rec.autos.simulators

My CART World Series review is up at www.digitalsports.com, as promised.

Randy Magruder
Staff Writer
Digital Sportspage
http://www.racesimcentral.net/

Excellent, long & detailed review. However, one comment about the
page- how about a "text only" page for those of us with 14k modems?
There isn't a single word on the above homepage, and it took a long
time to find the review.

For those like me, the review is at:
http://www.racesimcentral.net/

I think this is a fantastic Sim. The credits in the end of the book
list Pruett, Rahal, Moore, and Herta as getting a "Special thanks"...
and I heard that they did have a hand in advising Sony about about
realistic handling. Sure seems like it; I was amazed how it handles,
twitchy, on edge, and "all ugly feeling" when you push a little past
the edge... I love Papyrus sims, but I must admit that I think this
sim takes car handling to a new level.

The AI seems great so far, and the tracks seem extremely realistic,
with *curbs* (yes, kerbs!!) where they should be on the street
circuits...

Negatives:  
1) sound is annoying to me. But your review does it a lot more
justice; perhaps if I had X-360 and some Bass control, I'd like it
more. (one facinating plus with the sound- a doppler shift in the
sound of your opponent's car if you pass him quickly!!! That is a
first, AFAIK)
2) default out-of-car view. It always takes a few seconds to reset the
view every start of race. I choose the "nose view", because***pit
views never really work for me, seem fake. But this has a nice***pit
view. So why not just "waste a byte" and store my preferred view!?!?
3) No mirrors. Maybe they considered the original F1 to have given
them license for this oversight? To hell with that! It annoys me; but
then, I did get used to it with F1.
4) you can see through the walls if you get too close or hit... maybe
that is a difficult thing to solve for the programmers? I wouldn't
think so...

OK, enough negatives for now. Overall,  I think the sim is a major
breakthrough- Congrats to Sony and to CART.

Some random thoughts:

1) There was a "deep philosophical choice" to be taken, and I like the
one Sony chose. That is, in Papyrus sims and F1, when you do a
"Restart Race" or "Race Again", all aspects of the old race sort of
"dissappear"- a disbelief in "fate", a belief in "randomness", you
could say. But Sony evidently believes in "fate", because so long as
you don't willfully alter some poor driver's path, he will indeed live
out his destiny as spelled in the previous aborted race. In one
Michigan race, one of the Target cars get's too low on the track on
the first lap, and does a spectacular "get loose, and hit the wall."
First two times, he destroyed me, so I restarted the race. Then I
started to play with it; see if I could alter his destiny. It was
amazing to watch him... it looked and sounded so exactly like the real
thing from in-car cameras. You realize how hard it must be for the
drivers to concentrate at those moments...

2)When I bought the sim, I found absolutely no references to steering
wheels in the book. Sort of angered me- I thought they didn't support
them... ah, but they do- at least my Mad Catz. Thank god. I then
figured out why the makers were so quiet about that support, or I have
a theory at least. Ever notice how Sony likes to say (or used to say)
that it doesn't support other manufacturer's controllers? They try to
imply that you void the warranty, etc.? That must be why they didn't
mention it.  But they do support at least my Mad Catz, and have a very
sophisticated calibration and everything I wanted. Amen. Takes some
time to figure it out, since they're trying to be so "on the sly"
about it. I think they are trying to push their new analog controller.

 about a "text only" page for those of us with 14k modems? There isn't a single
 word on the above homepage, and it took a long time to find the review.>

I'll try to put the exact page up there from now on.  Good suggestion.
 (However, at the risk of doing a shameless plug, if you didn't go to the main
 page, you might not have spotted some of our other great reviews & features,
 such as Nascar 98 review, CART Precision Racing Preview, my F1:CE review etc).
   Glad you enjoyed the review.

 every start of race. I choose the "nose view", because***pit views never
 really work for me, seem fake. But this has a nice***pit view. So why not
 just "waste a byte" and store my preferred view!?!?

I agree with you, but i haven't minded that much because I could jump into the
 cockpit immediately, whereas in NASCAR 98 you have to wait until you are given
 control of the car, at which point you do NOT want to be fiddling with view
 controls!

As far as Sony & wheels, I think you have it pegged.  Sony actively discourages
 use of anything without the Playstation logo.  On the one hand, they'll get
 money from the companies that make these products if they are licensed, and on
 the other hand, they put 3rd party products through rigorous testing before it
 gets the Playstation logo, so its not totally just a money thing.  I mean, I
 could produce a controller with a power pack that might fry your Playstation,
 and people would buy it, and then scream at Sony if it happened while the PSX
 was under warranty.  This way, Sony has the ability to wash its hands of any
 responsibility of what a non-licensed peripheral might do to your system.  You
 get choice as a consumer, but you have to decide how risky such a choice is.

I personally think these 3rd parties should go ahead and get certified by
 Sony, then everyone wins.

Randy
Randy Magruder
Staff Writer
Digital Sportspage
http://www.racesimcentral.net/

---Jim

-John :|:

P.S. - The***pit view isn't all that bad...it helps me to see when
I've damaged the front wheels....

Regarding Papy and Indycar sims- believe me, if Papy came out with an
Indycar sim for Playstation, I'd buy it in a second. Hell, if they put
it out for N64, I'd go buy an N64. I hope you guys get back to
Indycar.

Mmm...you know about the escape roads...why not put a "autobrake" feature or
 something?

RM