rec.autos.simulators

I just received an e-mail message from Visiware stating that the
release version of Starting Grid won't include support for any 3D
accelerated products.

The reasons behind this choice were:

1- Bad or insufficient technical support by rendition
2- It didn't add enough to the game to be considered as a priority
3- There are not enough owners of these products at the present time
4- The technology is changing too fast, as new standards are due to
come out from Microsoft and Intel.

People at visiware felt that all these facts needed to be considered
in the making of Starting Grid, and considering the superior 3D engine
they are using decided to put that part of the projet aside for now.  

There may be a patch that will add 3D support in a near future, as
they already have in mind a patch for the 1997 season, and this patch
would be made to use the expected new standards.

A. Renault

: I just received an e-mail message from Visiware stating that the
: release version of Starting Grid won't include support for any 3D
: accelerated products.
:
: The reasons behind this choice were:
:
: 1- Bad or insufficient technical support by rendition
: 2- It didn't add enough to the game to be considered as a priority
: 3- There are not enough owners of these products at the present time
: 4- The technology is changing too fast, as new standards are due to
: come out from Microsoft and Intel.
:
: People at visiware felt that all these facts needed to be considered
: in the making of Starting Grid, and considering the superior 3D engine
: they are using decided to put that part of the projet aside for now.  
:
: There may be a patch that will add 3D support in a near future, as
: they already have in mind a patch for the 1997 season, and this patch
: would be made to use the expected new standards.
:
: A. Renault

        Well. they may have to think again, as I'm sure I'm not alone in
feeling that why bother buying a program if it doesn't support the 3D
acceleration if I can get another that does. There are more out there
than they might think.
        As an example, I have heard that Jetfighter 3 is a pretty good
sim, but I definitely won't get it unless they come out with a Verite
patch (which I have heard is in the works). I bought Nascar2 because it
has Verite support built in.

It's a shame they aren't supporting 3D acclerators now.  My new rule is
"If it doesn't already run on my 3D card directly or via Direct 3D, I
won't buy it."  This includes available patches.  I have yet to see an
unaccelerated game that comes anywhere near what an accelerated one can
achieve in appearance and framerate.

The fact is, there are already many games that support either the
Rendition and/or the 3Dfx chips (or both), and these are now the only
ones I play any more.

FYI, I have a Screamin' 3D, which I love. Since Psygnosis claims their
F1 game will support the Rendition chip, and since Nascar2 and Indycar
II already do, I have basically no use whatever for a game that doesn't
run directly on my vid card.

Any word of when the game will be released?

The game is almost completed now and I think it should not take too
long until it's out on the shelves.  The guy at Visiware stuck to the
official guidelines of the company, refusing to commit himself or his
company to a fixed date.  But as I undestood it they are now in the
stage of "polishing" the product, probably trying to solve as many
bugs as they can and optimizing their code to the maximum.

A. Renault

says...

They have still to reveal the name of the distributor.  It seems like
they want to keep that a secret until the official launch day.

A. Renault

On Fri, 17 Jan 1997 17:39:27 +0000, Julian Anderson

Has anyone had any news on 3D acceleration support in F1?  I've also
heard a long time ago that they'd be supporting rendition cards, but
since then I haven't heard anything new, I hope they haven't changed
their minds!

A. Renault

Well...  It also depends on how much the code has been optimized to
use the 3D accelerator's functions.  It seems like that was the
problem, the game wasn't fully using the card's power and they've had
a hard time getting support from rendition, so they've decided to put
3D support aside...  I'd have done the same (if this is  really what
happened).

A. Renault