rec.autos.simulators

Why is that a game like Interstate '76 has a better "feel" than any other
sim I've ever played?  Really now,  the suspension actually rests when the
car sits there, leaving room for up or down spring.  When you take off, the
car sits back, and when you break, the car dives.  Now I know that in a race
car,  the suspension is much stiffer than in a street rod, but why does it
have to be non existant.  In most sims, the only way to tell that the
suspension change you made changed your handling is by your top speed.  The
only sim that I've played that isn't like that is SODA.  Either way,  I'd
rather race in I'76 than NROS anyday, and with the sequal to I'76 coming out
soon with dedicated race mode,  I will probably not buy another race sim
until it gets much better.  Just my 2 cents.  Bill

GP2 does this perfectaly.  Set the ride height correctly and drive down
a fast straight.  U will see the rear of the plank rub the ground when
acc. near the top end of your speed and when you break for a turn the
weight goes to the front and the front plank hits the ground.  ICR2 only
sims this visually, but the car does get much more loose under breaking,
so the change is handling is simed.  F1RS and MS CART   IMO do a shity
job of siming this which is why I have gone back to ICR2 and GP2.

If you want to make is feel like a standard production car u can.  Load
gp2, and set the springs, bump stops, ect to the least stiff setting
possible, I think zero.  Then it will feel just like a standard
production car.  The same thing works in ICR2 but not quite as well.Once
again, if you are talking about F1RS or MS CART  I agree, they do not do
this well at all.

???In gp2 if you set the springs real stiff the car reacts *very*
quickly and the tyres wear much faster, if you set the springs up real
soft the car fels like a boat and the tyres take forever to wear.  Can
you really not feel this?  ICR2 is the same but not quite as well done,
but still good.  Once again MS CART and F1RS do not do this well so if
you are talking about those "sims" then I agree.

Remember on an oval you are dealing with all kinds of odd banking, which
will make the car feel weird.  Personally, I don't like driving N2 on
ovals at all, it never feels right, but I really wouldn't know b/c I
have never driven a stock car on a high banked oval.  Anyway, try this:
download the TPTCC at www.theuspits.com and put that on N2, then drive
the road/temp street courses.  I find that this utility makes the N2
physics feel *exactly* like the Honda Accord V6 that I drive daily.

As far as I know from MS CART, the "third spring," which is used for
stiffening the suspension, is to reduce excessive suspension travel when the
rear wing begins to have too much load.  Too soft of a suspension can cause
the decrease in the acceleration.  While F1 indy car is only one or two
inches off the ground, you do not have too much suspension travel anyway.