Matt DiBenedetto sponsored by NASCAR Heat Evolution at New Hampshire

BK Racing has announced Matt DiBenedetto will be sponsored by the new video game, “NASCAR Heat Evolution,” this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the New England 300.

DiBenedetto’s No. 83 Camry will be mostly black with the logos of the game that was released Sept. 13 for the Play Station 4, Xbox One and PC platforms.

The game is made by Dusenberry Martin Racing.

In the Challenge Mode of the game, you can try and recreate DiBenedetto’s sixth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway last April.

The New England 300 is scheduled for Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

NASCAR Heat Evolution Features 40-Player Races

Hey, PlayStation drivers! NASCAR Heat Evolution began with a mission: deliver the most intense NASCAR racing experience. Working alongside Monster Games, known for developing classic NASCAR games like the original NASCAR Heat and NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona, we pushed ourselves to find innovative ways to make our racing vision a reality.
That meant extensive car tuning options, adaptive AI that adjusts to your skill level, in-depth Career and Championship modes to capture the exhilaration of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, and a new Challenge mode for those who want to step into the cockpit of their favorite drivers and recreate real-life history.

But the biggest thing we wanted to do to separate NASCAR Heat Evolution from any NASCAR title you’ve played before is in online competitive multiplayer. As the first official NASCAR game on PS4, we recognized we had the power to do things never before possible in a NASCAR game. So we committed to giving players the real deal: a full field of 40 racers in online multiplayer — 40 human players all going for the checkered flag in the same race.

In previous NASCAR console games, each multiplayer game was hosted by a specific user, and that kind of peer-to-peer system could result in a number of issues — the host could leave, or have a poor connection, and that could negatively alter the entire race. We knew that system wouldn’t fly if we wanted to put 40 players together in NASCAR Heat Evolution. We built a new system where each online game’s data is hosted by a server. All race data comes from that server, so the entire race experience is no longer tied to any one player.

There will be three different online lobbies available: No Rules, Normal, and Hosted.
No Rules: If you’re a beginner just looking to learn, bump, and crash (or you just want to bump and crash), the No Rules lobby is for you. This is a great place to practice, try things out, or just have a good time with friends.
Normal: For players who want to test their skills but are still looking for a good, clean, and friendly race.

Hosted: This lobby is for people who are more serious about racing. Race hosts will have the option to decide which level of player can join the race session. For example, if the host only wants racers level 5 or higher, he or she can set that parameter when creating the session. In addition, hosts have the right to boot players from their game.

Within each of these lobbies, players have the option of joining an existing session or creating their own. When creating your own race, you’ll be able to select the track, number of laps, fuel/tire wear, and max number of players. Once a race has been created, it will begin in 60 seconds whether the requested number of drivers have joined or not.
Unfortunately, due to the resources required to balance 40 separate players in one race, caution flags will not be available in online multiplayer. It’s not an ideal situation, but we really believe in the new opportunities that multiplayer on this scale opens up. Pitting will still be available in online races depending on the race length and wear options selected. Finally, players have the option to create a private race and invite their friends. This feature is perfect for NASCAR Heat Evolution leagues that want to host weekly races.

Multiplayer will only feature human drivers on the track, so if there are 24 human players in a session, you will see 24 cars on screen. Your starting position is determined by previous lap times at that track. Those with faster lap times will start closer to the front, helping to ensure that players of equal racing ability are placed near one another for a clean start. If a player quits a race for any reason, their car will disappear from the race, but everyone else can continue to compete for the checkered flag. Players who finish online multiplayer races will get Speed Points, as they do in offline racing. There are also a number of PlayStation Trophies up for grabs for those who compete online.
Online or offline, we’re very excited for you to finally get your chance to play NASCAR Heat Evolution when it launches on September 13. See you on the track!

NASCAR Heat Evolution PC Challenger Mode Matt DiBenedetto 3

NASCAR Heat Evolution PC Challenger Mode Matt DiBenedetto

Nascar Heat Evolution - All Drivers And Paint Schemes

All paint schemes in the base game as well as all paint schemes included in the pit pass 1 dlc.

The struggle was real — virtually — for Joey Logano in new video game

The struggle was real in a virtual way for Joey Logano, which was exactly what the Sprint Cup veteran was seeking.

In a recent night of playing NASCAR Heat Evolution, the video game released today, Logano couldn’t win as much as he tried at Martinsville Speedway in the game’s career mode.

Logano had a limited budget to optimize the parts on his car to go faster, and the game adapted to his ability, limiting him to a best of 10th at the 0.526-mile oval.

“I had a hell of a time,” Logano said with a laugh. “You had to make money to buy stuff to make the car better, and I didn’t have any money, so my car wasn’t very good. It was hard, and things like that are kind of fun to play.”

It was much different from the racing games Logano played (then in the guise of Jeff Gordon’s No. 24) as a whiz kid many years ago.

“I would stop for a lap and try to get them all ahead,” he said. “You don’t have to do that to make it a challenge.”

The key to making NASCAR Heat Evolution challenging without completely curtailing success is its adaptive AI feature, which allows the game to react to a player’s performance and customize the experience.

“As you get better at the game, it realizes that, and it adjusts automatically the strength of the competition, so that’s pretty cool,” Logano said. “Because you don’t want to finish 40th every time, but you also don’t want to win every time, too.”

Players also will have the option to customize setups and modify their cars with upgrades.

Logano is an investor in the game along with teammate Brad Keselowski, and they provided input on the development with a goal of balancing realism with rewarding entertainment value.

“It’s a fine line because you want the game to be fun, but you also want it to be challenging,” Logano said. “If you make it drive too much like a race car, not many people are going to be able to do it. You want it to be enjoyable but not so complicated that you have to be setting up your car and play it all the time to win. You want it to be challenging enough that people come back and get better, but you don’t want people to have to live it to be decent at it.”

The game, which is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, also will have an online playing feature that will permit a full field of 40 players remotely racing each other. Players can host private races or join existing events and control various factors such as laps, fuel, tire wear and number of entrants.

“I look at a video game like it’s the only way our fans are able to understand a little of what we feel because you can’t just go to your local sporting goods store and buy a race car like a baseball bat,” he said. “So the only way you can kind of get a feel for it is through video games. That’s still very different from what we do, but it’s kind of the closest thing to it.

“You can’t go drive your car down the highway at 150, or at least you’re not supposed to, so this is the best way to let fans try to experience what we feel.”

Watch: behind the scenes of the ‘NASCAR Heat Evolution’ commercial

On Tuesday, the newest NASCAR video game, “NASCAR Heat Evolution” will be released on the Play Station 4, Xbox One and PC.

If you’ve watched any NASCAR broadcast in recent months you’ve likely seen the commercial for the game. It features Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and the game’s cover boy, Carl Edwards.

Now you can see the antics the drivers were up to during the filming of the commercial, including bloopers and outtakes.

The drivers also share their history with NASCAR video games and how they’ve helped them in their careers.