rec.autos.simulators

Thanks
Rick

[ Communications ]
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Bj?rn Nyhln
Lund ,Sweden

    You bet it is. Since I started racing on VROC,that's all I want to
do. Work all day, then eat with the family,help my son with his
homework,check email,racing sites,then head on over to VROC for the rest
of the night and into the early hours of the morning.

    I just wonder what will happen to all the die-hard gpl online racers
when the Trans-Am and The Sport car sims finally are released.

Joel Willstein

   Are you checking join? If it had host checked previously,it will not
give you a been box.

Joel Willstein

   I wonder too.  A lot of us are *** sim fans, so it will take a
pretty good product to pull us away from GPL.  Have to wait and see on
TA and SCGT.  I think the biggest thing will be the release of
NASCAR3.  A lot of GPL'ers are Papyrus and NASCAR fans, and a lot of
them will run N3 when it comes out (with the Papyrus track record,
it's hard to picture N3 as a dud).  And the nights of a full VROC
board of GPL races will be history. :(  But that's still half a year
away...  :)

"But in a way, fear is a big part of racing, because if there was
nothing to be frightened of, and no limit, any fool could get into
a motor car and racing would not exist as a sport." -- Jim Clark

PS I know many people prefer Nascar style racing to open wheel / road
circuits and I have no problem with their decision, I'll be in the queue to
buy N3 myself. I just wouldn't like to see GPL fall by the wayside.
--
Ian Parker

ICQ   21772592

Since N3 will use almost the same multiplayer client/server coding as GPL,
and be able to race with IPX, Modem and TCP/IP, Im about 99% sure that it
can be easily ported to VROC.

Still, it's not comparable to a dedicated system like TEN, with Servers made
for it exclusivly, a Nascar sanctioned series, statistics, a TEN GUI made
for the NROS, almost no warping (compared to GPL), etc..  It is in the whole
hands of Sierra (they are the "owner" somehow of the NROS) to decide what
system N3 will be ported on.  Im sure that TEN has a good chance of getting
N3 on for the NROS.

I mean.. the NROS won't go anywhere if we stay with N2, so Im sure that with
N3 the NROS (Nascar Racing Online Series, the 14th division of Nascar) would
be an incredible virtual racing series.

Good post Ian. The biggest problem we'll face is when all those excellent
Stateside cable/ADSL hosts switch (I imagine) to N3... the way things are
going this side of the pond it'll be a while before we have reliable "mass"
hosts. Euro hosts are cropping up more often, but a lot of Net
connections between Euro nations seem to go via the States, which
doesn't help much.

Having said all this, I think N3 will be a different enough experience not to
threaten GPL's existence totally... though I find it hard enough to find
enough time to keep "on top of" GPL. Add another serious sim to the time
schedule and something's going to give! (Probably my sanity)

Andrew McP

PS The transition to N3 should be interesting after all these months of not
worrying about tyre wear!

    I can see that when N3 comes out that VROC will become a ghost town for a
short while.  However, There are those such as my self that can't stand going
round and round and round over and over again.  I'd much rather be on the road
courses because it hands out one hell of a challenge.  Oval racing, no mater
which track, is just boring as hell. Even in traffic.

    I will be among those that disappear from VROC, But only for a short while to
drive the newest Sim. But after that,  I'll be back in full force.

BTW>  I read an article in Sports car magazine that the heads of SCCA, FIA, and
other road racing clubs were getting together to figure out how to bring back the
spectators to road racing.  This article is a few months old. So, Has anyone have
any info on what these organizations are planning, have planned, are going to
plan?

Mike Barlow

Race Communications Association
http://members.xoom.com/RCA/toc.html

Holodyne Engineering

Mystic Music

I've never driven the Nascar sims "to death" like I have GPL, but I've
always enjoyed them... though in a different way. Oval tracks offer you that
quick adrenaline hit, the chance to get that lap just right *this* time... and
when you don't the chance is there again very quickly.***up a lap at
the Ring and you'll probably die of old age before getting the next chance
;-)

Never driven online with Nascar1 or 2 and I suspect it'll be rather good.

Still, whatever happens it's better to be spoiled for choice than the
alternative! Of course the Quake scene was superb until Q2 came out
and split the online Quake community up into (IMO) dying fragments.

kostis

Somehow I can see the opposite ;-)

Since VROC can (and I speculate) easily be applied to Nascar Racing 3, since
I would guess it uses the same multiplayer client/server architecture as
Grand Prix Legends, you will see it for both versions.. maybe sharing the
same applet.

Of course there might be some superior form of online racing using Dedicated
server such as TEN with the NROS, but there will always be normal TCP/IP
based racing.  When the N3 non-GPLers  see that there's "another game" on
VROC called GPL, Im sure some of them will buy it.  Thus making it staying
alive :)

And even more since I know from facts that converters will be extra-easy to
do, with interchangeable tracks an easy task.

-= Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard/Nas-Frank>
-= NROS Nascar sanctioned Guide http://www.nros.com/
-= SimRacing Online http://www.simracing.com/
-= Official mentally retarded guy of r.a.s.
-= May the Downforce be with you...

"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realise
how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."