1995 on rec.autos.simulators

1995 was Papyrus's year on the group. NASCAR Racing got its long-awaited 1.2 patch and a Track Pack, and was bundled with the first wave of 3D accelerator cards. Most of the attention went to IndyCar Racing II. Papyrus announced it in March, showed it at E3, and its technical lead Rick Genter answered detailed questions on the group for months. The demo came out in November and the DOS version shipped a week later, but the Windows 95 and Mac versions slipped into 1996. Weeks later Sierra On-Line bought Papyrus. On the Formula One side, fans waited all year for Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix 2. It was shown at trade shows and advertised for pre-order, but its release date kept slipping until it missed Christmas, while MicroProse shipped Grand Prix Manager and Virtual Karts instead. Online leagues, the RARS robot-racing project and F1GP editors kept the community busy.

Browse all 1995 threads

What happened

• 1995-01-26 The Robot Auto Racing Simulation (RARS) project released version 0.2 with a new track and FTP site, starting a year of regular releases and robot race meets. community post
• 1995-03-08 Papyrus announced IndyCar Racing II, built on the NASCAR Racing engine, for DOS, Windows and Macintosh by Christmas, together with a NASCAR track pack without Daytona or Indianapolis. announcement post post thread
• 1995-03-19 The ICRS'95 online IndyCar Racing series held its first race, using a fan-made 1995 car set. online post post
• 1995-03-31 Papyrus released the long-delayed NASCAR Racing v1.2 patch, which did not add multiplayer beyond two players. patch post post thread
• 1995-04-08 Papyrus said Sega held the Daytona rights and had refused their use, so no Daytona track would come to NASCAR Racing. business post post
• 1995-04-17 Papyrus producer Ed Martin announced a 2–32 player dial-in online racing service, starting with NASCAR Racing, and recruited beta testers. online post post post
• 1995-04-19 Trevor Kellaway released GPEditor version 4 for Formula One Grand Prix and World Circuit. mod post post
• 1995-04-30 The first RARS robot race meet was held, and Randy Saint's Ramdu won overall. community post post
• 1995-05-11 Papyrus previewed IndyCar Racing II at E3 with SVGA graphics and 15 tracks, and confirmed two-player modem/IPX support like NASCAR Racing. announcement post thread post
• 1995-05-15 Papyrus and IBM ran networked multi-station Indy 500 sim cockpits at the Indianapolis 500 Fanfest. hardware post post
• 1995-05-16 Papyrus released the NASCAR Racing Track Pack with Charlotte, Dover, Pocono, Richmond, Rockingham, Sears Point and North Wilkesboro. release post post thread
• 1995-05-27 The Internet IndyCar Championship (IICC) finished its first seven-month season, and IICC2 began in June. online post post
• 1995-06-08 MicroProse press releases announced World Circuit 2 (Grand Prix 2) and an F1 management game. announcement post
• 1995-06-13 MicroProse Europe said Grand Prix 2 would support only direct and modem link play, with no network play. announcement post
• 1995-06-28 Spectrum HoloByte showed Geoff Crammond's World Circuit II, based on the 1994 F1 season, at E3, and screenshots appeared on the MicroProse website. announcement post post
• 1995-07-22 Papyrus confirmed IndyCar Racing II would ship simultaneously for DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95 and Macintosh. announcement post thread
• 1995-07-26 Papyrus released the NASCAR Racing v1.21 patch, which fixed modem problems. patch post
• 1995-07-26 MicroProse moved Grand Prix 2 from September to winter. It said the delay came from F1 licence talks with Fuji, which were now complete, and that Grand Prix 2 was now an official FIA product. business post post
• 1995-08-16 A Matrox Millennium-enhanced version of NASCAR Racing shipped to Millennium owners. hardware post post
• 1995-08-29 Papyrus's official website went live at www.papy.com. business post post
• 1995-09-07 Rick Genter of Papyrus explained that the physics model stayed essentially two-dimensional, and that IndyCar Racing II would have no curbs. announcement post post thread
• 1995-09-10 A playable early Grand Prix 2 demo, Monza only and in VGA, was shown at ECTS in London, but it was not released publicly. demo post post post
• 1995-09-16 Papyrus was reported to have grown from 46 to about 95 staff during 1995. business post
• 1995-09-18 Diamond announced the NVIDIA NV1-based Edge 3D card with an enhanced NASCAR Racing bundled, and Creative also planned a NASCAR bundle for its 3D Blaster. hardware post post post
• 1995-09-18 Electronic Arts' The Need for Speed reached stores for the PC. release post post
• 1995-10-07 Papyrus said there would be no NASCAR 2 and that NASCAR Racing for Windows and Mac was due in Q1 1996, alongside a DOS update. announcement post post
• 1995-10-12 The IRL/CART split and the IRL's limits on Indy 500 entries drew wide discussion on the group. real-motorsport post post post
• 1995-10-24 The F1GP/World Circuit PC Hall of Fame closed to lap-time submissions and was frozen. community post post
• 1995-11-10 Papyrus released the IndyCar Racing II demo, with Michigan and Laguna Seca, on its BBS, and it followed on FTP. demo thread post post
• 1995-11-15 Papyrus said the Windows 95 and Macintosh versions of IndyCar Racing II would slip into 1996. DOS buyers would be able to get the Win95 version for a nominal fee. announcement post thread post
• 1995-11-17 IndyCar Racing II for DOS began shipping in North America. It had 15 tracks and no Indianapolis. release thread post post
• 1995-11-20 MicroProse shipped Virtual Karts. release post post
• 1995-11-20 Grand Prix 2 was reported delayed to March 1996. MicroProse denied rumours of trouble and said Crammond was still tuning gameplay while the artwork was upgraded to SVGA. announcement post post thread
• 1995-11-30 Sierra On-Line acquired Papyrus Design Group, which stayed a wholly owned subsidiary publishing under its own label. business post post post
• 1995-12-02 Papyrus dropped its planned Windows 95 version of NASCAR Racing. cancellation post post post
• 1995-12-07 Papyrus released a patch for the IndyCar Racing II paint kit's 'skunk stripe' bug. patch post post
• 1995-12-08 MicroProse's Grand Prix Manager was released in the UK, and it reached US stores later in December. release post post post
• 1995-12-14 MicroProse posted a Virtual Karts demo on its FTP site. demo post post
• 1995-12-15 IndyCar Racing II reached UK shops, and it was released in France and Germany the following week. release post post post
• 1995-12-19 CART announced the U.S. 500 at Michigan, run head-to-head with the Indy 500. real-motorsport post post
• 1995-12-20 A statement from Geoff Crammond confirmed Grand Prix 2 had missed Christmas and should be finished early in the new year. announcement post
• 1995-12-22 The first complete fan-made 1995 IndyCar car sets for IndyCar Racing II appeared. mod post post post
• 1995-12-30 Rick Genter said Jacques Villeneuve had refused to license his name and likeness for IndyCar Racing II. business post

Rumour vs reality

Threads to read

• IndyCar 2 announcement and NASCAR 1.2 patch bug complaints
  Paul Hodgetts relayed news that Papyrus was working on IndyCar Racing 2 using the NASCAR engine, while league organiser Tony Johns voiced frustration over the long-delayed NASCAR patch and listed bugs such as yellow-flag cars driving through walls and phantom stay-behind black flags. Others defended Papyrus as a small company under business pressure. Rich from Papyrus clarified that the 1.2 patch did not add multiplayer for more than two players, and a later post reported that the NASCAR 1.2 update had been released.
• Track editor demand for IndyCar 2 sparks flame war
  Bryon La demanded local yellows and a track editor in the next IndyCar Racing, citing Stunts, and suggested a boycott if they were missing. Ralf Southard and others argued that Papyrus tracks, with embedded AI and detailed scenery, were far too complex for a Stunts-style editor, while some supporters said a sophisticated editor would add value. The exchange degenerated into name-calling, mock polls and personal insults, with a few posters lamenting the thread's decline.
• NASCAR Racing Track Pack release and Talladega accuracy
  Posters announced that the NASCAR Racing track expansion would ship on May 16, 1995 with Charlotte, Sears Point, Dover, Richmond, Rockingham and North Wilkesboro, while Daytona and Indianapolis were excluded for licensing reasons. Rick Genter, IndyCar Racing 2.0 technical lead at Papyrus, said ICR 2.0 would use the NASCAR engine and be Papyrus's first cross-platform game. Buyers reported the pack included the 1.2 patch, that Sears Point was hard, that the UK release would slip to late summer, and criticised the Talladega tri-oval and curved pit roads.
• Papyrus previews IndyCar Racing 2.0 at E3 1995
  Papyrus posted a press release previewing IndyCar Racing 2.0 at the 1995 E3. Rick Genter of Papyrus confirmed it would have the same two-player modem/IPX support as NASCAR Racing, and attendees described networked beta stations at the Indy 500 Fanfest. The thread was dominated by Bryon La's complaints about hardware requirements and no track editor, which led to a heated, insulting exchange with Ralf Southard and others over whether ICR was a sim or a game.
• Nostalgia for Geoff Crammond's Revs on the BBC Micro
  Fans of Acornsoft's Revs, Geoff Crammond's mid-1980s Formula 3 sim for the BBC Micro and C64, swapped Silverstone lap times, wing settings and memories, with many calling it the best racing sim ever made. Discussion covered C64 and BBC emulators for running it on a PC, requests for an Acorn Archimedes conversion, and Crammond's other games such as Aviator and The Sentinel. A side thread wished for a British Touring Car sim, and posters noted Crammond was working on Formula One Grand Prix II.
• Papyrus on 2D physics, curbs and features in IndyCar Racing II
  Asked why cars could not flip, Rick Genter of Papyrus explained that the physics model was essentially two-dimensional and would remain so in IndyCar Racing II and NASCAR for Windows/Mac, and confirmed ICR II would have no curbs. He also described wide-angle mirrors, a much simpler Windows garage interface, a Q1 1996 date for NASCAR for Mac/Windows, and why a 320x400 mode would be costly. Players expressed disappointment about the lack of curbs and LAN multiplayer and compared it with the forthcoming F1GP II.
• F1GP versus IndyCar Racing: game or simulation?
  A claim that F1GP was still the best driving sim set off a long debate. F1GP fans praised its atmosphere, editors, wet races and keyboard playability, while IndyCar Racing supporters argued its physics and detailed setups were far more realistic and that F1GP was arcade-like. Participants also argued over whether simplified car setup suits a 'driver's' sim, citing Geoff Crammond's view that the player is a driver rather than an engineer.
• IndyCar Racing II release dates, demo and Windows 95 delay
  Following Papyrus's release-date announcement, Rick Genter answered questions about IndyCar Racing II: localized European versions would ship from the UK on November 22, the initial DOS release had no 3D card or Direct3D support, and the demo went up on the Papyrus BBS. He said the Windows 95 version would slip into 1996 to avoid a buggy release, and Ann Marie Gianantoni of Papyrus confirmed manuals in Spanish, German, Italian and French. Some buyers were confused about whether a Win95 upgrade coupon was included.
• IndyCar Racing II demo released
  Players reported that the IndyCar Racing II demo, about 7 MB with Michigan and Laguna Seca, was available on the Papyrus BBS and later FTP. Most praised its improved AI, sound and surprisingly fast SVGA mode, enabled with 'indycar -h' as Rick Genter confirmed. One poster called it a waste because setups could not be changed, drawing angry replies. Genter also said ICR II tracks could not be hacked into NASCAR Racing.
• Grand Prix 2 delayed to March 1996
  A magazine report that Grand Prix 2's release had slipped to March 1996 prompted speculation, including rumours of a dispute or cancellation. Quentin Chaney of MicroProse posted that Geoff Crammond was still developing the game, tweaking gameplay while artists upgraded artwork to SVGA, and that it would be released in the coming year. Others noted adverts and pre-orders already running.