2/5 ★ – PenPadSpecialist's review of NASCAR Heat 5.

This game makes me sad, it blasts me into a state of nostalgia. As a young child I played NASCAR Thunder 2004 on the PS2, and although I didn’t understand the entirety of the sport and my amateurism it still resonated with me. I bought this game because it was on sale on the Xbox store. Previously, I was reluctant to purchasing due to the mixed divide in reviews that I had surveyed on Reddit. However, I pulled the trigger. With NASCAR season soon to launch in full bloom, I decided to dedicate a few days and tackle the meta of this game. It was disappointing. Visually, the game is stunning. However, the game modes seem dry. Split screen is okay, solo exhibition races is fine, and the career mode is flat. In NASCAR Thunder 2004 the career mode actually focused on your team, the car, race-to-race upgrades, etc. Instead, this game is an instant plug in and play. Even, NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup blows the career out of the water. Mechanically, the game is fluid. Sadly, it’s just bland. As a NASCAR fan this doesn’t drive me to revisit this game. I can see why one of these hasn’t been launched since this release years ago. Also, DLCs for updated rosters is dirty work.