I just received Monaco GP RS2 yesterday. Thought I'd post some early
impressions/thoughts for those who, like me, have F1RS and are contemplating
purchasing the new version. This is by no means comprehensive. I can't
honestly judge the AI or most any subtle playable differences yet as I only
have about an hour of seat time. Here, I concentrate on the features that are
new/different.
I'm in the US and bought the UK import from Action Software www.actioncd.com
(Ohio) for $29.95 + $5 shipping. They got it to me in two days (neighboring
state).
My setup:
200MMX oc'd/250, 64MB, Pure3D (V1), TB Montego
New:
*50's mode. Haven't tried it yet.
*Scenario. About 10 race situations. Haven't tried it, but I doubt it is
revolutionary.
*Career mode. Start with a car given to you and (hopefully) impress and
progress to better teams.
*Editors for all graphics and team/driver names (see below)
*Based on 1997, but with bogus names, etc.
*Can adjust brake bias, rollbars, and pit fuel/tires when driving.
*107% rule option.
*Option to drive under your own name replacing the chosen driver's.
What is better:
*The handling feel. F1RS felt like a rail shooter compared to GPL, ICR2, or
even Gran Turismo. This one is probably still not in the Papyrus class, but
it does feel a good deal better.
*You can now copy setups from pre-race to race or vice-versa.
*Can "esc" out of a race without having to wait thru each accelerated lap. It
returns a completed race result.
*It is now easier to scroll through the F1 Mag's lap-by-lap result.
Jury still out:
*The graphics. Some have said they are better. It doesn't jump out at me as
being any different. Caveat: limited play time. Framerate is fine. Can't
say if it is obviously better.
*Did they fix the pit strategy problems? In F1RS races, sometimes an AI car
would carry fuel for a full race, but allways pit anyway for new tires.
What is worse:
*Bogus teams, cars, names, track adverts. BUT, you can fix this through the
included editors and there's already all you need at
www.f1racingsim.com/f1rs2. This includes all the graphics, team symbols,
etc. It is clear that they based the game on the real 1997 season, but
changed the names as they didn't get the FIA license.
New feature I misunderstood:
I thought the editor allowed you to change the driver capabilities. Instead
all you change are graphics and names. Since it is based on '97, don't expect
it to recreate the '98 results spot-on. This is sad as they advertised the
individual AI's and I want those AI's, and car capabilities, to correspond to
the current year, or any future/past year I want to create. We'll just have
to wait for the wunderkinds out there to come up with new editors.
Fixed:
* The sound on deceleration is a lot better. Doesn't sound on/off anymore.
Still needs fixing:
*The discrepancy between sound volume in-car vs outside of car is still huge.
The default sound settings in Snd_cpa.ini is now 2/2 which corresponds to
what many F1RS players changed it to (vs the original 5/15). This gives you
a reasonably***pit noise level, but very quiet when you view via F3.
Oddities:
* The manual is hilarious! The occasional French word is left untranslated.
And they mistranslated "height" into "waist". So if anyone has Damon Hills
waist size, please send it on :-)
* The sound editor is also in French.
Problems:
*I get the "double sound" phenomena with my TB Montego soundcard. Switching
off the hardware accel cures it.
*I get a slight clicking sound from the soundcard every 5-10 sec or so. I'll
try switching between WAVPW and WAVX2 to see if it disappears.
*I get no sound in the replay mode (I did with F1RS).
Overall:
Again, it is unfair of me to judge at this point. It strikes me as a mid-life
upgrade. Not a new product, but goes beyond what a company should do as a
patch. The rest of the updated features are just sort-of-nice-to-haves.
Certainly if I was going to buy one or the other, I'd spend the extra $15 or
so for the newer version. As to whether it is worth an upgrade, to each his
own. And for me, time will tell if the AI and handling are far superior.
