NASCAR is often used as a punch line. Everyone has heard jokes about left turns, and the redneck fans that enjoy watching the branded cars go in circles. Despite this, I’ve always enjoyed the sport. While I definitely wouldn’t call myself a huge fan, I pretty regularly will check out how a race is going and watch the final laps in order  to see who wins. Even those who dislike circuit racing can’t deny that it’s thrilling when a car takes the lead upon the final turn.
That’s why I was excited to see that Monster Games, the studio behind Excite Truck and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, was working on a new NASCAR game. It wasn’t their first crack at a racing simulation title either, as they had previously developed NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona and 2000’s NASCAR Heat. Considering there hasn’t been a good NASCAR-only game since Electronic Arts stopped developing them in 2009, this looked to be a return to form. Sadly, that isn’t the case. Instead, gamers have received an incredibly bare bones racing title that isn’t much fun to play, and one that seems like a huge step backwards. I first started to have doubts about the game’s quality as soon as I paused the game for the first time to look at the controls. Instead the pause menu gave me three options: resume, restart or exit race. That’s it. If I wanted to look at the controls or change game settings, I had to go all the way back to the main menu. Th...