Everybody seems to be pretty pumped about the recent screen shots that
surfaced for Ratbag's upcoming DTR Sprints title, but they've also got
Leadfoot in the works, which I've heard is approaching the end of the
alpha testing stages now. Word has it that Ratbag has been working
with a fairly large group testers, many of whom have actual off-road
racing experience. This is translating into a lot of suggested
improvements to what already seemed like a great off-road racing engine
(I had a chance to sample the early proof-of-concept demo a while back,
and it was pretty darn impressive).
The vehicles represented in the final version should Pilots include
(Honda Odessy-type buggies), Buggies (look like VW-based tube-frame
dune buggies), and I believe 2 classes of trucks (2x4 and 4x4, I think
-- from the screen shots I've seen, it looks like some mini-trucks are
represented, along with full-size trucks as well). The game's career
mode is to be sorted out as the game goes into full beta testing, so
the divisions and career progression will be sorted out in that phase.
The physics model that I sampled felt as lively and realistic as the
DTR physics model (on which it's based to some degree, I presume),
which is great in that it felt "right" based on my own exerience with
trucks in off-road situation (hey, I did a little "muddin'" with my old
Ford Courier waaaay back in high school <G>).
Possibly the most exciting part is that I've heard that even in the
early alpha version, there is a full-featured replay function, so you
can actually watch your own races after they're over. This was
probably the ONE thing that kept DTR from being absolutley perfect,
IMO, so it's good to see that Ratbag is listening to its customers.
Ratbag is supposedly improving on the online multiplayer aspects as
well, and Leadfoot should support more than 10 players online (15 is
what I've been hearing).
Testers are also saying that the overall look and feel -- especially in
the area of the in-game menu screens -- looks much improved over DTR
(which worked pretty nicely and looked fine to me). People are saying
that nothing about Leadfoot looks budget, so this may be Ratbag's first
foray into the simulator big-leagues.
All in all, it sounds pretty exciting to me.
-- JB
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
I'm glad that someone else was disappointed that DTR has no replay. This sim
seems like a natural for the hundreds who race MTM2 online. Thanks for the
info.
Slot
<[email hidden]> wrote in message news:89ogpq$ep1$[email hidden]...
Quoted text (10 lines)
> Possibly the most exciting part is that I've heard that even in the > early alpha version, there is a full-featured replay function, so you > can actually watch your own races after they're over. This was > probably the ONE thing that kept DTR from being absolutley perfect, > IMO, so it's good to see that Ratbag is listening to its customers. > -- JB > > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ > Before you buy.I'm really looking forward to this title. Hopefully it will be of the same
calibre that dirt track racing was. Time to replace SODA Off Road racing.
--
the friendly pysco
-I know it's spelled wrong but I'm not a psycho ;-)
-I used up all my sick days, so I'm calling in dead
