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Rec.Autos.Simulators Archive

Spirit of Speed Obs3

13 posts by 10 people · 30 Oct 1999 - 31 Oct 1999

AlanR 30 Oct 1999#500278
The 'Spoilt Brat Pack' element on this newsgroup really makes me sick. Okay, 'Spirit of Speed 1937' is no GPL.. but what is? For a first attempt, Broadsword have produced a really good effort. Better than say Papys original 'Indycar 500' or even the later 'Inycar Racing'. where the AI was shit. And the original NASCAR (their third attempt at a sim) was awful. It will be a long time before GPL will be surpassed, but that is more the fault with Papy or Sierra than the sim industry as a whole. We hear of Sierra/Papy not making enough money from GPL because it is a great sim and does not have any arcade qualities. Well, they could make more money out of it and improve the sim world no end. How? Just as ID licenced there 'DOOM' action game engine (and made a bundle doing it) so Sierra/Papy could licence their GPL engine and AI engine. In every industrial field, where licencing has been used so has that field flowered. If Sierra/Papy really have the simmers interests at heart then they would do this and not sit on the invention until they see fit to produce a very long awaited next sim. Until all this happens the rest of the industry will struggle to catch up and we will have to wait, wait, wait! I think 'Broadsword', having the knowledge that GPL was not a great commercial success ered on the side of caution and put the arcade element in the game to help sales. I am not convinced that a 1937 racing game will attract arcaders, who like modern/futuristic type games. Imagine SoS1937 with the GPL engine and AI. It would be awesome! So come on guys, a bit of encouragement for Broadsword may help them produce better simms in the future. And comparing SoS1937 with a Vic20 game is shear ludicrous! As simmers we all want good pure sims. But this is the real world where if you don't make it commercially you lose the best programmers to other fields (arcades for instance). Buying SoS1937 will provide valuable resources for Broadsword to continue their work. Lets face it..the product is worth buying just to drive the great old circuits. There is no other sim of this period. On this newsgroup there are too many 'put you down' types and not enough praise to encourage developers to move on. Take the moaning about the latest 'leaked' patch for GPL. I should think Papy are pretty sick of the 'Brat Pack' on this newsgroup. Anyway these are my thoughts, Alan NOTE I am in no way involved with Broadsword or Microprose and am voicing my opinions completely independantly
Rolf Hansso 30 Oct 1999#500279
Selected quotes: Are we debating the qualities of the actual demo or what? No, it will send the message that we really like this piece of crap. I would like to recommend some other line of work for them. I don't care if it's supposed to be arcade or sim. It's useless either way. Going by the demo this will be a commercial fiasco that will make GPL look like the success it deserve to be. circuits. The demo gives me no sense of driving, at all! There is no sim of this period. We are paying customers, not cheerleaders. You could have fooled me :-) / / Rolf
AlanRCo wrote Indy 500 Christmas 1989, Indycar late 1993 Hmmm... should we really be comparing 1999 titles with these - I don't think so. Why would anybody buy a title to a standard of a bygone age. I don't understand your logic. This is a serious attempt at competing with the latest releases of Sims or even arcade racers. Its title suggest it would appeal to enthusiasts not an arcade racer. Ok lets compare it to Indy 500 for the Amiga then - oh you already have Tony
H. Kerstm 30 Oct 1999#500281
Come on Alan, This is 1999. We have been stunned by sims like GP 2 and GPL, and even some arcadish games of the last years could please me for a couple of hours. BUT THIS? This is an absolute insult to sim and or arcade enthusiasts. I have seen a picture of the devoloping team standing nearby the sea. That must have done them in. Sunbathing, surfing, making nice walks along the beaches. I mean, they couldn't possibly have spent serious time on this monster. Have they seen GPL anyways. They can't have, otherwise they wouldn't have dared giving labour to this #%$#$^&#$*$. Shame on them, and on Microprose and hasbro for trying to rip off decent customers. Hielke
You're going to get a MASSIVE flaming...so I'd thought I'd light the match... Were not spoilt..we have standards. There is a SHOCKING lack of quality racing simulators. Let's face it...GP1, GP2, GPL...that's about it as far as I can see. As of yet...nothing. GPL is GPL..but that's because it's a one off. So what - a decade has past. Frankly, if from Indy500 to SOS'37 is progress, we've as good as gone backwards. No, it's because the market for ***Y difficult racing sims is quite small (as demonstrated by GPL). If more people took the Crammond approach of making the game accessable for the less-skilled / rehersed / practised..then there would be a better market for racing sims. As aforementioned... GPL didn't sell very well, a clone / add-on pack / altered version wouldn't sell well either. I don't see Sierra/Papy using the GPL engine. It was a one off..it made them no money, frankly they got burned. Exactly...we're still waiting So, they've written a 1937 game in the style of an arcade, KNOWING arcade lovers are not going to buy it. That makes NO SENSE. That's what were were hoping might have happened - a little closer to GPL NO - GPL is the industry standard for Racing Simulations. One can expect ANYTHING to be compared with it. Frankly..GPL is what...18 months old now...in that time, we've seen the advent of Athlon, Voodoo 3, it's time something AS GOOD, but maximising the updated technology. I am not a charity. I will NOT buy this piece of utter CRAP, because then Broadsword will fold up and never make any more CRAP. That's something that we can do by writting them ourselves in GPL and GP2. THere is no sim of this period. It belongs with empty pizza boxes and napkins..IN THE BIN. We should not be encouraging them. We should criticise the appauling effort made by Broadsword. I'm supprised Microprose even put their name to it...this is published by the people who will bring us GP3 people...I'm nervous. We're fairly sick of Papy to. They've completely IGNORED US. The first patch was a minor improvement. Why they had to change the ride height thing I do not know..but the FF is reasonable (not as good as TOCA 2's FF..that's how it SHOULD be done) You're intitled to them...but I don't agree with them. Now run off and play SOS 1937, I'm playing GP2 and TOCA 2 with some friends today. And enclosed are my thought... DOug
Doug Hook 30 Oct 1999#500283
Alan, count me in your corner. I actually like the demo and will definetly buy the full game when it comes out. It all comes down to one thing.It is fun to me . I don't care what everyone else thinks . The only person that it has to entertain is ME. So that is all that what matters. As for the rest of you.....are you sure you are giving it a chance?? I have read about people running 4 laps and deleting it from their hard drive. 4 LAPS !!! Give me a break. When the first GPL demo came out I hated it too. Why would I want to buy a game where you can't even copmlete a lap without spinning off the track 10 times. I am glad I gave it enough time to LEARN HOW TO DRIVE IT. Maybe thats whats needed here.
AlanR 30 Oct 1999#500284
Thanks, Doug for the suport. Mentioned earlier in this thread was building tracks of that era for GPL. Seeing how difficult it is to build third party track for GPL I don't see this as feesable in the near future. Even the Brands Hatch track was lacking in places. I think what the sim world needs is racing enthusiasts who are also good programmers who can hobby this sim world into existence. If GPL remains a 'one off' then the future looks bleak for simmers considering the fast moving technological world of computers! I think Broadsword is caught between a rock and a hard place and not knowing what to do for the best for a racing era that they obviously are interested in have compromised enormously. If they have broad shoulders enough to accept the criticism of this news group it may encourage them to reconsider this project. I wish them luck! Alan
ymenard 30 Oct 1999#500285
awful. What the heck are you saying ? Your talking about the million-selling Nascar Racing 1, one of the most revolutionnary game ever ? Why the Papy bashing to get a point for that crappy SOS title ? It's unecessary Sure we understand that !!!!! But you expect us to just shut up and don't try to push software developpers to make it more realistic ? The whole point about dumbing down is pretty amazing. Why couldn't you just create an "arcade" mode and a "hard-core simulation" mode. It is the only way to satisfy everybody. Look at N2 or N3 to see that at the best. A racing game is a racing game is a racing game. That's not an excuse for a racing game they ADVERTISED as a hard-core simulation. What you need to understand is that we don't give a darn about arcade games. If they hype a arcade game as an arcade game, it's ok for us. But when they hype a game as a simulation and it turns out to be an arcade game, we get mad and grow teeth like vampires haha ;) There is no need for us to encourage arcade-game developpers. We simply want racing simulations, as you saw. -- -- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard> -- 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."
Joe McGinn 30 Oct 1999#500286
>The 'Spoilt Brat Pack' element on this newsgroup really makes me sick. Okay, >'Spirit of Speed 1937' is no GPL.. but what is? I think "not being GPL" is the LEAST of the criticisms being leveled at SOS. I like arcade games. Play 'em more than GPL to be honest. I find the SOS demo to be a very poor arcade game, do mostly to the hopelessly poor steering wheel input and driving model. Ah, that was me I think. ;-) But seriously - I could keep the Vic-20 car on the track. Joe McGinn ========================================== Staff Writer for the Sports *** Network [link lost in import: /***.com/] ==========================================
Graeme Nash 30 Oct 1999#500287
Hmm... TOCA 2's FF is pretty good but saying it is better than GPL's is taking it more than a bit too far IMHO. Although I agree with everything else you said :-) -- Cheers! Graeme Nash
Graeme Nash 30 Oct 1999#500288
Much of *your* post was Papy bashing.... -- Cheers! Graeme Nash
ymenard 31 Oct 1999#500475
It's very weird but I agree. Still it has it's problems, like automatic gear setting changes "on the fly" while on track ;) . Still never finished a 200lapper! -- -- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard> -- 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."

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