Best and Worst Racing Games of the year at SGN

Scott Moore at SGN has put up his best/worst list for the last year. Makes for interesting reading: [link lost in import: /***.com/editorial/racing1.shtml] Joe McGinn ========================================== Staff Writer for the Sports *** Network [link lost in import: /***.com/] ==========================================

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>> Scott Moore at SGN has put up his best/worst list for the last year. >> Makes for interesting reading: >> [link lost in import: /***.com/editorial/racing1.shtml] >Well since I haven't seen any reply to this, I guess (and IMHO) that your >list is totally true and I can't disagree on any point ! I really hope we >will see such quality titles in the next generation(since 85% or so of the >racing titles are released during the Christmas period) of racing >simulations. Rally 99, Driver, Nascar 3, Legends of Nascar, GP500 (?), GP3 >(?), AMA Superbike, etc... There will be losers and winners.

Don't forget RatBag's upcoming "Dirt Track Racing" title -- based on their work on PowerSlide, and PowerSlide's place of honor on the "Year's Best" list, I think Dirt Track Racing looks to be a winner.

Well since I haven't seen any reply to this, I guess (and IMHO) that your list is totally true and I can't disagree on any point ! I really hope we will see such quality titles in the next generation(since 85% or so of the racing titles are released during the Christmas period) of racing simulations. Rally 99, Driver, Nascar 3, Legends of Nascar, GP500 (?), GP3 (?), AMA Superbike, etc... There will be losers and winners. "You got to fight, for the right, to raaaaaaaace!" <Im poor in signing> -- -- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard/Nas-Frank> -- NROS Nascar sanctioned Guide http://www.nros.com/ -- 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."

I actually disagree with a couple items. The worst games of the year have got to be either Newman-Haas Racing for the PC or Empire's "Grand Touring" as they are much worse off than NASCAR Revolution, at least if you count the NRev patch, which made the game much better than it was.

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>> Scott Moore at SGN has put up his best/worst list for the last year. >> Makes for interesting reading: >> [link lost in import: /***.com/editorial/racing1.shtml] >Well since I haven't seen any reply to this, I guess (and IMHO) that your >list is totally true and I can't disagree on any point ! I really hope we >will see such quality titles in the next generation(since 85% or so of the >racing titles are released during the Christmas period) of racing >simulations. Rally 99, Driver, Nascar 3, Legends of Nascar, GP500 (?), GP3 >(?), AMA Superbike, etc... There will be losers and winners. >"You got to fight, for the right, to raaaaaaaace!" <Im poor in signing>

Randy Magruder [link lost in import]

> I actually disagree with a couple items. The worst games of the > year have got to be either Newman-Haas Racing for the PC or > Empire's "Grand Touring" as they are much worse off than > NASCAR Revolution, at least if you count the NRev patch, which > made the game much better than it was. Oh god I had almost forgot about Newman-Haas Racing, what a stinker that was. I also disagree with the biggest disappointment of the year, for me it was the cancellation of Trans-Am Racing. To think I could be running around Riverside right about now in a '68 Chevy Camaro with a deformed left rear quarter-panel from the wake-up call I got in the previous corner I nearly break down and cry. - George

I don't know, I didn't found Powerslide interesting at all, in fact it's one of the big disappointment for me this year. SODA : Off-Road is superior in all aspects of the simulations except graphics. If we exclude the crude graphics (well the non-rendition) of SODA, it's an incredible and under-estimated title. Great physics, MUCH better than about any racing sim on the market except GPL. For a title made about 2+years ago, it's really something. Look at the great modeling of the 3 different car types, how they really act different and how fun it is to finally master one of them in SODA. It has a great setup menu, a pretty good choice of tracks with a track EDITOR who is easy to use and give plenty of gameplay. The sound is almost better in SODA than Powerslide. People who think Powerslide has great physics should really look at SODA : Off-road and drool at the suspension movement all around the track. Because the track in Powerslide is mostly all flat (Im not talking about elevations here, but drastic change in elevation). In SODA you have almost high-frequency bumps, that you can put 1feet wide... and the physics are great in that aspect. -- -- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard/Nas-Frank> -- NROS Nascar sanctioned Guide http://www.nros.com/ -- 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."

Well if you include the patch, yes those two other titles are worse. I didn't said a word about Nascar Road Racing because it's very, very bad, but somehow it's made on purpose for the old Pentium 100mhz PC's or so. Even if I see your point about those two titles being worse, I still consider NREV as the biggest disappointment of the year, and the worst title for the hype, development and budget it had. Grand Touring was made by a bunch of guys for fun, little development group who had no publisher until late in the project. Newman-Haas Racing had about no work being done on that (just a port from the PSX with some tidbit additions). But NRev had a big budget, a big marketing push by EA Sports, etc... For me to have all this waste of programming is much more the point of having this awards. IMHO, of course :) -- -- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard/Nas-Frank> -- NROS Nascar sanctioned Guide http://www.nros.com/ -- 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."

>Don't forget RatBag's upcoming "Dirt Track Racing" title -- based on their >work on PowerSlide, and PowerSlide's place of honor on the "Year's Best" >list, I think Dirt Track Racing looks to be a winner. I agree. Powerslide was great, but I can't wait to see what they do in a more realistic setting! Joe McGinn ========================================== Staff Writer for the Sports *** Network [link lost in import: /***.com/] ==========================================

>I don't want to be a complainer or anything but doesn't it seem odd to have an >"of the year" list come out in August.? Or is this for July '98 to July '99 ?? Here is Scott's opening paragraph: "We've reached the dog days of summer, and we're nearing another Holiday season. For those of us who are extremely ***ed to PC entertainment (not that kind--I'm referring to games), that means a landslide of new titles will be vying for our attention. Great stuff, if you ask me, but I think that means I'll be giving annual awards for racing titles at the end of July, thus getting it done before I'm buried in new racing sims." I makes sense to me (as a game reviewer, I'm about to get swamped too, the Fall season is about to heat up). The WORST time is just before Christmas, before you've had time to see the xmas games. January - February would be the one other time to do it. Joe McGinn ========================================== Staff Writer for the Sports *** Network [link lost in import: /***.com/] ==========================================

Best game of the year....GPL 1.0 Worst game of the year..GPL 1.1 Mark

Okay, well then we have to distinguish between "worst game" of the year versus "most disappointing". In a football analogy, the Minnesota Vikings lost in the playoffs even though they had only one regular season loss. They were disappointing, but they were far from the worst :) Randy

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>> I actually disagree with a couple items. The worst games of the year >> have got to be either Newman-Haas Racing for the PC or Empire's "Grand >> Touring" as they are much worse off than NASCAR Revolution, at least >> if you count the NRev patch, which made the game much better than it >> was. >Well if you include the patch, yes those two other titles are worse. I >didn't said a word about Nascar Road Racing because it's very, very bad, but >somehow it's made on purpose for the old Pentium 100mhz PC's or so. >Even if I see your point about those two titles being worse, I still >consider NREV as the biggest disappointment of the year, and the worst title >for the hype, development and budget it had. Grand Touring was made by a >bunch of guys for fun, little development group who had no publisher until >late in the project. Newman-Haas Racing had about no work being done on >that (just a port from the PSX with some tidbit additions). But NRev had a >big budget, a big marketing push by EA Sports, etc... For me to have all >this waste of programming is much more the point of having this awards. >IMHO, of course :)

Randy Magruder http://members.home.com/rmagruder

onlything i think it missed was any comments about bike sims. since we know how the market for that is growing, slowly growing that is. DjFIL

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> > Scott Moore at SGN has put up his best/worst list for the last year. > > Makes for interesting reading: > > [link lost in import: /***.com/editorial/racing1.shtml] > Well since I haven't seen any reply to this, I guess (and IMHO) that your > list is totally true and I can't disagree on any point ! I really hope we > will see such quality titles in the next generation(since 85% or so of the > racing titles are released during the Christmas period) of racing > simulations. Rally 99, Driver, Nascar 3, Legends of Nascar, GP500 (?), GP3 > (?), AMA Superbike, etc... There will be losers and winners. > "You got to fight, for the right, to raaaaaaaace!" <Im poor in signing> > -- > -- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard/Nas-Frank> > -- NROS Nascar sanctioned Guide http://www.nros.com/ > -- 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."

What Frank says ;-) I can't understand the fuss about Powerslide at all. I tried the demo and whilst a cut above most arcade racers it really didn't feel at all special. I kept thinking, "SODA with these graphics would be great but there's nothing of interest here". Cheers, Richard

>Best game of the year....GPL 1.0 >Worst game of the year..GPL 1.1 Hehe...oh, Mark...what are your votes for best and worst configured systems of the year? <d,r&h> Remco

Quite how a simple file patch installation can re configure my whole machine beats me!! Mark