rec.autos.simulators

As compared to NR2002:

First, you can rub fenders more in this game without punted out of the way.
You can't just go slamming into things, but you can actually use the "8 tire
method" of getting through a corner and get away with it.

Secondly, the cars appear to be more courteous when you stick your nose
under them.

The AI are a bunch of idiots when it comes to reaching the line under
yellow.  This has been mentioned here before and I agree.

The AI is too stupid when it comes to the "Passing under the yellow" rule.
You are nailed within microseconds if you do it, for whatever reason.

I kind of like the "Stay behind this car" marker they use.

The Spotter is done all wrong.  It wastes WAY too much time describing the
car number and other junk before they finally say "is down low".  It should
say something like "Car Low!.  Car 19 is below you" instead of "T h e  c a r
# 1 9 i s b e l o w  y o u".  By the time they hit the 3rd word, it's too
late.

Whats up with the silent fly-by at the start of the race ?

There is not nearly enough information transmitted to the driver by the
spotter during the race.

And now for the biggie...

I do NOT like how the AI experience percentages work at all.  It seems to me
that ALL of the 'experience' you take away is applied at the entry of each
corner, and the rest of the way around the track they are 100%.  For
example, if you set it to, say, 95% when you reach a corner and there is an
AI car or cars ahead of you, they damned near slam on the brakes on corner
entry.  This usually screws you up so bad that you can't do a proper entry
either.  Now, after about the apex of the corner, the AI cars all of a
sudden get 100% skill and are able to run at full speed and you can't pass
the little jerks.  The net effect is their cowardess at the entry screws up
your entry, and thier new-found bravery keeps you from passing at exit and
on the straights.

I do not like THIS at all.

-Larry

If the engine stalls, the car will not restart unless it is neutral, and the
clutch pedal is not engaged.  I would prefer that the car stays in gear
until I take it out also,  but if you wait after a stall, the game will take
the car back to neutral.

Maybe all this wouldn't be so bad if I knew how to restart the car while in
gear, or even if there was a decent indicator on the screen to show which
gear you are in. (I know about the F4 key, but prefer to use the F5 key
while driving)

Look at the driver definitions in the season??/drivers directory.  You
can adjust how fast they attempt to take slow and high speed corners.
I don't know what the game defines as a slow/high speed corner so
you'll need to play around with it.

I highly recommend editing the driver files anyway to get more
realisic qualifying and race results.  The default strength settings
usually leads to Schui always being the fastest AI qualifier and
pulling away from the other AI cars by a few seconds per lap.  I
knocked a decimal point off of the strength settings to tighten things
up and while he was still *** the gaps between the cars were much
more realistic, and you couldn't go into a race spinning twice a lap,
for instance, and still finishing 6th or 7th.

For the sake of the thread, here is what the .rcd files look like in
NT2003:

------
Coy Gibbs
{

 //Driver Stats
 Speed=44.0
 Concentration=72.0
 Fitness=68.0
 Intimidation=63.0
 Aggression=53.0
 Status=87.0
 Courtesy=54.0
 CompletedLaps%=60
 Script=default.scp
------

In F1 2002:

------
Michael Schumacher
{
 //Driver Info
 Nationality=German
 DateofBirth=3-1-69
 Starts=161
 Poles=43
 Wins=53
 DriversChampionships=4

 //Driver Stats
 StartsDry=1.3           //Average number of drivers passed (-4 - 4)
 StartsWet=1.9          
 StartStalls=0           //% of starts where driver stalled
 QualifyingAbility=1.22  //Average qulifying position
 RaceAbility=0.64        //Range 0 - 6.2 (0 is best)
 RainAbility=0.48        //Range 0 - 6.2 (0 is best)
 Passing=88.0            //% of times driver completed a successfull
pass, not including pit stops or lapped traffic
 Crash=1.7               //% of times driver crashed
 Recovery=45             //% of times driver continued after a crash
 CompletedLaps%=90
 Script=default.scp

 // Increase attempted low-speed cornering by adding a minimum onto
calculated speed.
 // Reduce attempted high-speed cornering by multiplying speed by a
number less than 1.0.
 // <adjusted speed> = CorneringAdd + (CorneringMult * <original
speed>)
 CorneringAdd=1.5
 CorneringMult=0.965
------

Jason

Ralph Hummerlich's yer man for that - his graphics and AI updates are
excellent.
http://f12k2.relaygames.com/dl_02_cars02.asp