rec.autos.simulators

Playing Colin McRae Rally this evening, I began to wonder what
improvements could and should be made in the sequel, or in any future
rally sims.

The damage modelling in CMR didn't quite crack up to much. Sure, your
body work can look a little dented from time to time, and yes you can
lose your rear lights, but there's little to stand out from the crowd
in this area. I'd like to see some suspension, tires and even engine
damage in future titles.

Also, the 2D graphics in CMR could vastly be improved on.

Car handling is one area they shouldn't need to work on very much.
Perhaps a few tweaks here and there, but CMR still has one of the best
car physics engines in any rally sim to date - IMO, of course.

Also, a few animated crowds would be nice. In real rallying,
pedestrians and on-lookers fill the sides of the course. Not just at
the very beginning and very end of a race.

What else do you think should be included?

Ken,
- Remove 'nospamallowed' from my email address to reply.
- ICQ #53954494

Yo!

Codemasters should look to Viper Racing to se how damage should be done.
When you crash, your car gets dinted and the paint is removed in the damaged
area. This doesn't sound too impressive, but if you have tried Viper Racing,
you'll know what I'm talking about. Every crash result in its unique dint.
If you crash hard, your car is trashed. Also, if after a jump land too hard,
the suspension breaks. The car becomes undriveable.

Luckily, - or unfortunately , a wrecked car doesn't mean that you are out of
the race. By pressing space bar, the car becomes driveable again, but you
loose time because of the need for acceleration.

CMR2 should have optional damage model, like Viper Racing.

The difference between the difficulty levels should be the with of the
roads. Rallying is being done in narrow roads. Not so in CMR. On the other
hand: The wide roads of CMR allowed any otherwise no good driver to slide
like a pro. I think this feature plays a major part when explaining the
popularity of the game. Therefore: Let the with of the road decrease with
increasing difficulty level. That way both the *** racing sim fans and
the rest of us can have a game to be satisfied with.

Hortly speaking: CMR2 should have a simulation mode and a semi-simulation or
arcade mode.

BTW. Animated crowds should be avoided for two reasons:
1. It delays the launch of the game
2. I'm going to drive so fast that I will not be able to see the animation
:)

Jon
Jon

: Yo!

: Codemasters should look to Viper Racing to se how damage should be done.
: When you crash, your car gets dinted and the paint is removed in the damaged
: area. This doesn't sound too impressive, but if you have tried Viper Racing,
: you'll know what I'm talking about. Every crash result in its unique dint.
: If you crash hard, your car is trashed. Also, if after a jump land too hard,
: the suspension breaks. The car becomes undriveable.

You took my words.  Viper has a stellar damage model which goes a long way
towards suspending disbelief.  It was such a let-down last night, while
playing RC2000, to get into a slide and broadside a tree, only to have the
opposite front light go out, but otherwise no damage.  Viper seems to be
the only sim that puts damage where it actually occured.  It is a step
above all the others, and I would really love to see a rally sim get this
right.

Stephen

Though the power slides opposite locks and drifts are about the best
available they do seem to come too easily - if you barrel into a corner much
too fast you always get strong turn in followed by oversteer - in real life
you're more likely to plough straight on with terminal understeer. What CMR2
needs is initial understeer which can be feathered into neutral or oversteer
through skillful use of both pedals and the wheel - a la GPL. This would
also put more emphasis on getting the braking point just right - and make it
a more rewarding experience when you get everything right and shave a second
off a corner.

Stuart