People turn to video games for a number of different reasons. Some use them as a form of escapism - a chance to forget the real world, even just for a few hours, and dive headfirst into a meticulously crafted virtual one. As more people than ever discovered in 2020, games might just be the perfect way for you to pass the time. A cure for boredom that can't be satisfied by Netflix alone. They can also allow you to assume the role of your sporting heroes. Take a free kick as Cristiano Ronaldo, throw a touchdown as Tom Brady, or even whizz round and round a race track as Kyle Busch. You might not think there's that big a market for that last example, but with some NASCAR races being graced by as many as 200,000 fans, you might want to think again.
NASCAR games have been allowing those fans to come as close to the real thing outside of becoming a professional driver yourself since the mid '90s. The trouble is, unlike heavyweight series like FIFA and Madden, NASCAR games haven't had a consistent name or even come from the same studio for more than a few years at a time. In fact, NASCAR 21: Ignition marks another soft reset for the series. The end of the line for NASCAR Heat, which was rebooted in 2016, following Motorsport Games' acquisition of 704Games. It's closer to a quick cure for boredom than an immersive racing sim, though.
Whether fair or not, Ignition will be compared to more established sport sim franchises. Its players will be expecting the game to closely represent what it's like to be a real-life NASCAR driver. It will also be compared to the countless racing games already on the market, and it's there that you'll find a few more recognizable elements. F1's racing line, Destruction Derby's carnage, and yes, even some similarities between it and Mario Kart.
Even though there are elements of Codemasters' F1 series to be found in Ignition, if you go in expecting the same thing then you're going to be disappointed. In defense of Ignition, you could say exactly the same thing about watching the real thing. An F1 fan watching NASCAR for the first time is probably going to wonder what all the fuss is about. Most of NASCAR's tracks are simply ovals. Not a chicane or a hairpin insight. More Baby Park than the Monaco Grand Prix, hence the Mario Kart comparison.
If you have played the F1 games as much as I have, Ignition will almost feel like an unfinished Formula 1 game. That can lead to it becoming repetitive and even a little boring at times. However, there's a big plus to be taken from it too. I consider myself a pretty big fan of F1 and can't remember the last time I didn't pick up a new F1 game. However, its increasingly complicated options and progression give me a headache.
That isn't there in Ignition. I have never played a NASCAR game before in my life, yet I was able to pick up a controller and play Ignition right away. It's incredibly simple but that's by design. I don't want to have to think about how many more laps it'll be before I need to change my gearbox, or if my front left wing has taken enough damage that I need to make a pitstop. Sometimes I just want to get in a car and race round and round in circles against loads of other cars.
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One of the main things almost anyone will be looking for in a game designed to closely simulate a real sport is, well, for that game to recreate how it feels to play that sport. The 39 AI drivers you share the track with don't really lend themselves to that feeling. Their one and only quest is to follow the racing line at all costs. If there's a crash that results in a pile-up, your competitors won't drive around it to avoid becoming a part of that pile-up. That always resulted in one of two things for me. A hollow win as I watched the rest of the field become hopelessly lost in an increasingly large heap of cars, or getting caught up in the carnage myself since there was literally no way around it. A couple of the culprits would eventually disappear into thin air in order for the race to continue, which only took me out of the moment even more than I had already been lifted.
Virtual carnage can be fun, of course, which is why once Ignition launches its online mode will likely be an absolute hoot. Mainly because those pile-ups will happen, but your fellow racers will actually have the wherewithal to actually get out of them and navigate around an accident in the first place. When it happens in the middle of a key race in your career mode, it isn't quite as much fun.
Speaking of career mode, Ignition gets pretty repetitive pretty quickly. Practice, qualifying, race, repeat. That might sound exactly like F1, but again, the next race weekend in this case is almost always another oval as opposed to the intricacies of the Monaco GP. There's also only so many times I can sit and watch a camera slowly pan around a trophy as everyone stops and stands for the US national anthem. That cutscene opens every single race. Don't worry, you can skip it. Plus the races themselves can get pretty monotonous pretty fast. Have you ever had that feeling when you're driving home and all of a sudden you're parked on the driveway, no memory of the journey at all? That happened to me on occasion while cruising around the Daytona 500.
Ignition is a lot of fun in short bursts, which is great. The problem is that doesn't tend to be what people look for in a game that is supposed to accurately represent a real sport. While it might not be all that healthy to sit in front of a screen for hours on end, isn't that what tends to happen when you play a really good sports game? Doing so well on FIFA that you can't help but start up another match as soon as the last one has finished. Riding the high of a pole position in F1 and having no other choice but to start the next race weekend. The problem with Ignition is the next race weekend is the same as the last. After three or four you'll probably need a break. If you're looking for a fun and simple racing that doesn't require a deeper knowledge of the sport or its cars' inner workings then Ignition is perfect. If you're looking for a sports game that is going to occupy the bulk of your gaming time for the next 12 months, then probably not so much.
Score: 2.5/5. A PS4 review code was provided by the publisher.