Ultimate NASCAR (Johnsonverse)

Ultimate NASCAR is a 2015 racing simulation game developed by Papyrus Racing Games and published by Johnson Games for the PS4, the Xbox One, PC, Macintosh, Nintendo Switch, and Linux, based on the NASCAR motorsports league. The game covers every car, every track, every driver, and every series from 1948 to the present day. It is part of the Ultimate line of games.

Released on August 30, 2015, the game received universal acclaim for its close attention to detail, its wide range of cars and drivers, its "Challenge" mode, and its "Director's Mode" feature. 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is featured on the 2015 cover of the game; beginning in the 2017 update, he is replaced by 2002, 2005, 2011, 2014, 2016, and 2020 champion Tony Stewart.

Features
The game has various features from prior NASCAR games created by other developers such as EA Sports and Infogrames with their permission, including the Team Communicator and Share Draft/Intimidator.

Every series, every track, every driver, and every car since 1948 is included (including cars that never ran in NASCAR such as the Chrysler LeBaron and Mercury Cougar, and drivers who never got a chance to shine such as Casey Elliott, Chris Trickle, and Tim Steele), and the game is continually updated with new cars in every series; fantasy tracks from all past NASCAR games are also included, such as Tiburon Superspeedway, Old Spice Speedway, Dodge Raceway Stadium, Welch Valley Racing Complex, and Coca-Cola Superspeedway). The Create-a-Car mode is greatly updated with every sponsor that has ever been in NASCAR (with more that can be downloaded), and also lets players create a driver to go with it. Existing cars can also be modified, up to and including changing their manufacturer or even model year (for example, the game can seamlessly change Tony Stewart's 2020 Pontiac Grand Prix into a 1955 Chevrolet Bel-Air without any issues with the paint scheme). The game also features commentary from WBC broadcasters Ken Squier, Ned Jarrett, David Hobbs, and Wally Dallenbach Jr., in addition to Fox's Mike Joy, Larry MacReynolds, and Darrell Waltrip, and NBC's Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, and Steve Letarte; the broadcasting teams are updated yearly, with teams from other networks such as ESPN, TNN and Freeform being added.

Career Mode has been improved significantly from past games. There is also a mode in which players can take control of or form any team at any time in any series and take them straight to the top. This mode can also be played online and players can compete against other players' teams; the first team used in online play was one that Tim Johnson himself made, Pacific Coast Racing, featuring fictionalized versions of himself, Chloe Johnson, Belle Armstrong, and Jenny Smith, plus fictional drivers Ace Johnson and Dennis Malone. It can be played by up to 100 players.

The game features a user-friendly track creator that allows players to build any track they wish, from a small circle to Rainbow Road from Mario Kart, and everything in between. Existing tracks can also be modified, such as turning Bristol into a large restrictor-plate track or turning Daytona into a small, Bowman-Gray Stadium-esque track.

User-created cars, teams, tracks, seasons, and replays can be shared with the community and downloaded.

Development
Development of the game began in 2010. Tim Johnson sought to create "the biggest NASCAR game there will ever be". In 2011, the game, along with the rest of the Ultimate series, was announced. It was reported that it would be separate from Papyrus' Jeff Gordon NASCAR games, but would not replace them, and would act as a high-end NASCAR game.

Reception
The game was universally acclaimed for its attention to detail, its vast range of cars, and its Director Mode feature. IGN said in its review, "Forget all the other NASCAR games, this is the NASCAR game to own", while giving it a 10 out of 10.