> > 1) A 56K dial-up connection tends to preclude a 200+ MB download.
> ?? I'm on 33.6K - I had GTR 2002 within 24 hours of its release.
> > 2) As much as I love ISI, I've found most of their F1 products to be
> > somewhat "sterile" in their environments -- if I'm stuck with offline
> > play, I find playing in the TIR "world" to be more warm and engaging
> > than tooling around tracks tied to the F1 2002 graphics engine.
> Are you saying you need some sort of 'game goals' or 'challenges' to enjoy a
> sim?
Nope, not at all -- it's the graphics and tracks of F1 2002 that I
don't care all that much for.
Cool -- good to hear that the GTR 2002 tracks are better than the F1
2002 tracks. That's encouraging, because I'm sure the physics are
good (there's no disputing that the F1 2002 physics engine is a good
one). With the various tweaks, that I've put together, though, you
might be surprised at how good the TIR physics really are. It's tough
to compare an F1 sim to a sportscar sim, but after playing around with
F1 2002 and TIR in some quick, informal back-to-back testing, I've
come away suitably impressed with the TIR physics model. I won't say
that it's better in any way than F1 2002, but it is good in its own
right. I want more developers and publishers to bring us more stuff
like TIR, not more stuff like Test Drive or Crazy Taxi. Companies
like ISI will continue to crank out good stuff, but the racing genre
is suffering from a lack of good stuff in general right now, so the
more we support companies like Empire Interactive and Razorworks by
buying and supporting things like TIR, the better chance we'll have of
seeing more companies enter the fray with viable products. Otherwise,
if Papy and ISI ever bow out, we'll all be stuck waiting on the next
West Brothers production.
Yup -- and you and I and most everybody else already owns F1 2002.
How many people have shown similar loving (and support) for Empire
Interactive and Razorworks by purchasing TIR? If we don't support the
companies who try to do good, then they have no incentive to try
harder in the future.
As for GTR 2002 versus my TIR tweaks, you're talking about a 200+ MB
download that converts an F1 sim to a sportscar sim on one hand,
versus a 432 KB download that provides the necessary tweaks to convert
what appears to be an arcade racer into the sportscar sim that it was
intended to be in the first place before they were forced to slap the
console menu screens in place. Besides, people who DID go out and
purchase TIR don't benefit a bit from the GTR 2002 download, and
THAT's part of the reason why I'm even putting forth an effort. THOSE
people are a part of the sim racing community, and it's all about the
community, right?
;-)
Razorworks doesn't care about sim racing? Then why did they go to the
trouble of putting so much effort into developing a rather
sophisticated and fairly open physics model, and why are they
assisting the sim community by providing tools and information about
how to unlock the full potential of their product? They sought out
the assistance of Scawen Roberts (one of the developers of "Live For
Speed") in developing the TIR physics -- something they surely
wouldn't have done if they would have been content to just crank out
another NFS/Test Drive clone -- so HOW can you say that they don't
care about sim racing? Razorworks has a very good reputation in the
flight sim community, as I understand it, and it seems to me that they
are attempting to make similar inroads into the sim racing world.
I say more power to them -- we've already got Papy and ISI at the top
of the heap, but we all benefit when more companies get involved and
start producing products that are weighted towards the sim end of the
realism spectrum. A few years ago, who would have thought that the
same company that produced "Breakneck" would bring us a sim racing gem
like MBTR? They did, though, and TIR is more credible as a sim title
than Breakneck ever was, so who knows what Razorworks might be capable
of bringing us next?
If we don't support them, though, it's likely we'll never see anything
from them again.
THAT is why I put out the effort -- because THEY put out the effort in
the first place, and I want to see then take it to the next step.
If you're a one-trick-pony type, though, then F1 2002 and its
associated mods may be all you need, and if so, then more power to
you. For me, variety is the spice of life, and I've found TIR to be a
nice, flavorful, and surprisingly good change of pace.
-- JCB
