rec.autos.simulators

--
Todd Norbury

Norbury Technologies

--
Mark Jeangerard
www.soundchaserweb.com
New Mexico USA

I think that racing games do improve driving in dangerous situations.  I
definately trains you to be more alert.

the friendly pysco

Um, Gran Turismo features all sorts of unusual "sports cars".

Like the famous Mazda Demio Aspec, a square hatchback econobox, useless
at first inspection, but the lightest car in the game, and capable of
winning not only its fairly trivial category races, but also with hard
tuning, but without "racing modification", the GT Cup--the
second-highest series in the "GT League".

Subura and Honda station wagons, hilarious looking in racing trim, (the
Impreza keeps its roof racks even when race-modified!) and suffering
from horrible turbo-lag can also accomplish things which would have
seemed impossible when you first tried the game.  And a 1993 Honda
Civic 3 door Si is a positive star.

The hard-tuning of the cars isn't shown as "after-market", but, apart
from not providing a lot of choice, it might as well be.  And, yes I
guess a lot of the more extreme modifications are pretty bogus.  But
you can restrict the modifications you choose.

And, since the AI cars try so hard to let you win, you can use the
two player mode to do serious car comparisons.  Or you can do
time-trials with "ghost" cars, in which you race a non-solid image of
one of your previous runs.

But then, Gran Turismo hasn't sold very well, has it?

Adrian.

Yikes.  Alert I always was.  After playing Gran Turismo, you have to be
careful not to apply some of the "full-contact" techniques which work
in the game, though.   8-)

Adrian.

I found, at night in the winter, but on clear roads, that having played
a fair amount of Gran Turismo caused me to be over-cautious.  I kept
wondering why the car didn't feel on the edge, and kept waiting to
react to motions and other stimuli which never happened, so I slowed
down, subconsciously afraid that things were really wrong.  That can't
be good.  I probably slowed down almost to the speed limit.  That can
really obstruct other drivers.

Realizing that you can't bounce off objects (or other cars) is not
a serious consideration, however.   My mind flawlessly knows the
difference between reality and sim/game in that case.

What I really want to see is if it's made me a better or worse
recreational go-karter, the next time we get together an expedition to
the local indoor kartway.  I've probably learned some things about
correct lines, and when to bother and not bother taking them.

Adrian.

The biggest improvement for me has come from learning the best lines in the
turns.
Traveling on a road named Fall Creek road, which has some pretty good twists
to it, I love hitting the apex at the right times.
The twist to that is the occasional car coming at me in the opposite
direction, they tend to get alittle irate when I push into their lane and
they have to take evasive action.
Of course, with school starting, I now have the occasional school bus to
deal with, but I do out accelerate them.

Dave

Have you tried driving bog stock Demio's in multiplayer,
brilliant fun and some of the closest racing I've ever
done in a game.

Mark
London UK
Yamaha TRX850

Still doesn't mean I know a damn about steering feel though...