to a friend, who, in turn, now says he can't find the CD (some friend,
eh?). The physics in F1 2000 has really impressed me, and I have been
itching to give SCGT a try again, just to see how it stacks up now that
I have a faster machine and better video card (I was running it on a K6-
2 300 system with a Canopus Pure3D Voodoo I card, and now I'm running a
K6-2 400 with a Creative Labs 16 MB Voodoo Banshee card).
Luckily, I found a copy of SCGT yesterday at CompUSA bundled with NFS2
for $12.99 -- both were in EA's "CD-ROM Classics" packaging. I haven't
even broken the shrink-wrap on NFS2, as I already have a copy of NFS2Se
on-hand, but I was pleasantly surprised at what I found on the SCGT
disk -- EA actually included the 1.551 patch on the CD, and the install
routine now also offers you the option to install the game AND install
the patch. The manual is also included in HTML format on the disk, in
addition to the printed manual. All in all, the "CD-ROM Classics"
version looks like MUCH more than a simple re-release -- kudos to EA
for going the extra mile (Papy and Sierra should take notes here; their
recent re-release of GPL does NOT include the 1.2 patch, I don't
believe).
After getting SCGT re-installed and grabbing the ADVOPTS editor off the
Web so I could dial-in realistic physics, I hit the track. Right off
the bat, I was impressed with the SCGT physics all over again, but I
was also re-introduced to all the things I didn't like about it the
first time around -- #1 being the controller setup. I didn't even
bother trying to use my controller in dual-axis mode because I
remembered what a headache that was so that wasn't a problem, but I had
forgotten how much of pain it was to get the sensitivity and dead zone
set up in a satisfactory manner. This made me wonder all over again
why all sims don't use an elegant-yet-simple setup like that used in
Viper Racing.
After spending a bit of time behind the wheel last night (much of which
was unfortunately spent trying to get the steering response dialed-in
so that it would feel right), I was delighted to rediscover that SCGT
is a very impressive sim. I spent most of my time turning laps at Lime
Rock (one of my favorites in SCGT) just to get re-acquainted with the
physics engine. I have said several times before that if SCGT's
physics were as satisfying as those in NFSPU, SCGT would still be
installed on my machine, so I was interested in seeing just what it was
that hadn't appealed to me all that much about SCGT.
The time I spent playing around at Lime Rock last night were enough to
show me that SCGT may indeed be more of a RACING sim than NFSPU,
whereas NFSPU feels like more of a general DRVING sim. I had forgotten
how very, VERY realistic SCGT's handling is in many ways (definitely
right up there with GPL and Viper Racing in the big scheme of things),
but I had also forgotten how on-edge and racy it feels, too --
competition is defintely the order of business, and the handling is
strictly race car, not street car. I still feel that NFSPU does a
great job of modeling what it must feel like to drive a mildly-tuned
356 or a 911 on the road at 9/10ths or 10/10ths, but at the same time,
I think that SCGT does an equally-great job of modeling what it must
feel like to drive a fully race-prepared 911 GT3 on the track at
10/10ths. As far as the issue of NFSPU versus SCGT goes, I would have
to say that each is very good at doing what it sets out to do.
As far as SCGT itself goes, I can already see why it failed to grow on
me in the long run. For one thing, like GPL and Viper Racing, SCGT is
very on-edge, and it requires a lot of concentration to excel -- and
I'm finding that for me, that level of concentration is not really all
that for, or relaxing for that matter. From the standpoint of a would-
be racer, SCGT is very satisfying, but it's a bit too intense to serve
as "light entertainment." This is not a bad thing, mind you -- just an
observation. Lately I've been in more of a "light entertainment" mode,
so SCGT quickly wore me down last night, literally.
The tracks are great, and I still love watching SCGT's replays over and
over again, but they seem lifeless and sterile, and I really can't
express enough how annoying I find the "pop-up" scenery effects -- that
REALLY takes me out of the game and helps prevent me from becoming
fully immersed in the experience. Yeah, I know, it's just eye-candy,
but it bugs me, and I just can't overlook it after being treated to the
visual splendor in NFSPU. Imagine if the SCGT tracks and effects were
wrapped in the same type of lush background visuals that you see in
NFSPU -- I'd love to see that, personally. That would be a nice item
for the wish list if ISI were to ever produce an updated SCGT2, perhaps.
The competition in SCGT also seems awfully faceless and sterile, so I
find myself not really caring when I get passed (well, I care, but it
doesn't seem as personal as when it's Dylan or Rolf in NFSPU). Maybe
I'm a bit spoiled by NFSPU, but the "Factory Driver" mode "introduced"
me to much of the competition that I meet later on in the Evolution
Mode, and that really helped make it all more immersive. The career
mode in SCGT is definitely usable, but that word "sterile" comes to
mind again. SCGT's career mode was definitely immersive for me, but in
a more abstract kind of way. The career modes in DTR and Viper Racing
suffered similarly; hopefully NFSPU will help bring us more "personal"
careers in future driving/racing sims.
All in all, though, with faster hardware to run it on, SCGT seems more
worthy of a permanent home on my hard drive -- in a nutshell, it's
pretty darn good overall, and there's a wealth of add-ons out there (it
seems that SCGT may even be more adaptable than ICR2, for that
matter). I've downloaded Service Pack 3.0 and I will be installing it
tonight, and I'm looking forward to rediscovering more new things about
SCGT. Still, when I just want a quick driving fix, I have a feeling
that I will keep returning to NFSPU for a long time to come.
Interspersed with GPL, Viper Racing, and now SCGT track sessions, of
course. <G>
If you haven't tried it yet, I recommend checking the bargain bins at
places like CompUSA, Best Buy, etc. -- SCGT really is too good to pass
up. It's not GPL, and it's not NFSPU, but it is darn good, despite
whatever shortcomings it might have.
As much as we collectively tend to complain about the state of racing
sims in general, SCGT reminds me that we really are living in the
golden era of driving/racing sims, and SCGT is a shining example of the
good stuff at the more *** end of the spectrum.
-- JB
Sent via Deja.com http://www.racesimcentral.net/
Before you buy.