that one of the hurdles for it to overcome is convincing the public of the
authenticity of it's "Mods" - both the tracks and particularly the cars that
will be depicted via rFactor but created via 3rd parties. Will it be
perceived to be amatuerish, fake and even childish? Many claim to have zero
interest in "fantasy" tracks for eg. I guess different modders will end up
with different reputations with reguard to this as do different companies.
A company like Papy would obtain licensing and from that be able to make
all sorts of claims as to the acuracy of tracks and physics engines,
claiming to have access to all sorts of data and working with all sorts of
people and race teams - impressive stuff. This can have a big psychlogical
effect on the average simmer with reguard to initial purchase and immersion.
So here's the question - if GPL never existed (blasphemy - LOL), and
some modder for rFactor did a mod based on those cars and tracks, and the
cars and tracks were absolutely identical to those in GPL in every way, how
would the sim community react? Would it be too slippery, hopelessly
unrealistic and difficult. Or would it go on to become the classic GPL has
with a widespead cult following? :)