Hi all,
Just got back from BBC Top Gear Live at Silverstone. A company called
Cendant software (anyone heard of them?) was running GPL for any and all
to try out. And they were, er, *selling* the demo on a CD for 3. The
guy on the stand wasn't sure if it was the one we all downloaded so I
declined to buy one. Took a while to queue for the drive but it was worth
it - got about 6 laps of Spa in the Lotus GP car.
The track looked beautiful running on two PII300/Voodoo2 PCs, with
Thrustmaster Formula 1 wheels in mockup cars. The driving felt just the
same as the Glen demo so not much to comment on there. Just like the
previews we've been reading, the track was lined with houses (!) and
spectators bare metres from the track. Couldn't see the screen very well
so anticipating the corners was a bit hit & miss, except for Eau Rouge -
no missing that one!
- The engine sound was much better than the one we have in the current
demo but unfortunately the sound dropped out every now & then requiring a
reboot.
- Round the track there were marshals waving various flags, and I picked
up a yellow one (?) for driving the wrong way round after a spin.
- The replay screen looked a lot more polished, with the various buttons
laid out near the bottom of the screen just above a slider which I assume
is for jumping to a particular place in the replay. The picture was
playing in a smaller pane on a black background. We can now see the
driver changing gear in the car during the replay.
- It looked like the 2 PCs were running networked but the CPUs were
somewhat hidden from view so not sure about this one.
- Car damage was enabled and my companion managed to wipe both left wheels
off the car on a grey brick wall positioned right alongside the track.
And the bad news (well, it was news to me) - they said release had now
been put back to September - the people on the stand didn't know whether
it was just the UK that was put back. Bummer.
Anyway, a hasty resume of what I found. Hope it's been illuminating.
best
James
--
James Bevan
NeXTMail & MIME welcome