rec.autos.simulators

I totally agree with all of your comments. These sims (CPR, and F1) are so
amazing to me that I expect and am willing to work through any problems
which arise.
You mention the bugs you have encountered and, like I said, they are the
same ones which were in POD. My only criticism was that you would think that
these would, and should have, been eliminated with this sim. If there are
new bugs with F1, that really doesn't bother me. I just think that problems
that are known of for so long by a manufacturer should be corrected.
One thing I find amusing is that the people who jumped all over my fairly
soft criticisims of the F1 software are the same ones who criticized the CPR
software. They attacked it because it didn't run well on THEIR SYSTEM!! The
problems were all in the CPR software and anyone who had (still has) CPR
running perfectly on their system was shouted down. Now they have the
opposite stance. On this newsgroup, it seems that people  form an allegiance
to a sim, defend it religiously, and then attack anyone else who has a
different opinion. Kind of reminds me of a bunch of drunken losers arguing
about who has the better football team and what all-pro quarterback "sucks"
or is
"great".

Dave

"Black sky" is a problem I see mentioned here often and that is an old POD
bug also. Sounds like the new patch still doesn't fix it.

I think you've touched on a psychologically important point.  The same
has happened to anyone who actually found redeeming qualities in some
other sims, particularly CART Precision Racing and ABC's Road To Indy.
The main "shouting down" appears to be derisively calling something
"an arcade game" and "not a sim".  (this seems to be one of the major
insults hurled towards a game which is out of favor).

I think a lot of it has to do with how much people invest in their
racing sims.  These aren't mere 'games' to be used and discarded.
People often build relationships with these sims that go for several
years, so everyone is really hyper-sensitive about THEIR favorite sim.
I think that often blinds people from being able to objectively
discuss what's good and bad in a sim, so they start to see everything
GOOD about the sim they like (whilst glossing over the flaws) and
seeing everything BAD about the sims they hate (while glossing over
the good stuff).

Right now, I think F1RS is the best overall sim right now,
easily...but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy racing CPR on the zone,
enjoying NASCAR on TEN, or even doing some hotlaps around some of the
IRL tracks in ABC's sim.  You just have to have thick enough skin so
that when you get flamed for having the audacity to go against the
tide, it doesn't bother you.

Randy

Randy Magruder
Contributing Reviewer
Digital Sportspage
http://www.digitalsports.com

:-)

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Header address intentionally scrambled to ward off the spamming hordes.

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Dave Bowers

blowing F1RS out of the water, as long as they s***those canned spins.>>

It would take quite a bit for GP3 to improve on F1RS.  This morning I fired it
up before work and went qualifying, and discovered while in my pits that I
could go out and watch other cars qualify and see their split time presentation
duplicated exactly as on TV.  I swear if I squinted just a bit I could believe
I was watching ESPN2!    I have never seen a sim that bridged the gap so well
between the in-car sim experience and the television F1 appearance with the
replays, AI, graphics, etc.  There aren't that many things that could be much
better in F1RS, so its hard to imagine GP3 beating it.  Its a miracle GP2 is as
good as it is with the short list of people working on it compared to the army
Ubi Soft threw at F1RS.

Randy
Randy Magruder
Staff Writer
Digital Sportspage
http://www.racesimcentral.net/

Yike! I could give you a virtually never-ending list of things which
could be improved in F1RS - we are a LONG way from having a sim even
approaching perfection.

Every sim, IMO, needs to improve on the best available on the market
at that time. ICR, ICR2, GP2, F1RS - all achieved this. There would be
no point in releasing GP3 if it didn't improve on F1RS in some ways. I
see each successive release as needing to improve on the problems
which it's predecessor suffered and to introduce some innovative new
ideas. By so doing you will move to the leading edge and attract
sales. GP3 needs to address networking, 3D hardware support and
frame-rate - otherwise it was pretty okay. Beyond that they can look
at marbles, flat-spotting, driving-related failures, career modes, car
development, the list could go on for ever.

Whether they do it or not is another aspect, but Geoff's record is
pretty good IMO.

Cheers!
John

Geoff's record also now includes major omissions (weather stands out
here!)

Randy

Look at a corner like Eau Rouge - where is the challenge in F1RS?
Basically you set the car up from the top down. Go through flat with a
low wing and crash, then keep adjusting the setup until you don't. You
can't do that in real life - that crash just finished your season.

He was also the first, or among the first, to do weather. Whatever the
reason for not being in GP2, I'm sure it wasn't purely out of choice.
You more than anyone know the compromises involved in developing a
product, and while we may not like the results of such decisions it's
difficult to argue against the necessity of them.

Cheers!
John