NASCAR Gaming Goes Deep and Wide

It's all about exposure for what is America's most watched motorsport, and some say the world. The extraordinary way in which the entire fabric of the series was created meant billions of dollars spent to please millions of eyes each season and, for what it's worth, the money invested came back with a vengeance. And interest.

NASCAR is however losing ground, in style, in the gaming world. Rival titles like NFS or Gran Turismo have long buried the corpse of a racing series which is so great to watch, but incredibly boring to play.

Now, after the contract with gaming gurus EA has ended, NASCAR has made a decision not to award the next contract and licenses to a single developer. Instead, it will spread the word and permission to use NASCAR trademarks to as many developers as possible, to feature the series on as many platforms as possible.

NASCAR currently has contracts with iRacing for an online NASCAR sim, Sony for the NASCAR part of Gran Turismo 5 and Eutechnyx, who produced a NASCAR game for Activision (the game will be released in February next year).

"It's a little different approach, but it lets us be everywhere we want to be," Blake Davidson, NASCAR's managing director of licensed products told NASCAR.com.

It will be interesting to see though if this strategy will indeed satisfy NASCAR. When GT5 will finally be launched, we would be curious to know how many of the players will choose NASCAR over rally. After all, how much fun can you have by spinning in an oval.