Not my product but I am a fan of the effort they are putting into it. Bike
physics are almost inpossible to simulate using a normal input device like a
joystick. However, by studying and modeling the myriad possibilites it is
possible for talented programmers to simulate bike physics as realistically as
POSSIBLE on the PC. I believe that is what the GP500 team is aiming for and the
maximum we can expect. Things that do make a difference but can't be practically
controlled on a PC must be estimated if not directly controlled by the sim
rider.
Sure, I am a cynic too and wait to play the game before judging the hyped up
physics or graphics. I don't think that degrading a product before it's release
is fair. The graphical quality of GP500 can be seen in the releases photos. Lets
all wait and see anbout the physics. I have another BETA session this week and
will give another opinion then.
> >In the alpha code they tried to simulate the effects of moving forward
> >and backwards on the seat. They also simulated the effects of differnt
> <all the good stuff snipped>
> Mark,
> Well we all know that to go faster you need to get partially off the seat to
> take a corner, somebody who can do this is likely to have around 30% more
> speed than the guy who stays on his seat, wondering what the next thought of
> the front tyre is going to be :) And you also need plenty of weight
> forward, under acceleration everything shifts back and you really got to
> keep that front tyre loaded as much as poss. I've saved two tank slappers
> caused by a combination of too much speed on shoddy road quality in the last
> 100 miles on my bike, and it is seriously worrying when its happening. But
> getting to the point, as somebody who is very accustomed to fast lap times
> and close racing in GPL (and who was on the Papyrus test team in fact for
> this product), I'm very aware of some of the physics complexities that are
> involved. My question to you is similar to John's comment, with my cynical
> British hat on, that so many developers have hyped their physics (and/or AI)
> compared to the other products and within minutes of trying them, for one
> reason or another, I am left feeling totally dissatisfied. The problem is
> the *** bikers, drivers, racers whatever amongst us have been spoiled
> by the talent of the Papyrus team in their ability to create awesome
> physics, control routines and computer AI, that virtually everything else
> leaves us cold. My concern is that the EA Superbike game didn't sell
> particularly well, and that in my opinion contains "ok" physics, probably
> the best bike physics available to the public, but to somebody who enjoys
> real biking, it is still very limited as far as recreating the real
> experience. Sadly, I honestly believe that the GPL engine adapted to a bike
> simulator would be almost impossible to use - therefore difficult to sell...
> and canned "arcade-style" physics featuring wonderful pre-programmed spins,
> slides, or in the case of bikes, low-sides, high-sides, whatever) just won't
> impress me at all. The delight of the GPL engine is that it is always
> manipulating the many attributes of the car as a result of some fantastic
> calculations of the player inputs, the vehicle and its surroundings. What
> the car does is always the sum of everything occuring around it, not the
> other way around. Anyway, enough rambling on, but if you're still reading
> all this, good luck with your product - I am a natural cynic, but that only
> increases the curiosity I have in all the new products - I'm certainly very
> eager to try it and of course I'm looking forward to be impressed :)
> All the best,
> Mike (Yamaha R6)
