>Can you give one track as an example. I dont watch F1 much but Ive
>downloaded some onboard videos and I cant point out any major differences
>between the videos and the game.
Entire sections of Silverstone that are downhill in real life go
uphill in the game and vice versa.
The esses at Magny Cours and the final chicane are about as wrong as
you can get while still resembling the real track in any way. The
first set isn't too bad (should be a hair tighter) but the second set
in real life are tighter with a rather noticeable elevation change,
and the chicane towards the end has a bit of camber to help you
through it and dumps you out in a straight line for the pits (whereas
in F12k2 you have to fight to just get the car left to make the
immediately following right hander).
There is no modelling of camber that I can see on any track anywhere.
They are flat as boards except for huge dips and rises (alternately
known as "polygon ramps") that don't exist in reality. The bump
modelling at Priory at Silvertsone which throw even the GTR cars up in
the air if hit the wrong way are laughable and remind me of what a
badly converted track from ICR2 would probably feel like in GPL or
N2003.
Eau Rouge is much less narrow/bent than it is in reality.
Montreal is just wrong. Period. I'm sure if pressed Francois would
go into more detail. =)
The elevation changes at Monza between the second Lesmos and Variant
Ascari (i.e. the Vialone Chicane, whatever they call it now) are
interesting but bare little resemblance to reality.
Hockenheim and Nurburgring were way off, but since the course changes
they attempted to model occurred after the game was released that's
understandable.
Aside from those points, the ideal line through most corners involves
putting 2 wheels on the grass, which is a huge no no in any racing
car. In reality going beyond the edges of the curbing heavily
unsettles the car causing you to slow dramatically and fight to keep
it straight. This isn't much of a track modelling problem per se, and
isn't a problem in GTR (because of the suspension model) or the 1995
mod (because of the aero model), but it makes the tracks feel horrible
when the ideal lines are so wrong and when you can blow a turn and
literally drive half a straight with 2 or 4 wheels on the grass
without losing much time. Apparently the new suspension and aero
modelling makes curb cutting a risky venture in F1C (yay).
Honestly, if you want to know what's wrong with the tracks, play GP4
and then go back to F1 2002. It will be like racing entirely
different courses, the latter of which aren't the accurate ones.
FWIW, if anyone cares, I could always post in-car shots (er, above
car? whatever that half-in car cam is called just above the driver's
head) of the same corners of each track from each sim for a
comparison.
Jason
