Hey everyone, I’ve been getting into NASCAR Heat 5 lately, and I wanted to share my experience with you all, specifically regarding whether it’s crossplay or not. So, I fired up my dusty old PS4 and grabbed a copy of the game. I also borrowed my friend’s Xbox One to see if I could race against him.
First off, getting the game running on both consoles was a breeze. No issues there. I even pre-ordered the Gold Edition to get early access on July 7th – totally worth it, by the way. The Standard Edition came out on July 10th, so that’s cool too. Anyway, I dove into the single-player career mode first. That kept me busy for a while, trying to work my way up the ranks. The career mode is pretty deep, and there are also single races if you just want a quick run.
Multiplayer Mode
But here’s where things got interesting. I wanted to see if this whole crossplay thing worked. I sent an invite to my friend on his Xbox, and guess what? Nothing. We couldn’t connect. Turns out, after digging around online, that NASCAR Heat 5 doesn’t support crossplay between different consoles or even between consoles and PC. Bummer, right? I was really hoping to show off my skills against my buddy, but no luck.
I did see that the game supports up to 40-player online multiplayer, but only with people on the same platform. So, I joined a few online races on my PS4. It was okay, but it definitely feels like the PC crowd doesn’t really use the multiplayer mode that much. There weren’t a ton of people racing unless they were all part of some kind of organized league. I found a bunch of forum posts talking about this too, like one from August 2020 saying the PC multiplayer was basically dead. I’m not sure if that’s still true, but it’s something to keep in mind if you’re planning on getting it for PC.
Single-Player Mode
Even though crossplay wasn’t happening, I still had fun with the single-player challenges and the career mode. I also heard that the game is backward compatible with the PS5, which is awesome. I don’t have a PS5 yet, but I’m glad to know that when I finally get one, I can keep playing NASCAR Heat 5. There’s also this Ultimate Edition that I saw, which comes with all the DLC packs from 2020. I didn’t get that one, but it might be worth checking out if you really like the game and want all the extra content.
So yeah, that’s my experience with NASCAR Heat 5 and its (lack of) crossplay. It’s a solid racing game, especially if you’re a NASCAR fan. Just don’t expect to be racing against your friends on different platforms.
- Pros:
- Fun single-player modes
- Good graphics
- Backward compatible with PS5
- Ultimate Edition with all DLC
- Early access with Gold Edition
- Cons:
- No crossplay support
- PC multiplayer might be inactive
Alright, that’s all I’ve got for now. Hope this helps anyone who was wondering about the game. Later!
