rec.autos.simulators

by **Karl Hungu** » Thu, 05 Nov 1998 04:00:00

*sigh* ---------It's---------- meant to be that way. Why----------- do you
need to look at the clouds when you need to-------- concentrate-----------
on driving? While you may feel you are not getting the----------
full----------- picture in GPL you infact are seeing more of what
you--------------- NEED------------- to see with the letterbox.

>Is it just me or is everybody else restricted to a "letterbox" view when
>actually on the track in Grand Prix Legends?

>I am running it in 800x600 with a Voodoo2. The introduction screen, car
>set-up, the pits etc. are all displayed in their fullscreen glory, but this
>is cut down to a cinema type aspect ratio when I go for a drive.

>Thanks.

by **Destro** » Thu, 05 Nov 1998 04:00:00

Nope its not you. Its the game. Sucks dont it but thats the way it is.

> Is it just me or is everybody else restricted to a "letterbox" view when
> actually on the track in Grand Prix Legends?

> I am running it in 800x600 with a Voodoo2. The introduction screen, car
> set-up, the pits etc. are all displayed in their fullscreen glory, but this
> is cut down to a cinema type aspect ratio when I go for a drive.

> Thanks.

by **YenRobso** » Fri, 06 Nov 1998 04:00:00

Is it just me or is everybody else restricted to a "letterbox" view when
actually on the track in Grand Prix Legends?

I am running it in 800x600 with a Voodoo2. The introduction screen, car
set-up, the pits etc. are all displayed in their fullscreen glory, but this
is cut down to a cinema type aspect ratio when I go for a drive.

Thanks.

by **Douglas Hillma** » Fri, 06 Nov 1998 04:00:00

>Nope its not you. Its the game. Sucks dont it but thats the way it
is.

You betcha it sucks. What GPL really needs is
some airplanes or balloons floating by like in
NFS. And lotsa clouds too.

The physics engine surely doesn't need to be
this realistic, so they shoulda dumbed it and the
AI down quite a bit so they could use the processor
cycles to draw a buncha stuff up in the sky.

That'd be K00L D00D!

-dobe-

by **E.mo** » Fri, 06 Nov 1998 04:00:00

I would not call it SUCK. IMHO it is a good idea.

(full screen mean FPS eater)

>Nope its not you. Its the game. Sucks dont it but thats the way it is.

>> Is it just me or is everybody else restricted to a "letterbox" view when
>> actually on the track in Grand Prix Legends?

>> I am running it in 800x600 with a Voodoo2. The introduction screen, car
>> set-up, the pits etc. are all displayed in their fullscreen glory, but
this
>> is cut down to a cinema type aspect ratio when I go for a drive.

>> Thanks.

by **Lawrence Edward** » Fri, 06 Nov 1998 04:00:00

God forbid anyone should criticise GPL - it can't possibly have even the
smallest flaw!

For goodness' sake - GPL is good but it has many faults. I suppose it must
be me but I'm amazed by all the ***on this NG about GPL. Just a few points
to consider:

The AI suck big time because they drive like psychopaths.
The graphics are good but only fill some of the screen
The cars are much too difficult to drive and this is very unrealistic
The sound is not at all convincing

>On Thu, 5 Nov 1998 07:59:26 +1100,

>>Is it just me or is everybody else restricted to a "letterbox" view when
>>actually on the track in Grand Prix Legends?

>>I am running it in 800x600 with a Voodoo2. The introduction screen, car
>>set-up, the pits etc. are all displayed in their fullscreen glory, but
this
>>is cut down to a cinema type aspect ratio when I go for a drive.

>>Thanks.

>Yes. It is letterbox. It enhances the sensation of speed and by
>not having to deal with the extra size, it improves the framerate.
>All around, a good deal.

>--
>( rrevved is at mindspring dot com
>( post in haste, repent at your leisure

by **Jarrod Smit** » Fri, 06 Nov 1998 04:00:00

I have to know something: Why didn't anybody complain about this in F1RS,
but now its like the number 1 complaint in GPL? In F1RS there is that huge
black stripe across the top that contains info about your laptime, position,
etc. Yet nobody complained that a large area of the gameplay graphics were
obscured by it. Strange...

Personally, I'd *much, much, MUCH* rather have the wide-angle view afforded
by the letterbox view than having the standard 4x3 aspect ratio with its
reduced field of view. Or did you just want them to fill the rest of the
screen with sky to kill the fillrate of your graphics board?

I think that people don't think before they offer this criticism. They all
manage to say that the letter box view sucks, but nobody manages to offer
any ideas as to what would be better than it.

Jarrod Smith
The Scripps Research Institute
http://www.scripps.edu/~jsmith

>Is it just me or is everybody else restricted to a "letterbox" view when
>actually on the track in Grand Prix Legends?

>I am running it in 800x600 with a Voodoo2. The introduction screen, car
>set-up, the pits etc. are all displayed in their fullscreen glory, but this
>is cut down to a cinema type aspect ratio when I go for a drive.

>Thanks.

by **Jarrod Smit** » Fri, 06 Nov 1998 04:00:00

Yep. The wide-angle aspect ratio is one of the best features in the game,
and also one of the most criticized aspects of it. Finally we get a sim
that includes a *feature* (yes, feature) that comes closer to providing that
holy grail of "peripheral vision" that is so often blamed for problems with
simulators. And then everyone (well, not everyone) complains about it.

Do you complain that the movie screen in the theatre is too wide and not
tall enough? You have to realize something: field of view is related to
aspect ratio. If you try to fit a wide field of view into a more "square"
aspect ratio, then you get weird fisheye effects. Not to mention that in
the case of a computer game, not drawing the extra pixels means better
performance.

Jarrod Smith
The Scripps Research Institute
http://www.scripps.edu/~jsmith

>I would not call it SUCK. IMHO it is a good idea.

by **Trip** » Fri, 06 Nov 1998 04:00:00

> God forbid anyone should criticise GPL - it can't possibly have even the
> smallest flaw!

GPL certainly does have flaws. Any simulation will.

They seem pretty fast and clean to me... how are you defining
"psychopath"?

Do you really need to see more sky and more of your lap? The graphics
show you everything you need to see and don't distract you with useless
stuff. What's wrong with that?

This is based on your personal experience in late '60's Formula 1 cars,
or just conjecture?

No sound card and speakers available on this planet will truly do
justice to these engines... GPL does as good a job as any sim I've
heard.

Just my opinions... no more or less valid than yours of course.

Trips

by **Lawrence Edward** » Fri, 06 Nov 1998 04:00:00

Hi rrevved (afraid to use your real name?)

>On Thu, 5 Nov 1998 18:10:14 -0000,

>>God forbid anyone should criticise GPL - it can't possibly have even the
>>smallest flaw!

>>For goodness' sake - GPL is good but it has many faults. I suppose it must
>>be me but I'm amazed by all the ***on this NG about GPL. Just a few
points
>>to consider:

>>The AI suck big time because they drive like psychopaths.

>I might. The AI don't.

I've lost count of the number of times I've been shunted off the track from
behind, even in the warm-ups when braking at the last possible moment in the
cars with the best brakes (e.g. Parabolica at Monza). This inevitably leads
to the culprit being put out of the race - hardly realistic IMO.

I prefer programmes which use the whole screen - it gives more atmosphere
IMO.

I did, Do you disagree?

I have driven the Ferrari in GPL - which I admit has a nice engine note. I
wasn't just referring to the engine sounds though. All of the other sounds
are far too quiet IMO and there's no option to change the sound levels as
there is in most other racing sims. I think that an opportunity was missed
to add a lot of interesting sounds and thereby improve the atmosphere.

In many ways I agree. If this is supposed to offend me then it doesn't,
since I don't have an inferiority complex. It's true that I'm not going to
devote all my spare time to driving GPL. If it had a more realistic
difficulty level then I think it would be more rewarding. This is plain
common sense.

I like GPL a lot but it's not perfect. Do you recognise any faults with GPL
at all?

by **Lawrence Edward** » Fri, 06 Nov 1998 04:00:00

Hi Jarrod

>Yep. The wide-angle aspect ratio is one of the best features in the game,
>and also one of the most criticized aspects of it. Finally we get a sim
>that includes a *feature* (yes, feature) that comes closer to providing
that
>holy grail of "peripheral vision" that is so often blamed for problems with
>simulators. And then everyone (well, not everyone) complains about it.

>Do you complain that the movie screen in the theatre is too wide and not
>tall enough? You have to realize something: field of view is related to
>aspect ratio. If you try to fit a wide field of view into a more "square"
>aspect ratio, then you get weird fisheye effects. Not to mention that in
>the case of a computer game, not drawing the extra pixels means better
>performance.

I'm sure people who criticise GPL's use of only part of the screen realise
this. And yes, I do complain when films are shown on TV in 'letterbox'
format as I prefer full screen. The effects you refer to are due to the need
to convert the wider aspect ratio of film to TV. This is not an issue for
GPL since it wasn't recorded on film.

OK, so the wider aspect ratio gives better peripheral vision (in your
opinion - I'm not sure I agree BTW). You must surely admit that a compromise
has been made by the programmers - the smaller screen gives less atmosphere
IMO.

Better performance is only an issue if graphics processing power is
insufficient to cope with full screen. Surely an option to choose the aspect
ratio would be better?

by **Trip** » Fri, 06 Nov 1998 04:00:00

> I've lost count of the number of times I've been shunted off the track from
> behind, even in the warm-ups when braking at the last possible moment in the
> cars with the best brakes (e.g. Parabolica at Monza). This inevitably leads
> to the culprit being put out of the race - hardly realistic IMO.

Are you using braking help? If you are, that could account for your
getting hit from behind. You have to brake WAY too early with braking
help on... When I tried using it in races, I not only got hit from
behind, I also had a tendency to hit the cars in front of me under
braking unless I braked WAY before they did.

I bit the bullet and turned off braking help. Spent a couple of days
decorating the tracks with pretty black stripes, but now I don't get hit
from behind anymore, and I can brake as late as the AI cars and not run
into their backs either.

Trips

by **Jerry Moreloc** » Fri, 06 Nov 1998 04:00:00

"Sick at up your ass"? "Sick UP at your ass"? It may not be intentional,
but it's funnier than hell. Whassa matter man, your fingers slip? And
where did they end up? No, no, don't tell!

Jerry Morelock

and sick at

rec.autos.simulators

GPL Fullscreen?

GPL Fullscreen?

GPL Fullscreen?

GPL Fullscreen?

GPL Fullscreen?

GPL Fullscreen?

GPL Fullscreen?

GPL Fullscreen?

GPL Fullscreen?

GPL Fullscreen?

GPL Fullscreen?

GPL Fullscreen?

GPL Fullscreen?

GPL Fullscreen?