Sprint car racing has acted as a sort of AAA league for NASCAR drivers for years now, and considering the similarities between these decidedly American forms of auto racing, it makes sense. Despite a much lower level of exposure than NASCAR, there's something much more exciting and chaotic about sprint car racing, where high-powered engines are bolted onto small, lightweight frames, which are then flung skidding around an oval-shaped dirt track at speeds reaching 140mph. THQ's Sprint Cars: Road to Knoxville never really captures that inherent sense of danger, though it can offer a stiff challenge for sprint car fans at a budget price.
With their glorified go-kart chassis and that giant, asymmetrical wing on the roof, sprint cars are unmistakable, and you can drive them to your heart's content here, though the sprint cars are so powerful and so light that you're better off starting out racing in either the 3/4 midget class, which really are just glorified go-karts, or the modified class, which sport a closed-wheel design and look more like standard stock cars. Though you can do some drafting behind other cars, the real challenge in Road to Knoxville comes from having to powerslide your way around the corners, which is the only way you'll even be able to keep up with the pack. When you're in a 3/4 midget, powersliding is as simple as slamming hard left on the left analog stick when you're approaching a turn, but by the time you work your way up to the real sprint cars, it takes a subtle play of turning, braking, and accelerating, at just the right moments, just to keep from completely spinning out.
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Regardless of the class, though, you'll still be skidding around a muddy oval for 20 or 30 laps at a time, the monotony of which intrinsically limits the game's appeal. This isn't to say that every race is the same, since the handling becomes much less forgiving as you go from 3/4 midget to modified to sprint cars, and the length of the track itself can affect how you approach the turns. Even these variables are pretty subtle, and the game has little on offer besides straight-up racing. The modes of play are pretty predictable, including a career mode, a one-off race, a championship series of races, a rather underwhelming split-screen two-player mode, and some basic tutorial and practice options.
The career mode lets you name yourself the manager of your own custom racing team, starting you off with $5,000 with which to buy a car and hire a driver. You can buy cars from each of the three classes, though there are only three different models within each class, and the aesthetic and performance differences within each class are nominal. You hire your drivers from a long list of fictional characters, each with unique stats. Naturally, drivers with higher stats can command a higher salary, though these skills never impact how the game plays as long as you're behind the wheel. At any point during a race in the career mode, you can pause the game and turn on artificial intelligence controls, at which point you can just put down your controller and watch as the AI profile of the driver you hired works his or her magic. Though we've seen such a feature implemented well in other racing games, in Road to Knoxville it potentially sucks any challenge out of the career mode, since it's possible to hire a top-tier driver right from the start and just have them win all the races for you. Aside from this rather prominent quirk, the career mode is shortsighted. There's a meager selection of parts that you can upgrade your car with, and there's a sponsorship system that gives you access to bigger money sponsors the more you win races; but it's possible in just a few hours to have a stable of fully customized cars, and the game gives you little motivation to keep playing beyond that.
The presentation is also a bit flat, though no more than you might expect for a game retailing for $15. The tracks cover the appropriate gamut of backwater locales and county fairs, and include day and night variations. Everything has an appropriately muddy look to it, though the effect of mud kicking off the backs of the cars looks cheap and unconvincing, as does the effect of mud splattering onto the "camera." Cars get progressively muddier, though there's no subtlety to each level of muddiness, and there's also not much of a damage model. The in-game sound effects are consistently unremarkable, though there are a few rock tunes that play over the menus that are inexplicably quite catchy.
Considering the dearth of options when it comes specifically to sprint car games, Road to Knoxville isn't a bad deal if you're an enthusiast, but that's about the limit of the game's appeal. The controls on the cars themselves are solid enough, but there's just not enough of a game built up around them to make this worth most people's time.
THQ gives us an alternative to the racing genre, and it's something that indeed could be well worth testing. Unfortunately, THQ gives us a bad alternative to the racing genre, and it only makes Sprint Cars feel like just another racing game, but with some different, cheaper looking cars attached to it.
The whole point of sprint cars is that they're supposed to be this great, messy, outrageous alternative to racing vehicles - nasty crashes and deadly turns included. And serious gearheads will notice a few related tricks of physics unique to Sprint Cars, like the fact that you can't jerk the steering wheel suddenly because it'll send you skidding all over the place. You have to be gradual.
The problem is, this isn't fun at all; Sprint Cars plays like a very basic racer that does nothing different than the other racer to show its appealing side. The tracks here are the same they were in any other racing game - okay, they're a bit sloppier, we suppose - and they don't change. Maps are extremely simple, and the course view usually looks the same. The tactics for these simple courses are, obviously, simple. Left turns are almost the only obstacle in your paths, and once you develop common knowledge as to how to avoid them, it'll get boring very fast.
Likewise, multiplayer doesn't offer anything to get excited about. Unless your friends love turning the analog to the left every few seconds, your pals are bound to try and wreak havoc, just to try and find some fun. Unfortunately, damage to cars is non-existent; cars look good as new after heading straight for a wall past 100.
Compete on over 20 tracks including Eldora, Dodge City, Williams Grove and world-famous Knoxville Raceway.Push your driving abilities to the limit behind the wheel of Midgets, Open-Wheeled Modifieds and Winged Sprint Cars.Are you the best? Compare your fastest times against races from around the world in Time Trial mode.You're a racing team owner, hiring drivers, signing sponsors, and buying, tuning and improving cars in the extensive Career mode.Sprint to unlock 6 never-before-raced vehicles like dune buggies, golf carts and hover crafts! Sprint Cars: Road to KnoxvillePublished by: THQDeveloped by: Big Ant Studios'Sprint Cars: Road to Knoxville' is an arcade-simulation of the exhilarating and dangerous world of sprint car racing. Featuring 12 tracks from across the US draft, slam and drift your way to victory.
Sprint cars are high-powered open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval or circular dirt or paved tracks. Historically known simply as "big cars," distinguishing them from "midget cars," sprint car racing is popular primarily in the United States and Canada, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.[1]
Sprint cars have very high power-to-weight ratios, with weights of approximately 1,400 pounds (640 kg) (including the driver)[2] and power outputs of over 900 horsepower (670 kW),[3] which give them a power-to-weight ratio besting that of contemporary F1 cars.[4] Typically, they are powered by a naturally aspirated, methanol-injected overhead valve American V8 engine with a displacement of 410 cubic inches (6.7L) and capable of engine speeds of 9000 rpm.[2][5] Depending on the mechanical setup (engine, gearing, shocks, etc.) and the track layout, these cars can achieve speeds in excess of 160 miles per hour (260 km/h).[2] A lower-budget and very popular class of sprint cars uses 360-cubic-inch (5.9L) engines that produce up to 775 horsepower. Sprint cars do not utilize a transmission but have an in-or-out gearbox and quick-change rear differentials for occasional gearing changes. As a result, they do not have electric starters (or even electrical systems other than a ignition magneto) and require a push to be started. The safety record of sprint car racing in recent years has been greatly improved by the use of roll cages, and especially on dirt tracks, wings, which increase surface traction, to protect the drivers.
Many IndyCar Series and NASCAR drivers used sprint car racing as an intermediate stepping stone on their way to more high-profile divisions, including Indianapolis 500 winners A. J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Johnny Rutherford, Parnelli Jones, Johnnie Parsons, Al Unser Sr., and Al Unser Jr., as well as NASCAR Cup Series champions Jeff Gordon , Tony Stewart and Kyle Larson.
There are several sanctioning bodies for wingless sprint cars. Once dominant United States Automobile Club (USAC) became USAC/California Racing Association (USAC/CRA) after taking over the Sprint Car Racing Association (SCRA). USAC/CRA remains popular on the West Coast, East Coast and in Indiana. However, lack of leadership in much of the US has resulted in a large number of groups and sanctioning bodies supporting wingless sprint cars.
Wingless sprint cars are considered the traditional sprint cars, dating back to the first sprint cars in the 1930s and 1940s (that ultimately evolved into Indy cars). Today, they are essentially the same car as a winged sprint car, only without wings. In fact, many of them have the "stub outs" in the frame for adding wings. They generally use the same 410 cubic inches (6,700 cc) and 360 cubic inches (5,900 cc) aluminum engines as their winged counterparts (although many local tracks have rules mandating steel blocks and some 305 cubic inches (5,000 cc) displacements, this is mostly a cost control). Some newer regional groups, specifically POWRi and Elite have chosen to allow open engines with no limit to engine size. Their tuning and gearing are different for performance at lower RPMs than winged cars. Chassis set ups and tires are also different. 152ee80cbc
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