Over the weekend, NASCAR gaming enthusiasts were treated to another pair of screenshots from Motorsports Games for their upcoming release later this year. On Tuesday, a short video also appeared on social media with some moving shots around the track.
With the real-world series at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, two screenshots from the same track were dropped on social media, hopefully a practice that continues on a weekly basis until the launch of the new game.
The first image on Friday caused a bit of a stir. The first image once again depicted some sun flare and stunning detail, but possibly one overlooked detail was that the grandstands in Turn 4 are no longer standing in real life, replaced last year by an open viewing area called Rock Point that includes a bar, some lawn games and an open view of the cars zooming towards the flag stand.
Tire marks are defined through the center of the corner, the grass again is super detailed, even from afar, and a helicopter in its normal spot in the infield brings the immersion level up a notch. The catch fence and SAFER barriers look spot on, and the trees in the back are representative of the wooded area it resides in. It feels like someone took a camera in Turn 3 and aimed it towards Turn 4.
Image number two puts the viewer right on pit road, right behind the pit boxes aimed towards the flag stand. In the foreground, the fuel canisters on the pull-cart and the tires on the pushcart are spot on. The sticker tires have actual stickers and some detailed writing, and the pit boxes are fairly accurate as to what is used by the teams today.
The pit board flag poles don’t have signs attached, so we don’t know whose pits these are, not to mention that they are completely blank, but this is a great base for it, nonetheless. In the back of the image, that’s pretty much exactly what one would see from this vantage point in the real world.
The grandstands are full of New England race fans. The flag stand, again here like Daytona, is accurate. The suites and press area is spot on with the siding and windows. On top of it all, the spotter’s stand is correct with spotters standing on top, plus on either side, there are other track workers, camera crews, maybe other spotters all up there on the roof.
Again, there’s a focus on the lighting effects which we’ve seen in every single image released so far. There’s been a huge emphasis on the lighting, which is great, but at the same time, I don’t know if we need a sun flare or blinding lights in every look we take. I’d like to see how it all works in motion, but it might be too early for that, all things considered.
The video on Tuesday had two things stand out to me over the still images we’d gotten to this point. For one, the fans move around a bit, which gives another level of immersion. Two, there was a pit board attached to a sign pole and it was a number 53.
Being that’s the number I’ve grown to love in my own virtual racing escapades over the years, I say this video is perfect. Really, though, the pit boards being more than flat squares makes me feel pretty good again about the detail that’s being poured into this.
I’ve been to New Hampshire Motor Speedway a number of times in real life, so I can honestly say that looking at these photos gives me hope for the attention to detail. Hopefully, the no longer existent grandstands get chopped before the final release, but otherwise, another great set of photos to join the other five released in the IGN article last week.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that there are some Watkins Glen photos to digest in a few weeks. Until then, let us know what you think about all of these teases so far in the comments below.
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