rec.autos.simulators

  Some quick comments about my admittedly limited ammount of seat time
with Soda.

   Many folks have complained about the "canned" spin routines in GP2
and F1RS.  Soda has no "Canned" spins.
  Others have lamented on the lack of a vertical axis in N2 or ICR2.
(ie. cars don't  get airborne or flip in wrecks)  Soda can roll, bounce,
and flip.
  Catching spins is mostly impossible in ICR2, and only marginally
successful in N2\GP2
but in Soda you can hang the back end out way past your horizontal plane
and still haul it back in...(not easily done, but do-able)
  There is a small group of users looking for a good American Dirt track
sim because they know that the fastest way to turn left is to turn
right,  well in Soda on a long sweeper, I was counter-steering like a
true outlaw.
  So does this make Soda more "real" than these other sims?
Only if I ignore the 60mph faceplants I did several times when I came up
short trying to jump a 3 carwidth gap....heheh
dave henrie

This game is a blast!!  Once you've practiced enought and get the hang of
driving these cars at least... I've become fairly decent (but by no means
perfect) with the buggy, and have driven the 4x4 a bit, but boy that 2x4
Truck is a pain to drive.  Designing your own tracks is cool as well.  I
just wish the graphics were better, and maybe they included some REAL SODA
tracks and drivers...  Maybe in SODA 2?

Brian Short

Joe

It even occured to me that a lot of the 'exciting' new features to be in GPL
have already appeared in SODA - perhaps papyrus will have seen how well (or
not so well) some of these features have worked and try to use them in GPL.

Also, on cliffs of fear I managed to get a lap time of 1:08ish (with the
buggy) and thought wow I sure was goin quick there, Ill have a look at this
worldwide ranking thing...... oh dear...... even 50th place lap time is
under 1:04. never mind, just have to practice some more.

Steve

SNIP!

Some good comments you have there, the demo looked promising *but* was very
very slow on my non Rendition system. I decided to wait until the promised
3dfx patch to purchase the release version.

No 3dfx patch meant that Papyrus got no $ from me, I hope they realize that
they screwed the pooch on a promising game like this, probably lots
of other 3dfx owners were looking forward to the vaporware patch to go
pick this one up until it got cancelled.

The worst part is we pretty much told them this when they had the demo out,
I guess they didn't care or Sierra didn't allow them to spend the money
on the labor for the patch.

Really I wish that I could have been able to experience Soda in its full
glory, the driving mode on the demo seemed excellent, but it is not worth
pulling out my Millineum video card and buy a Rend card just for one sim.

Hope Papy and Sierra learned from this mistake. (I own all other Papy
simulations they ever produced.)

Cheers.
--John
--
*kludger AT zipcon DOT com*  | ICQ #7522564  contact me at:
  Seattle, Washington USA.   | http://wwp.mirabilis.com/7522564

  I wonder if the problems they have had with the N2 3dfx patch in any way
influenced their decission.  Rather than spend months debugging a Soda patch,
I'm guessing they decided that thier manpower was better served working on
issues relating to NROS and GPL and it's offspring.  So Unfortunately, I think
Soda is kaput!  Still, since I only paid $13 bucks, I think I got a heck of a
deal.
dave henrie

You could be right, I'm looking forward to N2 3dfx myself (TPTCC in 3dfx will
be great!)

Yeah difinitely for that price Soda sounds like a very good bargain, especially
if you have the right software to run it in accelerated mode.

Cheers.
--John
--
*kludger AT zipcon DOT com*  | ICQ #7522564  contact me at:
  Seattle, Washington USA.   | http://wwp.mirabilis.com/7522564

I'm with you, John. I felt the same way. I finally broke down and
bought it for $15, anyway.
I would have gladly paid $50 for the 3DFX version. I waited on it due
to the announcement that it was coming.
I think this sim would have been very well recieved with better 3D
support.  In my opinion, Sierra cut this one off at the knees.

I don't know all the politics behind the release, but venturing a
guess that it was Sierras descision (not Papyrus) seems safe, given
the bufoonary and lack of vision they exhibit with Red Baron 2 and Pro
Pilot.
I think if I worked for Software Allies, I'd be mighty pissed off.

--

 http://www.users.fast.net/~fusion1
 (dirt bikes, rat bikes, rental car abuse...)

--PLS

Hello and Excuse me, Where is the world wide ranking? Please let me know.

Thank you.

Y.Minami

Too bad Papyrus got bought out by Sierra, it seems like Sierra is still
WAY behind all the other Games companies except maybe Sega in waking up
and giving 3dfx or even D3D some support. Axiously awaiting N2 3dfx and
GPL with 3dfx.

Yeah Software Allies is probably pretty unhappy about the situation,
but maybe they can take the SODA engine, add real 3d support and use
it to make another dirt sim with a good driving model but go with
another publisher besides Papyrus/Sierra. Maybe they can make a dirt
motorcross sim, Paris to Dakar sim, Baja 1000... any of those would be
terrific.

Cheers.
--John
--
*kludger AT zipcon DOT com*  | ICQ #7522564  contact me at:
  Seattle, Washington USA.   | http://wwp.mirabilis.com/7522564

I really think that Sierra's marketing crew should be replaced.

--

Neil Yeatman          
Ajax, Ontario, CANADA

  After you install Soda, there are several options in the START menu.  In
the main group of Soda menu's like full screen or window or uninstall there
is a World records option.  But you first need to be connected to the net.
This is like a mini browser that operates outside of the game.
Dave Henrie
Rank # 17 for 2wheel drive trucks at the Dragons' (something) track...

  A good place to go for N3 features would be any GPL web site.  The GPL
engine will be the basis for N3.  I've seen GPL screenshots with only front
wheel locked up...that would be a first I believe...
dave henrie

Hello Dave.

  Thank you. I missed it. because I'm installing SODA into my D drive. and
After reinstalling Windows95 in C drive, I'm not starting SODA from windows
START menu.but short cut.    I don't want to reinstall user made tracks once
more. (lazy? :))

Y.Minami