NASCAR Thunder 2004 (PlayStation 2, Xbox)

This page details bugs of NASCAR Thunder 2004 (PlayStation 2, Xbox).

For a widely beloved console NASCAR game, NASCAR Thunder 2004 has a few of it's share of technical gremlins.

Pace Lap Bug#

Watch on YouTubeIn very rare cases, a massive wreck/pile-up can occur on the pace lap. If the player is wrecked out during the pace lap, the damage will be reflected during the start, which can cause the player to retire from the race.

Johnny Benson Pre-Race Segment Skip#

To do: ID and audio rips.

If Johnny Benson appears during pre-race screen on an SMI-owned track other than Atlanta Motor Speedway, the commentators for these tracks will not say anything about him.

This is because the game is supposed to play a track-neutral commentary, which mentioned his 1995 Busch Series title; however, the "generic" version of that audio commentary (for SMI tracks) is instead paired with a track-specific commentary intended for Atlanta Motor Speedway, which mentioned his career first pole position. As the game fails to find the relevant audio files, the commentators will not say anything about Benson in the pre-race segments outside of Atlanta.

Happy Hour Qualifying Time Glitch#

To do: Is this bug in Race Now mode only? Does this require a pole position lap?

Watch on YouTubeAfter qualifying, if the player enters the Happy Hour (second free practice before the start of the race) session and then pause immediately after starting it, the player's qualifying time will continuously decrease. This can be continuously repeated to gain a qualifying lap time of zero seconds, as the player can enter and exit Happy Hour at any time before starting the race.

Incorrect Rookie Texture#

In Season and Career modes, should Ricky Rudd step out of his #21 car, the #21 Motorcraft Ford will change to Joe Nemechek's #25 UAW/Delphi Chevrolet (complete with rookie stripes) instead for the replacement driver's rookie season. However, the number thumbnail will still have the #21 on it. This occurs because the #21's RTOF value (that controls rookie stripes in Season/Career modes) in the NASCAR.DB file is incorrectly set to also use the #25 for it's rookie-striped car.

Incorrect Voice Call#

• If Brian Vickers' car appears in a race, the starting grid will refer use Ron Hornaday's voice call ("The ACDelco Chevrolet") instead of Vickers' own ("The GMAC Chevrolet"). This applies to both MRN and PRN commentators. This in turn makes Vickers' voice call unused, despite being a playable driver.
• If a custom car bearing the Goodyear Blimp primary sponsor is used, the starting grid will refer to "The DeVilbiss Car". DeVilbiss was a selectable sponsor for custom cars in NASCAR Thunder 2003 that did not return in this game.

Like the Ricky Rudd rookie stripe bug above, these issues occur because of errors in the NASCAR.DB file; Vickers' SSID value (that controls sponsor intros in the starting lineup) is set to reuse Hornaday's (280) instead of using Vickers' own (283). The Goodyear Blimp sponsor also has an incorrect SSID value; DeVilbiss uses SSID value of 78, while Goodyear Blimp's ID is 90. (A list of valid SSID values can be found on the NASCAR SimRacing/Sponsors page, since that game's unused sponsor clips came from NASCAR Thunder games.)