rec.autos.simulators

> GPaL will address both of those issues, Byron.

> If you haven't seen it, check out the sneak preview at
> www.RaceLive.com/GPaL.

> Jack Rambo

> www.RaceLive.com/GPaL

>  1/ No AI difficulty slider on the menu.

>  2/ No way to race in F2 and F3 mode against the AI!

>  This equals no way for rookies to make a smooth transition to F1 and
>no way for more casual users to have anything much but the frustration
>of having their egos bashed :)

>   Funny thing is, I suspect it's the suits pushing that is responsible
>for this and at the end of the day a significant factor as to why sales
>may be down. Why no AI slider amazes me. Even the lack of AI for F2 and
>F3 mystified me too! I just can't see how these thing would be such a
>big deal to do.

>> Unfortunately, pure 100% realism is part of what kept the sim from
meeting
>> sales expectations, and has had the suits at Sierra wanting to kill the
>> whole project of using the GPL engine in other software.  It is clear
that
>> the majority of users playing driving simulations are more interested in
>> "games" rather than "sims."

>> If we, the more *** sim fans, are unable or unwilling to accept that
>> there should be OPTIONAL concessions to make our sims more driveable for
>> beginners, and those that simply want the thrill of racing, it will not
be
>> long before we find ourselves without any sims to race.  We will also
have
>> to accept that these sims should install with all of those options
>> defaulting to ON - making it up to us to take the effort to turn them
off.
>> The backlash to demanding ONLY realism will be scores of "Nascar
>> Revolution"s, endless unimproved "Nascar Racing Series," and "Need for
>> Speed," type games.  There is a place for such games, but we must realize
>> that if the options making real sims more accessible are not
implemented -
>> and keep responding with "you've bought yourself the wrong simulator"
>> instead of pushing for such options, "games" is all we will be left with.

>> For GPL, papyrus listened to the *** simmers, perhaps too much, and
the
>> game IS virtually inaccessible to many racing enthusiasts.  I don't see
any
>> changes on the horizon to salvage this title in terms of market
saturation.
>> While a wonderful sim, GPL should also serve as an example to all of us
of
>> how too much of a good thing, without options making it accessible to the
>> average racer, hurts our desires for more realism in the long run...

>> Michael

>> > If you're not interested in pure, 100%, realism, which GPL comes
>> > pretty close to offering, you've clearly bought yourself the wrong
>> > simulator. Stick with N2 instead.
>> > Griffin, the Slayer

>> 2/ No way to race in F2 and F3 mode against the AI!

>True, but then again, I can't see how it would be any far at all. It
>wouldn't offer a challenge even to the earliest of beginners.

>Griffin, the Slayer

> But to their credit, Papyrus did make GPL *very* accessible for enhancement.
> I'm convinced that they looked at their budget, resources, and timeline and
> decided to focus on what they do best...development of an outstanding
> physics engine, and superior sound, graphics, and AI to support that engine.
> My bet is that Papy intentionally made the development of alternative
> interfaces, like GPaL, easy.

> Jack Rambo

> www.RaceLive.com/GPaL