To begin with, I think it's a dead shame I still can't judge your last
statement: I haven't played GPL yet ( although I do have the game). But I
will soon take up the challenge.
Now back to the demo of F1RC. First of all, it's a judgement of the demo.
Second, some of my judgements can be valid for a certain number of features
of th final version.
What we can't judge:
-quality of the AI. There is no race to be raced in the demo.
-how the setup affects the behaviour of the car ( no garage-entry)
-telemetry: should be better than in both previous versions (more accurate
mostly)
-pit features: not implemented, though the preview version discussed by
others suggest very nice features which were not even finished yet. Eg, you
are supposed to be able to drive in and out of the pitbox yourself.
-damage schemes: there is no damage model and you bounce back from the wall
like a rubber ball. Up you go again, sometimes even in the right direction
at memorable speed, but after a 270kmh sideways hit against the walls !!
What we can't fully judge :
-the controller. My steering wheel is LWFF, still nice to have one. But you
can not judge the wheel because there's only a partially implemented FF
-the cockpit view. It's not finished, although I agree with you I certainly
do not need high quality there because my eyes are 'on the track'.
What about the controller so far. Well, no split axis is really unfortunate
in this game. It's correct, taking it easy makes the cars go round like my
own road car. But when you try to go at max speed you desperately need split
axis to manage the slides and some of the wheel spin. But, apart from this
all, the total amount of FF was good. What ? At 150% in the profiler and
with FF at 100% in the game it's more like muscle training ! Also, the way
the brakes and throttle are implemented is good anough to give them some
credit. One way or another they respond much better than in the previous
Ubisoft games. With sensitivity at exponential, it's very good !!!
As you said, the speed sensation is very good. Part of it comes from the
nice build up of the graphics in medium distance. In fact, driving in Monaco
is a real pain in the ass, just to handle the speed sensation. Putting this
typically 3-d info on a 2-d screen really causes your brains to suffer some.
From Casino to Mirabeau is really something of a shock ! But you get used to
it. Although I thought some more blurring of scenery would fit the reality
match very much. Maybe the lap preview (a video like lap with a viewing
angle coming from above the cock pit) is to good, because there you really
see the blurring effect.
The overall atmosphere of the game is quit nice. It's clear and crisp and it
looks like you can easely find your way in the menu's. Some items are a bit
less clear, like the 'options' button where you can find the auto gearbox
function. A bit more informing icon please. Also the fact that you can not
hop over from one menu to the other (options to configure in this case)
without pressing ok is sometwhat irritating.
The music coming with the game is not that thrilling, but most of all,
sometimes it's got the hick up when you cross some active icons with the
mouse. I hope this doesn't happen in the final version. And it's not the
sound card because it happens on two entirely different systems.
Car graphics are nice, very nice. Best I 've ever seen. Everything is very
smooth, with all features on to enhance the quality in 1024 *768 32 bits
etc. My geforce MX with three ouput sources really does a good job here.
But, what happens when the race starts ? Will it cause some pauses ? How
much will the frame rate drop ? I do not know yet, so I have no final
verdict on the graphics engine.
BTW, some drivers should have bigger heads and therefore bigger helmets.
Certain camera shots from above the car really show mini-Shumachers driving
a F1-car.
The circuits are great. Never saw such a well-defined Spa-track. In fact, I
had to relearn the whole track again, being repeatedly surprised by small
elevations in the corners, and other corners being much faster than I
always thought. Even if the tracks weren't accurate, they absolutely adds a
lot to the fun of the game.
Sounds of the car. A lot has been said about this item.To begin with I'll
say something about the low rev-sounds. The ferrari is much 'too low', and
to flat. There's not much energy in the sound. But at higher revs I really
must say they are not that bad at all. In fact, in car sound from the
Ferrari, which I had on tape from the 2000 season, showed a stunning
resemblance. What was indeed missing was the clicking of the gear box, but
hey, may F1-paddles click nicely. But if you take the Arrows-car, you can
hear the gear box very clearly. So, there's room for improvement, but
overall not that bad at all. I guess a lot of people compare the sound of
the game with the sound of the F1-car from the outside of the cockpit, and
without the helmet on. It might very well be that this is the sound of the
car when in the cockpit with a helmet on !
Now I will come to a final point which is everything about simulation.
Before I start I should say that I've got experience with both previous
Ubisoft-sims, F1200 patched with the improved settings), and with a little
bit og GP3. Point number one is that once you get used to either of them,
the difference of all others will prevent you from judging the other games
fairly. Pobably none of them is realistic, as all of them are totally
different. The same goes with this F1RC-demo. But there are some things that
can be judged.....
In all aother games, yes, even F1RS, I had a more vivid sensation of the
CAR. Cars ducking at breaking and cornering, even when it's just a bit,
littel bit of a distortion of the view being as if the head is tilted and
forced to the outside of the car, vibration visually present when a car hits
something., a wheel bouncing, the driver being pushed forward while
breaking. I haven't seen it, I haven't felt it, it's not there. In other
words, the interaction of the car with the surface it's driving on is gone.
What happens is that cars seem to 'float', remarkbly noticed when going into
the corners. It's completely stable when turning in at maximum angle in
second gear, but you expect some visal cues of a car ducking into it's left
front suspension a bit, tossing your head sideways and thrown backwards when
accelaration out of the corner. Nothing. Did not see it. did not feel it.
This is why some guys say it's arcade. And they are correct 100%. Most of
all, because older games allready did better.
To come to my conclusive remark: If demo is as 99% of the version going
gold, I'll skip it. Looking at this demo I've got the strong impression the
basic idea is an arcade game, with features added to it that actually belong
to a F1-sim. Great graphics come with it, and a expect decent handling thu
the various controllers. But as the path is choosen, in that case the game
will not outgrow it's basis goal: an arcade game to be used on Playstation 2
and other game boxes. Possibly, but I doubt it will happen, the dead cars
will come alive. Only then a new first class sim could become gold in March.
Let's wait.
scrcs
On Mon, 12 Feb 2001 12:31:09 +0100, "scrcs" <[email hidden]> wrote:
>To begin with, I think it's a dead shame I still can't judge your last
>statement: I haven't played GPL yet ( although I do have the game). But I
>will soon take up the challenge.<SNIP>
Whoa, good review! Indeed, the 'floating' of the car through the
corners is my biggest concern.. I doubt if that will be improved in
the final version though. Still I'm going to buy it since I'm having a
good time with the demo.
But you really should try GPL too :)
Andre
If you want to be taken seriously, you should stop writing the long ass
drivel and play the best racing simulation ever, it's right under yer nose!
hell, send me your copy and I'll give it to someone who'll play it! If your
not smart enough to play GPL then why would anyone take your advice on other
sims?
JS
"Andre Warringa" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted text (14 lines)
> On Mon, 12 Feb 2001 12:31:09 +0100, "scrcs" <[email hidden]> wrote: > > >To begin with, I think it's a dead shame I still can't judge your last > >statement: I haven't played GPL yet ( although I do have the game). But I > >will soon take up the challenge. > <SNIP> > > Whoa, good review! Indeed, the 'floating' of the car through the > corners is my biggest concern.. I doubt if that will be improved in > the final version though. Still I'm going to buy it since I'm having a > good time with the demo. > But you really should try GPL too :) > > AndreSorry, supposed to be to scrcs.........
JS
"JS" <jsaxon@!nospam!atl.mediaone.net> wrote in message
news:NHSh6.69713$[email hidden]...
> If you want to be taken seriously, you should stop writing the long ass
> drivel and play the best racing simulation ever, it's right under yernose!
> hell, send me your copy and I'll give it to someone who'll play it! Ifyour
> not smart enough to play GPL then why would anyone take your advice onother
I
Quoted text (11 lines)
> sims? > > JS > > > "Andre Warringa" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... > > On Mon, 12 Feb 2001 12:31:09 +0100, "scrcs" <[email hidden]> wrote: > > > > >To begin with, I think it's a dead shame I still can't judge your last > > >statement: I haven't played GPL yet ( although I do have the game). ButQuoted text (12 lines)
> > >will soon take up the challenge. > > <SNIP> > > > > Whoa, good review! Indeed, the 'floating' of the car through the > > corners is my biggest concern.. I doubt if that will be improved in > > the final version though. Still I'm going to buy it since I'm having a > > good time with the demo. > > But you really should try GPL too :) > > > > Andre > >On Mon, 12 Feb 2001 14:48:33 GMT, "JS"
<jsaxon@!nospam!atl.mediaone.net> wrote:
>Sorry, supposed to be to scrcs.........
>
>JS
Ok, I'll cancel my huge flamepost then :)
Andre
Er. . .because it makes sense?
--David
"JS" <jsaxon@!nospam!atl.mediaone.net> blustered in message
news:NHSh6.69713$[email hidden]...
[snip] . . . why would anyone take your advice on other
sims?
JS
Er. . .because it makes sense?
--David
[snip] . . . why would anyone take your advice on other
sims?
JS
What's this ? JS is telling me I'm something like a nobody, JS ? I first
have to play GPL before being taken seriously ? Haha ? Funny guy that JS.
Just to inform you JS, this world is big enough for more than 1 million
JS's, all with a different point of view on life and on sims... You are just
one of them and there's no reason why you are not allowed to throw your
gutts in this news group. Your welcome !
scrcs (who's still laughing ...JS)
PS yes, I was a asshole. I made a mistake by posting it as a separate post.
But it was actually meant as a reaction to a serious post of someone else.
I think OE is messed up.
scrcs
In article <5JSh6.69720$[email hidden]>, "JS"
<jsaxon@!nospam!atl.mediaone.net> writes:
Still doesn't excuse your response, though. *This* is why GPL fans are
sometimes considered 'zealots'... :(
Eldred
--
Tiger Stadium R.I.P. 1912-1999
Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett
GPL F1 hcp. +28.67...F2 +151.26...F3 hcp. +373.73
Never argue with an idiot. He brings you down to his level, then beats you
with experience...
Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.
