The NASCAR Thunder 2004 Career Mode Experience | Season 1

[@SebrystianVettel]

we need a season 2 on this

[@TanDawg58]

"Fittipaldi causing a caution for nothing" Him being Christian Fittipaldi was reason enough for the yellow

[@nicholasbradshaw]

His car IS the yellow. Literally, too.

[@SekiroNSkidmarks]

I live 10 minutes away from Charlotte Motor Speedway and know next to nothing about NASCAR. This is top tier content, man.

[@number1combo]

Your not missing much. Shits boring af.

[@MikMogus]

You accidentally flipping Matt Kenseth with that little bit of contact you made had me wheezing lol.

[@seekerblackout]

Says he's gonna take a Matt Kenseth approach instead of Ross Chastain Has a Ross Chastain season anyway

[@johngray7117]

You flipping Matt Kensenth and having all kinds of problems with Jeff Gordon is the best part of this video.

[@murilocatureba6975]

The amount of skill that you have in the early career is incredible! What was the funniest part though was the Fittipaldi pit road glitch, i've never seen that one before

[@ryanhamilton8084]

"the rivals gained was worth the money earned" 🔥🔥🔥

[@talhadevyt]

i am so glad i found this channel this funny as hell

[@Sinflux420]

I played the ever-living hell out of this game as a kid. I didn’t realize how great the career mode was until the later games we have to deal with 😢

[@SMPandanic]

2000's games "hey you can change your left or right tires or even all of them!" Nascar heat + Ultimate "right tires only or all tires we don't do left tires only here"

[@kylegardner6272]

Weird in Nascar Heat 4 you can change just left

[@nicogf99]

Finally, mark I hope you know I spend the whole month repeating almost every day your NASCAR 04 shannanigans video. Thanks for continuing your classic NASCAR videos!!! You have a true new fan over here in Colombia. Cheers mate 🙏

[@larryisntmynamebutyoucanca9625]

Love you, man! One of my favorite racing games of all time!!!

[@KitsuneAmy]

Love these videos and your sense of humor. I died of laughter around the 34 minute mark. Very entertaining to watch and held my attention through the whole video. Keep up the good work, Mark!

[@nicholasbradshaw]

Oh hey, an NR2003 content creator. Love your tracks!

[@SMPandanic]

Just got Nascar Thunder 2003 and.. you make it look easy!

[@SMPandanic]

and at the time (and still) that was on rookie mode.. granted it's automatic mode and not manual but I do decent

[@fivewidesports]

29:15 was hilarious. Great video man!

[@fliple48]

That's actually entertaining I like it

[@JYung94]

I know NOTHING about Nascar but this guy makes it so entertaining lmaoooo

[@ryanward2855]

I’ve been rewatching your videos for a while now and I was so happy I saw you uploaded a new one!

[@Breffeik]

This was thoroughly entertaining from start to finish, please do a bunch of these!

[@Hardeesworker1000]

Hopefully when season 2 or 3 comes out, you will get the pole in the daytona 500, win the 125, and get surprised by Troy Hayes on the front row

[@lexj432hz6]

That pit stop at the final Phoenix race was hilarious! This whole video was hilarious btw 😂

[@pirate772009]

Anyone else notice that Jeremy Mayfield just vanished into a literal cloud of smoke at 25:10?

[@xyph2627]

really enjoyed this one, looking forward to season 2!

[@Hgfd-c5g]

yyeah babyyy

[@brandenrounds2086]

Another awesome video man! Your videos have helped me get back into Nascar after about ten years of not watching! Keep the great videos coming

[@garetkimmet729]

Dude I just recently discovered this channel after buying a gamecube and thunder 2003 and just watching random nonsense about it and I gotta say I catch myself laughing to tears every video like this you put up. Cant wait for Dirt to Daytona and Season 2 😂

[@narutosk3]

Leave it to Mark to deliver content we didn’t know we needed.

[@insignificantother4194]

The Man. The Myth. The Legend.

[@nenoo008]

Another great video! Can't wait for the next one!!

[@FayeHunter]

I apparently didn't see this video I saw all the others. So I watched this, just as funny as always. Very good. I give it 5 crashing Jeff Gordons out of 5

[@TiredOfNamesTaken]

30:33 Nice one, Kyle Petty.

[@radienmayakovsky3]

Looking forward for 2nd Season. Subscribed to you 🎉

[@johnrogan9729]

This was incredibly entertaining!

[@johnrogan9729]

“No talenting around” at Bristol 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@Nickearl1]

Very good video man!

[@TheNewfieGamer]

Thanks for displaying the game in its proper aspect ratio. Most run it stretched and it looks weird.

[@youtubeaccountlol4942]

I grew up with NASCAR Racing 3 (Papyrus) but I first played Thunder04 this year and holy moly what an incredible game

[@stewpiddewd]

loved this video! just so you know though, there ends up being fantasy drivers in i think season 3 and barney hall drives number 121.

[@alexandredaigle8479]

Love this format

[@justinturley7071]

So today I started a Ricky Rudd Season Mode (with a custom 2003 schedule, adding in night races such as Kansas Night, Rockingham Night, Chicagoland Night, Michigan Night, and Atlanta Night as the last race) raced the Daytona 500, went the first 9 laps before I had to pit, basically put nearly half the field a lap down, so I tried something different, I only pitted for fuel, no damage fix, just to see what would happen, we’ll the field caught up to me in turn 3, and then made it really interesting on the next lap, without newer tires, my car got loose, got up the track, got into Mark Martin, who then turned me, left about 7 or 8 cars in the mess, but because this was coming off of green flag pit stops, I was able to get into 7th. Coming into the restart, I was really ready to make my move, just then a debris caution came out, so I decided not to pit, so I cycle out the leader (it was currently lap 18 of 20), my fuel then read “Low Fuel” then, not even 2 seconds after the green flag waived, another debris caution came out, so now I had to hold Bobby Labonte for 1 whole lap on 3 worn tires, I successfully did, and won under caution, after I won the race, my fuel tank was empty. Crazy race.

[@AImpatientMan]

This comment is so late but after being on season 5 in my main save as well as like 15 abandoned dale reynolds rookie championship challenges, talladega is the most terrifying track in a NASCAR video game. On 25% races you will be dodging half the field running out of gas but the AI has no idea what to do so they just sit in the middle of the turn/run right into each other. Its 2-4 laps of genuine fear that you have to do 2+ times a race

[@CarlJT]

His unintentional fuel tactics at talladega made the a.i. also run out of gas 😂😂

[@StewDogR]

The NASCAR game I spent the most time with as a kid. Excited for this!

[@spencer_726]

25:08-25:11 where did the car go???????

[@haydenvaughn00]

I remember this and Thunder 2003 having the most fun crash physics and damage of any NASCAR game.

[@chefsquid8479]

ABSOLUTE CINEMA

[@iBeeLock]

oh fuck, memory unlocked I played this game 20 years ago was a 5 year child

[@Goodstegosaurus]

Hoooooly shit yes!

[@tct2294]

Great video, I loved it, but I do want to know the name of the song that plays between 38:48 - 39:50

[@MarkLeiffer]

That's actually a song my brother made that we never named. It's still filed under the name "New Jazz 1."

[@tct2294]

Did he ever release the song?

[@simuraisimomme4581]

Very funny Video pls more of this Game and Career Mode😅

[@Hardeesworker1000]

Bro, I finished my first season for spin sport, and my drivers name is garb age, from New York born 9/11/74, with the number 83 Pontiac, and I finished in 31st

[@fuzzo4475]

Bro your content is amazing. Please keep it up, instantly subbed. What're your settings on PCSX2 by the way?

[@MarkLeiffer]

In PCSX2 1.6.0 I have the internal resolution set to 3x native, and I also enabled the HW Hack called alpha stencil to get rid of strange lines on the screen.

[@fuzzo4475]

@@MarkLeiffer Thanks you so much. I think the latest versions of pcsx2 don't even have Alpha stencil, that was my issue. Thanks so much man. Keep up the good work.

[@FattyJuggy]

No one: One of the announcers saying Winston Cup Series

[@XRTRACING]

I remember plying this years ago. I remember dale jr winning 20 something races that first season. Second season was more of the same. And the third season I took over. I could’ve won every race if I wanted.

[@turbokart3776]

Great video. Your style of comedy makes me laugh so much. I know you probably won't see this, but I have a question: what exactly is your setup for Charlotte? In my career, I try to run one I found online and I can, at best, fall over a half second off of your time. I have no idea what to do for these races.

[@MarkLeiffer]

Tire Pressure: 24 psi Fender flare: 74 in Rear spoiler: 60 degrees Front springs: 60% Rear springs: 85% Wedge: -0.5 turns Gearing: Preset 7

[@turbokart3776]

@@MarkLeiffer Oh wow, thank you so much. I'll try that one out.

[@LifeintheHammerLane]

Another great video intro as always, the music is perfect 🤣🤣 That's so sad you are only just experiencing Thunder 04 now, I've had it literally since it came out and that game made up about a quarter of my childhood. I'm talking I've fully finished more then one career mode, I think it's 20 seasons where it makes you stop. I'm glad you're enjoying it 🤣 I'm assuming you're emulating this with graphics like that, PCSX2?

[@MarkLeiffer]

Glad to hear that you enjoyed it! This is being emulated using PCSX2 1.6.0.

[@FlakMonky20k]

I haven't watched all of the video. But could you imagine being a crew member on your team and having to fix your car every week? No one is going to see their families anymore.

[@thomasclavinjr.3817]

This is fantastic! I just bought this at a second hand game store and dusted off my PS2. I was never a great gamer and just got into NASCAR but I find this game so difficult (on easy mode!) Any tips for the driving?

[@MarkLeiffer]

The biggest things that I focus on are smooth inputs, and I know that's a difficult thing to really get the feel of especially with a controller. But with time you'll get the feeling down. Steering smoothly with an analog stick is what took me the longest time to really get.

[@GloomsOath]

im absolutely loving this, how are you playing this man??

[@MarkLeiffer]

I use PCSX2 version 1.6.0 to emulate this game so I can upscale it.

[@staudtlabs]

I cannot wait for season 2

[@xbubelx13]

As a kid I never truly got to place this. I got so mad one day that I bit the game. Such a shame as this was the best nascar game.

[@randallmiedzinski]

Please never stop doing content like this lmfao

[@BarrenWasteland]

Lets get the season 2!

[@pghchaos]

I suck at this game, I don't get how you did so well in the first race, my car can't do f all in the first race

[@MarkLeiffer]

I think what's most important with all the EA Sports NASCAR games is being really smooth with the inputs. There's a certain feel to it that's hard to describe. But really you just need to finish races, because then you can save up and try to make the car better.

[@FastGunner2040]

Why is this so funny?

[@anthonybf2]

Man when I was a kid I loved NASCAR so much but as an adult it sucks so much. Are there any old classic NASCAR games you can recommend for PC? Because at the time all I have access to is a low end potato laptop. Thanks and keep up the good work.

[@MarkLeiffer]

My favorite PC exclusive NASCAR game is NASCAR Racing 2003 Season. Pretty much any of the papyrus line of games are great. I've also played the PC version of NASCAR Thunder 2003, but it's not as good as the console version from what I remember.

[@e93sports80]

Just subbed.

[@olunclesam8847]

Dude you were doing that good in season one?!? With Legend?!? Man I need to know what setups those were because I’m just starting to play and I’m on rookie and it’s being merciless to me lolol (4 DNFs don’t help either lol)

[@MarkLeiffer]

I've noticed that it's good to keep the car updated setup wise. As the car rating increases the handling changes, as well as the gear ratios that you need to run track to track. Basically, I recommend doing a practice run each race to try to dial it in. You always want to be hitting 9,000 rpm coming into the corners, but you don't want to be going much farther than that. I also recommend running the car on the loose side but that's a little difficult early on because you have to balance if the tire wear is worth it or not.

[@miiko0866]

What settings are you using? Like difficulty and length? Unsure if you mentioned it but I don't wanna go back in the video xd

[@MarkLeiffer]

Legend difficulty and 25% race lengths.

[@duskrem_]

shoutout to christian fittipaldi for bringing out a caution by doing nothing

[@wolverine9632]

36:20 Kurt Busch and the Curb Tush incident

[@trppYgh0st]

I used to go backwards and crash into cars lol

[@Involting]

29:12 had me rolling😭😭

[@AlexGarcia-nq8de]

How in the hell are you do good at this game, I’m doing my first career mode myself on the middle difficulty and struggled to not finish last almost every single race😭

[@MarkLeiffer]

Working with custom setups helps performance a lot early in the career mode. I think the most important thing though is staying smooth since tire wear is really rough early on.

[@AImpatientMan]

I love how you raced the exact same as my career season where you realize you literally cannot win no matter how dumb the ai is/how good you are so you proceed to fraud the outcome of races to determine who wins, then the second you get to a track you can win you immediately start racing like dale senior

[@beastmodebrandon6963]

Steve Park paid you paid for his win by wiping out Kurt lmao

[@jeffjordan9921]

On the restrictor plates with low tier equipment it's faster to not share draft with the ai and instead try to bump draft. I say try because when you get real close to them they try to switch lanes for some reason. You'll find a sweet spot though that is faster than share draft, not by much but it helps.

[@jeffjordan9921]

Also for martinsville downshift to 3rd as late as possible, basically when you're on the straight otherwise the back end gets really light. That advice works on the road courses well too with the floaty feeling. Downshifting on corner entry is nearly a death sentence in this game

[@maston334roberts2]

Christian Fittapaldi keeps having mishaps on pit road 😭

[@alexandredaigle8479]

Please do more of this

[@paullocotosh5291]

You know I knee a dude from beangoose. No teeth if you could imagine.

[@HELLOEARTH1MILLION]

We need a season 2,3,4,5,6 until He Lepages the entire field.and until he absolutely destroys Jeff Gordon.

[@Lesposito25]

Is this on pc? If so how do you get it

[@MarkLeiffer]

I'm playing this using the PCSX2 emulator, and I used a real copy of NASCAR Thunder 2004 to get the disc image.

[@Lesposito25]

Alright thanks love your videos man keep it up

[@themartimus1748]

How in the world did u get pole at Indy with a 53 car rating ? Lol

[@PandyPaws74747]

Oh!

[@YaaBoyMel]

Bro you are fucking hilarious keep doing you bro

[@Crocodile12569]

Nascar 2003 thunder nascar 2004 and 2005 chase the cup were the best racing nascar games I ever played I still have them on my gamecube I like the nascar games today too just not ignition 21 I didn’t like how that game played my comma button doesn’t work on my keyboard so I’m sorry

[@batvette]

I have to say nascar dirt to daytona was more fun for me simply because of the silly cheat modes like snowball mortars and super draft. I didnt get a lot of use out of the "oh, my!" Code though. (One car becomes a 100ft tall crew member) Because of its unpredictable nature super draft was hard to win races with but sure was great to clear the field.

[@youknowJP]

Season 2 pls

[@MarkLeiffer]

Editing it as we speak.

[@the-gas-station]

Dirt to Daytona was my favorite game to wreck in as a kid. Probably triple digit hours spent just slamming cars on every track surface known to man. I don't remember actually finishing a single race

[@diesel10rules23]

Ok Jeff Gordon might suck in this game but Stewart is worse

[@oficjalnysonicgamer_pl]

NUH UH, ITS NASCAR RACING 2003 SEASON game

[@makermod]

No? There is more than one nascar game. This is Nascar Thunder 2004 for the PS2.

[@halolasomaster3900]

Best Nascar game now it's all trash

[@RetroRogue.]

Damn I was about to binge watch these but it's not the whole game. it's just snippets if that. There's really nothing to watch just a summary video. I don't understand why people do this. Sorry but I gotta pass.

[@MarkLeiffer]

it's extremely hard to get a viewer base from making a let's play type series. It goes on for way too long and it's just the same thing over and over. That's why videos like this get made, you get almost infinitely higher viewer retention and you're not boring your viewers by being stagnant. I did playthroughs of both Heat 5 and NTG:2013 with one video per race and I think the lack of views on both those series proves the point.