I've now been playing it for over an three hours. Here are my first
impressions:-
a) the menus are practically unchanged from GP2 (which is not a bad thing)
b) The graphics test your system for performance and set an appropriate
detail level (set mine to max at 1280x1024 on a PII 600 and GeForce DDR) but
again all settings you can change are almost identical to GP2.
c)The graphics are nice and do the job but are not exactly state of the art.
GPL still looks better and that came out two years ago.
d) Shock Horror ! you cannot use split axis peddles! this is criminal! Even
F1 2000 can use a split axis.
Again the joystick set-up screen is exactly the same as GP2. Geoff what
exactly have you been doing for the past four years?
d)The way the car drives is very similar to GP2 but now at least the***pit
move about a little as a visual cue.
e) The Force Feedback not exactly up to GPL! Hit a wall and you feel
nothing,
run over the grass and you feel nothing, run over the curbs and you feel
nothing. It's quite weighty it shakes it's head about in a disconcerting
manner but doesn't give out much in the way of "feel". There were many
complaints about the poor FF in F1 2000 but this is not as good as that. Bit
of a
disappointment really.
f) Driving around Monaco just seems a little too easy even with all the help
off
(apart from traction help without which you just spin instantly with no
warning), then again I have been playing GPL rather a lot recently.
g) Tried a wet race at Spa and the rain is just brilliant. Much more
difficult to drive in the wet (as it should be) and don't even think about
turning traction help off unless you are a cobbler. The reflections in the
track and the spray are really very nice.
h) The manual even has the same diagrams as in GP2 and even GP1.
I) The desktop icon is quite nice.
I've only been playing for an hour so I'm not going to make any real
judgements let but so far after all the e***ment and anticipation I feel a
little let down by Geoff Crammond. I can't exactly see what he's been doing
for the last four years apart from doing rain dances. So far I'm not that
impressed (although the rain is rather nice). Geoff
seems to have been in a time warp as GP3 looks and feels like it should have
come out two years ago. If you check out the about GP3 screen the you'll see
the credits which show that only four people including Geoff worked on it
and I'm afraid it shows. No wonder it's not really progressed in four years.
Overall it seems to be exactly like GP2 but with rain and slightly better
graphics. I loved GP2 and I'll certainly have some fun racing in GP3 but
somehow I think I'll be returning to GPL sooner rather than later for my
driving fixes as GP3 just isn't in the same
league. There again that's pretty much what I expected.
Some Call Me Tim