rec.autos.simulators

--
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Morgan Vincent Wooten
System Specs:
    http://personal.lig.bellsouth.net/lig/m/v/mvwooten/system.txt
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Ash

Eldred
--
Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001
Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett
GPLRank - under construction...

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

ghost cars should be an option.  you should be able to switch it on
and off.  the benefits of having them are worth it IMO.

sometimes you just can't believe the speed that others can take into a
corner.  you need to see the line and the attitude of the ghost car to
fully appreciate why they are lapping 2+ seconds a lap faster than
your PB.  

what's even better is having multiple ghosts in a game.  sort of like
merging 3 of your top fastest laps with gpl replay analyser.  i know
the cars overlap, etc, but it works well.  in pod you could have up to
5 ghosts to race against simultaneously.  useful when the ghosts used
different vehicles with differing handling and performance.  you could
see which cars were faster on which part of the trap and allowed you
to race the car that suited your style more.  it *was* an arcade-ish
title, but to be competitive in online play demanded a 'sim-like'
approach to it.  

the ghost mode in f1rc is not bad, but i would like to see everything
from F1 2001 to Racer implementing it too.

...

Don't the overlapping cars look awful then? I'd say it's hard to see
which car is which (I'd call a multiple ghost car drive the 'drunk'
mode).

It has been suggested for my sim, but I didn't see anything in it.

Ruud van Gaal
Free car sim  : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/racer/
Pencil art    : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/

the ghost mode is there for the learning experience.  the overlapping
cars are a bit pointless if you have 2 ghosts which follow identical
lines.  however, if you have 2 ghosts with similar lap times, but
different vehicles, you sometimes get to see where drivers can be very
fast through different sectors of the lap, but due to a weakness in
another portion of the lap, the two cancel each other out and have
identical lap times.  by learning from the fast portions of both laps,
you could visualise what you needed to do to get that 'idea' lap.  i
know it is possibly in gpl replay analyser, but i'm not that good at
doing it that way myself.

another reason for the ghost is that it allows you to see if your
approach fundamentally differs from others (downloaded ghosts).
sometimes i find i am too cautious into a corner because I believe i
am going as fast as I can.  it is humbling to see the speed that
others take into the corner.  following an alien into the corner could
just be what is needed to find that missing 10th's (or in my case
seconds) for your PB.

for those of us who never play multiplayer (expensive online charges),
it improves the offline, single player experience.

i don't think that 'ghost mode' should be the top priority for Racer
though.  I'm sure you have lots more on your to-do list, Ruud!

I am as ever dying to see what the next version brings...

Hm, yes, perhaps even multiple ghost cars is most useful just for
viewing replays and analysing where things are off. I know I like this
very much in GPL Replay Analyser, but ofcourse having a 3D replay like
that would be much nicer. :)

Yes, but as replays are mostly in there, it shouldn't be that hard.
It's just there are so many creative things you can do with ghosts.
And it keeps the 'when will AI be in' posts away. ;-)

Shouldn't be too long before a next version. I need some functionality
out there and I need it relatively fast. Hopefully no longer than a
week or so.

Thanks,

Ruud van Gaal
Free car sim  : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/racer/
Pencil art    : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/