TOCA 2 DEMO FIRST IMPRESSION

Have u tried those Van diemens ,hehe they are great fun to drive totally outshines the touring cars for me. After racing in gpl for ages they make a welcome change although it all seems too easy to control and lacking in something in the reality stakes IM not quite sure what it is. Gear changing is perhaps far to easy, there doesn't seem to be any worries about blowing the engine etc. and although u can see damage on the cars it doesn't seem to effect anything in handling. The graphics are pretty good a cross between gpl and mgprs2 still a bit too cartoonish and bright, some parts are excellent but there are still a few minor niggles. Running in 1024*768 on a pII450 with 2 12mb r3d2's with everything at its highest it runs at an incredible speed, we are talking serious arcade speed. Which really conveys the feeling of speed well on the track. I can imagine there would be a lot of fun racing this online, lot of bumping and barging, maybe a bit too much, but u have to be careful with the van diemens because if u ride over someone's back wheel with your front u can expect to do some cartwheels :-) Took a while to set my wheel up the way I wanted it, and where I have my pedals on split axis it means it recognises another axis that I don't really have, and until I realised that I could set the dead zones for all axis ,all I had to do was set a 100% dead zone for that axis to stop it assigning that axis to the accelerator. I had to set the axis to non linear and use all the full movement so that the wheel wasn't over sensitive, there is an option to change the sensitivity but I couldn't change it in the demo. I would really of loved to try the Van Diemens on a track with some elevation changes. U can change a couple of things on the setup of the car like gear ratios, suspension and ,cant remember the other right now. U will want to bump the gear ratios up because u can drive around croft pretty much all in 5th gear, In the VD's anyway ,not sure I like them initials :-) So overall great fun ,very nice visuals although the inside***pits I think could of looked a lot better and a few little artefacts appearing at times. Fun game play not serious enough maybe for the real serious sim racers out there . Oh yeah and the replays are great and u can save them for later. The demo remembers all your settings. U can race in 3 laps, I thought the demo was supposed to be limited to 5 minutes but maybe that's if u don't get round the 3 laps in 5 minutes ,that really shouldn't be a problem for any1, and then u can go straight to another race time and time again :-) I think I'll be buying it when it comes out. only problem is I've now missed a whole evening of my GPL practice and I still need lots of that. -- Vince Fisher

mdenesse wrote Here mine now ;-) Mixed feelings. It's an upgrade over Toca2. But it's still similar to Toca. Still the 495876th menus. Just make it point and click, no need for all those menus. "oops" I forgot something, you need to completly go back to the first menu just for graphics or controller options. I feel they targeted the PSX for that and didn't cared for the PC platform. There is nice additions. They FINALLY understood that a good game controller menu is essential. Kudos to Codemaster for understanding finally that. Great options there, I was very surprised to have different options for each axis. Also nice overall options. I wish they were less in a pyramidal scheme (heh) to access, but there is tons of graphical options to tweaks. Only thing is "Why a Advanced menu in the advanced menu section?" lol ;) The track shipped with the demo is quite fun, but a little boring because of no elevation (as many tracks in England, but Brands Hatch would had been cooler hehe). Toca2 has the same game engine as the previous one, and you clearly see some little problems with turning the corners. The same "canned over-turn" routines when entering medium-speed corners. I drove Touring cars, so I know how they act on a track.. The weight shiftting in Toca makes the car almost on 2wheels in those type of corners. The grass is quite accurate, and I always loved the grints and rumbles of the 3d***pit in Toca1/2. Another thing, is it me or the graphics look quite grainy ? Just look at the background trees and people, it's very Ubisoft'esque ;-) Oh and another thing, please make us be able to get a higher last gear with the Formula Fords. It's quite boring to be at constant speed for all the backstrech... And tweak the FF starts for the AI ;-) . Overall the game engine is pretty good, not the best, not the worst. Just go at full speed and shift down from 6 to 1. Nothing happens. Or brake hard... the car never wants to swerve like it does in real life. Remember I raced those types of cars ;-) There's many little options here and there that adds to the realism. More eye-candy than anything else but it's very nice. We can classify this now as more than a sim than an arcade game, so I give it a 7 out of 10, and if they tweak the game engine a little more a 8 ;) Good work Codemaster -= 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."

John Wallace wrote lol I was surprised when it happened at the start (why is there always a mess there ? :) ). Ah... maybe 0.5 also more for licensing Nigel Mansell into the title ;-) It's always fun to your ego to punt him -= 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."

Nice graphics. Same problem that I had with Viper racing: those *** transparent triangles on the cars and on the track when I use my Monster 3D II. When I use my other card, a Diamond Stealth G460 (i740 chip), graphics are better but fps drop a lot. Some of you will tell me it has to do with my drivers. I'll answer you by saying this: why my other games work well with my Monster 3D II? There's transparent triangles in GPL, Nascar 99, Half-Life. Come on! Handling: come on, I drove my dad's Accord, and it's not that loose even at high speed. The end of the car snaps faster than a Rice Crispy... In car mirror are not clear enough... you get better graphics when you use the outside views... Question: as anybody been able to finish better than 10th? The cars are almost impossible to catch once you make the smallest mistake. Philster

The game looks better than Toca 1. There is a mirrorview in this version, and you can look to the right and to the left in the virtual***pit mode. Although it is by far not as realistic as Grandprix Legends, which is i.m.o. the only real racing sim available, it is great fun. I would recommend to download it. In the demo, you can not race in the 'expert' mode. It took me only 4 races in the formule ford class, to win my first race. I hope that the expert mode will be more realistic and more difficult. And i really hope that there will be real car damage in the expert mode. Remco

I give it more arcade than sim, but I'd give it an extra point just for the shaking***- I love that :-) Cheers! John

So you did download the 20Mb file then, John :-) Cheers, Paul

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> >We can classify this now as more than a sim than an arcade game, so I give > >it a 7 out of 10, and if they tweak the game engine a little more a 8 ;) > I give it more arcade than sim, but I'd give it an extra point just > for the shaking***- I love that :-) > Cheers! > John

> Handling: come on, I drove my dad's Accord, and it's not that loose even > at high speed. The end of the car snaps faster than a Rice Crispy... It's not modelling the same car at all as your Dad's. About the only thing that is the same is the shell. Yeah, GPL has better mirrors. I've got a 4th with the Honda but someone else said he got a 3rd and someone else again said he won in the Formula Ford. I can get off to a decent start in the Formula Ford so the best I've done in that is 7th. Cheers, Paul

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> Nice graphics. Same problem that I had with Viper racing: those *** > transparent triangles on the cars and on the track when I use my Monster > 3D II. When I use my other card, a Diamond Stealth G460 (i740 chip), > graphics are better but fps drop a lot. Some of you will tell me it has > to do with my drivers. I'll answer you by saying this: why my other > games work well with my Monster 3D II? There's transparent triangles in > GPL, Nascar 99, Half-Life. Come on!

Get the 207 drivers from Diamond. Then use the glide2x.dll from what u have now in GPL dir. It ill be ok then. Colin McRae has a problem that I couldn't fix with the same GPL technique...so I deleted it (which means no problems with new drivers :-). My fps in Viper went from 39 to 52 with new drivers. 33% improvement. Hmmm...is a race car the same as a street car? Does your dad have slicks on? Are the seats ripped out so you don't have extra wieght. These machines are very different... think they are 400hp (I seem to recall a NATCC race at Long Beach where they said that). I don't think it's fair to compare a race car to a street car. I'm not sure how a touring car handles, but it certainly is different than the one you pick up at the dealer. Well think about it. They need to conserve fps and at once they are showing 2 mirrors in the incar of the 3 total. This means quality needs to drop for the mirror in in-car because outside there is only 1 mirror. Also you have moving arms inside with is more power using. I find them easy to catch back up to...at least 1-2seconds faster for each of the 3 timed sections of the course. And in the Formula Fords they are just slow moving road blocks that make good ramps. :-P -- Jon Van Ginneken "...come on man...that's not ordinary, that's extrodinary." --"Iron" Mike Tyson

where is the 20mb file?

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>So you did download the 20Mb file then, John :-) >Cheers, >Paul >> >We can classify this now as more than a sim than an arcade game, so I

give

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>> >it a 7 out of 10, and if they tweak the game engine a little more a 8 ;) >> I give it more arcade than sim, but I'd give it an extra point just >> for the shaking***- I love that :-) >> Cheers! >> John

sorry i didn't make it that far down the ng before i started to look for it.

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>where is the 20mb file? >>So you did download the 20Mb file then, John :-) >>Cheers, >>Paul >>> >We can classify this now as more than a sim than an arcade game, so I >give >>> >it a 7 out of 10, and if they tweak the game engine a little more a 8

;) >>> I give it more arcade than sim, but I'd give it an extra point just >>> for the shaking***- I love that :-) >>> Cheers! >>> John

I had the same graphics problems with M3D 2 , Viper and CMR was bad but Direct X 6.1 and the 207 driver fixed it . Lutrell

5 speed Formula Ford? In the US FF's are 4 speed with the "Kent" 1600 engines. This engine sounds a bit different. Lutrell >The game looks better than Toca 1. >In the demo, you can not race in the 'expert' mode. It took me only 4 races >in the formule ford class, to win my first race. I hope that the expert mode >will be more realistic and more difficult. And i really hope that there will >be real car damage in the expert mode. >Remco

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>5 speed Formula Ford? In the US FF's are 4 speed with the "Kent" 1600 >engines. This engine sounds a bit different. >Lutrell >>The game looks better than Toca 1. >>In the demo, you can not race in the 'expert' mode. It took me only 4 races >>in the formule ford class, to win my first race. I hope that the expert >mode >>will be more realistic and more difficult. And i really hope that there >will >>be real car damage in the expert mode. >>Remco

The British F Ford Championship runs to avon slicks/Zetec 1800cc/Van Diemen or Mygale Chassis. (and..er.. Tattus i think from this year, too). Never the less, the shifter is on the wrong side in the game ;) Z.

On Wed, 27 Jan 1999 00:18:49 +0000, Paul Jones >So you did download the 20Mb file then, John :-) You're jumping to conclusions Paul.... :-) Cheers! John

It recovers pretty damn quickly too. Remember though that the BTCC version of the Accord bears no resemblance whatsoever to your Dad's one. My current car is an Accord and I sure as hell don't expect it to have performance or handling anything like the touring cars. I've managed 2nd in the Touring Cars driving "normally" and to win by driving like a total nutter. The key to winning a race is the first section from the start through to the exit of the chicane. I can generally make two or three places off the line then just straightline the car across the first and second corners and aim for the apex of the third with my eyes shut. If all goes well you'll be in the top 5 and have three laps to pick off the others. Cheers! John

Vince, I'm obviously not good enough to win and I do not have the time to practice but the game is still fun. I still want the crack or hack to remove the time-out ! Tim A. Deatherage "Admitted Sim ***"

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>Have u tried those Van diemens ,hehe they are great fun to drive totally >outshines the touring cars for me. After racing in gpl for ages they >make a welcome change although it all seems too easy to control and >lacking in something in the reality stakes IM not quite sure what it is. >Gear changing is perhaps far to easy, there doesn't seem to be any >worries about blowing the engine etc. and although u can see damage on >the cars it doesn't seem to effect anything in handling. >The graphics are pretty good a cross between gpl and mgprs2 still a bit >too cartoonish and bright, some parts are excellent but there are still >a few minor niggles. >Running in 1024*768 on a pII450 with 2 12mb r3d2's with everything at >its highest it runs at an incredible speed, we are talking serious >arcade speed. Which really conveys the feeling of speed well on the >track. >I can imagine there would be a lot of fun racing this online, lot of >bumping and barging, maybe a bit too much, but u have to be careful with >the van diemens because if u ride over someone's back wheel with your >front u can expect to do some cartwheels :-) >Took a while to set my wheel up the way I wanted it, and where I have my >pedals on split axis it means it recognises another axis that I don't >really have, and until I realised that I could set the dead zones for >all axis ,all I had to do was set a 100% dead zone for that axis to stop >it assigning that axis to the accelerator. >I had to set the axis to non linear and use all the full movement so >that the wheel wasn't over sensitive, there is an option to change the >sensitivity but I couldn't change it in the demo. >I would really of loved to try the Van Diemens on a track with some >elevation changes. >U can change a couple of things on the setup of the car like gear >ratios, suspension and ,cant remember the other right now. >U will want to bump the gear ratios up because u can drive around croft >pretty much all in 5th gear, In the VD's anyway ,not sure I like them >initials :-) >So overall great fun ,very nice visuals although the inside***pits I >think could of looked a lot better and a few little artefacts appearing >at times. Fun game play not serious enough maybe for the real serious >sim racers out there . >Oh yeah and the replays are great and u can save them for later. >The demo remembers all your settings. >U can race in 3 laps, I thought the demo was supposed to be limited to 5 >minutes but maybe that's if u don't get round the 3 laps in 5 minutes >,that really shouldn't be a problem for any1, and then u can go straight >to another race time and time again :-) >I think I'll be buying it when it comes out. >only problem is I've now missed a whole evening of my GPL practice and I >still need lots of that. >-- >Vince Fisher

:> Handling: come on, I drove my dad's Accord, and it's not that loose even :> at high speed. The end of the car snaps faster than a Rice Crispy... : Hmmm...is a race car the same as a street car? Does your dad have slicks : on? Are the seats ripped out so you don't have extra wieght. These : machines are very different... think they are 400hp (I seem to recall a : NATCC race at Long Beach where they said that). : I don't think it's fair to compare a race car to a street car. I'm not sure : how a touring car handles, but it certainly is different than the one you : pick up at the dealer. I have to say that the most important difference is probably that his dad's Accord is rear wheel drive - touring cars are front wheel drive and therefore extremely light at the back - which does lead the the rear end snapping out extremely easily. It also leads to other handling differences such as "when in doubt, accelerate" since you can often pull yourself round a corner. -- Richard G. Clegg Only the mind is waving Dept. of Mathematics (Network Control group) Uni. of York. www: http://manor.york.ac.uk/top.html

"I have to say that the most important difference is probably that his dad's Accord is rear wheel drive . . ." A RWD Accord?

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>>5 speed Formula Ford? In the US FF's are 4 speed with the "Kent" 1600 >>engines. This engine sounds a bit different. >>Lutrell >>>The game looks better than Toca 1. >>>In the demo, you can not race in the 'expert' mode. It took me only 4 races >>>in the formule ford class, to win my first race. I hope that the expert >>mode >>>will be more realistic and more difficult. And i really hope that there >>will >>>be real car damage in the expert mode. >>>Remco >The British F Ford Championship runs to avon slicks/Zetec 1800cc/Van >Diemen or Mygale Chassis. (and..er.. Tattus i think from this year, too). >Never the less, the shifter is on the wrong side in the game ;) >Z.

Never one to be a pedant... you forgot Ray. They have a couple of teams this year. Swift too... :P M

You guys keep mentionning that a regular Accord is different from a touring car Accord. I couldn't agree more. However, since it's a race car, I figure it would handle better at 160 kph than a regular Accord. That's all what I meant. Now, don't you find that the car oversteers a little bit too fast? Philster

I have won both Touring and Forma Ford classes, want real hard at all, question of car, and controller setup ! Tilus

Remember that fwd cars tend to oversteer when you back off the throttle in a tight spot.

Well, now I've won one but I'm a bit disappointed as to what I had to do to do it. I got a good start by clicking up to 4th as quickly as possible and then never dropping down below that even at the hairpin! Changing gear ratios didn't seem to make enough difference although I didn't fool with this enough. Seems that you can get better acceleration from low speeds in higher gears than from lower ones :-( Cheers, Paul

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> >> Question: as anybody been able to finish better than 10th? The cars are > >> almost impossible to catch once you make the smallest mistake. > >I've got a 4th with the Honda but someone else said he got a 3rd and > someone > >else again said he won in the Formula Ford. I can get off to a decent start > >in the Formula Ford so the best I've done in that is 7th. > >Cheers, > >Paul > I have won both Touring and Forma Ford classes, want real hard at all, > question of car, and controller setup ! > Tilus

: "I have to say that the most important difference is probably that his : dad's Accord is rear wheel drive . . ." : A RWD Accord? Oops - my mistake - anyone can have an off day. You're right - a modern accord is front wheel drive. -- Richard G. Clegg Only the mind is waving Dept. of Mathematics (Network Control group) Uni. of York. www: http://manor.york.ac.uk/top.html

> Oops - my mistake - anyone can have an off day. You're right - a > modern accord is front wheel drive. All Accords are FWD. Right from the 4 round headlight model in the late 70's to the 1998 Type-R. I like the sound of the S40. SOunds like the real BTCC car from inside the accord, as it (the S40) passes you. I'm disappointed that no Alfa 156 was available. I thought maybe some other cars from the STW/CIVT would be included just for kicks. Heck I would settle for a 155 16V 4 plug/16V 8 plug. I am also surprised at how relatively smooth the game was running on my intel P200 MMX with a Voodoo Banshee at 1024 X 768 on high detail. The funny thing is, going down to 640 X 480 did not make it any faster. How come?? Zamani

Hey Zamani :-) The card is outrunning the CPU. Basically the 200MMX is limiting how fast the game can run. When you go to a faster CPU you will find the game speeds up significantly. Have you tried maximum detail yet? At 1024x768 its great, but runs a bit slower as I have to use my iNtel card. Using my Voodoo2 at 800x600 its smooth as silk. -- Nathan Wong http://www.nectar.com.au/~alfacors - Super Touring - Alfa Romeo - - V8Supercars - CART -

Like you've driven a car at over 100MPH on a track. How can you compare your dads car to a game? I bet if you got a ride in a proper touring car you'd realise what a silly comparison you're making -- Nathan Wong http://www.nectar.com.au/~alfacors - Super Touring - Alfa Romeo - - V8Supercars - CART -