Race Driver 2 Online Demo?

Hi folks, I tried the race driver online demo today and found the steering rather sluggish in Pro-sim mode during an online session. Also, the car seems to rotate about a single axis, and there's no real cockpit view or am I missing something? On a lighter side, this happens to be the *first* Codemasters title that works out of the box with my gameport connected TSW2. ;-) Cheers, uwe -- mail replies to Uwe at schuerkamp dot de ( yahoo address is spambox) Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/ Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E) GPG Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

The game has magnificent graphics and a passable (sort of) driving model. You're not missing anything. I can't believe how some of the sim sites are going on about the amazing physics - it's simply not true.

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 11:05:48 +1000, Damien Evans wrote: > I can't believe how some of the sim sites are going on about the amazing > physics - it's simply not true. bought by banner ads? ;-> Cheers, uwe -- mail replies to Uwe at schuerkamp dot de ( yahoo address is spambox) Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/ Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E) GPG Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

I agree. Feels like a center pivot arcade game to me. It is pretty though. I guess the bar is just so low that when Codemasters comes out with something even vaguely sim-like people are happy. No howls of derision for this junk yet Thunder (which is much more sim-like) gets people's blood boiling. Go figure... Mitch "Uwe Sch�rkamp" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 11:05:48 +1000, Damien Evans wrote: > > > I can't believe how some of the sim sites are going on about the amazing > > physics - it's simply not true. > > bought by banner ads? ;-> > > Cheers, > uwe > > > > -- > mail replies to Uwe at schuerkamp dot de ( yahoo address is spambox) > Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/ > Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E) > GPG Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

I don't see what you guys are refering to. I agree it's a bit arcadey, but the center pivot thing is what I don't understand. I can get the front end to mush out under braking and I can get the rear loose pretty easily. To me that means it's not pivoting around the center, but maybe I don't understand your comment. Could you give me some examples of what you are talking about? Also, are you just talking about the demo? The demo did not have the final tire model. I am playing the Xbox game, with the default arcade physics. The tire model is very arcadey, designed to make it easy to control a drift. And the speed sensitive steering has the same effect that it did in SCGT, i.e. you can dive into a corner and save it with the brakes because the steering sensitivity will increase as the speed drops. Other than those two things it doesn't feel that bad. I can lock or spin tires. I can spin the car around at will or hold it at a certain angle (i.e. it doesn't feel canned). Weight transfer and friction circle effects appear to be in the model. Suspension changes do what I would expect them to do. A sim it's not, but it seems to be quite a good arcade game, in the same way as SCGT or NFS:PU. "Mitch_A" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:9Fbic.40245$[email hidden]... > I agree. Feels like a center pivot arcade game to me. It is pretty > though. >

I'm with you on this -- I have the PC version, and using the "Pro-Simulation" settings, the physics feel very good, IMO. I can hang the tail out with the Formula Fords and achieve a decent four-wheel drift -- it feels like a miniature version of GPL, with a more progressive and possibly more forgiving tyre model. Compared to what I experience in GPL, I think the Formula Fords feel about "right," actually. If you're using a wheel, I recommend you try setting the controller selection to "Pad" -- "Wheel" is a fully-linear setting, while the "Pad" setting is somewhat non-linear and speed sensitive . . . I keep the linearity slider set to the halfway point in GPL, so I'm used to a more non-linear setting, and the "Pad" setting feels better with my TSW2 wheel. Or, if you want to try tweaking the steering settings even further, check out this thread for more tips: http://forum.rscnet.org/showthread.php?t=149462 IMO, some parts of RD2 feel spot-on (the vintage Jags and the Formula Ford, to name a couple), but other parts DO feel awfully arcade-like, even using the Pro-Simulation physics (the Ford F-150 Lightning trucks on the Texas and Pikes Peak ovals are IMPOSSIBLE to handle in "Pro-Sim" mode, and the rally, ice racing, and rallycross portions lean towards arcade-like experiences for me). Overall, though, this is a VERY solid attempt by Codemasters, and it goes a long way towards making up for RD1 and their despicable IndyCar Series 2002 release. Hope this helps a bit! -- JB "Haqsau" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

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> I don't see what you guys are refering to. I agree it's a bit arcadey, but > the center pivot thing is what I don't understand. I can get the front end > to mush out under braking and I can get the rear loose pretty easily. To me > that means it's not pivoting around the center, but maybe I don't understand > your comment. Could you give me some examples of what you are talking > about? Also, are you just talking about the demo? The demo did not have > the final tire model. > > I am playing the Xbox game, with the default arcade physics. The tire model > is very arcadey, designed to make it easy to control a drift. And the speed > sensitive steering has the same effect that it did in SCGT, i.e. you can > dive into a corner and save it with the brakes because the steering > sensitivity will increase as the speed drops. Other than those two things > it doesn't feel that bad. I can lock or spin tires. I can spin the car > around at will or hold it at a certain angle (i.e. it doesn't feel canned). > Weight transfer and friction circle effects appear to be in the model. > Suspension changes do what I would expect them to do. A sim it's not, but > it seems to be quite a good arcade game, in the same way as SCGT or NFS:PU. > > "Mitch_A" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:9Fbic.40245$[email hidden]... > > I agree. Feels like a center pivot arcade game to me. It is pretty > > though. > >

Fair point but I think I'll stick to the likes of ETCC or even LFS which give a far more realistic feeling of driving a car.

ETCC evolution should be on the shelves soon eh? In fact this week looks promising for mod releases. To bad its so dang hard to find a place to d/l em from... Mitch "Damien Evans" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:c6f308$bg9mb$[email hidden]... > Fair point but I think I'll stick to the likes of ETCC or even LFS which > give a far more realistic feeling of driving a car. > >

I completely agree about the Formula Fords, they really feel great. Too bad there are only a few tracks on which you can race them. The previous game had the ability to race any car on any track, but I have not yet found how to do that in this game. The rally stages, while not especially realistic, are still a treat for anybody who doesn't mind arcade style physics. Being able to flick the car from side to side with full control is really fun. Not for realism buffs perhaps, but still fun. "jbodin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> I'm with you on this -- I have the PC version, and using the > "Pro-Simulation" settings, the physics feel very good, IMO. I can > hang the tail out with the Formula Fords and achieve a decent > four-wheel drift -- it feels like a miniature version of GPL, with a > more progressive and possibly more forgiving tyre model. Compared to > what I experience in GPL, I think the Formula Fords feel about > "right," actually. > > If you're using a wheel, I recommend you try setting the controller > selection to "Pad" -- "Wheel" is a fully-linear setting, while the > "Pad" setting is somewhat non-linear and speed sensitive . . . I keep > the linearity slider set to the halfway point in GPL, so I'm used to a > more non-linear setting, and the "Pad" setting feels better with my > TSW2 wheel. Or, if you want to try tweaking the steering settings > even further, check out this thread for more tips: > > http://forum.rscnet.org/showthread.php?t=149462 > > IMO, some parts of RD2 feel spot-on (the vintage Jags and the Formula > Ford, to name a couple), but other parts DO feel awfully arcade-like, > even using the Pro-Simulation physics (the Ford F-150 Lightning trucks > on the Texas and Pikes Peak ovals are IMPOSSIBLE to handle in > "Pro-Sim" mode, and the rally, ice racing, and rallycross portions > lean towards arcade-like experiences for me). Overall, though, this > is a VERY solid attempt by Codemasters, and it goes a long way towards > making up for RD1 and their despicable IndyCar Series 2002 release. > > Hope this helps a bit! > > -- JB >

Don't worry -- once I unlock all the tracks and cars myself, I will concentrate on figuring out how to enable different track selections with different cars . . . specifically, MORE tracks for the Formula Fords, in particular (similar to the Track Selector Utility that I did for the first demo). ;-) -- JB "Haqsau" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

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> I completely agree about the Formula Fords, they really feel great. Too bad > there are only a few tracks on which you can race them. The previous game > had the ability to race any car on any track, but I have not yet found how > to do that in this game. > > The rally stages, while not especially realistic, are still a treat for > anybody who doesn't mind arcade style physics. Being able to flick the car > from side to side with full control is really fun. Not for realism buffs > perhaps, but still fun. > > "jbodin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... > > I'm with you on this -- I have the PC version, and using the > > "Pro-Simulation" settings, the physics feel very good, IMO. I can > > hang the tail out with the Formula Fords and achieve a decent > > four-wheel drift -- it feels like a miniature version of GPL, with a > > more progressive and possibly more forgiving tyre model. Compared to > > what I experience in GPL, I think the Formula Fords feel about > > "right," actually. > > > > If you're using a wheel, I recommend you try setting the controller > > selection to "Pad" -- "Wheel" is a fully-linear setting, while the > > "Pad" setting is somewhat non-linear and speed sensitive . . . I keep > > the linearity slider set to the halfway point in GPL, so I'm used to a > > more non-linear setting, and the "Pad" setting feels better with my > > TSW2 wheel. Or, if you want to try tweaking the steering settings > > even further, check out this thread for more tips: > > > > http://forum.rscnet.org/showthread.php?t=149462 > > > > IMO, some parts of RD2 feel spot-on (the vintage Jags and the Formula > > Ford, to name a couple), but other parts DO feel awfully arcade-like, > > even using the Pro-Simulation physics (the Ford F-150 Lightning trucks > > on the Texas and Pikes Peak ovals are IMPOSSIBLE to handle in > > "Pro-Sim" mode, and the rally, ice racing, and rallycross portions > > lean towards arcade-like experiences for me). Overall, though, this > > is a VERY solid attempt by Codemasters, and it goes a long way towards > > making up for RD1 and their despicable IndyCar Series 2002 release. > > > > Hope this helps a bit! > > > > -- JB > >

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> If you're using a wheel, I recommend you try setting the controller > selection to "Pad" -- "Wheel" is a fully-linear setting, while the > "Pad" setting is somewhat non-linear and speed sensitive . . . I keep > the linearity slider set to the halfway point in GPL, so I'm used to a > more non-linear setting, and the "Pad" setting feels better with my > TSW2 wheel. Or, if you want to try tweaking the steering settings > even further, check out this thread for more tips:

This is one sim that really needs a FF wheel. Most cars have a lot of roll oversteer, causing the car to flick back very quickly, making it easy to spin out on correction. With FF on and set quite powerfully (Momo Force wheel in my case), you really feel what's happening with the car through the wheel, and it becomes natural to catch quickly. I've done a lot of driving with LFS, and whilst LFS tends to have a "sharper" sense of realism with the physics, I think that TRD2 has a better sense of size and weight of the car, especially with the V8 supercars. These cars are big and heavy, and I feel that TRD2 really shows this. Many years ago I qualified for my general competition racing licence in a commodore in Melbourne (Sandown, not Philip Island), and it did really feel quite like the racing car in TRD2. However, the racing car shouldn't roll so much with its racing suspension. IMHO, the V8 cars have as much roll as the e-type jag should, and the e-type is way overdone, even for an old car on skinny tyres.

Let it be known that on 24 Apr 2004 23:27:21 -0700, [email hidden] (jbodin) wrote: >Don't worry -- once I unlock all the tracks and cars myself, I will >concentrate on figuring out how to enable different track selections >with different cars . . . specifically, MORE tracks for the Formula >Fords, in particular (similar to the Track Selector Utility that I did >for the first demo). Note, the first patch will give more car and track combinations....

So real V8 supercars can do 1:48s at Bathurst....? .....riiiight...