Warning: this review contains subtle and not so subtle puns, so turn your corn detectors on now. Sporting a few new cosmetic and technical features, NASCAR 07 on the Xbox is a dream for diehard fans of the left-hand weekend turn. The game retains many of the elements from last year's game, but adds just enough new stuff so as not to be a total retread. Since EA's got the only game in town, those that crave the mega licensed glory that is NASCAR have nowhere else to turn but right into their favorite game emporium. For the most part Tiburon has done a bang-up job here, adding an enhanced sense of speed, solid visuals and a mostly fine experience over Xbox Live. While this version is technically superior to the PS2 version, there's still room for improvement in the franchise.

The game allows you to Race Now, Fight to the Top, Chase for the Cup or dip into Season mode for starters, with a few multiplayer modes for online and offline play via Xbox Live (2-4 players) or split screen (1-2 players). Par for the course in an EA Sports title, there are a ton of bonuses to acquire and features to fiddle around with until you're blue in the face. In fact, if you're a patient sort, playing around with the driver and car creator can be an amusingly relaxing creative experience as you customize your ride to your heart's content. On the track up to 43 cars onscreen really brings the impact of race day home, particularly if you decide to play the game as a simulation. Your racing style can be 'Hero' or 'Villain' oriented, which isn't so weird when you consider how certain drivers are seen by fans. Heroes race clean, share drafts and use their team members as often as possible, while Villains tend to intimidate opponents more, bumping their way past other cars and sometimes causing wrecks.

While it sounds simplistic, there's actually a neat bit of strategy to use throughout races. The game uses Team Communicator controls via the D-pad or through your Xbox Live Communicator (if you have one handy). You can issue Swap, Follow, Block or Work With Me commands to your other team members as a race progresses, giving the game an interesting layer of depth that make up for the rather slippery car handling. It takes a few races to get accustomed to the driving model, particularly if you're a fan of other EA racers and expect this one to drive the same. Forget about Burnout or Need for Speed-style power sliding or some sort of slo-mo button to squeeze your way through trouble - you'll need to be skilled at not hitting the wall or other cars in the more crowded moments and don't at all expect to complete a race without a battle-battered vehicle, because it just ain't gonna happen, Bubba. The AI leans toward the feisty side, particularly when you intimidate or accidentally nudge someone you might not have wanted to.

The problem is, you sometimes lose control after driving over some debris or if you're passing a slower car that suddenly drifts up or down towards you, and then *BAM!* instant grudge for the rest of the race. Applying real-life highway or artificial arcade racing skills here is a recipe for disaster, as braking suddenly will most likely cause a spin or wreck as you wrestle with the controller. In single player you can win Skill Points by racing clean and being a generally nice guy, the benefit being new tracks, cars, sponsors and other goodies as you rack up the numbers. Given that a good chunk of the game is locked away, you're forced to drive well in order to advance and see more of what the game has to offer. Unfortunately, if you're bad at the game, expect to see your Skill Points dwindle if you place less than third too many times. With practiceit can be quite a lot of fun, yet it's also a bit harsh toward those who haven't mastered the driving model presented.

You also get some great car customization that's limited to single player modes only. Obviously it would be insanely cheap for online players to roll over the competition with an unlocked and fully loaded super car, so all the online racing is done with evenly matched vehicles having at it. This allows for skills to shine rather than a lead-fingered bum blowing the hoods off the pack from the starting flag. Of course, the lead-fingered bums will whine the most about this, but I choose to not race with that crowd. Given that the core demographic for this series has pretty much stayed the same, it's a given that what's here will mostly appeal to them, leaving street racing or rally fans cold. On the other hand, cool things like the Momentum Meter that allows your driving skill to improve as you race clean keeps the game fresh. In addition, Craftsman series truck races, the ability to gain or lose fans during a season, collecting Chase Plates or getting fired off a racing team add plenty of soap operatic elements to the concrete and fiberglass rodeo.

Some parts of the game are an acquired taste (no, not the non-oval road racing, silly). While it's a nice touch, I wasn't too fond of the simulated races in Season mode. It's great on one hand, particularly if you don't want to drive a whole race or set of races. On the other hand it comes off as a bit odd - who buys a racing game to sit and watch stats move up and down? Conversely, this works quite well in that it lets you go through a season and save your driving for those races where you want to put the wheel to the road and take on the game's AI. I hadn't played a NASCAR game since last year, so for a few races I had multiple AI cars coming after me because I tapped them a bit as I grew accustomed to the controls. I didn't finish a few of those early races in the money (or at all, for that matter). But practice makes almost perfect and like a guy recovering from a case of poison ivy, I got much better. The game also has a few quickie sessions that drop you into recreated moments from races and let you determine the outcome. These races work better if you've actually seen or read of them, as a few times you'll be caught off guard by your car's condition.

The Xbox version of NASCAR 07 outpaces the PS2 game by a few laps in the visuals department. Cars and tracks look better overall (there's a great damage model at work here), the sense of speed is a better and online play is definitely more likable. You get the familiar ovals like Daytona and some tricky road racetracks that are fun to race on but feel odd with this sort of mid-size American sedan on them. The new speed effects add a slightly distracting motion blur effect that I rather liked, but on the other hand, I sort of wish EA would go kidnap a bunch of the folks from Monster Games or even Criterion and hypnotize them into making the next entry in the series. EA Tiburon has done an adequate job with the presentation and what's here looks decent enough, but there's something missing that I can't quite put my finger on. Perhaps it's a down-home southern touch or a sense of reckless car dynamics that's lacking here - the pieces are all in place, but the heart is a bit off center.

The sound production is strong for the most part, tying everything together nicely from the country alt-rock soundtrack to the car sounds and voices that crackle over your headset or speakers as you race your way through the game. Sometimes your pit guy or crew chief chimes in with a few too many critiques on your skid-happy ways, but it's not as annoying as, say, those announcers that flat out insult you in D1 Professional Drift. At worst, when you are knocked around or lose control you're chided lightly and you shake your fist at the TV. Of course, you can turn down the crew volume but I'd just shut off the music instead and avoid being tempted to select that custom soundtrack waiting in your Xbox's hard drive; getting good takes a ton of patience and head-banging beats don't exactly make for Zen-like concentration while 42 other cars are speeding round a race course.

Criticism I'll lodge with the multiplayer mode is the lack of any System Link functionality or the ability to race with more than four players over Xbox Live. Granted this is more a current-gen issue crossed with the yearly pressure of getting a game out on time, but I'm hoping that EA has huge changes in store for the multiplayer modes in the next installment. That and the fact that this series has yet to show its face on the Xbox 360 are enough to make some fans who've already upgraded to the new system a bit huffy on a few message boards. Granted, it's probably safe to say that a good number of folks who are into this series might not have picked up the new system just yet and in fact may be playing this game on the PS2, but I don't want to offend or stereotype here. Still, it's hard to imagine why this is the only EA Sports title (other than Rugby) that hasn't gotten the next-generation treatment. Considering the millions of fans of the oval-shaped circle and the millions of dollars they spend on official NACAR gear, it's surprising that the games haven't gotten exponentially better.

Still, I'm willing to give EA the benefit of the doubt here. As I mentioned earlier, NASCAR 07 isn't a bad game at all if you're a fan, so you'll generally be pleased with what's here. Personally I'd love to see more in the way of classic cars and rivalries from the Sixties to the Eighties in future installments, which should particularly appeal to older gamers with kids who might not know anything about the sport's early days. Perhaps some sort of Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 entry with downloadable content in the form of special cars and tracks, or perhaps even playable rivalries from the good ol' days. Hopefully next year's game will nail what makes NASCAR so popular, other than the dozens of licensed products and superstar drivers the game drops in your lap. Then again, I'm sure EA has taken all these and other suggestions into consideration, so I'll just shut up and let them do their thing. In the meantime, if you're in the market for American-style speed and weeks of tough round the track action, this one has your name all over it.

Reviewed by Greg Wilcox for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).