rec.autos.simulators

        And it will require 8megs+ of RAM and a P90+ to run and no
f*%$!ng track creator/editor.  Guess who they just lost as a customer!

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Leading the charge to boycott Papyrus Software.

Bryon S. Lape
Hodges Library in the department formerly known as "Automation"
Proud owner of two songs banned from MTV.
Suffering from political correctness deficiency syndrome.

Papyrus New IndyCar(TM) Racing 2.0 Previewed at E3

        Los Angeles, California, May 11, 1995--Papyrus Design Group, Inc. is
offering a preview of their new IndyCar Racing 2.0 at the Electronic
Entertainment Expo.  IndyCar Racing 2.0 is a graphically and audibly enhanced
version of Papyrus original award-winning IndyCar Racing, and will be offered
for DOS 5.0 or later, Windows 3.1 and Windows 95, and the Macintosh.
        Officially licensed by IndyCar, IndyCar Racing 2.0  will include 15
tracks, representing every type of IndyCar racing experience.  The product
will be based on the 1995 racing season which will be represented by cars,
tracks, drivers, sponsors, track side scenery, and billboards.
        Other major improvements that will be included in the new IndyCar
Racing 2.0 include:
SVGA  Mode. Crisp, clear graphic detail in 640 x 480 resolution.
Realistic Collisions. Car bodies will dent and pieces will fly form the cars
accidents happen.
Digital Sound Effects.  Engine and crashing effects in digital and stereo
sound.
Realistic Handling.  Like Papyrus other award-winning productions, IndyCar
Racing 2.0 sets new standards for realistic handling.  The closest possible
thing to putting you behind the seat of a real IndyCar.
Arcade Driving allows the driver to drive from outside the car in order to
master different driving techniques.
Multi-player this product will be compatible with Papyrus new multi-player
service, code named Hawaii.
Product Manual.  In depth explanation of the IndyCar Racing 2.0 simulation.
 Experienced drivers give driving tips; including suggestions on car set-ups.

        IndyCar Racing 2.0 will be released Q4 of 1995 on CD ROM;  the DOS and
Windows and versions will be shipped as one product.  The software packages
will be distributed world-wide by *** Interactive Entertainment, Inc.
        Papyrus Design Group, Inc., is a software developer and publisher
established in 1987.  Its flagship simulation, Indianapolis 500:  The
Simulation, was published by Electronic Arts in 1989.  The companys second
game, IndyCar Racing was released in November 1993 and has garnered numerous
top industry awards.  NASCAR Racing is the companys third award winning
production.
####

Contact:

Electronic Entertainment Expo:
Ann Marie Gianantoni, Press Relations
Booth # 1425, South Hall
Pager: 1.800.495.0570
Cellular Phone: 1.714.323.2858

Office:
Papyrus Design Group, Inc.
Ann Marie Gianantoni, Press Relations
35 Medford St.
Somerville, MA 02143
Phone: 617.868.5440 x165
Fax: 617.868.5110

======================================================
| Ralph M. Hebb       |   Papyrus Design Group, Inc. |

| 617-868-5440 x128   |   Somerville, MA   02143     |
|----------------------------------------------------|
| My opinions belong to me, not to Papyrus.          |
======================================================

If anyone wants to create tracks for ICR, go right ahead.  The code is no
MAJOR trade secret for anybody wanted to hack it, but considering the millions
of lines of code necessary to create EACH track, the amount of man-hours
involved for each track, it's a surprise Papyrus can release their work
ANYWHERE near on schedule with the small staff they have.  Papyrus is NOT a
large company.  It's certainly no Microsoft, and look how long it's taking
THEM to come out with the next Windows.  Imagine ONE person trying to create
his/her own track at home on his/her own machine.  It is a LOT more than just
drawing the shape of the track and then pushing a button and voila! there's
the track.  Each track has to go through the same processes, not the least of
which calls for going to the actual track and surveying the area or using the
blueprints to achieve the accuracy that they do, which STILL is lacking, but
astonishing considering what's involved.

When you have the track designed, you have to decide the look of the place.  
Billboards, pit locations, trucks, buildings, leaderboard, grandstands.  Then
you have to code where the cars can go, how they go, when they go, and how
well they react to each other.

And then, when you have all that mapped out and the code underway, imagine
having to code ALL of the replay camera angles and make them available for
every car.  And the telemetry information and how that changes during a race.

That's just describing what had to go into ICR 1.0x.  When you add in all the
features that will be going into ICR 2.0, and add in the fact that it will be
available in SVGA, with digital sound, and flying car parts, and penalty
flags, and and event announcer, and even MORE hours into improving the
opponents' A.I., I am really surprised they are announceing a December release.

Don't get me wrong, I am happy it is supposed to be ready by December at the
latest, but knowing what involved, I'm amazed.

A track creator/editor?  I can do without that.  I just want to get in that
car and race.  Race on the tracks that are there.  You KNOW they're gonna
eventually followup with add-on tracks... and if they're releasing ICR 2.0
with 15 tracks, there's gotta be a lot of new tracks coming out after that
that none of us have even raced an IndyCar on.

I'll be more than happy with a descent replay editor and a nice car paintkit.  
If they are able to squeeze in local yellows and some flag guys on the track,
and perhaps the ability to pull out of the pits when we want to, I'll be in
bliss.

Ralf

  ____   __    ___    __   ____   __

 _\ \  /(__)\ |  (  /(__)\  )(  /(__)\  http://www.webcom.com/~sabata/

I'm not saying that there's no use for the announcer.  Quite the contrary, I
bug a couple of the programmers on a regular basis to put Jarrett into the
game. Of the hours of recordings they have of him, there's stuff like "There's
a crash in Turn 4" and "THERE'S a blag flag!"  I'd love to hear that stuff in
the game, but getting the game up to what it is now took more of a priority.  
And although "Gentlemen, Start your engines" would be nice, and it might be
recorded as well, I don't see it happening soon.

Ralf

  ____   __    ___    __   ____   __

 _\ \  /(__)\ |  (  /(__)\  )(  /(__)\  http://www.webcom.com/~sabata/

Does anyone here know if ICR 2.0 will have modem and user-user local
network support. (apart from the commercial venture mentioned above.)

I have e-mailed Papyrus seeking amplicfication, but as yet have not
received a response.

Thanks.

Keiron

* Compuserve:    100241,714                          *

* Fidonet:       3:640/301                           *
   from Keiron Rado in Brisbane, Qld, Australia     *  

Chris Carlone
http://server.uwindsor.ca:8000/~carlone/

        It is just that simple stupid.  The hard part is the hand
optimization of the 4x4 matrices.  Duh!

bryon

--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Leading the charge to boycott Papyrus Software.
Bryon S. Lape
Hodges Library in the department formerly known as "Automation"
Proud owner of two songs banned from MTV.
Suffering from political correctness deficiency syndrome.

****************************************************************

Hartsdale, NY        "BsOiRgInNaGture"         Cloud 9 Internet
****************************************************************

IndyCar Racing 2.0 will have the same two-player support that NASCAR
Racing has (direct connect, via modem, and via IPX/Novell server).

Rick Genter
Technical Lead, IndyCar Racing 2.0
Papyrus Design Group, Inc.

Not that Papyrus is too concerned with losing all of one customer,
I would imagine.

                                - Max in CA

Thanks to Papyrus for a splendid game in ICR 1.0 through 1.5, and for
the superb 2 player modem and direct link modules.

As I understand it, IndyCar 2.0 will NOT provide support for
multiplayer (more than 2 player) user-user LANs.

This is a feature which I personally desire *more than any other
change* to IndyCar. (Novell Netware LAN support)

personally, I would pay for a LAN module, as I have the add on track
pack and paint kit.

Surely in the mid nineties this is a pre-requisite.

Being located in the colonies, "Hawaii" doesn't interest me, and even
were I fortunate enough to live in the U.S., contributing to an online
"cash cow" also fails to induce me to participation. How much will it
eventually cost you in online charges...add it up over time and you
will get an unpleasant surprise when you think of the new Pentium
system you could have bought with the money.

Please don't misunderstand. I appreciate that many out there will
relish the opportunity to compete online, but I believe the
purchaser/user should have a choice, and think an inclusive LAN module
would only encourage online participation rather than detract from it.

Can I canvass how many other users desire multiplayer (>2 player) LAN
support as a major priority for ICR 2.0??

Speak up now and let Papyrus marketing managment know, or forever hold
your peace, as it isn't planned for inclusion according to the
response I have from Papyrus.

Thanks for listening.

Keiron

* Compuserve:    100241,714                          *

* Fidonet:       3:640/301                           *
   from Keiron Rado in Brisbane, Qld, Australia     *  

        I just returned from my yearly jaunt to the Pole day (weekend) at
the IMS 500.  While waiting for the rain to let up on Saturday I and my
co-fanatics ventured over to the fanfest area.  In one of the tents,
Papyrus and IBM (including OS-2) had a 5 or 6 station indy 500 sims setup
for head to head to head etc... racing.  Each station looked like a indy
monocock, and featured a large monitor in front.  The reason I post this
is because it looked nothing like Indycar 1.05.  It had what appeared to
be SVGA graphics, and arcade style views (similar to chase view).  I
asked the rep on hand if this was a version of the new 2.0 ICR, he
mentioned that it was specially written for this setup and event and
based on the 1.0x ICR.   Not sure if I believe him or not.  Graphics
looked pretty good and I noticed only a very slight choppyness in them.  
Did any one else get to see this.  We would have had to wait in an hours
worth of line to try it.  

Later....

______________________________________________________________________________

                "It's good enough for government work"

        This is even harder than my desire to have an editor.  The
arcade game VR Racing can have (or so I've heard) up to 32 machines
connected and I doubt they use something as slow as Novell.  Also, these
machines have purpose built chips that make the Pentium look like a dog
(ok, it is).  In theory, it should be possible on a 10Mbits+ LAN, but it
will all depend on how the software is written and how much info must be
moved on the wire.

bryon

ps- see Ralf, I do have a clue.

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What's so wrong with a tax cut anyway.
Bryon S. Lape
Hodges Library in the department formerly known as "Automation"
Proud owner of two songs banned from MTV.
Suffering from political correctness deficiency syndrome.

: That's okay.  With a P90 and 16 Meg of RAM, ICR 2.0 is what I've been
: waiting for.  And a track editor?  Who has time to edit tracks?  It's
: all I can do at this point to keep up.  Besides, I throw my loyalties
: in with the "it's a sim" group rather than the "it's a game" group.

Absolutely, it's a sim, and absolutely, creating tracks is very difficult.
However, I think Indycar fans may understand more where those who want some
way of defining new tracks are coming from when the Indycar series starts
fragmenting (as it appears likely to do in the next couple of years) and
different tracks are used in real life, or the cars get too fast and they
start changing the circuits.  Do you expect Papyrus to keep releasing
updates when things change?  I don't think they will, any more than
Microprose have with F1GP, and the situation now with F1GP is that very few
of the tracks are correct any more (either not used at all, or with
significant circuit changes).

I don't think it's realistic to expect Papyrus or Microprose to release
track editors, but I do wish they would release the file formats, like
id did for Doom.  One of us sad people with no lives will find the
necessary 6 months to write a decent editor, I have no doubt!