As everyone knows, EA has the exclusive license for NASCAR; however for whatever reason, they were never inclined to bring a NASCAR game over to next generation hand held consoles until now, and they’ve done a pretty decent job.

Interestingly enough this game is called “NASCAR” and not “NASCAR 07” like it’s console brethren. I’m not sure if it was because EA wasn’t sure if they were going to release a new game next year, or if it didn’t really qualify to be an 07 game and they didn’t want to call it 06 because it would seem old, or if none of the above were true.

Anyway, I digress. After starting the game up, you can get right into a race by selecting race now. You’ll be able to set the difficulty level, the series (Truck, Busch, Modified, or Cup), the length of the race versus the actual race, whether or not your fuel and tires are limited, decide if damage affects the driving, turning off or on yellow flags and assists. You take your pick of 35 drivers. Most of the top tier is here, but there are some omissions and the cars aren’t all up to date. Next you pick your track among 27 different ones…including some fantasy ones.

You’re then ready to go. Loading times aren’t bad at all, surprising given the quality of the track graphics. Let’s just say I’ve seen a lot worse on the PSP. You’ll have the option to practice or you can just go right to qualifying. You can also skip qualifying, but if you go directly to the race, you’ll start from the back, which hasn’t changed from any of the console games.

Controls are silly. While I’m willing to give some leeway here as the PSP controls aren’t very driver friendly, having the acceleration on the X button rather than the right trigger is so different from the console versions, you’ll have to relearn the configurations. The analog stick is also very forgiving when driving, but many times I’ve tried to do a hard turn and steering feels pretty soft. The good news is that you can switch to control scheme 3 which is more console-rific (with the triggers as gas and brake).

The graphics aren’t bad, and the fact that a full field of 43 cars is racing without a serious frame rate hit is definitely quite an achievement. Unfortunately, something had to give in order to do that, and I believe it was the actual track graphics…they are a little rough and you don’t really get a sense of going almost 200 mph on a track…it feels more like a Sunday drive, especially when combined with the sluggish controls.

Actual racing is enjoyable with one exception. EA never seems to know if they want to make an arcade game or a racing simulation. In this game, you have the ability to ‘instant rewind’ and redo those precious few seconds before a crash so that you can avoid one. While I certainly use this in both NASCAR and in Full Auto for the 360, this option makes a lot more sense in a fantasy game such as Full Auto. I don’t see EA putting this option in any other sports game (hey, let’s rewind that interception), so I think it’s unnecessary.

If you’re looking for the Total Team Control features that are in the console version of the game, you are not going to find them here. For whatever reason they weren’t included, so you’ll have to fight to the finish with the car you started with. The AI is good on the higher levels and it does feel like you’re fighting 42 other drivers, even with the “villain” and “Intimidator” gimmicks. As you race in the game you’ll have friends and foes, and the foes don’t mind driving you out of the game. Basically anytime you breathe on another driver, they become your villain, so it does get rather silly, but with all the personal vendettas in real NASCAR, maybe it’s not that silly.

In addition to the quick race, you can also select the “Fight To The Top” which could be considered a career mode. You’ll start at the very bottom and have to work your way up to the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup by succeeding in what could be called the NASCAR farm system. It has it’s moments but it does take some time.

The game also has a “Speedzone” mode which is more of a practice; Dodge Challenges, which are based on scenarios that happened during the 2005 season. I’m always a fan of these scenarios because I can remember them as some of the most thrilling races.