I guess my intentions were not clear in my previous post. I'm not trying to
compare Papyrus and id from a quality of product standpoint. Quake 2 was
extremely buggy when it was released, just as most programs are these
days(unfortunately). All I was saying is that id will not give estimated
release dates on their products(or necessary patches), thus no one gets all
riled up in the newsgroups about it.
Papyrus' products have been infinitely more playable out of the box than
most other companies, and I have purchased all their sims. They have been
pretty good in meeting their estimated release dates as well. Basically,
there has been a great new Papyrus product released every Fall - Indycar in
1993, Nascar - 1994, Indycar 2 - 1995, Nascar 2 - 1996, SODA/Busch Grand
National Pack - 1997, GPL/Nascar 1999 - 1998
You are also correct that Papyrus(Randy, Eric, etc.) have not given a
specific release date for the patch, nor has GPAL author Jack Rambo.
However, it definitely has been hinted at as if it was any day now for over
a month. And r.a.s itself is what takes little bits and pieces of their
posts and creates its own frenzy. Releasing the readme.txt and announcing it
in the newsgroup also generated more hype(even if it was released in advance
just to be helpful regarding ride heights, etc.).
What my original post did not convey was that I'm on the side of the
developers. I would be willing to pay for the patch just for force-feedback,
and I would definitely be willing to pay for GPAL based on the feature set.
And since they are actually free, I'm sure not going to complain about when
they are released. I'm just saying it would be easier on the developers to
not hint at a time frame or give a date range, as that seems to cause alot
of unnecessary frustration and negativity when the dates are missed.
Don Chapman