First, and I sure hope they keep this in perspective, is anything they do change does not***up or otherwise open a hole for
any other potential mind numbing defects in the software. I suspect that if we are fortunate enough to see a patch there will most
likely not be another one.
In all previous versions, driving aids (clutch not included) did not make one faster. If they either .. Change that, Allow the
server to know who has what on so that leagues may individually decide what to do with the information (but do show it in an export
of the race results), or Allow an option for the server to control what aids can be used ... I would be satisfied.
In the past I have used some of the aids and they probably helped me by treating them as shortcuts to not having to practice
much. But I never really thought they made me as fast as the best online. I don't call using them cheating, far from it. I just
feel it should be pretty obvious to Papyrus that making fast drivers faster was not their intention. If you look at the help
options, all of them say what they always said; something like "Using them well help you but a more experienced driver will find
more speed without them". I am guessing that what happened is when they changed things like tire grip settings in an effort to add
more realism to tire wear, they probably did not see the full effects with all the options they have in the sim. Fair enough, but
on that assumption, I would hope it would be sensible for them to 'clean it up'.
I would also like for them to clean up the Fast setups, making them more even from track to track. While several papy guys may
have stated they think the setups are fine, they can't argue the fact that this is really the first version they have put out where
the Fast setups are so undriveable for so many. Every fixed setup league depends on that consistency and, try as some might, it's
nearly impossible for the community to adopt another standard set other than the Fast setup. Considering Papyrus has gone out of
its way to dummy down the difficulty factor for maximum playability, I would think they'd be very concerned about the state of the
default Fast setups in the eyes of the general community, rather than those of their own.
The damage model can always be improved, but right now it's the best it has ever been. It still suffers for a lot of people,
but it is equal to everyone who races. So you can almost say it's fair.
I know it's cool to see cars flipping. But ever since they added that feature it has not been realistic at all. Cars
skyrocketing at a short track is more laughable than not. Get rid of it. I don't even consider this a 'wish list' thing since it
has no realism whatsoever and most likely never worked the way they had intended.
They really need to clean up, once and for all, the issues of random breakdowns. Make it clear what it is and when it happens
versus something the driver initiated on his own. The decent and chaos the confusion causes is simply not worth the feature imo.
I'd be happy if it was removed from the software altogether but for God's sake please settle the issue, finally.
Right now, I feel the cheat detection may be about as good as it has ever been. I can be quite wrong about that, but now we
have two issues to deal with; Cheating AND driving aids. It's like we finally get used to racing with guys who may cheat, and some
honorable attempt has been made to deal with it, and now we have to live with driving aids? unuh.
The only 'wish list' thing I would want is to be able to see the brake and gas usage while racing, so I could tell if I was
actually brake riding with my foot resting on the brake. To see everyone's gas and braking in the replays would be great as well.
The only thing that is a must for me is to retro the true usage of driving aids. They don't do that and I probably won't be
back.
How I know this for certain is I have always been the guy who was off the gas in a turn before anyone else. Ever since I
started, including racing real simulators like SMS, people were always 'surprised' to see how smooth I was with a wheel and pedal.
I never thought this was some special skill, and it was never on purpose or planned on my part. It just so happened that's how I
drove a car.
When N2003 came out, and everyone was new at it, it turned out to fit my almost 8 year old driving habits to a tee. The very
first races I ran no one could keep up with me on tire wear. Not in any of the leagues I was in. Except for a short stint in N4, I
haven't worked on open setups for almost 3 years and after all that time, here I found myself once again e***d about open setups.
But within just a few short weeks those same guys were beating me. I didn't change a thing. But others, not everyone mind you,
suddenly found the driving aids. So for me, it was like waking up to the same old song. Here, I finally had a sim that rewarded
really true tire management, and that was just about the closest I ever thought I would come to real life racing. I wanted so badly
to test the one natural skill I felt I had brought to sim racing, while learning any others, with the best out there and now it is
all but bogus for any real accomplishment or satisfaction of effort or time spent.
So cleaning up driving aids is a must for me personally.
--
Tim White
www.intracmotorsports.com
> What are you looking for in terms of fixes?
> What if those items haven't been fixed?
