1993 on rec.autos.simulators
The group's first weeks. rec.autos.simulators was created in early December 1993 as a home for racing-sim discussion, and its early traffic centred on the two big titles of the day: Geoff Crammond's Formula One Grand Prix (World Circuit in North America) and Papyrus' IndyCar Racing. An Internet World Drivers Championship for F1GP was already running and posting results, and Papyrus' v1.02 patch for IndyCar Racing circulated via ftp. Speculation from the start looked ahead: whether MicroProse would ever produce a new F1GP, what Papyrus might build after IndyCar Racing, with NASCAR and IMSA suggested, and whether a new RAC Rally would reach the US.
What happened
- 1993-12-06 The rec.autos.simulators newsgroup was created for racing-sim discussion. community post
- 1993-12-09 The Internet World Drivers Championship, run in Formula One Grand Prix v1.05, published its Round 1 results from Monza. online post post
- 1993-12-10 Papyrus' IndyCar Racing patch v1.02 (ICR102.ZIP) became available via ftp. patch post
Rumour vs reality
| Date | The talk | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 1993-12-17 | MicroProse would not make a new version of F1GP because of licensing, while the F1GP authors worked on a new racing game. post | partly Geoff Crammond's sequel, Grand Prix 2, was eventually released by MicroProse in 1996. |
| 1993-12-18 | IndyCar Racing was 'first in a series', so Papyrus might do IMSA or NASCAR next. post | true Papyrus' next title was NASCAR Racing, released in November 1994. |
| 1993-12-17 | A new version of RAC Rally was out in Europe, with a US release unknown. post | unknown |
| 1993-12-09 | Forte was working on 32-bit AIL drivers to improve Gravis UltraSound sound in sims. post | unknown |
