to advice from Papyrus developers (thanks, Randy) and astute NG readers
(thanks, Eric). I ran my first race at Monza just now after doing about
1,000,000 practice laps in my Eagle. Ok, not a million but enough to feel
sort of comfortable with braking points and gearings for the corners and to
be well-acquainted with every bush and fence in the place. I had whittled
my time to consistent 1:35-1:37 range laps and decided to try a quick Novice
race.
I should mention that, since I don't have much experience and can only race
with 5 cars (P166, 64mb(now) of RAM, Monster1), I loaded Alison and Nate's
driver_scramble.ini to make a more varied field, speed-wise. I had a good
practice run (read: didn't destroy the car) and jumped into my car, which
was waiting for me on the grid. (The whole "real-time" system takes some
getting used to. After practice, you had better get to the grid soon or the
whole roaring train will leave the station without you.) I sat on the grid
(frame rate 14 or so) , palms sweaty, engine revving. As the flagman raised
the green flag, the sound (and I have it set to 3!, mind you) was amazing.
All of the engines around me started getting louder and LOUDER until...the
flag dropped. I threw it into gear but the revs weren't high enough and
the car bogged down. The other cars didn't rocket away immediately like
the did with the default driver.ini but the went....fast. Very fast. I got
going and hit the Curva Grande full tilt, kicked it sideways and feathered
it through up to the Lesmos. Gurney was looking down the inside of Hulme
ahead of me but Denis was having none of it.
We stayed that way for the remainder of the lap. With Dan and Denis
fighting with one another, I closed up on them on the front straight.
Past the pits on lap two, I streaked past Hulme as we exited Parabolica. He
had been so busy defending his position into the Parabolica, he messed up
the corner and didn't have the speed to keep up with me on the straight,
whereas I got a perfect run on both he AND Gurney.
My heart was pounding as I chased Gurney down the front straight, pulled out
from his draft and ducked under him into the Curva Grande. I carried WAY
too much speed and went wide and he got by me again as I slid helplessly
towards the fencing and bushes. We raced towards the Lesmos and I dove down
the inside. He had nowhere to go and had the yield the position. Out of
the second Lesmo clean, I streaked down the track, full throttle through
Ascari, lifting only to settle the nose into the corner. The feeling was
amazing. Opponent behind me, back end of the car hung out and dancing
under acceleration, engine screaming in 5th gear. I braked impossibly late
into the Parabolica and slid wide, but Dan was far enough back that I could
catch the car, recover and continue on without losing the position.
I continued to pull away from Gurney and Hulme for the remainder of the race
but could never catch P3. He ended up pretty far ahead of me as I took the
checkered. The flag marshalls waved their multicolored flags for us as we
did our cool-down lap and I got a "Pit In" on my board as I came out of the
Parabolica for the last time. I slowly motored into the pits and was
amazed to see a pit board with my last name on it hovering in my pitstall.
How cool is THAT?! (um..pretty cool, Jeff)
After the race, I was presented with a newspaper mockup of the race's
events, another very neat feature. I also exported the results which you
can take a look at here:
http://www.racesimcentral.net/~jeffreyh/apex/firstmonza.html
My times were not very flattering but still, it is a neat feature.
One disappointment was the replay.... while I can now view them without
crashing, they are ***y short. I could only look at the last lap and a
half and the race was only six laps long! It was still fun to watch but I
really wanted to see that Gurney pass again! Man 64mb doesn't buy you much
these days...
I should mention also, for those concerned with frame rate, it was VERY
drivable for me. (see system spec above) My frame rate was never below
12-14 even with cars weaving around me at the start and during stupid
passing attempts on my part. 12-14 may not sound like much but it was
actually OK. On the straights alone, I get around 20-25, which is
excellent. I turned off clouds, crowds, specular lighting, dynamic
lighting, and most of the mirror stuff. I set the detail to "Many" and
sounds to "3". Even with all of these concessions, it still looks and
sounds....well. AMAZING.
Well, there you have it. Even if I never played this sim again, I would
have gotten my money's worth. Papyrus you did a great job. I hope you
make billions of dollars. Honest!
It is a totally awesome sim. I can WAIT until I get my P450. This this will
be awesome. Everyone, go out and buy it or order it or wait until October
9th and THEN buy it or order it, but DO SO. This is a driver's driving sim
and a total must-have.
So there,
J.
on another note: I raced down the straights at Spa for my friend so he
could hear the engine note over the phone. he couldn't believe it could
sound so gooda and, man, it does. that thing sounds GREAT.