rec.autos.simulators

I've been playing F1 Racing Simulation and I"m interested to hear some
opinions about
the flag and penalty system (which seems inaccurate) and the way the car
behaves on
grass, sand and water.  

I've only seen yellow flags, and it seems like there is no penalty for
passing when they
are out. What flags is F1 Racing missing, which have you seen? The manual,
so far
as I can tell, dosen't mention flags at atll.

Is it just me, or does the car seem to remove itself from sand (and on
rainy days, mud)
way too easily? Also, the grass seems to slow you down too much.

Tom

I too have only seen yellow flags waving.  I have received a "black flag"
after ignoring a 10 second stop and go penalty but was never shown the
flag...  instead, car control was taken over after I crossed the
start/finish line for the third time after never having gone into the pits
and it was driven into the wall with a message that I was disqualified.  I
have yet to see a blue flag (would be nice for backmarkers) or a red flag
for dangerous driving.

The game designers made a choice that all players should be able to
extracate themselves from sand in the name of playability.  They must have
thought that getting stuck would be too severe a penalty for a PC sim...  I
remember having read this either in the manual, the read-me or on a web
site.  If you don't like it, just stop driving if you are too deep into the
sand and have lost all motion :).  On the other hand, you can be like Schue
at Argentina and keep up your speed if there is an access road near by!

In regards to the velcro grass.... there has been general ranting and
raving about this for a while.  I find it not too bad if I only put one or
maybe two wheels on for less then a second.  Over a second and then it
begins to bog me down.  I don't know if there will ever be a cure for this.

Cheers,
Gian Vitzthum

-----------------------------------------
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then, I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes).
                         - Walt Whitman
-----------------------------------------

Exactly how I feel too! It in no way prevents me from occasionally
driving with one or two tires on grass, but it is very unrealistic if
I end up driving completely on grass for longer periods of time.
But like I said elsewhere, F1 drivers don't appear to be driving on
grass continuously anyway. If they end up on grass, they usually apply
full brakes to stop their car completely.

If they cured it, they should also add a feature where you may be
disqualified for driving on the grass all the time trying to use it as
a shortcut.

I'm glad I'm not alone about the grass. I'm not a big F1 fan, but I thought
it did seem to inflict too much
of a speed penalty. I've never seen an F1 car enter the sand, but I didn't
need to know it didn't make
sense in F1 Racing Sim...

As for the flags, have you ever seen the AI cars crash on their own (I'm
always the one doing the crashing)
and then passed someone on a yellow? Were you penalized? Since I'm the one
always causing the
yellow flags, I figure its OK for the other drivers to pass me. . .

Tom