rec.autos.simulators

Is there a focus group for N4 that takes dedicated players and asks them
what they would like to see done for the next release??  You know like
what they do with Car design at GM and ford.  Well anyways here is more
of my two cents worth.

How bout sand traps at the road courses and that cut off road actually a
cut off road.

Also how bout an actual victory lane where you can pull up and celebrate
a long hard effort instead of just going back to windows or into the
next race.

And a moving pit crew is nice along with a actual pit board that they
hold down adn you stop at instead of guessing (i have trouble getting it
right)

I like the weather thoery, that would be great, and add great stragedy

Also red flags would be great, and how bout track damage, like broken
catch fences when someone FLIPS (another hopeful) and wall repair (those
that watch NASCAR remember Jeff Burton at sears point through the wall,
and buckshot at dover

Also, i know that at some tracks cautions are thrown for an ambulance
having to cross the track (ones without tunnels) to take a driver or
spectator to the hospital

How bout actual problems, like maybe a cut tire that rips off the fender
of the car, or overheating, or debris, and how bout visible stay dry
that acts like dust

And something that should be added that is fairly new is a No Bull 5
where they inform you if your in the running and you can paint your
spoiler and air dam

This is by far one of the best list for N4 I have seen....not the usual GPL
Physics noise.

How about adding real qualifying to the game. So your season can have 50
drivers but not everyone qualifies for each race.

And, need we forget the AI work that needs to be done so drivers don't stop
on the track when someone slows or crashes in front of them.

If only the builders of one of our favortie games would have not been deaf we
would have a hell of a sim game

Hi,
    My nascar dream sim (hopefully N4) would have:

1:  Large fields - allows us to add more than 43 cars to the car list.
-- The follwoing options could have toggles for novice users --
4:  Real qualitying - 1st and 2nd round
2:  Good provisionals system - so you have to work to get into the field
3:  Timed Practice sessions - only so much time to get things done (doing
things to the car during practice could take time, like changing a gear
ratio, etc.)

4:  Ability for AI to do neat pit strategy - allows the AI to take on 2
tires at the end, gamble on fuel, etc.
5:  Damage on the track - ability to cut down a tire because
6:  Sun glare/dirty windsheild
7:  good career mode

Of course if all of this get done, we would have to wait until 2020 to
see it! (let's see, 19 years and 10 months to go... :) )

Later,
John

Ok Heres My n4 wish (WILL NEVER HAPPEN)
1: Dirty cars during race
2: Weather conditions like rain and fog and stuff
3:RED FLAGS that really pisses me off
4:FLIPS thre needs to be flips
5: Diff bodies like chevy ford and pontiac dont look the same and have the same
body
6: Track Damage like bodines crash they needed to repair the fence
7: realistic crowd instead of scriibles for the crowd texture
8: Better  Damage model like when you get T-Boned you get side damage and IF
YOU FLIP you would get roof damage
9: 1st and 2nd round qualifying
10: provisinal system lets hope to get that
11: 50+ cars qualifying
12: A victory lane and driving to the garage that gets annoying
13: Sparks when you bottom out your hear but not see

Now i know this will probably never happen in N4 or N5 but maybe N6 hey lets
see and i cant wait

You guys have some great ideas without a doubt and I agree on most
everything, especially the chances of the car rolling over during a wreck,
or even flipping and cartwheeling, etc.

Off the top of my head, a quick list...

1. I agree on the better career mode. Maybe do one like how MGPRS2 has in a
way. Where you get picked up by a team at random who needs a driver. Then
depending on how well you do, or poorly you do over a season, several
seasons even, then you could get picked up by bigger/better teams, or
relegated to begging a ride with a poor team if you do poorly over a couple
seasons, hehe. Or even demoted to Busch  or Truck series to either ressurect
your nagging career, or to finish out your career if you last long enough to
be a crusty (crafty?) veteran, hehe. Kinda like how the Soccer management
sims do. I adore those sims, lol. Do great over a season, or several, and
the chairmen reward you with the accolades and "great job mate, well done!"
type pats on the backs, to the struggling through a poor season, coaching
poorly, or getting your club relegated to the next lower division cause you
sucked as a coach and deserved the demotion to the lower leagues, lol, then
the chairmen are ready to sack you if you don't get 'spot on' in a hurry, or
sack you outright, then you're left to hope some club somewhere will give
you a chance to prove yourself with their team, hehe. Just think, that would
be killer in a Nascar sim. Or get even more in depth for the purists. Maybe
have you start out in busch or truck series to prove yourself, then move up
to the next level when one of the cup teams take notice of you. And leave it
up to user choice where they want to start their career at, for those that
don't want to go through the busch series, then have the option to start
right out in the Cup as an established rookie from a lesser race series, or
whatever. And add-in the little things like the possibility of winning
"Rookie of the Year" honors if you do great your first season out. And not
just track your current season statitistics, but go further and track your
CAREER stats, hehe. That way when you reach the "retirement screen", hehe,
whether it's by a long glorious career, or by breaking more bones than evel
knevel in a first turn wreck at some point in your career. (This would
entice more clean drivers I think, lol) Anyways, when you reach "retirement"
by whatever reason, then have it in the game where you could possibly make
the Nascar Hall Of Fame or something, where it could forever keep a listing
for you of that career along with career stats, virtual money winnings,
maybe some highlights from some spectacular racing or a scrapbook type thing
showing the race newspaper screens for races you won, or championships you
won, etc, etc. I'd love seeing all that stuff, hehe.

Ummm. dang I got long-winded, lol.

2. Add more damage type things like some have said. I like how in TOCA2 it
has all the interesting effects of damage showing on the car. Maybe somehow
get that level of damage visibility into Nascar 4. I'm sure if you impact a
wall hard enough, your windshield will blow out somehow. TOCA2 has that, i
know for a fact, lol, I hit the wall enough times to have saved replays
where I can watch the windsheild not only shatter, but fly off of the car
and scatter around on the track or grass/dirt areas, lol. That's the one
consolation I get when I wreck out, lol, can always watch the cool replays
and see the damage inflicted, frame by merciless frame. :o) Only time you
see your windshield blowout in N3 is if you watch the replay from the in-car
view, and then you only know you lost your windshield because the view ahead
goes from being a greyish filtered look to suddenly a bright and crispy true
color look. Surprisingly, it's the same colorful look when you're in the
drivers seat while racing, lol. No windshield for the drivers side of the
car? Or is that the camera lense that "shatters"??

Well, i'm pooped, so that's enough for now, hehe.

 Destin

   I wish Sierra/Papyrus would wise up and put brightness/gamma
adjustments in thier sims. No two video cards/monitors are the same.
Other games have them. Why not Papy sims?

   Jim

OH I LEFT THIS ONE OUT

how bout stickers tires or scuff tires that you could prepare in practice and
run in the race to adjust your setup

I would like to see a configurable Crew Chief.
Before a race, you may preselect pitstop defaults.
like, IF theres less than a full tanks worth of laps remaining THEN put in
just enough to finish.
The current amount suggested to make it to the end in way too conservative.
IF I choose only right side tires THEN also increase wedge by 5 pounds
And we could override the auto changes in the normal manner that we do now.
--
Kenny L.
kenny_l  AT pacbell DOT net

:    I wish Sierra/Papyrus would wise up and put brightness/gamma
: adjustments in thier sims. No two video cards/monitors are the same.
: Other games have them. Why not Papy sims?

  Absolutely seconded....  I got a new monitor last week - I have known
for some time that my monitor is waaaay too dark but I hadn't realised
how much of a problem it was until I got a new one.  Little things like
the track at Kyalami is a kind of blue-grey - not black.

  Previously, at most corners at Kya and Rouen (two of my real bogey
tracks) the racing line was simply invisible...  Not too much of a
problem you might think - except for the fact that in GPL most of the
braking markers are "where the racing line goes dark" or "goes light" or
shortly before or after such points.  I was able to top my best laps at
these circuits simply by having a monitor which allowed me to fix
consistent braking points.  If the papy games had a gamma slider I'd
have found this out about a year ago instead of now.

--
Richard G. Clegg       Only the mind is waving
    Networks and Non-Linear Dynamics Group
      Dept. of Mathematics, Uni. of York
    www:  http://manor.york.ac.uk/top.html

writes:

Really?  I didn't know that...

That's probably my biggest problem.  I just can't *see* the groove clearly, or
the line between the track and the dirt/grass.  Spa and Silverstone seem to be
the worst, although Rouen isn't far off...<sigh>

Eldred
--
Tiger Stadium R.I.P. 1912-1999
Own Grand Prix Legends?  Goto  http://gpl.gamestats.com/vroc

Never argue with an idiot.  He brings you down to his level, then beats you
with experience...
Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

If I may suggest, turning off the groove helped me in the early months. I
found it so much easier to drive the track without trying to drive that
skinny little "rail". I turned it back on much later and, with only a few
exceptions, found I was pretty close to the groove anyway. But it sounds
like you're doing this already. :-)

Michael.

That might work for someMichael. Personally, I find that there are too many
braking points laid on the deck.

MS

:>  Absolutely seconded....  I got a new monitor last week - I have known
:>for some time that my monitor is waaaay too dark but I hadn't realised
:>how much of a problem it was until I got a new one.  Little things like
:>the track at Kyalami is a kind of blue-grey - not black.
:>
: Really?  I didn't know that...

  Sounds like you have something of the same problem Eldred.  If you fid
that distant cars at Kya are getting lost in the track (coz they're
black and so is the track) then your monitor is too dark.  Up the
brightness of your monitor if you can or try to borrow a new monitor to
see if it helps.

: That's probably my biggest problem.  I just can't *see* the groove clearly, or
: the line between the track and the dirt/grass.  Spa and Silverstone seem to be
: the worst, although Rouen isn't far off...<sigh>

  It's not seeing the groove that's so bad (after all, you can easily
work out where the groove should be) - it's seeing the gradations in
colour on the groove which are useful brake markers.  Spa has some
nightmarish bits but not too many for darkness and the same with Rouen.

--
Richard G. Clegg       Only the mind is waving
    Networks and Non-Linear Dynamics Group
      Dept. of Mathematics, Uni. of York
    www:  http://manor.york.ac.uk/top.html

IMHO, if you wanna run well in traffic, you can't rely on braking points on the
track surface, since they will often be obsured by other cars.  Try and pick
brake markers that are clearly visible regardless of traffic, use scenery,
trees, sign posts, whatever.  Eventually, you get to the point where you can
keep your eyes on the traffic and the course itself, and the markers will
register in your peripheral vision as you approach/pass them.

            Doug