rec.autos.simulators

Hi there,
being a GP1 fanatic (and Indycar) for years (since the amiga version)
and having waited almost a year for its sequel, here are my comments for
GP2:
Did we waited too long for GP2? Maybe from all the snapshots we saw we
thought we would get a game that only a Pentium 400 Mhz can run. My
expectations were too high, I now realize that. My first 2 hours of
playing were so-so, not too sure if it was as good as I hoped, but after
playing the whole WE long, I think I can now say that it is a very good
game in lots of ways. The driving model is absolutely brillant, unseen
in any other games. Yes, one need a huge Pentium to run SuperVGA
decently, unfortunately. Even on my 133, I have to compromise a lot on
details, but being a racing fanatic, only the track matters, not the
scenery...
What really botters is the feel of GP1 everywhere... I can't not believe
they have just enhanced GP1, but still, all the small annoying things
from GP1 are still there:

- When a session finishes, you can not finish your lap, it just stops
right on time. Not very realistic!
- The Monitor in the pits is as ugly as the one in GP1. Big characters
and only 6 lines displayed. What is SVGA there for? I would have loved
to have the real thing, with 24 lines showing, number of laps left per
car, and the ability to scroll up and down.
- The***pit has not improved that much from GP1, just a revamp. There
are still options there that have got nothing to do with a racing
***pit, like Driving Aids, Opposition level and difficulty indicators.
Come on, this is a formula one simulation, not a arcade***pit. I want
to see a digitilized***ipt, maybe even different ones for each team. I
would also have like a smaller one, but with a view showing the tyres
spinning and turning, 'a la' Indycar, which really does a lot for
realism.
- This engine is really the best, you just can not overrev it, even
going down from 6th to 1th in 0.5 seconds. Also like in GP1, it will
decide for you if it is time to go up one gear. Come on, if I want to go
in second, there is a good reason, even at 5000 RPM. That slipping
clutch has not been changed from GP1, so one should not try to change
too early. Can we please get a new clutch..
- The Opponents still struggle at the first corner of a race, they seem
to battle to see the gaps and go very slowly. This cause an unrealsitic
jam.

Thew following things are what I would like to be changed:

- Steering lock to be part of a race setup, not as a general settings as
2 circuits are never quite the same and often requires diffrent
settings.
- Dynamic change of braking spread (front/back) during the race to take
fuel load in consideration (if the front wheels were shown in the
cokipit view, one could realize if it is the front or the back locking.
- The sounds of the other cars would really bring another touch of
realism. One gets stressed in Indycar when one can hear another engione
in the background, or when one waits to hera the opponent going down the
gears to start outbracking him.
- I would also have liked to be able to restore a saved game from the
first menu going out of a race. This is a detail but when one crashes it
is nice to just quickly reload the same game.
- A pit to car radio feature would be gorgeous.
- Weather changes would be a +
- Network support would be a ++

Please nobody get me wrong reading my wish-list, I love the game and the
most important things have been provided. This list is just there in
order to get this brillant game hopefully to a status of untouchable
quality. If the details mentioned here above can be upgraded to the
quality of the driving model, it will be long before any other game will
beat GP2.
Regarding the performance of GP2 on a standard machine, I think that all
those brilliant things that make GP2 have a price. Maybe we waited so
long because they could not release the game until people had more
adequate hardware, who knows? I can see that the route to go now is when
Geoff comes back from Holiday, he should think about converting GP2 to
use WIN-G, to get GP2 to run under WIN95. If he can get there, he will
then benefit from the future support Win95 will provide for 3D
accelerators. When we get there, I think GP2 will run full textured
details on my machine and decently on a DX2-66 (basic S-VGA). I can not
wait! Geoff, are you there?

Great review. Thanks!

It isn't included? I'm sorry. But I *EXPECTED* as much tweaking to be allowed
as we have with ICR2. You must have missed something :-)

Do you mean brake bias? As in adjusted from the***pit? Do the F1 drivers do
this, or is it computer controlled? If the real drivers can do this, I expect the
best F1 game to allow it too.

You can't hear the other opponants? Huh... I guess again I thought (my problem
right there :-)  ) that this would be the same as ICR2.

Hoped for this.

Hoped for this too...

Great review but a few things I would like to add.
Yes I would expect to be able to change the steering lock.

Yes it most definitly is adjustable during the race in the real cars.
Its what caused M.Andretti to go off in the wet ,dry race at San
Marino he was fiddling with the brake bias and got it wrong. Not a
bashing of M.Andretti as I am one of the few people who think that
with the amount of practice he got he did well. Just needed more
commitment.

From what I understand it is not possible to hear the other cars in
the real thing. Just think about it you have an unmuffled Ferrari 12"
behind your ears <VBG> dont think you will hear much of anything.
Besides I would imagine that the industrial ear plugs they wear would
take care of it as well. Also in a different form of racing I never
heard people coming from behind, usually the first sign was a wheel
being jammed into your line.<VBG> Desert Motorcycle Racing.

Me too.

This omission is almost unforgivable. F1 greatest drivers were almost
always rain specialists.  The decisions whether to go to wets or to
show true brilliance and stay on slicks always showed who was great
and who transcended greatness. Senna, Shumacher and Alesi .....

One of my fondest wishes would be to be able to race the old circuits
like the 14 mile long SPA, the old Nurbergring, the Old Interlagos.
Wouldnt it be fun to see how well the new cars would go around those
tracks? How about an alternate Grand Prix season where all the old
tracks would be included in the place of the new versions. I mean we
dont have to worry about dying. I really dont like driving between
barriers on these rinky dink things they call circuits. The Banks at
Monza.....hehehe..oh boy that would be fun in a Williams.....

Pierre PAPA DOC Legrand

1. To be able to finish my lap at the end of a seession.
2. To be able to see all my opponents on the qualifying screen in the pits.
3. To be able to see my front wheels.
4. For the cars to look a little less cartoon like - although the drivers' heads
looking where they are turning is very cool.

However, my biggest gripes are:

4: WHY can't I hear my opponents? This is rediculous!
5: I want mirrors like in ICR2, so I can tell where a car is when it pulls along
side me. Once a car passes my back wheels it is in my blind spot! It makes going
through a corner side-by-side very difficult.

Still enjoying myself though - driving model is very cool, especially with
traction help off. Spin spin spin :)

Julian
_____________________________________________________________________

                                University of Oxford

It is possible to change the steering lock, but only from a high level
menu, where the controls are defined. I would have like that feature to
be track-specific.

Brake bias is definitively adjusted by F1 drivers from the***pit as
the race goes. No sign of this in GP2

JL> 4: WHY can't I hear my opponents? This is rediculous!

I'm not sure that the real drivers can - with the noise of the engines
and it being so close, wind rush, etc I'm not sure they can either.

JL> 5: I want mirrors like in ICR2, so I can tell where a car is when it
JL> pulls along side me. Once a car passes my back wheels it is in my
JL> blind spot! It makes going through a corner side-by-side very
JL> difficult.

Their mirrors don't show that.....they have the same problem. Too real?

Cheers!

---
 * RM 1.3 U0414 * .....And fade to grey.....applause..... (c) Cliche Taglines

Before anyone starts on a Win95 version, though - I really liked the
idea
of not only weather conditions, but weather that changes during the
course
of the race (preferably with "roostertails" in the rain :) Shifting wind
conditions and occasional gusts might be a extra cool addition as well.

Anyone have any feedback on this?

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Neil Mouneimne       | "I hate spreadsheets,

                     |  
---CS-Anime-Bab5-SegaAM-Mtn_Bikes-RPGs-Newton-Ducatis-Hk-Glock-Rally--

Julian
_____________________________________________________________________

                                University of Oxford

How big IS this blind spot?  (Still waiting for GP2 to be released).. :)

Neil
--
Meek and obedient you follow the leader
down well trodden corridors into the valley of steel..

       Neil Yeatman, Ajax, Ontario, CANADA

That isn't quite true this season.

In -96 cars they have new, more safer cocpits with high sidewalls, they
can't see to their side anymore. That is why Mika Hakkinen got his new
enhanced mirrors which allow him to see a bit more.

Yes, I know that GP2 has -94 cars.

Greetings
Toni

GP2 has a great driving model, Graphics, Sound and Setup options and
pretty much every thing else is ratshit. No Weather, No Network, No
paintkit, No 96 season, Not bing able to finish laps in qualifying is a
real pain in the ass and I cannot believe that it is still in the game. I
want to be able to load games from the first menu when I exit. I want to
be able to hear other cars. I want Katyama to be hopeless like he is in
real life. Please bring out a patch to fix these things. You did have
enough time to do them already though. Otherwise congratulations on the
best driving game ever.
                                   Oliver Talbot

On Wed, 24 Jul 1996 11:35:30 GMT, Oliver Talbot

You sound like my six year old nephew - Pathetic!

I just got GP2 today; first copy I saw, at walden software in CT, USA.

It is odd not hearing other cars... I thought maybe that was just me
not being able to find the right menu to turn them on. But it seems
they just don't exist. OK, I'll get used to it.

Anybody able to tell me how to restart a race without hitting <ESC>?
Something like ICR2's <shift-R>? Perhaps there is no such thing.

Any other possible keyboard functions not detailed in the manual?

Also, what do you lose by doing the 9 meg install instead of the...
50+ meg one? I'm only capable of VGA, if that matters.

Fantastic sim, truly everything it was billed to be. Now I see why
everyone respects this Geoff Crammond. GP2 will be a pleasant break
from ICR2... not that I want to quit ICR2, but I did need a break from
it. Some time away might breathe some new life when I come back.
I think they will end up being a very nice complement to each other in
the end; ICR2's spikey, spare, user-unfriendly features and bugs (but
fantastic racing) against GP2's bulky, slow, confusing GUI but
incredible graphics/VR engine (and hopefully incredible racing).

Regards,
James.