GP2 competitor?

Has anyone heard of the Psygnosis game called "Formula One"? I just ran accross some info on it on the web. It supposibly has the official FOCA license, all 13 teams, all 17 circuits, and all 35 drivers from the 95 season. Judging by the photos, the game looks like it may be an strong competitor for Geoff Crammond's GP2. Here is the some official info on the game that I found at: http://www.vidgames.com/ps/press/formulaone.html Official info starts here ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Formula One Press Technical Information LICENCE: * We have signed the rights for the PlayStation to do the official 1996 Formula One licence - Licensed by FOCA to Fuji Television. This means we will be representing all 13 teams taken from the 1995 season, with the 35 drivers that raced during the year. All 17 circuits will be available to race. ACCURACY: * We are working with a leading Formula One team to assist with the game dynamics, ensuring the game is accurate as well as playable. * Tracks have been precisely modelled from the official surveyors track maps, which give us accurate dimensions and heights for the circuits. Tracks (ranging from 3.3 to 7km in length) have 60,000 to 90,000 polygons and 256 colour backdrops. * All surrounding scenery - buildings, hoardings, grandstands, trees - have all been accurately added from carefully studying site photographs and over 100 hours of live video footage. * All 26 cars are uniquely modelled from team diagrams, photographs and video footage - all official logos and sponsors (except for tobacco sponsors) are included in both car and circuit models ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: * All drivers in the game follow an intellegent, realistic race strategy, and are constantly monitoring the situation around their cars. They are competitive but fair - back markers will pull aside to let the faster cars through. * The drivers each have unique personality factors, modelled on the drivers themselves. They are therefore not infallible, and can misjudge a situation like the rest of us! RACE MODES: * For the Arcade racer, this option allows you to get in the car and race - no need to worry about set-ups or technicalities. Choose to race against the other cars, head-to-head, or against the clock. Handling will be responsive, intuitive and fun! * Grand Prix mode for the advanced driver, with realistic car handling, is based on telemetry data taken from Formula One cars. Options include race strategy, tyre and refuelling stops, car set-up options, etc. * On either mode, choose to practice, quick race or go for the whole championship. Select whether you want collision damage, qualifying, statistically accurate, dynamic weather conditions... SOUND: * Commentary for the UK version is being provided by the voice of UK F1 - Murray Walker. Voice-Overs are also being recorded in German, French, Spanish and Italian. Over 20 pages of script, are linked to avoid repetition, covering every happening in a variety of ways. * The rock soundtrack includes licensed titles from Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, as well as 12 specially produced tracks from Overdrive. * In-car sound effects are taken from a DAT recorder physically strapped to a drivers body. External track-side and pit lane sounds are also included. Dynamic calculated Doppler effects for TV cameras, overtaking and in car to give the game a very realistic feel. * Music and sound effects in a choice of mono, stereo, Dolby Surround or 'Q-Sound' - an effect which simulates surround sound through a 2 speaker stereo system IN-GAME FEATURES: * Record the race, your best laps or practice sessions and use the replay mode to view the whole thing (including all other cars) from one of the camera modes. * Select to view (or race!) from in-cockpit, behind the car, helicopter view, overhead, beside the car, the official TV camera positions (pan and zoom) or the frightening nose-camera! * Two-player link option - or 1 player and TV coverage mode! (More details to be announced about further multi-player options should they come to fruition) * Controllers - Standard, NeGcom and new Mad Catz analogue steering wheel and pedals combo. Memory card support - for best times, season details, car set-up and replays * Game runs at 30 frames per second BIZARRE CREATIONS: * Bizarre Creations is headed by Psygnosis' long standing developer, Martyn Chudley. Martyn has been developing software for Psygnosis for several years, producing titles such as The Killing Game Show, Fatal Rewind and Wiz 'n' Liz, as well as assisting with many other projects both in and out of house. However, Formula One is undoubtedly their most ambitions project to date. RELEASE INFORMATION: Publisher: Sony Psygnosis Developer: Bizarre Creations Release Date: July - Europe. USA - Date TBC Formats: PlayStation (initially) Languages: English, French, German, Spanish and Italian Release: World-wide (initially excluding Japan) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Official info ends here Notice the release date is in July. If what I hear is corrected and GP2 is now to be released in Sept, Psygnosis may just beat Microprose to the punch. Ofcourse that is on the Playstation (initially!) so a PC CD-ROM version would likely come a little later. For some screen shot is of the new game checkout: [link lost in import] 96 may just turn out to be a great year for F1 sims. ; ) Later, Nathan

|> >Has anyone heard of the Psygnosis game called "Formula One"? I just |> >ran accross some info on it on the web. It supposibly has the |> >official FOCA license, all 13 teams, all 17 circuits, and all 35 |> >drivers from the 95 season. Judging by the photos, the game looks |> >like it may be an strong competitor for Geoff Crammond's GP2. [snip] |> |> But they also say it will be for the PlayStation! |> If I'm not mistaken, this is not MS-DOS right? At least, a Pentium 133 with a 20" monitor cost much more than a PlayStation plus a 40" projection TV. My money goes to Sony. Not Microprose. Who is going to put up with the wait of GP2 when the competitor is catching up and offering more for a lot less? Listening Microprose? -- Isaac Wong (613) 763-6127 | Protel Compiler Development http://chat.carleton.ca/~iwong | Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

----------------------------------------- But they also say it will be for the PlayStation! If I'm not mistaken, this is not MS-DOS right?

Quoted text (17 lines)

> >Has anyone heard of the Psygnosis game called "Formula One"? I just > >ran accross some info on it on the web. It supposibly has the > >official FOCA license, all 13 teams, all 17 circuits, and all 35 > >drivers from the 95 season. Judging by the photos, the game looks > >like it may be an strong competitor for Geoff Crammond's GP2. > >Here is the some official info on the game that I found at: > >http://www.vidgames.com/ps/press/formulaone.html > >Official info starts here >----------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ----------------------------------------- > But they also say it will be for the PlayStation! > If I'm not mistaken, this is not MS-DOS right?Yeah, this game to be initially released for the Sony Playstation. Sounds

like a great game, too bad I don't have a Playstation.

:> :> >Has anyone heard of the Psygnosis game called "Formula One"? I just :> >ran accross some info on it on the web. It supposibly has the :> >official FOCA license, all 13 teams, all 17 circuits, and all 35 :> >drivers from the 95 season. Judging by the photos, the game looks :> >like it may be an strong competitor for Geoff Crammond's GP2. :> > :> >Here is the some official info on the game that I found at: :> > :> >http://www.vidgames.com/ps/press/formulaone.html :> > :> >Official info starts here :> :>----------------------------------------------------------------------------- :> ----------------------------------------- :> > :> :> But they also say it will be for the PlayStation! :> If I'm not mistaken, this is not MS-DOS right?Yeah, this game to be initially released for the Sony Playstation. Sounds :like a great game, too bad I don't have a Playstation. At least a PSX is cheaper than the P166 + 16Mb RAM we may need for GP2! Ken

>But they also say it will be for the PlayStation! >If I'm not mistaken, this is not MS-DOS right? The release is "intially" for the Playstation. I think there is a good chance we will see it for PC. Psygnosis has released many games for the Playstation that are soon followed later in PC CD-ROM form (ie WipEout and Destruction Derby). Later, Nathan

Quoted text (10 lines)

>>But they also say it will be for the PlayStation! >>If I'm not mistaken, this is not MS-DOS right? >The release is "intially" for the Playstation. I think there is a >good chance we will see it for PC. Psygnosis has released many games >for the Playstation that are soon followed later in PC CD-ROM form (ie >WipEout and Destruction Derby). >Later, >Nathan

How well did the other Sony games translate to the PC platform in terms of speed (frame rates)? If they lose speed in the translation, perhaps the Sony console is the way to go. If all their claims are true e.g. GP mode, possible analog controller, accurate physics etc., I may be more tempted to pop for a used playstation rather than upgrading to a P-computer just to play a game. -- Stephen Ferguson

>How well did the other Sony games translate to the PC platform in terms >of speed (frame rates)? The frame rate of Destruction Derby was fine (VGA only) on my P133. The game sucked though, no depth, crappy driving feel (no real analog steering wheel support for example), no modem support. In my opinion it suffered from being a Playstation port - they didn't bother to upgrade the thing to take advantage of the PCs capabilities and as a result the game compares very poorly to other PC arcade racers. Joe

Quoted text (11 lines)

>>How well did the other Sony games translate to the PC platform in terms >>of speed (frame rates)? >The frame rate of Destruction Derby was fine (VGA only) on my P133. >The game sucked though, no depth, crappy driving feel (no real analog >steering wheel support for example), no modem support. In my opinion >it suffered from being a Playstation port - they didn't bother to >upgrade the thing to take advantage of the PCs capabilities and as a >result the game compares very poorly to other PC arcade racers. >Joe

This itself is worrying. To say the frame rate, in VGA, was fine on a P133 means that we will all have to dash out and buy P133's to play any of these games on a PC. I have a real problem with the concept of spending over a thousand dollars (price difference between a P133 system and the used-market worth of a 486) JUST TO PLAY A GAME. My computer is still more than adequate for the hard-core engineering stuff that I do, and yet it is a slow lump compared to a $400 console that has hardware optimized to run slick graphics and nothing else. -- Stephen Ferguson

Quoted text (20 lines)

>>>How well did the other Sony games translate to the PC platform in terms >>>of speed (frame rates)? >>The frame rate of Destruction Derby was fine (VGA only) on my P133. >>The game sucked though, no depth, crappy driving feel (no real analog >>steering wheel support for example), no modem support. In my opinion >>it suffered from being a Playstation port - they didn't bother to >>upgrade the thing to take advantage of the PCs capabilities and as a >>result the game compares very poorly to other PC arcade racers. >>Joe >This itself is worrying. To say the frame rate, in VGA, was fine on a >P133 means that we will all have to dash out and buy P133's to play any >of these games on a PC. I have a real problem with the concept of spending >over a thousand dollars (price difference between a P133 system and the >used-market worth of a 486) JUST TO PLAY A GAME. My computer is still >more than adequate for the hard-core engineering stuff that I do, and yet >it is a slow lump compared to a $400 console that has hardware optimized >to run slick graphics and nothing else.

Well, I don't know that you _need_ a P133 for the framerate, but it's the only thing I've seen it on. I agree with you though, the glacial pace of evolution of PC technology can be pretty frustrating. Hell, for 2D animation it's only recently that for the P133 has caught up to what the Amiga was doing ten years ago. Joe

Quoted text (9 lines)

>>How well did the other Sony games translate to the PC platform in terms >>of speed (frame rates)? >The frame rate of Destruction Derby was fine (VGA only) on my P133. >The game sucked though, no depth, crappy driving feel (no real analog >steering wheel support for example), no modem support. In my opinion >it suffered from being a Playstation port - they didn't bother to >upgrade the thing to take advantage of the PCs capabilities and as a >result the game compares very poorly to other PC arcade racers.

Arcade Racers ? Who wants arcade racers ? I hope they'll do a fine job, incl. car setup, FIA rules, car-handling (I do not know why some people claim to have excellent car control with a digital joystick, Sega's Rally game for instance on the Saturn. WE WANT SIMS, WE WANT SIMS. Arcade racing games are for children.

Then don't spend the money and don't buy the game, buy a PlayStation instead. Of course it is. The PC is a general purpose computing device, which does lots of things moderately well. The console is a specialized piece of kit which is very good at playing games and ***at everything else. What else do you expect? --

But still, by far the best game I've played on any machine, by most criteria, is F1GP. I've played it non-stop since it came out all those years ago. The graphics may look dated now (they weren't then, remember); it didn't at the time require a particularly hi-spec machine (the number of lectures we missed in our house playing on my 386...); and it outperforms any racer (the excellent Mario Kart included) in terms of playablility by a long shot. Others clearly feel the same: look at all the third party add on utils, and the interest in Dave Gymer's GP racing series. Even if you have to turn off all the detail to play it, the game will play wonderfully, surely? -- MarkN