New Racing Column up on Digital Sportspage

Agree or disagree, but my next installment is up at Digital Sportspage. It might generate a little arguing, but what the heck..that's never stopped me from expressing my opinion before! <G> [link lost in import] Randy Magruder Digital Sportspage

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> Agree or disagree, but my next installment is up at Digital > Sportspage. It > might generate a little arguing, but what the heck..that's never > stopped me > from expressing my opinion before! <G> > [link lost in import] > Randy Magruder > Digital Sportspage

Wow... I just finished reading your column at Digital sports page and I was amazed. Are you one of those frustrated simers? Yes you are right when you say that it is often hard to race against a computer opponent that doesn't make any mistakes (whereas we human often make a lot). AI setting is one way to try to tackle the problem of not being up to speed. Heck, when I tried Nascar 2 for the first time, I wasn't racing at 100% opponent strengt. After some practice (dare a say hours), I cranked up the difficulty level. That was satisfactory. There are 2 kinds of racers: simers and arcaders. The first kind wants to have ultimate reality. We want all the details. We want the game to be tough to beat. We want it to be close to reality. Because it's probably the closest we'll ever come to really racing. It's the unexpensive way of doing it. It's a hobby. And then ,there is the arcader. These guys don't really care about braking in the corners. All they want to do is keep the pedal to the metal. Which is good, of you like that sort of thing. They won't really care about a 500 laps race that last 3 hours. All they want is a quick rush. And a timer that decreases lap after lap. Quick, you only have 3 seconds to reach the next way point... I watch a Nascar race, watch how the drivers go in the grove, at what point they break. I feel satisfaction when I can replicate their moves in a sim. Match their qual speeds. That's very fun. Racing against the computer, after some time, gets a bit boring. That is why more and more games are designed to be played against a large group of humans on the internet. Hahh... there's nothing like healthy competition... I hope they continue to make racing sims they way they are right now... And buy the way, do you consider Nascar Racing 2 a *** racing game? It's very hard to master, yet they sold a million (or more I don't really know) of the game... Not bad. Just my little comment. Philippe Sergerie

> What I don't agree with in your article, and also here at r.a.s., is the > assumption that arcade drivers are less skilled at driving games, and are > unable to jump up to the so called "ultimate" level of sims. Also, the > assumption that they would even want to. I agree, David. There are a lot of us who really enjoy the realistic ambience of a racing sim but who do not necessarily wish to emulate the Jim Clarks or Michael Schumachers of this world. I have no desire to be "the best". I use simulations for relaxation and I enjoy the realism but that is as far as it goes. I do not need or want a wealth of information for setups; I do not need or want a university degree to play a game, for Christs' sake!! However, having said that, I must say that the physics model in GPL is brilliantly and awesomly amazing and is tremendously difficult to master. There's a bucket over there in the corner!! :o) -- Regards, Bruce. ---------- The GP Legends Historic Motor Racing Club is located at:- http://www.netspeed.com.au/brucek/legends/

Christer, Watch your back, Bernie E. doesn't like to hear that kind of talk! It scares him! don "To race is to live, everything else is just waiting." - Rudi Caricciola

It's harder to sell ANY motorsport in the US of A if it aint NASCAR....isn't that so? > Its harder to sell them domestically if they aren't > NASCAR though. -- Regards, Bruce. ---------- The GP Legends Historic Motor Racing Club is located at:- http://www.netspeed.com.au/brucek/legends/

> I run CPR, F1RS, MTM2, and GPL, but I did play POD by Ubi Soft (futurisitic > arcade game) last summer. If I took the POD regulars and pitted them against > the familiar names here at r.a.s on any sim, I'll take the POD drivers to > win every time. I'll agree with you if the POD drivers generally have much more talent for driving than sim racers, or if the POD drivers practice much more than sim racers, or both. I'm skeptical to the fact that POD drivers are more talented drivers. The talent is probably about the same for the fastest POD drivers and the fastest sim racers. Now if the POD drivers have been practicing for more than 10 hours per week the last two years then they will beat the sim racers, cause that's how much the fastest sim racers practice. Here's a but, though, and that is that the quality of the practice has to be compareable or better than the sim racers. If the quality of the POD drivers practice is better than that of the sim racer, then the POD drivers will of course win. The reason for you being fast almost immidiately in F1RS, you said it yourself - It has the same game engine as POD with which you're very familiar with and then you also compare your lap times with sim racers who isn't used to that game engine. /Christer, it's all about talent and practice, nothing else...

> Both numbers are worldwide. Certainly worldwide there is plenty of > interest in sims. Its harder to sell them domestically if they aren't > NASCAR though. When you say domestically, which of the the many countries in the world do you mean? Well, the true optimist can always say - At least I'm not dead :o). /Christer

>There are 2 kinds of racers: simers and arcaders. This is a myth, which I disagree with completely. I prefer good (i.e., semi-realistic, like NFS 1) arcade racers, but am also interested in sims - I have bought almost all of them. But I have never been captivated by a sim, for precisely the reasons that Randy outlined in his article. Joe McGinn =================================================== Author of Inside LotusScript http://www.manning.com/McGinn/459.html ===================================================

Had the marketeers behind the NASCAR wave got their collective heads together for say, "Women On Motor Bikes All Taking Steroids" (WOMBATS), then I think it would become the motorsport of choice here in the States. ;) ...come to think of it, I bet it would make for an interesting sim as well...Ah, I can see the r.a.s. thread-headers now: "WOMBAT-2: Physics Realistic??" -or- "The WOMBAT Project: New ***s for WOMBAT-2!!" *<|:+) Cheers! Marc > It's harder to sell ANY motorsport in the US of A if it aint > NASCAR....isn't that so? -- (please change anti.spam to worldnet.att when replying) Sim Racing News - http://www.simnews.com The Sim Project - http://www.simproject.com * No animals were harmed in the making of this e-mail *

> > Both numbers are worldwide. Certainly worldwide there is plenty of > > interest in sims. Its harder to sell them domestically if they aren't > > NASCAR though. > When you say domestically, which of the the many countries in the world do you mean? Well, you know, the States being the center of the universe, and all that... ;^) l8er ronny -- Toys'R'Us '99: "So, would you like a hand gun with that action figure, kiddo?" |\ _,,,---,,_ I want to die like my Grandfather, ZZZzz /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ in his sleep. |,4- ) )-,_. ,\ ( `'-' Not like the people in his car, '---''(_/--' `-'\_) screaming their heads off!

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>>There are 2 kinds of racers: simers and arcaders. >This is a myth, which I disagree with completely. I prefer good (i.e., >semi-realistic, like NFS 1) arcade racers, but am also interested in >sims - I have bought almost all of them. But I have never been >captivated by a sim, for precisely the reasons that Randy outlined in >his article.

Just think you are some sort of "mutant"... Let's say... a Simarcader ;-)) - Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard> Good race at the Brickyard, (-o-) - Official Mentally retarded guy of r.a.s. - Member of the r.a.s. Ego-maniac club - Excuse me for my English (I'm French speaking) - Excuse me for being provocative (I'm dumb speaking) - "People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realise how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."--

Theme song - "Fat bottomed girls you make the racing world go round....yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaah, fat bottomed girls............". Ahh, I can just see it now! All those steroid swollen buttocks, hehehehehehehe.

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> Had the marketeers behind the NASCAR wave got their collective > heads together for say, "Women On Motor Bikes All Taking Steroids" > (WOMBATS), then I think it would become the motorsport of choice > here in the States. ;) > ...come to think of it, I bet it would make for an interesting sim > as well...Ah, I can see the r.a.s. thread-headers now: > "WOMBAT-2: Physics Realistic??" > -or- > "The WOMBAT Project: New ***s for WOMBAT-2!!" > *<|:+) > Cheers! > Marc > > It's harder to sell ANY motorsport in the US of A if it aint > > NASCAR....isn't that so? > -- > (please change anti.spam to worldnet.att when replying) > Sim Racing News - http://www.simnews.com > The Sim Project - http://www.simproject.com > * No animals were harmed in the making of this e-mail *