Special Version of NASCAR 2 Coming for TEN Multiplayer

According to GameCenter, a special “online version” of NASCAR Racing 2 will be made available for users racing on the TEN multiplayer network or in NROS. Though users will be required to own NASCAR 2 to get it.

Their news item:

After releasing its first NASCAR racing title in 1994, the development team at Papyrus Design Group has finally brought the experience online. Debuting today on TEN (the Total Entertainment Network), the NASCAR Racing Online Series (NROS) lets TEN members compete in exhibition racing with the NASCAR tracks and vehicles.

The online version of NASCAR racing has been a twinkle in Papyrus’ eye for well over three years, though it’s been about a year and a half since it first committed to doing the online exhibition races with NASCAR 2. Papyrus’ first online project (code-named Hawaii and based on the first NASCAR game), the NROS began as not much more than a BBS where players could race each other online. During the past 18 months, however, Hawaii was eventually transformed into a working prototype for the NROS.

Papyrus’ online team soon discovered there were many quirks to bringing a sim–especially one involving racing–online. Papyrus found out it needed a quarter-of-a-second round-trip latency period (in other words, no more than a quarter of a second for information to travel among players) to get cars to race properly. Mike Lescault, online development manager for Papyrus, says, “When you try to take a sim and put it online, it’s very high-speed…Any delay causes real problems when players are driving just inches away from other players.” Lescault also adds that TEN was chosen to host the NROS because it was the only online service provider who could provide the low latency required.

Latency wasn’t the only obstacle to overcome before putting the series online. Bringing a complex skill level system that rates drivers was an additional factor, one which TEN was able to handle well. Yet another factor Lescault and his team grappled with was having an exhibition series, which means that online racers are held to the same standards as real NASCAR racers; as a result, online racers have to be educated about those standards and rules. “No driving backwards and crashing into other cars,” says Lescault.

The online version will have all 16 tracks from the original NASCAR 2 title and each race will allow as many as 20 drivers to compete. However, Lescault says that support for more players will be added. “Every week we’re moving that up by two or three players until we get 32 players,” notes Lescault. To play the series players must become members of TEN and have a copy of NASCAR 2.