** MGPRS2 Review on High Gear

Hi all, another update on High Gear. A MGPRS2 review by Stefan Petrovic can be found on http://www.simracingnews.com/reviews/mgprs2/ Bye, Kenneth Verburg Webmaster High Gear

> another update on High Gear. A MGPRS2 review by Stefan Petrovic can be found > on http://www.simracingnews.com/reviews/mgprs2/ In it, he says "I hope that Ubisoft will stop using the European simracers as beta testers". Why? Is he objecting to Europeans or to simracers? Paul

Paul Jones wrote I don't know but... All the playtesting (not beta, but the playtesting counted as most of the internal game testing, and the beta was very short) for F1RS and MonacoGP was done here in Montreal by a group of about 30playtesters. They don't know a ***about how a racecar acts on a racetrack, and I will say from the bottom of my heart they don't know a heck on what should or not be in a racing simulator. As I called them, just a bunch of wannabe's. So don't wonder why it's that buggy <g> And yes... to whoever that will email me at Ubisoft you know and I know I don't have any respect for you, after what happened this summer. Thanks. <no we bring you back to your normal broadcasting> -= Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard/Nas-Frank> -= NROS Nascar sanctioned Guide http://www.nros.com/ -= SimRacing Online http://www.simracing.com/ -= Official mentally retarded guy of r.a.s. -= May the Downforce be with you... "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."

This is because with both F1RS and MGP, the European market got the title way before anyone else did. In both cases, the 1st release was VERY buggy and patches were coming out on a regular basis until it was released to the rest of the world (hence the 'beta-tester' reference). MGP isnt supposed to officially appear here in the US until Feb, but it's already been floating around for some time and already 2 patches have been released. internal game testing, and the beta was very short) for F1RS and MonacoGP was done here in Montreal by a group of about 30playtesters. They don't know a ***about how a racecar acts on a racetrack (snipped)<< I have been saying this myself from the get-go. It seems that although UBI does have people working on this sim who are indeed fans of the series. They dont seem to actually have any "students of the game", as I would call it. This is why Papy will always put out a better product than UBI can in their current state. Papyrus has people on staff who know the intricacies of the sport, whereas UBI seems to only have people that have a casual knowledge of it all. The best example of this I can give is when I was talking to some UBI people at their Game Service. I spent about 35 minutes explaining to them why camber needs to be implemented on the tracks. Well at least they listened. If they actually do anything about it is a different story altogether... I should point out however, that the people I have spoken to over at UBI have been very helpful and receptive to suggestions of mine and freinds. A public beta program during the developement phase (ala Papy with the GPL project) would make things alot better IMHO. Perhaps it is time for some recruiting on their part, as they cant seem to get the job done well enough in-house. With that in mind... don't have any respect for you, after what happened this summer. Thanks.<<< Ooooh! Scandal! Unless I missed out on this one before. I have got to hear about this. Please share :-) F1Filter

>This is because with both F1RS and MGP, the European market got the title way >before anyone else did. In both cases, the 1st release was VERY buggy and >patches were coming out on a regular basis until it was released to the rest of >the world (hence the 'beta-tester' reference). MGP isnt supposed to officially >appear here in the US until Feb, but it's already been floating around for some >time and already 2 patches have been released. To all prospective purchasers of MGPRS2: IMO, the "VERY buggy" is VERY overstated. Basically, out of the box, the game has been enjoyable and has not crashed a single time on my machine. Are there bugs? Yes. The sound still doesn't work in replay. Initially, there were other sound probs, the most egregious cured by turning off my card's hardware sound acceleration. The AI drivers sometimes posted unrealistic qual times. That's about all I saw that I'd consider bugs. Others saw more, but to the level of seriously detracting?? It is not a perfect sim, but a lot of what people complain about aren't bugs, but are just the way the game is designed. Now as to whether MGPRS2 is enough of a change to warrant its purchase if you already have and enjoy F1RS, that's another debate...

Dave, I agree with you here. The problems with this game are overstated, to say the least. I like it very much and enjoy racing online. Now if you want some real bad stuff then just buy some EA products. To speak of Ubisoft and EA in the same breath would be totally unfair to Ubisoft. Alanb

Allow for me to clarify something here. I was not saying that MGP in it's current state (R 103) is 'VERY buggy'. But I was merely pointing out that there have been quite a few people who have had problems in getting the sim to run properly on their particular PC at the beginning. One only has to look at the forum at the Unofficial MGPRS2 site to see what I am talking about. Since the initial release, there has already been 2 patches which have fixed a variety of problems with certian video chipsets and a type of CPU. UBI has these fixes on record, so to say that the initial release was not buggy isn't being realistic at all. I myself havent had any real hardware problems running this sim, and it seems that neither of you have either. But unfortunately both forums on the Unofficial and UBI's own site have quite a few people that do. Whether it is due to the the program itself or the way these people have their hardware configured, is another subject altogether. As to the question if MGP is a worthwhile upgrade from F1RS. I uninstalled F1RS from my hard-drive approximately 1 week after getting MGP. F1Filter

> Allow for me to clarify something here. I was not saying that MGP in it's > current state (R 103) is 'VERY buggy'. But I was merely pointing out that > there have been quite a few people who have had problems in getting the sim to > run properly on their particular PC at the beginning. One only has to look at > the forum at the Unofficial MGPRS2 site to see what I am talking about. Since Please, tell me one (just one) sim of some complexity that doesn't have some problems on some systems... l8er ronny -- How to get rid of censorship in German game releases <http://www.gamesmania.com/german/maniac/freedom/freedom.htm> |\ _,,,---,,_ 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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>> Allow for me to clarify something here. I was not saying that MGP in it's >> current state (R 103) is 'VERY buggy'. But I was merely pointing out that >> there have been quite a few people who have had problems in getting the sim to >> run properly on their particular PC at the beginning. One only has to look at >> the forum at the Unofficial MGPRS2 site to see what I am talking about. Since >Please, tell me one (just one) sim of some complexity that doesn't have some >problems on some systems...

So if there is no program with absolutely no bugs whatsoever, exactly how does that make all others equally flawed? Cheers! John

problems on some systems...<< That wasnt the issue here. The original poster wanted to know why the reference to "beta-testers" was being used in the review, and I pointed out why that was. Sorry if some people cannot accept the fact that MGP does have bugs which need to be fixed. UBI's tech-support themselves have mentioned several times on the Unofficial's forum that this is their number one priority. If that isnt an admission to the fact, then I dont know what is. Otherwise why would they be releasing all those patches for...their health??? Your point is well taken however. There isnt any sim to date that has been bug-free right off of the shelf (that I know of anyway). Chances are that will never happen with all the different hardware configurations out there. Add to that, accounting usually wants the program out on the store shelves way before the software is completely developed in order to get some kind of early return. F1Filter

Hmm.... Since when did the testers decide about the desing of the game (especially not the beta testers) ? The dynamics + other stuff in the game is (should be) desinged before any coding is done. Testing is playing the game and reporting errors. These are errors (bugs) that crash the game, make objects dissapear, etc... I really don't think there are any testers that have enough knowledge in racing to tell programmers exactly what is wrong (how would they know if the differential isn't simulated properly...) About Papy, some months ago I saw on ther page an invitation to join their beta testing programme.... ;) Regards, Tadej Krevh // The game is made in the desing phase of the game, everything else is // just an implementation of that phase // GPL Monaco 1.25.59

F1Filter wrote Well, as I will say.. One day they work in MonacoGP, the other day they are on Playmobil games for little Kids. That's Ubisoft. They will never be able to launch a SERIOUS hard-core racing simulator until they create their own "racing" division. That's why Im mad at them. They have great employees, great people. But the upper divisions of the company can't understand the need (IMHO) for a racing division. I will agree they have some good arcade racing titles. It's probably just a company philosophy... And as I said, the next day they may be working on a Kid entertainment (in anser to Tadej), so playtesters working for Ubisoft must be prepared for any kind of racing. Im not blaming them, but blaming it a little higher :) I know what is the playtester's job, I know this without a problem, and they still have a little opinion, even more sometimes depending if they become Game developper... Let me just say that the GPL Beta testing team and playtesting team can be interractive with the programmers. Almost all of them are simracers and have past racing experience. It is not the case at Ubisoft. And yes, I also tried for the playtester position at Papyrus, but nothing happened. I know who is there, and let me tell you they all need to understand how a car reacts on a road. They don't need to understand how FPS shooter physics and map level works. It's a pure racing company. It's different at Ubisoft, since they need to be prepared for any kind of game. Well this somehow globalize my idea of creating a racing division at Ubisoft. They have plenty of racing titles (for me arcade or sim makes no difference, since they could use a global game engine for the physics, making arcade AND simulators better...). Ubisoft NEEDS a new game engine for the future. The Pod one is starting to show it's weakeness (it was already easy to see with F1RS, even more with MonacoGP), compared to other racing companies. All of this is IMHO, but I feel (hey Im a nice guy, remember) that for the benefit of us, the simracers, them, the arcaders and them (2), Ubisoft that something like I said (a Racing division) could be VERY good. Im not here to make serious politics (even if some say so), but this year will be probably the best year in history for racing simulators. 98 was a transition year, but this year we will see the increase of new game engines, USB hardware, video graphic monopole probably, FFB wheels, etc... Just a little problem with a Ubisoft employee I met here in Montreal. Let's just say that my words were heard ;) -= Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard/Nas-Frank> -= NROS Nascar sanctioned Guide http://www.nros.com/ -= SimRacing Online http://www.simracing.com/ -= Official mentally retarded guy of r.a.s. -= May the Downforce be with you... "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."

snip > Well, as I will say.. > One day they work in MonacoGP, the other day they are on Playmobil games for > little Kids. That's Ubisoft. They will never be able to launch a SERIOUS > hard-core racing simulator until they create their own "racing" division. > That's why Im mad at them. They have great employees, great people. But I think, they already launched two, F1RS and MGPR, but I guess for getting your acknowledgment of being a SERIOUS (?) racing sim it has to have the Papy sticker on it, doesn't it? l8er ronny -- How to get rid of censorship in German game releases <http://www.gamesmania.com/german/maniac/freedom/freedom.htm> |\ _,,,---,,_ 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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> >> Allow for me to clarify something here. I was not saying that MGP in it's > >> current state (R 103) is 'VERY buggy'. But I was merely pointing out that > >> there have been quite a few people who have had problems in getting the sim to > >> run properly on their particular PC at the beginning. One only has to look at > >> the forum at the Unofficial MGPRS2 site to see what I am talking about. Since > >Please, tell me one (just one) sim of some complexity that doesn't have some > >problems on some systems... > So if there is no program with absolutely no bugs whatsoever, exactly > how does that make all others equally flawed?

Trying to missunderstand me, don't you? He sounded like it's really special of MGPRS to have bugs and people having problems with it, and I just made it relative by mentioning that ANY complex software HAS bugs or causes problems. l8er ronny -- How to get rid of censorship in German game releases <http://www.gamesmania.com/german/maniac/freedom/freedom.htm> |\ _,,,---,,_ 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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>> >> Allow for me to clarify something here. I was not saying that MGP in it's >> >> current state (R 103) is 'VERY buggy'. But I was merely pointing out that >> >> there have been quite a few people who have had problems in getting the sim to >> >> run properly on their particular PC at the beginning. One only has to look at >> >> the forum at the Unofficial MGPRS2 site to see what I am talking about. Since >> >Please, tell me one (just one) sim of some complexity that doesn't have some >> >problems on some systems... >> So if there is no program with absolutely no bugs whatsoever, exactly >> how does that make all others equally flawed? >Trying to missunderstand me, don't you? He sounded like it's really special >of MGPRS to have bugs and people having problems with it, and I just made it >relative by mentioning that ANY complex software HAS bugs or causes problems.

Not trying to misunderstand you, actually trying to clarify. Your post insinuates that all software is equally bug, and so since all software is bugged to some greater or lesser degree people shouldn't complain about the bugs in MGPRS2. Which, of course, is incorrect. Cheers! John

I haven't had any problems at all either. Runs great. David G Fisher >Dave, >I agree with you here. The problems with this game are overstated, to say >the least. I like it very much and enjoy racing online.