Heart-racing speeds. Heart-stopping evasions. Heart-crushing collisions. EA's NASCAR racing series has been the best of its kind since its PS2 debut in 2001. NASCAR Thunder had all the bells and whistles of a killer racing engine combined with the unique playability that a sim racer should offer.

From then on it just kept getting better.

NASCAR 07 continues the tradition of annual improvements, albeit with a little less depth and innovation. The Fight to the Top and Chase for the Cup modes, two of the series' most notable features, have already been introduced. As far as the current generation is concerned, the racing mechanics were perfected in previous installments. The graphics were jaw-dropping in 2001 – they haven't been quite that astonishing since.

With so many innovations previously introduced, EA didn't have many places to go with NASCAR 07. Invent another groundbreaking play mode? That was a possibility, but it didn't happen just yet. This year we get the usual tweaks and statistical upgrades, leading to another NASCAR hit that's worth playing, but might not be worth adding to your game collection.

Qualifications

The forced introductory race of NASCAR 06 has been scrapped. It wasn't particularly challenging, but when I start a new racing game, the first thing I want to do is race now. A standard, full-of-thrills race – not a weak challenge designed to introduce the team control mechanic.

Though its absence was more than satisfactory, EA has compensated for this loss by implementing a new set of optional time trials. These trials are introduced just before you start a new career in Fight to the Top mode. Those who are anxious to get down to business may skip the challenge mode and go right to the main season. But doing so means you'll miss out on an opportunity to check out the courses, earn a few medals, increase your skill points, and improve your first contract offer.

Medals are earned from speedy wins. Cross the finish line within the time limit and the medal is yours.

Other racing games have offered similar modes but with a lot more kindness. Medals are a fraction of a second apart. If the gold medal is set at 30.5 seconds, silver will be at about 30.6, and bronze will be at about 30.7 (if you're lucky – it could be lower). Certain courses are more forgiving than others, mainly due to their layout, the time it takes to accelerate in them, etc.

But the general rule remains. If you're not fast enough to get a gold medal, you're not fast enough to get bronze either. And if you get a bronze medal, you're fully capable of getting gold. It might feel like you just barely got the bronze. But we're only dealing with 1/10 of a second (or less). The difference is not great enough for you to say, "You know, I just couldn't perform any better."

M&Ms and the Ford Fusion grill – a match made in Heaven, or melted candy just waiting to happen?

Getting to the Point

NASCAR 07 is big on a new form of currency: skill points. They have two areas worth noting – accumulation and mid-race performance. Using what the game calls a "Dynamic Driver Attributes meter," players can tally points by racing appropriately. This includes: the survival of an unpredictable situation (ex: a car pile-up that came out of nowhere), leading laps, clean passing, and sharing a draft, among others. You'll lose points by bumping into walls and opponents. The game won't be too happy if you run off course, so be sure to avoid doing that at all costs.

As a reward for all your hard work, the Dynamic Driver Attributes meter will increase your performance during that same race. When the race is over you'll be able to take your earned skill points and cash them in for new tracks, cars, events, paint schemes, and other goodies from the Chase Plates menu.

Tweaking 07

This year's edition is all about tweaking. EA says that the cars have "new handling physics," but you won't notice a difference in the default settings. NASCAR still plays and feels like NASCAR, just as it did last year and the year before that.

The controls have been given a handy slider that lets you change the steering from ultra-sensitive to hardly sensitive at all. The latter is not my style of racing. I became accustomed to tight analog controls right after they hit the market and have had no need to go back. Nonetheless, if the default setting is too much for you, the game lets you scale it back a bit. You may also increase it, which was the most effective setting for my personal style of play.

This is not a revolutionary function, but it is fairly deep. In addition to the basic steering sensitivity changes, players may also adjust the vehicle's tire pressure, downforce, suspension, and gear ratios. In turn, each one influences your top speed, acceleration, handling, tire wear, and the overall feeling (tight or loose) of your steering.

The difficulty in customizing is that every positive has a negative. You can't increase your speed without decreasing your acceleration, handling, or some other key ingredient. Likewise, you can't improve your handling without making your vehicle's top speed suffer.

This is standard among racing games and should come as a surprise to no one. That doesn't take away from the challenge ahead for players who wish to get the top performance out of their ride.

What can brown do for you?

For those who are concerned the game might have become too statistical for their tastes, never fear: NASCAR is still a fast racing game whose primary influence comes from arcade classics. Though it's a simulator on the outside (and partially on the inside), its heart belongs to the greats of yesteryear – games like Daytona USA. The realistic bump, crash, and off-track elements haven't been eliminated, so you're still getting that semi-simulated racing experience the series promises to deliver.

Gameplay: 7.4
Exciting and addictive, NASCAR 07 is only hurt by a lack of significantly different gameplay mechanics. Fight to the Top and Chase for the Cup are back, while the time trials provide a new challenge, but nothing Earth-shattering. Worth renting if you’ve played 06 to death; worth buying if you haven’t taken the NASCAR trip in a long, long time.

Graphics: 7.5
NASCAR 07 has the best visuals yet. However, last year’s game looked great, as did the iterations before that. What we’re getting is a slight improvement each year. The sun’s rays are more intense, car detail is more polished, etc.

On the downside, slowdown does occur from time to time.

Sound: 4.0
The engines sound the same as they did in the last game. On the other hand, the music is a severe disappointment. Breaking Benjamin’s single track aside (which is played repeatedly throughout the game menus), the soundtrack is comprised of bands who think they know country, and think they know rock. Truth is they don’t know either genre very well. The mix is not a good one. Whereas most EA sports titles are honored by the best of the best, NASCAR 07 has the worst of the worst.

Furthermore, why doesn’t the game have any tracks from The Early November? They are one of the few bands who have successfully merged rock with country instrumentation. Yet they are nowhere to be found in this game.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Still challenging after several PS2 iterations, but certainly not as complex as the first in 2001.

Concept: 6.7
It’s NASCAR 06 all over again, plus a few additions and control customization features. Good game, but the concept isn’t new.

Multiplayer: 7.0
NASCAR 07 is more of a solo racer with its deep career mode and wealth of gameplay options. The majority of the tracks are based on real-world courses, most of which involve a handful of left turns. While perfectly acceptable in a NASCAR game, it doesn’t allow for the most expansive multiplayer experience. NASCAR fans will be amused as always, but diehard racing game fans will need to look elsewhere for long-term multiplayer satisfaction.

Overall: 7.3
As another PS2 sports title that’s been upgraded (marginally), not redesigned, those who purchased last year’s game need not add this to their collection. A rental should get the job done, allowing you to check out the new stuff while gaining some thrills from the old (but updated) content.

If you don’t have last year’s game there’s a lot to love about NASCAR 07, including its best driving system yet. The defaults aren’t noticeably different from the other games in the series. This time, however, players can tweak the steering controls to their liking.