rec.autos.simulators

Can I make a suggestion to those that want a fantastic sim-mish
racer for very little money?

#1 The answer is Gran Turismo 2.

#2 It ain't no GPL.

Don't dump this post just yet. Read a little further.

First, buy a new retail copy of GT2 for 20 bucks at your
local Electronics Boutique, Walmart or anywhere else.

Run it on your PC, anti-aliased, mip-mapped etc. at 1024x768x32
or whatever using the free ePSXe Emulator, Version 1.51 which
should be available at epsxe.com .

IMPORTANT-You want 1.51, not 1.52 since it has a bug with GT2.

It will take an hour or so to configure ePSXe. It is almost overly
configurable with various downloadable user plug-ins, etc..
Direct 3D, Open GL, you name it. There's a forum at epsxe.com
to help you out, and I would be glad to post my settings, plugins, etc.

It will run rock-solid at 60fps on a good PC and looks pretty
nice. Actually, it looks DAMN nice considering it has over 200
cars modeled. Jap cars, Cobras, Chargers, Vettes, Camaros,
Mustangs, VERY nice Prototypes, it controls like a DREAM,
and feels more like a real car than most of the sim-lite racers
(TIR, cough) that are flooding the shelves today. The cars
are somewhat low-poly, sort of like TOCA2. Pretty nice.
You have real understeer, oversteer, wheelspin, etc.
Incredible amount of chassis tuning options and upgrades.
Tons of wheels.

The tracks are a mixture of real life and fake ones, but all
are universally *excellent* and technically challenging.
The Laguna Seca is killer. Also, the small 'rallycross' mode
alone is worth the 20 bucks, IMO.

To make it *even better*, use a CD Copier such as Clone CD or
whatever and make an image of the CD on your hard drive.
ePSXe supports all major image formats. Load times are
really fast from the HD. ePSXe works fine with your normal
CD though. You can even use Daemon Tools with the emulator.
Works just fine. The emulator is mature and very nice.

The gameplay is big fun, even with the somewhat on-rails AI.
Just think of them as moving hazards.. :) A couple hundred
cars to earn, buy and sell. Many, many tracks, and variations...
Day, night. As a side note, the replays are unbeatable, IMO.

To relax even more with GT2, go to EBAY and search for 'USB PSX'.
This will show you some inexpensive ($10-15) adapters that will allow
you to use a standard PSX gamepad for control. That's what I did.
I use the right analog stick for throttle/brake and the left for steering.
Of course any windows wheel or joystick will work. The emulator
uses standard Direct X controllers.

I love a good racer, and GT2, overall, is the most fun I have ever
had with a non-*** PC racer. It's gameplay is very ***ive.

SO:

The whole thang:

Free -   ePSXe ( http://www.racesimcentral.net/ )
$20 -    GT2 (New)
$10 -    USB adapter (optional)
$20-30 - PSX or PS2 Gamepad (optional)
----
20-60 bucks and I guarantee you that you will have fun.
Also, if you get the gamepad ,you will have everything
necessary to play almost any PSX game on your PC in
high-res ..

You don't need a 'memory card' or anything else.
It saves to your hard drive and you can copy saves
to have an unlimited number of memory cards. Cool.

The largest 'sim racing' community in the world, AFAIK, is
centered around the GT* series. Hundreds of thousands of
posts, etc. at http://www.racesimcentral.net/  or the forum at:
http://www.racesimcentral.net/

Hacks, FAQs, everything.

For those looking for something 'new', this may be just the
thing. It is almost all I have raced for the last few months.
I thought I would mention this idea to those that haven't
considered it.

Have fun!

<snip>

<snip>

So why not just buy a PSone for $49.99???

--
"Life is what you experience between racing games"
Galley

Thanks for the tip, I'll get the game and try it over the holidays.

Jan.
=---

I tried running my Momo Wheel/TSW Pedals in the USB port on my PS2 with GT2 and
the pedals were backwards.  I'm thinking I won't have any better luck on the PC
with the same title.

What controller are you using?

- Dave

Are you sure about this?  It has trouble maintaining 30fps on the original
PSX...  If you are absolutely sure of this than I might give it a look.  I
think I've still got the game somewhere - bought it to play on my Dreamcast
with Bleemcast but I found it pretty dull for an arcade game.

I use a dual-shock controller.

If you thought gameplay was dull, then you still won't like it, but it looks
FAR better than the Bleemcast version after you tweak up the
graphics settings .

But can you actually use an USB wheel made for PC (MOMO), or do you have to
use a controller made for Playstation?

Jone.

Thanks for the tip!! One question, what pc do you have? I have a P3
866mhz, and a GF2 GTS, you think my pc can handle GT2 with at least
30fps? Would like to know for sure before I fork out the money for GT2
:)

Andre

I agree 100%.

I set up a page a while back (last year) with some screenshots.  They
are at http://www.racesimcentral.net/
is interested.

Only problem is that despite the improved graphics over the original
PSX, you still have dreadful popup, but that I can live with.

You can't use a wheel adequately as well.  It works best with an
Analog joystick.  If anyone else gets decent wheel control working, be
happy to know how.

Its better than a real playstation because of the improved resolution,
loading times, infinite memory card (hard disk), etc.

Btw, the opening videos for the european and japanese videos are
totally different and each one is awesome.  If anyone has seen high
quality videos of them somewhere online, I'd love to hear where...

To all the other serious simmers out there, don't bother, you'll just
find something more to *** about.

Lastly Revved, its closer to 600 cars in the game :)

Cheers

Excellent!

If you want to use a PSX pad, stick, wheel, you have to use the special
adapter that I mentioned.

IT WORKS!!  :)

You will be able to make GT2 look very nice with your system
I would think that you could run at 800x600x32 with quite a
few graphical goodies enabled. You have to understand that
this emulator and it's plug-ins are -seriously- configurable.
Much more configurable than any other game you have ever seen.

I used to compete (badly) in an offline league based at granturismo.com and
it was great fun- there was nothing "arcade" about the amount of effort
some people put into setups etc, and GT2 got me through a lot of time when
I had no PC to drive on.

I would love for a game/sim on the PC to get close to the sheer amount of
"stuff" you get to play with in GT2.

Runs very nicely in ePSXe on my machine, although the menu music is a bit
strange (might be the bug you'd mentioned).

I even got to the point of collecting the rare cars- the ones that only
show up in the dealers every 100 days or so :-D

At the price GT2 is now, and the cost of a free download for the PC (or
indeed a $50 psone) it's a lot of fun for very little money.

cheers
John