Donington and Brooklands are pretty accurate - apart from the fact that
the Silver Arrows never raced at Brooklands. Tripoli is definitely not.
And Avus had two long straights, not the twisty bends that SoS has!
I was really looking forward to SoS, but they blew it big time. The
driving and grip model is appalling.
- Michael
I have no idea why people think these cars were heavy, sluggish, and slow.
Indeed, in 1973 L.J.K. Setright was able to write " this car mustered more
power than any Grand Prix car, before or since." Grand Prix cars didn't
surpass the power of the 1937 Mercedes W125 until a good chunk into the
turbo era, and, again, only in the turbo era did Grand Prix cars reach the
level of technical development and sophistication and raw performance
potential that the German cars had just before WWII.
The 1937 cars were built to the 750kg formula. This required the cars to
weigh LESS than 750 kg. That means they weighed hundreds of pounds LESS than
my Honda CRX, which in turn weighs hundreds of pounds less than my Mazda
Miata. Not exactly two cars that are generally described as "heavy and
sluggish." The Grand Prix car had about 6 times the power of either of these
cars though. With a load of fuel sufficient to last for hours the W125 STILL
weighs less than my Miata, by hundreds of pounds. Much of the visible bulk
of the car is "empty space." The formula imposed a minimum body width much
greater than that of the previous years, and so Mercedes and Auto Union put
large envelopes on much smaller cars. Very much like the body on a
competition R/C car.
The suspensions were quite sophisticated as well, they had to be to handle
all that power on the tires of the time. It is only in the tire department
that these cars are inferior to the '67 cars of GPL. Tires of the time were
not just narrower but essentially tubular in cross section giving a small,
oval contact patch. Thus the cars were far "slidier" than the 1967 cars.
The W154, which is the car you are given to drive in the demo, for some
reason, was actually the 1938 car, made to a formula which raised the
weight, and imposed an engine size limit, ( the '37 formula allowed ANY size
engine), and STILL weighed just about the same as my Honda CRX dry and about
the same as my Miata with full tanks. To compare it to a more modern car it
had nearly the same weight and power as the 1970 Porsche 917K. This is
somewhat heavier, but more powerful than, a 1967 Grand Prix car.
They didn't even give up much in the area of aerodynamics either. The cars
had a greater frontal area, but that was imposed by the formula, not the
ability of the designers to design the SAME cars in much slimer form. The cx
of the Auto Union, less the wheels was *.032!* The body was so slick that
90% of the drag came from the wheels alone. The only place the makers of
these cars lacked aerodynamic sophistication was in that they believed that
holding the tires close to the body reduced drag, whereas we now know
exactly the opposite is true.
Now, as for SoS, the reason the***pit view seems to be in the middle of
the chassis is because the handling *is* based on a pin stuck through the
center of the car. The actual seating position in this car is very nearly
between the rear wheels. Go find a small four door sedan. Say a Honda Civic.
Now, sit in the *back* seat. That's about the driving position in these
cars. The authors of SoS had to make the apparent driving position at the
center of the car to mask, at least somewhat, the crude model of the
program.
The grip model is, of course, totally bogus. Nowhere near NFSPU, which I'm
already on record as calling "ok."
The sound stinks. Perhaps you need to know what the real cars sound like to
realize this, but it stinks none the less. Remeber, these were engines
producing over 600 hp, unmuffled! They wouldn't have done too badly to rip
off the Brabham sound from GPL. Not exactly right, but not bad. Stir in a
bit of the Ferrari and you might have it.
There is no AI at all. None. The computer "driven" cars run on a set track,
like a train. They don't even have the artificial idiocy level to not run
straight into something in front of them, like YOU. They will simply pound
on the back of your car until you either move over or they push you off.
And lastly, the very first time I fired it up, before I had so much as
touched a control, I could tell this title was going to be, at best,
mediocre. What's with the cars having the ride height of a tractor? These
cars rode as low as a 1967 Grand Prix car.
Oh yeah, and why didn't the cars comprise the cars of the 1937 season,
instead of a few scattered cars from the 1924 to 1938 season?
There are some impressive graphics in this title, and the 1937 season is my
favorite and the one I hoped that Papyrus was going to do, but SoS is a
stinker, surpassing even AMA Superbike for the worst sim of the year award.
It isn't even a good arcade game. Broadsword don't even have the excuse of
rushed development to fall back on. Many of the problems were pointed out to
them prior to release and their response to these complaints, ( some of
which you can find in a faq at their web site), make it clear that this
title came out exactly as the designers intended.
Shame on them.
<excellent post snipped>
You really know your stuff - it's my favourite racing period also.
I think the best way of getting this done would be a TC for GPL with new
cars and tracks. I'm sure the existing physics code could handle it
easily with different parameters for the cars.
I'd do it, but I have a full-time job:-) Maybe when I retire.
- Michael
