Pit Stops

The following question referes to ICR Why is it that when I make a pit stop (under green) I am not allowed to leave until after 6.8 seconds. For example, I changed changed all four tires in 4.5 seconds but when I clicked on done a WAITING sign appeared in the top left corner of my screen and I couldn't exit the pits? If anyone knows the answer to this please respond. BTW IRC is the best racing sim that I have ever played. Lets hope Papyrus will come out with a SVGA version Mark

>BTW IRC is the best racing sim that I have ever played. Lets hope Papyrus >will come out with a SVGA version I am not sure if the SVGA upgrade would really be beneficial to the game - There is no way a fast 486 would be able to redraw the screens fast enough in 640x480 with as much detail as you get now. There are other issues that Papyrus could address first, and wait with SVGA until the CPUs get more punch or their programmers find a way to really speed up the game (it barely makes it to 15fps now!) About your pit stop problem: I am sure the game tries to simulate the actual time it would take to change tires and for the crew to jump out of the way, rather than let you hurry thru the menu as you please and then zip back out. I sure would love more action in the pits, though: how about the sound of air wrenches, the sqeal of tires as you leave, smoke from tires as you heat them up in a burnout through pit lane, pit speed limit (usuer selectable), stop and go penalties, etc. All this would make the game mmuch more ***ive - and that is just some of the ideas I have for pit lane. Peter

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>>BTW IRC is the best racing sim that I have ever played. Lets hope >Papyrus >>will come out with a SVGA version >I am not sure if the SVGA upgrade would really be beneficial to the >game - There is no way a fast 486 would be able to redraw the screens >fast enough in 640x480 with as much detail as you get now. There are >other issues that Papyrus could address first, and wait with >SVGA until the CPUs get more punch or their programmers find a way >to really speed up the game (it barely makes it to 15fps now!)

Wait a second.... The Nascar racing will be SVGA on CD-ROM, or so CGW reported, and VGA (320x240x256) on diskette. So it's being done now. And they reported that Papyrus was considering an ICR 2 that would have SVGA. I agree it'll be slow on less powerful machines, but oh well... You can get the squeal of tires now, really, just lay on the throttle full blast, you'll do it... Mark

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>Subject: Re: Pit Stops >Date: 20 Sep 1994 21:55:20 GMT >>BTW IRC is the best racing sim that I have ever played. Lets hope >Papyrus >>will come out with a SVGA version >I am not sure if the SVGA upgrade would really be beneficial to the >game - There is no way a fast 486 would be able to redraw the screens >fast enough in 640x480 with as much detail as you get now. There are >other issues that Papyrus could address first, and wait with >SVGA until the CPUs get more punch or their programmers find a way >to really speed up the game (it barely makes it to 15fps now!)

I second Peter's notes here. SVGA will only chop up your video even more. And although I have a Pentium with a 64-bit card, SVGA driving simulation is still a far cry from what it should be. There are more important things we'd like to see upgraded in ICR. I have had the fortune of getting tires and getting out of the pits in 6.5 seconds. But if I take on fuel, even if I do it in 6 secs, I have to wait until the clock gets to at least 12 seconds before I am permitted to move. Perhaps it's a glint of reality (just a glint) since it takes longer to refuel than to change tires. Ditto on those requests, and I hear they're not out of the question. :-) More ***ive?? OH NO! MORE ***IVE!!!! HELP!! Hi, my name is Ralf Welcome to Racing Sim Drivers Anonymous!

Peter may have been referring more to actual digital sounds of the tires heating up on a peel out, and real air wrenches. This too is rumoured to be upcoming in NASCAR Racing. Ralf

Mark, That's because if you could change all four tyres on an Indycar with 4 tyre operators in just 4.5 seconds, you'de surely have an unfair advantage.<g> The WAITING message appears while the crew finish their work on the car. For instance, the more fuel you put in, the longer you wait. This was an improvement on the old Indy 500 which let you enter the pit, refuel and change tyres in the time it takes you to hit the Enter and Spacebar keys a few times - the computer opponents on the other hand, would always stop for around 15 seconds. Mike.

I doubt that will happen. If you notice the NASCAR demo, the actual update area of the screen (ie the windshield) is less than half of the screen, whereas on ICR it is roughly 2/3 of the screen. What this means is that in NASCAR they will be able to maintain roughly the same frame rate in the SVGA version as ICR achieves (given the fact that they should be able to improve the frame rate from the original code).