rec.autos.simulators

Name one reason why anyone who's serious about racing sims in general would
want to upgrade?

Jan.
=---

GP

I remember the same daft comments when XP first came out (in this very NG as
it happens), it didn't take long...
Regards
Martin

Anyway, I think XP still has at least 3-5 years left as a viable ***
platform. An "upgrade" to Vista would be more of a downgrade for gamers,
at least at the moment.

cheers, uwe

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GPG Fingerprint:  2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F  67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

To go to Vista just to go to Vista and be cool is no reason.  Unless there
is a decent increase in performance when running Vista and a game (or racing
sim)-- if that's all you do is play games or other small stuff-- then is
there a reason to make the switch?

Alanb

What you fail to consider is that there has to be an advantage to switching,
justifying the cost, generally speaking.  The jump from Windows 98 (skipping
that awful thing in between) to XP was enormous; the jump from XP to Vista
appears to be much smaller.  So actually the comment is not "daft", as you
call it.  Your failure to see the difference of the jump between Windows 98
to XP and that between XP and Vista is what I might consider a "daft"
assessment.

Alanb

As usuall, you probably dont see anyting you have already reached a
conclusion of,  it is not for you.  But, unlike you, I feel that I can game,
just because I can justify the PC I have, for doing what I do otherwise, or
else I would probably still have my p31000 machine.

So just like when XP came out, I needed to be an early adopter, but I was
not (money is and was tight budgets) which was only partially untrue, I
finally made myself believe, because XP was almost customisable to look and
feel like 98, which would been good enough for me to be able to support the
run of the mill questions I get from users I support both in the office and
around town.

But Vista, if it is ANYTHING like the RC1, it is half way going to be a
support night mare, with windows popping up every single time you rn
programs, any times that you run a program, and if that program accesses the
internet or what have you the PC locks itself down, with a warning dialog
box wanting you to answer a question...  right now I have men and women whom
apparently cannot make a decision about a popup saying "microsof has some
updates, would you like to see and or install them?"  they call me up and I
have to deduce if they need to say yes or no...  I, think I will get a 900
number, that gets credit card before it allows the call through, this is
going to be a nightmare.

ANYWAY, So like Milo Has, does anyone that has it, tried it?  ANYONE?

I have a machine I did try to run RC1, but the POS machine would NOT run
Nascar Racing 2003, but it would run GTL rFactor etc.  so I never tried GPL.
I believe it has/had to do with the chipset on the motherboard, that I had
been given this motherboard for 5 bucks (for a newer-ish motherboard) it was
not unlikely that it was a POS.  but I was able to prove that my working
copy of XP, upgraded to rc1 would retain my Sidewinder wheel install.

Soon, this I will get to try a keyless install of a retail CD (which should
allow me 30 days to evaluate it) to see if the wheel stays installed and
working or not.

As I said tonight I will find out more, as

Alan Bernardo enlightened us with:

Here is the 1st of the things I have come across:
Problems with seemingly OK XP machines and memory issues with Vista.  Ill
hopefully find link(s) to the articles and the memory problems with cheapo
(dell bestbuy etc memory)
http://www.racesimcentral.net/,289483,sid68_gci124130...
http://www.racesimcentral.net/:80/Ou/?p=399

I fought this with bosses looking directly at me, when I said "I've tried
but xp will not run on this POS" so what do you wanna do next?  the answer
for half a month was, "well that machine was running perfectly, are you
sure?"  Finaly got a person she had no choice to respect to say what I had
been saying, and the problem was over...  that was one in 20, it could be
closer to one in 5 this time, I dunno job security I guess?

Alan Bernardo enlightened us with:

I don't use my computer for work nor any high finance stuff.  I mess with
games, do a little spreadsheet stuff, surf, and goof with mail and
newsgroups.  For me, when I went from Win98 to XP the transition was as
painless as I ever thought it would be.  And for me, the differences and
advantages between Win98 and XP were enormous.

I realize that my experience might be very different from others',
especially those in the computer industry.  XP has been so stable for my
needs, that going from XP to Vista would be like tearing up a lottery ticket
when I knew I absolutely knew I had hit the jackpot.

This may all change, once the verdict is in a year from now.  But currently,
I see no advantage to me for switching to Vista.

Alanb

trying to get me a MSDN OS sub at work, I think the company can get it for
me, or give me a raise, imho, lol.
Alan Bernardo enlightened us with:

Yep, much the same comments as 98 > XP, I'm going Vista tomorrow and I'd put
a big lump of money on it that most people on here will be there within 3 -
4 months as hardware and driver support develops and of course grinds to a
halt for XP...that's the world we live in.  I'll be happy to report back on
performance with GPL (if it works - but if it doesn't I won't take long
before a fix is developed)

 GPL was the only game that I have installed since switch/upgrading XP on
this old machine, to VISTA...  As I am sure, I checked in the sidewinder
profiler to make sure it all worked in Vista - RC1, I had not actually
looked yet.  I  I just raced nascar and GTlegends and everythings was like I
thought it should be...  in otherwords, I just tried the games and
everything was still working.  I had high hopes...  I was ready and happy.
well that computer I posted about that would NOT run nascar racing even when
I had just XP on here, with vista on here it does work, and like I tell you
SIDEWINDER USERS below...  I thought I had lucked out having it work in
Vista as long as it was installed before uupgrading to Vista, least it had
with RC1, or maybe ???

Well I installed GPL 2004 demo, for me and Milo's sake (before I quit this
TEST and returned my kids PC back to him) and GPL of course...  had no idea
about my wheel, so I had a minute and since couldn't calibrate in game like
I thought I should have.   I exited GPLdemo, and opened the Sidewinder
software, SO FYI, well it aint like it used to be, all I can do in there is
calibrate, and I dont see ANYTHING of the Sidwinder app you used to see to
calibrate, test and save profiles, nor the FF & combo or seperate pedals
like those of us are used to that have Sidewinder USB wheels.  all i really
have is generic joystic settings, Luckily since I had already seperated the
pedals back in XP and set the FF settings to my liking, they are seperated
and worked after having Vista calibrate like you would a generic joystic,
with 3 axes.   I hope to do more investigating, and I am going to post this
to RAS, so but with XP machine (plowboy I think I have).

So, no I dont know where I stand now.  might see later if DXtweak lets me do
anything, like combine and or seperate pedals and stuff, otherwise I am done
with Vista  for now I guess.  I cannot afford 200 for the fuggin OS and 300
(ok 250 plus ship for the g2)  gosh dangit!  I hate this.  I guess putting
in a swap drive cradle, and swapping xp & vista is my only choices now.

later all.

GP