Ferrari F355 in the arcade (mini review)

Well I finally got a chance to check out F355 in the arcade. This sim rocks, drivng the car in full simulator mode reminded me so much of GPL it was amazing. Obviously the F355 is alot more stable then a 1967 F1 car but certain handling characteristics were very similar. Throttle induced oversteer and early apexing allowed you to really hang the tale out just like GPL. Shifting is really neat, either paddle shifters (my favorite) or stick. I found using the stick a bit tricky, it was hard as hell finding any gear above 2nd. So alot of times I ended up in a gear I didn't want, either too high or too low. Each session was 2 dollars,, not too bad. I ran Monza and Motegi, Monza was a blast, alot different then in GPL days, so it took me a while to get the hang of it. Having three monitors, middle, left and right was pretty neat. But to be honest I didn't look much at the side monitors. The force feedback was ok,, nothing great, but have tension on the gas, brake and clutch was life like,, very impressive. The graphics are good, but not much better then N4 or Heat for that matter. I saw a fare amount of jaggies, such as the painted line at the edge of the track in the distance. You'd think a big arcade system like this have AA comparable to a Voodoo5, but I guess not. Motegi was terrible, the car was extremely tight on the ovals, I couldn't induce oversteer to save my life, the AI cars left me in the dust. Just getting the car into the turn at a decent speed was very difficult. This sim shines the most on the road courses. So if you have this game at your local arcade, check it out. If you like GPL you'll get a kick out of its modern day cousin.

graphically, how similar is it to the home dreamcast version ?

I don't know about the dreamcast version but here in Japan they have the 3 monitor arcade version for just 100 yen a pop (That's about 1 dollar) . If you like GPL then this is a must drive. We used to spend every lunch break from work down the arcade seeing who could do the best laps on Suzuka. The sound is awesome and I thought the FF effects were very good. Pretty addictive sim/arcade machine. Look out for it! I can't imagine the dreamcast version being as good unless you have a proper wheel setup with huge speakers behind your head, 3 TVs and a cockpit! :-) Darren --------------------------------------------------------- TopGear Offline GP3 League http://topgear.dhs.org/cgi-bin/main/ In line with the F1 Calendar --------------------------------------------------------- "Loosay2" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... : graphically, how similar is it to the home dreamcast version ?

Loosay2 wrote in message <[email hidden]>... >graphically, how similar is it to the home dreamcast version ? The dc version probably looks even better 'cause they had some more time to tweak the graphics. F355 runs on the naomi board. It's a dc with more memory. Sjoerd

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 - -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 the dreamcast is VERY similar to the real thing, and regrding the good wheel you can put an act-labs wheel on a dreamcast, well in fact with their cartridge system you can put an act-labs wheel EVERYWHERE (PC, PSX, N64, DC, I guess PSX2 won't be long to come) "Darren Duncan" <dags@(nospam)ky.xaxon.ne.jp> a �crit dans le message news: 97b5b5$2005$[email hidden]...

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> I don't know about the dreamcast version but here in Japan they > have the 3 monitor arcade version for just 100 yen a pop (That's > about 1 dollar) . If you like GPL then this is a must drive. We > used to spend every lunch break from work down the arcade seeing > who could do the best laps on Suzuka. The sound is awesome and I > thought the FF effects were very good. Pretty addictive sim/arcade > machine. Look out for it! > > I can't imagine the dreamcast version being as good unless you have > a proper wheel setup with huge speakers behind your head, 3 TVs and > a cockpit! :-) > > Darren > --------------------------------------------------------- > TopGear Offline GP3 League > http://topgear.dhs.org/cgi-bin/main/ > In line with the F1 Calendar > --------------------------------------------------------- > > "Loosay2" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... > : graphically, how similar is it to the home dreamcast version ? >

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In article <ulbm6.18355$[email hidden]>, "Sjoerd de Roest" <[email hidden]> wrote: >Loosay2 wrote in message <[email hidden]>... >>graphically, how similar is it to the home dreamcast version ? Can't compare it as I haven't tried the arcade version. But I did buy a DC recently (hey, only $80! - opened box) specifically for this title (another $25). The graphics are solid, but not as good as current technology hi-res PC titles. The physics is very believable, except that I can run the wide turn at Motegi pretty much full out with no wing just adding more "wheel"position as I go. Maybe this is the case, but it feels unaturally stable. Hot-lap wise, it is a great time. The racing is more frustrating as the AI does the usual arcade-thing of varying according to your performance. Sometimes they will do simply impossible things. Still, even there it is a chunk above most arcade titles. If you have a DC (and obviously are a RAS faithful), you want this title. I cannot say this about the two other racing titles I purchased, Sega GT and Metropolis Street Racer. The first is a clone of GT/GT2 which is absolutely uncontrollable with the std unit. The latter is arcade, pure and simple (though arcade players think it very difficult and more realistic than their typical fare).

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] (Loosay2) wrote: >graphically, how similar is it to the home dreamcast version ? Well, considering the DC is 1 "Naomi" board, and the Arcade version runs on 3 "Naomi" boards...the arcade is better :) However, from what I hear (ign.com reviews), it's a pretty straight on port, the extra boards were for most of the other perks (clutch, side monitors, etc)

Funny thing even with the 3 monitor setup that the arcarde version has I found myself focusing on the forward view and not even using the side monitors much. But on an oval with more side by side racing, I could see them coming in handy. Why the hell doesn't Sega or a third party port this sucker over to the PC. As much as I like this title and as cheap as the DCs are these days I can't buy a DC for just this title. Plus my TSW won't plug into a DC. It be neat to see someone license the game engine and make a Grand Turismo cloan for the PC. On Sun, 25 Feb 2001 21:13:36 GMT, [email hidden] (Magisystems Admin) wrote:

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>In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] (Loosay2) wrote: >>graphically, how similar is it to the home dreamcast version ? > >Well, considering the DC is 1 "Naomi" board, and the Arcade version runs on 3 >"Naomi" boards...the arcade is better :) > >However, from what I hear (ign.com reviews), it's a pretty straight on port, >the extra boards were for most of the other perks (clutch, side monitors, etc)

(Rich#8) wrote: > Funny thing even with the 3 monitor setup that the arcarde version has > I found myself focusing on the forward view and not even using the > side monitors much. But on an oval with more side by side racing, I > could see them coming in handy. agreed, but I think they also add to the feeling of speed because you can see the scenery flying past in your peripheral vision. Good fun but at AUD$4 for a few minutes, a little expensive :) Cheers -Nick

>The graphics are solid, but not as good as current technology hi-res PC > titles. Have to disagree with this one. Hi res is pretty much the tv's fault but besides the resolution deficiency I cant think of a single PC title that looks as impressive and runs at a solid 60fps.

Plus the DC version can run with a wide viewing angle for widescreen tv's, which isn't so far off what you get in the arcade. "Txl" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:xIbm6.3817$[email hidden]...

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> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > - -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > the dreamcast is VERY similar to the real thing, and regrding the > good wheel you can put an act-labs wheel on a dreamcast, well in fact > with their cartridge system you can put an act-labs wheel EVERYWHERE > (PC, PSX, N64, DC, I guess PSX2 won't be long to come)