EA-NSR Initial Observations

First, let me start by saying that since this is a demo, I'm going to avoid
making judgements at this point. Really, I am. I'll try real hard. Honest


First, the good stuff:

* The Menu System is leaps and bounds better than anything else EA has ever
done in a Nascar Game.
* The ability to recover from a Spin in a somewhat expected manner is nice
to see.
* It actually ran without any trouble.
* You can turn off the hands, wheel or both.
* The setup screens are decent.
* There is a lot more adjustability than in NR2003. Whether it actually
WORKS or not I leave open for debate.
* The flying debris are kinda neat.


And now the not-so-good:

* Oh, my. Where do I begin?
* Is it intentional that you can't actually READ the dash board ?
* Mirror? We don't need no stinking mirrors. I guess that's the philosophy
because the one in the game is useless.
* No matter what I adjust, I can't get the front-end to grip. It feels like
every other EA Nascar sim I've ever tried in that the front end just washes
out and heads for the wall.
* In the demo at least, the FF is worthless. All it does is stiffen up the
wheel. There is NO sense of grip feed back through the FF.
* Oh, my. Here I go... Like every other EA based SIM I've ever driven, I
feel absolutely zero sense of grip in this thing.
* The sounds are screwed up. It sounds like it can only play certain sounds
at one time. For example, if you hit the wall, or scrape with another car,
it seems like it has to drop other sounds to play that sound.
* Anyone figured out how to know where to stop in the Pits yet?
* The other cars sounds completely drown out your own engine sounds and I
see no way to adjust for that.
* It just don't feel right handling wise, other than the before mentioned
ability to save a spin.
* The Mirror SUCKS! Oh, sorry. Already covered that.


There's more, but that's enough for now.

In closing, let's all hold hands and chant 100 times.... "It's only a Demo.
The release version will be PERFECT!"

-Larry

> * The Menu System is leaps and bounds better than anything else EA has
ever
> done in a Nascar Game.

Agreed, though it heavily borrows from NR2003 in some areas, so it's to be
expected.

> * Is it intentional that you can't actually READ the dash board ?

No problems here. The 1280x960 max resolution is just dumb though.

> * Mirror? We don't need no stinking mirrors. I guess that's the
philosophy
> because the one in the game is useless.

I didn't even know my car was pouring out smoke (from tires rubbing?) until
I watched the replay! In the 45 mins or so I've played it, I've found
situational awareness much more difficult. I can't even get a really good
sense of how wide the car is.

> * No matter what I adjust, I can't get the front-end to grip. It feels
like
> every other EA Nascar sim I've ever tried in that the front end just
washes
> out and heads for the wall.

If you haven't already, check out the grill tape setting. Bumping it up a
fair bit along with stiffening up the back end a bit made a HUGE difference
for me, and I usually err on the side of understeer with setups. The
included setups seem to be heavily geared toward drivability
for -everybody-.

> * In the demo at least, the FF is worthless. All it does is stiffen up
the
> wheel. There is NO sense of grip feed back through the FF.

Try decreasing the strength in-game. Made a HUGE difference for me (~70%
w/a DFP).

> * Oh, my. Here I go... Like every other EA based SIM I've ever driven, I
> feel absolutely zero sense of grip in this thing.

I seem to have a better sense of grip in NR2003, but NSR does seem better
than F1C in this regard IMHO. On the down side though, they seem to have
also made the tires fairly forgiving (maybe it's the setup?). This has
allowed me to get away with sliding the car a bit by throwing the weight
around and using the throttle. I'm not a great driver and don't think I
should be able to do that in these beasts.

> * The sounds are screwed up. It sounds like it can only play certain
sounds
> at one time. For example, if you hit the wall, or scrape with another
car,
> it seems like it has to drop other sounds to play that sound.

Forget that.... the engine is soooooo flat!

> * It just don't feel right handling wise, other than the before mentioned
> ability to save a spin.

I think NR2003 still has a better sense of speed. It brings me closer to
feeling like I'm on a track vs sitting in front of a screen. The scrubbing
sound in NR2003 is fantastic, and to compensate for a lack of cues, it
almost seems like NSR made the car easier to deal with. It could come down
to setup though. Seriously, once I upped the grill tape to ~50-55%, it felt
much better... not incredible, but a HUGE step in the right direction. Mind
you, I also made some suspension changes to try and liven things up.

Overall, it seems speed control in NSR is based more on intuition/experience
than sensory cues. In NR2003, you hear the tires start scrubbing. In NSR,
you just modify what didn't work until it does. On the other side of it
though, there's a wider gap between grip and terminal understeer (iow, wall
contact) in NSR. You can ease up and eventually slide the back a bit when
the front end really plows going in.

> In closing, let's all hold hands and chant 100 times.... "It's only a
Demo.
> The release version will be PERFECT!"

Anyone know if Bob Stanley's posted comments on the demo?

Alan

"Alan Le" > wrote in message
m...

<snip>

: Anyone know if Bob Stanley's posted comments on the demo?

Yes, he has. http://www.onlineracin.com/forum/tt.asp?forumid=34

I think you nailed it.

-Larry

"Alan Le" > wrote in message
m...

"Overall, it seems speed control in NSR is based more on
intuition/experience
than sensory cues."