rec.autos.simulators

Official F1 - some good points

Steve Ferguso

Official F1 - some good points

by Steve Ferguso » Thu, 20 May 1999 04:00:00

these comments might be of interest especially to notebook computer
owners.

While I agree that it is a rather lightweight sim, there are a few reasons
that I would still buy it:

1. it actually runs reasonably well at 640x480 wide screen in software
mode on my (don't laugh) P133 unaccelerated notebook

2. it is quite playable with the keyboard (again, good for a notebook)

3. it manages to look really good in software mode, better than GP2 I
would say, and with better framerates (obviously there are compromises
elsewhere)

4. somehow it geives the illusion of an even better framerate than it is
achieving.  Even when the framerate dips below 20, it looks much smoother
than GP2... perhaps the 16-bit graphics?  Are they 16-bit?

5. I can run it "stealthily" in a little 400x300 window on my desktop and
sneak a few extra thrills at work.  I also liked doing this with SODA.
Somehow, I like the look of a little tiny game running on my desktop.

6. it's written for 3D-now, which a lot of the AMD-chips in newer
notebooks support.  Until more notebook makers jump on the ATI Rage
bandwagon, this is one of the few sims that will run with graphics
acceleration (?) on an average notebook.  I don't know anything about the
3D-Now instruction set, so I may be completely wrong.

7. it sounds great.

So, it's a bit of a lightweight sim in need of some patching before the
final release, but especially for people one the go, I think it is a
better F1 sim for notebook users.  The hottest notebooks at the moment are
PII 366s, and even these suffer with GP2.  This new game would fly at
800x600 on one of these, and it is playable with the keyboard, which is
also important for notebook users.

Stephen


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