rec.autos.simulators

As-Salaam-Alaikum (Peace be unto you)

I've recieved my copy of GP2 on Friday 7-27-96.  My local Babbages in
Lafayette, La. only had 2 copies ordered.  Luckily I'd been first on
the call list.  Anyway here is my impression of GP2.

First off let me say that my machine is an AMD 5x86 133.  But its only
running as a 486-120 due to an incompatible mobo.  I've got a Diamonnd
Stealth 64 1meg Dram Video card and 8 megs of RAM.

The Box and Manuals:

I like the GP2 box.  Its got nice pictures.  But the manual isn't
exactly perfect.  I'm not done with it.  But it could have some nice
color pictures like the EURO version.  BTW, why don't we have a neat
little technical manual as well.  But I guess the manual gets its
point across.

The Intro:

Is it me or does anyone else like the intro to GP1 better.  I do.  I
justl like the impression I got from that.  But GP2's intro will
suffice.

The menus and interface:

The menus are all really nice.  But some times it takes too many
clicks to get where you want to go.  But on the whole not too bad.
The background music is ok for a while.

The graphics performance(my opinion)

First of all the graphics ar beatiful in SVGA...even VGA isn't bad.
But of course the SVGA on my machine isn't al that fast unless I turn
down the detail level..  I've found that it is fine to run without any
detail in SVGA and get a pretty good frame rate.  The estimated fps is
21.xx.  But I run it at about 15 or 17.  It runs quite nicely without
any of the slo-mo effects except when a whole bunch of cars crash
right in front of me.  

Of course VGA runs much faster.  But I find SVGA much sharper and
easier to see.  VGA I can run pretty good with Full detail, Curbs,
verges, fences, hills, bank, smoke(front and rear) mirrors(only have
track).

The game itself:

So far I've not done too much with it because of optimizing the frame
rate.  But the sound is great.  But nothing really special.  I find I
like the feeling of the car as I drive it around.  I use the JOYSTICK.
But slowly but surely I'm getting used to it.  BTW, I've got all help
features off as well as all the steering help and all that crap..  I
feel its more fun to drive than the patched version of ICR2.  

The AI cars so far seem pretty cool.  I tell you I think I'm really
going to enjoy this game.  But I've got a question.  I'm just realy
becoming a racing fan.....do F1 cars really catch air as much as I've
seen in this game???  It seems this happens very often.

The AI cars are pretty good except for the fact that they still kinda
try to push you out of the way sometimes if you crash in front of
them.  But overall they are very well done.( so far as I know).  

Weather???

I wish GP2 had weather...nuff said there.

Well thank you for reading this.  I hope to hear other's opinion as
well.  

As-Salaam-Alaikum,

Michael Muhammad

And of course there's the recent sad tragedy in Indycars.

Open wheel cars are always liable to flip if the wheels make contact.
Just about the most dangerous aspect of racing today all in all (and
unfortuately very little can be done about it without completely
changing the nature of the sport). In real racing, the drivers try
_real_ hard to avoid wheel contact. We don't tend to be quite so
careful when the worst we'll suffer is a spectacular replay.

Richard

Ricardo Patrese at Portugal in 91 (I think) hit Gerhard Bergers rear
wheels when Gerhard was pulling into the pits. Ricardo almost hit the
overpass sign above the track. Luckily the car stayed rightside up and
he came down on all four broken wheels. Unreal accident. Ricardo
almost tried to *** Gerhard for not signalling that he was going
into the pits. Kind of funny now when you Gerhard pulls into the pits
it looks like he is climbing out of the car his hand goes up so
high.<G> Martin Brundle just this year did a good imatation of a
barrel roll with his car when someone pulled in front of him on the
start. So to answer your question yup it happens more than anyone
would like it to happen.

Pierre PAPA DOC Legrand

Not forgetting the complete backward somersault a Tyrrell did (can't remember who
was driving) at Monza in '93.  Right on the chequered flag the guy tried to take his
team mate but did a 'Patrese' instead.  The car completely flipped over backwards and
landed on all fours.  Apparently, his mother who was watching from the pit lane
fainted.  He was perfectly OK, though.

Pete
----

greetings,
Remco

Getting better, here is mine version, should be right ;)

C. Fittipaldi was the driver, but it was a Minardi

Bye,
Luca