rec.autos.simulators

 To anyone that has F1RS (commercial release),

 (strange, Ubisoft's F1RS page mentions a March/98 release).

 Is the U.S. version is on the shelves?

 I tried the French demo a while back. Using a light-weight joystick
(CH-Flightstick), the car was twitchy and kinda tough to drive. Seemed
like the joystick setting was about 3x too sensitive. Is this
adjustable in the commercial release?

 Are the A/I cars "smart"? Do they compare well with GP2's A/I cars?
Couple more questions about this one, I couldn't seem to tell from the
demo.

 Are ('96) F1 rules in place (all flags, pit-penalties, tire-choice,
etc.)?

 Can you draft another car?

 The pit-stops seem automated. Has this changed, or are they
pre-planned before the race. In the demo, nothing could be accessed in
the pits(?).

 Running the demo, I had to be careful not to let the front-end plow.
Either it was the car or the over-sensitive steering.  

 Can you turn clouds "off"? They seem to be moving about 400mph..<g>.

 The demo car seems to "stick like glue", flooring it from a dead stop
(tires should be spinning like mad). Had this changed in the
commercial release? The motor/gears sound kinda weird too. Hope that
was tuned-up a bit.

 This "seems" to be a nice racing-sim, but the demo is so limited. Is
the final release polished-up quite a bit from the demo? The demo I
have seems to have been made in August/97.

 Hmm! Perhaps there is a new (English) demo? Anyone know where?

 Thanks, Teehole.

says...

Some claim that it is, but according to Ubisoft it will not be here until
the middle of March.

Everything is adjustable and the release version is to the demo as the
demo is to all other racing games. To me the release version is so much
better than the demo.

This sim has the best AI ever used in a game, PERIOD. Not just a racing
sim. The only complaint against the AI could be that it is too careful to
avoid you, but to me it is very realistic and very enjoyable for a
change.

Yes.

Well, as much as you can in F1. F1 is not very conducive to drafting
because of the nature of the courses - very few long straights.

You can bring up the tire/fuel window in the game, but everything else is
automated.

It is very customizable and I found it to be much more controllable in
the actual game. The big problem with the demo is that several of the
"cheats" are turned on, which causes some handling problems.

Hmm. Not sure on this one. Although the cloud movement is dependant on
the weather. If there is a strong wind, then the clouds will be moving
fast, but I have seen everything from clear skies, to fog, to drizzle
down to full blown, hard-driving rain.

That is because of all the "cheats" (otherwise known as driving aids) are
turned on in the demo.

Much different feel. To me, there is no other sim that captures the
*FEELING* of being in a race car better than F1RS.

My suggestion is to call 1-800-UBISOFT and order it right away - you
won't be sorry. (BTW, download the 1.05 patch if you do get the game)

--
Rob

Header address intentionally scrambled to ward off the spamming hordes.

 Rob,

 Thanks much for an in-depth reply to all those questions I asked
about F1RS. The demo I tried was kinda strange (as most demos are).

 Okay, now to dig up some cash! <g>    

 Teehole

----

 Funny reply about them clouds..(hehe!). Oh well it seems all games
with 3dfx-accled clouds "haul-ass"...<g>. Not really an issue though
when trying to the same thing while racing!

 Teehole
----

I recommend you turn the sky off. That way it runs _much_ faster and you
don't have any fast moving clouds, and the horizon graphics are still
present.

--
Dave Bowers

Randy

On Wed, 18 Feb 1998 11:33:04 +0000, Dave Bowers

As an aside, the atmosphere present in F1RS is one of the best game
improvements for me over previous racing sims.  Even if its not
perfect.  The visibility affected by haze is an important variable in
driving and affects reaction times.  It would be even more to my
liking if the next racing sim included the heat haze that you see when
looking down a track on a hot day.  Kind of ironic, but with the
availability of faster 3d hardware and greater graphical detail, the
trend to visual realism is away from the infinite visibility and
cartoon clarity that previously was the norm.

DS