I finally got it! Yessss!!!! :)
After spending a lot of money on useless FTP attempts, I followed
Marcus Niemczyk's (hope I spelled that correctly :) suggestion and
bought the german magazine PC Games which has the demo on the CD of
its current number. Much cheaper, much more comfortable and much
quicker than this stupid download business with a 56k modem. ;)
Well, here are my impressions. Let's put the bad things first: the
controls in the demo positively suck. I'm sorry for the expression,
but I can't think of a more fitting one. Two keys on the left (!) for
steering, three keys on the right of the keyboard for accelerating,
accelerating with wheelspin, and braking/reverse. I can't drive with
such inputs - impossible.
While exploring the map, my driving resembled most closely that of a
stereotypical 40-year-old beginner on his first drivers ed lesson, as
we know it from numerous bad, supposedly funny movies: can't drive in
a straight line, is either spinning the wheels of blocking them at
pedestrian speeds etc. etc. An awful sight, I tell you. :)
Another thing that is not completely satisfactory is the damage model.
It is very easy to smash the front or rear of the car (too easy in my
opinion), but it's well nigh impossible to even scratch the paint on
the doors.
This covers the bad impressions. Everything else is utterly
delightful. :) First of all, the framerates are great on my computer
(K6-2 400, V3 2000). This is a glide only demo, so I can't say a word
about the D3D performance, but the glide performance is really nice.
Even if I turn everything on, the framerate is wonderful. And you have
numerous options of fine-tuning the graphics to achieve an optimal
framerate: the drawing distance in the mirrors and ahead can be
selected independently in four (I think) steps. Eye candy such as
reflecting textures and real-time shadows can be turned on or off.
Finally, you can adjust the size of the screen in many steps between
full screen and postal stamp. I like that.
The physics of the cars are a bit arcadish, but not so much that it
would lessen my enjoyment. There is understeer and oversteer, and the
behavior of the car feels reasonable. Some real world effects are
diminished, though: it is almost impossible to produce "driver induced
oscillations" (i.e. the car breaks out to the right, you correct this
but apply too much lock, the car now breaks out to the left, you
correct again, and again too much. Finally, you spin.) The effects of
shifting tire loads are there, anyway, and it is fun to drive the
cars.
I love those cars: 60s and 70s American muscle cars, and simple full
size sedans of that era as well. The sound of the idling V8 is just
music if you love this kind of cars - which I happen to do. :) The
whole bunch of available cars is in dire need of new shocks, though.
Stiffer springs and ARBs wouldn't hurt either. :) But as they are, the
cars recreate the optical impression on has in mind from movies like
Bullit, Blues Brothers, French Connection, or Driver. Beautiful.
Speaking of movies, this game apparently has a rather sophisticated
replay function. This does not work in the demo, but it seems the
finished game will have an editing option for the replay - you can
make your own car chase movies with flying hubcaps and everything.
Neat.
The map of Miami is huge, and there are some interesting special
areas. I understand the full game will have four cities to choose
from. All roads lead either north-south or east-west, the
intersections are all rectangular. This might be the case in Miami
(I've never been there), but it is also a bit boring. Nonetheless,
this is a game I am going to buy the day it appears - if it supports
analog controllers by then, that is.
PS.: Here's one option I haven't seen mentioned in previous threads:
in the file mission661.dms, you can change the line EnablePlayerDamage
to DisablePlayerDamage. Your car will still receive damage, but it
won't break anymore.
--
Wolfgang Preiss \ E-mail copies of replies to this posting are welcome.
...snip
The first thing I did before anything else was map the arrow keys to forward
(up), brakes (down), and left and right. This made things much easier. I'd
like to try it with my wheel, but I like the keyboard in Driver better than
I did with Midtown Madness.
... big snip
You can also try out the other 11 cars by changing PlayerCarType. 10 is a
police car (but the cops still chase you). Too bad you can't turn on the
siren! Here's a real spoiler.... car 4, a light blue first generation
camaro-like car (from the side anyway) with a racing stripe, has the highest
top speed. Wait for a cop to get on your tail, find a long straight and
floor it, and he's gone! I think it's the 12th car that looks just like the
car James Garner drove in The Rockford Files!
I'm trying to turn off the cops, or at least make them stop spawning, but to
no avail. I've tried changing Cops_on to Cops_off, and I remarked out
SpawnCops, but no effect is seen. Does anyone know how to do this or turn
off the drone cars? Maybe a different file?
> --
> Wolfgang Preiss \ E-mail copies of replies to this posting are welcome.
cancellation
warned.
