Racing Sim Thread

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 7:01 am

From Blackhole Motorsports (www.bhmotorsports.com):
 
 <TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD>Quote:<HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><BLOCKQUOTE>Colin McRae Rally 4 Demo Coming 24th - On February 24th, Codemasters is going to release the single player demo for Colin McRae Rally 04. The demo will feature the Citroen Xsara and the USA, Japan and Finland tracks.
 </BLOCKQUOTE></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 2:04 pm

The Colin McRae 4 PC demo is now available over at <a href="http://www.bhmotorsports.com" target="_new">Blackhole Motorsports</a>. They also already have a <a href="http://www.bhmotorsports.com/competitions/cmr4demo.php" target="_new">CMR4 Hotlap Competition</a> started. So far it sounds pretty promising. I may have to go home "sick".
 
 <TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD>Quote:<HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><BLOCKQUOTE>
 Colin McRae Rally 4 Demo Impressions [24-02-2004 | JZ | Comments (27) ]
 I only played the demo for like 5 minutes so I could take screenshots. You can set the damage to "high" but you still need to hit the trees a few times to really damage the car. Car seems not to pivot around the center point anymore and therefor is much harder to control. What I also noticed is the uneven driving surface with holes. There are only 3 views - chase, cockpit and bumper cam (where is hood cam!!??). Demo is 95% complete version so this is basicly what you will get to drive in the retail version. Overall the first impressions are good. We will have a more indepth demo review in a few days as well as a preview (hopefuly).
 
 </BLOCKQUOTE></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Sun Feb 29, 2004 5:24 am

The PTA Trans Am Mod has been released over at <a href="http://www.projectwildfire.com" target="_new">Project Wildfire</a>. Along with it they have released their amazingly well done version of the Trois Rivieres circuit.
 
 <TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD>Quote:<HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><BLOCKQUOTE>
 Project Wildfire is pleased to announce the release of the Papyrus Trans Am mod.
 
 Please read all the way through the readme file as there is important information pertaining to the installation of the mod and the operation of the PTA Mod Utility.
 
 You can download the mod by using the Trans Am link on the left side of the page.
 
 We´ve also released Trois Rivieres and it will be available to the public tonight on two servers; PWF and VRW-3
 
 Also look for the Project Wildfire Team on Paltalk tonight under Sports and Hobbies - Project Wildfire Hangout
 </BLOCKQUOTE></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 8:55 am

The GPLEA have released v3.0 of the <a href="http://forum.racesimcentral.com/showthread.php?t=138717" target="_new">Lotus 49 </a> for Grand Prix Legends.
 <TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD>Quote:<HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><BLOCKQUOTE>
 It´s new features are:
 
 new cockpit textures
 new wheel textures
 improved engine textures
 improved wheel shape
 optional High-Res cockpit
 optional High-Res engine texture
 optional High-Res skins
 optional 4-bit skins
 custom skin option available in: standard 256x256, high-res and 4-bit
 optional LEA wheels
 optional LEA wider wheels option
 optional 2D helmet
 optional 2D wheels
 optional 4-bit hands
 </BLOCKQUOTE></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>
 
 Damn, if I could only get rid of the infamous "XP Audigy Screech Lockup" in Grand Prix Legends, Nascar Racing 2003, and the Colin McRae 4 demo, I could be having some great fun with all these new releases.

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 6:18 pm

<a href="http://www.bhmotorsports.com" target="_new">Blackhole Motorsports</a> are reporting that a fully functioning demo of ratbag´s Saturday Night Speedway has been released for PC.
 
 <TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD>Quote:<HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><BLOCKQUOTE>
 A playable demo of Saturday Night Speedway is now available, offering a chance to try out this new dirt track (and street) racing simulation by Australian genre specialists Ratbag. This trial version allows you to play for a generous full hour, but also includes all content of the full game that you can activate after purchasing a license key online. Demo is 252 MB big.
 </BLOCKQUOTE></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>
 
 Now that is very cool. I wish more PC games were released with this method.

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 11:27 am

The Prototype-C Mod has been released for F1 Challenge 1999-2002 by Virtual LM.

A collection of the fastest, most extreme prototypes that ever raced. In the early 90s sports cars shared a similar set of technical regs to F1, it was the end of the Group C era, but it produced some stunning, exotic machines which were often just as fast at their F1 counterparts. This mod includes 31 3.5L Group C sportscars including the SWC champion Jaguar XJR-14, Le Mans winning Peugeot 905s, and experimental Peugeot 905 Evo2. It addition there are three brand new courses - Fuji, Jerez, and Rouen; two corrected courses - Monza of 1993 and Nurburgring of 1991; and three courses from GTR2002 - Brands Hatch, Donington, and Mugello.

This is the mod I have been waiting for! Check it out.

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 10:09 am

Project Wildfire has just released their beta of Riverside for Nascar Racing 2003 and The US Pits have also released their 1970 rendition of the track. Wow, what a great day as this is one of my favorite tracks of all time.

Also just catching up on some other track releases for Nascar Racing 2003. In the last few weeks, the following tracks are available in the Sim Downloads, Nascar, Tracks section at The US Pits

Daytona Roadcourse v1.0
Limerock Park v4.0
Lake Afton v1.0
Carmen Park v2.0
RoadOne v2.0
Bathurst v2.0
Roadtwo Rattlesnake Point v1.1

You can also pickup new mod ready versions of Dave Noonan's converted tracks which include:

Cleveland
Indianapolis Raceway Park
Nashville
Osterreichring
South Boston
Silverstone
St. Jovite
Trenton

Last but not least, The US Pits has also released version 2.3 beta of their Touring Car Mod for Nascar Racing 2003, also known as TPTCC .

J_Cauthen · Post by **J_Cauthen** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 11:24 pm

Don,

I finally found a copy of F1 99-2002 for the PC, so I could grab the ETCC 2003 mod. It's a blast to race this class, even more so for me than the GTR class. I've got two problems with it though, and I'm hoping you can help me out.

1.) I can't get it to run a race longer than 3 laps. Even with the race set to 25%, I still get three laps per track. What's up with that?

2.) I can't join any ETCC races online. When I try to join them, it acts like it's starting to joing them, then I get a CTD.

Oh, one other thing... is there a protective film over the windshields in this mod. Everything looks like I'm seeing it through a filter... images are a bit duller than the straight up F1 99-2002 cars, when I'm not using the mod.

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 3:47 am

Cool, maybe we can hook up for some online racing once I get my PC going again.

1) I assume you are using the most recent patch to the ETCC mod? If so, there is a patch/add-on somewhere that will get rid of the tinted windshields. I will try to find a link.

2) Are you using F1RST to connect online? If so, what version?

3) Did you install any other mods previous to the ETCC mod? For example RH/EMAC/IVO's 2003 F1 Season updates? If so, I know the laps get set to 3 in that for qualifying.

4) Also, I believe there is an override setting either in the game.gdb or the actual track files that can be edited to force the length. I will dig through some of my docs and downloads to post more detail on this.

PS - Due to my PC problems I do not even have F1C installed right now. I will be installing from scratch hopefully this weekend and I wil be adding the ETCC Mod, RH2003, the Prototype C mod,F1RST and some track updates. I will let you know if I discover anything new then.

J_Cauthen · Post by **J_Cauthen** » Fri Mar 26, 2004 10:57 am

Cool, maybe we can hook up for some online racing once I get my PC going again.

1) I assume you are using the most recent patch to the ETCC mod? If so, there is a patch/add-on somewhere that will get rid of the tinted windshields. I will try to find a link.

Okay, I do have the latest patch. I should be able to find the tinted windhshield patch or add/on, if not I'll get back to you.

2) Are you using F1RST to connect online? If so, what version?

Nope, that must be my problem. Is F1RST the only protocol that works for multiplayer racing? It's funny because the races show up whether I launch the Gamespy multiplayer tool from within the game or from the Gamespy arcade panel.

3) Did you install any other mods previous to the ETCC mod? For example RH/EMAC/IVO's 2003 F1 Season updates? If so, I know the laps get set to 3 in that for qualifying.

I haven't installed anything other than ETCC thus far.

4) Also, I believe there is an override setting either in the game.gdb or the actual track files that can be edited to force the length. I will dig through some of my docs and downloads to post more detail on this.

I'll look for that file and see what I can do.

"PS - Due to my PC problems I do not even have F1C installed right now. I will be installing from scratch hopefully this weekend and I wil be adding the ETCC Mod, RH2003, the Prototype C mod,F1RST and some track updates. I will let you know if I discover anything new then."

I'm coming off some weird problems with my PC, so I can relate. I still can't get GPL to run on my PC in its latest configuration

.

Thanks for your help - I should be able to get somewhere with the ETCC mod now. BTW, I flat out suck with the Formula 1 cars in the regular game. I can't come out of a turn without spinning the car when I accelerate... they're really touchy and my foot's too heavy!

The touring car racing is much more to my liking though.

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Sat Apr 03, 2004 1:42 am

Lot's of good stuff today!

First the Colin McRae 04 Multiplayer Demo is out for PC, and it contains both single and multi-player modes on three new stages set in Spain (Villanova de Sau), Sweden (Apellbo), and Australia (Ellendale). However you can still only drive the Citroen Xsara in the demo.

The full version should be showing up in stores across the pond this weekend. Online importing shops like InterAct! are reporting that they should have it available for those of us in the States sometime around April 5th.

Check out Blackhole Motorsports for links to the demo mirrors. Anyone care to try some multiplayer CMR04 action tonight?

The GPLEA have released version 1.1 of their Lotus 43 BRM for Grand Prix Legends. This version of the Lotus was driven at the first race of the 67 season at Kyalami by Jim Clark and Graham Hill.

Next, Project Wildfire has just released Mansfield Motorsports Speedway for Nascar Racing 2003.

There is also a new version 2.3 of the N2003 Replay Analyzer. This version fixes the ride height issue in replays with the Trans Am mods for NR2003. Another very cool sounding addition is the "Damage Cost Summary" in the Mechanical report, which sums up all damage costs based on the part costs you set in File->Options. You can then include the above mentioned summary in Race report as well. Could make for some interesting new angles for league play if you were wanting to incorporate some kind of monetary/team management system.

Speaking of NR2003 mods, the Team Redline GTP Mod now has its own dedicated website with some fantastic looking screenshots from SPA and a really nice little video as well. This mod will have protoype cars from LMP, GTP and Group C, as well as modern versions of Spa and Suzuka. The current car list is Audi R8, Panoz, Bentley, Toyota GT One TS020, Mercedes C9 and Toyota Minolta 88C-V. I am really looking forward to this one.

Last but not least, some new details regarding GTR the FIA GT sim being developed by many of the members of the former SIMBIN team that created the GT mod for F1 2002. This info was posted by Lance, one of the admins over at Racesim Central.

I think it's critical to point out at this stage three big issues;

i) It's coming to xbox not just pc
ii) Late summer release probably means September/October in reality
iii) The demo coming within the next two weeks may well be press only, that's not clear. Either way, you can be sure to get some thorough impressions from your RSC review panel as they test every corner of the demo.

The game and its features:-

“GTR – The Ultimate Racing Game”, is said to be THE next generation racing simulation. Well it's due middle of the year (at best) and as we found with TRD2 the proof is in the demo. Fingers crossed everyone....

GTR is based on the FIA GT championship, it simulates the greatest supercars in the world racing on some of the worlds most exciting circuits.

- The FIA GT Spa 24H
- up to 56 cars on track (seriously!)
- The most accurate physics taken directly from the data logs of the real cars as they raced on the real circuits to create the most intense racing experience ever.

• 10 tracks, 68 teams + Additional unlockable bonuses.

Car models include

• Ferrari 550 Maranello
• Ferrari 575 GTC
• Ferrari 360 Modena
• Chrysler Viper GTS-R
• Lister Storm
• Lamborghini Diablo GT-R
• Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT
• Saleen S7-R
• Mosler MT900
• Chevrolet Corvette C5-R
• Porsche 993 GT2
• Porsche 996 Turbo
• Porsche 996 GT3-RS
• Porsche 996 GT3 Cup
• Seat Toledo
• Morgan Aero 8
• BMW Z3 M
• Lotus Elise
• Vertigo Streiff

The following official tracks are included
• Barcelona
• Magny-Cours
• Enna-Pergusa
• Brno
• Donington
• Spa 24H
• Anderstorp
• Oschersleben
• Estoril
• Monza

Two completely different Game modes - -Simulation mode- and -Arcade mode- with individual physics to suit every game fan.

GTR will be hosted on dedicated servers on the Internet and multiplayer competitions will be held

Wow, that is some big news. An Xbox version with I assume XBL support would most likely blow away any console racing sim released to date based on what I have previously seen from these guys. Let's hope they are able to get it done, and that the demo supposedly coming in a couple weeks is not "press only".

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 4:59 pm

The US Pits have just released their 1988 Nascar Mod for Nascar Racing 2003. It looks like their site is being hammered right now, so the links may not be working, but this should be a pretty cool mod. I'll post some screenshots once I get it downloaded and installed.

And here is the forum for this mod if you need any help or additional info:

http://www.tptcc.com/board/viewforum.php?f=16

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Tue Apr 20, 2004 3:00 pm

Blackhole Motorsports has John Bodin's TOCA Race Driver 2 Active Camera Cockpit Utility ready for download.

This utility will allow you to enable the "Active Cockpit Camera" option. The "Active Cockpit Camera" ("ACC") option gives the camera a few degrees of motion, allowing the camera to move in response to the vehicle's actions. Since the cockpit camera is roughly where your head would be if you were driving, what you end up with is a "head-bobbing" effect that acts in response to what is going on with the car's physics parameters -- that is, if the car hits a kerb and it's a hard jolt, the camera will move sharply in response, much like your head would move, and if you go over a rise or a slight bump in the track, the camera will move in a more gentle manner. This is all tied to the physics engine, so it's not artificial in the least -- in fact, it is considerably MORE realistic, and it helps convey to you what the car is doing MUCH better than the standard camera view.

For those of you with the PC version, this is a really cool addition and adds alot to the overall feel and immersion of the game. Wish it could be implemented in the XBox version.

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Tue Apr 20, 2004 3:42 pm

Just a heads up, Arturo Pereira over at RaceSim Central just posted the following:

GEM+2/iGOR/65 mod - Release Date
The complete package will be released this month. This means 'during the next 10 days'. There are only minor fixes and packaging pending, as well as some pre-release tests. Be advised.

Well there goes my goal of having a negative GPL Rank before the 65 mod gets released. Considering I am still +100 I guess that was a far fetched goal to begin with. Oh well, this mod should be really cool. Some quotes from beta testers:

Paul Jackson - iGOR is intended and designed to replace VROC entirely. It does a super job at it so far.

Bill Guillaume - You guys will trip when you see the depth of this mod. It is almost like an entire new sim!

Go here for the complete thread:

http://forum.racesimcentral.com/showthr ... ge=1&pp=25[/b][/quote]

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Tue Apr 20, 2004 9:06 pm

Don,

Did you get hold of the Prototype C mod for F1C? I can imagine the Group C cars being a lot of fun and the screenshots look fantastic but since I'm on 56K with an automatic two hour cut-off, there's no hope of me being able to get it myself. I'd like to know if its worth troubling a friend with broadband to download it for me - any help you could offer would be much appreciated.

Also, does anyone plan on checking out the Turbo F1 mod?

Cheers,
Adam

jbodin · Post by **jbodin** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 3:35 am

You just need a little competitive incentive to get your GPLRank moving towards negative, Don -- I'm not quite there yet, but it's getting closer. You might want to consider joining the VOR-GPL league -- we race on Thursday nights, and the "Summer Series" will be all the original '67 tracks (most of the Papy tracks, with a few exceptions like Bugatti instead of Rouen).

Check it out here:

http://www.gplvor.speedgeezers.com/

I just finished my 2nd season with these guys, and it was a HOOT! It's a team series, so you and three or four other people are all in the same F1 chassis, running in upper division (what they call the "GP1" division for faster guys) and lower division (GP2) races, so you get matched with folks who are roughy around your same skill level. My GPLRank was just under 100 when I joined last fall, and I'm down to +2.xx now!

Browse the message board over there if you get a chance -- we're having a little "offline" Monster Rank competition over the next three weeks, focusing on Kyalami, the Ring, and Zandvoort, to see who can lower their handicap at each of those tracks the most!

TTYL!

-- JB

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 8:12 pm

GB_Simo wrote:Did you get hold of the Prototype C mod for F1C? I can imagine the Group C cars being a lot of fun and the screenshots look fantastic but since I'm on 56K with an automatic two hour cut-off, there's no hope of me being able to get it myself. I'd like to know if its worth troubling a friend with broadband to download it for me - any help you could offer would be much appreciated.

Also, does anyone plan on checking out the Turbo F1 mod?

Cheers,
Adam

Welcome Adam,

Yeah I did get the Prototype C mod and it is probably now my favorite mod for F1C. Very well done, plus I just love those old cars. I would be glad to burn it to CD, along with any other mods/updated you might need and send it to you. Just send me a PM with your address info.

I am definitely interested in the Turbo F1 mod as well, but I had bad luck with previous versions of it for F1 2002. I am sure it was just me, but I could never get the thing to run properly and on a couple occassions ended up having to completely remove the whole game and start back over from scratch.

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 4:51 pm

Well somebody, somewhere just released some incomprehensible mod for some utterly esoteric and narrowcasted racing game...........Again

Actually, the somebody is thisisglen/Anakin, the somewhere is Blackhole Motorsports, the incomprehensible mod is the Colin McRae Rally 4 2003-2004 Mod Final, and of course it is for the utterly esoteric and narrowcasted racing game known as the PC version of Colin McRae 04.

2004 textures for the Citroen Xsara, Subaru Imprezza, Ford Focus (BP included, Castrol available for download in patch file),Mitsubishi Lancer and the Peugeot 206. Also features menu graphic modifications, intro screen modifications, new videos for the menu as well as expert, group B and 4wd class championships as well as the removal of the gamespy logo in Network game setup.

Now someone just needs to get working on new shapes, particularly for the Peugeot 307 and the new Lancer.

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 9:00 am

GPL 65 has been released!

The long awaited 1965 F1 season mod for Grand Prix Legends has just been released. Go here for all the info:

http://55and65.speedgeezers.com/gpl65/

Everything I have read says that this update and all its included utilities make GPL like a brand new game. Pretty cool for a game thats almost 6 years old. Hmm... Is it a vaild excuse to cancel a 9:00 meeting because GPL 65 has been released?

J_Cauthen · Post by **J_Cauthen** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 12:26 pm

DChaps wrote:GPL 65 has been released!

The long awaited 1965 F1 season mod for Grand Prix Legends has just been released. Go here for all the info:

http://55and65.speedgeezers.com/gpl65/

Everything I have read says that this update and all its included utilities make GPL like a brand new game. Pretty cool for a game thats almost 6 years old. Hmm... Is it a vaild excuse to cancel a 9:00 meeting because GPL 65 has been released?

I say so. Why? Because - in deference to BB - this one is rather comprehensible and not quite so esoteric

Now, if I could just get GPL to run on my latest system revision - it crashes the system as soon as I click the go to race button on the lower right. Got the CPU patch and D3D driver installed... can't figure out what's up? [/b]

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Tue May 04, 2004 4:03 am

The GTR Press Demo has been released to the general public.

SimBin has decided to release the press demo to the public as well.

A few days ago, developer SimBin released a press demo of their upcoming and greatly anticipated GTR - The Ultimate Racing Game. Our friends from RaceSimCentral got the OK from SimBin to release the demo to the public as well, so here we bring you the demo with the condition to stress that 'This demo is a work-in-progress demo, and does not reflect the quality of the final product.' (don't worry, the demo is so impressive anyway, that it will blow any racing fan's mind)

The demo content and functionality is limited to:
-1 Circuit (Spa)
-1 GT car (Lister Storm)
-1 nGT car ( Morgan Aero 8 )
Private test only.

GTR Press handling demo is intended to demonstrate:

1. The unprecedented precision and accuracy in the car handling and physics of GTR.
2. The intricate graphical detail of the cars in GTR.
3. The detail in the circuits (every kerb-shape and every bump in the road just as it is in reality).

They want to make it perfectly clear that this demo was never meant for public release, is not fully bug tested, does not have even close to all the final features enabled and was only simply meant as a 'driving experience' demo for press to write previews.

Please note that upon installation of this demo you will be asked for a password. Password: GTR_Press_Demo

From the Readme:

INSTALLING GTR:
===============

Simply double click on the executable icon and follow the onscreen instructions.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
====================
MINIMUM SPECIFICATION
---------------------------------------
Operating System Microsoft Windows 98, ME, 2000 or XP Pro/Home
Processor 1.2 GHZ Intel Pentium III or 100% Compatible
Memory 256 MB
Hard Drive 1 Gigabyte free space
CD/DVD Drive 4x
3D Accelerator DirectX 8.1 compliant 32 MB AGP
Sound Card DirectX 8.1 compliant PCI
Game Controllers DirectX 8.1 compliant

RECOMMENDED SPECIFICATION
---------------------------------------------------
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Pro/Home
Processor 2 GHZ or better Intel Pentium III or 100% Compatible
Memory 512 MB or better
Hard Drive 1 Gigabyte free space.
CD/DVD Drive 12x or better
3D Accelerator DirectX 8.1 compliant 64 MB AGP or better
Sound Card DirectX 8.1 compliant PCI
Game Controllers DirectX 8.1 compliant

ADVICE:
=======

Tyre Warming:
---------------------
Please note that the tyres can take ONE-TWO FULL LAPs to get up to operating temperature. The car will have much less grip until the tyres are warmed up and much less braking power until the brakes are warmed up.
Live temperatures are provided for tyres and brakes in the Cockpit Motec display - press LCD Mode key to cycle through these.
Don’t judge any setup changes until you’ve done 4 or 5 laps.

If you have problems controlling the car or are not using a steering wheel, use keys F1 - F4 to turn on aids. These are displayed by a red light in the Arcade Motec display - Key Number '2'.

KNOWN ISSUES:
=============
INFORMATION:
============

GTR is an officially licensed product of the FIA.

All your race are belong to us!
SimBin
www.simbin.com

Go here to grab the demo:

http://download.boomtown.net/en_uk/arti ... hp?id=4999

Go here for a nice review of the GTR Demo:

http://www.rscnet.org/index.php?page=ART_GTRPDEMO3

Go here for GTR Forum Discussions:

http://forum.rscnet.org/forumdisplay.php?f=542

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Tue May 04, 2004 6:29 am

There are much more in detail reviews and previews around the net about this game, but I have been playing the GTR demo basically all night and I have to post some impressions.

First off, this demo is so polished. Its more solid than most full releases. Yes it is only one track and two cars in practice mode, but all setup options, damage, telemetry tracking is there. You can really test out the physics and they are amazing. In real life all I have driven are street cars and karts, so I am not expert, but the physics in this game feel great so far. Sound is really amazing as well.

I will make this bold statement: The feel inside the cockpit and sense of speed is the most immersive I have ever experienced in any racing sim. It is that really that good. G-Forces and inertia are modeled in the cockpit and the force feedback responds accordingly. Everything can be customized real time within the game. You can move your view forward, back, up, and down within the cockpit to get just the view you want. It can even be done real time, while you are driving by holding the right and left mouse buttons and then moving the mouse. You can also use a mouse look button to move your view around while you are driving. Not that you would find that useful, but I did use it while my AI co-driver took over the wheel. Glance angles into turns can also be modified. Anything I type here will not do justice to how good the feel inside the car is. Just run the demo and try it for yourself.

(PS - Yes you can run races with co-drivers and it appears it will give you the ability to switch control over to a friend or an AI driver - just hit "I" on the keyboard to toggle back and forth)

The interface is very intuitive and has everything setup well straight from the box. Maybe I was just lucky, but after install I did not have to change a thing. It had already recognized my Logitech MOMO controller and mapped everything. I went ahead and changed to my preferences on a couple things and discovered that there is even a Customized Logitech MOMO force feedback setting to load straight out of the box (it felt perfect). You can really tell these guys were sim racers before they became developers.

While this is clearly some form of the ISI engine used in all the EA F1 PC games, Simbin really seems to have gotten the best out of it. I never really liked the ISI interface, but Simbin has made it work pretty well here. They have even included the Motec Advanced Engine Management and Data Acquisition Systems software used by real race teams (http://www.motec.com/).

All the screenshots I have seen of this game look incredible, but I assumed they were being taken on high end machines. That may be so, but I got really good frame rates and quality on my mid to low level machine. Granted this is with no other cars on the track, and the full release promises racing with up to 56 cars at once, so that could plummet quickly. My machine is a P4 1.8 ghz, 512mb, 128mb ATI 9500 (non-pro). I installed the game at 1024x768 16 bit and had most in game graphic settings set to full or high. In the cockpit at these settings I averaged high 20's to low 30's, but it felt really smooth, even when the frame rate counter was reporting a drop. This is great, as previous ISI engine games could feel very choppy to me. I am sure I could even get better results if I started playing around, but this is with the default graphic setup after the install.

Just for proof, here is a picture of the incockpit view as I am coming into the most graphic intensive part of SPA. You can see in the top right corner I am still getting 30fps. The frame rate count here does not do justice to the sense of speed though.

Outside the car in the roughly the same position, I am getting 36 fps. This is with the player car set for full details.

Anyway, if you are interested at all in racing sims, download this demo. SPA, a Lister Storm to drive it on, and the Motec software to play with are worth the price of admission alone (and that price is basically free - well download time). This is what a demo should be. I am now salivating for the full release and I have not yet found anything to complain about. In fact, I will say I have not been this excited and impressed by a demo since the first Grand Prix Legends demo showed up in 1998. If I remember correctly that was just one track and one car as well, but that did not stop me from playing it for hours on end.

EDIT: Zevious has already posted some even better force feedback settings for the MOMO and GTR here:

http://forum.rscnet.org/showthread.php? ... ost1728068

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Mon May 17, 2004 10:42 pm

Of course as soon as I leave for vacation, Codemasters releases the 1.1 patch for the PC version of TOCA Race Driver 2. The patch includes the following:

Title > Upgrade 1.1
Date Uploaded > 17th May 2004
Description > Upgrade your copy of the game to version 1.1 to include new features like:
* Mirrors. Enable in the front-end at Options->Graphics->Mirrors. Note that enabling mirrors will cause a reduction in game performance. Choices are
* Look left/right in bonnet, bumper and in-car cameras. Define the keys for this in the Control Assignments screen.
* Steering linearity adjustment.
* End of race timeout for online sessions can now be adjusted in the advanced session settings screen.
* Replay saving.
* Simulator Mode now has more tracks available in many championships.
* Race results and championship standings screens now have a Retire From Championship option.
* The final championship standings screen in Free Race now has a Retry option to restart the championship just played.
* In the Series Option screen, it is now possible to set Opposition directly to None, instead of having to do it via the custom opposition select screen.
* The Handling Mode setting in the Driving Options screen is now saved to the player profile
* Duez Cup and Hotrod Streetrace championships now have a 10/6/4/3/2/1 point structure for network races.
* Informative text in network Chat Lobby is now coloured to be distinguished from standard chat messages.
* Network name labels now darken to indicate that a player is paused.
Technical Description > Zipped up exe file. A full readme file is available within the upgrade.
Original version of ToCA Race Driver 2 installed.
Simply run the Upgrade exe file. It will then update your copy of the game.
Please note:
*The upgrade must be applied to a clean install of the game. If any files to be upgraded have been altered, then the entire upgrade process will fail. If this happens, perform an uninstall of the game, choosing to keep save games, then re-install.
*Upgraded and un-upgraded games will not be able to connect to one another for network sessions.
*Save game files are not compatible between upgraded and un-upgraded versions of Race Driver 2. The upgrade will automatically upgrade the save game. Please note than the old save game will remain, which means that if the game is ever re-installed without the upgrade, the old save game will be loaded, without any progress made with the upgrade. However, on re-applying the upgrade the previously upgraded save game will once again become available, with progress intact.
* Following uninstallation of the upgraded game, there may be some files left in the Race Driver 2 folder (in addition to the save game file, if that was chosen to be kept). It is perfectly safe to delete these files.

Looks like I will be needing to do a fresh install to apply this patch as mine has already been heavily modded. Oh well, I am sure it will not take too long for John Bodin and others to get their mods working for this new patch.

Wonder if this means the Xbox patch is coming soon?

Oh yeah, how about a link to the patch:

http://www.codemasters.com/tocaracedriv ... nloads.php

J_Cauthen · Post by **J_Cauthen** » Tue May 18, 2004 4:28 am

Don,

Thanks for posting this news... I've been keeping an eye out for it. I have it installed, and yes, I had to uninstall my modded version to get the patch to work but it was worth it!

The mirrors make all the difference in the world to me. I think the quality of the racing I've already experienced online is better because of it. I'm able to take evasive action now when I see that I'm about to get rear ended, or which way to move to yield to an overtaking car. The beauty of it is that I can't see much of a hit on my frame rates with the mirror on.
I really wish this was an option in the Xbox version, but doggone it... with the new linearity adjustment for the steering wheel, I think I'm going to be able to find something I like in the tuning. I'm running at 95% linear right now.

I tell you what... the PC version of this game at 1280 x 1024 x 32 is absolutely gorgeous. The mirrors are pretty generic looking. In fact it looks like the mirror I just put in my 1988 Honda Accord, but it gets the job done. Oh, and I love the left and right glance looks at the touch of a button - it is really needed in this game!

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 12:12 am

Just when you thought you would never have to see this thread again, the GPLEA release Clermont Ferrand for Grand Prix Legends. This track has been 4 years in the making.

GPLEA's long-awaited track for Grand Prix Legends has finally been released. Clermont Ferrand, (aka Charade, Circuit Louis Rosier or Circuit de Montagne d'Auvergne) held the French Grand Prix in 1965, 1969 and 1970. It is a very tricky mountain road circuit, known as the "little Nürburgring" - you will soon find out why...

I have a few other things to catch up on that were of important release to the racing sim community, but this is realy the first one in several weeks that was really worth mentioning.

Digital Sportspage