rec.autos.simulators

Fun/Pleasure:

1.  ICR2
2.  GPL
3.  N3
4.  GP2
5.  SCGT

Sim:
1.  GPL
2.  GP2
3.  Viper Racing
4.  SODA Off-Road
5.  ICR2

Dan Belcher
Team Racing Unlimited
http://www.racesimcentral.net/

-- JB

Fun factor:

1 - GPL
2 - Viper
3 - GP2
4 - Motorhead
5 - Slicks'n'Slide (yeah!)

JaviF

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

Yeah, it has been released, at least in Scandinavia. I just got my copy
yesterday (Monday) from a friend working at a reseller, so I probably
shouldn't have included it in my list as my judgement may very well
be clouded by early overenthusiasm.

The first thing I noticed was that I could get respectably high
framerates in high resolutions. After RC2000 this was a treat. The
graphics aren't quite the state of the art but they seem pretty
realistic, not oversaturated candy graphics like for example in Ubi's
games. From the six tracks included (yes, only six, though there are
short & long versions of Mantorp and you can choose the direction on each
track) I've only seen Anderstorp in real life and to me STCC's version
looked like a rather faithful copy. Two of the tracks (Knutstorp and Mo I
Rana) include significant elevation changes. Needless to say, these are
also my favorites in STCC.

For those interested, I took 10 screenshots from a couple of my races and
put them on a web page (beware, they're still 800 pix wide jpegs, 678 Kb
in total):

        http://www.tol.oulu.fi/~midpro/stcc/

The same level of realism applies to sounds too. Quite convincing audio
environment, far from lame but not overdone either. EAX supported.

Force Feedback was a slight disappointment; you can feel when you hit
something, cut the kerbs along with some odd surface bumps but it's
definitely far from GPL's level, still better than SCGT's. Not that
I'd expect a modern touring car to provide as rich feedback through
the wheel as a '67 F1.

Setting separate axis for pedals was not a problem but there doesn't
appear to be any sliders for adjusting steering sensitivity/deadzone
in the game.

STCC lacks in car setup department. The available options are comparable
to the likes of RC2000.

Unfortunately, the AI is nothing to write home about. Except perhaps in a
negative sense. IMO this is the worst letdown of the game. At 100% the AI
still isn't competitive enough (hopefully we'll get a patch that would
resolve this). Depending on your setups you may not be able to get ahead
of them on a straight but you can practically ALWAYS outbrake them.
Currently I'm waiting for some of my friends to take on the STCC so that
we could try this in multiplayer. There's a dedicated server included
with the game and I think that this could really be great fun if the
multiplayer code is done right. Since all the cars are quite closely
matched, we might be in for some hair-raising situations - the action is
fast & furious but it also takes some precision racing to come up with a
good lap time.

And the most crucial part, how does it feel to drive... When I first
got my hands on the game, I wasn't impressed. Initially I chose to drive
Alfa Romeo 156 because of the slight advantage in horsepower. Early on
the driving model seemed to have that "canned" feeling. If I crossed the
limit the car just snapped out of my control, giving me the helpless
feeling that there was absolutely nothing to be done after certain point
had been exceeded.

Started to experiment with different cars (there are ten to choose from:
Ford Mondeo, Peugeot 406, Audi A4, BMW 320i, Volvo S40, Alfa Romeo 156,
Opel Vectra, Chrysler Stratos, Nissan Primera, and Honda Accord - 8 FWD,
1 RWD, and 1 4WD).

After an evening of intensive driving sessions I began to discover the
secrets of Knutstorp and at the same time, the driving model began to
open up and sneak its way into the subconscious. I could "feel" it in my
bones when I was about to cross the limit and consequently, when I
actually did, most of the time I could recover, even if losing some time.
Of course these cars don't and shouldn't slide like the ones in GPL, but
there is actually a sweeping bend at Mo I Rana where I could maintain a
small slide through the apex by carefully adjusting the gas and do it
competitively during a race over and over again. All in all, it's
definitely no GPL but I still found it to be ever so delightful.

The cars have their differences but mostly the disparities seem to be
very subtle and the vehicles demonstrate little character of their own.
Most striking exceptions would naturally be the 4WD Audi A4 and the RWD
BMW 320i. I found the Opel, Ford and Peugeot to be the most easily
controllable cars of the lot.

To summarize:

+ relatively efficient 3D engine
+ realistic looking graphics
+ sound fx

- just 6 tracks
- lame AI (doesn't make errors but is still far from competitive)
- limited car setup

Once again we have a game which is far from perfect, with less depth than
most of us would like to have but despite all this, IMO this still one of
the best racing games of 1999.

---
Antti Markus Peteri

       15 miles. your dim light shines from so far away

                                 - Soul Asylum, Promises Broken

sim
1. GPL
2. SCGT
3. N3/NL
4. DTR
5. SBK WC

Now I could include GP2 on both lists but since i dont play it much lately I
didn't.  DTR has quickly captured my attention and i spend alot of time playing
it now.

Chris

My fun/pleasure list would be about the same. I would however like to
add A2 racer II to the list :-)

// Johan

well, lots of old games here.I think screamer is much fun than RC2000, more
arcade, opponents, techno music.

4D sports driving has the second place, and could have the first if it have
better graphics.

TestDrive 1 & 2, i've never played better open road game, avoid trafic,
lose cops.

NFS 1 is closed, to test drive games, but circuit races are boring!!!
if i remember correctly, the guy who does NFS 1 are the same who does
4D sports driving and NFS 1 ? right ? if yes ,GOOD JOB guys !!!!

 sim
 1. GPL
 2. GP2
 2. GP500
 4. N3
 5. ICR2

GPL can't has another place than 1st.
GP2 and GP500 are equal for me, because i think they have a similar degre
of realism , but one you drive a car, and the other you ride a bike.

--
====================================
Sebastien Tixier - Game Developer

http://www.eden-studios.fr
http://www.multimania.com/hclyon

Hena

Sim:
1.  GPL
2.  Nascar Legends
3.  Nascar 3
4.  GP2
5.  SCGT

1. Rally Championship 2000
2. Viper Racing
3. TOCA 2

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1. Viper Racing
2. GPL
3. SCGT
4. Nascar 3
5. CART Precision Racing

sim:

1. GPL
2. Viper Racing
3. Nascar 3
4. SCGT
5. CART Precision Racing

If not for the horrific AI, I would have rated CPR higher in both
categories.  In real life, it's my favorite form of racing, and I do think
Terminal Reality did a good job with a lot of it.

GPL gets low marks in the fun category because it's so darn challenging!
;-)

Even though it's a good sim and a lot of fun, I had to penalize SCGT for
forcing the users to use cheat codes to access all the cars and tracks.
SCGT also gets penalty points because the "aftermarket" patches and add-ons
are essential, and there's no support for them at the official site.

Midtown Madness misses out on both lists because it's much more arcade than
sim.

The DTR demo is a lot of fun, and when I get the full version it might
displace something above.

<remove 7of9 for e-mail replies>

--
Bill Jones    e-mail addresses:


(860) 701-1201   WWW:   http://pages.cthome.net/billj

1) Pod Racer
2) SCGT
3) Re-Volt
4) Monaco Grand Prix Racing Simulation 2 (with driving aids on)
5) GPL

Holy Crap!

1) GPL
2) F1 Racing Simulation
3) MGPRS2
4) SCGT
5) (The game formerly known as) Indy Car Racing 2

1. GPL
2. GP2
3. Viper Racing
4 SCGT
5 MGPRS 2

sim:

1. GPL
2. GP2
3. Viper Racing
4. GP500
5. N3

Darko

SIM:
gpl F2
gpl F2
SCGT Trans-Am
nascar 3

Fun:
gpl F2
SCGT Trans-Am
gpl F1
Nascar 3

Joel Willstein