Hi GP2 racers,
today I got my copy of Perfect Grand Prix track pack & game editor.
I guess here in the newsgroup there might be some interest in my first
impressions of the software.
To start with the conclusion, I like the PGP-pack! There seems to be
some shortcomings, but the most important thing, the racing, feels good
and "realistic".
The very first impression was not too good. The so called "Track Guide &
Manual" contains only descriptions and advice for old and new tracks, no
information at all about what and how you can use the PGP-pack!
I still do not know, what I really can do with it!
And the advice for installing was nearly null. But installation was
authomatic and there were no problems. It took a while, anyhow, to
find how to use the new tracks.
The new tracks (revised Silverstone, Nurnburgring, Buenos Aires,
Melbourne, Donington, A1, Zandvoort, Brands Hatch, Paul Richard)
_replace_ some of the old ones. But the pictures of the tracs
in the menus are not replaced! The names are correct, anyhow.
I tried practising and one 'Quick Race' in A1, Nurnburgring and
Brands Hatch.
First thing that made me worry a bit, was that some trackside
objects appear only when you drive near them! When I - the very
first time - drove from the pits in A1, I was quite surprised in
seeing the cranes jumpig from emptyness! And this happens all the
time. The stands just pop up when you come nearer, etc. At first
this was quite irritating, but you started to get used to it,
because of:
THE FEEL OF DRIVING WAS GOOD! Own car and the opponents behaved
very naturally and smoothly. I got the impression that the feeling
was even better than with original tracs! If not taking into account
the popping up trackside details... But what happened on the
track feeled good. And there certainly were lots of uphills and
downhills! And the old Brands Hatch seems to be quite bumpy...
Actually, during the installing, I could read a message about the
designers' policy: they told they have optimized the driving behaviour
instead of the decorative elements around. For me this policy suits!
First thing that made me worry a bit, was that some trackside
objects appear only when you drive near them! When I first time
drove from the pits in A1, I was quite suprised in seeing the
cranes jumpig from emptyness! And this happens all the time.
The stands just pop up when you come nearer, etc. At first
this was quite irritating, but you started to get used to it,
because of:
THE FEEL OF DRIVING WAS GOOD! Own car and the opponents behaved
very naturally and smoothly. I got the impression that the feeling
was even better than with original tracs! If not taking into account
the popping up trackside details... But what happened on the
track was feeling good! And there certainly were lots of uphills and
downhills. And the old Brands Hatch seems to be quite bumpy...
Actually, during the installing, I could read an information
message about the designers' policy: they told they have optimized
the car and track behaviour instead of the decorative elements around.
For me this policy suits!
There seems to be some graphical errors, especially when you
drive out of the track - the scenery gets sometimes crazy,
but when back in track, it's natural again. (In original GP2
tracks this seems to happen sometimes, too, but not so often).
And then some minor things: for example, nobody is showing me
the chess-flag, when the I pass the finish line ... :-( ;-)
In the result and 'driver's best laps' screens there seems to
be some font problems; the headlines were strange, some errors
were reported by Win95, ... I could anyhow see the results. And
for some reason or another, Brands Hatch didn't have these problems.
I did not test any complicated features, and about a week I'll be
so busy that no F1-driving will be possible... But later ...
And the conclusion: this is a nice add to GP2, at least for my use
of the game!
Arto Wikla
>Hi GP2 racers,
>today I got my copy of Perfect Grand Prix track pack & game editor.
>I guess here in the newsgroup there might be some interest in my first
>impressions of the software.
<...>
Thanks for that info, Arto!
I also got my Track Pack in the mail yesterday. Haven't tried it yet,
but did read through the track guide. Some comments on that:
- As someone already noted, it's full of spelling errors. And they're
so bad that it's hard to understand the advice that's supposed to be
given :-)
- The text for Monaco is precisely the same as for Jerez. I'll have
to contact InstantAccess about this cut-and-paste job...
- Where's the manual ? The booklet is called "Track Guide & Manual",
but only contains the track guides.
I'll post my impressions on the actual tracks & driving later.
Teemu.
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