On Dec 19, 3:07 am, Tony Rickard
> wrote:
> .
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> I do agree with the splitting of the field though, to grow sim racing it
> needs to move out of its niche grouping. The answer probably lies with
> better organisation and a more outward facing approach. Which would
> appear to be the way we are heading in 2007.
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> Tony

Therein lies the problem. The niche group (us) wants dead on balls
accurate physics to simulate the car in question. The far larger market
of potential driving enthusiasts wants "fun" without the high learning
curve. Take for example, the "modern" GPL demo. If that was available
as a full product at retail, all tracks, cars, sounds, etc. updated to
the present level, it would still be a flop, sales wise anyway. There
are so few ppl. who will spend the time required to learn to sim drive
a car, despite the sensational eye candy and long term enjoyment from
taming any of the 1967 GP cars.

I suppose Simbin/Blimey attempted to bridge that gap with the
multilevel physics options for GTR and GTL (amateur, semi-pro & Pro),
but I have no idea how well they did with sales. NASCAR (and perhaps
F1) would be the logical choices to attract the broadest market, but
both licenses are tied up with companies who are satisfied with the
sales from the initial release and not a long term approach, like Papy
did with the NRxxxx series. They (Papy) continually added to the
product over the life of the sim and made it better each time. EA puts
out a crap NASCAR title (I refuse to call it a sim) and then abandons
it. There hasn't been a F1 title in 6 years, IIRC due to Sony.