rec.autos.simulators

I liked it too :)

I was suprised to hear the EA rep admit thier console game sucked :)

-Larry

http://www.racesimcentral.net/

I like the console version more than the PC version.

Jason

I know Im asking the wrong guy but have you tried the Thunder 2004 Demo?
I'm really suprised at how much fun dega is online.  Theyve managed to solve
most of the issue's with Papy's SS's.  The draft feels much more realistic,
in fact the whole experience feels pretty darn good.  The track modeling
seems spot on and makes me wonder how I could have ever thought Papy's dega
was right.  The sound isn't very good as it's hard to tell what each tire is
doing and the largest online feild I saw was 16 (very little warp though)
but the connection hiccupS when another driver joins seems to have been
(nearly) fixed since F1C.  All around worth a download.   If nothing else
see the future of what we're all going to be driving if we want to run a
licensed version of Nascar racing on the PC.  If 2005 can correct the few
nagging issues we may have something to put NR2003 to rest.  I'm ready for
something new and in years past we would always have the "next" Papy version
to hold us over but now that's not the case so get yourselves mentally
prepared to move on, eventually :-)

Mitch

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/02/11/revving_u...

I tried the demo.  Didn't much care for it.

New isn't a necessity for me.  If the tried-and-true is still better, so be
it :)

-Larry

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/02/11/revving_u...

Mitch A spoke:
If nothing else
see the future of what we're all going to be driving if we want to run a
licensed version of Nascar racing on the PC.
------------------------

Why? Papy's Nascar can be updated to the newest cars and tracks, as well as
the newest drivers. Papy has a better online code and I think the tracks
look nicer. I see no reason to switch.

--
Richard "ZZ" Busch

Member:
Screamers Racing League
OAO
CORS
MARA TransAm
RASCAR
GPL Rank + 17.415
MoGPL Rank + 318.586
N2002 Rank + 7.695
TransAm Rank  ??

Road racers haven't had the luxury of the "next" Papy version for years now,
so it seems a bit premature to be talking about putting NR2003 to rest.

I don't believe there are many (if any) here who would spurn a better sim
experience if it was really there. Most of us try anything that sounds like
it might be half decent in the genres we prefer. Computer power, programming
techniques, access to track and physics info all improve, so we *expect*
continual development. However, marketing, licensing and commercial
decisions regarding our niche area are the real restrictions. Such that the
third party community are more likely to develop further IMHO.

Hopefully we will have a games producer who develops *** racing sims in
the future, but we will have to wait and see. The days of significant gains
each year seem long gone.

Cheers
Tony

See also:  Indycar 2.

Jason

Since I just put together a new PC and traded my copy of NT2004 in
months ago to get DX:IW, I'm going to go pick up a copy today (EA
sports 2004 stuff is all $20 now) and give it another go.  It's quite
possible that having a top end system now will change my opinion of
it, at least slightly (I say this because the difference in F1C going
from 40fps to 100fps was huge - I'm starting to believe the people who
say ISI's physics rate is tied to the speed of the graphic renderer).

The road courses (which is where I spend most of my time) were still
horribly done, but as I remember the ovals were pretty similar to
Papy's (whereas in NT2003 Pocono was 5 lanes wide and felt like
driving on the autobahn).  I'm pretty sure, aside from the roadies,
that the width/elevation issues were largely fixed from 2003-->2004.

Jason

Nothing can be done about about NR2003 failings now.  New tracks and
prettier cars CANNOT fix NR2003's underlying physics code which is wrong and
has been since N4.  They coulda done it right for N3 but dumbed it down
instead..  It's been massaged to the max from Papy and is acceptable by
todays standards but will it be next year at this time?  This is my point,
"I" sure hope not for the simple fact that other than RASCAR I don't run
NR2003 anymore and by this time next year I doubt Ill be running NR2003 at
all.

Just a quick test to check Papy's physics.  Get into a car at ANY track and
stomp on the gas.  What happens in Papy Nx sims?  Now what happens in RL
when a 700HP motor on skinny tires carrying 3500lbs do?   Think about this
for a second using common sense and youll come to the same conclusion I did
about Papy physics.

Mitch

They spin the tires.  Which happens in N2003 unless you're using a
restrictor plate which limits the horsepower to 350.

Jason