Publisher: EA Sports
Developer: EA Games
System: Xbox 360
Genre: Racing
Release date: Available now
Reviewer: Michele White

Ever want to try your hand at maneuvering the banking turns of Daytona or tackle the challenge of keeping a car intact in the demolition derby that is Darlington? NASCAR’s 2008 season may be speeding to the checkered flag, but even if you’re driver is already out of the chase, you can get an early start on the 2009 season with EA’s NASCAR ‘09. Jeff Gordon (no need to stand up and cheer/boo) is standing by to be your tour guide and mentor in the world of the NASCAR big leagues.

The autosave feature is the first option that presents itself, and I highly recommend its selection to prevent the loss of a great position in a 500-mile race that you find yourself without the stamina to finish in one sitting. Next, Jeff will ask you to choose your driving style: normal or pro. He recommends normal, but those familiar with the NASCAR series will want the options available to them with pro. Finally, you get to give Jeff’s car a test run to become familiar with the controls, and so it’s off to Michigan in the number 24.

After the test run, you have the option of repeating in the same mode, trying the other mode, or returning to the garage. Jeff had asked me to bring it back in one piece, but he didn’t seem to mind that I’d managed to remove most of the paint from the right side. Stepping from the rather beat up 24, it was time to build my own ride, but I was disappointed to discover that all of the cool numbers were unavailable, and I was thus forced to choose a three-digit identifier between 100 and 199. In the paint booth there are numerous options from which to choose to achieve just the right look, but don’t get too attached to your sponsors. If you intend to play in Career Mode, you’ll lose them as soon as you get started.

Once your car is ready, it’s off to the races. There is an option to play as one of the Cup series superstars in Race Now mode, but you can only build reputation (used for acquiring upgrades and better sponsors) if you race as yourself in your own car. In Race Now mode, you can then choose which series you want to compete in. I opted for the Sprint series, and was immediately on my way back to Michigan. On arrival, Rusty Wallace chimes in with a one lap walk through of the track, and just like in real life, race week consists of practice, qualifying and the race itself. Practice and qualifying are not required to compete, but unless your rep is really high, I recommend that you at least try to qualify well, or suffer starting the race at the back of the pack. To exit practice, simply click the start button. In addition to Race Now mode, there’s a campaign-style Career mode, and the Sprint Driver Challenge, where you must perform a specific task (follow a certain line, pass a determinate number of cars, etc.) to earn both reputation and performance points. After coming in a respectable 28th in Race Now mode, I opted to try my skills in Career Mode.