rec.autos.simulators

You can think of it in two ways

F12k2 is - A skin set, two track updates and a physics patch for F12k1

OR

Probably the best F1 sim there is - despite it's shortcomings in
multiplayer, replays and track accuracy.

Doug

--
-- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard>
-- http://www.ymenard.8m.com/
-- This announcement is brought to you by the Shimago-Dominguez
Corporation - helping America into the New World...

   This kinda goes back to the car painters.  A few years ago, Papyrus
shipped a Nascar title without any Manufacturer licensing.   It may not
sound like much but try asking your typical Nascar fan to root for Brand A,
B, or C.
   Was it a problem?  No...because car painters quickly painted up the
proper noses and logos and all was well.
   same thing with tracks in F1 2002.   Folks have complained about little
inaccuracies and major gaffs....does it bother me?  Nope...why?
  Cuz the net will save us.  There already is an update that includes the
shortened hairpin at Montreal.  Australia has been updated.  Sure we
probably shouldn't have to go out and find the fixes ourselves...  But I am
assumming they only have a certain ammount of $$ to spend on any one
feature.  If they start galavanting around the globe then other parts of the
program will have developmental dollars taken away.
  Fortunately, if the car isn't painted right, or if the track is off
kilter...these can be fixed....  So my advice to the Track perfectionists is
to fire up your search engines and fix the tracks yourself.
  My advice to ISI...stop all track modeling, just leave'em alone and take
all your track budget and move it over to the Multiplayer ledger.
dave henrie

Still, why the F* should developpers sit on their lazy arse while
developping an F1 simulator.  A simulation of the real Formula One season.
Sorry, but that includes accurate tracks.  Or accurate sounds.  Or accurate
AI.  Or accurate physics.  It's *ALL* important.  It's not our job to do
that.  If we do, it's by pleasure.  We've created NEW tracks for GPL,
because track creators did that by pleasure.  It's a pain that *we* have to
do the original ones 'cause ISI is ***y lazy and doesn't want to spend
money on the (essential) problem.

Sorry but there is much more problems with the track then simply cutting
30meters off each portion of the hairpin at Montral.  There's at least 100+
problems with it, badly accurate object positioning, track camber,
elevation, width, proportions, etc...

If you don't have the money to do a realistic F1 sim, then you won't have my
money.  Just don't do it, it's pointless.

Multiplayer is useless until the tracks are as accurate as what Papyrus or
Ubisoft does.

--
-- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard>
-- http://www.racesimcentral.net/
-- This announcement is brought to you by the Shimago-Dominguez
Corporation - helping America into the New World...

          Ok, take the bull by the horns...yes building tracks is tough, or
"I" would do it...:)  But if you and others began a website listing the
errors, track by track, two things may happen...
  A)  a net guy will take note of the errors and correct them.
  B)  ISI has already shown they listen to Users...(for example bringing in
the privately made telemetry, and adding some features the Mod builders
wanted)  They may take note of the extensive research and either make
corrections or hire your team...
  We can sit here and complain or we can choose to be responsible for our
own (I almost said pleasure) entertainment, we have the skilled people out
there now who could at least address some of these issues..
dave henrie

   for starters
www.drivingitalia.com

dh

/ Andreas - who is sitting with GPL's Kyalami in Zmodeler.

--
                                   See ya in the pits,
                                           Dean

I have a terrible memory. In fact my memory's so bad I can't remember how
long it's been since I've forgotten anything.

    THat is great news Andreas....my Viper HATES chicanes...  :)
dave henrie

Todd

IT has the best "feel" of any F1 game to date, the handling is very good
indeed and the cars slides about in a very satisfying fashion. Basically
it's a hoot to driver dare I say it as good as GPL (shock horror, the old
die hards will flame me for that but it's true!)

The AI is the best yet in any racing game, the other cars actually try to
avoid hitting you! The most annoying thing that I hate the most in racing
games is poor AI punting you off so you end up re-starting over and over
again just to get a good race. So far I been able race tooth and nail with
the AI and not get punted off by them, the only accidents I've had have been
my own stupid fault which is how it should be (perhaps some would say this
is not an accurate simulation of Rubens Barricello!). One of the nicest
things is a throw back to old indycar racing where you can set the
comparative speed of the AI to match your own pace which I think is great
because everyone can set it so they can race at their own pace (we're not
all Greger Hutus!) head to head with the AI.
In fact it's just plain fun which is exactly what you want out of a racing
game.

The circuits and cars are lovely to look at and very detailed but I'm not
sure they are exactly accurate, but who cares if the wings on the Jordan are
not he same as in real life and some of the cambers are not the same. I
haven't been round any of the circuits in real life so I can't  compare them
and I don't really care as long as they are  fun to drive. However Monaco is
far to narrow to be fun (surly it's not his bad in reality)

The replay feature is not as good as GPL (who's is!) but it does record full
hot laps OK. I've not used the telemetry so far but it looks pretty damm
cool and very comprehensive and you can connect directly to the web to
compare times which is a really nice feature.

The FF is the about best yet in any racing game and you can really feel
what's going on with the car and the rumble strips etc give nice effects.

The weather again is the best yet implemented in any racing game and they
way it changes from wet to dry is just superb as you seek out drying lines
or you see how long you can stay out on slick on a slightly damp track. you
can even have one part of the circuit wet with the others still dry! The
cars also handles very well in the wet and it's still very driveable.

I haven't tried it multiplayer yet so I won't comment on much on that aside
from the fact a lot of people so far have complained that  it's ***using a
modem. They should have read the box as it states that modem play is only
good for two players. You just can't really expect a game with this high
level of detail and physics to work over a crappy old 56k connection,
Broadband or LAN is the only way to go folks.

It's not perfect, we'll always find something to moan about but it is the
best F1 game we've had so far. It's got some really nice touches and it
looks great and it even runs faster that F12001 which is odd but
commendable. But the thing for me is the way it drives which is what it's
all about and this game not only feels right but is just so much fun to
drive as so far in only a few days I've had some of the best races I've ever
had a pc against AI.

Now if only someone would make Monaco a little wider?

Some Call Me Tim (having a hoot)