rec.autos.simulators

Unless the release version is substantially higher than 1.0, GP3 is a
colossal disappointment to me.  It is not a horrible title, but it obviously
fails miserably to live up to even the hype of 2 years ago about it.

The graphics are OK...I am playing at 1280x1024 with all options on and they
are acceptable..nothing more.

The FFB is horrid...unless I am missing something.  You have to fight the
wheel with exaggerated forces at some times and obvious forces are missing
completely at other times.

The sound is acceptable...a very small improvement over GP2.

I can't get split axis to work...beyond shocking that a so-called sim
wouldn't support this essential feature.  However, I have discovered that
every other title that has had problems with split axis is because the
physics model isn't sophisticated enough to handle left-foot braking
anyway...but at least it saves the pain of having to change the controller
settings.  The controls overall are disappointing.  The car feels dead, the
steering is difficult to adjust and seems to prefer to rely on non-linear
trickery to mask an inherent problem.

The physics are a small improvement over GP2...again about the same level of
improvement that N3 had over N2.  Kerb behaviour is wonky...cars drive like
they are on rails...spins are improved over GP2, however (no longer
canned)...but overall dynamic feel and performance is flat and unimpressive.
How much of this is the controller issues, I don't know.

AI...I have no idea...I can't even get the car to drive acceptably due to
poor steering and controller set-up.  Why does every Papy title install and
set-up my controllers (I have had 3 different ones in the last 3 years)
without a hitch every time, but titles like RC2000, F12000 and now GP3 cause
such huge problems--like the developers of a racing title didn't realise
people would be using commonly available wheels to play their game with!?!?!

Damage model--relaxed beyond belief.  Makes F12000 look like the sim of all
sims.

This really is a shockingly minor update to GP2.

I am running full frame rate with all aids off and on the highest skill
level.

And to those who are concerned about warez...I own every title I use and
then some.  I even purchased F12000 to goof around with after being not very
impressed with the warez version.  I even bought OF1R for god's sake!  I
would gladly pay double for high quality titles.  I dare Hasbro to release a
demo of this title to go against a demo of F12000....they would be
slaughtered in the open (non-sim fanatic) market.

Which reminds me--the last Hasbro title I tried was SOS '37.  Lets hope that
NASCAR Heat breaks the cycle!!!!

I had been so looking forward to GP3 that I cannot express the sadness and
frustration that I feel about waiting so long for so little?  What were the
huge number of people in the credits doing all this time?  Given the over
supply of F1 titles, I would have much rather waited another 6 months and
had a "N4" version to play with.

I will likely buy GP3 because I am reasonably well off and I am sim-freak
who gets most titles.  But based on its merits, I would not purchase this
title.  N3 at least had the major asset of online play capability to justify
its purchase.

Wow....what a disappointment.

Marc.

--
****************************************************************************
Marc Collins

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James Larson
Omaha, Nebraska, USA

I would like to thank you for your review. And to be honest I would
thank you either way it went. Even though I like F1 2000, I am not
a F1 2000 groupie and blind to everything else. If GP3 were far
better and had better graphics, better tracks, better sound and
radio coms, better AI and better all around game, I would drop
F1 2000 like a hot potato. I want the best modern F1 PC sim
and am vain enough to go with the current winner.

Quite frankly I see no reason to get GP3. If F1 2000's framerate
was to everyones satisfaction it wouldn't even be close I don;t
think.

I am surprised at how the game apparently is, but now I hope
everyone knows why I was so headstrong telling everyone not
to assume the world of GP3... Microprose is totally taking the
big ***and Crammond may not have had the time or money
to do a huge over haul.

I have to wonder exactly what type of 3D video support the
game has. I guess I am most shocked that the graphics are
so poor. Has anyone tried FSAA???

Also, the rain and weather effects sound totally awesome.
Too bad they weren't included in GP2 like they were
supposed to be :-)

--

I remember in GP2, if you were in a low enough gear you would never
spin while powering in most turns. You go up a gear and understeer.
Simply being in a certain gear would guarantee that you would not
understeer or over steer. Just watch some F1 races on TV and you
will see drivers fighting the car at every corner...

--

Feels good to be proven right, doesn't it? ;-)

Jan.
=---

I was wondering if anyone was going to comment on that.

Actually as I said in another post, I wished GP3 was by far
the best ever. I would gladly eat a little crow and have an
awesome F1 game. But maybe I made such a big deal
about it, that some people learned a little here :-)

--

% >
% >I had been so looking forward to GP3 that I cannot express the sadness and
% >frustration that I feel about waiting so long for so little?  What were the
% >huge number of people in the credits doing all this time?  Given the over
% >supply of F1 titles, I would have much rather waited another 6 months and
% >had a "N4" version to play with.

% I don't think 6 months would have made any difference. To get something like N4
% out of GP2 would have meant almost an entire rewrite of Mr. Crammond's code.

Which certainly doesn't look to be in the cards.  It seems that all
future releases will be cosmetic updates for the next season and
"finishing" up on some of the crippled or missing features (Internet
play, pit-car radio communication, etc.).

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

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

% I am surprised at how the game apparently is, but now I hope
% everyone knows why I was so headstrong telling everyone not
% to assume the world of GP3... Microprose is totally taking the
% big ***and Crammond may not have had the time or money
% to do a huge over haul.

Four years.... nope not enough time....

Oh my, Crammond is such a saint that it couldn't, NO it just couldn't be
his fault..... <G>  This is beginning to look just like Stallone's Rocky
series of re-makes.....  Eventually, even the most die-hard fans will
become jaded with the re-hashing (did I say Die Hard... when's Bruce's
next one due? <G>).

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

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