this might be a bit off-topic, but, how does regular GPS improve track
layout accuracy(for F1RC).
As I (mis)understand it, the only GPS available for general use is
accurate to within 10 metres or so. Do companies like Ubisoft have
the ability to contract in the military spec GPS and get accurate
data?
If so, does anybody know more about how the track data was brought
into the game?
I'm just so amazed by the detailing in the tracks. I don't really
notice the elevation changes and subtle banked corners as much in GP3
as I do in F1RC. A track like Interlagos is just a blast and a joy to
drive visually with F1RC especially compared to GP3. Even the Lesmos
in Monza seem so much more different in exciting in F1RC. I do
believe that most of the track details could have been picked up just
with high quality aerial photography and traditional methods, but this
GPS claim that Ubisoft makes intrigues me.
Is it just more buzzword - feature - marketing speak or is there
substance to it. In the past games have claimed to have sound
recorded from racings cars with tape recorders strapped to drivers
etc, but they didn't really sound better to me. Does this GPS
implementation mean that at some point, Ubisoft could license the
track layouts to other companies to make use of in other types of
games?
The possibility of developers reusing the same track data can't be
that revolutionary as long as all the appropriate licenses get paid.
Anyway, I was just wondering. Any comments, additional info, would be
appreciated.
For the record, I love F1RC. It makes a change from the F1GP, GP2,
GP3 slow evolution to see a game that much improved over its
predecessor.
I agree that it has its shortcomings (although nothing that bothers me
as much as it does others), and that it isn't probably going to
replace GPL at the top of the heap, but it certainly is grabbing
significant hours of my time. I bought Nascar 4 and F1RC on the same
day and my playing time is now almost exclusively devoted to F1RC. I
am leaving GPL for about 6 weeks now until I can get my MS FF Wheel
and play it seriously again. In the meantime, I hope that F1RC does
get patched in the near term. All i want is the ability to hotlap
against more than 1 ghost. A friend of mine has an insanely fast
first sector at monza, and I want to race him(for the first sector)
and maybe 2 faster ghosts (for the complete laptime), at the same
time. With Pod this was possibily and useful for hotlapping. I
believe F1RC will benefit from this.
Another thing it desperately needs and possibly the community will
come up with it is a way to verify hotlaps and flag illegal / cheating
activity. This isn't a big problem now, so maybe Ubisoft could assist
in this regard as well, before it gets out of hand.
For those who do play f1rc, my pb around monza (using keyboard as
controller) is 1.18.758. I hope that compares well for you all. My
buddy does the first sector in 22.1 seconds. My pb is about 22.6, so
I guess I could still improve. I am probably taking way too much
kerb through the chicanes, but the laptime is legal :)
regards, and sorry for the long post.
Ian