''NASCAR Heat 5'' 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 2020 NASCAR season. It was developed by

704Games 704Games Company (formerly known as Dusenberry Martin Racing) is an American video game developer and publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company acquired the license to be the exclusive developer of NASCAR video games in January 20 ...

and was published by Motorsport Games on July 10, 2020, for

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

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 Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

via

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

Chase Elliott William Clyde "Chase" Elliott II (born November 28, 1995) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports. He won the 2014 NAS ...

is the cover athlete for the standard edition, 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 a ...

is the cover athlete for the Gold Edition.

Gameplay

Other than a new single-player track testing mode, gameplay remained largely the same as its predecessor, ''

NASCAR Heat 4 ''NASCAR Heat 4'' is a racing video game simulating the 2019 NASCAR season. It was developed by Monster Games and was published by 704Games on September 13, 2019 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows via Steam. Kevin Harvick is the ...

''. Minor tweaks to pit stops, the paint booth and in-race retirements (DNF) were also introduced.

Development and release

After having

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 abb ...

develop the first four installments of the rebooted ''NASCAR Heat'' series, publisher

took over development and handed publishing over to

Motorsport Games Motorsport Games is an American video game developer, publisher and esports event organizer based in Miami, Florida. History Motorsport Games was founded in 2018 and on August 14, 2018, Motorsport Games acquired 53.5% equity interest in 704Ga ...

. ''NASCAR Heat 5'' was released on July 7, 2020, for those who pre-ordered the Gold Edition; standard copies of the game were released on July 10. Along with the early release date, the Gold Edition includes bonus spotter voices, paint schemes and career mode opportunities. Additional

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, enablin ...

packs were also announced with the release of the game. A

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

port called ''NASCAR Heat Ultimate Edition+'' was quietly listed on Amazon in October 2021, and was released on November 19, 2021. In addition to 2020 content, it also includes drivers and primary paint schemes from the

2021 NASCAR Cup Series The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series was the 73rd season for NASCAR professional stock car racing in the United States and the 50th season for the modern era Cup Series. The season started at Daytona International Speedway with the Busch Clash, wher ...

season.

Next Gen cars

The Next Gen Cars are scheduled to be included in downloadable content for the

and

, updating the game for the 2022 season. Unlike its successor '' NASCAR 21: Ignition'', the DLC is not free, requiring the purchase of individual schemes or the Season Pass. The DLC has been delayed multiple times and has yet to be released even after the end of the 2022 season due to the team working on an enhanced audio system for the new cars.

Reception

Before its release, ''Heat 5'' was criticized for focusing on minor changes instead of addressing major issues that previous ''Heat'' titles had. Developer

claimed that the approach was due to limitations of legacy code that the game was built on.

Racing series featured

Soundtrack

References

External links

* {{NASCAR video games, state=autocollapse 2020 video games NASCAR video games Nintendo Switch 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