rec.autos.simulators

I don't own every sim ever made, so apologies if I'm missing the odd great
sim here, but I think there are now five sims that are geuinely worth
dedicating time to today.

Nascar 4 - Fantastic physics, awesome realism, great graphics and sound.
Good AI (now they're fixed) and tremendous close racing.  As good a
simulation of the Nascar series as you could imagine on a modern PC.

F1 2001 (patched) - Despite a few flaws - the odd corner a bit wrong, poor
replays - this is a top sim.  The bottom line - how it feels to drive the
car - is flawless.  The force-feedback is exceptional.  Great graphics, top
sound.  Excellent AI.  Totally gripping.

Mercedes Benz Truck Racing - Another high quality product.  Physics,
graphics, sound all without fault.  Strange menu system :)  Top sliding fun
and plenty of tracks you won't find in other games.

Superbike 2001 - Ok, so the physics maybe isn't quite as good as the other
sims in this list, but there are very few bike sims made, and in my opinion,
this is the best (just overtaking gp500).  Great tracks, graphics and sound.
Top fun for bike nuts.

Grand Prix Legends - Still the best, and with new tracks and cars, and the
new d3d patch, it looks better than ever.  The best online play and the cars
are always a thrill to drive.  Even today I play it way more than anything
else, including playing in a fantastic online league.

As the subject line says, we've never had it better...
Simon.

You do?

No thanks - I know it's an old argument - but I cant stand racing ovals.

The games a f**king mess. Tracks are chronically innacurate and physics at
best just the sim side of arcade.

Agreed - but they're trucks - and that sucks.

GP500 was the one and only Bike sim - ruined by ***online code.

Grand Prix Legends is the only sim I still play.  Frankly - Sim Racers have
it rather poor imo.

Doug

  Still enjoy it a lot, it is a good sim, but it's got some serious flaws
IMO.

-John

The physics in N4 feel fine to me--I don't expect to feel the car without real
g-forces on my body.  I think that you "feel" the car more in NASCAR Heat
because of slightly exaggerated grip levels.  Also, the track modeling seems
excellent to me, but perhaps I'm just missing a glaring error.  Got an example?
(other than the fact that you can't actually turn around and drive totally out
of the racetrack exiting turn 2 at Phoenix. ;)

-----------------------------------------
Dan Belcher
Webmaster,
http://www.gplworld.racesim.net/simcrash

  And of course, then there's the "X number of cars get airborne, flipping
end over end, when one is hit at a 10-20 mph" feature..<G>

-John

Jan. ;-)
=---
"Pay attention when I'm talking to you boy!" -Foghorn Leghorn.

-John

Tim

-John

Incidentaly -it's worth noting that Sierra France claim that GPL was not,
infact, the failure we are lead to believe it was

DOug

Drive on some of them before you make this comment. I have driven around
North Carolina, Lowes, and Bristol in real life. I think Papy actually got
this part of their information correct. They look a TON wider on TV and that
may be the thing you are basing this on, if so, trust me, they are pretty
darn accurate. Coming out of T4 at NC (aka Rockingham) looks like it might
be a little wider than a standard 2 lane road in real life.

Thats also fairly real, didn't you see Ryan Newman and Bobby Labonte turn
themselves around all alone at C***te, err Lowes? And Mikey Waltrip also
did a loop-d-loop all by himself at the Spring Dover race if I recall
correctly. They are called 'slicks' for a reason, and they have to be at the
right temperature to grip correctly, also like in real life. Besides, I
think a hovercraft on ice would move about like a hovercraft on grass or
asphalt for that matter.

You got that right, decent setup helps a ton. Knowing the proper line around
a place also helps a lot.

We have had a ton of big wrecks in our league this season (training division
anyway) and only the hardest, awkward angle hits have resulted in "flying
cars". Of course we don't run the SS's every time so that may be your only
experience.