rec.autos.simulators

Full Auto Windscreens British Championship, including Top Twelve
runoffs. Maybe also some of the lesser champs (Midland, Leaders).

Choice of classes. Okay, maybe you couldn't get them all in, but at
least give us a couple of single-seater classes, the racing production
class (ie Clive Kenrick), maybe the Sports Libre class, and a Historic
class or two (Paul Matty stuff).

Big choice of cars, with *proper* physics (GPL-standard would be fine,
no need to model every flake of paint): Pilbeam (in various configs),
Gould-Ralt, Jedi, Caterham, Mallock, Morgan, etc. etc. etc.

Real courses (especially Shelsley & Loton Park!). Graphics should be
reasonable, but not so much that they take priority over physics (see
GPL again). The licences have to be easier to get than Daytona,
surely...

Real drivers (Roger Moran, Margaret Blankstone, Clive Kenrick, Trevor
Willis, Martin Flamank, etc. etc. etc.)

A not-too-cringe-inducing title. I expect 'Auto Windscreens British
Hillclimb Championship' (AWBHC) would be uncontroversial. Possibly
'Graeme Wight Jr's Uphill Deathmatch' or 'David Grace Extreme
Pheasant-Culling' (if you've been to Shelsley, you'll know what I mean
by that!) might get some unwanted tabloid attention ;-)

The great advantage of hillclimbing is the enormous variety of cars
that are involved, from almost-standard Minis to F1-engined
single-seaters - it would be a huge challenge to get to grips with
them all.

The great disadvantage is that a decently developed game wouldn't even
come close to making its money back - it'd make GPL look like a
runaway commercial success. Maybe I'll put my forthcoming lottery wins
into this rather than GPL2 :-)

People might say that the courses are too short to get people
interested. To which I say: if you can sell a drag racing game...

Still, even if AWBHC is going to remain just a dream, a basic (or even
BASIC) freeware game would be better than nothing. Is there *anything*
out there?
--
David.
"After all, a mere thousand yards - such a harmless little knoll, really."
(Raymond Mays on Shelsley Walsh)

surely, indeed - if nothing else for the exposure... real courses are
a good idea, but a course editor would be a helluva touch...

how bout 'DIRT' oh, wait, that's been used.... <G>

would be the biggest hurdle I think - but with the right touches, and
solid multiplay, it could work...

hmmm, not British, but I'm thinkin'  "Widowmaker"

--
Regards,
Bruce Kennewell,
Canberra, Australia.
---------------------------

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It's be impossible to sell, but i actually liek the original idea. Some of the
weird contraptions used in British Hill-climbing would be a ball.

Z.

---------------------------

In a Hillclimb sim??

Further suggestion. A game engine built to handle short, narrow courses,
with lots of (relatively) low speed stuff, running against the clock might
also make the basis for an Autotest simulator...

Time to start practicing my reverse-spins and handbrake turns again?
--
JG

Z.

Please remove my_pants when replying.

One thing to clear up - I'm not particularly interested in long,
US-style hillclimbs - you could get close to that with an uphill rally
stage. In fact, a rally sim with a proper editor is probably the
closest we can ever hope to get - a 40-second tarmac stage up a
steep twisty hill would be quite acceptable.

UK hillclimb courses are short country lanes (Shelsley Walsh, founded
in 1905 - before Indy - is 1000 yards), zoomed up by all sorts of
things. Mostly cars, from Austin A40s that are driven to and from the
track right up to 140mph+ single seaters (genuine F1 cars have
occasionally been used, but not recently - Graham Hickman's roll down
a bank in his Jordan a few years ago, in which he broke his pelvis,
seems to have put paid to that.) Bikes and sidecars do go up, but not
trucks - the roads are too narrow!

Dirt tracks - hmm, maybe a historic mode, set in the 1930s before
widespread tarmacing, with Hans Stuck,*** Seaman & co.

Multiplayer - hillclimbs do have some shared cars, but the drivers go
up separately (otherwise you'd need a McLaren-style two-seater!), so
not sure how it would work. I suppose you should think of it as a
rally variation rather than a race.

Of course, you'd be lucky to sell more than about 100 copies, but who
wants to waste time worrying about that?

Not very fascinating fact: Tony Marsh, former British Champion and
recorder of Fastest (or Best, if you must) Timed Drive in about six
zillion hillclimbs, drove in four Grands Prix (Germany 1957, 1958,
1961; GB 1961).
--
David.
"After all, a mere thousand yards - such a harmless little knoll, really."
(Raymond Mays on Shelsley Walsh)

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--
Regards,
Bruce Kennewell,
Canberra, Australia.
---------------------------

well, kinda what I meant by a well done multiplayer mode rather than
just staring at data waiting your turn, could be enjoyable if you
could design and build some wild contraption, connect to the server
with everyone else at a location (course) and actually see and hear
the other runs while you wait for your turn. In other words, make it
like the actual events, where you can check out everything going on...
and see who's got the coolest machine.... or something.... and maybe
some two lane hills for head-to-head runs....

But I may be way off since apparently it's a whole different can of
worms in the UK. I'm thinkin' a steep, bumpy, squirrel trail up the
side of a hill in dune buggies, custom bikes, hot-rod lawnmowers and
stuff, throwing rocks and dirt the whole way, fightin' for enough grip
to keep going up...

They are (mostly) up hill's but it's really just time trial's on short stages.

Z.

Please remove my_pants when replying.

How about a parking lot rally simulator (complete with spectators, random
cop strikes and variable *** level settings) next?

Incidentally, I think the Powerslide engine would make a great core for a
kind of successor to Interstate '76. The "weapons" option in Powerslide was
actually great fun, but could have been developed a lot further (I believe
it was a last minute addition to the game).

Sim snobs need not reply (you know who you are).

Ryan

As for hillclimbs, I just read an article in a classic car magazine where
they dropped by the home of Lord Marsh (?) who owns the manor at the top of
the Goodwood hillclimb course, and let him take a spin (figuratively, not
literally - he kept it pointing the right way) up the course in a vintage
Bugatti from 1932.  This little monster of a car makes short work of the
course, and is fairly competitive with modern machinery.  Quite interesting
to read.

Stephen