The Legacy of NASCAR Racing 2003 Season

Twenty years ago, a NASCAR game was released that to this day has been unmatched. From the Winston to, the 2023 Cup season, Bathurst to Daytona. This game has lived through the ups and downs.
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[@TNTMan93]

Great work on this! I appreciate the mention!

[@butterlord-nq3ei]

It’s the goat

[@believeinthelostengine3326]

The man. The myth. The legend

[@Bananaaddict81]

How Does This Only Have 3 Comments?

[@SomeUsernameSomeoneElseTookIt]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NR2003, 20 YEARS OLD!

[@imspeed535]

You

[@danieltaylor1666]

😂

[@fitzwateraustralia59aus16]

11:10 I would like to say thank you for giving me a big shoutout on the 20 yr anniversary of this great game. It's been an honour to signup in your Offline league a few years ago. And yes Legendary in all of NR Offline is 1000% accurate. I joined the NR community way back in October of 2013, 10 years in NR how time flies. So glad to be apart of this community. Once I again I thank you for the shoutout It's an honour.

[@ToxicFungi13]

This game has caused me to make so many random friends I genuinely love it more for that then any of the other things it does lol

[@meshugeah]

Nice one, let me show your comment to those who claim that computer games cause violence and whatnot

[@FSBlive]

Hey, look at 11:28 - it's us! 😄 Thanks for the shout out. Nice look back at the story so far. As you noted, 20 years now and we're still racing 5 nights a week at FSB and broadcasting the classic Aero88 mod you covered on Friday nights right here on KZbin. There are other great leagues out there, too. Hobo, Carolina Classic Racing, Rolling Thunder Gaming, and more. Despite iRacing's efforts, this sim won't die and still has something for everyone.

[@willfarmer7351]

Gasped a little bit when I saw FSB pop up. So freakin cool.

[@BulldogSp33d]

10:55 love the mention of the offline community of NR2003 and the shoutout to Fitzy himself

[@SGC_Thunder]

While I love iRacing and nearly everything about it, NR will always hold a special place in my heart. It's where we all started

[@adorablejackson]

20 years and still one of the best nascar video games, incredible

[@SomeUsernameSomeoneElseTookIt]

True....

[@al1_189]

Very True...

[@imspeed535]

You

[@imspeed535]

You

[@adorablejackson]

@@imspeed535 Me?

[@Cynon]

Offline leagues? Sounds like fun, wonder if anyone who was running one in 2006 is still around?

[@WWENCAANBACHANNEL]

idk who?

[@Jrodsly]

Oh, you mean the one that bullied someone with autism for 8 years to the point of nearly committing suicide? The same one that hurled abuse at a trans woman and multiple people with autism to the point where there were crying breakdowns in Teamspeak? The same one that compared multiple people to a serial killer on Facebook and gaslit them into thinking it was their fault? What about him? Does he have any remorse for what he did or does he still think it's the fault of the people he bullied?

[@PyroBun_2844]

2021: I was a bootlicker for the console games. I’ve bought gold/championship editions because I thought that everything would be fine, then igntition came along. 2022: Easter Sunday, I finally have a pc at my disposal and can finally run NR, never looked back since. After waiting my whole life to play this game, I can safely say that I’m never trying a NASCAR console game again unless somthing catches my eye, such a timeless classic. Long live NR2003!

[@barneyward6448]

Wonderful video for a wonderful game. Had no idea about the lawsuit thing regarding the Classic IMA GTP mod, but man this game has stood the test of time for so long!

[@slipster17]

I've been a NR2k3 painter since it's release date - seen a lot, done a lot, hope to see just as much in the coming years! Happy Birthday NR2k3!

[@MorgusVR]

I loved Papy games so much. I got in trouble because when the original game came out, they included a Boston phone number in the manual that you could call with your dial up modem to directly connect to the servers and race against other people. Well, this is back in the day where if you lived outside of Boston, this was a long distance number and cost extra based on minutes. I was punished for a long damn time when my parents got the monthly bill with all my long distance calls. I helped do a lot photoshop templates to be able to paint cars, I painted a lot of cars that ended up on various websites, helped with graphics on different projects. It was such a fun time from 03-06. I finally quit when Brian Ring was working on a huge update when iRacing took over the ownership and started C&Ding all of us, killed a lot of our interest in keeping it going and a lot of the leagues I raced in collapsed. I miss that community so much, iRacing is such a crap company. I still have my physical copy of all 1-2003. RIP Matt W

[@killrodx]

The community who has kept this game going after 20 years, thank you. The amount of mods, custom tracks, paint schemes and so on is amazing. I've been delving into offline league racing myself and it's so much fun modifying the files.

[@tharandomjok3408]

20 years of racing, 20 years of mods, NR2003 is the greatest NASCAR game, period. Also What if David Allison was still alive is a goated series.

[@simoneghilardini5211]

Why did I read that with the voice tone of Mike Joy at the end of the 1998 Daytona 500?

[@kyleisrowdy4901]

Incredible to this day people still care about a 20 year old game.

[@rollingthunder8378]

It was the most realistic game for its time and it still the most modable racing games ever. With that this game will stand forever with racing fans

[@skytay45]

i got into nr back in november of 2022 and i got hooked. i love it and will definately cotinue to do offline and even a little online soon. cheers to 20 more years

[@sracing021]

This game has shaped so much of myself that people don't know. I love this game and everything it's done for me

[@AlanMuccioli]

Yes, hi. Recent subscriber from last year, first time commenter. I really applaud you for going out of your way to showcase NR2003 as a whole and how nobody and nothing has stopped it from sticking around. Also, props to shouting out the Idiots of NASCAR. I love that series. I certainly do hope someday we do get the red flags and fires added. I think there was rain racing mod in the works but I don't know if it's still being worked on or what. I've been running NR2003 since late 2020, and I've not regretted a single day I've had with it. To NR2003, cheers to the first 20, and here's to the next 20 with new car mods, track mods, online and offline leagues, and whatever else we here in the NR2003 community decide we're gonna toss in to keep it going.

[@liramotorsport5780]

As an Mock Series creator, NR2003 became, for me, a way out of the problems of the life. Its the thing that makes me work hard in the weekends, and it made me know a lot of new friends, friends that are there when i need the most. NR2003, we love you

[@allainangcao28]

Imagine booting this up for some online and getting into a lobby with Dale Jr. What a memory that would have been.

[@rdaws73]

MasGrafx and The Racing Groove! Raced in my first online league on NR2003 back then. Awesome memories. Now we're old.

[@FUELBandicoot]

NR2003 has been a huge part of my life. So many friendships built off this game. A lot to be proud of here.

[@Mat1854..........]

A masterpiece of a video game gets a well deserved video. I love this game and everything it brought, thank you so much for highlighting all of this

[@PhoenixKross]

Thank you for this video! I linked it to my Discord communities!

[@313Adk]

Happy Birthday NR2003! Here's to many more years of content creation. Cheers to all of us keeping this alive.

[@crazyDale3]

TNTman93’s NR2003 videos They are the funniest videos I’ve ever seen😂

[@MeawMao]

Amazing video, and Happy 20th Anniversary NR2003!

[@mikewagner9395]

I was playing NASCAR Racing 3 until my XP machine died last year. Since last summer I have been playing Nr2003 on Windows 10. Unbelievable how this game still holds up & takes me back to the best days of NASCAR

[@2kig]

Hey, thanks to vm you can actually play the game on the Windows XP

[@sensori.]

A fantastic video, a happy 20 years of great racing

[@arranmc182]

So glad that iRacing will be making the new NASCAR official video game be so glad for David Kaemmer to have got the licence again

[@brentruvio6556]

Nr2003 is what made me fall in LOVE with north wilkesboro. It's where my dream of it coming back came about.

[@Ally_Rayne6]

10:21 that truck was painted by none other than Rob Evans for my defunct online league known as Throwback Racing League. He was our youngest member of the league and our youngest league admin. Cool as hell to see you incorporate one of his schemes in here from when he joined my league and my admin staff.

[@Corvoreviews]

I remember vividly finding this game in a supermarket, in one of those buy a magazine and gets the cd, I was at the cashier them I looked to the side and saw it for just 20 R$ (I'm brazilian so that was very, very cheap) and since I was already into nascar got home, got my money went back and purschased, and boy what a great investment of money that was, spent hours playing it, it was the first time I raced online, participated in the community, tried to create a league, ran some demolitions derbys, created cars, started messing up with photoshop, purchased my first racing wheel, not to mention that I've made some friends wich I'm still in "touch" till this day, we moved on from nascar, but time after time we are talking about racing in our DMs, yerah this game gave so much to me that it will always have his place in my heart and in my memories

[@mattcecil6692]

Jesus, I’ve know Zach for a few years now and had no idea that he was so big in NR2003

[@BarryJowers]

NASCAR Racing 1999 edition was the first one not numerically labeled

[@agthechannel]

Just came across this and I gotta say this is such a great video! Awesome to see you mention the offline community as well, which is much wider and deeper than a lot seem to realize. Also I can confirm Rajah Caruth did in fact sign-up for my own offline leagues back in 2015, actually won of my championships. And Fitzy! What a legend! Once again great video commemorating this great game!

[@skytay45]

hi ag its an honor to be a winner on the channel

[@KitsuneAmy]

I was very late to the party as I was first exposed to NR2003 around 2015, but I started making tracks and paints for it in 2020 and still do to this day, though I am currently on hiatus. However, I don't see the game being replaced by anything even remotely as moddable and customizable as this game is, so, here's to another 20 years.

[@SGTDread12]

This Sim was so much fun, especially online. This and IL-2 keep me busy for many years.

[@sch3ffel]

yep... here i am 20 years later painting a whole 43 carset using the amazing icr mod, and its main feature wich is customizable car brands, to run a giant fantasy factory championship and hand picking tracks so that i can make a 1 race per week season... just because the sim is just that good.

[@BarnburnerGaming]

Awesome video

[@PCSRA26]

Wonderful job on an amazing game that’s 20 years old

[@codybullard7836]

Man when you quoted that key code I got chills

[@kamranivari5046]

It is still incredible that a 20 year old game like this still has a diehard community that almost comparable to Skyrim or fallout gaming communities

[@Cutter0118]

I love how you ended the video with the CD crack code. Chef's kiss 🤌

[@rudydoyle]

I was wondering what he was referring to.

[@CodyHagenGaming]

Happy 20 Years NR2003 🥳

[@TrinityRiverNetwork]

Happy Birthday, NR2K3!

[@etatboi]

Next year that game will be able to drink

[@bradley.reim22]

No way!!!! My railroad truckset #81 truck made it into the video while The Mod Squad was down!!! This is amazing!!!

[@seannolan9857]

Updating carsets was a thing with the series long before NR2003. I have carsets for every year from '89-'04 for NR1, and quite a few more (plus tons of tracks) for NR3. 2003 was too much for my computer for quite a few years, but the community kept up with the older games too.

[@thegreatmikejonez]

Best NASCAR game of all time hands down. Still going very strong.

[@carrierobb9538]

Excellent detail.

[@Dirigo207]

Came across it back in 2020. This by far is the most fun and creativity I’ve had with any Nascar or racing game. I have given IRacing a try and it’s fun no doubt. Sleek and modern. But NR still has it beat in my opinion. Plus it’s free soooo. Glad to have joined a thriving community for a epic god tier game! Happy 20th NR2003!

[@lightningturboracing]

Best game I ever downloaded

[@mariner_]

Absolutely amazing game Stay tuned for the 2022 truck release later today as well as a surprise announcement 👀

[@freewillygoss]

👀

[@mariner_]

@@freewillygoss set available now on stunod btw

[@jackhammerjt]

HAPPY 20 YEARS NR2003!!!

[@limestonebutter]

NR2003 truly is the motorsports’s version of GMod

[@TrentTheHedgie]

It's nice to see NNSCRA get mentioned in this, I've been a part of them for years and it's basically how I started my own SEGA league. This game is incredible and still holds up after 20 damn years.

[@cameronbharker]

I owe many thousands of hours of pure enjoyment to the developers and modders alike. Thank you, papyrus and the community who continue its legacy.

[@matthewgreene8038]

I’ve played this game since release. I will race on it today. This game is amazing. I love how new mods and enchantments still release even today. The community around this game is the best gaming community I have ever encountered.

[@ClaspedDread]

20 years of trying 20 years, of frustration And barely any nascar game has come close to NR2003

[@Pwop_]

I got into AC and ACC back in 2020 but was disappointed to find not much for Nascar mods, I see now that the community I was looking for was on NR2003 the whole time.

[@Drew_64]

iconic game that still holds up now and probably long into the future

[@marcosadventures6140]

Happy 20th Birthday, NR2003.

[@mr42ndstblvd]

This is awesome I remember back in 2003 my dad had nascar heat and it had mods on it similar to the mods for nr2003. I remember playing the shit out of nascar heat but i never got to use the mods because I was to young to understand how it worked. It wouldn't be until around 2018 when I started iracing and I just recently picked up nr2003 because it's so heavily modded.

[@NASCARFAN93100]

Happy Birthday NR2003

[@Leahi84]

I loved this game, I still remember the moment it all hit me about how far we'd come from Nascar Racing 1 in 1994. I go back and dabble now and then, but I'm pretty much exclusively iRacing now with regard to oval racing.

[@LawsonRacing2020L]

Somewhere on an external hard drive, I still have all my mods I downloaded for this game back in the day. Still have the disk too. Haven’t played it in forever. The 80’s Cup cars were by far the best set ever and so fun to race with.

[@JimmyProductions]

Welp, it outlived Motorsport game’s license!

[@KellieLeigh48]

Greatest NASCAR game ever and it's not even close

[@lightningturboracing]

That’s agreed right there

[@rolux4853]

Wow I didn’t know that the physical game is going for so much money! I just went to my local Craigslist and snatched a copy for 5 bucks haha. I guess the prices vary wildly!

[@oleskool6259]

And..Now I Know The Rest Of The Story…I didn’t have a clue how many twists and turns that was behind all of this I just heard of it and just had to have it I’ve been iracing about a year and kept hearing about this game and a couple failed attempts to get it now I’m more determined than ever. And honestly I think I’ll probably like it more than iracing. Somebody probably will wonder why and all I can think of is..Just because. Thanks for this video 👍

[@Runtz650]

Those games were ahead of it’s time bro best nascar games ever

[@ChristianHansard]

I only realized a few months ago it was still running. My cousin had 2002 and we played it a lot and I still even have his old sidewinder steering wheel. So i've played it that way some and I've painted a few cars. The modders of old games are my heroes.

[@yourejovian]

I’m lucky enough to own two copies of this game. I remember buying it from Best Buy when it was released. The second copy I found at a thrift store. I still play the regular stock game and it’s always a blast

[@Airbrush208]

So many great hours...

[@andrewessollek5844]

Man im legitimately crying RN. I played the Game as aKid and it pretty much made me the Car and racing nut today. I became a mechanic , i raced in Banger racing , and i still play it. Only through this video i know there are mods. Man. This game had an impact on me. I drove hours when having a hard day. I raced Talladega so many times , i cant tell how many cars i totaled. This game is my childhood , every memory i have connected with this game makes me happy af And now you all batshit insane MFers turned that game to eleven. so : GREEN FLAG! GREEN FLAG! GREEN! GREEN! GREEN! See yall on the tracks !!

[@strike4729]

W thumbnail

[@nascartoday8849]

I actually bought a physical copy last may lol

[@drnoise]

Hey hey. I saw some of my photos and website in there. :)

[@ShaneLarocque]

Just have to say thanks for the video,If you download Daytona 70 track read the read me file Yeah that's me hello,You guys that took over after we left makes me proud to see this game after 20 years .Also did the pre beta testing of the mentioned Areo88 mod back then..Great times Also raced against and in The DMP league with the mentioned drivers Look up Dan Denayer here on KZbin to watch some of the Old races ,Jeff Czupta,John Godfrey even Brian Davies (who races in Nascar Peak E online )

[@phillipvennemann503]

Good NASCAR game video games

[@PopperOfBalloons]

Always will be my favorite nascar game

[@MrPermafrost]

It's wild to me that it's been 20 years, and nothing has been able to replace it. And with the way modern game development is going, we'll see an open world NR map before we see NR get replaced.

[@CezNaf33]

5 mins left and i can play this masterpice

[@wadeenyart9676]

playing it as i am watching

[@FreddieMercurysMercury]

I got NR2003 for the first time earlier this year Reason why was I could get it for free compared to Iracing And the mods My home track was closed and Demolished in 2016-2017 But NR2003 had a Columbus Motor Speedway(Columbus OH) mod that finally pushed me over the edge to get the game Since then I’ve ran Modifieds Late Models the 2003 cup cars and even the Next Gen cars I’ve added so many tracks and I’m just now starting to see how good this game actually is because I started racing road courses and they are by far the most accurate ones I’ve ran on But no matter what my all time favorite will always be Columbus Motor Speedway Thank you NR2003 modding community for keeping my home track alive In some form

[@TonyTaurisano]

Played this game so much and started friendships with guys who are still my friends today. Started with the original Nascar Racing in 1994. What did you type after getting to the DOS command prompt to get to play the game again? I forgot it. 😂 Hard to believe it's been 20 years since N2K3 came out.

[@JacobCraigo]

11:10 No disrespect to Fitzy, but how could you not mention the man, the myth, the legend Cody Llamas? He's been in many leagues both online and offline and has won countless races and championships in them! Great video irregardless!

[@King1614]

I ended up finding a mod last year using the CTS physics with cup car horsepower. It’s by far the best thing I’ve ever driven.

[@TChapman500Gaming]

I don't think anything can replace NR2003 except for a game reverse-engineered from NR2003. I'm working on some APIs that will help me make better modding tools for this game (which I may possibly make open source, possibly along with the APIs). For this is hands down the best racing simulator of all time with the possible exception of the original rFactor, which is designed to be a modding platform and does not require EXE modifications for physics customization.

[@IanTheMotorsportsMan_YT]

This is the greatest racing game ever!

[@sametozkan9175]

It would be weird if Sterling Marlin's censored Coors Light Silver Bullet paint scheme titled "Sterling Marlin" does featured in this game.

[@bryce8718]

AcRacing is a fun channel to follow for nr2003 content

[@jetsteeltherealdeal7827]

I love my NR2003….never not one time have I got tired of it NEVER

[@stevegabbert9626]

I got started with NASCAR Racing 3, which I still say is the sim that is the most fun. I said "is" because I still get on the wheel from time to time to run a full race. NR2003 still has leagues out there, and for quite awhile I raced in both sim online leagues. I don't do iRacing.

[@RayJProductions97]

I’m a little surprised you didn’t mention the ARLA elite series in this

[@emobassist]

Dale Jr did the talladega br thing earlier too I think I remember him doing it in 2004 in a Busch race

[@GlazedSweetRoll]

I look forward for the day when we finally have a NASCAR arcade game that is better than NR2003.

[@sametozkan9175]

I was a youngest user in early 2012 joined in end of December 2011, but Kevin Rabanal ruined my 1st stint career and then i came back in end of 2016. Won the S43 Pichu London Cup Series championship as a S1 rookie.