When I first launched the game I was amazed at the similarities to Nascar Racing 4. Similarities is almost an understatement, EXACTNESS is a more appropriate term really. The buttons, options, graphic location, everything was identical to Nascar4, the graphics, buttons, and all around appearance was different, but you can tell the coding of Nascar Racing 2002 did not fall far from the N4 tree.
Once I got into some actual game play, the feel was the same, but the graphics were definitely different. I won't say improved because to me improved would be an exaggeration. They looked very good and clean, but then so did Nascar4. The cars were more detailed, as were the spectators, but the overall track appearance wasn't that much different. What really made me say wow was the sounds. Papyrus has completely changed the engine sound package and definitely for the better! I'll get more into all of this later, but this is what was going thru my mind upon first boot of the game.