So-called "revival" of simracing : blah!
 

rFactor : 40, perhaps 50 people online MAX at peak times. Leagues are
careful not to switch yet. Plenty of "possibilities" for mods but how many
of them will 1) ever see the finish light 2) be of an actual quality and 3)
be worth if it there's nobody racing them?

GTL : Great cars on washed out neutered tracks. Still the old ISI game
engine filled up with bugs. 3 months of fun then we move on to whatever's
next as developpers don't support it per low sales of it.

NR2003/GPL : still pumping out the races, but how long with the Sierra
servers be kept alive?

GTR : Read what I wrote in GTL but start with "Great modern cars".

LfS : :-|




So hmm what's next? iRacing? GTR2? Some miraculous other sim? People
actually start RACING rFactor? Or we just die like the flightsim community?


My pick : the last one.





--
-- François Ménard <ymenard>
-- This announcement is brought to you by the Shimago-Dominguez
Corporation - helping America into the New World...

On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 02:29:24 -0400, "ymenard"
> wrote:

>My pick : the last one.

How about the racing sims on consoles getting more and more serious?
GT4, RBR and Enthusia are a big step in the right direction.
For some reason I never liked GTR, too much bugs and after F1C (which
I loved) I really got tired of having to tweak numerous .ini files to
fix all the bugs. After that it's really a delight to put a dvd in the
ps2 and just race..

Andre

Please send me your unwanted copy of GTL.
I'll happily reimburse you for whatever you paid, plus postage.

Bruce

ymenard wrote:

>
> GTL : Great cars on washed out neutered tracks. Still the old ISI game
> engine filled up with bugs. 3 months of fun then we move on to whatever's
> next as developpers don't support it per low sales of it.

"Andre Warringa" > wrote in message
...
> On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 02:29:24 -0400, "ymenard"
> > wrote:
>
> >My pick : the last one.
>
> How about the racing sims on consoles getting more and more serious?
> GT4, RBR and Enthusia are a big step in the right direction.
> For some reason I never liked GTR, too much bugs and after F1C (which
> I loved) I really got tired of having to tweak numerous .ini files to
> fix all the bugs. After that it's really a delight to put a dvd in the
> ps2 and just race..
>

Maybe for you......I will never use the PS2 for anything, it's a toy for my kids.

"ymenard" > wrote in message
.. .
>
> LfS : :-|
>

Having come from "way back"(first post in '93), I actually enjoy LFS. It's
the only sim left on my hard drive now. It fits my limited time schedule,
which is important as my talents peaked about a year after GPL then started
to slide as my available time dropped. The pick-up races are surprisingly
good (less and less idiots on the public servers) and you can usually find
someone at your level to race, the driving model is convincing for all but
the fastest cars, and the newest tracks have some interesting corner
combinations. It's also quite friendly on my "not quite bleeding edge"
equipment. Some of the best fun I've had recently was a pick-up race with a
pack of "Minis", where everyone raced clean, fair and hard.

Stephen

Frank,

I can't believe you've played GTL and actually have that opinion, there is
nothing old ISI engine about it.

Chad


"Stephen F." > wrote in message
...
>
> "ymenard" > wrote in message
> .. .
>>
>> LfS : :-|
>>
>
> Having come from "way back"(first post in '93), I actually enjoy LFS.
> It's the only sim left on my hard drive now. It fits my limited time
> schedule, which is important as my talents peaked about a year after GPL
> then started to slide as my available time dropped. The pick-up races are
> surprisingly good (less and less idiots on the public servers) and you can
> usually find someone at your level to race, the driving model is
> convincing for all but the fastest cars, and the newest tracks have some
> interesting corner combinations. It's also quite friendly on my "not
> quite bleeding edge" equipment. Some of the best fun I've had recently
> was a pick-up race with a pack of "Minis", where everyone raced clean,
> fair and hard.
>
> Stephen
>
>

I think part of the issue is the number of descent racing
games out there are splitting up the potential field of online
players.

Another issue is that as racing sims get more accurate, there will
be little difference in the "feel" of the various games. The differences
will be which cars and tracks are available, and the extra features
like graphics, sounds, AI behavior, replays, career mode, ... .

For example, by the time LFS S3 is released, it probably won't seem
significantly different than other racing sims released by that time.

The last issue I can think of right now is that the newness of
online gaming in general is gone, so there is just less interest.

> NR2003/GPL : still pumping out the races, but how long with the Sierra servers be kept alive?

NR2003 online 300 (weekdays) to 500 (weekends) players online, 90% of
them racing super speedways, the no skill required tracks, which is
why they are probably so popular. (OK, so you do need to learn how
to avoid wrecks and pit well).

GTP mod for NR2003 - a few Eurpoean leagues for this one, but I'm
in the USA (wrong time zone).

GPL - I never saw that many players on VROC, but I probably discovered
out about GPL too late.

GTR / GTL - I expect these games like most others, to be popular
for a few months after release, and then for interest to wane.

LFS - an unusually loyal fan base. Haven't played online in quite a while
so I can't state how many players are actively online.

F1C99-02 - Another game I like, but rarely played online, so I don't
know how popular it was. Just like the real thing, I would imagine
passing would be difficult.

Rally sims - I've never seen or played RBR. I do have Collin McRae
Rally 2005, but only played it a few times. Just can't get motivated
with rally style driving.

Non-sim racing games, for example, NFS Underground 2. 1000 players on
the first night of the demo, but the released game split up US and
EU servers, and not there's maybe 50 players at most on the US server.

Like many players, I spend most of my gaming time offline as opposed
to online. I think most GPL players probably fit into this category,
hot lapping for a GPL rank as opposed to online racing. My guess
is that most active NR2003 players are online. With the rest of
the racing sims, it's somewhere between the GPL and NR2003 extremes.

> Non-sim racing games, for example, NFS Underground 2. 1000 players on
> the first night of the demo, but the released game split up US and
> EU servers, and not there's maybe 50 players at most on the US server.

EU servers, and now there's maybe 50 players at most on the US server.

Jeff Reid wrote:

>
> LFS - an unusually loyal fan base. Haven't played online in quite a while
> so I can't state how many players are actively online.

A bunch of ******s who run around slagging off other sims over on RSC.

> So hmm what's next? iRacing? GTR2? Some miraculous other sim? People
> actually start RACING rFactor? Or we just die like the flightsim
> community?
>
>
> My pick : the last one.

RIP