If anything I think EA makes the games too easy. I'm playing in career mode on 2005 right now on "extreme" difficulty 12% race length. Second season in late models I won 13 out of 16 races, 15 top 5s, 16 top 10s, 14 poles, led 201 out of 246 laps. If I really would have tried I could have won everything and led every lap which is what I'm going to attempt to do in my third season. I don't mind the game being easy though since it is an arcade game. When I want a real challenge I play NASCAR 2003.