> > Leaving a market of about 10,000 hard core sim racers who'd never have a
> > single title made for them. EVER>
> Not for $50. For $500 they could. Which is probably less than they'd pay
> for a good FF wheel, great graphics card, and the premium for a fast system
> over an average one. But they'd never EVER pay that much for the piece of
> software for which they would spend all that extra cash on hardware, would
> they?
Paying a premium for that ultimate sim for *** RASers has been mentioned a
few times - even to the tune of paying a group of programmers up front to do it.
It needs a change in mentatility from the 90s when we had steady releases that
increased the experience in reasonable leaps (e.g. graphically, aurally,
features and of course physics) For me the evolution went something like
Indy500, GP1, ICR, Nascar, ICR2/GP2, N2, F1RS, GPL in the space of about 8
years. So pretty close to one title a year, and typically each big release
replaced the previous (i.e. one sim at a time)
In 1992 GP1 cost 45 (approx $65) as a premium price Microprose title - 10 years
on premium priced games cost 30 ($42)
Now 45 represented pretty stunning value for a year's entertainment.
GPL cost 30 in 1998. Judging by previous experience I would have expected it to
have been superceded by 2000. It has shared a place with other sims GP3, F1RC,
F12001, Rally Trophy since but is still a primary piece of entertainment,
largely due to the great work by the sim community.
Arguably had GPL been further developed with other eras it would have been the
only sim for me - as it provides the best engine for feel for my own PC,
contoller & driving style (cough) setup.
In which case the investments in the EA sims (every few weeks) GP3 & 2000, F1RC
etc. could have been channeled into one "monster" Sim. Each individual purchase
looking for that leap forward which seemed sadly lacking.
To conclude if I really thought a sim was going to be that good to last for
three years with an open design to allow quality modifications I should be
prepared to pay the sum total of all the other sims I won't buy during that
period because it is so good.
Obviously this has an element of risk - what if somebody else produces something
better and I have used up my budget? - though experience suggests the number of
*** racing sims is limited to say the least.
Somehow (as Randy states) it is easier to justify a new graphics card &
processor every year or so, plus it seems easier to fork out for a new steering
wheel purely for ones sim racing hobby than the cost of a game.
Time for change in approach?
Tony
