with a password can access the race and this usually means much better, cleaner racing than in pickup races. There are many online league's acrss the internet, these which have a set schedule and race time. They are passworded races, and drivers are usually sent a password via e-mail before the race. League races are where drivers race against each other week after week, and can make some great friends.

NASCAR Racing 3 is truly a simulation. Everything from the graphics, to the sound, the the handle of the cars is realistic. If you like auto racing, this game is for you.