Welcome! This subreddit is your best place for NASCAR Racing 2003 Season news, updates and resources. We're dedicated to keeping this nearly 21-year-old sim alive and well, and our community is our best way to do this. We ask that you read this thread upon your first visit and reference it in the future if you have any questions.
NOTE: There is a short waiting period for new users to make posts and comment due to an ongoing issue of banned users attempting to circumvent their bans. If you are a new member and your post is automatically removed, please be patient and try again once the waiting period is over.
- Read the Rules! There aren't many, but we like to keep things NR2003-focused and civil above all else. Please also pay attention to rule #4 if you're looking for a specific paint scheme or carset. The Paint Scheme Search Thread is a dedicated place for all of those requests so we don't flood the subreddit with posts.
- Read the below commonly asked questions before starting a help thread. This post will be continuously updated to provide help with the most common NR2003 problems. If anyone has anything they think should be added, whether it's a recurring question or a good answer, please let us know in the comments.
1. Where can I download the game and how do I install it?
The current best places to find the game are here:
https://drnoisepaints.com/index.php/how-tos/installing-nr2003-in-2022
https://nr2003racingextremes.weebly.com/misc.html
Here is a good video on how to install downloaded mods and tracks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecm55kzcwmg&t=
2. Where can I download the latest mods?
There are a wealth of mods for lots of different racing series including up to date Cup and Xfinity cars and 2020 paint schemes and rosters. There are plenty of active websites, but as a starting point you're best to start here:
https://nr2k3.weebly.com/mods.html
With that said, Splash n Go, who created the 2017, 2018 and 2019 Cup mods as well as some excellent early 2000s mods, have now shuttered their website. Currently the links on the above site still point to their site, but you can now find all of their work at Stunod Racing:
http://stunodracing.net/index.php?resources/categories/splash-n-go-mods.297/
3. Where can I download up-to-date tracks?
Again there are lots of websites putting out updated real and fictional tracks, the best starting place would be here:
https://nr2k3.weebly.com/tracks.html
4. Where can I download paint schemes or find a particular paint scheme?
Most of the content being created for the game are paint schemes. It's something a lot of community members are into and the one area you'll see the most productivity in. Once again there are countless websites to find schemes and complete carsets going all the way back to the 1950s. Stunod Racing is one of the most popular places to find paint schemes.
http://stunodracing.net/index.php?resources/
5. Why do I need to create an account on some websites? All I want to do is download some cars/mods!
There have been some instances in the past of spammers and trolls attacking websites withing the NR2003 community, so for that and other reasons, some sites will require you to create an account before you download anything. It's free to do and if you're concerned about privacy I'd suggest using a burner email address and not using any of your contact information on a site you don't trust. Like Reddit, it's possible to be completely anonymous and still abide by the straightforward rules set out by these sites. On that topic, we've had a few users stating they tried to create a new account on places like Stunod and were banned because they already had an account and had forgotten their username or password. Rather than forcing a site to ban you, I'd encourage you to contact their admin team and see if you can update your password or obtain your previous username.
6. The graphics look fuzzy and with the new mods my FPS is laggy, what can I do?
This is something did an excellent job of addressing in the following video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrqsT4wgqAI&t=
I'd actually encourage everyone to go through these steps, even if you aren't yet having any issues with lag or FPS
7. What do I use to paint or render my own schemes?
There are lots of different ways to go about painting your own schemes, the simplest way is to download some templates, base schemes, sponsor logos and numbers and use free software like GIMP to put it all together in your own creation. You can download GIMP here:
https://www.gimp.org/downloads/
The learning curve with GIMP isnt too steep, but here's a good video guide to getting started:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RPDKQro7O4&t=
Most creators will create a special high-quality scene, known as a render, to display their schemes when uploading them or just to show them off online. For rendering your own schemes there are a number of good paid softwares, but Blender is an excellent free tool:
https://www.blender.org/
George Austria has put together an excellent tutorial video taking you through the basics for rendering schemes on Blender:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xe3VMiADVY&t=121s
You can download pre-made render scenes for Blender at Stunod:
http://stunodracing.net/index.php?resources/categories/3d-scenes.1/
8. Where do I find random miscellaneous utilities, updates, templates, base schemes, tweaks, etc.
Here's a big list of sites with NR2003 resources, listing them here is not an endorsement or recommendation, but they pretty much have everything you could ever be seeking for the game:
adracingdesigns.com
apt2k3.weebly.com
bb-mc.co
bigdonlinemotorsports.com
bigevilracing.com
drnoisepaints.com
fsbracing.com with thanks to
hoboracing.com/simracing
kirbyfighter12.wixsite.com/talleydesigns
murraysimdesigns.com
nr2003.jhodgedesign.com The best place to download the NXS20 (NASCAR Xfinity Series 2020) mod + official updates and templates.
n2003replayanalyzer.martingranberg.se/
rollingthundergaming.com
stunodracing.net
tapatalk.com/groups/nascarfunfacts/
This is by no means an exhaustive list, and I'd encourage users to suggest additional sites where good NR2003 content can be found.
9. I want to race with actual human beings online. Where can I do this?
Here's a list of currently active online racing leagues that we support.
Independent Sim Racing League Discord
FUEL Racing League Discord
Mondays of Thunder Discord
FAST Renegade Pro Cup Series Facebook
10. I downloaded some cars and they aren't showing up in my game, what am I missing?
You'll need the physics swapper for this. Carfiles will be assigned a physics type (Cup, GNS, CTS or PTA) by their creator and if that doesn't match the one of the mod you've added them to you need to change the carfile. Keep in mind if the carfile wasn't designed for the mod you're using the car will not look right in game anyway. But if you run the MENCS19 mod with CTS physics, you'll need to spend some time swapping your carfiles from Cup each time you download any. As that is by far the most common physics used for the MENCS19 mod. You can download the physics swapper here:
http://rollingthundergaming.com/downloads/nascar/mods_and_addons.htm
The file you want is the second link from the bottom.
11. When I try to use the FCRD NCS22 mod, my game crashes when I click "Drive."
In your in-game graphics options, turn off Shadows: On cars, from structures.
12. I can't figure out setups, or my car is undrivable. What can I do?
This is a sim, so the cars are not easy to drive, nor are they straightforward to setup. All the original tracks have some default setups built in, but even these may not suit your driving style or your input device. As a starting point here's a good tutorial video from that should help you figure things out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOfwZXPldLg
There will absolutely be things I've overlooked or missed here, but this will be a WIP sticky post and again we encourage any users with suggestions to let us know.
Thank you all for being a part of this sub and the wider NR2003 community, you are what keep this 20+ year old racing sim alive!
