NHRA Countdown for Playstation2 (1 Viewer)

[The Swegian]

So I'm walking thru Walmart last weekend and come across "NHRA Countdown to the Championship" for Playstation2 in the bargain bin. I couldn't resist, especially because it was marked down to $14.82. I've only raced a few times with my sons and it seems to be a decent game. Has anybody else here dabbled with it much? The manual seemed somewhat lacking on tips for setups so does anybody have some advice?

 

[yoda]

No wonder I couldn't find it for Christmas....

 

[Butch]

I got it for my grandson for Xmas. I myself have not played it YET.

 

[NHRAMike]

I got the game when it first came out. The tuning aspects are different from the first game that came out for the PS2 a few years ago. My biggest issue is the NARROW groove, if you even get a tire 1/4 out of the groove, it immediately goes up in smoke, and this always seems to happen around 200 ft off the starting line. The game designers should have given you a line-up indicator in the expert mode for when you back up to the line after your burnout. However, on the plus side, the e.t.s are much more realistic than the old game. I've run a best of 4.47 in TF and 4.74 in FC compared with 4.17 and 4.45 in the old game.

Here is a pretty good baseline tune for a mid 4.5 TF run:

Clutch 1 .97 sec 20%
Clutch 2 2.23 sec 35%
Clutch 3 3.10 sec 100%

Primary weight 140.8g
Secondary weight 375 g
__________________________
Spark 60 deg
Compression 6.5:1
Overdrive 39.0 %
__________________________
Fuel 1 0 sec 85%
Fuel 2 .70 sec 85%
Fuel 3 1.71 sec 93%
Fuel 4 3.30 sec 100%
__________________________
Tire pressure 7.0 lbs
__________________________
Ballast 27 lbs
__________________________
Rear wing 2.05 deg
Front wing 1.75 deg

If you want to really work the tune-up, the best way I found is in the fuel flow. I hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[T.Smith]

Screw the drag racing game and try Gran Turismo 4.

 

[BaldyLochs]

LOL, well screw Gran Turismo and NHRA! Go with JAWS Unleashed, Baby!!! You're the shark - you eat seals, scuba divers, swimmers, boats... anything and everything your path!! Blood & guts everywhere. The more you devour, the better you swim & destroy!!!!!!

Actually, I am all over the map as far as tune-ups go. I get pissed because running in Pro mode, the thing tells me to hurry up on my burnouts & staging.. yet the guy /girl next to me can sit there all day long as they please while I backup & light both bulbs as fast as I can on purpose. This happens in every class. I also get frustrated dealing with & choosing different conditions. 74 degrees night time at Memphis seems to be quite different than 74 night time at Dallas. I agree with you on the backup indicator; I mean, even Tony Shoe & Hillary Will have crew folk to guide them back in real life. With the game, in cockpit view it's a complete guess. I've had what I thought were ideal tune & track, but I wind up out of my trire tracks off the pad and go up in smoke faster than Cheech & Chong right before 60 feet. I've noticed too that in every class, the person you're running against will always backup & stage quicker than you - not very realistic. I like to get back, have the guys wipe the tires, check the guages, click the other mag on, pull the throttle stop off, etc & inch forward slowly when I'm ready....

Dave McLelland's delayed voice prompts are a little annoying(I turn it off) For the ultimate experience I recommend a 52" Plasma, 5.1 surround sound cranked up , with no glare on the screen.

 

[Murph]

I bought the game for my son and ended up spending about 14 hours playing with it yesterday, lol. It is addicting.

First half of the day I was in rookie mode, not knowing there were other options and I was kickin ass, found the pro mode and now it's kicking me!

The games pretty good, but like others have said, getting an inch out the groove and going up in smoke constantly gets frustrating. Not sure if a real soft set up gets around that or not. A cooler track seems more forgiving getting out of the groove when the set up is on kill.

Of course with trying to set up real soft, I've lost my fast set up in the process. I've run best of 4.83 119mph in funny car but best I can do now is 4.90. Any tune up help for funny car anyone can pass on?