NASCAR Racing 2003 Season

Not to be confused with NASCAR Thunder 2003.

NASCAR Racing 2003 Season
Cover art featuring the 2003 cars of 2002 Daytona 500 front row starters Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick
Developer(s)Papyrus Design Group[a]
Publisher(s)Sierra Entertainment[b]
Platform(s)Windows, Mac OS X
ReleaseWindows
  • NA: 11 February 2003[1]
  • EU: 15 February 2003
  • AU: 19 February 2003
Mac OS X
Genre(s)Sim racing
Mode(s)Singleplayer, Multiplayer

NASCAR Racing 2003 Season, or NR2003 for short, is a computer racing simulator released in February 2003 by Papyrus Design Group for Windows and Mac OS X. The game was the last to be released by the company before EA Sports bought the NASCAR license exclusively from 2004 to 2009 (parent company Sierra's successor company, Activision Blizzard, reacquired NASCAR rights in 2011, with NASCAR The Game: 2011). The game included all of the 2003 NASCAR season tracks and many of the drivers, including Dave Blaney, who was absent in NASCAR Thunder 2004. In May 2003, Papyrus published a free DLC for the game, containing three fictional tracks.[4]

Gameplay

Cockpit view

NASCAR Racing 2003 Season contains 42 Winston Cup teams that were anticipated to run throughout the season, with the exception of the cars from Chip Ganassi Racing, as well as 23 Winston Cup series tracks, putting the player behind the wheel of a NASCAR stock car. Players are able to choose between testing sessions, offline single racing, championship, and multiplayer options as well as car setup choices.

Ownership

At the end of March 2004, NR2003 was pulled from shelves when Electronic Arts acquired the exclusive NASCAR rights. In May 2004, Papyrus was shut down, and David Kaemmer bought the source code and assets a couple months later for his company FIRST, LLC where it became the base code for iRacing.[5][6] In 2007, Sierra, the game's publishers, shut down the online servers.

Reception

The game received "generally favorable reviews", according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[7]

According to Edge, the game sold at least 100,000 units in the U.S., but was beaten by NASCAR Racing 4's 260,000 sales in the region.[18] Total US sales of NASCAR Racing computer games released in the 2000s reached 900,000 units by August 2006.[18]

The game won PC Gamer US' 2003 "Best Racing Game" award. The magazine's Andy Mahood wrote that it "established a daunting new standard for PC racing simulations that may take years to eclipse".[19]

Notes

  1. ^ Mac OS X version developed by Westlake Interactive.[3]
  2. ^ Mac OS X version co-published by Aspyr.

References

  1. ^ McNewserson, Newsey (11 February 2003). "NASCAR Racing Season 2003 Ships". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Sierra Insider". Sierra Entertainment. April 2003. Archived from the original on 9 June 2003. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  3. ^ Cohen, Peter (28 May 2003). "NASCAR Racing 2003 Season demo available". Macworld. IDG Communications. Archived from the original on 27 January 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  4. ^ "Sierra Entertainment - Downloads - Track Pack". 17 April 2004. Archived from the original on 17 April 2004. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
  5. ^ "FAQs". iRacing. Archived from the original on 11 February 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  6. ^ "Papyrus Design Group, Inc". MobyGames. Atari SA. Archived from the original on 31 May 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  7. ^ a b "NASCAR Racing 2003 Season". Metacritic. Fandom. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  8. ^ "Review: NASCAR Racing 2003 Season". Computer Games Magazine. No. 150. theGlobe.com. May 2003. p. 78.
  9. ^ Hermes, Wade (May 2003). "NASCAR Racing 2003 Season" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 226. Ziff Davis. p. 98. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  10. ^ Goble, Gord (6 February 2003). "NASCAR Racing 2003 Season Review". GameSpot. Fandom. Archived from the original on 13 December 2004. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  11. ^ Osborne, Scott (11 February 2003). "GameSpy: NASCAR Racing 2003 Season". GameSpy. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on 11 February 2007. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  12. ^ Ovaldog (20 February 2003). "NASCAR(r) Racing 2003 Season Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 5 October 2008. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  13. ^ Cohen, Peter (1 January 2004). "The Game Room Macworld's 2003 Game Hall of Fame". Macworld. IDG Communications. Archived from the original on 10 February 2008. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  14. ^ Magruder, Randy (11 March 2003). "NASCAR Racing 2003 [Season]". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  15. ^ Dinowan (2 April 2003). "Test: Nascar Racing 2003 Season". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). Webedia. Archived from the original on 12 February 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  16. ^ Mahood, Andy (April 2003). "NASCAR Racing: 2003 Season". PC Gamer. Vol. 10, no. 4. Imagine Media. p. 94. Archived from the original on 15 March 2006. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  17. ^ Jackson, Jonah (21 February 2003). "'NASCAR Racing 2003 Season' (PC) Review". Extended Play. TechTV. Archived from the original on 21 February 2003. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  18. ^ a b Edge staff (25 August 2006). "The Top 100 PC Games of the 21st Century (Page 3)". Edge. Future plc. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  19. ^ "The 10th Annual PC Gamer Awards". PC Gamer. Vol. 11, no. 3. Imagine Media. March 2004. pp. 38–40, 42, 44–45.