rec.autos.simulators

Actually it's been more like two weeks because I've been playing the game so
much.  This one, unlike CPR, is a winner straight out of the box.  Goodbye
GP2!  

Things I like:

Driving Model/Physics - The car feels pretty good to me.  Not as good as CPR
but good.  One of the things I think I like about this sim is the fact that
different cars seem to behave differently.  I may be wrong on this and I'm
sure I'll be corrected if so.  But on limited testing it seems that a Williams
always beats a Forti even if I'm the one driving the Forti.  Which is great
for me because I'd rather be driving a Forti in the middle of the pack than
blowing all the AI away in a Williams.  It makes for a much more interesting
drive that way.

AI - Seems pretty darn good to me.  The tracks are done well also.  Passing is
difficult in F1RS when the cars are similar in performance as it should be.

Manual - Hey, this one actually has a somewhat useful manual.  Maybe I'll buy
all my sims imported from the UK.

Setup Options - Like CPR, absolutely intimidating.

Network Play - IPX support for up to 8 players.  That's pretty cool if it
really works which I'm in the process of testing today.

Things I don't like:

The menu system - At first I thought this totally sucked.  But I'm getting
used to it.

The unstability - Straight out of the box I found a sequence of common events
that would crash this game.  I could crash it at will on my system.  I haven't
tried since I patched it though so maybe that's gone.

It's a Windows 95 game - I need not say more.  BTW, I hold no personal grudges
against Windows 95 or Microsoft.  It just seems real damn obvious to me that
Windows 95 sucks for this genre of games, and it probably always will.  Is
there a reasonable solution? No, but I can *** if I want to.

Things I find interesting:

I've been reading this newsgroup religiously the last several weeks with the
whole Dean thing going down and all.  I seem to remember a post by someone
from the Microsoft team that went something like "Hey give us a break it was
our first effort and we're learning."  As far as I know this was Ubisoft's
first effort at a sim.  Also, the Ubisoft sim was $10 less.  The argument
might have merit if they weren't charging top dollar for their learniing
experience.

Another thing I seem to remember floating around the newsgroup was that the
performance of DirectX 5 was similar to the performance of 3DFX.  Seemed like
this one originated from the Microsoft team also.  Like maybe they had written
a 3DFX version of CPR and the frame rates were very similar.  In my totally
unscientific testing of F1RS I've found the 3dfx to be excellent and the
directx 5 version to be a comparative slide show in the same computer with the
same graphics options using a Monster 3D and a Viper 330 respectively.  Which
leads me to believe that either:

A.  It's more difficult to program acceptable graphics performance using      
     DirectX 5.
        or
B.  3DFX is either vastly superior or at least more simple to program for.

I don't know which is true or even partially true but it would seem to me that
if I were writing these types of sims and anything about B were true I'd be
writing 3DFX sims.

I was thinking about this the other day and you know I wouldn't bat an eye at
paying $500 for an F1 or CART sim but it had better be the mother of all
racing sims, and I bet their are many in this newsgroup just as
hopelessly ***ed as me that wouldn't bat an eye either.  Unfortunately that
sim will probably never be written because the market is to exclusive.

After all, we're all just kids that want to be race car drivers but were too
old, too fat, and too poor to really do it.

..snip

Yes, this was one of the first things that I noticed also, being the
different driving styles of the AI which is probably the best modeling
I have seen to date in a sim.

Also agree. I've been more into the stockcar style racers, but from
what I have experienced, the tracks are very well done and passing
situations seem remarkably realistic along with the accurate AI.

This also made a nice impression with me. Great glossy touch with a
very thorough layout containing both useful and an interesting mix of
info. The manual included (at least in the UK version) is actually
worth some $s in itself.

I was impressed also here. Very detailed and thorough setup options
with separate section(s) for both {Driver} {Engineer}, which adds a
major amount of realism.

Great feature! I have yet to test it but have heard that "Kali" works
half decent with this to support play via the internet.

This is somewhat annoying. Most notably when you want to do some setup
tweaking and testing, its a little more time consuming having to exit
the track and then "reload track"...

Actually I have yet to experience any of these problems. I did apply
the first 1.04 patch before even loading it for the first time though.
Also no problems with crashing as to date with the latest 1.05 patch.
This may be more evident in the D3D version I understand. I am using
the 3dfx/Glide.

I couldn't have worded that better myself. As good as F1RS feels
running under W95, I can't help but feel that slight glitch such that
occurs when the radio audio executes, and a bit of a framerate drag
when starting the race which I would be curious if a DOS version would
improve a bit as with other sims such as ICR2 & N2 which perform a bit
more fluid in a DOS environment.

Exactly! I couldn't have worded this any better than this. On a
related personal observation, I had contacted Ubisoft originally to
purchase this game. The cost (when available) would be $44.95 + $4.95
shipping. Since Ubi in the US was still awaiting their shipment, I
contacted www.ineractcd.com. Price was $39.95 + $8 2day = $47.95. I
ordered Wed. & received Fri. I noted CPR at two different stores local
for a price of $54.99. No big deal if CPR was in a condition to merit
but IMHO, the current choice is a "no-brainer".

You took the words right out of my mouth ;).

Excellent post Todd!

About the only thing I have to add is just one "slight" gripe
considering my overall impression thus far with Ubi F1RS is very
favorable, and that is the "frame-rate" bog down that seems to only
occur in traffic and at the start of the race.

BTW, My system: P166MMX, 64m EDO, Stealth II, Pure3d/3dfx...
Full Install of Ubi F1RS.  

Ron L.

(Please remove the extra letter(s) to respond)

Home of the SSC http://www.racesimcentral.net/~lazer/    
For Nascar2 & Winston Cup Fans!

Have you tried to fiddle with the vcache settings or removing a maximum
for the virtual memory? Should improve the slow-downs. I'm also of the
impression that V1.05 fixes slowdowns.

Stanley

<snip>About the only thing I have to add is just one "slight" gripe

Some are, some are definitely not. Some gradients are completely wrong at
Imola and are missing altogether from Hungaroring & (sob!) Suzuka :(

Monaco, Magny Cours, Monza & Buenos Aires are all superb though.

But what about all those ridiculous translation errors! As far as I can
tell no-one with any knowledge of F1 proof checked what is obviously a
translation by someone who doesn't know anything about the subject and
doesn't care either :( The poor guys at Ubisoft UK must really cringe at
the "English" in the manual.

Two major ommissions - doesn't differentiate between fast & slow dampers
and no tyre pressure options. Bump stops didn't work properly but the
first patch fixed that.

Has anyone found a reliable way to get F1RS to work via Kali yet? I
managed a few races but most of the time it loses the connection before
getting to the track :((

Well I'ld probably bat an eyelid or two, but I guess I would still get it
<g>

Hey, don't go too strong on that "too fat" angle (I will go on that diet,
I will go on that diet, I will..... <vbg>)

Cheers,
Richard

It's another example of design (looks) contra functionality... ;^)

l8er
ronny

--
          |\      _,,,---,,_        I want to die like my Grandfather,
   ZZZzz /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_              in his sleep.
        |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'     Not like the people in his car,
       '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)            screaming their heads off!

Maybe I should have said the tracks seem well done since I haven't looked at
any of the bad ones you've mentioned and I've raced on all the good ones you
mentioned.

Translation errors I can cope with.  Not even having a manual that's any use
at all, ala CPR, I can't deal with.

I was just thinking that we spend $300 on wheels why wouldn't we spend $500 on
the sim?

Did I say too fat?  No I didn't mean that :)  Too middle-aged maybe.