rec.autos.simulators

I've had the sim for 24 hours now, and played it for a good few hours,
so here's a few thoughts:

1:  The graphics are excellent, although very occasionally the game

     does a quick stutter, as if accessing the hard drive. This is
     with a full install.

2:  The sound is ok, but could have been better in my opinion - some
     of the cheesy music that plays as the countrys track is loaded
     in is awfull!!! (and why a picture of a pub for Britain?!)

3:  Control is ok, but not as good as F1GP2, although i've not played
     around with any setup procedures yet - I always really felt like
     I was balancing the car on the throttle in GP2 as I went round a
     corner....don't get that feeling here.

4:  The worst thing is the replay feature....Ubi had better get this
      sorted out in a patch!!
      There is no sound on a replay, and it jutters along at nowhere
      near the same frame rate as in-game.
      The graphics can***up really bad on the replay as well,
      i've had my car driving along upside down in the sky, i've
      had the WHOLE picture upside down and I've had a view
      of some track barrier for 2 minutes when it was meant to be
      TV coverage.....unforgivable!!

All in all, I'll reserve judgement untill i've played it a lot more,
and see the reaction from everybody else as well.

I do think it may have been slightly rushed out to take advantage of
end of season interest, and could have done with a bit more
playtesting/bug ironing.

Happy racing,

Andy.

Oh....and F1RS installed DX5 it's compliant drivers for my sound card which
were older versions. It did not even ask, it just went on and installed
them.
I already had DX5 and back then when I installed it I chose not to update
my sound card drivers because had just downloaded them from the manufactuer
so I knew DX5's would not be as up to date.
***I say.

I bought the new F1 Racing Simulation PC game today.
What a load of junk.
I was hoping for something like Mircoprose GrandPrix2 only with better
graphics.
Certainly the 3D graphics are better (when not glitching very badly - i.e
when not moving!!!) but the sounds are like toy cars.
The setup for controllers (wheels, pedals & joysticks) is really very poor
and you have to rely on ***win95's setup in control panel for that.
I can't get my wheel & pedals to work correctly as I could in GrandPrix2.
Most of all, the biggest pain is that it is a totally shite to drive (real
or arcade style). It is far worse that Pysgnosis F1 and that was bad.
I'm running on a spec of PC that exceeds the reccommended requirements and
it's still gives "jerk-o-vision" graphics.
Oh, and er...I can't seem to find reverse gear (realism eh!!) - actually I
think it's a bug and I don't there isn't one (honest!) so you often get
stuck in  barrier and you simply can't get out and gave to quit.
If you are gonna buy this game then get an assurance from the shop that you
can get a full refund if you don't like it before you part with your cash.

UBISOFT really hyped this game and they are gonna get some stick from all
those GrandPrix2 fans who have tried out F1RS this week. The huge problems
with this game can surley not be fixed with an upgrade patch and it seems
more fundamentally flawed.

Roll on Spring 1998 when GrandPrix3 will hopefully be released.

Well, I must sign off an compose my email to UBISOFT (!).

Comments anyone???

Chris

I was swearing so hard that I almost fell off the chair, mainly because
of
the stupid Win95 control panel, but the config in the game is still a
little
flaky. But after some fooling around with it, it's working...

Well, then you are doing something very wrong...

But you wont tell us, what kind of PC you have? BTW, you actually do
care
about, what game producers write on the box as minimum hardware. Get
real!

Driving backwards is ONLY a problem, because the mirrors are so small...
8^)
Your setup is messed up, not the game!

My neighbour is a, well, fanatic GP2 driver. After a few hours on F1RS
he
said: "GP2 is dead!" I believe him...

Hello, wakeup call!

Not anymore...

l8er
ronny

--
          |\      _,,,---,,_        I want to die like my Grandfather,
   ZZZzz /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_              in his sleep.
        |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'     Not like the people in his car,
       '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)            screaming their heads off!

l8er
ronny

--
          |\      _,,,---,,_        I want to die like my Grandfather,
   ZZZzz /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_              in his sleep.
        |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'     Not like the people in his car,
       '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)            screaming their heads off!

Yup, noticed that too.

For the drink drivers?

I used to play GP2 with the keyboard as I could never get the hang of
using the joystick and don't have a steering combo. I find that the
car is very unresponsive with the keyboard, it just won't turn yet it
will if I use the joystick. I've played with the sensetivity so i just
hope that when I can work out some set ups that things will improve.
The set up system looks good but there are some delays when selecting
certain elements.

Yup, a complete disaster. I noticed from their web site that UBI
wern't going to hurrythis release. Looks like thae accountants won
that race.

One thing I HATE is the inability to change the names of the drivers.
Jaques place is occupied by a 'Driver X' That's really horrible.  If
you drive in this position you are called Mr X. If you drive in
another position it ruins the game when you get messages about Driver
X setting a lap record or something. It takes away the personal
involvement. You can choose to not race Driver X but that leaves
Williams short a car.

You can't intorduce your own team either.

I would have liked the default set ups to be more appropriate to the
track so you don't have to start from scratch. I can't wait for people
to start posting their set ups cos I always suffer here and need all
the advice I can get.

OI also find the graphics dark and have yet to find the 'cloudy'
option in the weather section do anything. It seems to be either sunny
or raining - and boy do the cars look cool in the wet even though the
track seems to stay dry, visually.

Who turned out the lights? Is it really pitch black in the tunnel at
Monaco?
I

I'm finding it a bit frustrating at the mo and took a quick spin in
GP2 to relieve the tension and that just made this more frustrating.
Ah well, early days I'll perservere....
Steve W

<SNIP>

Keep going down the gears and past Neutral its there believe me as I
have to keep reversing out of my errors.
I'm not finding it that bad but I have come to hate the layout as when
riding the learning curve I like to save and re-load a lot. GP2 was a
bit of a pain in this aspect but with this one you can save in the
race, but not when paused (I find the pause key more accessible than
the escape key) but you can't load. You have to ga back to the first
menu then plow through everything else including a minute wait while
the track you were just on loads again with that crappy music (which
you can't turn off without affecting other sounds).

BTW, the visual 'reward' for getting on the rostrum is identical
regardless of your position.

On the positive side I like the way the car handles - or rather
doesn't when you clip some grass or gravel. I also like all those
options for race rules and the way that they have been
implemented....far better than GP2 there.

BTW the '3D' pit stop sucks as it removes any being there feeling by
pulling you out of the car. You also have to make your fuel and tyre
selections using the keyboard whil time counts down. As this would be
radioed I think an initial pause until you made those choices would
have been wise. My first stop took 53 seconds to change tyre and top
up fuel.

Yay!

Steve W

Don't know what you are on Chris, but I really think you should take some
time and get used to this superb sim!
There are problems, sure, with the pedals configuration and some graphics
glitches, but F1RS takes a lot of patience to get the handling of the car
right. T o suggest that it has an arcade feel seems to me that you haven't
tried to get the setup right. (and a comparison with Psygnosis F1 is a joke
surely!!)
If you have jerkovision then there must be something wrong with your system
as F1RS frame rate rocks. Silky smooth at ALL times.
To select reverse, just use whatever key you've allocated in the setup.
Initial impressions are a dangerous thing!
Happy racing.

One thing I have noticed is the attrocious grip on the first lap of
qualifiyng. I'm assuming this is realism as towards the end of this lap the
expected grip seems to arrive.

Stick with it.

Dean

Something's wrong...I've got sound (localized depending on what
camera angle's chosen), but your comments about the replay's
framerate are spot on.

Cheers!

Marc

Can't say I totally agree, the game looks and plays great, that is
until you race with other cars when the framerate becomes awfull when
cars bunch up in slow corners, and the car becomes impossible to
drive. I have an Intel P166 32MB RAM and a 3Dfx card so I don't see
why there should be a problem.
UBI have gone to a lot of trouble to make the game realistic, and then
ryuined it by making it ***wheb racing.

On Sun, 23 Nov 1997 08:20:16 -0000, "Iain Mackenzie"

After playing it all weekend, and getting used to different driving
views/setups/trying different circuits, i can honestly say it is
really growing on me

true again, hopefully a patch wont be too long in the coming to sort
out the dreadfull replay option - its jerkovision all the
way!.....there should be no reason for this apart from bad coding as
the in-game graphics are really smooth and fast - GP2's replay option
was sooooo well implemented it was a joy, so this with the assistance
of a 3dfx card should be even better.....UBI TAKE NOTE!!

As for comparisons with Psygnosis F1......we're not even in the same
ballpark.

Yep, lets get some good threads going on this sim, and maybe some web
pages for exchanging setups/ghost laps etc.

Andy.

This is a win95 game, and usually they do use the win95 control panel.
I prefer that than the "rebbot in ms-dos mode, change config, doesn't
work cause EMM isn't there,try again,etc" way. For me it works fine.

I can (with my T3). What model do you use? I noticed you have to keep
brake/accel. pedal down for some time

Are you joking? It's abolutely comparable to GP2, at least in
realistic mode (did not tried arcade mode)

On my P166 it works fine. Maybe you have to reduce the "field of view"
and to remove the sky texture. You tried it, did you?

OK. You made negative comments on a game you clearly did not tested
enough. You think they can be so stupid not to put a rear gear? Of
course there is one and it is working. Read the manual to find it: it
is not Psygnosys F1 (to take your words).

I surely can't take your comments seriously. You are not very
convincing. I think this game is good, better graphics than GP2, more
details in the setup (and they are well explained in the game),
changing weather (not in GP2) , a lot of options (rules,
difficulty,...), a good telemetry system,....

I also have a 233mmx with 3dfx card, and yes the difference is
remarkable, greater detail, lens flare effects and so on, but on the
P120 it's still VERY playable.

On Wed, 03 Dec 1997 07:44:03 +0200, Kirk Kinnear

1) What was the best thing BEFORE sliced bread made an appearance?

2) Is sliced bread really the greatest thing that mankind has been
blessed with over the last fifty years or so (until F1RS usurped it of
course)? I thought the Ferrari 355 was a bit more exciting than the
average half-loaf, but I guess I must be in a minority.

On the subject of bread, a shop called Mitsukoshi in Japan (in
particular the branch in Shinjuku, Tokyo) has the most incredible
bread department, and make "custard bread" and "chocolate bread". Has
anyone tried these? Any Japanese readers that can send me a couple of
loaves per week? :)  Now these really ARE the best thing
since......whenever, unfortunately they're not sliced.

I reckon that's quite enough off-topic drivel for now...

Cheers!
John