rec.autos.simulators

I suggest that everyone planning on racing N3 or NL online to seriously
consider purchasing something like Verbal Commander.  It allows you to
avoid using the keyboard to setup your next pit stop, announce your entry
to/exit from the pits, etc.

Here's a URL:

        http://www.racesimcentral.net/%7Evrgear/verbal.htm

Cost is $89 from K2 Interactive

You can also get it from a lace called 4CD's for $49.

        http://www.racesimcentral.net/

I have one of these and it works pretty well.

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Redneck Techno-Biker (Zerex12)
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Super X Philes
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One of the things I'm looking forward to in N3 is being able to use Roger
Wilco or Battle Commander to talk back and forth with "teammates" during
races. If it works real well, it may be time to s***the VC.

John Simmons wrote

Unless N3 has changed the keyboard methods for specifying tire changes and
other adjustments, programs like Verbal Commander and Game Commander will be
of limited use.  I have Game Commander, and wanted to be able to say "Right
side tires" to specify that I wanted only right sides changed, but the way
N99 handles it, I had to set up separate commands that basically emulated
the individual keystrokes ({Space} to rotate between tire selections, as I
recall).  I hope N3 will be more friendly to voice command software, but I'm
betting it won't change much from N2/N99...

Robert

What would REALLY be cool is if you could tell your crew chief (with
voice command hardware/software) that the car is loose or tight in the    
beginning/midddle/end of a turn and when you pull into the pits, he makes
the appropriate adjustments for you (a pound of air pressure in a given
tire, a wedge adjustment, a spoiler adjusment, or any combination
thereof).  That would keep our hands off the keyboard and on the steering
wheel where they belong as we enter the pits.

Beyond that, the problems of which you speak are not necessarily the
fault of the sim as much as they are the fault of the verbal commander
software.  If the verbal command software could process a series of
commands instead of single keystroke, we'd be a lot better off.

--
=========================================================
Redneck Techno-Biker (Zerex12)
  http://www.racesimcentral.net/
Barbarian Diecast Collector (370+ cars and counting)
  http://www.racesimcentral.net/
Internet Grand Prix Series Season 2
  http://www.racesimcentral.net/
North American Stockcar Racing Online Competition
  http://www.racesimcentral.net/
Super X Philes
  http://www.racesimcentral.net/

If you want to send me email, go to the first URL shown
above & click "Send Me Mail" in the contents frame.
=========================================================

Actually, Game Commander can send a series of commands (keystrokes) if you
get the latest update.  You can even insert pauses between keystrokes and
other somewhat sophisticated sequences.

The problem in N2/N99 and probably N3 is that you don't always start from a
known point.  For instance, to specify a tire change you press F5.  If you
haven't changed the selection since the last pit, the selection will be all
four tires.  However, if you've pressed ENTER the appropriate number of
times to select a right side, left side, or no tires, when you press F5 the
tire changing status will be where you left it previously.  A voice command
"Change right side tires" keystroke sequence could go like this:
"{F5}{ENTER}{ENTER}{ENTER}"  This sequence assumes the current tire change
selected is 4 tires.  Suppose at the last second as you change your mind and
want a four tire stop.  What would be the sequence?  At this point it would
be "{F5}{ENTER}," with the assumption that the tire changing info screen
wasn't up (maybe we need an {F5} at the end of the first sequence to turn
the tire change status screen back off).  The number of {ENTER} keystrokes
is relative to where the tire change selection already was when you issue
the new command.  If there were a keystroke on that screen that would reset
tire changes back to all, that would solve that problem, since the following
keystrokes in the command would simply set the desired changes relative to
an all tire change.

I suppose commands like "round of wedge in" and "round of wedge out" would
be as simple as "{F6}{<}{F6}" and "{F6}{>}{F6}" respectively (I may have
these backwards).  You would have to issues these commands repetively for
however many rounds you need.  Similar settings could be done for adding or
reducing tire pressure.  Hmmm, I may have to rework my Game Commander
profile for N99... :)

Sorry for the nit-picky post, but the tire changes is something I haven't
figured out how to do well with voice software, but will be really cool once
it can be done.  Papy could help out with adding the appropriate keystrokes,
but I'm sure that's not on the top priority list.  And I'm not saying this
problem is anybody's fault.  It's just that the current keystroke scheme in
N99 is not necessarily conducive to using voice commands.  If you or anyone
else can think of a tire changing (or other commands) keystroke scheme for
N99 and N3 I would be most anxious to see it.

BTW, that would be cool if you could tell the crew chief the symptoms and he
figured out what the car needed.  I'm sure some people would want to make
those adjustments themselves (it could be an option they could turn off).
But letting the crew chief worry about the car adjustments would leave you
to concentrate on the driver's job: Driving!  At least he does keep tabs on
the gas mileage.  :)

Robert Rathbone

  Doesn't Verbal have a "suspend" function?  I remember a review of
I think...Game Commander, where the guy had a keyword to turn off
the commander so he could chat with Roger.  Then if he needed to change
something again, he used another keyword to "turn on" the commander.
while the game commander was "working" he could not use Roger Wilco.
(unless.....:>  the spectre of two sound cards raises it's ugly head
again!)
dave henrie

This would be nice.  I like driving.  I'm not a crew chief, and would prefer
to leave the setup to the experts ")

-Larry