rec.autos.simulators

Some questions I have after trying the demo:

Is there any way to 1) pause the game without it jumping back to the
previous meny screen (in other words, just to freeze the action with
a "Game Paused" message a la Papy or GP2 without actually going anywhere),
2) start a test session without having to floor it immediately, and 3)
save a test session/race in progress (this is/will be in the full
version...right?)?

I always hear this funny sound exiting the final turn every time, just
after I pass the pace car on pit road, which I can best describe as "jet
fighters in the distance." What's that about?

Is it possible to switch to a camera view during game action other than
***pit mode and the wide angle rear view?  If so, is this a demo
limitation?

The "rookie," "intermediate," and "professional" settings - I thought
those applied to me as the player, but now I read it's for the AI...?
Are my settings always the same, then?

Now to the carset stuff I really care about...

26 cars - what happened to Meier and the #34 car? Will this be hard-
coded so that the field cannot be expanded beyond 26 cars maximum, and
if so, what happens next year when the second Forsythe and Green cars
are added? Will the periodic updates (from CART? Microsoft? Terminal
Reality?) take care of this?

Do the AI models physically distinguish between the Reynard, Lola, and
Penske, and do the Reynard sidepod winglets disappear on the speedways
(I know Gugelmin kept his for the US 500, at least for one photo, but
most Reynard drivers did not)?

From driversx.txt in the races subdirectory:

Any idea what the 1-3-8-13 mean? It's not alphabetically or performance based...

Thanks,
Earl
I also like how you can follow the cars from left or right (as opposed to driver's left or driver's right) and can adjust camera angles.  But no GP2 reverse***pit view?

Earl

Comments below

anywhere),

When you press escape, you go to the pause screen - that's the only way to
pause.

I believe so. I've saved races, but I believe you can save test sessions.

Could this be the crowd roaring?

Yes - use F1 to see what the keys are (V, K, home, etc)

Rookie affects both you and the AI opponents.

We are limited by what the licensee's allow - hence a couple didn't make
it. The good news is that you can edit DRIVERS.TXT (in the races folder)
and change them yourselves to be what you want. I believe you can only do
this in the retail version though.

The game does distinguish between the chassis. I'm not sure about the
sidepod winglets - probably not.

driver's left or driver's right) and can adjust camera angles.  But no GP2
reverse***pit view?

I'm not familiar with the GP2 reverse view, but you can switch between
views with the v key. Check out the suspension view with the scrolling
lense cover!