The problems lie mainly in finding a decent sound that can be looped
seamlessly. I was a member of the audio team for EA's NHL96, and with
the Need For Speed guys just down the hall, I became quite familiar with
the travails of engine sounds. On NFS the boys recorded the engines of
all the cars on a dyno, only to throw them out due to a reflection off a
garage wall (that no one could hear at the time, since the engines were
so damn loud). I'm not sure, but I think they wound up simulating a few
of the engines for lack of a decent recording that wouldn't produce
artifacts when looped. Check out the engine loop on ICR2; crackling
artifacts abound. Also, ICR2's sound is only 8-bit 16k sampling. While
this sort of resolution will invariably sound like crap, one must
remember that the sample has to live in ram. Try loading up a cd-quality
engine sample, and you can wave goodbye to all your pretty graphics (or
at least to the synchronization between them and the audio).
While physical models, graphics and gameplay have advanced by leaps and
bounds in recent years, the sound aspect of simulators seems to have been
neglected.
Anyone who has been to a Formula 1 or even :-), an indycar, NASCAR,
anyothercar race knows that there is a slight discrepancy between the
explosions of a downshift and the 'fly in a biscuit tin' buzzing emanating from
a PC even when equipped with the latest whizzbang soundcard. I have yet to
hear a sim with 'real' digitised sound.
What are the difficulties (other than the physical ones such as getting
Jacques to hold a microphone and drive a few laps) with providing a sim with
a decent 'sound engine'?
Andrea Cocchiglia
'Virus alert: Found 'MS windows' on drive d: - disinfecting
Info: This virus will take over any free space in RAM or on a
Hard Drive. After this has been accomplished, the machine
will be halted'
Department of Digital Systems, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
>What are the difficulties (other than the physical ones such as getting
>Jacques to hold a microphone and drive a few laps) with providing a sim with
>a decent 'sound engine'?
In NFS, the sound of the engine when you back off is different than when
you're on the gas. That was a first of my experience. Anyways, the
quality of the sound improves with your reproduction equipment. Try your
soundcard to your stereo system, makes a huge diff!
Gregory Fung
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
>While physical models, graphics and gameplay have advanced by leaps and
>bounds in recent years, the sound aspect of simulators seems to have been
>neglected.
Maybe my ears are not as good as yours :-)
I think the sound in NASCAR racing by Papyrus is pretty good.
When I tried FM sound, it sounded like a kid's toy.
I quickly abandoned the "use FM sound for performance" idea.
We even wear headphones when we race head to head in the same room.
Using Stereo, we can hear cars in the pit through the left ear only,
you can hear the cars as you pass them through the proper ear, etc.
If you put your headphones on wrong, you will notice soon....
--
Best Wishes!!!
Robert Huggins
Raleigh, NC
So what "reproductive equipment" has the best performance then.....?!
And they told me size wasn't important..... :)
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>Maybe my ears are not as good as yours :-)
>I think the sound in NASCAR racing by Papyrus is pretty good.
The NASCAR engine sound is sound pretty convincing, although it would be
nice to have that burping rumble when you get out of the throttle. However,
as has been mentioned here many times, the ICR2 engine sample is pretty
wimpy. I hate having to look down at the tach all the time to check my
revs, so I use the engine sound to shift. This works great for NASCAR, but
in ICR2, I blow the engine every time I try manual shifting because just
about the time it sounds on-camber, the engine over-revs.
Dave "davids" Sparks
Sequoia Motorsports
I agree with Andrea Cocchiglia about the engine sounds in
Nascar. It could do with some revision. The V8 roar changes in
speed with the Rpm but the tone stays the same. It should sound
different when de-accellerating. At the same time it should
sound like the engine is working hard when under full power.
Listen to the Viper in A Need For Speed and you know what I
mean.
--
Nigel of Lakewood Racing
Lakewood Computers
New Zealand
