rec.autos.simulators

To those concerned.

I have to start by saying that from what I *was* able to access on my
"lowly" 486-66/dx2-s with 16 ram. The new version should be great!

However, I must also say that I find it very troubling that someone in
the *highly* intelligent chain of marketing command would do such a
thorough job of stepping on their proverbial*** by alienating a
large portion of the marketplace, ie: current version users. I plan on
upgrading to a pentium system in the near future, in fact am waiting
only on solid info on system requirements as to what cards etc will
work best with the new version. I figure anything that will run this
will work for my cad business also.

Unfortunately, being someone who likes to make informed buying
decisions, I find it amazing that a sim which will purportedly run in
vga on a 486 would be released in a demo version which, running in
svga only, effectively locks those of us who cannot afford a pentium
out of being able to evaluate the vga version which may run in full
product on our current hardware. How can anyone in marketing possibly
justify telling people that "The full version will run on your 486,
but you need a pentium to run the demo"????? How can I justify making
a purchase based on such info??? It *may* run on my system????

When I am involved with an offline league which is one of the few fun
things I do with my limited free time, and said league plans on
running the next season on the newest version of the software it
effectively leaves those with less than pefeclty new systems out in
the cold.

Like I say, I will be able to upgrade. But what about those who can't?
Do they just take it on face value that they can use a lower
resolution? Especially when I see messages flying around from people
that do already have pentiums yet are having problems getting the
"pentium only" demo to run.

Maybe I am totaly confused here and have accomplished nothing more
than tick some people off but it seems to me that the idea behind
marketing new software is to appeal to the largest consumer segment
possible. If so then I think Sierra needs some new marketing
consultants. Of course from a few things I've seen here and there,
(mostly groundless rumours most likely) I cringed when I heard that
Papyrus was being absorbed by Sierra. If this is how they handle the
initial release of a new and impressive piece of software they won't
be in the automotive sim business for long.

I may be alone in my feelings but somehow I don't believe so.

Thank you for your time and nothing personal, just my concerns as a
potential customer.

Ron R II

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<much interesting stuff snipped>'

An interesting point Ron...my opinion follows.

I guess the main word here was DEMO.  Is it  more important to
make sure everybody can run a demo??  Or is it more important
to let the a large amount of people see what you are doing
and let the word travel via the grape vine.  Lord knows, we
are hearing a lot through rasn alone, never mind various
irc chat lines and people on hawaii.  My opinion (that word
again) is that I would prefer Papy to spend their time on
the FINAL release to make sure it is as good as possibly can
be.  A demo is just that...A final release has to be lived with
for quite a while.

Randy

  My opinion (that word

Randy, I agree with you that It's no big deal if the demo only runs on
intel machines, but I'm alot more concerned. With no word at all from
Papy about it I am fearing the worst. In reality, it may only be a demo,
but who here believes that the code in it is NOT a version of what will
be in the final version? If papy would tell me a reason why my poor
humble slow 166+ can't run the game, maybe i'll be happy. I expect word
to come soon that they have decided to include us poor Cyrix owners
along with the Off The Pace 486 owners ( are you reading this Yuhas? :-)
) by letting us run it on low-res mode, making the Intel-only code the
high res engine. I have baught every Papyrus product ever made, and I'm
a desperate NASCAR fanatic, but I'm not giving up my Cyrix for a game.

If only Ed or Adam would break the silence, and at least tell us no
decisions have been made......I can take the truth.

Well, I can tell you that we have done nothing intentional to shut out
Cyrix users.  We fully intend to make NASCAR 2 work with the Cyrix.  We
didn't know about this problem before the demo, now we know.  That's why
releasing a demo before the game is done is a good idea.  You can find out
alot more things and still have time to get them fixed before the final
version.  Anyway, thanks for your patience and bear with us :).

Adam
Papyrus

Dana Bailes

<intelligent content cut for convenience only>

Ron,

In a nutshell, the Pentium is here to stay.  The 486 is going the way
of the PC, AT, 386, etc., if not already halfway there as we move into
the next level of racing simulations.  To make us happy with features
people scream about wanting in a sim, and to sell a sim that will
outdo the ones before it, then it going to take more than a 486 to do
it, regardless of who's overdrive processor you buy to avoid the
inevitable pain of a Pentium purchase.  486 users should understand
that new releases or major upgrades are probably never going to run on
the same platform the original runs on, so we'll just have to stay
with the ones that do until we can afford to upgrade our hardware.

You're not irritating anyone (not me, at least), you're just
frustrated and confirming the fact that I'm in the same situation and
need to upgrade since I got the N2 demo and can only run it on my
notebook Pentium (I hope the BASICS Gameport PC-MCIA card comes out
soon!).  But I think there is no way to please all the people all of
the time, and to get the things we want in a sim to work in a way that
won't get people flaming Adam, Ed, Papyrus or Sierra, then there's a
price to pay, and it's called "PENTIUM" (not to mention the Creative
Labs 3D Blaster with Verite chip, 10x CD-ROM, etc.) :)

Kyle

chances are they compiled it with pentium specific code, and that's
that.  it was compiled to run on a pentium only.  just a guess, but
probably a good one.

You are about to start a holy war.  If it wasn't for Cyrix or AMD do you
think you can get Pentium chips at prices they are today and faster
clocked Pentiums in less than a years time?  If you let Intel run the
world we'd be at their mercy and have to live by what they dictate.
Intel would be "milking" P-60,66,75s if it wasn't for competition.  Do
you think we'd get so many higher clocked chips so soon if Intel ruled
the world?  I don't think so... maybe a new chip every 1-2 years (or
more) if they had a monopoly.

It was Cyrix who pushed the Pentium performance envelope and their
innovations and designs help make this industry better.  You'd be crying
about how expensive Intel CPUs were if Cyrix or AMD wasn't around.
Don't knock the competition (Cyrix) because they are the ones that allow
you to purchase your "Intel" CPU at cheaper prices today.

--
Kenny Ho

--
Pat Dotson

On 26 Sep 1996 16:47:30 GMT, "DAVE ABSHIRE"

Kyle

PURP

        By the way, my Cyrix P166+ is not budging from my ZIF socket,
baby!  You definitely get what you pay for:  I've got the best overall
performing 133 MHz PC processor money can buy.  

        To answer your question though:  I finally saw the demo tonight
when I loaded it on my friends Pentium Pro/200.  It ran flawlessly and
the frame rate was awesome.  Nice job, Papyrus.  I think you have a winner.

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Rick