rec.autos.simulators

Here is my first impression of Nascar 2 demo

My PC is a Pentium 120, 16 Meg fitted with a bog standard made
for the masses Trident 1 Meg video card.
Although my video card is basic the graphics are sharp and
clear in SVGA and the frame rate is fast. I would say the SVGA
grahpics are as fast or faster than the VGA of Nascar 1,
although I can only get 8 cars in total to race so it will be
interesting to note the frame rate once all the cars are drawn.
The total remake of Watkins Glen is much closer to the real
track, or from what I'm seen on TV anyway. The new track seems
a lot better to drive. You can drive into the turns a lot
harder. If you cut the corner the car bumps up over the
curbing.
The AI run through the chicane smoothly instead of the horrible
zig-zag way they do in Nascar 1.
 On Atlanta I deliberately parked in a turn in the middle of
the track during a race and the AI definitely steered around
me.
I moved back and forth to cross their line and still they
attempted to steer around me without droping of too much speed.

The spotters voice is well done and creates the feeling of the
team is out there with you.

Sadly the engine sounds  identical to Nascar 1, hopefully it
will updated for the full version.

A great disappiontment for me is the gear box operation.
Still no neutral gear and reverse is still a key on the
keyboard like some sort of quick fix. Acceleration is still
lacking in realism with the built in traction control where the
tires start squealing before the engine begins revving. The
engine still revs up gently. It doesn't give the feeling of 500
plus horsepower.

At the end of the day I will be buy Nascar 2 and when Papyrus
put out a update pack with all my "needs" I will buy that to.
Maybe it will have the Indy and Daytona tracks by same off
chance.

Nigel of Lakwood Racing

[snip]

This is because wheelspin is not modeled properly. The tires break loose in
a sense, but they don't allow for the surface of the tires to move at a
different rate than the car relative to the pavement. Since the tires are
coupled to the engine, the engine turns over at the same speed it would if
the tires didn't break loose. This is the same reason you can't do a
"donut" on the track, i.e. take the wheel to full lock and hit the gas to
spin the car around.

From the sounds of it, while the development team is busy polishing up
NASCAR 2, Dave Kaemmer has been busy working on a new physics engine which
will first see light as the "Legends of Racing". With the phenomenal
success of NASCAR, it shouldn't be long before a NASCAR 3 port of the new
physics engine is under way.

Dave (davids) Sparks
Late Night League
http://www.sequoia-dev.com/Hawaii/latenite.html