Well, I gave myself a week to evaluate the patched version of CPR and here
are my comments and some questions for those of you that have considerably
more saddle time. I never ran the unpatched version so my comparisons are
the demo (which I assume is like the unpatched) and the patched final
version. Other racers that I have driven are GP2, Nascar2, Toca (demo),
F1RS(demo), ICR2(demo), Int. Rally Car Champ. and a bunch of others that
fall into the arcade category (Screamer2, Pod....etc.) I'm currently
running a P200mmx w/3Dfx.
First, I think this sim is one heck of a nice attempt for a 1st shot coming
out of the blocks for TRI and MS. The graphics are state of the art (w/3D
card) and give a sense of immersion into the whole racing environment. The
sounds are the best I've heard from any sim.
There are enough settings to keep the racing enthusiast busy for a long time
and the racing engineer (that helps you set the car up) is a fantastic
innovation. There is plenty of customization available for a wide range of
driving tastes (in car, behind, hud...etc.)
Handling is trickier to call. For my first few hours behind the wheel of
these Carts I was convinced that the steering was totally wrong. I was
soooo loose and tried everything from monkeying around with all the
nonlinearity and speed sensitivity settings in the game to recalibrating my
controller settings. Still, out on the track I felt like I was driving a
minivan in a 50mph crosswind with a steering wheel shaft made of ***.
Hours later and several visits to the garage engineer have tightened up my
steering considerably. The verdict is still out but, based on the huge
improvement with only 20 hours under my belt, I may well find that the
problem with the steering was me.
Not to beat a dead horse but the artificial intelligence of the demo is so
bad as to be unplayable. They knock you off line, slam into the back of you
and make nearly complete stops for what appears to be no apparent reason.
Your only chance is treat them all as DWI nuts and give them a wide berth.
Of course, this makes racing against them dicey at best. Unfortunately, the
patched AI has lots of problems too. While they no longer seem to slam into
you at the slightest provocation their collision avoidance leaves a lot to
be desired. They seem to see you if you are following the racing line but
god forbid you spin and slide up the track. If you cross the line in a
slide or spin they will slam into you without any attempt at avoidance and
keep pushing you down the track as long as you are in front of them. They
also seem to still enjoy pushing you through corners when you are going a
little too slow for their taste. Excuse me? Do you really think drivers of
open wheel cars like to bash their delicate air dams into the rear wheels of
their opponents?
Final verdict? Well, I find myself reaching for the MS Cart CD more and
more and leaving the GP2 and Nascar2 CD's to collect dust. Of course that
means I am spending more and more time online to find worthy opponents and
less time racing against the computer.
I think this is a worthy sim that warrants consideration in any avid racers
library.
Unfortunately, I fear Microsoft will follow in their previous footsteps
(i.e.. Flight Simulator) and not issue patches to fix the broken stuff but
instead package the fixes into Cart Precision Racing '98 with some other
"extras."
Some other disturbing bugs I have noticed are:
1. Selected race in multiplayer games keeps switching back to Miami as new
racers enter the forum.
2. Multiplayer racers ending up in their own private race instead of
together on the track.
3. The occasional lockup after entering and leaving multiplayer races
several times.
Some curious missing elements are:
1. How can MS talk in the racing school of trailing braking then not
include separate axis control for the accelerator and brake?
2. Why no yellow flags when there are accidents? In fact, there is a
curious absence of flags in general...except for that dreaded blue flag that
tells you the AI is about to slam in to the back of your vehicle.
3. Why no changing weather?
Again, a nice first attempt. A great multiplayer game...weak racing against
the computer.
--
Please remove the NOSPAM from my email address to reply
to me directly. I am sorry for this inconvenience but I have
been overwhelmed by junkmail.
I think the AI is great with the patch. So far I don't have any compliants
about it. I did a quick race at Miami with some great racing action by the AI.
I can hardly wait to see if Papyrus makes CART Racing 2 (would orginally be
ICR3) as good of a CART game as Microsoft did.
I agree. There have been a lot of justified negative comments about CPR
around here, but it does have redeeming qualities. AI needs improvement for
sure, but for me, it's not a show stopper. Given a chance, it is simply fun
to play. It's immersive, gives a great impression of speed, and the sounds
are wonderfully impressive. Yea, it's misses the boat on some
technicalities; and yes, I wish MS would address these further in another
patch, but it's still quite enjoyable. As a medium-core simmer, I give it
four out of five stars.
Dave
time
you
>and make nearly complete stops for what appears to be no apparent reason.
>Your only chance is treat them all as DWI nuts and give them a wide berth.
>Of course, this makes racing against them dicey at best. Unfortunately, the
>patched AI has lots of problems too. While they no longer seem to slam into
of
>open wheel cars like to bash their delicate air dams into the rear wheels of
that
>tells you the AI is about to slam in to the back of your vehicle.
>3. Why no changing weather?
>Again, a nice first attempt. A great multiplayer game...weak racing against
>the computer.
>--
>Please remove the NOSPAM from my email address to reply
>to me directly. I am sorry for this inconvenience but I have
>been overwhelmed by junkmail.
