rec.autos.simulators

I'm thinking of picking up a new racing game for my PS2 (so not really
sim-oriented). I've seen 3 titles:

- Crashed
- Burnout 2
- Ferrari 355 Challenge

Which one of those would be nicest?
BTW I already have GT3, GTA3 and Stuntman. The latter is a bit too
darn repetive and has such long (and unnecessary) loading times that
it's just not fun anymore.

Thanks,

Ruud van Gaal
Free car sim: http://www.racesimcentral.net/
Pencil art  : http://www.racesimcentral.net/

Now that's a tough one! I'm mostly relplying to remind you Colin McRae 3.0
will be out on 25th, but I may comment on the F355 as well as I got it
myself recently (can't resist a Ferrari staring at you and not buying
it!).

The physics seems rather good in F355, in fact it's probably one of the
finest as seen on the PS2. The graphics are so-so; quite dated, but they
get the job done and are smooth. The sound is also less impressive than
one would expect from a Ferrari licencsed game, but the tyre squeal is one
of the  finest I've heard in terms of letting you know the fine
ballance between when you're drifting and when you're overcooking it. The
AI is trying to give you a realy rough time, though often they just catch
up on you and then not overtake. Overall they give you much more of a race
than in GT3, though (and no, those guys do NOT track on predestined
trajectories, as some believe; I know you don't, Ruud ;) ). Track
selection is also very nice, from Suzuka (long and short), Monza (old
first chicane), Long Beach, Laguna Seca etc. and they seem quite accurate
(certainly better than in one recent F1 sim series). The worst part is the
control scheme, there is a deadzone in my LWFFGP wheel that one just can't
get rid of, though with a good calibration and making the steering
response more nonlinear the thing is not as intrusive anymore. It seems
optimized for a gamepad, in which case probably the controls are quite
nice; not that I ever tried :D.

BTW, did you consider NFS:HP2? I tried the demo on a PS2 demo disc, and
that one was rather fun, not to mention the physics seem more than decent
as well (much nicer than in the Race Driver demo that was on the same
disc, for example), if a 'tad' on the high grip side.

Greetings,

-Gregor

Too bad the physics is ala Ridge Racer, but its fun. Spectacular crashes
too!.

But get Burnout 2, just for the graphics show :D its got awesome
draw-distance and detail.

Check out WRC - Great***pit view and lots of fun.

- Dave

Sebastien TIXIER - Game Developer
Dynamics and Car Physics
http://www.eden-studios.fr
GPLRank Normal:-44.24   Monster:-124.44

tell me, is there really no workaround for the LWFFGP wheel (the red one)
to work normally with your sim? I've been itching to get it all along, but
am hesitating, only for this reason.

-Gregor

Me too.....except MOMO in this case :)

damn "no patch" consoles :)

Ash
http://www.siroccoracing.com

well, PLATINIUM version.... no kinding ... :-/

Sebastien TIXIER - Game Developer
Dynamics and Car Physics
http://www.eden-studios.fr
GPLRank Normal:-44.24   Monster:-124.44

The US and Jap version have been corrected but not the EURO version.

but...

the dynamics is not hte same in the US version,
fortunately i put a cheat to have t he EURO dynamics

...pfffff ... Infogrammes AQ sucks ... !!! ;o)
Sebastien TIXIER - Game Developer
Dynamics and Car Physics
http://www.eden-studios.fr
GPLRank Normal:-44.24   Monster:-124.44

Thanks for the tips everyone.

DTM Race Driver seems indeed a little too 'velocity of vehicle =
direction of joystick' whereas on that very same CD as Gregor had
(nice to see you back online!) I did indeed try NFS but failed to get
rid of those cops. ;-)

I may try Burnout2, although the demo I had of Burnout 1 seemed to
keep giving these damn deadlines that you had to meet, instead of
having the opportunity to kick some vehicles out of the way for fun.
:)

(just like Stuntman keeps kicking you out of some cool jumping with
these quick timeouts; a 'cruise around' mode would have been nice).

Ruud van Gaal
Free car sim: http://www.racer.nl/
Pencil art  : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/

i tried Toca Race Driver , the physics si Arcade

Sebastien TIXIER - Game Developer
Dynamics and Car Physics
http://www.eden-studios.fr
GPLRank Normal:-44.24   Monster:-124.44

Ah, Gregor does have that CD, Race Driver was very VERY disappointing.  NFS
was good fun, and I did manage to shake those cops once :).  Gregor will
verify this :).  Should have seen the smile on my face when it went into
slow motion over the jump :)  Arcadtastic :)

Reputation ruined....my closet arcader has been outed ;)

Ash
http://www.siroccoracing.com

didn't like them.

haven't tried the PS2 version of F355 myself, but it was pretty decent
on the Dreamcast.  

how about Toca Race Driver?  or you could wait a week and get Colin
McRae 3 next friday. :)

Wreckless: the Yakuza Missions is right around the corner as well.
that one was pretty good arcade fun on the XBox.  

you could check out Midnight Club, too.  and maybe Smuggler's Run.
both of those should be dirt cheap by now.

Lotus Challenge was okay-ish too.

I totally agree.

--
Gunnar
Cougar#02748 #31 SUCKS#015 Tupperware MC#002 DoD#0x1B DoDRT#003 DoD:CT#4,8 Kibo: 2
                                silence is FOO!