DTR impressions

Well,since my 1st post agreeing with the Philster,I went back and spent the next hour just racing DTR off line. I was able to run consistantly in the top 5 in the super modifies with the AIs set at 80%. So now I'm going to give online racing a try,and see if it doesn't change my mind about DTR. Joel Willstein

I played a good bit after d/l'ing it yesterday, and I just don't get it myself. I think some setup adjustments, mainly steering lock, would help greatly - it just doesn't seem to like my MSFF. One, the force effects seem noticeably inferior to GPL or N3/NL, I just don't get any feel for where the car is going from the wheel. It also seems to be much too sensitive, in trying to get the car to turn in for the slide and then back to opposite lock to slide through, it all too often spins around on me, or I'm sliding into the wall. I'm pretty sure it's at least somewhat controller related - I'm no whiz in GPL but I can control the car in a slide, AND feel when my back end is coming around. I do this better with FF, but could do it pretty well before the 1.1 patch too. DTR isn't giving me anywhere near the same feel, with or without FF, and from reading many of the raves about it it seems I'm in the minority here. I'd check the newsgroups, see nobody else was saying much negative, figured I was missing something, fire it up again and still was missing it. I got like a 17.35 or something in a Late Model at 34 Speedway, but just never felt the car under me. Weird. Maybe with the default steering lock, and with wheels like the MS that have over 180 degrees travel, it is too touchy. I might play around with the MS controls and adjust the deadzone and all and see if I can get it to feel better. I am running 3.02, as Don suggests, so am not getting any slowdowns with FF. Since the full game will be $20, and will offer a lot of adjustments - hopefully including some FF tweaking - I'll still pick it up. The career mode sounds delicious. At this point though I'm in the "Huh? I don't get it" camp - yet I get SBK, GPL, N3, NL, SCGT, etc. - oh well maybe I'll figure it out eventually :-) -- Ken's Sig 3.01 "Who is the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?" - Obi-Wan Kenobi Go #43 and #44! volksy (at) yahoo (dot) com > Well,since my 1st post agreeing with the Philster,I went back and spent > the next hour just racing DTR off line. I was able to run consistantly in > the top 5 in the super modifies with the AIs set at 80%. So now I'm going to > give online racing a try,and see if it doesn't change my mind about DTR. > Joel Willstein

I haven't got FF (am using a Sidewinder Gamepad as my T2 is broken) and I found that it is a lot harder to get a "feel" for your car when compared to GPL specifically, for the simple fact that unless you drive in an external view---- you can't see the wheels. In GPL, the visual feedback you get from seeing where the wheels are pointed(when they're pointing in a different direction to the one you're travelling in!!) is crucial. In DTR's in-car view, without FF - there is no way to tell how far around your wheels are pointing. Driving with the external view helps considerably. Thinking about the above statement, I then immediately wondered why it isn't a problem in games such as Nascar3/Legends, SCGT, etc -- and the reason I think is because for the most part you aren't intentionally trying to keep an opposite-lock on for more than a brief second. In DTR, 1/4 way around a turn, you have no idea whether your wheels are pointed full-left, full-right, or somewhere in between. I guess this IS realistic though, right - in real life they can't see their own wheels, but have to drive by "feel"? You just have to take a totally different driving approach to it compared to the other games. Still fun though, even if I have to use external-cam to drive consistently!! R. Hashana

I've been using a MSFF wheel with GPL,Nas3,and SCGT. The FF is simply fantastic in GPL and NAS3. You get quite a lot of feed back as to what the car is doing. You can feel when the front end gets light or loads up. In SCGT I had to adjust both settings inorder to get any real feel,but there is some,and it does add to the overall sensation of driving a sports car. In DTR the FF is practically nonexistent. This could be from the fact that the front end gets really light when you start sliding around,but going down the striaghts doesn't offer you any sensations at all. Hopefully,there will be some FF adjustment in the sim when it's released. I've spent several hours this afternoon driving DTR both on and off line. I found that with the AIs set to 80% I was able to win just about every race. I tried online racing,but the few races I joined and the few I watched,were demolition derbies,so I continued racing off line. I increased the AIs to 90%,and the super Mods started to get real interesting. At 99% (the highest setting),I never finished better than 5th. My concern still is that after just a few days of racing DTR if I'm able to run the super modifies at 90%+ and be competitive,will the sim stand the test of time and still hold my interest 3-6 months down the line. Joel Willstein

Well, for what it's worth I find I am able to control the slides pretty well and get a really good feel for what is happening to the car despite not having a Force Feedback wheel. I've not had that much time to play around with it but so far my feeling is that I am going to lose a lot of spare time in this sim. One of the advantages it has over something like GPL (which I also think is the dogs whatsits by the way...) is the fact that I feel much more content to start it up just for a quick 15 minutes or so if I haven't got much time to spare (although i'm sure many of these 15 minutes will more often than not turn into 30 mins, then 45, an hour, etc, etc.....). Whereas I am always reluctant to fire up GPL unless I know I am going to have an hour or so behind the wheel. Just an observation.. what does anyone else think?? Anyway, suffice to say I think it is superb... I only hope it is released over here in England.. but something tells me that it won't be and an online order is going to be quickly on it's way. Just my 2p worth Peter Hooper PS:- I'd appreciate any thoughts on whether the purchase of a FF wheel would make it even better... bear in mind that I am currently running a rather under powered system (P233mmx, 64mb RAM, 16mb Voodoo Banshee) so would a FF wheel have reduce performance at all. Cheers > I played a good bit after d/l'ing it yesterday, and I just don't get it > myself. I think some setup adjustments, mainly steering lock, would help > greatly - it just doesn't seem to like my MSFF. One, the force effects seem > noticeably inferior to GPL or N3/NL, I just don't get any feel for where the

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> car is going from the wheel. It also seems to be much too sensitive, in > trying to get the car to turn in for the slide and then back to opposite > lock to slide through, it all too often spins around on me, or I'm sliding > into the wall. > I'm pretty sure it's at least somewhat controller related - I'm no whiz in > GPL but I can control the car in a slide, AND feel when my back end is > coming around. I do this better with FF, but could do it pretty well

before > the 1.1 patch too. DTR isn't giving me anywhere near the same feel, with or > without FF, and from reading many of the raves about it it seems I'm in the > minority here. I'd check the newsgroups, see nobody else was saying much > negative, figured I was missing something, fire it up again and still was > missing it. I got like a 17.35 or something in a Late Model at 34 Speedway,

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> but just never felt the car under me. Weird. Maybe with the default > steering lock, and with wheels like the MS that have over 180 degrees > travel, it is too touchy. I might play around with the MS controls and > adjust the deadzone and all and see if I can get it to feel better. I am > running 3.02, as Don suggests, so am not getting any slowdowns with FF. > Since the full game will be $20, and will offer a lot of adjustments - > hopefully including some FF tweaking - I'll still pick it up. The career > mode sounds delicious. At this point though I'm in the "Huh? I don't get > it" camp - yet I get SBK, GPL, N3, NL, SCGT, etc. - oh well maybe I'll > figure it out eventually :-) > -- > Ken's Sig 3.01 > "Who is the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?" - > Obi-Wan Kenobi > Go #43 and #44! > volksy (at) yahoo (dot) com > > Well,since my 1st post agreeing with the Philster,I went back and > spent > > the next hour just racing DTR off line. I was able to run consistantly

in > > the top 5 in the super modifies with the AIs set at 80%. So now I'm going > to > > give online racing a try,and see if it doesn't change my mind about DTR. > > Joel Willstein

Peter, it _IS_ due for release elsewhere other than just the USA however, as of two days ago, Ratbag had still to tie up distribution, including here in Oz, by-the-way!! -- Regards, Bruce Kennewell, Canberra, Australia. --------------------------- -----------== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News ==---------- http://www.newsfeeds.com The Largest Usenet Servers in the World! ------== Over 73,000 Newsgroups - Including Dedicated Binaries Servers ==-----

In fact, here is the word straight from the horses mouth Ratbags "News" page). NOTE! Ratbag intend including tracks relevant to the zone of release! EXCELLENT!! ========================================== November 9, 1999 11:30am Of late we've been getting quite a few mails regarding the status of the Australian and European versions of Dirt Track Racing from anxious fans. Upon imagining the distraught state of these people, I immediately took the query straight to the top. Here's word from the bossman himself: ".. the contract negotiations are underway with the view to DTR Europe and DTR Australia / NZ being available towards the end of the year. These versions will feature racing around Europe or Australia / NZ respectively...." Please don't fill my mailbox with flame mail over the matter, it's just one of those unavoidable matters I'm afraid. We're doing our very best to get DTR into everyone's hands asap. Until it's arrival, thrash that demo to pieces.... 8) ======================================= -- Regards, Bruce Kennewell, Canberra, Australia. --------------------------- > Peter, it _IS_ due for release elsewhere other than just the USA however, as > of two days ago, Ratbag had still to tie up distribution, including here in > Oz, by-the-way!! > -- > Regards, > Bruce Kennewell, > Canberra, Australia. > --------------------------- > > > Anyway, suffice to say I think it is superb... I only hope it is > released > > over here in England.. but something tells me that it won't be and an > online > > order is going to be quickly on it's way. -----------== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News ==---------- http://www.newsfeeds.com The Largest Usenet Servers in the World! ------== Over 73,000 Newsgroups - Including Dedicated Binaries Servers ==-----

> In fact, here is the word straight from the horses mouth Ratbags "News" > page). > NOTE! Ratbag intend including tracks relevant to the zone of release! > EXCELLENT!! Hmm, at least for the online racers that's pretty bad news, isn't it? Although, maybe most tracks are the same and a few local tracks are added as a bonus. l8er ronny -- The box said "Windows 95 or better", so I installed LINUX! |\ _,,,---,,_ I want to die like my Grandfather, ZZZzz /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ in his sleep. |,4- ) )-,_. ,\ ( `'-' Not like the people in his car, '---''(_/--' `-'\_) screaming their heads off!

>Hmm, at least for the online racers that's pretty bad news, isn't it? >Although, maybe most tracks are the same and a few local tracks are added >as a bonus. its very bad news. I had a lot of fun last night racing against some Aussies. But if they end up with a different Australia version, with different tracks, obviously you'll be limited to racing against people from your continent.

To be perfectly honest I think the FF in DTR is fairly accurate. With my real life dirt track experiance (all be it in midgets and mini sprints as opposed to "stock" type cars) id have to say, while kinda dulled out, its pretty good. A car on dirt where the left front is almost never on the ground doesnt give the kind of feedback a car on pavement will. Why? Because your sliding the car. Your front wheels are turned the opposite way and therefore guiding the car more than steering it. Now theres not nearly enough feedback on turn-in...thats obvious. But mid-turn onto the straight is pretty good. Then again a larger, heavier car than what I've driven might respond differently. Just offering my semi-educated opinion. However the sound IS terrible...that I totally agree with. Chris