rec.autos.simulators

Does ANYONE out there know if there will be any more Formula One-based
games soon, like F1GP II or something by Papyrus? If so, when, and
what features would it be likely to have.
                        Thanks.

There was a brief mention of F1GP ][ in this months PCZone (it's got a bikini clad
woman on the front holding a joystick, you can't miss it). I RECALL that it's hoping
to be out by the end of this year. About bl00dy time I say!

Stuart.

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Stuart Booth

I know it's contrary to my previously-stated opinions, but IMO the
current game is still entirely playable, more so than any of the more
"technically advanced" games to have come out since, and I'd rather see
Crammond release the Super Bike game mentioned in the same article
first, and then release F1GPv2 after the end of the current F1 season.
I'd hate to discard v1 for v2 when before I've actually got bored with
it!

Chisa
-- Gizmo
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Launchpad is an experimental internet BBS. The views of its users do not
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It certainly does have a long life: I reinstalled it again last night, but
despite MONTHS away from it (and having played ICR and NASCAR
a LOT), it's too easy. I don't feel as though the car is on the edge of
adhesion going round corners. I don't notice what happens when
you edge a wheel onto the grass (eg at the first turn of Laguna Seca)
at high speed. I've lost control in ICR by doing that! But, it IS nice being able
to get full detail and 25fps, and the graphics are okay I suppose.
Much clearer than ICR or NASCAR in normal VGA (uchyt-put!). And I
*do* enjoy playing it. I'd also LOVE to see a Super Bike game mind
you, but I think Papyrus have moved the reference point for racing
sims on by a LONG way since F1GP. I hope Geoff Crammond's
team can keep the ball rolling. A bit of competition between the
two systems (after all, what others are there?) would be wonderful.

Stuart.

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Stuart Booth

I called Microprose and they said they're aiming right now to release the
new version of World Circuit in August....

There are plenty of places in F1GP where getting a wheel onto the grass
is disasterous. The parabolica (last corner at Monza) is one; sometimes
you can control the skid, but more often than not the back end just
spins out to the left and you go off in spectacular fashion. The
left-right-left just before that is another; slide just a bit too far
out to the right on exit and you'll find yourself doing more
revolutions per minute than your engine.

[...]

Technially ICR and NASCAR are without doubt superior (although I'll
never understand why the plonkers didn't model curbs; IMO that's a
major failing which seriously confounds the cruddy AI in ICR, and
allows one to make use of the grass to "widen" the track far too
easily), but as for the overall game experience, IMO the Papyrus sims
did nothing to enhance playability, and perhaps even slipped back a
bit. Competition between the Papyrus sims and F1GPv2 isn't necessarily
a bad thing, but I hope that the new F1GP builds firmly on the existing
game's strengths, rather than worrying too much about copying its
competitors. I for one hope that it will NOT have SVGA graphics, or
horribly complex setup options, but I hope it DOES have better AI,
sound, replay facilities, bla bla bla.

I wonder how big Crammon's "team" is; I get the impression that he's
pretty much a lone wolf, with some extra help for in-game art and
stuff.

In the meantime, like I said, the current game will keep me happy
for a long time yet.

Chisa
-- Gizmo
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Launchpad is an experimental internet BBS. The views of its users do not
necessarily represent those of UNC-Chapel Hill, OIT, or the SysOps.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Well, it's been a while since I played it a lot, but I never really got a
whole lot of 'feel' out of the cars in F1GP. I really notice that whenever
I go back to F1GP (which I did just the other day oddly enough) having
played ICR and NASCAR a lot. In that respect I find F1GP to be closer
to 'game' than 'sim'. Perhaps its because I play the circuits I know
well that gives me this impression. It seemed that I could dive in and
do some good laps. In ICR I really notice how dodgy my driving is after
a break. Perhaps I'm also trying to draw an unfair comparison between
Papyrus and Geoff Crammond here!!! d8-))

Thinking about it, competition does suggest graphics quite a bit
doesn't it?! That's something that F1GP has over ICR/VGA Nascar by
a long way - it's graphics are 'clean'. You can see what's happening in
front of you because of the lack of clutter/judge corners far better ...
and for me that is definitely one of F1GPs strengths. The control
method is another for strength to me, but only using the keyboard. Or
at least up until I got this new beastie - I can't steer & change down any
more. My keyboard refuses to do it! However, what I absolutely demand
out of a sim is realism, as far as my knowledge goes of course. Papyrus
give me more of that feel for the car I mentioned before. WIthout that,
I don't feel that I can eak out another few milliseconds on the corners. It
just seems as though I'm going round fast or I'm going slow! Hmmm,
don't quite know how to express that feeling better I'm afraid.

Like David Braben's Elite/Elite ][: Frontiers you mean? That was pretty
much a one man band series of projects I think. In these days of big
budget games, I've become used to teams being involved in software
development projects. Now that you've mentioned it though, I tend to
agree with you as he's away so long between projects.

Let's hope we're astounded! As for me, SVGA Nascar on a fast PC
has it I'm afraid. I have trouble with Indycar now. Roll on the SVGA
Indycar ][ later this year (?).

Have fun though,

Stuart.

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Stuart Booth