NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona
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| NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona | |
|---|---|
 PlayStation 2 cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Monster Games |
| Publisher(s) | Infogrames |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 GameCube |
| Release | PlayStation 2 GameCube |
| Genre(s) | Sim racing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona is a racing simulator developed by Monster Games and published by Infogrames in November 2002 for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube. It is the latest in the NASCAR Heat series[1] and the last of the NASCAR-licensed games to be published before EA won exclusive rights to the license.
Racing classes
This was one of the first games that allowed a player to participate in multiple racing series other than the Winston Cup Series. Those divisions are the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series (Dirt), Featherlite Modified Tour, Craftsman Truck Series, and Winston Cup Series.
- Dirt cars have low top speed, high handling, high braking, and average acceleration. These cars are known as "Street Stocks" in the dirt racing world and are well known for sliding though the turns. Max Speed: 102mph
- Modified cars have moderate top speed, average handling, average braking, but low acceleration. They are considered easy to wreck because of their open wheel design. Max Speed: 160mph
- Truck Series vehicles have high top speed, average acceleration, low handling, and moderate braking. They are considered as the "Beasts of NASCAR" and they are a new type of class introduced in the 90s. Max Speed: 188mph
- Winston Cup Series cars have very high top speed, low acceleration, moderate handling, and high braking. They are the top series and well known because they are the highest class under the NASCAR banner and popular for the high-speeds of 190+ that they can hit at the plate tracks like Daytona and Talladega. Max Speed: 202mph
[If you do a successful glitch you can reach the game's speed limit of 509mph]
Gameplay
In the Career mode, players have to start out in a dirt series and work their way through the ranks of NASCAR to Winston Cup. In free race mode players can race in any four divisions that they please. While the game incorporates actual drivers, fantasy drivers are also used in every division to make up for drivers not featured in-game. The mechanisms for career mode were later adopted, albeit in a modified form (Featherlite Modified, Craftsman Truck, National (Busch), and Nextel Cup), into a new gameplay mode named "Fight to the Top" in the EA Sports video game NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup. To get to the next level of racing in NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona, the player will have to win the points championship in a league to advance to the next series. For each league, the parts get more expensive ranging from $3,000 to almost $2,000,000 in funds. Also, while in career mode, the player will have to sign up 3 employees for the Truck and Cup leagues. The different types are: Chassis Builder, Engine Tuner, and Pit Crew Chief. However the different parts are Engine, Suspension, Aero, and Exhaust which in return do not affect the employee attributes to the car but instead the performance on track.
Horsepower/Engine upgrades
The engine upgrades of the cars range from $800 to $1,700,000. Each car though, have different horsepower ratings ranging from 240 hp to near 700 hp.
Dirt: Original - 240 hp Maxed - 300 hp
Modified: Original - 271 hp Maxed - 350 hp
Truck: Original - 532 hp Maxed - 592 hp
Cup: Original - 590 hp Maxed - 636 hp
Season
The season consists from 10 to 32 races. While in career mode, the player can race up to 60 [or more] races but not all of them.
Dirt Season: 10 races
Modified Season: 11 races
Truck Season: 14 races [now 20 races]
Winston Cup Season: 32 races [now 36 races]