I have two religions, Motorcycle racing and computers. We even have a
house on Phillip Island a few paddocks from the GP track and have lived
in campervans chasing the racing across Europe! So when the new spate of
Motorcycle games started appearing, starting with original Moto Racer, I
have dedicated many a happy hour wearing out joysticks playing the damn
things. Some have been terrfic fun, such as Motocross Madness, and some
have been plain junk, such as Redline Racer. When I first heard about a
licence to cover the SBK world Championship with the real tracks and
riders I thought heaven was only a few months away. I patiently waited,
and put up with Castrol Honda's adverti***t disguised as a game as a
temporary fix, and looked for the first previews and demos with
eagerness.
A couple of months before Christmas I finally got my hands on the first
demo. Amazing Graphics with both my Voodoo2 SLI and STB v4400 TNT card.
I purchased the released game on the morning of its release in Australia
on the strength of the demo and loaded it up with eagerness only to
quickly realise that this is another game rushed out to the stores and
badly in need of a patch.
There is a marked difference between the demo and the released version
in terms of features. On my Xeon 450MHz systems the following problems
are occuring;
There is no ability to adjust the sensitivity of the Joystick. I can do
this in the demo (which is still on my PC).
I can go to a max of 800x600 resolution with both the STB v4400 16MB TNT
and Voodoo2 SLI. With the demo I can go up to 1600x1200 with the STB
v4400 and 1024x768 with the Voodoo2. I must say the graphics with the
Voodoo2 are excellent!
The graphics using the STB v4400 with the released game are crap. I have
tried using the 1.48 and 1.52 and Detonator reference driver. I have
tried the 1.42, 1.48 and 1.52 STB drivers. I have tried both DirectX 6.0
and 6.1. No matter what the drivers or settings I use for the STB v4400
the graphics end up distorted. For instance, the disc brakes end up the
same size as the wheels! The demo loaded on the same machine works
perfectly okay with the STB v4400.
On the gameplay side the game is almost made in heaven for bike freaks
except for some quirks I reckon need fixing quickly before the game gets
a reputation as only being usable with the arcade settings.
In the simulation setting I believe the front tyre grip is pathetic. I
either find myself understeering (Pushing) in corners with the front
wheel sliding or the front wheel slipping from underneath me way too
easily. The first corner on Philip Island is a good example. Real SBK
and GP bikes are doing well over 200KMH aroung this bend yet no matter
which bike, tyre or setting I use I can not go over 120Kmh around this
corner. I find the same on most other sweepers on the tracks I have
tried so far.
The steering at slow speed is too sensitive and the bike tends to go
from severe understeer to instant oversteer severely on sharp corners.
Since I cant adjust the joysticks sensitivity and this transition only
take a slight throttle increase or lateral joystick movement I find it
impossible to break late and dip inside the oppositon, such as at Honda
Corner or Lukey Heights at Phillip Island.
I beleive the first patch will address these handling issues and
hopefully address some of the graphics issues. The realism level is
fantastic and the sense of speed (even when you fill the grid with 32
bikes) is terrific. You really get a sense of satisfaction when you punt
Foggy off the track! There are other niggly issues, such as the
repitition of Bike graphics once you go over 18 bikes, that I am sure
will be addressed by user generated addons for the game. But for now the
enjoyment is decreased due to the sensitivity of the joystick and what I
see as some fundamental front end physics problems.
I've gone quicker through turn 1 on a street bike!
Ian - (still having too much fun with GPL to have even tried SWC yet)
That's exactly what I've thought, but not being a real bike fanatic I wasnt
sure if that was the case, or if I just missed the setup on the bike. One
other slight problem i found happens when you delete a season, YOU LOSE YOUR
SETUPS TOO!!! AARRGHH!! Oh well, only minor problems that should hopefully be
corrected by a patch.
hi. I baught the game 3 days after it came out. I love it to death. Few
questions tho.
1) is phillip island track accurate? laguna seca is accurate in layout but
not hills\elevation changes. I have compared screenshots vs real pictures
on this track.
2) even tho the grip is a bit touchy on the front tire I can still get
rather close to real track records on some tracks (eg Albacete, I'm 3 sec
off record time. and have yet to use the bike setup editor.)
3) so far im not truly complaining cause compare this to all the other road
bike racing sims, this is the top.
thanks,
DjFIL
