rec.autos.simulators

--
Tony Wyss, Editor-in-Chief
Gamers Alliance Sports
www.ga-sports.com
-------------------------------
Network Developer
Gamers Alliance, Inc.
www.gagames.com
-------------------------------
"I'm not an athlete, I'm a baseball player" - John Kruk

PHYSICS - scores 5 where GPL scores 10 and Grand Touring Car scores 0
----------
Some people have suggested that the physics model in TOCA2 is the same
as TOCA1. I can assure you that this is not the case.
One of the main differences is that the cars now exhibit understeer
under many conditions which was almost completely absent from TOCA1.
Ridiculous oversteer is still a problem but not nearly as bad as in
TOCA1, though it's a problem that you're tamking along just fine and
then suddenly in a split second your rear has overtaken you. It's
possible to grab a spin but you have to be very quick on the opp lock or
else it's gone. It may be the case will FWD cars that you have to lift
off completely with opp lock but it doesn't feel right - maybe I been
using the RWD GPL Eagle too much.
Another difference is that they've modelled the behaviour of all 4 tyres
independantly as they interact with the surface. This allows you to
control a slide going into a corner. Almost 4 wheel drift but not nearly
as well implemented as in GPL (of course). The limits of any slide are
very fine - too fine - one moment you're completely in control and then
suddenly you're pointing in the wrong direction. However you can now
drive as you spin (sometimes) and work the car to be pointing in the
right direction after a spin - something that you could never do in
TOCA1 where it would always wind up backwards, irrespective of the
number of times it span around or any action that you took. But it all
happens to quickly - there's never much time to think "I'm gone", like
in GPL.
The contact between to tyres and the surface is okay on the track but on
the grass is as dodgy as it was in TOCA1. Grass is never this slippery.
And after a spin the grass turns very sticky - bit like SCGT in this
respect. Rain is alright and there is less grip when it's tipping down,
but there's not a dry region created along the line as the track dries.
Weight transfer feels fine in a lateral direction - and you do feel like
you are being pushed out on a corner, and this does seem to be modelled
on the wheels as well. In a forward direction it seems to much less well
modelled or else feedback of it is not delivered well delivered to the
driver. Maybe FF would help but I got very little sense of the front
getting light under acceleration or tipping forward under braking.
This illustrates a general point about feedback in TOCA2 - the tyre
screeching sounds are not informative enough especially when compared to
the feedback you get in GPL and so it's very hard to get a feel for
what's happening if it isn't happening graphically. Anyone who has FF
can say whether the implementation of this helps.
The very big negative in my book is the gearing and the effect it has.
The ratio being used at a particular speed doesn't affect accelaration
enough. Even in a mass production public road car there is very little
usable torque in 5th gear from stationary, but in these things you can
do 0-60mph in 6th with a ratio of a little shorter than 0.95:1 in 6
seconds. 0-60 in 2nd with a ratio of about 2.6:1 takes exactly the same
amount of time. Ironically you probably can't do 0-60 in 6 seconds by
shifting up from 1st because you get wheel spin in 1st! Each ratio has a
speed limit so why not stay in 6th all the time. Well the answer to that
is that the car is much more stable in lower gears. While bumping with
other cars or cornering, you're must less likely to lose it in lower
gears than higher ones. Tanking down from Paddock, you mustn't shift up
to 6th to soon if you have got complete control or it will spin. Under
the same conditions at the same speed you probably won't lose it in 6th.
Gears are handy as well to reduce speed without braking, and although
the engine sounds like it's complaining, you won't sustain any damage
that way, and it's often more stable and quicker than braking. Flat
shifting is fine also - I'm so used to GPL that I couldn't help lifting
and shifting.
Performance damage can be incurred up to about 20% but you can't write
the car off or blow the engine etc. That means that you can always get
back to the pit. Visually the damage looks great (see graphics).
Physics wise, although TOCA2 is much better than TOCA1, it still
occupies that grey area between sim and arcade.

GRAPHICS - scores 11 where Need For Speed scores 10 and GP2 scores 0.
-------------
Graphic are absolutely fantastic in TOCA2. The cars are realtime
rendered and there is no pop-up. The effects are wonderful - cracked
windscreens look fantastic, bugs splat on it, larger chippings are
thrown up with the dust in the gravel traps, the sky changes as the
weather changes and much more. It's almost worth buying this title for
the look of the thing. I have a dual Voodoo2 SLI and a TNT and they both
looked good. The fps and loading is much quicker with the SLI though the
TNT supports a richer colour depth at a greater resolution. I prefer the
SLI because for me fps is king but the fps in TNT seemed pretty good.
The fps is so good that you can max out all the effects and still get
excellant frame rates. The display is letter box which I am very well
used to with GPL. There are a host of different views from chase,
bonnet, cockpit etc. Cockpit is much the best and the driver can be a
scream - when a slower driver does something stupid blocks you he raises
an open hand as if to say, "What exactly are you thinking about?". He
shakes his fist and gesticulates like a mad thing. It a good job I was
driving the thing cos someone had to have their hands on the wheel :-)
Joking apart the in car in great and that's a major improvement on
TOCA1. The mirrors are good, big and as detailed as they are in GPL,
though you can turn deatil down or off or make them smaller if you're on
a lesser machine.
Visual damage is great though it should affect performance more.
Graphics wise TOCA2 is the state of the art.

AI - scores 9 where GPL scores 10 and Grand Touring scores 0
---------
The AI is great now - this was a major failing in TOCA1. They are always
looking for a passing line if they are faster than you and will drive
defensively in corners if they are not. But they don't block you on
straights as they did in TOCA1. They also yield if they are being
lapped. They seem to take very sensible lines through the corners now,
whereas in TOCA1 they often did some very strange things. And they screw
up in a very understandable way. The blood often goes to their head and
they will often get vengeful with you as they did in TOCA1 which is a
scream. Just as in the BTCC races, they are not afraid to trade bumpers.
At expert level, the AI are very hard to beat, and they do this in a
legitimit way, not by going faster than is possible. All in all racing
the AI is a blast. Probably the best thing about the game infact,
because when all's said and done, you but these racing titles to race
and with the possible exception of GPL, I don't think there's a better
AI implementation to be had. (Apologies to hotlappers)

TRACK REALISM - scores 8
--------------------
The tracks are much better modelled than they were in TOCA1. I know
Brands Hatch well and it always used to annoy me that TOCA1 had
Clearways below the top straight. This is mainly fixed now though I
still maintain that Clearways is higher than they've got it here.
Thruxton, Donnington, Oulton Park and Silverstone had all been made more
realistic. This is important to me - I want to get a feel for what it's
like to drive on these tracks. Smaller road bumps are modelled, but, as
in TOCA1 you can't see them.

SOUND - scores 8
---------
Pretty good sound overall. The cars sound more or less okay. Other
effects are great too - I particularly like my pit crew talking to me.
They are very helpful. They tell you if the car ahead had pitted, if the
race leader has pitted, that you ought to pit because of whether
changes, how many laps to go etc etc. They also give you encouragement
and ask you what the hell is going on out there when you spin too often.
Tiff Needel does the commentary around, but not during races and does as
good a job as in TOCA1. When you get a dent in the wrong place it scapes
against the wheels or whatever and makes the appropriate sound. In fact
my only beef is that the tyre screeches aren't informative enough.

WEATHER - scores 10 where MGP scores 10 and GP2 scores 0
------------
This is very well done. The weather can change during a race several
times and forces you to think about pitting. The cloud cover indicates
what might happen to the rain so you can decide whether to go for
intermediates or rains. Realistic graphics help this. My only beef is
the lack of drying line after the rain has stopped. In in all, this is
the best weather implementation I've seen in a driving sim.

GAMEPLAY - scores 9
--------------
This is a hard one to score because some people including me like it to
be missing entirely. I just want to race in a realistic way. But no, you
have to earn the bonus cars and tracks by competing in a championship or
whatever. Well, no matter you can race all the BTCC cars, Formula Fords
and Escorts on all the real tracks without earning them, so I guess I've
no real beeft. All the silly cheat for reduced gravity are still there
but I can ignore them. The actual championships are fun though. The
championships are in 3 levels, novice, standard and expert. Novice is
ridiculously easy and standard is not that taxing either. Expert is real
fun. The one thing that gets me is that you have to get a certain
placing to continue. I came into Donnington leading the championship on
the back of 2 wins out of 2 at Oulton. I screwed up my sprint race but
set the fastest qualifier for the feature ...

read more »

Thanks a lot.

--
-Gunslinger-

Does anyone have the cheats to enable all the tracks and cars?

Try 'DOUBLE' for tracks & 'CARTASTIC' for cars, then lemme know if they work
:)
Haven't had chance to try 'em yet as I find the game runs a lot smoother
after a reboot (and haven't rebooted all day).

BTW - does everyone else have to suffer very long loading times?
Most annoying is in champ mode, after finishing a meeting, you have to wait
for the next track to load before being allowed to quit.

As I'm on this thread - nice review Paul, you've summed it up nicely.

bod

http://members.xoom.com/_XOOM/TOCA2/homepage.html
Go to the FAQ page.

(CARTASTIC is all cars)

Ross Woodward.

PII 333/Abit BH6/128Mb/Voodoo 2 12Mb

If thats so... then they got it *completely* wrong..
Lift the throttle on a FWD-car that's lost rear-end grip and you're in deep
sh....

The only way to save it is to nail the throttle and use opp.lock.

Have a look at Alain Menu in BTCC... he *really* knows how to save it.

Oh... and I know this from experience too :))
--
All the best,
Edwin Solheim *remove SPAM-GUARD in address to reply*
The Paddock - a legendary site....
<http://home.c2i.net/thepaddock>

Z.

I have Dual Voodoo2's in SLI at 1024x768 and I get a full screen display,
except in replays and the few seconds leading into a qualifying lap.  Just
curious....

/\/eil.

--
*** Rich,
Music House

--
*** Rich,
Music House