NASCAR Thunder 2004

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NASCAR Thunder 2004

Game general and emulation properties:
ESRB rating: E
Game supports multi-tap
Supports up to two local players
Languages supported:
English: SLUS-20824 & SLUS-20754
Region NTSC-U:
Serial numbers: SLUS-20824
SLUS-20754
Release date: September 16, 2003
CRCs: 612542D0
Windows Status: Playable
Linux Status: ?
Mac Status: ?

Developer(s): EA Tiburon
Publisher(s): Electronic Arts
Genre: Racing
Wikipedia: Link
Game review links: Metacritic88/100
Game description: The green flag has dropped with NASCAR Thunder 2004. From 200 MPH super-speedways to hairpin turns on 11 fantasy tracks, tuning your car and finding the line is no longer enough. Now you're running to the edge against 42 other unique NASCAR personalities every race, drivers who remember your every move and won't think twice about paying you back. Out-smart and out-drive them as you battle three-wide from green to checkers. Online or on your own, racing just became a contact sport.


Test configurations on Windows:


Environment Configurations Comments Tester
Region OS CPU/GPU Revision Graphics Sound/Pad
NTSC-U Windows 8.1 Pro
  • Intel Core i3 3240 3.40Ghz
  • EVGA 750 Ti FTW 2Gb
1.2.1 r5875 GSDX10 SPU2-X 2.0.0 LilyPad 0.10.0 BIOS: USA v02.20(10/02/2006) Game runs above full speed on GSDX Hardware mode. Small FPS drops (1-5fps) at random times. Random screen flickering not a big issue.
NTSC-U(824) Windows 10 Pro 22H2
  • Intel Core i7 2600 3.80Ghz
  • MSI GTX 960 4G
1.7.5491 Vulkan @ 2x Native Default BIOS: EU v02.30(20/02/2008) On average runs 100% but at times when many cars are on screen can slow down to 70%. Mipmapping faulty: shows low-res textures at times when high-res textures should load. Had to move the game from HDD to SSD because it was freezing too much mid race (AKA frequent disk reading.) Grester


Trivia

  • NASCAR Thunder 2004 was the last in the "Thunder" series of games.
  • The driver in the game cover is Tony Stewart, the 2002 Winston Cup champion. (Note the game was released before the 2003 champion was known, and EA traditionally releases games numbered after next year's season.)
  • Because the game development and release happened long before the actual 2004 season, the game cup season points system differs from the actual 2004 NASCAR season, where the new "Chase for the cup" points system was introduced and named in the sequel game.
  • In 2003 NASCAR was ongoing the cup title sponsor change from Winston to Nextel, despite Nextel having signed the contract with NASCAR in June 2003, likely wasn't on time for EA to sign licensing with Nextel and add in the game. Thus the game's NASCAR cup isn't titled after any sponsor, aside from race commentators still sometimes mentioning the Winston Cup as the voice lines were presumably reused from previous games. A similar situation happened with the fuel supplier which changed to Sunoco, however, Unocal's 76 can still be seen on most racetracks. Car manufacturer Pontiac would also retire from NASCAR in 2003 but still appears in the game.


Known Issues

Low resolution textures on cars

  • Type: Note (not an issue)
  • Description: On parade laps when the camera zooms in on the cars, some of them load the low-resolution texture instead of the high-resolution one. This is a phenomena that also happens on native hardware.
  • Workaround: Changing the mipmapping setting might improve this behavior on emulation.

Mid race freezing

  • Type: Note (not an issue)
  • Description: Game often freezes mid-race many times.
  • Workaround: Moving the ISO from an HDD to an SSD solves the frequent disk accesses freezes.

Game slowdowns

  • Type: Note (not an issue)
  • Description: When many cars are on screen the game can considerably slow down.
  • Workaround: Lower resolution or upgrade hardware.