rec.autos.simulators

I have owned indycar 1 and enjoyed the simulation, so I purchased the
ICR2 simulation -- HOWEVER -- the car handles lazily, almost like a
stock car, never giving warning - just BOOM and into the walls! It
seems to "porpoise" and "wallow" all over the place, not anything like
the original indycar, which had a stable suspension and feel.  

Is there a patch for such behavior of the car in ICR2?  Or am I going
to have to get used to it, or perhaps even revert back to the
original?

ALSO -- I have "TOP SPEED" add on tool kit for track conversions for
the simulations, but really don't understand how to use it!!  Can
someone help me?

I also have a copy of the INDY 500 track from egghead and really don't
understand what I need to do to get it installed into the simulations.

I know this is a tall order, but I can be breain dead and need all the
help I can get!!  YOUR HELP APPRECIATED!!     :)

"-- the car handles lazily"

Nigel Mansell once told me that "IndyCars handle like a truck with gobs of
power".  Perhaps F1 is your cup of tea?????

;-}

Glenn

"It's easy to criticize from outside the***pit"
-Murray Walker, Australian GP 1994

: I have owned indycar 1 and enjoyed the simulation, so I purchased the
: ICR2 simulation -- HOWEVER -- the car handles lazily, almost like a
: stock car, never giving warning - just BOOM and into the walls! It
: seems to "porpoise" and "wallow" all over the place, not anything like
: the original indycar, which had a stable suspension and feel.  
:  
: Is there a patch for such behavior of the car in ICR2?  Or am I going
: to have to get used to it, or perhaps even revert back to the
: original?

Well the handling is completely different in ICR2, mostly due to the new
rules that ICR2 was based on.  In the real world as much as 45% (I
think) of the downforce was removed from the cars in 1995 (the year ICR2
was based on).  This accounts for alot of the handling differences
between ICR1 & 2.  Unless you bought the sim with the Win95 version, you
will need to "patch" the program as their was a major bug in the
original release that changed the balance/traction of the car after
about 15 minutes of play.

<snip>
: I also have a copy of the INDY 500 track from egghead and really don't
: understand what I need to do to get it installed into the simulations.

If this is the "track pack" with the paintkit for ICR1, you can find a
converter at http://www.theuspits.com to convert it to ICR2.  You will
need to install it for ICR1 (or create a dummy directory structure for
it \INDYCAR\TRACKS\INDY and copy the files to that directory and run the
converter).

--
**************************** Michael E. Carver *************************
     Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./.  [-  < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

You might want to look at your "turns lock to lock" value and increase
it.  This will make your front wheels turn at a faster rate, making the
car more responsive.  The car will never have the same feel as the
original IndyCar, though.

Nope.  Not me.  

It should be as simple as installing it to a subdirectory /TRACKS/INDY.
I would think this would be explained in the docs that came with the
track.

Best of luck.
--

Neil Yeatman          
Ajax, Ontario, CANADA

My REAL email address is:

ICQ# 1315725

What I believe he's refering to is 'Indy 500 - The Simulation', which
is different than the Indy track expansion pack for ICR1, and can't
be used with the converter for ICR2.

Cheers!

Marc J. Nelson
Sim Racing Online / Sim Racing News / The Sim Project

However, it occurs to me that you might also have another problem: frame
rate.  The original ICR1 ran only in low-res mode, and had adequate
frame rate on 486's and slower Pentiums.  ICR2, however, has a high-res
option, which is much more CPU-intensive.  This can result in a slow
frame rate, which can show up as unresponsive handling, because the car
moves so far between frames.  You make a steering input, but nothing
happens on the screen for sometimes a substantial fraction of a second,
and then the car is way off line or on its way into the wall.

To check this, try running ICR2 in low-res mode.  If the handling
improves, you need more CPU power; I think a P-133 is a minimum for good
frame rate.  You can improve things by turning off most of the display
textures, leaving on only the necessary ones like Track Texture and Skid
Marks.  Don't use any Auto settings on this menu; it takes too much CPU
resource for the sim to constantly recalculate whether it should be
turning the scenery on or off.

The best thing is to get a Sierra Screamin' 3D card and run the bundled
Rendition-ready ICR2; this gives a fantastic frame rate.  It has an
optional frame rate indicator (as does the Win95 version) and I see
between 20 and 30 fps consistently with a P-133 and Sc3D card.

Another *major* factor is car setup.  The car setups that come with ICR2
are pretty awful - quite twitchy and not very forgiving, and slow too.  

I find Shane Pitkin's setups (on the Velocity Motorsports site) to be
far more forgiving and predictable, as well as much faster.  There are
more good setups available on other sites.  Here are some URL's:

  http://www.racesimcentral.net/;  The Sim Project
  http://www.racesimcentral.net/;Velocity Motorsports
  http://sim***world.simplenet.com/icr2/index.html Sim ***world
  http://www.racesimcentral.net/;  Snake Racing

The third major factor is your input device.  Forget using the keyboard
or even a joystick (IMHO).  A Thrustmaster T2 wheel and pedals are the
absolute minimum (or possibly a Thrustmaster GP1; I haven't tried this,
but it has less travel lock to lock, which is probably not quite as
good).  I've tweaked my T2 for better consistency and reliability as
well.

ICR2 is a fantastic sim, far and away my favorite of all the ones I've
tried (N1, N2, ICR1, GP2).  With good frame rate, good input device, and
good setups, the cars are amazingly stable and predictable, very
tossable and forgiving, as well as unbelievably realistic.  Flinging a
Shane Pitkin-tuned Reynard-Honda around Detroit or Long Beach is for
sure the most fun I've had in a race car, short of driving a real
Formula Ford or dirt track kart!

Don't give up on ICR2!

Alison
Alison

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