GPS = Future Proof ?

He's been knighted, has he? Smashing! Good show. Jolly good show!

I know that Sir Geof Crammond and Microprose have taken a lot of stick for produing a game that need a ninja PC, but I thing they did the right thing! Given that the game will probably have a 5 year life span (like F1GP) it seems sensible for them to not restrict themselves to writing for the current baseline of hardware. In 5 years time, most of us will have upgraded at least once, and will then be able to use GP2 to its full potential. OK, at the moment its a bit annoying (SVGA is a no no on my DX4/120), but I know for a fact that I won't have that machine in 5 years time. Basically, Sir Geof has produced a game that will still be very impressive in 5 years time, and which can be "downsized" to run on our current feeble hardware until we upgrade. IF they'd written the game to run well on say a P90, then in 5 years time it would look *really* lame. Hats off to Sir Geof. -- Andrew Jackson (Bracknell, Berkshire, England). Laissez le bon temps roulez!

Although GP2 has a high cpu requirement, it is not future proof. Soon, with all those new 3D cards (I have the Stealth 3D and will buy a Rendition card) and new Intel MMX Pentium and Penium Pros, GP2 will look like pretty dated in 256 colors. All other racing sims will be in 16 million or at worst 32K. I have heard from a friend of mine about the Rendition version of ICR2 and he thinks its just unbelievable.....and he's hard to impress. He's a developer, and goes to all the shows. To stay in the game, Microprose will have to release a patch to take advantage of these cards, then GP2 will be good for a few years. I just hope they fix some of those bugs in it. I still would like to see my wheels and steering move. I still like it and with a good patch and 3D compatibility, it will be the best for a long time. Talk to you later. Frank Morissette

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> I know that Sir Geof Crammond and Microprose have taken a lot of stick > for produing a game that need a ninja PC, but I thing they did the right > thing! Given that the game will probably have a 5 year life span (like > F1GP) it seems sensible for them to not restrict themselves to writing > for the current baseline of hardware. In 5 years time, most of us will > have upgraded at least once, and will then be able to use GP2 to its > full potential. OK, at the moment its a bit annoying (SVGA is a no no > on my DX4/120), but I know for a fact that I won't have that machine in > 5 years time. Basically, Sir Geof has produced a game that will still > be very impressive in 5 years time, and which can be "downsized" to run > on our current feeble hardware until we upgrade. > IF they'd written the game to run well on say a P90, then in 5 years time > it would look *really* lame. > Hats off to Sir Geof. > -- > Andrew Jackson (Bracknell, Berkshire, England). Laissez le bon temps

roulez!

: 5 years time. Basically, Sir Geof has produced a game that will still : be very impressive in 5 years time, and which can be "downsized" to run : on our current feeble hardware until we upgrade. : IF they'd written the game to run well on say a P90, then in 5 years time : it would look *really* lame. : : Hats off to Sir Geof. : -- : Andrew Jackson (Bracknell, Berkshire, England). Laissez le bon temps roulez! i agree with this except for the heavily flawed logic used in the FPS/Occupancy algorithm. It makes absolutely no sense, and is way out of place in today's games. Geoff if you are reading this, please send me some email giving me your reasoning for using this method, i'm sure you know better. ------- Carlos Ribas President MalSoft http://www.nol.net/~draconis

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>I know that Sir Geof Crammond and Microprose have taken a lot of stick >for produing a game that need a ninja PC, but I thing they did the right >thing! Given that the game will probably have a 5 year life span (like >F1GP) it seems sensible for them to not restrict themselves to writing >for the current baseline of hardware. In 5 years time, most of us will >have upgraded at least once, and will then be able to use GP2 to its >full potential. OK, at the moment its a bit annoying (SVGA is a no no

Exactly. How many of us can run F1gp in a window with every imaginable detail switched on, 25fps and still only manage 33% occupancy at worst? As a result F1gp is graphically very poor compared to most recent games. Geoff Crammond did the right thing with the graphics levels so PLEEEEEASE stop moaning about them. Mark _________________________________ "..every lap I think `Oh bollocks! This is dreadful..`" Damon Hill __________________________________