best sims?

I'm not entirely new to the sim community, as I currently have: Viper Racing Sports Car Gt Midtown Madness CART Precsion Racing Nascar Racing 1999 I enjoy them all for different reasons; I like several of the road courses, the sound, and the sense of speed from CPR; I like the way you can four-wheel drift in VR; I like the huge fields of opponents in N99; I like almost everything about SPGT (except that the sound is terrible and you can't hear your own engine when you're in a crowd). But I want to buy some more sims now and don't know which ones are worth my time and money. I know that GPL is a given, and basically the only reason I haven't gotten it yet was because most of the things I've read on this newsgroup indicate that I won't be happy with the performance of it on my machine: Pentium 233MMX 64MB RAM 4MB Monster 3D Voodoo1 add-on accellerator Thrustmaster Nascar Pro wheel (which I love because of the CART-like shifter) (Another machine is not an option now) I'm not racing online yet, but hope to at some point. So besides GPL, are there any other current sims worth looking at? <remove 7of9 for e-mail replies> -- Bill Jones e-mail addresses: (860) 701-1201 WWW: http://pages.cthome.net/billj

Im also not sure if your system is good enough for GPL. But you can try the demo and have a look. GPL is, as you know, the hardest and most realistic driving-sim (incl. 4-wheel-drift). Titop

> I'm not racing online yet, but hope to at some point. So besides GPL, are > there any other current sims worth looking at? Other than GPL, not really, given what you already have. And even GPL's a bit of a stretch for your PC. You'd do well to pick up a Voodoo3 video card though. You can get a V3 2000 PCI version for about $80 now (check www.shopper.com) and that will vastly improve your performance, even 2D. That's no more bucks than a couple of games, and when Nascar 3 shows up in the near future, you'll be fairly well set for that also. GPL and N3 will likely be your best bet for online racing, though Motorsims' upcoming AMA Superbike may give 'em a run for their money (and yours). Cheers, Steve B.

I HIGHLY recommend that you check out Powerslide -- it's a Mad Max-type futuristic arcade racer, but I think it far exceeds everything except GPL and Viper Racing in the physics department. These days, all I play is GPL, Viper Racing, and Powerslide -- I like it FAR better than SCGT (which is rapidly gathering dust right now). Check out the DASCAR Web site -- I think they have an offer where you can order Powerslide for $14.95 ($19.95 with shipping). They're at: http://www.ivga.com/ Enjoy! -- John Bodin Publisher, The IRL Insider Magazine http://irlinsider.adnetweb.com/

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>I'm not entirely new to the sim community, as I currently have: >Viper Racing >Sports Car Gt >Midtown Madness >CART Precsion Racing >Nascar Racing 1999 >I enjoy them all for different reasons; I like several of the road courses, >the sound, and the sense of speed from CPR; I like the way you can >four-wheel drift in VR; I like the huge fields of opponents in N99; I like >almost everything about SPGT (except that the sound is terrible and you >can't hear your own engine when you're in a crowd). >But I want to buy some more sims now and don't know which ones are worth my >time and money. I know that GPL is a given, and basically the only reason

I

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>haven't gotten it yet was because most of the things I've read on this >newsgroup indicate that I won't be happy with the performance of it on my >machine: >Pentium 233MMX >64MB RAM >4MB Monster 3D Voodoo1 add-on accellerator >Thrustmaster Nascar Pro wheel (which I love because of the CART-like >shifter) >(Another machine is not an option now) >I'm not racing online yet, but hope to at some point. So besides GPL, are >there any other current sims worth looking at? ><remove 7of9 for e-mail replies> >-- >Bill Jones e-mail addresses: >(860) 701-1201 WWW: http://pages.cthome.net/billj

Hi Bill. You and I have the same machine. I race GPL on and off-line. Online is easier on the processor when other cars are on the track for some reason. I guess AI is harder to place. I keep the graphics at 640x480 with no specular highlights and no dynamic lighting, only cars in mirrors and detail bias at about 20%. When you get the game these setting will make more sense. :-) I get 36 frames about 80% of the time at all the tracks online. The lowest it goes is about 29fps. It is very driveable. Consistent and enjoyable. I am considered safe and courteous online (if nothing else:-)) so it works well with others. Off-line I get a few frames less per second. But that's not the problem. When using more than 9 AI there is latency in the processor that isn't reflected by the frame rate. It makes controlling the car impossible. So it's sort of like controller frame rate is separate from graphics frame rate. Hard to explain but it's there. Either way GPL is really, really good on your machine. You will simply have a max number of opponents that your machine can handle. About 9 off-line/15 online. VROC has added a whole new dimension to driving sims on my computer. -- Mark Jeangerard www.soundchaserweb.com New Mexico USA > I'm not entirely new to the sim community, as I currently have: > Viper Racing > Sports Car Gt > Midtown Madness > CART Precsion Racing > Nascar Racing 1999 > I enjoy them all for different reasons; I like several of the road courses, > the sound, and the sense of speed from CPR; I like the way you can > four-wheel drift in VR; I like the huge fields of opponents in N99; I like > almost everything about SPGT (except that the sound is terrible and you > can't hear your own engine when you're in a crowd). > But I want to buy some more sims now and don't know which ones are worth my > time and money. I know that GPL is a given, and basically the only reason I > haven't gotten it yet was because most of the things I've read on this > newsgroup indicate that I won't be happy with the performance of it on my > machine: > Pentium 233MMX > 64MB RAM > 4MB Monster 3D Voodoo1 add-on accellerator > Thrustmaster Nascar Pro wheel (which I love because of the CART-like > shifter) > (Another machine is not an option now) > I'm not racing online yet, but hope to at some point. So besides GPL, are > there any other current sims worth looking at? > <remove 7of9 for e-mail replies> > -- > Bill Jones e-mail addresses: > (860) 701-1201 WWW: http://pages.cthome.net/billj

Try the GP 500 motorcycle sim demo, it is AWESOME. The graphics and rider/bike animations are state of the art. I believe that the retail version is due out in october. Motocross Madness is another good game, albeit with exagerated motorcycle physics, but it is visually stunning, especially the crash animations which are the best in any videogame. The demo is also available on the web. Extreme Trial Motocross is a very realistic motocross sim, worth downloading. Re-volt is a very accurate simulation of Radio controlled car racing. The cars are a little tough to control sometimes, but that just the way they are in real-life. Grand Prix 2 is still an excellent game. TOCA racing 2 is pretty decent also. * Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet's Discussion Network * The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet - Free!

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>I know that GPL is a given, and basically the only reason I >haven't gotten it yet was because most of the things I've read on this >newsgroup indicate that I won't be happy with the performance of it on my >machine: >Pentium 233MMX >64MB RAM >4MB Monster 3D Voodoo1 add-on accellerator >Thrustmaster Nascar Pro wheel (which I love because of the CART-like >shifter) >(Another machine is not an option now)

Your machine will run GPL fine, if you stick to 640x480 and turn off a few of the less important graphical details. -- spamgard(tm): To email me, put "geek" in your Subject line.

GPL SCGT