rec.autos.simulators

>>"Excellent" Default Setups. In their early advertising, Microsoft made much
>>of how "unlike other sims, CPR comes with excellent setups." - can you show
>>me where you saw this? We have _never_ claimed the defaults were good -
>>average at best. See any of my earlier FAQ postings on this.

>Found it!  In a FAQ available at Terminal Reality:  

>  http://www.racesimcentral.net/

>We find this:

>"A garage with 50 settings? I don't want to play this complicated game!"

>"Yes, the garage in CART has over 50 realistic settings. Unlike other
>racing simulations, CART will ship with a good default setup for each
>race track. If you wish to customize your car for your own particular
>driving style, you can use the "Garage Wizard" to make this process
>easy, or tweak the settings yourself."

>Okay, so it said "good default setup", not "excellent default setup".
>But the wording "unlike other racing simulations" imply the CPR default
>setups will be noticeably better than the default setups in, say, ICR2.
>So far, that's not my experience.

>Alison

>>Yes, this game was DEFINITELY released well before it was done.

>Yes!  That was the main point I tried to make in my review.

>>Thank God for the upcoming patch...Hopefully 6 months from now we'll all
>>be playing the best sim there is.

>Hopefully!  I really am looking forward to the patch.  As I said in my
>review, I think CPR has great potential, and it looks like the patch
>will address some of the most serious issues.

>BTW, I need to say that Dean was right in one respect.  I should have
>read the newsgroup more thoroughly before going public with my review.
>I'd started letting the newsgroup slide when I got ahold of SODA before
>Thanksgiving.  SODA was just so compelling, I couldn't tear myself away
>long enough to read the newsgroup, especially with all the family around
>during the holiday.  Then when I got CPR just after Thanksgiving, I was
>so eager to try it, too, that I just never got back to the newsgroup.

>Anyway, while Dean was reading my review the other night and framing his
>reply, I was catching up on the newsgroup.  I didn't find fixes for my
>various issues, but there was a lot of good information, and I found
>that many people were experiencing many of the same problems I'd had.

>Also, as Dean pointed out, if I'd read the newsgroup, I could have
>mentioned the patch in my review, which would have lessened the sting of
>my comments.

>And, had I spent some time perusing the Apex web site, I'd have found a
>bunch of setups that would have addressed at least one of my other
>complaints, that of having lousy setups supplied with the sim.  Of
>course, that doesn't mean there shouldn't be good setups in the sim,
>especially since TRI's FAQ says that CPR will include good setups,
>unlike other sims.

>>Btw, I want to add that I think Alison's remarks about the steering
>>were dead on and I applaud the effort she put into critiquing the
>>center drift problem.  I hope the null-zone fix in the patch fixes
>>that.  Straight-wandering is one of the worst problems in this game.

>Thanks, Randy!  I agree.  I'm really hoping the dead zone adjustment in
>the patch will fix this problem.

>Eagle Woman

>Remove the spam blocker NOSPAM to email me.
>http://www.nh.ultranet.com/~alison

>You did a hell of a job in your review oF CPR...I hope Mr. Lester's
>crybaby response doesn't deter you from telling it like it is in future.

>Keep up the great work!

>(Just for clarification so i dont get flamed to hell for that comment...
>it was an attempt at humor!!!).

>> but can you find one other post that says their OS was corrupted."

>rrevved: So it didn't happen?

>If anyone cares anymore, a gentleman who was on the CPR development team
>-- or at least a beta tester (isn't everybody?) -- reported in a message
>to this newsgroup that he experienced the very same problems as Alison,
>INCLUDING the "OS corruption" crash, brought his concerns to the
>attention of the CART team leaders, and was basically brushed aside with
>words to the effect that "we can't worry about that now, we gotta get
>this product out the door..."

>If you'd like, I can resurrect the message in its entirety from
>DejaNews.

>> If anyone cares anymore, a gentleman who was on the CPR development team
>> -- or at least a beta tester (isn't everybody?) -- reported in a message
>> to this newsgroup that he experienced the very same problems as Alison,
>> INCLUDING the "OS corruption" crash, brought his concerns to the
>> attention of the CART team leaders, and was basically brushed aside with
>> words to the effect that "we can't worry about that now, we gotta get
>> this product out the door..."

>IME, Win95 is likely to decide to not restart for any number of
>reasons, most of which I've been unable to determine. Sometimes it's
>installing new software, or not shutting down cleanly, a failing disk,
>and sometimes it's apprently just because I was eating a chocolate
>pudding and watching Seinfeld in the same room as the computer.

>Is it possible the CPR contributes to OS corruption? Sure. Is it
>likely that it's an endemic problem? No. Is it likely that if Alison
>re-installed on that same machine that she'd see it again? I don't
>think so.

>What's an acceptable failure rate for OS corruption after a CPR
>install? One in 1000? How does your answer change if 1 in 1000 times
>Win95 fails to reboot without a CPR CD in the same zip code?

>>>> But, just remember that *not everyone is having that problem*... I know it's
>>not a problem on my machine and the demo...

>This is a very good point.  It's obvious from the posts here that a lot
>of people do not have this problem, because they love CPR - and I think
>anyone who is experiencing the kind of steering response I've got would
>have a hard time loving it!  

>I have been trying to understand why I have the problem on both of my
>machines, while a lot of other people don't have it at all, but I don't
>have an explanation yet.  

>>Should anyone have it? Absolutely
>>not. But, again, MS for all its people
>>and all its money, can't possibly test the program on every possible computer
>>configuration...>>>

>>My computer configuration is a stock-delivered Dell XPS D300 with a
>>SoundBlaster AWE 64 and a Thrustmaster NASCAR Pro Wheel hooked into its
>>gameport.  How much more standard can I get?!

>>Randy Magruder
>>Staff Writer
>>Digital Sportspage
>>http://www.digitalsports.com/

>My computers are both fairly standard, too.  One is an ASUS TX
>motherboard with an Intel P-166, 32 mb SDRAM, Soundblaster 16, Screamin'
>3D card, Thrustmaster ACM game card, a Thrustmaster T2, and Win95b.  The
>other is an Intel motherboard with P-133, 32 mb FPM RAM, ESS 1688 sound
>card, Intergraph Intense 3D card, Adaptec 2940 SCSI, Thrustmaster ACM
>card, Thrustmaster GP1 with CH Pro pedals, and Win95a.  Both have 16-bit
>network cards, both have DirectX 5.  Nothing radically bizarre here.

>Eagle Woman

>Remove the spam blocker NOSPAM to email me.
>http://www.nh.ultranet.com/~alison

snip
> Too many people seem to know what it's like to be a software
> developer, and yet I don't have any way of knowing whether they're

> year olds are as experienced as they claim in releasing a major
> software package. ; )

> >> Oh, you want to make sure that people only read YOUR objective reviews on
> your web site?

> Nothing more pathetic than when people on Usenet try to act like they know what
> someone else's motivations are.  I welcome all reviews.  I don't get paid for
> the reviews I write.  I have no problem with reviews written by other people.
> Quite often I hook up with these people on the phone and we have great
> conversations about sims and sometimes we end up modem-racing.  In fact, I
> think Alison's review of the steering null-spot was dead-on and badly needed to
> be written.  All I can say about your little cheapshot about my motivations is:
>  Grow up.

>> "The worm has turned at Microsoft. They don't respond to cries for help
and
>> criticism, anymore."

>> OK guys - I think that's about it for me on ras. My patience has run out.

>Thanks a WHOLE lot alison.. freaking dork.. Stupid girl posts like twice
>a year and then comes in here and makes Dean lose his patience and
>leave.. THANKS A LOT

>--
>Dave Otterness

>--
>Dave Otterness