ABC Indy Racing, reduced but worth it?

Babbages has reduced the price of ABC Road to the Indy 500 from 59.95 to 24.95. Is it worth it AT ALL? I know it got reamed in the ng's but I'd like to have a Sprint/Outlaw sim. Yes or No on ABC's Indy?

>Babbages has reduced the price of ABC Road to the Indy 500 from 59.95 to >24.95. Is it worth it AT ALL? I know it got reamed in the ng's but I'd >like to have a Sprint/Outlaw sim. >Yes or No on ABC's Indy? *sigh*. It _might_ be worth it for the Sprint/Outlaws at that price. I wrote a pretty thorough review of it at www.digitalsports.com. However, after booting it up for a few hours yesterday I was ultimately angry enough to stop playing it. It wasn't the driving model or the damage model that annoyed me. It was the AI, and not the AI BEHIND me as you might think, but the guys in front of me, who seem to go all different speeds within a short period of time. You'd run frighteningly fast up on their tail, and just as you'd pull out, suddenly your speeds would be the same. There was just no sense of believability in their speeds, and add to this the fact that they are all over the track and you have a recipe for lots of crashes -- making me just turn off damage completely, since you get an absence of visual damage but not 'handling' damage -- making the car suddenly develop a huge push in the corners. Randy

> Babbages has reduced the price of ABC Road to the Indy 500 from 59.95 to > 24.95. Is it worth it AT ALL? I know it got reamed in the ng's but I'd > like to have a Sprint/Outlaw sim. > Yes or No on ABC's Indy? Parke, Hey bud, for twenty five bucks it's a fun enough game (re: not a sim.) You do get to drive at Indy and the Sprints are pretty fun. The damage model sucks, but what do want for twenty five bucks? One cool feature is that the game comes with two CD's to allow you to race a friend. That's something I would sure like to see more of. I paid forty five and didn't return it, not my favorite but a fun change. All the best, Media-Madman

>Babbages has reduced the price of ABC Road to the Indy 500 from 59.95 >to 24.95. Is it worth it AT ALL? I know it got reamed in the ng's but I'd I saw it at Circuit City for $20, and Best Buy (I think) for $22. If you have either of those near by, you could save yourself a couple more bucks... A friend of mine gave me his second CD to try out - it was a pretty fun *game*, but if you're looking for a sim, you might want to save your money. One thing I didn't like about it and couldn't get used to was that when you let off the gas, it was like jamming on the brakes... I couldn't really "feather" the throttle going through the turns... I didn't play it much when I had it, but if I have an extra $20 laying around someday, I might pick up my own copy just to have something a little different... I did enjoy running around "the Mickyard"... - Mike. ============================================ Mike Holthouse - Indianapolis, IN My new philosophy is to never explain my philosophies. I wish I could tell you why. ============================================

>One thing I didn't like about it and couldn't get used to was that >when you let off the gas, it was like jamming on the brakes... I >couldn't really "feather" the throttle going through the turns... Just so you know, the guys who programmed it stand by their physics model. They claim that from their telemetry, this is accurate behavior, and point out that an IRL car is more highly sprung and has a ton of air resistance at high speeds, so when you left the car slows down rapidly under drag and engine braking. The IRL drivers who tested the game helped them tweak it until they said it felt real. Whether you agree or disagree, i just thought I'd let you know this was something I brought up to them and felt I'd share their response. Randy

>down rapidly under drag and engine braking. The IRL drivers who > tested the game helped them tweak it until they said it felt real. > Whether you agree or disagree, i just thought I'd let you know this > was something I brought up to them and felt I'd share their response. Very interesting... I have never and probably will never drive an actual IRL car (I value my life), so I can't say if it's right or not. I just never got used to it... Thanks for the info! - Mike. ============================================ Mike Holthouse - Indianapolis, IN My new philosophy is to never explain my philosophies. I wish I could tell you why. ============================================

I wonder why then, in real life, when an IRL motor blows or gives out, the car doesn't slow half as much as it does in the game. I've never driven one, but I have eyes. Sorry, but I don't buy ABC's reasons for this. No car stops this slowly when letting off the gas. 40 mph slowing per second? 220 to 100 in 3 1/2 seconds, without brakes? No way! This game is worth getting for 20 bucks IF you love sprint car racing and understand it is a mostly arcadish sprint car game..ie no options to setup your car...AI cars that are mostly unaware you're there.. Happy hot lapping, Ken The Game Pad http://gamepad.org/

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> >One thing I didn't like about it and couldn't get used to was that > >when you let off the gas, it was like jamming on the brakes... I > >couldn't really "feather" the throttle going through the turns... > Just so you know, the guys who programmed it stand by their physics > model. They claim that from their telemetry, this is accurate > behavior, and point out that an IRL car is more highly sprung and has > a ton of air resistance at high speeds, so when you left the car slows > down rapidly under drag and engine braking. The IRL drivers who > tested the game helped them tweak it until they said it felt real. > Whether you agree or disagree, i just thought I'd let you know this > was something I brought up to them and felt I'd share their response. > Randy

> Babbages has reduced the price of ABC Road to the Indy 500 from 59.95 to > 24.95. Is it worth it AT ALL? I know it got reamed in the ng's but I'd > like to have a Sprint/Outlaw sim. > Yes or No on ABC's Indy? I picked it for the Silver Crown and midgets only. Figured it would be "fun" I installed it and havent been able to start the program with out it crashing. No IRL pun intended. I have a Sierra Screamin 3d card and once I got past the start up screen with sound only - no video. Check the web site at http://www.abcinteractive.com/html/indy/index.html There is a board there and you could get some might get some feedback from the posts.

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>Just so you know, the guys who programmed it stand by their physics >model. They claim that from their telemetry, this is accurate >behavior, and point out that an IRL car is more highly sprung and has >a ton of air resistance at high speeds, so when you left the car slows >down rapidly under drag and engine braking. The IRL drivers who >tested the game helped them tweak it until they said it felt real. >Whether you agree or disagree, i just thought I'd let you know this >was something I brought up to them and felt I'd share their response.

Since it was me that moaned about this originally it's good to know that even after having this brought to their attention they can say that it's something they thought about and the way it is is still correct in their opinion. FWIW I have heard F1 drivers say that lifting when the car is doing 200mph is like stomping on the brakes in any normal car, my only concern was that a) this effect was maintained all the way down to zero (by which time the wind resistance should have been substantially reduced since it is a square function of speed AFAI recall), b) the accelerator was too sensitive to allow you to consistenly "lift" to the proper speed for entry to a turn, and c) why are they the only ones to model this correctly (if their numbers really are correct)? I'd be interested to know if there is such a huge difference between IRL, CART & F1 cars, and, if so, where it comes from. I would suspect them to be broadly the same in this respect with some minor differences only. If anything I would expect the F1 car to show the most marked tendency for that sort of aero-decelleration since it is seldom set-up for max speed like the IRL cars are. Cheers! John

car doesn't slow half as much as it does in the game.>> How can you tell what the speed differential is in real life? Are you very good at seeing at seeing the difference between 180mph and 150 mph on an open wheel car from a typical TV camera angle? for this. No car stops this slowly when letting off the gas. 40 mph slowing per second? 220 to 100 in 3 1/2 seconds, without brakes? No way! Where did you find a track in which you could get up to 220 and get down to 100 before hitting a turn? I found that I was running out of straight when I tried to do that dramatic of a test at Indy. understand it is a mostly arcadish sprint car game..ie no options to setup your car...AI cars that are mostly unaware you're there.. >> Well, I don't think that its fair to say they are unaware you are there. In some pretty intense racing I found that they did try to avoid me. The problem, as I mentioned in my first post, was that when they were IN FRONT they were to erratic in both speed and direction to anticipate a hole in which to pass. Randy Happy hot lapping, Ken Randy Magruder Staff Writer Digital Sportspage http://www.digitalsports.com/

> How can you tell what the speed differential is in real life? Are you very > good at seeing at seeing the difference between 180mph and 150 mph on an open > wheel car from a typical TV camera angle? I can tell the difference between 220 and 100, and see from any camera angle that it takes more than 3 seconds. I did it at Indy, quite often. I think it is fair to say they are MOSTLY unaware you are there. I've stopped on the straights and often the cars will ram into you. They do usually slow, but often don't turn. When racing they often ram the player's car when they try to pass. Pretty pathetic AI, even worse than the original CPR AI! Ken The Game Pad http:gamepad.org/