rec.autos.simulators

We all know the poor rating they gave GPL when it came out, Well Andy
finally gave the game the credit it deserves to an extent.. He included GPL
with Janes F-16 and Falcon 4.0 when calling 1998 a banner year for
simulations, ...

"...Papyrus'... decision to forego... it's cutting edge 288Hz GPL physics
engine in Nascar 3 in favor of the user friendly 15Hz Nascar 2 code..."

so perhaps if they had a real sim guy like Andy on board when they reviewed
GPL, it would at least have gotten into the 80's. And then maybe they
wouldn't have to every month or so defend their review in the letter to the
editor, with no real response to the author of the letter who makes very key
points about how the rating doesn't reflect the review according to their
rating system.

and in another part of the mag...

They had another article on Powerplay 2.0. I'm glad this isn't going to be a
pay for service, and if all goes well, and the companies support it, then we
could have near LAN quality racing over the net.

right on!

<snip>
<snip>

I haven't seen the US edition's review (their site is being changed,
and the archived reviews aren't up yet), but I can't see how they can
have rated GPL so badly.

The British edition of PC Gamer gave it 93%. If you're remotely
interested, you can read their review at:

http://www.pcgamer.co.uk/games/gamefile_review_page.asp?item_id=491

Here are the scores from a few of the top British mags:

PC Gamer - 93%
PC Zone - 90%
PC Format - 81%

Most of the reviewers' only complaints were about the uncompromising
difficulty, though (IIRC) PC Format docked it marks because of the lack
of in-game music (!)

--
David.
"The lawyers are destroying inspiration."
(Michael Turner, motorsport artist)

(snipped)

In game music for GPL?  Gee, that's all I need... some distracting music
blaring in my ears as I try to outbrake Surtees into a corner.  Maybe
"Wipeout" by the Surfaris?  :-)

Course, it might make those long laps around the Ring seem quicker.

If they think GPL is an arcade game I'd love to drive a proper race sim!

Cheers

Phil

--
http://www.youpies.co.uk

Cheers

Phil

--
http://www.youpies.co.uk

snip

Maybe

Surfaris would be good.  How 'bout "I Get Around" by the Beach Boys?  Right
era, too.

Hey, could someone make up a new Ferrari dash with a little transistor
duct-taped to it?

Kurt

You're obviously thinking of that little MPEG that is kicking around of a
1960s F2 car driving through the Bergwerk section... Yeah Baby... YEAH!

Stephen

Lack of in-game music?!?!?!?
what sort of people do this reviews?
surely you would have a motor racing enthusiast doing reviews of
racing simulators.

<snip>

I don't know about the US, but the situation among the main magazines
over here in the UK is something like this:

PC Gamer - IMO, by far the best UK magazine for reviews. One of the
rare magazines that will give a game 65% and not mean "appalling".
Very tough marking - anything that gets 90% tends to deserve it (eg
GPL, 93%), and it's not at all unusual to see scores under 20% (eg
that dreadful Harley-Davidson thing, which got 14%). Reviews done by
people with at least some interest in the subject matter. It's very
ggod, which is why I was so surprised to see the US version's %age.

PC Format - published by the same company (Future Publishing) as PC
Gamer, but more of a "leisure" mag than a games one. Gives the
impression of having gone slightly downmarket recently. Reviews used
to be quite good, but now somewhat sloppy, and far too lenient (90%
for Le Mans 24 Hours???).

PC Zone - downmarket, cheap mag, aimed at the "yoof" market
(or at least the part that thinks a lot of mild swearing is
hilarious). Occasionally has surprisingly good stuff on the cover CD.
Reviews useless - a cricket game review might start with a paragraph
about how boring cricket is - and generally in the "this game's
hopeless, so we'll only give it 75%" mould.

PC *** World - rather more upmarket, specialist image. Makes a
big thing of how all its reviews are written by specialists. Lots of
words, fewer pictures than others. Reviews are pretty well-informed,
and usually fair (1 to 5 stars, not %age). Not a bad choice for sim
reviews.

All the mags are UKP5 (or UKP6 if they've got a DVD on the front
instead of the CD), except for PC Zone which is UKP3. Personally, I
tend to read PC Gamer for reviews, with an occasional bout of PCGW.

--
David.
"The lawyers are destroying inspiration."
(Michael Turner, motorsport artist)