I posted the following to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.etc.etc earlier today
without realizing that this group existed. Sorry if this is a repeat
for some of you...
I got Papyrus' Indycar Racing for Christmas and I'm very happy with
the game. The graphics are excellent and the frame rate is pretty
good on my 486/SX VLB machine. Steering control seems pretty delicate
but I guess that's understandable. It took me a while to realize that
I was just giving waaay too much steering input and plowing right of
the track at the road courses.
My lap times are coming down even though I still have a lot of work to
do on car control. I kick up a lot of dust on my faster laps. One
thing that really seems to be hurting me is what appears to be a
glitch in the auto braking or auto shifting intelligence. This is a
real problem at Portland where it seems that no matter how hard I get
on the gas I am brought to a virtual stand still just before the front
and back straights. Are these turns so sharp that they require first
gear? I don't know about the one before the front straight but the
one before the back straight certainly doesn't seem to be. Does this
mean I'll have to start shifting for myself to improve my lap times?
One thing about great games like this is that they always leave you
thinking, "Gee, that's great, if only they had..." and this one is no
exception. A couple of important things seem to be missing from
Indycar racing (the game). Even though they've done a fantastic job
of making off-track excursions realistic they've fudged run-off areas
for places like Toronto and the chicane at Portland. It irks me to
slide into a concrete wall in Portland where I know I would only be
knocking down cones in real life. Run-off areas and tire walls
would also make Toronto more realistic and more forgiving of major
foul-ups. Maybe the lack of these things has already been factored
into the "car damage" calculations but it's still an annoyance.
Of course if they made it possible to short cut the Portland chicane
they'd also have to add stop and go penalties but those should be in
there for cases like jumped starts and passing under yellow anyway
(maybe they are and I don't know it).
My final nit pick is about curbs. What's a hot lap at Portland
without bounding over the curb at the end of the back straight and
into that final turn complex? I can see where this would be pretty
complicated to model but I think it's important.
I hope we'll be seeing plenty of add-ons for this. I really must
have MidOhio and Elkhart Lake. How about a car and track editor. I'd
love to come up with my own paint scheme and create proper graphics
for some of the generic cars (Andretti, Sullivan, "Nick Montel,"
etc)
"Don't drive too slowly." Richard Caldwell
AT&T Network Systems
att!cbnews!nrc
And another question, where the heck is Nigel? All the big names are
there but the best is missing. I guess it's a license problem :(
The plus is you can race as Nigel and not have two Nigels ...
I also assume the Indy 500 circuit itself is not there for licensing, or
possibly so it will lure people to buy the extra track disks when they
come out.
Tim
> there but the best is missing. I guess it's a license problem :(
> The plus is you can race as Nigel and not have two Nigels ...
Nigel Mansell has his name on another racing game somewhere so it's
almost certainly a licensing problem. I think that's who this "Nick
Montel" is supposed to be. I think it's easy enough to fix in the
drivers file.
More puzzling is why they can show proper paint schemes for the Newman
Haas car on the box but not in the game. :-/
Probably a combination of both. Indy probably wants (more?) money
to use their track. Putting it into an add on pack will allow them to
recover some of that without biting into the profits of the actual
game. So how many additional tracks per pack are reasonable and at
what price? The remaining tracks from the current schedule are:
Cleveland
MidOhio
Elkhart Lake
Detroit (I forget what they call the park)
Indianapolis
Surfers Paradise
One other?
I saw taped coverage of a Formula Atlantic race at Laguna Seca last
night and it just reinforced what an incredible job Papyrus has done
of recreating the tracks.
>> I also assume the Indy 500 circuit itself is not there for licensing, or
>> possibly so it will lure people to buy the extra track disks when they
>> come out.
>Probably a combination of both. Indy probably wants (more?) money
>to use their track. Putting it into an add on pack will allow them to
I think they left it out since they already have it in their
original game "Indianapolis 500." An older sim., and not
quite as detailed as ICR, but very accurate as far as car control
goes (set-up options are similar to ICR...). Still one of
the best, IMHO.
Belle Isle...
Two others actually: Phoenix (1 Mile oval) and Vancover (temp.
street course).
- Mike.
--
- Mike Holthouse -
"Why am I here?" - Adm. Stockdale & Me
Quoted text (12 lines)
>>I hope we'll be seeing plenty of add-ons for this. I really must >>have MidOhio and Elkhart Lake. How about a car and track editor. I'd >>love to come up with my own paint scheme and create proper graphics >>for some of the generic cars (Andretti, Sullivan, "Nick Montel," >>etc) >And another question, where the heck is Nigel? All the big names are >there but the best is missing. I guess it's a license problem :( >The plus is you can race as Nigel and not have two Nigels ... >I also assume the Indy 500 circuit itself is not there for licensing, or >possibly so it will lure people to buy the extra track disks when they >come out. >TimAll the regular drivers from the '93 are represented in the default
drivers file but they evidently couldn't always use their real names.
The psuedonyms always have the same initials and home town as the
drivers they represent. For instance, Nick Montel of Clearwater,
Florida represents Nigel Mansell.
Someone posted a corrected drivers.txt file to r.a.sport a while back
and I'm using it now. If someone has it handy they can repost it or
I can put it up Monday. Now if we could only fix the car graphics.
"Don't drive too slowly." Richard Caldwell
AT&T Network Systems
att!cbnews!nrc
