Well, I got a good look at the upcoming NASCAR Racing
from Papyrus this weekend at a friends house. I am an
avid Indycar Racer so I must admit that I may be biased
in this text.
First off, I must admit that the 640x480x256 color graphics
are superb, that is, to LOOK at. We started off with the
SVGA graphics, after selecting the sound card. Papyrus
seems to be supporting more sound cards in this release.
No music was available, though who needs music at 180 MPH?
Now for the game. There are four tracks in the beta release:
Bristol, Michigan, New England and Phoenix. In the SVGA mode
running a 486/66 VLB and 8 Meg RAM, the frame rate was very
jercky and unexceptable. Those of you with 386's who thought
that Indycar was jercky haven't seen anything yet. There was
no selectable frame rate in this version but it is promised
in the final release. I turned off all the details and things
smoothed up a little but even with 8 cars on the track with
you, it's still very unplayable and frustrating. Imagine what
it would be like with 30 cars! An article in CGW is VERY
correct in saying that you will need a Pentium based PC to
run in SVGA mode. I must say the tracks were very detailed
and SVGA mode blew away Indycar's 320x200 anyday.
Now for VGA mode. Well, what can I say, it's just like Indycar
but seems much more "grainy" while using the in-car view. There
are three views in this one: in-car, outside-behind, and
further back behind the car, for those of us who like to see
further ahead. The frame rate on the 486/66 with all details
on was great. No jerky video at all, but that was only with
8 cars on track, again, non-selectable in this version, nor
will we know if more cars means slower frame rates. The replay
feature is here too, but with MANY MANY more camara views.
There were maybe 10 in total, outside car, indide, out each
window ( right & left ), behind, chase, blimp, TV and a few
others. I don't know if they will remain though.
As far as the garage feature and save/load, there are there
BUT unusabe in this release. The whole look is Indycar, but
there's a small window on the upper left of the screen that
shows what's been selected. For instance, when you choose a
track, you don't see a full screen shot, but when you
highlight the track name, it shows a pic in the box of it
with stats below. Pretty nice IMO.
And as for sound, as mentioned no music was heard but the
sound effects were pretty cool. The engine sounded alot more
like an ENGINE, than Indycars puny wheezing. there seems
to be stereo effects too, as cars pass you right or left
you will here them on either side. A funny thing was that
no damage was on, so cars would drive right through you
like you were not there and upon hitting the wall...nothing.
None of the promised "accidents" are in this version.
Overall, it was a fun day as I put in many hours on this game
and it looks great. For those of you who are awaiting it and
are die-hard NASCAR fans, and want to experience it the way
Papyrus would like, you'd better get out and purchase a
Pentium soon, or you'll be stuck in the VGA mode which
really doesn't shine once you've seen the SVGA mode. Anyways,
it's a game worth waiting for.
NOTE: I DON NOT work for or advertise for Papyrus.
Jim
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>Subject: NASCAR - Preview!
>Date: 28 Aug 1994 21:10:27 -0700
>Well, I got a good look at the upcoming NASCAR Racing
>from Papyrus this weekend at a friends house. I am an
>avid Indycar Racer so I must admit that I may be biased
>in this text.
OMITTED: An unfair but detailed review of an Alpha version of Papyrus' NASCAR
Racing in its early stages.
Obviously, but...
>Jim
>--
>----------------------------------------------------------
>----------------------------------------------------------
Your "friend" should know that releasing any information containing this much
detail of a project in its infancy is not only unfair to the product and the
company, but a violation of his/her promise of confidentiality. Biased or not.
I am aware of Papyrus' policies when it comes to the release of confidential
information. It is not much different from other software companies. The
fact that it is not he/she posting this "review" does not mean he/she is not
responsible for the consequences. Perhaps your friend confided in you
thinking that you would not post such a message. Or maybe s/he DID thinking
that s/he was off the hook. Wrong.
If your friend has a legal copy of the NASCAR Alpha/Beta testing materials,
then s/he had to sign a confidentiality agreement that included one or all of
the following statements in one form or another:
- I am not to disclose the fact that I am testing for [Company]
- I am not to disclose any information pertaining to any bugs, features, etc.
- Any correspondence with [Company] remains confidential
- Any official documentation from [Company] must remain confidential
Companies to not become as good as Papyrus by releasing information before its
time.
You should reconsider any continued posting of specific details pertaining to
Papyrus' NASCAR Racing or any other pre-release software that has not been
included in a press release.
Ralf Southard
_____________________________________________________________________
_ ____ ____ ____
|i| / __| |r__ \ /s___| Ralf Southard ICRS Co-Director
|n| |c| |a|_| / \e\_ Editor-In-Chief of Online Racing Int'l
_____________________________________________________________________
6 Armsby Building, University Park, PA 16802
: Well, I got a good look at the upcoming NASCAR Racing
: from Papyrus this weekend at a friends house. I am an
: avid Indycar Racer so I must admit that I may be biased
: in this text.
: First off, I must admit that the 640x480x256 color graphics
: are superb, that is, to LOOK at. We started off with the
: SVGA graphics, after selecting the sound card. Papyrus
: seems to be supporting more sound cards in this release.
: No music was available, though who needs music at 180 MPH?
: Now for the game. There are four tracks in the beta release:
: Bristol, Michigan, New England and Phoenix. In the SVGA mode
: running a 486/66 VLB and 8 Meg RAM, the frame rate was very
: jercky and unexceptable. Those of you with 386's who thought
: that Indycar was jercky haven't seen anything yet. There was
: no selectable frame rate in this version but it is promised
: in the final release. I turned off all the details and things
: smoothed up a little but even with 8 cars on the track with
: you, it's still very unplayable and frustrating. Imagine what
: it would be like with 30 cars! An article in CGW is VERY
: correct in saying that you will need a Pentium based PC to
: run in SVGA mode. I must say the tracks were very detailed
: and SVGA mode blew away Indycar's 320x200 anyday.
Actually, CGW stated that a 486/66 was required for SVGA.
This being a BETA, the frame rate might be much better in the released
version, maybe not. As long as I get better frame rate in VGA mode
than in ICR, I'll be happy - and the SVGA version will be there when I
upgrade.
:the 486/66 with all details : There were maybe 10 in total, outside car,
:indide, out each : window ( right & left ), behind, chase, blimp, TV and a
:few : others. I don't know if they will remain though.
: Overall, it was a fun day as I put in many hours on this game
: and it looks great. For those of you who are awaiting it and
: are die-hard NASCAR fans, and want to experience it the way
: Papyrus would like, you'd better get out and purchase a
: Pentium soon, or you'll be stuck in the VGA mode which
: really doesn't shine once you've seen the SVGA mode. Anyways,
: it's a game worth waiting for.
Maybe you need a Penti, Maybe not. My 486/66 screams, even with Pacific
Air War, while I've seen the same on some Pentiums or other /66's and it
crawls. I'll wait til the finished version comes out, and see.
: NOTE: I DON NOT work for or advertise for Papyrus.
: Jim
: --
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:
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Ken Beard
>Well, I got a good look at the upcoming NASCAR Racing
>from Papyrus this weekend at a friends house. I am an
>avid Indycar Racer so I must admit that I may be biased
>in this text.
>SVGA graphics, after selecting the sound card. Papyrus
>seems to be supporting more sound cards in this release.
Gravis Ultrasound support? Did the engine noises sound digitised
or are we still stuck with the FM synthesis?
Quoted text (11 lines)
>Subject: Re: NASCAR - Preview! >Date: 30 Aug 1994 11:01:27 +1000 >>Well, I got a good look at the upcoming NASCAR Racing >>from Papyrus this weekend at a friends house. I am an >>avid Indycar Racer so I must admit that I may be biased >>in this text. >>SVGA graphics, after selecting the sound card. Papyrus >>seems to be supporting more sound cards in this release. >Gravis Ultrasound support? Did the engine noises sound digitised >or are we still stuck with the FM synthesis?: >Well, I got a good look at the upcoming NASCAR Racing
: >from Papyrus this weekend at a friends house. I am an
: >avid Indycar Racer so I must admit that I may be biased
: >in this text.
: >SVGA graphics, after selecting the sound card. Papyrus
: >seems to be supporting more sound cards in this release.
: Gravis Ultrasound support? Did the engine noises sound digitised
: or are we still stuck with the FM synthesis?
Don't know about the GUS support. It wasn't in the list of
sound cards during setup ( at least I don't think so ), but
remember, it's an early version so they may have it in the
final release. As for the sounds, like I said, they were MUCH
better than Indycar's, and pretty lifelike IMO :)
Jim
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