This sim sets new stardards which will be hard to match by other sim producers
and, thak you Papyrus for a racing sim that is truly ***ive!
I have had the sim since its UK release date (9th Oct)
during this time I have encountered the following:
BUGS
1. crashed back to Windows (6 times) during driving various circuits or
selecting menu items
2. In practice at Kyalami 'Jim Clark' qualified with an amazing 1:20.36 and yet
when I looked at the replay his best time was 1:21.50 (this was intermediate
setting and I had the whole replay recorded)
3. while racing, the screen suddenly pauses for a fraction of a second
4. reply stops about 1cm along the scroll bar and neccessitates the need to
click the play button again
5. if you change a setup and forget to save it under a new name it overwrites
your previously (and possibly better) setup when you return to the circuit
OBSERVATIONS
1. During a race the A1 cars do not seem to power-slide but tend to go round
the circuit smoothly. I can only assume that this would have required a lot
more proccessing power to recreate this for every car. I'm old enough to
remember (especially on the first lap) the cars looking very ragged indeed. I
must say though, that on replay on my first lap (with cold tires) the A1 cars
to tend to make me look like a speeding cement-mixer truck!
2. I don't think I'm slow. Kyalami in the 1.22s. But the A1 cars are doing low
1.21s in the intermediate race setting which in real life was much faster than
the fastest lap recorded in the race (1.29.9 by Hulme). I'm dreading what the
GP setting is going to show in times.
MY BIGGEST PROBLEM
3. Being a Brit, the wonderful Lotus is the car I want to drive most (Only wish
its engine had been more reliable). However, to get good lap times, I change up
without lifting my right foot. I remember that Jim Clark said he could judge
changing gear without lifting on the accelerator. The problem is that 90% of
the time in practice and race the engine blows. Without a clutch control as I
presume most people who drive this sim don't have one of these then the only
alternative is to lift and therefore reduce speed to change. (obviously you
would not lose so much speed lifting with a clutch). I cannot match my best lap
time by lifting. Has anyone else discovered this problem or have a viable
solution? Are the other cars as sensitive as this?
At the moment, I am holding my own at Kyalami (intermediate short race).
Qualified 8th and maintained 8th to the last half of the last (12th) lap when
the engine blew!
ENHANCEMENTS
If any of you have the new SB Live! sound card set it to 'forrest' for the
Rouen circuit for creating the most realistic sound.
HARDWARE
Pentium 11 x 333Mhz
128Mb ram
Hercules Thriller 8Mb AGP (I get better frame rate (36) than my V2)
Voodoo 11
SB Live! brilliant sound card
Labtecs wonderful sound system
etc,etc,etc....
Alan