rec.autos.simulators

- Taking an existing game engine and tweaking it until it hurts, rather than
putting a fancy frock over it and hoping nobody notices.

- Recognising that oceanic depth of gameplay is the most critical element in
computer entertainment.

- Providing an awesome range of options that allow you to play a game
almost any which way you like.

- Offering superb compatibility with a wide range of video cards e.g.
totally effective D3D implementation.

- Creating what is arguably the most daring approach ever to changing the
perceptions of a genre, in this case redefining the scope and potential of
the first-person shooter.

- Delaying the release of the game until its polished to an extent worthy of
dipping into your pocket.

Of course UT is not trying to replicate a real-life experience in the way a
racing sim has to. But is this a sufficient excuse for the disappointments
we've all suffered in the past couple of years with sequels that have often
failed
to deliver what we might reasonably have expected?

"Help me GP3 - you're my only hope" - Much rests on how this game leaps
forward from its illustrious predecessor. Unreal Tournament shows what can
be achieved with dedication and the willingness to delay a game's release
until it has been tweaked to the max. Knowing Mr Crammond's work ethic, we
still have very good cause to be optimistic - let's hope we don't all have
to buy P3 1000's to make it run well.

   That's GPL, in spades.

   GPL out of the box loses points here (particularly regarding
novices), but independent add-ons (AITweak) have eased that.

   Another sore point for GPL.  OTOH, the Papyrus-heads with Rendition
cards were happy, and the serious gamers with Voodoos were happy.
And, when the sim was released 15+ months ago (and developed that much
further back) D3D wasn't such a panacea.

   GPL is such a quantum leap that it got me seriously interested in
racing sims again, much like the original ICR did in '93.  Check.

   While we might have wanted more (weather, for instance), GPL 1.0
out of the box was a pretty darn good (and bug-free) product.

   And we didn't even get around to free online racing, VROC, and the
many other independent add-ons...

   So, Chris, how did you like GPL?  :)

   Based on past history, performance optimization, meeting deadlines,
and after-sale support may well be problems.  We'll just have to wait
and see.  It certainly will be good to have a top-notch, modern F1
sim.

"But in a way, fear is a big part of racing, because if there was
nothing to be frightened of, and no limit, any fool could get into
a motor car and racing would not exist as a sport." -- Jim Clark

Vintook

I've played UT online many times and have no problems with lag when connecting to a fast host. The fastest connection I can get is 28.8. The game rocks online and offline for me.

BClay

  I have to differ with you on this, I tried it out and the online play was
  laggy as hell, and I have a cable modem and connected to the fastest server
  so I know it's not that! Id software still has the best online play through
  Quake and only half-life team fortress has come close to it. Unreal still
  looked great but not good enough online play to suit me, hell even GPL blows
  it away for connection smoothness. Just my thoughts.

  Vintook

  > It's nothing to do with motor sport, it isn't a simulation, but boy oh boy
  > there's loads that race sim developers could learn from Unreal Tournament,
  > namely: -
  >
  > - Taking an existing game engine and tweaking it until it hurts, rather
  than
  > putting a fancy frock over it and hoping nobody notices.
  >
  > - Recognising that oceanic depth of gameplay is the most critical element
  in
  > computer entertainment.
  >
  > - Providing an awesome range of options that allow you to play a game
  > almost any which way you like.
  >
  > - Offering superb compatibility with a wide range of video cards e.g.
  > totally effective D3D implementation.
  >
  > - Creating what is arguably the most daring approach ever to changing the
  > perceptions of a genre, in this case redefining the scope and potential of
  > the first-person shooter.
  >
  > - Delaying the release of the game until its polished to an extent worthy
  of
  > dipping into your pocket.
  >
  > Of course UT is not trying to replicate a real-life experience in the way
  a
  > racing sim has to. But is this a sufficient excuse for the disappointments
  > we've all suffered in the past couple of years with sequels that have
  often
  > failed
  > to deliver what we might reasonably have expected?
  >
  > "Help me GP3 - you're my only hope" - Much rests on how this game leaps
  > forward from its illustrious predecessor. Unreal Tournament shows what can
  > be achieved with dedication and the willingness to delay a game's release
  > until it has been tweaked to the max. Knowing Mr Crammond's work ethic, we
  > still have very good cause to be optimistic - let's hope we don't all have
  > to buy P3 1000's to make it run well.
  >
  >
  >
  >
  >
  >
  >

The needs of each community is different.  As seen with the work being
presently done on the NASCAR Racing 3 beta patch, we have started to
understand that on the N3 newsgroup. It is simply too different to say "look
at X's game multiplayer to see how good it can be".

I say that today multiplayer racing isn't even enough.  A company has to
create online community tools. That's a much better term.

Taking an existing game engine and tweaking it is what Papyrus did to some
extent with N3.  The new game engine for N4 will be incredible, some people
are forgetting that ;)

It's a FPS, not a racing game.  How can you add gameplay to a race ?
Different mode ? Catch the flag on a racetrack?  ;-D     Racing is racing is
racing.

NASCAR Racing 3, and Grand Prix Legends offer incredible ammount of
customisation.  Especially the beta (and soon real N3 patch), you can do soo
many thing.  About any parameter can be changed.  You want to create  a dirt
league ?  Modify N3 with graphics and the tyre grip parameters.  Want to
create a road-course only N3 league ?   Create something like TPTCC, with
everybody using fixed setup AND a restrictor plate, etc..

N3 has that.

Irrelevant to racing simulations.  GPL already did that

Just a different production philosophy.  Some companies work like that,
others not.  On both side you have great products.  So all those things have
already been implemented in the racing community.

--
-- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard>
-- May the Downforce be with you...

"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realise
how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."