Pretty nice!!
Got a 1.4 Ath with a GF2-Mx400... gfx nice, sounds fine... The brakes lock,
the car can be rolled, and there is a great in-car view (press
'6')...reminded me of big red racing, that mini did! I'm impressed although
I'm totally unaware of rallying should "feel", being into all the tarmac
sims and only having real life driving to go by there..... Can't help
thinking in the fastest car the sim will offer and with a wheel configured a
bit better (mine was too sensitive by default)... this could be a real
challenge...
And perhaps the best feature by an absolute mile... a co-driver with a real
bad case of PMT!! lol
What y'all think??
Lagwagon.
On Tue, 16 Oct 2001 23:22:48 +0100, "Lagwagon" <[email hidden]>
wrote:
>What y'all think??
Installation and controller setup was flawless, easy to use menu
system. Only had time to drive 2 rallys, so some very short first
impressions:
Graphics are very good, 1024x768, everything set to max, everything
went extremely smooth. Car handling felt great, very twitchy (maybe I
need to fiddle with controller settings some more) but you have good
control over the car, the car is very responsive.
The main thing (and good thing) about Rally Trophy is FUN!
It's fun to drive the car, the groovy music and co-driver with an
attitude just add to the fun atmosphere.
The track itself was a bit boring though, no hairpins, only one 90
degree corner if I remember correctly and it was quite short. I hope
the final version includes some wilder stages with more jumps and
harder corners :)
All in all, a very good quality demo, quite refreshing after all the
buggy final-versions released lately.
I can't wait untill it hits the stores and I will definately buy this
one!
Andre
>Lagwagon.
>
thanks for the info, I am going to grab it when it comes out.
Dave
Andre Warringa <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted text (31 lines)
> On Tue, 16 Oct 2001 23:22:48 +0100, "Lagwagon" <[email hidden]> > wrote: > > >What y'all think?? > > Installation and controller setup was flawless, easy to use menu > system. Only had time to drive 2 rallys, so some very short first > impressions: > Graphics are very good, 1024x768, everything set to max, everything > went extremely smooth. Car handling felt great, very twitchy (maybe I > need to fiddle with controller settings some more) but you have good > control over the car, the car is very responsive. > The main thing (and good thing) about Rally Trophy is FUN! > It's fun to drive the car, the groovy music and co-driver with an > attitude just add to the fun atmosphere. > The track itself was a bit boring though, no hairpins, only one 90 > degree corner if I remember correctly and it was quite short. I hope > the final version includes some wilder stages with more jumps and > harder corners :) > > All in all, a very good quality demo, quite refreshing after all the > buggy final-versions released lately. > > I can't wait untill it hits the stores and I will definately buy this > one! > > Andre > > >Lagwagon. > > >Well, what can I say? -Bugbear have talked the talk and their game walks the
walk. Meet the new kings of rally simulation.
Other developers take note. This is how game demos should be. Troublefree
installation plus correct detection of graphics (bit on the conservative
side at 640x480x16) and controller (had to swap upshift and downshift
paddle, but that's personal preference).
Graphically Rally Trophy is right up there with recent titles sporting a
high level of detail, great framerate (even when I bumped 'm up to
1024x768x16), barely noticable draw-in and nice effects. Doesn't require a
ninja PC either, zooming along just fine on my currently fairly average
PIII-866 with V3. Sounds pretty good as well and nice to see people like
myself who still only use two speakers are still catered for.
Interface and menus are understated, but functional and easy to use. Menu
music is inoffensive enough to keep it on. The "notches" on the Force
Feedback Strenght and Controller Sensitivity settings are too crude IMO. I
failed to find a good compromise. Hopefully this can be fixed for the
release.
That said, the physics and driving feel are very, *very*, good. Immersion is
total, I'm there. The co-driver reads out the upcoming corners, but I'm only
half listening... driving on sight, on instinct. Using bumps in the road to
throw the car sideways, then catching it to scrub enough speed. Whether this
is 3000+ hours of simming or the reflexes I aquired as a 19 year old in the
"cut and shut" Mark 1 Golf GTI I shared with Johan on the RallyX circuits of
Flanders talking I don't know, but it's wonderfull. RT is the first rally
game that gives me the same ambiguity as the real thing. A sense of driving
a stretch of road at an apparently insane speed, yet under total control.
Once I set FF to a reasonably good level (slightly too strong) I was able to
pre-empt the car from the word go, it's just that easy to get into and has
the trademark of a good physics model... I know I've fluffed a corner long
before the car heads off on a collision course with the scenery!! ;-)
Bugbear's driving model laughs in the face of driving aids: except of
automatic gears they are unnecessary, proving once again realistic and hard
to control don't have to be synonymous.
Minor niggle: so far every "off" has ended with the car on it's wheels...
coincidence or invisible, yet very helpfull spectators?? <g>
Take it from me, Bugbear deserve your praise. They have delivered what they
promised putting Rally Trophy at the top of my "must buy" list, as it should
be on yours. Which leaves just one question: how soon is "soon"? ;-)
Jan.
=---
"Pay attention when I'm talking to you boy!" -Foghorn Leghorn.
"Lagwagon" wrote...
> Pretty nice!!
>
> <snip>
I'm very impressed so far. This game could end up beating Rally Masters.
The FWD feel of the mini is recreated very nicely. I had to turn the
sensitivity down to about 1/4 on my LWFF. It was too twitchy on default
sensitivity but feels excellent now. Also can't wait for the full game.
Yeah... not bad! I agree, almost wholey, with Jan*. Here are some more
observations:
My first impression was, "These game makers are complete and utter fucking
idiots." No slope settings on the wheel or pedals and a generic controller
setup that fully excludes someone with a home made (or modified
manufactured) pedal system. For instance; my brake pedals sends the value
backwards and the game does not allow controller driven setup. I could
either drive with the brake pedal all the way down in triple axis or with
dual axis. I opted for the latter and believe I lost a little something
using it. As far as individual slopes, sensitivity, and dead zones on the
axis' goes, it ends up that it doesn't matter one way or another. The
physics simply aren't that critical, but the game maker still receives the
Double Moron award for lack of controller driven setup.
Here's a nit: The demo is a play an exit thingy. You can play as many times
as you'd like, but if you wish to change a controller or graphics setting
you have to exit and start over.
Here's a plus: You can ALT+TAB in and out all day to take notes or whatnot
and the thing never skips a beat, never corrupts sound or video, never blue
screens.
Even at 640x480 it looks terrific. There really is no good view though as
the bumper and hood cam have decent FOVs but they use a different one for
the incar which feels great, but has the wrong FOV. Overall the car is too
big (even though the road is wide) and I couldn't tell where I was on it.
Plus, sense of relative speed is non existent. The view/fov/feel is very
GPLish.
Can't feel the brakes or the tires or where you are but, that being said...
the feel aint bad at all. It's an arcade from the get go but you understand
what it's doing and it's consistent. It's easy to drive but requires and
allows immersion to drive. The front wheel drive feels more like a center
wheel drive unless you use auto tranny, then it feels very much like FWD. By
center wheel drive I mean that the tires don't really connect to the ground.
When the car fishtails it feels like the front end is steering back and
forth, not a fishtail, and the replay tells a whole different story than the
cockpit does. The demo only had one surface that felt more like gravel than
rocky packed dirt, which is what it looked like, and had no sharp turns. The
car doesn't skip over bumps and rocks and you can drive your Mini through 3
foot deep ditches like nothing. Now I've only driven a Mini once, one of my
high school girlfriend owned one, but I can tell you it is not a big
suspension car. The wheels are ten inches or something and neither it nor my
Dodge Omni would have driven over 4 foot rocks like the Rally Trophy Mini
does. I would like to have felt pavement and gravel as well just to get a
better picture of the physics. The suspension and frame do not bottom out
and the over all feel could be described as spongy. There is a bit of
latency in the control and graphics that makes the whole experience seem to
'wallow' a bit. My statement about the feel of the tires is a bit wrong in
that you can feel them once you're on the sidewall, (but nothing else.) and
it is very convincing. At lower speeds the physics are distinctly worse than
at higher speeds and the throttle has an ON/OFF quality to it. It's analog,
but it subtlety is something that is not necessary in Rally Trophy. You
floor it and go.
But, who cares... it's still fun.
I won't be buying this one but the demo is a must DL. It tells a good and
complete story.
* Jan, you actually drove a rally class? Very cool.
--
"Racing! - Science for the action minded."
mark
"Andre Warringa" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
> On Tue, 16 Oct 2001 23:22:48 +0100, "Lagwagon" <[email hidden]>
> wrote:
>
> >What y'all think??
>
> Installation and controller setup was flawless, easy to use menu
> system. Only had time to drive 2 rallys, so some very short first
> impressions:
> Graphics are very good, 1024x768, everything set to max, everything
> went extremely smooth. Car handling felt great, very twitchy (maybe I
> need to fiddle with controller settings some more) but you have good
> control over the car, the car is very responsive.
> The main thing (and good thing) about Rally Trophy is FUN!
> It's fun to drive the car, the groovy music and co-driver with an
> attitude just add to the fun atmosphere.
> The track itself was a bit boring though, no hairpins, only one 90
> degree corner if I remember correctly and it was quite short. I hope
> the final version includes some wilder stages with more jumps and
> harder corners :)
>
> All in all, a very good quality demo, quite refreshing after all the
> buggy final-versions released lately.
>
> I can't wait untill it hits the stores and I will definately buy this
> one!
>
> Andre
>
> >Lagwagon.
> >
>
On Thu, 18 Oct 2001 16:30:02 -0600, "mark jeangerard"
<[email hidden]> wrote:
>Yeah... not bad! I agree, almost wholey, with Jan*. Here are some more
>observations:
<Snihip>
I agree with you Mark. Except the fun part. :( I thought driving the
car, slow on a wide and easy track, was a bit....uhm.....like
watching a F1 race on TV.....boring. RT might be huge fun if there're
much more narrow tracks, or way faster, RWD, cars. Now I had a
flashback of the days when I did my driving lessons.....to the left
here, please....
The sounds could be better aswell. A more noisy
engine/chassis/suspension, and a less clear voice of the co-driver.
As it is now he's more a voice-over, not a guy in the same car as me.
About the controller setup, well.....I'm lucky Les Marton's software
for the Hyperstim allows me to control everything, including the
direction of the axis. But RT should look at the AMA Superbike
controller configuration menu, IMO still the benchmark regarding
controllers setup.
Remco
No, you are right. The demo itself wasn't as fun as the promise of more
grueling tracks and better cars. I'm just assuming those will be included.
--
"Racing! - Science for the action minded."
mark
"Remco Moedt" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
> On Thu, 18 Oct 2001 16:30:02 -0600, "mark jeangerard"
> <[email hidden]> wrote:
>
> >Yeah... not bad! I agree, almost wholey, with Jan*. Here are some more
> >observations:
>
> <Snihip>
>
> I agree with you Mark. Except the fun part. :( I thought driving the
> car, slow on a wide and easy track, was a bit....uhm.....like
> watching a F1 race on TV.....boring. RT might be huge fun if there're
> much more narrow tracks, or way faster, RWD, cars. Now I had a
> flashback of the days when I did my driving lessons.....to the left
> here, please....
>
> The sounds could be better aswell. A more noisy
> engine/chassis/suspension, and a less clear voice of the co-driver.
> As it is now he's more a voice-over, not a guy in the same car as me.
>
> About the controller setup, well.....I'm lucky Les Marton's software
> for the Hyperstim allows me to control everything, including the
> direction of the axis. But RT should look at the AMA Superbike
> controller configuration menu, IMO still the benchmark regarding
> controllers setup.
>
>
> Remco
>
