Letter from Papyrus about Indy Car Racing

Hi, This is the message I sent to Papyrus regarding INDY CAR RACING. Attached is their reply. Note that one of the things I mentioned is the difference in maximum speed on different computers. So before you loose hope when you see messages about people running 239 at Michigan, it probably has less to do with your driving skill and setup than it does with the hardware you're running on. If anyone any more data on this, I'd love to see it. I sure hope Papyrus addresses this issue, especially when they get the modem stuff working. Later... Steve From: CONSLT::OWEN "Steven Owen" CC: OWEN Subj: Questions and comments about Indy Car Racing Hi, First off, let me say that Indy Car Racing is one of the finest games I've ever played. The detail and "feel of the car" is amazing. Well done!!! But of course, I have a couple of questions and comments... A question about lap speed: Can the speed of the computer I'm running on have an effect on how fast the car can go? I'm running a 50 Mhz 486 DX2. On Michigan, I can turn laps at only around 215 with the Ace setup. My friend, who also has the game, is running on a 40 Mhz 386 DX. I can turn laps on his machine at 230+. It's not the joystick or the controls because I can leave the pits going about 20 MPH faster on the 386 than I can on my 486. We checked the setups and everything is identical, right down to the weather. And from the intro screen, we're both running v1.0. Does v1.02 do anything to address this issue? Game saving: It would be great to be able to save a race half way through. I've read some messages from you folks on the internet regarding this being difficult, but I think it would be well worth the effort. It would be nice to be able to save multiple "full season" campaigns. Also, a 100% length race can be several hours. While driver fatigue is a real issue (and so is game player fatigue), playing for hours on end with no hope of saving is impractical for a computer game. As the races get longer, pit, fuel, and tire strategy become more important, and so I like to run races like this, but to be forced into investing several hours in one chunk to do it makes it much less fun. Car damage: In real Indy car racing, if you scrape the wall and blow a tire, the yellow comes out, but you get a tow back to the pits where you can change the tire and make repairs. Maybe you'll go down a few laps, but at least you'd still be in it. It would be great to see this sort of realism. Maybe there's some suspension damage, so the tire gets fixed, but when back out on the track the car wants to pull severely to one side... I realize that there are practical limitations to how much "realism" can be built into the game (computer speed, memory, programming, disk storage), but it's the little things that make the game. Having other cars in a race get "fixed" after crashing would also add to the realism. Crashes: I want to see cars get airborne once in a while (like they do in real life). More physical car damage (in addition to the occasional tire flying off), and debris, would make for all the more realism. Also, how about other cars crashing during the race? This does happen, and it should be a required driver skill to see smoke ahead and have to figure out what to do to avoid it, or sometimes, there's not a darn thing you can do to avoid it, and you get crashed out of a race because of it. It's these sorts of unknowns that make racing the exciting sport that it is. System Memory: A more detailed outline of the necessary memory requirements of the program would be great. XMS, EMS, Conventional, etc. It seems to me, although I may be wrong, that the length of the "race tape" from which replays are available, is limited by the amount of available memory. As a "for example", the readme file which comes with X-Wing (from LucasArts) is very specific as do what the program will be able to do with various amounts of memory. Rain: Where's the spray from the other cars tires? I think there are other driving simulations that do this. Chassis/Engine configurations: What the difference? Copy protection: I realize that making me look up a word in the manual is there to prevent pirating, but I always feel like I'm being punished for someone elses crime when I have to do this. If some unscrupulous person wants to illegally copy the game for someone, a couple of minutes in front of a photocopier gets them around the copy protection. Maybe a "patch" downloadable from your BBS for registered users to get around this? If copy protection is unavoidable in your eyes, then at least I owe you folks a thank you for making the lookup word always the first word on a line, and always near the top. Nothing is more frustrating than being told "page 87, line 17, word 9". Anyway, great game!!! Please take the above comments as "suggestions for improvement" rather than complaints. I'm very happy with the game and feel that it's been worth every penny (although my wife, who hasn't seen me come out of the computer room in a while, might beg to differ). Also, any plans to get into other racing simulations? I'd love to see a good NASCAR Winston Cup simulation. Regards, Steve Owen To: conslt::owen CC: Subj: Re: Questions and comments about Indy Car Racing Glad you are enjoying the game so much, and we appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us. User suggestions are important to us, and will be considered seriously. A few answers: You should certainly be able to turn 230 laps on any machine. I'm not sure what might be causing it. There have been a few strange things like this that seem to do with the game card. Someone reported only getting the faster speed with a joystick plugged into both ports of his gamecard. We will be investigating this further. 1.02 will have no effect, this patch only helps memory on 4Mb machines for the most part. Your suggestions on game saving, car damage, and crashes are all good suggestions and things that have been brought up before. There is some chance that game saving could show up in an upgrade since the demand is so high. Other feature ideas will be considered for future projects. System memory: The game looks for as much XMS as possible. Best config.sys has only himem.sys and dos=high. Conventional memory is only an issue if you don't have more than 4MB RAM. Otherwise it just allocates to XMS. You are correct that replays are all XMS. More free memory = longer replays. Chassis/Engine info is available in a text file eng_chas.txt at world.std.com in the ftp/vendors/papyrus directory, and also on our BBS. Copy protection was a management decision, and is still a debated topic around here. We did try to make it as painless as possible. There are definitely more racing sims in the future. One will be out at the end of 94, though what kind is not official yet. Rest assured we will be looking to improve on many of the things you mentioned for the next sim. Thanks again for all the time you spend putting these comments together. Regards, David Matson Papyrus Tech Support ***************************************************************************** Steve Owen *****************************************************************************

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> Hi, > This is the message I sent to Papyrus regarding INDY CAR RACING. Attached is > their reply. > Note that one of the things I mentioned is the difference in maximum speed on > different computers. So before you loose hope when you see messages about > people running 239 at Michigan, it probably has less to do with your driving > skill and setup than it does with the hardware you're running on. If anyone > any more data on this, I'd love to see it. I sure hope Papyrus addresses this > issue, especially when they get the modem stuff working. > Later... > Steve > From: CONSLT::OWEN "Steven Owen" > CC: OWEN > Subj: Questions and comments about Indy Car Racing > Hi, > First off, let me say that Indy Car Racing is one of the finest games I've > ever played. The detail and "feel of the car" is amazing. Well done!!! > But of course, I have a couple of questions and comments... > A question about lap speed: Can the speed of the computer I'm running on have > an effect on how fast the car can go? I'm running a 50 Mhz 486 DX2. On > Michigan, I can turn laps at only around 215 with the Ace setup. My friend, > who also has the game, is running on a 40 Mhz 386 DX. I can turn laps on his > machine at 230+. It's not the joystick or the controls because I can leave > the pits going about 20 MPH faster on the 386 than I can on my 486. We > checked the setups and everything is identical, right down to the weather. > And from the intro screen, we're both running v1.0. Does v1.02 do anything to > address this issue? > Game saving: It would be great to be able to save a race half way through. > I've read some messages from you folks on the internet regarding this being > difficult, but I think it would be well worth the effort. It would be nice to > be able to save multiple "full season" campaigns. Also, a 100% length > race can be several hours. While driver fatigue is a real issue (and so > is game player fatigue), playing for hours on end with no hope of saving is > impractical for a computer game. As the races get longer, pit, fuel, and tire > strategy become more important, and so I like to run races like this, but to > be forced into investing several hours in one chunk to do it makes it much > less fun. > Car damage: In real Indy car racing, if you scrape the wall and blow a tire, > the yellow comes out, but you get a tow back to the pits where you can change > the tire and make repairs. Maybe you'll go down a few laps, but at least > you'd still be in it. It would be great to see this sort of realism. Maybe > there's some suspension damage, so the tire gets fixed, but when back out on > the track the car wants to pull severely to one side... I realize that there > are practical limitations to how much "realism" can be built into the game > (computer speed, memory, programming, disk storage), but it's the little > things that make the game. Having other cars in a race get "fixed" after > crashing would also add to the realism. > Crashes: I want to see cars get airborne once in a while (like they do in real > life). More physical car damage (in addition to the occasional tire flying > off), and debris, would make for all the more realism. Also, how about other > cars crashing during the race? This does happen, and it should be a required > driver skill to see smoke ahead and have to figure out what to do to avoid it, > or sometimes, there's not a darn thing you can do to avoid it, and you get > crashed out of a race because of it. It's these sorts of unknowns that make > racing the exciting sport that it is. > System Memory: A more detailed outline of the necessary memory requirements > of the program would be great. XMS, EMS, Conventional, etc. It seems to me, > although I may be wrong, that the length of the "race tape" from which replays > are available, is limited by the amount of available memory. As a "for > example", the readme file which comes with X-Wing (from LucasArts) is very > specific as do what the program will be able to do with various amounts of > memory. > Rain: Where's the spray from the other cars tires? I think there are other > driving simulations that do this. > Chassis/Engine configurations: What the difference? > Copy protection: I realize that making me look up a word in the manual is > there to prevent pirating, but I always feel like I'm being punished for > someone elses crime when I have to do this. If some unscrupulous person wants > to illegally copy the game for someone, a couple of minutes in front of a > photocopier gets them around the copy protection. Maybe a "patch" > downloadable from your BBS for registered users to get around this? If copy > protection is unavoidable in your eyes, then at least I owe you folks a thank > you for making the lookup word always the first word on a line, and always > near the top. Nothing is more frustrating than being told "page 87, line 17, > word 9". > Anyway, great game!!! Please take the above comments as "suggestions for > improvement" rather than complaints. I'm very happy with the game and feel > that it's been worth every penny (although my wife, who hasn't seen me come > out of the computer room in a while, might beg to differ). Also, any plans to > get into other racing simulations? I'd love to see a good NASCAR Winston Cup > simulation. > Regards, > Steve Owen > To: conslt::owen > CC: > Subj: Re: Questions and comments about Indy Car Racing > Glad you are enjoying the game so much, and we appreciate you taking > the time to share your thoughts with us. User suggestions are important > to us, and will be considered seriously. > A few answers: > You should certainly be able to turn 230 laps on any machine. I'm not > sure what might be causing it. There have been a few strange things like > this that seem to do with the game card. Someone reported only getting > the faster speed with a joystick plugged into both ports of his gamecard. > We will be investigating this further. 1.02 will have no effect, this > patch only helps memory on 4Mb machines for the most part. > Your suggestions on game saving, car damage, and crashes are all good > suggestions and things that have been brought up before. There is some > chance that game saving could show up in an upgrade since the demand is > so high. Other feature ideas will be considered for future projects. > System memory: The game looks for as much XMS as possible. Best config.sys > has only himem.sys and dos=high. Conventional memory is only an issue > if you don't have more than 4MB RAM. Otherwise it just allocates to XMS. > You are correct that replays are all XMS. More free memory = longer replays. > Chassis/Engine info is available in a text file eng_chas.txt at world.std.com > in the ftp/vendors/papyrus directory, and also on our BBS. > Copy protection was a management decision, and is still a debated topic > around here. We did try to make it as painless as possible. > There are definitely more racing sims in the future. One will be out at > the end of 94, though what kind is not official yet. Rest assured we will > be looking to improve on many of the things you mentioned for the next sim. > Thanks again for all the time you spend putting these comments together. > Regards, > David Matson > Papyrus Tech Support > ***************************************************************************** > Steve Owen > *****************************************************************************

how do I get a copy of this game

[ABOUT 145 LINES DELETED] First, you can start by not flooding the net with a 145 line followup for a 1 line question. Next, any decent PC store should have it, or pick up any computer *** magazine and order it from any of the hundreds of software mail order places. -Steve ***************************************************************************** Steve Owen *****************************************************************************