Avault....hmmmm, what's the bother?

So Avault gave it a bad review? So what? I'm amazed that so many people have come unglued because a ***** site didn't review a sim properly. You should thank them for keeping Quake-***s from picking GPL up and ruining online racing... Complaining about Avault not doing a proper review on GPL is like complaining that Walmart's Auto Service didn't want to do a engine swap in your '73 Barracuda...the two are not the same. Avault caters to *gamers*, not sim racers...that's why sites like us, SimRacing Online, Alison's site, The Paddock, ect. are all out there...to cater to the sim racer. While I agree that their consistency has not been real hot on what's good and what's not, they're a gamer site...we're a racing site. Anyhow, if you want to read a *sim racer's* review of GPL, we should have it online very shortly. As well, our GPL page is up and running, and we've got some great new files on there... Cheers! -- ??Jan Kohl?? **The Pits Performance Team** Computer Systems Programmer USAF Air-Ground Operations School Hurlburt Field, FL Castle Graphics - http://www.castlegraphics.com/ The Pits - http://www.theuspits.com/

That's all fine and dandy but a review on a sim site will sell nothing since the people who know about such places are sim fans and would buy the game anyway. An incompetent review on a mainstream, more highly populated site damages sales, damages revenues, damages chances of investment being made in other products that we would like and ultimately damages us. Still, "so what" eh? Cheers! John

John, you are blaming the reviewer because the product fails to appeal to the mainstream market? Should this not be directed at the developer? Z.

> >Avault caters to *gamers*, not sim racers...that's why sites like us, > >SimRacing Online, Alison's site, The Paddock, ect. are all out there...to cater to > >the sim racer. While I agree that their consistency has not been real hot on what's

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> >good and what's not, they're a gamer site...we're a racing site. > That's all fine and dandy but a review on a sim site will sell nothing > since the people who know about such places are sim fans and would buy > the game anyway. An incompetent review on a mainstream, more highly > populated site damages sales, damages revenues, damages chances of > investment being made in other products that we would like and > ultimately damages us.

Usually Avault gives most of the games 5 stars - if they appeal to the mass market. I play GPL and like it, but I would not recommend it for most of the people. To have fun with the game one needs LOTS of time and passion, much more than in most other game. The lack of racing on beginner's level is also annoying, I learned GP2 and F1RS just from driveing on the easy levels and upgraded than up to the pro levels. GPL is THE game for car race simulation fan, a pretty good game for part time racers like me and really nothing for the casual gamer. Finally people should not give a lot about those online reviews. Those online mags try to be the first with cranking out the reviews, quality comes later, much later. Ciao Jochen

No, I am blaming the review site for an incomptent review. With trainer cars, braking help and traction control GPL offers a lot more to the arcade race than SODA or X-CAR, yet both of those scored higher than GPL in Avault's "gamer oriented" rankings. This despite GPL being infinitely better than either fro graphics, sound, physics or any other area you care to mention. This was the statement from Avault on r.a.s. the last time a storm in a teacup blew up "All of the writers are to dedicated to generating accurate, informed, and intelligent reviews. We are hard-core gamers, and strive to deliver the best editorial content on the Internet". I think they failed in this with the review of GPL, but your opinion may of course be different. Cheers! John

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>Path: >>you are blaming the reviewer because the product fails to appeal to the >>mainstream market? >No, I am blaming the review site for an incomptent review.

John, i think you are confused between realism and fun to play. For most simulators, the realism and challange make a title well, fun- or rewarding. For some people, the arcade style of NFS3 is just that fun- not becuase it's real- but it's escapism to drive as a cop, or run away from cops. GPL may be the bee knee's to you, for the realism reasons, but for it's rigidity to the realism, it neglects the arcade market, rightly or wrongly. 2 and a half stars, so what? If you are the kind of person who reads a review and the complete text, rather than just looking at a %, or a star rating, or a mark out of 10, then runs to the shops, well good luck to you. GPL is probably the best driving simulation around at this time. However it is fairly heavy going. It's not really much less heavy going with all the provided help, and to be honest, i think it's a wasted purchase for someone who is not prepared to live breathe (and perhaps die?) GPL solidly. It's certainly not the reviewers fault if this is the case, and i think he's quite right to say it. This review will probably influence sales, yes, but not "damage" them. The sales for GPL were stagnated by the incredibily high standard of the game itself- a problem which has been reflected on in every review i've read (print & new media). It's an outstanding product, but so difficult that it's market is going to be tiny, and that is just a damn shame. Regards Z.

I'm very clear on the issue here - Avault's review misses a lot of the fundamental points of GPL, contains errors, and overall comes across that the reviewer was not a suitable person to review such a product. Secondary to that is the fact that as a general *** site Avault may or may not target their reviews toward a more arcade oriented audience - that is indeed arguable. However their comments on this group in the past, their mission statement on the site and their surprisingly high scores for SODA and X-CAR relative to GPL suggest exactly the opposite. So beyond the fact that the review contains inaccuracies, the scoring is inconsistent with other sims they have reviewed. I too feel that GPL could do more to wean people in, but the point is that it is scored very badly by Avault despite offering more to the beginner than other titles which have been rated more highly. For the beginner I think sims like F1RS and GP2 set the standard (although even these could be better). You could stop the sentence right there - I'm the sort of person who is so disillusioned with reviews and *** mags that he doesn't waste money on them anymore. :-) Cheers! John