Boy, this discussion really got heated quick...
I really have to clear up some issues here.
XCar, for all it's worth, is as close to a racing SIM as we can get. We
had numerous racing drivers test that offered feedback to the game. Add
1 year tweaking to find the feel is probably one of the longest in
*** design. But it was necessary, because the feel is everything.
It's the holy grail of driving, followed close by speed. Even the
designer of the game is a racer, and has a suped up customized Porsche
which he sadly gets to play little with these days. There is no doubt
XCar is going to be compared to N2 and GP2. When you have games like
these that set such high standards, we have to at least match that. So
what you are experiencing is a racing SIM, not a racing GAME. There is
an arguement that if you attempt to reach the mass market by "watering"
down the sim elements, you can sell more games, but in the end, we know
that our core audience will simply shunt it. They can be brutal that
way. So we went as sim as it could get.
Concerning some interesting posts on the "butt-ugly" graphics, I
couldn't figure out what some people was talking about. Until I
realized that for the 3Dfx version that leaked out, some of the graphic
settings were at a lower visual quality. Try going to the options menu
and select the graphics menu. In there you can control graphic
settings, and you can set the detail from HALF to FULL. This makes a
huge difference on the cars by doubling texture pixels in detail. This
option was included because on some of the HUGE tracks (Mayan, Seattle),
there were too many textures, and it required swapping, which slows down
the game. For the demo though, you can crank up the detail, and all
should be fine.
As for the controls, well I'm sorry you had to experience that but that
is a direct result of playing an unfinished 3Dfx version. The default
settings are a bit out of whack, which explains why control can be so
difficult. I plea with you to try the one that we "official" release.
In fact, it should be by sometime tomorrow, if all goes well.
If you all still have issues you want to address (or throw a
bash-a-thong), then I would like to know them. We do listen to what you
guys have to say, and we do want to make the best games we can. It
gives us a chance to get out for fresh air and fresh feedback.
Clee