Racing Sim Thread, Part II

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 8:00 pm

GTR Evolution is definitely an easy money grab by Simbin plain and simple. Sounds like it will be relatively cheap, but it is all fantasy liveries, real car makes, but not a real series/real drivers. It would be good to see what they can do with the Green Hell, but there are already some pretty damn good versions available for free for rFactor, GTR2, GT Legends, and Race 07. My guess is they figure everyone and their brother is making free/illegal cross-game mod coversions of all the GTR2, GT Legends and Race 07 stuff, so they might as well try to get some money off a legit version. Oh well, I am a sucker for their stuff so I will probably get it anyway.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 8:11 pm

DChaps wrote:GTR Evolution is definitely an easy money grab by Simbin plain and simple. Sounds like it will be relatively cheap, but it is all fantasy liveries, real car makes, but not a real series/real drivers. It would be good to see what they can do with the Green Hell, but there are already some pretty damn good versions available for free for rFactor, GTR2, GT Legends, and Race 07. My guess is they figure everyone and their brother is making free/illegal cross-game mod coversions of all the GTR2, GT Legends and Race 07 stuff, so they might as well try to get some money off a legit version. Oh well, I am a sucker for their stuff so I will probably get it anyway.

I don't think it will make it's way to the US as it's pretty much all Nascar here and I don't think GTR, GTR2 and Race 07 sold to well. I recently bought Race 07 even though I downloaded the game a long time ago.

As far as i'm aware there are no mods for Race 07 other than tracks and cars. Simbin pretty much locked the code although they loosened up a little compared to the original Race where it was unmodifiable.

I wouldn't say making mods for GTR, GTR2 are illegal as the code allows for it. It they wanted to crack down on it they would have made it difficult or impossible like RACE and they would have come out and said something. I do agree though that this is just a money grab for Simbin. Now that I know what GTR Revolution is i'll hold off on a purchase.

On a side note. I was over at Race Sim Central and the rFactor team did confirm that rFactor2 "unofficial name" has been in the works for sometime but they're not sure if it'll make it out until later this year, maybe next year.

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 10:35 pm

No, what I meant by illegal conversions is that there are rFactor mods of the full cars and tracks of GTR2, GT Legends, and Race07. Some are better than others, and in my opinion none of them are better than their content in the original game, but they are in fact straight rips of the original Simbin content transfered into the other game platform.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 1:43 pm

Version 1.1 of IRL 2007-08 mod released today for rFactor. Improvements:

-- Fuel mapping settings for 2008 added. Can run anywhere from rich to lean.
-- Completely rebuilt suspension file for more feel, better compatibility with RealFeel.
-- Can adjust rev limit between 10,000 and 10,200 in the garage, letting you run a "soft" limiter and keep more speed in corners with a realistic setup.
-- Updated skins for a few drivers.
-- Eliminates overwrite of common files that screwed up many users' tachometers and on-screen displays.
-- Added correct mandatory minimum and maximum tire pressures for speedway and Indy events. This might screw up our cheater setups!

These changes all sound good. Very eager to try this out and race it with you cats!

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:42 pm

Anybody else besides me try the 1.1 version of the IRL mod tonight and wonder how such a great mod could be f*cked up so badly by a next-generation version?

Christ, it's all but impossible to accelerate from the pits with any torque, and then the car snaps into oversteer when the torque finally kicks in. It's worse than turbo lag!

Second, none of the prior setups, including the default, work for sh*t.

I'm really disappointed with this new version. Good thing I kept my 1.0 version!

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:48 pm

While I'm still disappointed with the state of the 1.1 version of the IRL mod, I did stumble upon a great mod and revisit another mod with much better results last night.

First, the stumble. I gave the 2005 Toyota Atlantic mod a spin against the AI at Long Beach after enjoying seeing these cars in action two weekends ago when I worked the Champ Car finale at Long Beach. This mod is part of the iDT trilogy of Champ Car and feeder mods: Formula BMW, Toyota Atlantic and Champ Car 2006.

The Toyota Atlantics are GREAT fun. Almost the perfect balance of ease to drive and challenge. You can make mistakes with too much power or heavy braking, but the car is catchable. These cars could become my favorite "mid-range" open-wheel car in a hurry and are a great complement to the superb FBMW and Champ Car mods that iDT made.

Mod: http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cf ... 0Atlantics

Next, the revisit. I saw an old friend of mine at Long Beach who works for the SCCA, as the Speed World Challenge was a support race at Long Beach. Hanging with him caused me to realize that I should give a better shake to the Spec Racer Ford mod that I tried and dismissed quickly a few months ago.

Damn, I'm glad I did!

These Spec Racers are much more fun than when I first tried them. I think I switched from a high-powered open-wheel car -- possibly Champ Car or the 2007 BMW Sauber F1 -- right to the Spec Racers when I first tried them, and the Specs felt like underpowered rowboats compared to those open-wheel rockets.

But trying the Spec Racers after 45 minutes with the Toyota Atlantics opened my eyes to the great racing potential of the Specs. Yes, they're slower and less nimble than a Toyota Atlantic, but they're very fun to drive and very racey. Precision is important because these things don't have a lot of power, and they're surprisingly hard to catch once you slide due to lack of downforce compared to a wings-and-slicks car.

I tooled around Lime Rock and Brands Hatch Indy in the Spec Racer Fords against the AI and had a ball.

Mod: http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cf ... cer%20Ford

One plus of both of these mods is that the offline AI is solid in both.

I'd love for us to work these into a Poker Night rotation soon. Very fun, very racey.

Take care,
PK

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:52 pm

Wow I discovered one kick ass mod for Grand Prix 4, it's DTM 2005. The cars have some beautiful rendering and the always legendary AI. and it comes complete with all the 2005 tracks.

I'm about to install the 1988 mod for GP4 as I need to check that one out next.

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Thu May 01, 2008 12:46 pm

Gimmie some links Rodster! I still have GP4 on my hard drive.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Thu May 01, 2008 1:30 pm

Gurantsu wrote:Gimmie some links Rodster! I still have GP4 on my hard drive.

DTM 2005 *You'll need to download the Trackpack as well*
http://www.gp4db.com/index.php?category ... DTM%202005

1988 Mod

http://www.gp4db.com/index.php?category ... ction=1988

GP2 2005 Mod

http://www.gp4db.com/index.php?category ... GP2%202005

More mods in case you are interested.
http://www.gp4db.com/index.php?category=mods

p.s. these mods require CSM 1.26 which can be found at the same site and GPxPatch http://www.gp4db.com/index.php?category ... tion=Tools

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri May 02, 2008 1:03 pm

The more I drive the Toyota Atlantic mod in rFactor, the more I love it. An ideal balance between challenge and driveability, with a great ability to catch the car when it slides.

Just great fun. Eager to race these online with you cats.

Take care,
PK

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Sat May 03, 2008 9:45 am

There's a new mod released on rFactor Central. It's the LMS Limited Edition 1.06

I like tis mod, been driving the Bentley on the 2004 LeMans track. The AI drives really well. It has a decent damage model for a rFactor mod and i've seen retirements which I rarely see in a rFactor mod.

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cf ... %20Edition

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Mon May 05, 2008 8:45 pm

I've got those Atlantics you mentioned, PK, and I was going to try them for the first time tonight but something stopped me.

Over the weekend I reinstalled Grand Prix Legends. I used this little tool:

http://gplps.org/wb/pages/projects/gpl-installer.php

I'd never bothered updating my cars and tracks before, so those who've done it and long since forgotten what the defaults look like might have to forgive my enthusiasm for the whole thing, but...wowzer. Everything about the graphics has so much more life and vibrance about it - I've no idea how recent the track and car updates are, and so no idea how up to date I am, but after running the stock cars and tracks for 8 years the whole thing is a revelation to me.

Are any of you lovely people still playing GPL, and are any of you doing so with a G25? Last time I played it I was using my old Driving Force without force feedback, and I can barely believe how much difference having FF makes to the game; it's so much easier now to read how the car is behaving, and while I'm not any faster than before at the moment (1:05.88 at the Glen after 10 laps there), I've got an idea now of some areas I could improve and am able to lap around a high 1:05-low 1:06 consistenly. Previously I could only get there every so often, and felt like I had no more time left in the lap.

I'm sure everything I've said here is old news, which is kind of why I'm posting it - has anyone developed any FF settings for a G25 and GPL? Currently I've got the core.ini set to damping at 20, latency at 0.125 and torque at 200.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed May 07, 2008 9:08 am

F1 at stalemate over video game deal

"Formula One fans may have to wait for the next official video game, as Sony and F1 Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone are reportedly locked in stalemate over a new publishing deal.

Sony Computer Entertainment's previous exclusive publishing deal, covering the 2003-2007 period, was for a rumoured $200 million, according to the technology news source TG Daily.

The website said the "gap between what Sony is willing to pay for a (new) license and what Bernie Ecclestone's (company) is demanding is too wide."

Industry sources are reporting that rival computer publishers EA, Ubisoft and Codemasters may now be in the running for the new five-year contract.

The last Formula One game published by SCE and Liverpool Studios was based on the start of the 2006 season."

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/n ... 4530.shtml

I personally hope Codemasters gets the license because out of the three they without question have the best AI in their racing games. In fact it's not even close.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed May 07, 2008 11:16 am

Adam:

I'm dense, but after reading about that GPL installer, do you need the original GPL CD for that to work?

I don't have the GPL CD, but I have all of the separate components included in the installer on my external hard drive. I use the GPL 2004 demo from Blackhole Motorsports as a base and build from there.

But it sure would be nice to be able to run one executable file and be done with it.

Take care,
PK

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Wed May 07, 2008 4:53 pm

pk500 wrote:Adam:

I'm dense, but after reading about that GPL installer, do you need the original GPL CD for that to work?

Yes you do, mate, I'm afraid.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Wed May 07, 2008 5:27 pm

Zandvoort, Interlagos and Buenos Aires for rFactor's GP79 have an update to 1.2, or 2.5, depending on which naming convention you follow. The developers, brilliantly, are using both at once:

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cf ... gos%20GP79

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu May 08, 2008 6:28 pm

Mike Peters has made a version 1.15 fix to the botched 1.1 upgrade of the IRL mod for rFactor. It has received positive feedback. I can't play it until I return from Indy at the end of this month.

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cf ... 7%20Season

Take care,
PK

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Fri May 09, 2008 5:07 am

Codemasters gets the F1 License and they plan to bring it to all format including the PC. I just hope they don't use Starforce like they've done in the past.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67228

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri May 09, 2008 8:15 am

Rodster wrote:Codemasters gets the F1 License and they plan to bring it to all format including the PC. I just hope they don't use Starforce like they've done in the past.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67228

I'm unsure whether this is good or bad news. EA did a terrific job with the F1 license, at least for PC games. Meanwhile, Codemasters is veering quickly toward the arcade side of the street with its flagship racing and rallying franchises.

If the Codies got the license five years ago, I would have rejoiced. Now I'm not so sure.

Plus, as always, the existing and future rFactor F1 mods probably will kick the sh*t out of anything Codemasters produces.

Take care,
PK

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Tue May 13, 2008 10:37 am

So while perusing a few news groups, I found a 2008 F1 mod. I figured I'd give it a shot. All of the instructions are in Finnish I think, and it included a version of rFactor with a crack (which I did not install, each part is it's own install). There is one for the cars, one for the tracks, and 3 more that are updates.

It is a VERY cool mod. All of this years tracks are there, with the exception of Singapore, plus a few extras like Indy and Nurburgring. All of the cars are there (even Super Aguri) in current styles and liveries, so the Red Bulls have the shark fin and the Honda's have the bunny ears.

The AI is pretty good, and the car is fun to drive. It doesn't stick to the road, and will take some skill to get it to go as fast as the AI.

Very cool mod, although I have no idea if it is available anywhere else other than the newsgroups, I haven't seen it before. After unzipping it it's total size was over 2GB, but that included the rFactor program itself.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue May 13, 2008 10:45 am

Gurantsu wrote:So while perusing a few news groups, I found a 2008 F1 mod. I figured I'd give it a shot. All of the instructions are in Finnish I think, and it included a version of rFactor with a crack (which I did not install, each part is it's own install). There is one for the cars, one for the tracks, and 3 more that are updates.

It is a VERY cool mod. All of this years tracks are there, with the exception of Singapore, plus a few extras like Indy and Nurburgring. All of the cars are there (even Super Aguri) in current styles and liveries, so the Red Bulls have the shark fin and the Honda's have the bunny ears.

The AI is pretty good, and the car is fun to drive. It doesn't stick to the road, and will take some skill to get it to go as fast as the AI.

Very cool mod, although I have no idea if it is available anywhere else other than the newsgroups, I haven't seen it before. After unzipping it it's total size was over 2GB, but that included the rFactor program itself.

Linkage please.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue May 13, 2008 12:06 pm

It wouldn't be the infamous F1RFT mod, would it?

http://www.virtualr.net/f1rft-2008-10-released/

Take care,
PK

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Tue May 13, 2008 12:13 pm

pk500 wrote:It wouldn't be the infamous F1RFT mod, would it?

http://www.virtualr.net/f1rft-2008-10-released/

Take care,
PK

Ah, that would be it. Why infamous? Because it evidently uses some GP4 models (thats the only odd thing I could see about it in your thread)? Of course the fact that it comes with a cracked version of rFactor is certainly an eyebrow raiser. What is the general online opinion about it PK?

Crack aside, it is a pretty solid mod from the limited time I've spent with it. Unfortunately I got it off of a newsgroup, so I have no real link for you.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Tue May 13, 2008 6:27 pm

Grant, from the information on VirtualR I would assume that the F1RFT team borrowed more than some GP4 models:

http://www.virtualr.net/?s=F1RFT

I remember there being a good amount of chat about the mod around the time MMG 2007 was first launched, and the general opinion seemed to be that something a bit off was going on, but I can't remember the details of it any further than that.

If you follow the link above, I'm fairly sure that's got some download links on it, though I haven't followed them to see where they go.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed May 14, 2008 8:01 am

Grant:

As Adam said, the F1FRT modders "borrowed" a considerable amount from other mods without crediting those from which they stole.

Even a morally bankrupt dude like me thinks that's not too cool.

Plus, I've yet to drive an rFactor F1 mod that compares with the brilliance of ISI's BMW Sauber F1 2007 car. I'd rather drive against a full field of those cars than an inferior F1 car with all the correct liveries.

Your mileage may vary!

Take care,
PK