rec.autos.simulators

 My only wish is for it to be programmed by Geoff Crammond (rather than a bunch

Obvious bias here, anybody that puts a magnet in instead of a real
steering interface can't be all that good. Indycar defintely has its warts but F1GP is a
GAME and Indycar is a Sim. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed many hours
of fun with F1GP but the driving feel is just not there compared to
what Papyrus does. Even with all the great add-on tools that have
been developed for  World Circuit, it sits unused on my harddrive. I do
look forward to seeing what Mr Crammond does with the next release.

regards,
Jeff

Interesting. My experience is the opposite.  Indycar sits unused and
World Circuit gets used several times a week! :-)  Part of what I like
better is the ability to go into a corner too hot, slide, and still be
able to pull it through.  In the indycar (which is probably very
realistic as per the differences in handling between the indycars and an
f-1 car), if you try to brake in the turn at all, you just slide.  The
braking time is also much shorter in the f-1 car.  It is easier to make
up time by standing *** the brakes in the f-1 car.

I also think that world circuit does a good job of capturing the feel of
f-1 and driving in a gp. Sometimes the driver AI is very good and
sometimes the drivers do stupid things.  But they do some pretty stupid
things in the Indycar program as well.

But I agree that World Circuit is more than due for an update and will
hopefully be a little more realistic in some regards.  I think it will
be a little more difficult if it is.  But I disagree that Indycar racing
is *that* far ahead of World Circuit.

Scott
--
     Ayrton Senna da Silva      1960-1994

  ...that yellow helmet dancing into view-
                  going faster and faster...

You're right, I must concede the IndyCar driving model is excellent, but:
- the interface is terrible,
-the computer AI is bad,
-it is impossible to drive with 'damage on' (opponents are too unpredictable),
-you can't save anywhere during an event,
-the qualifying and post-race information is very limited (compared to F1GP),
-there is no distinct sense of contact with other cars (like F1GP),
-I'm tired of getting stuck on or driving through other cars,
-the inconsistency of circuits (against 100% opposition, I can blow them away
  at most ovals, qualify last at Cleveland [5 secs. of the pace] and still
  win, and not come close to the leaders at Portland).
-and, finally, why does it take this 'excellent driving model' some 20 metres
to come to a stop from 15 k.p.h.?

That's all I can think of offhand. I do, however, enjoy both games immensely.  
If only someone could drop the Papyrus racing model into the MicroProse shell
- then we'd have a product...

Cheers, Simon.

 If only someone could drop the Papyrus racing model into the MicroProse shell
Simon,

Now that's a great idea!!!

Regards,

Jeff

More comments on ICR V2.0 wishlist:
- Don't make it yet, the difference between Nascar and ICR isn't that
  big.  Something different for a change, Sprint Car Racing could
  be fun.  But I'll buy it as long it runs on DX2/Warp HPFS no matter
  what racing it will be;-)
- Paintkit export/import could write/read the polygon (car, pit crew)
  colors in addition to decals.  This should be quite easy to implement,
  there is lot of empty space around the actual car image in the PCX
  file and maybe few dozen pixels at the start could be used to hold
  polygon color information (= it is still standard PCX file).
- Keep the frame rate high.

Pasi.