''NASCAR Heat 4'' is a
racing video game
Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...
simulating the 2019 NASCAR season. It was developed by
Monster Games
Monster Games, Inc. is an American independent video game developer in Northfield, Minnesota, United States that specializes in racing games and ports in action, platforms and action role-playing game
An action role-playing game (often ab ...
and was published by
704Games on September 13, 2019 for
PlayStation 4,
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
and
Microsoft Windows via
Steam.
Kevin Harvick
Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Harvick is the 2014 Cup Series champion, ...
is the cover athlete (for the first time since NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup) for the regular release of the game along with
Tony Stewart
Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He is ...
, and
Jeff Gordon
Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...
is on the cover of the Gold Edition.
Gameplay
The Xtreme Dirt Tour returned to the game, and
Tony Stewart
Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He is ...
is a driver and team owner in the series. Players in career mode for the first time can start in any of the four series (
NASCAR Cup,
Xfinity
Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications company and division of Comcast Corporation used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the c ...
,
Trucks
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...
, and Xtreme Dirt). Additional updates to the game included different tire compounds for different track types and a track map.
Also, custom cars now have an open number choice from 0-99 (including 00-09) for both quick race and career mode.
Downloadable content
Paid
downloadable content
Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enabli ...
packages are available.
The downloadable content for pre-ordering is the ability to race
Martinsville Speedway
Martinsville Speedway is a NASCAR-owned stock car racing short track in Ridgeway, Virginia, just south of Martinsville. At in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in ...
at night.
Although later on in 2019, the
Martinsville night race would be a playable option in the game so some gamers didn’t have to download it.
Soundtrack
!Song
!Artist
, -
, Breaking Even
, Inner Image
, -
, Endless Sky
, Wild Adriatic
, -
, Fake It
, Steve Everett
, -
, Feel That Way
, Wild Adriatic
, -
, Long Time Ago
, Simplified
, -
, Queen & King of Smaller Things
, Andrew Leahey
, -
, Say The Word
, Fire Fences
, -
, Take Control
, Fire Fences
, -
, The Architect
, Mile Marker Zero
, -
, The Lion and The Liar
, American Theory
, -
, Tunnel Vision
, Fusebox Poet
Reception
''NASCAR Heat 4'' received "mixed or average" reviews according to review aggregator
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
.
Matthew Kato of ''
Game Informer
''Game Informer'' (''GI'', most often stylized ''gameinformer'' from the 2010s onward) is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 w ...
'' called this iteration of ''NASCAR Heat'' the strongest, noting that its flaws made it more admirable than excellent. The online mode and
AI were also criticized for being subpar and the career mode was deemed adequate.
Accolades
The game was nominated for "Game, Franchise Racing" at the NAVGTR Awards.
References
External links
*
{{Monster Games
2019 video games
NASCAR video games
PlayStation 4 games
Xbox One games
Windows games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Racing video games
Split-screen multiplayer games
Video games developed in the United States
Video games set in the United States
Video games set in Canada
Monster Games games