rec.autos.simulators

Hi,

Just got my copy of TOCA for the PC and I thought I'd post my
comments.
I've played the game for a couple of hours now and my first
impressions are as follows:

1.      Not a simulation
There is no option to change any car settings, except manual or
automatic shifting.

2.      Arcade style gameplay
Only Donington GP and Silverstone National are available at the start
of the game. To unlock the other tracks you need to progress in the
championship. You progress according to the points you score in each
race. You have to score 20 points per meeting to progress and points
are awarded according to championship rules (15-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1).
This means you have to finish on average 3rd in both races to
progress.

3.      Relatively high difficulty
There are no driver aids such as autobraking, best line, etc. The
absence of best line is a major loss in my opinion as none of the
tracks have been accurately modelled in a sim in recent years (Geoff
Crammond's Revs is the only one that comes to mind). This means that
the tracks are going to take a long time to learn, particularly for
those who don't see much British racing on TV

4.      Tracks accurately modelled
I'm very impressed by the two tracks I've been able to race on so far.
For example, the entrance to McLeans at Donington includes the
infamous bump which throws the car off balance. Silverstone's new
sections are highlighted by a change in surface texture. Can't wait to
race Brands and Thruxton. For those wondering, Brands and Oulton Park
are only included in their short configurations as the full circuits
weren't used in BTCC '97 (have to wait for GPL for a Brands Hatch GP
model)

5.      Cars are _very_ responsive
Its extremely tricky to control the cars using the keyboard. Despite
owning an old GP1 I've always been a keyboard driver, but its much
easier to use the wheel in TOCA. The weaving that I (and others)
experienced in the demo seems to have disappeared, although that might
be down to my settings - I've got digital throttle and brake and
analogue steering set up, with sensitivity set to low. However, Super
Tourers are very twitchy cars anyway, steering response has to be fast
to wrestle them through corners.

5.      Performance
I've got a Cyrix P166+, Righteous 3d, 32mb of RAM. With this
configuration I need to set low detail, high resolution to get an
acceptable framerate. I'm upgrading my CPU shortly (P200MMX) so I
should be able to provide a comparison. I would not like to play this
game without a 3d accelerator.

Overall, the game seems to have potential, although I would have
preferred an option to set up the car. I think the arcade style
progression is probably going to***a lot of people off too.
8/10

Cheers,

Alan Head

*************************
Screamer 2 homepages:
http://www.racesimcentral.net/
-----------------------------------------
Grand Prix Legends (from Papyrus) page
http://www.racesimcentral.net/
__________________________________________

This is utter, utter crap. This is a huge flaw in the game, and i can't even
begin to describe how ripped off i feel at this. Codemasters go rot in hell.

Not such a bad point- there are subtle hints to the racing line- tire marks,
etc

It's joystick on wheel time, yes.

9/10 for game

0/10 for implemtation and the ***arcade progression.

Ok, I'm very interested in buying this *if* it compares up to the
Playstation version (sorry to swear!). If it's a straight port, I can't
wait to load it up with my T2 wheel... one of the shortcomings on the PS
was that the car was to responsive on an analouge joystick, and the digital
controllers were a pain in the arse.

But if gameplay wise it's identical, then I would have to say this is a
very good game. Not quote a NFS (the original one) but very close. And I'd
say it's not too far from a simulation - I wouldn't go as far as to call it
an out-and-out arcade game. The braking and acceleration and distinct
changes in the cars handling are all quite good, and the tracks I've tried
are spot on (I've driven round Donnington, and it's identical).

I would say "Get the demo, see if you like it, don't consider it without
3dfx, and get a quality joystick/steering wheel".

Cheers, and have fun!
Dan

I've *heard* the PSX is better graphically, which, based on playing the 3dfx
demo, seems easy to believe.  IMHO, the demo was't that good in the graphics
dept.

Ok, I went back to EB today and got a refund on my Playstation, and got the
PC version (I tried the demo; it knocks the socks of the PSX version).

Got it home, installed it, and the fuggin' thing won't even run! It says
"Not enough memory, close down some applications". Well, hey Codemasters,
I'd love to, but apart from Toca there's nothing running in my 64Mb
system.... so what gives!?

I'll be telephoning support on Monday but if anyone has an immediate
solution to this, I'd love to hear it.

Cheers,
Dan

Jonah Lomu rugby was the first decent rugby computer sim. It played
great on the PS and felt 'just right'. However, Codies decided that
they would hard code the length of the match to a maximum of 5 (count
em) minutes. That's 2.5 minutes each way. For me at least that
destroyed the game totally.

This unlocking business has no place in a serious arcade racer. This
company only seems to be able to aim for the under 12's in their
approach to software. They are a two bit budget house and always will
be. Just as I could have cried over the way they destroyed JLR, I feel
the same about TOCA. Why. Why. WHY dammit?