Heralded as the most popular spectator sport in the world, EA Sports brings the excitement of NASCAR to the Playstation 2. But does it deliver the thrills and spills gamers and hardcore fans expect? Partly. The premise of the game is simple, choose from one of 37 real drivers and take them through a NASCAR season on all of the active tracks including the Super Bowl of racing, the Daytona 500. Becoming a NASCAR champ will involve a lot more than simply pushing the pedal to the metal. Fine tuning the cars and figuring out race strategies are necessary for full success.

EA Sports has done an admirable job on the presentation of the game. They have attempted to create a brand new graphics engine from the ground-up for the PS2 version. The result is probably not what they had envisioned. While not all out bad, the visuals at times look almost PS One generation graphics. The graphics suffer from the anti-alias issue and come across quite jaggy during gameplay. If the developers could have maintained the visuals displayed in cut scenes then this game would have leaped beyond anything before it. The game engine also suffers from slowdown when a number of cars are all together. Something that perhaps could have been hammered out with another couple of months of more tweaking. While the game boasts all 12 of the official tracks, the track design themselves appear bland. I have been to Daytona a few times to take in the classic during Spring Break and the in game representation just does not deliver the same excitement. The arcade racer from Sega does a better job. Get past the graphical nuances and the game does blaze right along and you do get a sense of the speed these cars endure.

Gameplay itself has been done quite well. Controlling the cars are quite simple and you have a number of options in setting up your desired control. Once you have set up your driver for the season, it is time to head to the track. At the track you have a number of options in order to ready your team for the big race. These include tuning up the car, taking a test run and taking a qualifying run. Finally you can choose to take the race. During the race you will have to keep an eye on your cars' functions and listen to your pit crew for constant advice. While racing you really have to figure out how you will win the race. This is partly due to the smart A.I. EA Sports has devised for this game. Each driver is rated in multiple categories so that computer drivers model real-life tendencies of NASCAR drivers - Earnhardt drives low into the corner, Jarret drives consistently on long runs, and Gordon is smooth in and out of the turns. While this detail to A.I. provides a challenge, at times it can cause frustration. Try leading for 90% of the race only to lose at the last turn.

General replay value is good when you look at everything EA has packed into the title this year. Choose from 34 active drivers and from 3 non-active drivers including Richard Petty. Twelve official tracks are present including Daytona for the first time in the EA NASCAR series. Race a Full of Half NASCAR Season, or race a Custom Season where you choose the tracks. Alternatively, choose 'track packs' that pre-select just one track type: race on short tracks, road courses, speedways, fantasy tracks, or superspeedways.

NASCAR 2001 is a middle of the road racer that will attract NASCAR fans. The game will satisfy those looking for a racing game while waiting for GT 3 but most will satisfy with a rental. On the other hand if you are a hardcore NASCAR fan then this is a must have for you. I suspect NASCAR 2002 will have a better overall look as development for the title has moved to Tiburon the same team responsible for Madden 2001.