NASCAR is on its way to next gen consoles after a brief absence, and it looks like it’s going to be more than worth the wait. Even though it’s probably one of the most popular sports in America, the sport has yet to make it’s way onto the newest round of consoles. EA has a unique focus with the upcoming stock car racing game, and it looks to bring simulation racing to a whole new group of fans.

The focus of this iteration of NASCAR is almost more about bringing the series to a wider array of fans. While racing fans are traditionally split into two factions – simulation fans and arcade fans – this game looks to bridge that gap. A number of features have been implemented to bring a new style of driving to racing fans across the world. There are finally easy ways to set up your car coupled with more advanced tuning options for more experienced players. Those gamers intimidated by the thought of tuning suspension and gear ratios and tire pressure can simply choose to tune Gearing, Handling, Downforce, and Suspension in order to easily attain the car characteristics they’re looking for. True sim fans and tuners will of course be able to dive in and tweak everything you could imagine, so nobody’s being left out here.

That’s not the only area where EA is trying to make this game more accessible. There are also a number of features that help to illuminate the proper racing line, tell you where to brake and where to throttle up, and even show a visual representation of the slipstream draft. All of these features can be turned off eventually, but it should make the learning curve less harsh. Believe me, the learning curve is tough with this game. Maybe I’ve been doing too much Gran Turismo drifting lately, but the moment I got my hands on the controller I was sliding sideways into a wall and marveling at the realistic damage modeling.

In addition to the great looking cars and damage, there are a good deal of other graphical improvements. The tracks that I saw looked great, and even the spectators look more alive. The particle effects seriously impressed, as they will react to the wind of cars flying through a cloud of smoke at 200 miles an hour. It looks insanely cool to see trails of smoke wisp away from a giant cloud as these 800hp beasts fly through it.

You’ll also have the option of displaying a great deal of on-screen telemetry information thanks to the VTV, or Virtual Telemetry Visor. Each tire displays individually its level of grip, temperature and wear in one easy to read onscreen indicator. You can also easily check things like oil pressure or temperature, engine wear, and even body damage. The display is customizable so you won’t need to see information that you don’t want. It sounds like it may be a lot to take in – and it can be – but it should be super helpful once you get the hang of it.

In the career mode, called The Chase, you’ll set out to take on around 165 single events that will all serve to teach you the different ways to race at different types of tracks. You’ll start off on super speedways, move on to speedways, and then finally to short tracks and road courses. Events consist of goals like “maintain minimum speed over 2 laps” or “overtake 15 cars” in addition to straight up racing. Get the hang of each one and you just might be the king of racing online with this game. Expect a full 43 car field (although it’s unclear how many of those can be human competitors) and all 22 tracks from throughout the NASCAR season. You can race in Busch cars, the Nextel cars and also in the Craftsman trucks – and the NASCAR “Car of Tomorrow” is included as well.

EA worked very closely with NASCAR’s research and development teams in order to implement this new high tech car into the game. Literally the only things that remains the same on the “Car of Tomorrow” are the tires, so EA had to get some serious data on things like engine performance and aero profile.

The developers are hoping to integrate a robust online mode with sharable replays and racing leagues, although none of that is in a stage that’s ready to be discussed yet. They really want to build a community around this game, and with the millions of NASCAR fans in America that shouldn’t be a problem as long as it’s executed well.

I got some detailed information about the high-level physics engine, and being the gearhead that I am it got me pretty excited. Most people won’t really care about it, but suffice to say that there are huge numbers of sensors doing lots of advanced calculations lots of times, every second. The physics engine is also intended to be scalable, so less experienced players can set the game to go easy on them.

Look for EA’s NASCAR 08 to hit around the middle of summer this year for PS2, PS3, and Xbox 360. Although there’s not too much talk of platform specifics yet, I did get a little info regarding the PS3 and 360 versions of the game. The 360 will certainly support Force-Feedback with the 360 wireless racing wheel, and the PS3 version looks like it will support a full analog clutch with the Logitech G25 wheel. Kick the tires and light the fires baby, shake and bake time is almost here!