rec.autos.simulators

I have seen in real NASCAR events that when a racer gets into trouble and
causes himself damage and a yellow flag that he will immediately go into
the pits.  In N2 (also in N1) you get black flagged for going into the
closed pits, and are usually forced to hobble around the track with a bum
tire or whatever.  Do the guys in real life have to do this? Did I see it
wrong on TV? What exactly is the rule on this and does N2 follow it
correctly?  (I beleive I have also seen AI cars enter a closed pit after
being damaged. =====> BUG)

Matt

Perhaps the maintainer of the FAQ should add this?
In Winston Cup, a driver which pits while the pits are "closed" during
caution is assessed the following penalty:
If he is able to complete his service work under the original caution
period, he is allowed to rejoin the field, but must go to the tail end
of the longest line of cars.
If he is unable to rejoin during the original yellow, he is permitted
to rejoin under green with no penalty assessed.

In N2, you must go to the back of the field WHEN THE ONE LAP TO GREEN
comes out, if you pitted into closed pits. If you do not, you will be
assessed a black-flag stop and go penalty for passing under yellow.
(You should have been in the back, and you weren't, therefore you must
have passed under yellow...)

BTW, that's how it's supposed to work in the game. If it doesn't work
that way, it's probably a bug.

If you have severe damage, go ahead and pit into closed pits. If you
have only a front tire damaged, and feel comfortable in being able to
race the car to the waving yellow and pace around until the pits are
open, that's the better strategy.

---Jim Sokoloff, Papyrus

 In real NASCAR events if you pit while the pits are closed you are sent to
the back of the longest line of cars on the restart.  I guess the advantage
is that in the simulator if you do have a flat and you are under caution
you won't damage your car anymore than it was when you crashed and you can
hobble around the track. In real life you can damge your car more with a
flat by dragging a corner, a lot of the time a hiem joint or something will
break by being dragged around the track. So it is unrealistic to your
disadvantage but also to to your advantage due to the unrealisim. Also in
the game you can get a wheel ripped off of the corner and get towed to the
pits and have the car fixed in under two minutes. How realistic is this?
It's a game, it's meant for home entertainment. It is a great simulation,
Sierra did a great job, it can't be expected to be totally realistic
though.
 It seems what everyone wants is a game that would cost $1000 per copy.
It's funny,
I just have to think back to the original Test Drive to realize how great
NASCAR 2 is.
I thought that Test Drive on a C64 was the best thing since sliced bread
when I first saw it. It also cost more than N2 when it came out for the PC
with EGA graphics.
 I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get off topic but I got on a roll, the last
part was just my own opinion and was not based on your post.

Thanks, John

penned:

I loved test drive.  It took me forever to finally climb up that mountain
to win a car.  I loved when the game started and they played that digital
voice file--"Accolade presents!".  Boy, I tell you, we've come a long way
with digitalized sounds.  The technology was so primitive and it always
gave me goose bumps when I started the game.  I'd show it off to friends
all the time.  That game was totally cool when thea guy rolled up the
window and sped off of the screen.  Did ya ever notice that the wheels spun
as it drove off.  I thought that was a killer thing, because most of the
animation that was done for computer games at the time wouldn't have done
that.  Amazing that the game loaded and ran on less than 64 Kbytes.

I think I hear a siren!

---
NEWLY UPDATED WWW PAGE! --enjoy!
  http://www.pacifier.com/~dtuso

Dominic Tuso

While we are on the subject of Pitting Rules.  Is the rule regarding
lapped cars have to wait for the second lap of caution to pit enforced
for the AI?  I know it was in the last Nascar 1 patch.  But I don't
remember seeing it in the N2 manual.

--
**************************** Michael E. Carver *************************
     Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./.  [-  < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I didn't think the rule about lapped cars waiting was enforced for
anyone ever in our games. (It's a harsh penalty if double file
restarts are not in effect. If double file restarts were in effect,
the "penalty" is completely nullified.)

---Jim Sokoloff, Papyrus

This was enforced for the AI cars only in N1 and appears to still be so in
N2.  The player can pit anytime he/she wants - after the pits are open of
course.  /THansen

I race a 20% race today at Talladega, about 1/2 way through the race,
several AI cars got into a good fender bender just before the trioval.
After the I take the yellow having already passed the line prior to the
accident, two AI's pit on a closed pit.  They get lapped while still in
the pits.  Going down the back straight I can hear a car coming up from
behind like a bat out of hell.  This AI tries to pass the pace car, but
Elmo (God rest his soul) won't hear of it.... So the AI car lines up next
to me but slightly ahead.....  (a weird double file start).

As we enter turn 3 the AI had enough and blows past the pace car and
shortly after the second AI does the same.   In viewing the replay the
smoked it down to the start finish line then slow down to pace speed.  
The green drops, but because of the extent of their damage they get passed
before turn 3.

Anybody seen this??  I have saved the replay so if anyone at Papyrus is
interested let me know.