Hi guys!
Just got back from a jolly good (as ever) trip to Le Mans and the 24 hour
classic.
During the stay me and my teammate Matt Knutsen, had a chance to get a first
look at "Le Mans 24 hours - the game" by Infogrames. As they had a promotion
thing going on up in the "village" during the race.
As ever in France, english speaking people are hard to find, but we managed
to get hold of an Australian that (afaik) worked at Infogrames to tell us a
little about the game itself.
Unfortunatly the chap knew very little about the features etc. and IMHO did
more damage than good. However, we managed to get hold of some
information...
The game is set for a September release. from what we understood they've
"delayed" the release alittle so that they could improve the physics. I had
the chance to test-drive the game for 2 laps around the track, and IMHO - a
delay is a _good_ thing. Although, I only got to drive it for two laps with
a crappy steering wheel (the dead-zone was soooooooooo big), and I belive
with some driving-aids turned on (like auto-shift) - I could tell instantly
that it needed to be improved. As with all exhibitons, there's a big crowd
waiting to try so I never saw anything but the car-selection screen and the
track itself.
I selected the 98 BMW LM and hit the track, just to find the biggest
disappointment of them all... no in-car view. :-((( Flipping thru the
different views I could only find the "normal arcade-views"; front-bumper,
behind and above the car, trackside and up on the hood-kinda-view. I like to
know where the lateral limits of the car is so i selected the "hood-view".
The 98 BMW had a single mirror almost infront of the driver and so did the
car in the game. The bad thing tho, was that this mirror didnt work at all.
Disappointment no.2.
Given that this was just demo... the "race" started instantly and off we go.
My first lap was'nt exactly the cleanest I've ever driven, starting off with
a nice spin as I jumped the curbs at the Dunlop-chicane. After lossing a
good chunk of time trying to get the car pointing the right way again, I
continue down thru the Esses, thur Terte-Rouge and onto the Mulsanne
straight. Heading towards the first chicane (Nissan), disappointment #3
arise; no "speed-feeling" at all. It just didnt feel like 300+ km/h at all.
I belive this was due to two things, the PC seemed to stuggle with poor FPS
at points and the number of 2D objects that were drawn on each side of the
track. Having spendt 2 hours trying to sneak out to the Mulasanne in the
middle of the night some years ago, I *know* there's alot of trees and
buildings on each side of the track. Sure there were some in the game, but
way to few. IMO, the reason the GPL track feel fast is due to alot of
objects flashing by when out drive thru a fast section on the track (Rouen,
Spa, Mexico and the Ring spings to mind).
The chap from Infogrames said that the developer had spent chunks of time
trying to get the track "right" but I'm not that impressed, nor do I totally
agree with him. More track-side objects might cure the lack of speed
problem.
I spin again as I hit a Porsche out of the Nissan chicane and again loose
some time trying to get the car pointing the right way again, all the time
seeing the classic "WRONG WAY" meassage flashing in the middle of the screen
(disappointment #4).
The lack of mirrors etc. didnt exactly make it any easier as other cars
bumped into me all the time.. sparks flying etc. but no damage-modelled at
all. Having finally got the car right after a laying a few tonnes of ***
on the tarmac, I head thru the 2nd chicane and down towards Mulsanne corner.
The slower AI's were quite slow so I get by a couple of cars as we
accelerate out of Mulsanne corner and head for Indianapolis and Arnage
during sunset.
The light got turned on and I gotta say it was kinda cool to drive at night.
The track grapichs were good so it's a great shame the rest were not up to
par. The cars also looked pretty good on the outside, with exhaust flames
flashing at night.. I didn't notice any glowing brake-discs nor
exhaust-headers tho.
On the run from Arnage towards the Porsche-curves the poor FPS once again
become visible.. the PC seemed to struggle at points. The section thru
Porsche-curves and towards the pit's didn't feel completely right.
Espesially the part from "Maison Blanche" to the Ford-chicane - way to short
IMHO.
On my second lap things went better, neat little things like the sun-rise
etc. were cool features. Being blinded by the sun as I head out of
Mulsanne-corner was neat, but they could drop the lens-flare IMO.
Now, again... it was hard to get hold of some real information like,
multiplayer features, setups etc. The Infogrames representative seemed to
know _very_ little about the game or of sim-racing in general.. We mentioned
GPL and r.a.s to him but from what I could tell, he looked as if he'd never
heard about it at all. He did speak of some multiplayer features but I
wouldn't hold my breath.
As for the physics, they were not anything special at all... I'de say they
felt like something closer to ICR2 and N2 than GPL or SCGT. On my second lap
I tried to cut a chicane by putting 2 wheels on the inside of the curb and
the car snapped around instantly, even though I was travelling in a straight
line. :((
Had this thing been a simulator, I would think my lap-times would be abit
slower than the 4:12.xx I managed my second and last lap (spins and all)
We also heard that the game support 3DFX 3d-cards and that others "might" be
supported.
So to summarize the test-drive:
Good things:
- Nice graphics.
- "O.K." track.
- Skidmarks.
- Dynamic shadows and lightning.
- Many cars to choose from.
- It's Le Mans!!
Bad things:
- No incar view
- Lack of speed.
- Physics
- Lens-flares
- AI to slow at certain points
- Track feels in-accurat at points.
- To small elevation-differences (Dunlop etc.)
- Looks and feels like an arcade-game (it even had # of credits left on the
selection-screen :(((((
- Too few spectators present.
- No yellow flags that I noticed.
There were also a few items present that gave the game a certain Le Mans
feeling to it... which were good but a total waste of time from a
sim-perspective.. Like fireworks launched from the camp-sites at night etc.
Sure, the thing we saw were just a tiny demo nor did we get a chance to test
it properly, but IMHO, if "Le Mans - the game" is to become a *simulation*
of the greatest race there is... a miracle is indeed needed.
--
All the best,
Edwin Solheim **remove spamguard in address to reply**
Drop by "The Paddock - a legendary site....." for some cool GPL stuff!
http://home.c2i.net/thepaddock
On Tue, 15 Jun 1999 20:39:37 +0200, "Edwin Solheim"
>Just got back from a jolly good (as ever) trip to Le Mans and the 24 hour
>classic.
>During the stay me and my teammate Matt Knutsen, had a chance to get a first
>look at "Le Mans 24 hours - the game" by Infogrames. As they had a promotion
>thing going on up in the "village" during the race.
I saw it too, read something about "Sony Playstation", laughed and
went on.
--
Matthias Flatt
Quoted text (10 lines)
>On Tue, 15 Jun 1999 20:39:37 +0200, "Edwin Solheim" >>Just got back from a jolly good (as ever) trip to Le Mans and the 24 hour >>classic. >>During the stay me and my teammate Matt Knutsen, had a chance to get a first >>look at "Le Mans 24 hours - the game" by Infogrames. As they had a promotion >>thing going on up in the "village" during the race. >I saw it too, read something about "Sony Playstation", laughed and >went on.I guess you've never heard of "Gran Turismo", then.
--
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