Revvin

I got my copy last wednesday finally (damn postal strike here in Blighty) I'm really enjoying this sim, just enough cars and tracks to make it interesting, my favourite so far is the Formula BMW. I loved the mod in rFactor but I think this one has a slight edge over it with the cockpit and sounds. I finally got around to trying out the Radicals last night, quite skitish and can be a handful after the rock steady FBMW and F3000 cars. I finally gave in and downloaded an add on track, though its a conversion of Spa from GTR2 so graphically its very good unlike some of the lower quality conversions from older sims I've tried in rFactor. The main reason for downloading was I'm running in an event run by a racing sim site, its going to be a full grid, mixed classes with FBMW's, BMW Mini Coopers, the BMW E90 and BMW E30. It will be interesting to see how the server holds up.

Maybe you can shed some light on this having the final version but in BETA there was not much of a penalty for bunny hopping where as in other games continually jumping would slow you down a lot, perhaps they changed this in the final release?

I really didn't think I'd like TF2 because of the cartoon style to it but damn its fun! its more enclosed than Quake Wars, perhaps if there is not so much bunny hopping in QW now I'll pick it up sometime.

I didn't think much of the Quake Wars BETA I tried, it was full of players bunny hopping

Simbin split some time ago, back before the last RACE game I think. Some staff went on to form Blimey games.

Its not that hard to imagine as the last time I did a fresh install I went through every download checking for updates, installing, testing, installing some more. It took a few nights work which is why I'm being far more choosy this time around and besides hopefully my copy of RACE 07 will arrive Friday

Yes I think it could be stopped and probably should for the benefit of online play. From discussing it at another forum it seems cars won't work online but add-on tracks will.

I wonder how much HDD space it would take to install every mod and every track from rFactor Central, and how long the loading time would be?...any volunteers?

You can download the PGR4 playable demo from the Xbox Live Marketplace now. The demo includes three cars, two motorbikes which can be raced at Macau and Nürburgring. The Nürburgring shows off the new weather effects with a snow laden track.

I don't if its being launched in the US but in Europe Sony are releasing a new PS3 with a smaller HDD (40GB), less USB ports, no multimedia card reader but perhaps most importantly no backwards compatibility. Should I switch to the Sony brand I do like to look at older games and maybe play things like older versions of Gran Tourismo as I still played the original Forza on my 360 until Forza 2 was released and I'm playing through the single player campaign in Halo 1 and 2 before I get into 3's single play campaign. I do recall Sony deriding MS for their backwards compatability and saying how important it was for the PS3. Times change but as other consoles such as the Wii and 360 drop in price Sony's price drops seem to revolve around chopping things out of their console.

The novelty wears off with the Wii and then you're left with a few tired old games where as the next gen consoles continue to develop, perhaps you'll try one once you've finished pracing around your room like the sugar plum fairy waving your magic wand ;) Those dual format players are expensive though. I've never used my Xbox as my primary DVD player (OK well once when my standalone DVD player died lol) but if Blu Ray did establish itself as 'the' format then it would perhaps entice me into PS3 ownership though I wouldn't buy it and keep my 360 it would have to be one or the other so Sony would also have to come up with a lot more games than it has now and improve its online service though I don't think that is beyond them. I think downloading films is the way to go but just like the next gen consoles are finding now its popularity will swing from country to country. While perhaps the US and Scandinavian countries seem to have widespread high spped access the British broaband scene is pathetically third world. One of the big providers here 'BT' whom I use are offering a digital TV service that runs along the same lines as your phone and broadband yet recently I've had a hell of a time getting them to fix a faulty line/exchamge as they pass the buck from one company to another. If I'd have had my digital TV with them I'd have been ripping my hair out but lucky I am with a satellite provider for television. Downloading will come but I still think it has some way to go for the majority of countries to catch up with some of the better one who have good infrastructure. Console exclusives such as Halo on the Xbox are nice but I mainly play sports or racing games and both formats have their own good exclusives in those departments. Both have good FPS games too so if Sony did get their act together (from my perspective as a potential buyer) then I wouldn't have a problem trading all my Xbox stuff in for a PS3.

I'm about to do a fresh install of rFactor anyway so I'll just install the stuff I actually played like the Porsche Cup mod, Meganes, Euro F3 etc. I had waaaay to much installed lol

Well now it seems users are making progress on adding modded cars to RACE 07 too :( I've been excited about this games release but now I feel it will just be a headache to play online as it is in rFactor and GTR2 :(

I've heard different reports on how the format war is going in the US, how do you see it from a consumers POV? In the UK its of less interest it seems because the percentage of HDTV owners is still small but steadily growing. To me the PS3 seems to be more like a trojan horse for them to get Blu Ray into peoples homes because they stand to make huge sums of money from licensing the tech should Blu Ray win because surely they would not make the same mistake they did with the BETA Max format. IMHO winning the next gen console war is secondary to establishing Blu Ray. The Xbox Live service is the jewel in the crown for the Xbox 360 IMHO. The big disappointment for me with the Xbox 360 has been the failure rate and the damage that has done to the brand as this has stopped some friends buying a 360 despite liking everything else they have seen when using mine. That said MS are rolling out new chipsets that are starting to hit the shelves now so I've heard (the 360 elite did not have this new chipset apparently). I'm not so sure about the PS3 being blessed with as huge a array of games as the PS1 or PS2 because while the PS3 has plenty of power its raw power that the developers are apparently struggling to develop for. They also need to improve their online service to compete. My son has a Wii and to me its just an overclocked Gamecube but it does have a nice array of social games and the fun to use motion controllers. Why MS and Sony don't come out with their own I don't know, it would perhaps take some of the wind out of the sales of the Wii which is selling extremely well.

I don't think it will ever happen, the console manufacturers want their exclusive titles to help sell their system. Nintendo, SEGA, Sony and Microsoft have done it for years.

Well I gave in today and sorted out my old games for trade in and bought FIFA 08. PES6 really was the better game last year but based on the demo's of this years offerings from both football game series it was clear to me FIFA was the better one. Graphically the FIFA games were always better, they never dissapointed when it came to presentation but the AI often let it down. This year is different however and FIFA has drastically improved the AI which has really helped the flow of the game. Now the AI just doesn't blindly run on and ignore the fact you've just been tackled it will run back and try to win the ball. The PES 2008 demo was just too much like pinball this year.

If Simbin released the tracks as I suggested by allowing users to input the codes from their copies of GTR2 and GT Legends into Steam then it would work as everyone online would have the same group of tracks but this will inevitably lead to more conversions of conversions of conversions of tracks made for sims many years old and showing their age with poor track textures, squared off corners etc.

I'm not sure if I like the idea of all these track conversions for RACE 07 as it may make multiplay as hard to pick up as rFactor because of version mismatches but you can download a selection of GTR2 and other add-on tracks here at NoGrip. The legality of these conversions is a little unknown though discussions have been allowed on RaceSimCentral and they have quite close ties with simbin and usually tend to shut down any talk of unauthorised conversions like this. One member there suggested that Simbin has been ok about it in the past as long as its tracks from their older games being converted to their new game instead of the other way around. In this thread at RSC I suggested maybe Simbin should setup a system in Steam where you can enter your codes from the GTR2 and GT Legends manuals and be allowed to download officially converted tracks, maybe charge a small ammount for users who don't have them.

Yes the fanboys can be just as irritating as those who would look down on anyone who likes to play both real world location and futuristic FPS games just because they are not seen as 'hardcore' enough Then you get those who will look down on you because you like to play FPS games on a console - oh the humanity! I've been playing FPS games for years of all varieties, if its entertaining then I'll play it

I thought you might like it, not long to release now. Its been a while since I've been excited about a new racing sim release.

There is much good fun to be had in games like R6 thats for sure, I'm sorry I meant no offense to you Paul in my comments and they were not really directed at you I just got fed up at another forum where users would tend to be a little snooty and look down on you if you didn't like the latest FPS with a real world location. They seemed to think they were somehow superior because they thought they played tactically when in reality a lot of them did not. The multiplayer aspect is very strong in Halo, I'd like to have seen maybe more than 16 players but then for a while I got fed up with the games that boasted 32 and 64 players because quite often it stopped being a game of skill and just a matter of running and gunning to hit as many targets as possible. There is something a little more 'gladitorial' about a smaller group of players fighting it out. Deathmatch is good fun but I do tend to choose the team based game variants such as VIP, Team Slayer, CTF etc.

There's a nice video of someone driving a Radical around Pau in the rain here: http://stage6.divx.com/user/SimChallenge/v...ical-SR4-(rain)

I think far too many people get blinded by the real world locations and weapons and think of it as being more tactical than a futuristic enviroment. All of those games you mention can be played as run and gun it just depends on the group you play with. I'm not saying you run and gun because you might find a group of friends who will play it tacticaly but you can also play any other FPS tactically if you so wish such as Halo 3 as I found last night planning attacks with players over the built in voice comms.

Yes I started out with Wolfenstein and played just about every FPS going and they all lend features from one another, there has been no massive evolutions unless you count game styles such as the original CTF mod for Quake perhaps or game styles brought into Unreal Tournament. Yes underground inside bases does give you deja vu that is one dissapointing aspect. I bought Halo 3 yesterday but don't want to play single play until I've played through the others, fortunately the multiplayer aspect is great fun. It has really grabbed my attention after getting a little burnt out with the FPS genre, fortunately Halo 3 and Team Fortress 2 has got me playing again though. Some gamers have criticised the graphics, one Sony fnaboy site has dubbed it Halo 2.5 and I think thats a little unfair. I think the graphics are definately next gen and the maps have nice detail to them especially the forest type outdoors maps which feel very organic.

Wow read this post quickly guys the Microsoft blackhawks are hovering. As quickly as it took me to cut and paste the same topic onto the Xbox forums and return here my thread on the Xbox UK forums was deleted and an email hastily sent containing to following abrubt message: