just would like to point out that this demo is indeed a waste of time for anyone looking for a RBR/GPL/N2003/GTR/ etc type of experience. I tried to like it, but news flash to codemasters: it is no longer an acceptable gameplay mechanic to artificially slow down the car when it is on the grass. If anything, you make it extremely difficult to remain in control of the car. Think wet grass. That slowdown crap is so sega genesis era its not even funny. Oh, and leaving autobrakes (so that i will be sure to make every corner without hitting the brakes) on after the player selects PRO SIM MODE is stupid.

Oh yes, so is not saving settings when the player leaves the game, making player reset controller setup EVERY TIME THEY START THE GAME is also, yes, stupid.

I would also like to note that making it impossible to "tweak" settings (like map a button) without restarting the game is yes, also stupid. The ole "reconfigure controls completely every time u start the game" just makes it that much sweeter.

just had to get this off my chest. WHY OH WHY CANT THIS GAME BE GOOD, I LOVE THE IDEA AND THE GRAPHICS AND ALL THE CARS, STEAL OR BUY RBR'S PHYSICS, OR JUST BUY A CLUE. GODDDDAMMIT SO FRUSTRATING.

Actually, IIRC, this $22 refurb looks like the Formula Force GP (usually $60+ new), not the original belt-driven non-GP. The biggest tell-tale sign is that the steering wheel is not 100% fully-covered w/the red rubberized grip, as seen here:

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/downloads/categories/US/EN,CRID=1789

So the $22 refurb model is still somewhat "entry-level" (for a Logitech FF wheel), while the MOMO Racing, Force, and Driving Force Pro are Logitech's higher-end (both in terms of cost and features).

Just wanted to clarify for those who might want to make the $22 purchase, thinking that they'll be getting the wonderful belt-driven non-GP model.

3rd the driving force pro, works great on my pc. here's the drivers: http://www.wingmanteam.com/latest_software/latest_soft_xp.htm


you can set the rotation to whatever you want, but 900 degrees is possible. Pedals are decent, not as good as the ActLabs performance pedals, but those aren't made anymore afaik.

3rd Rfactor, but I think Richard burns rally is the current physics king, just amazing. Need a speedy pc to make it run properly though, which makes a big difference as to whether the car is controllable. Amazing game, too bad its so hard to mod. Rfactor doesnt have that problem

<a href="http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=97,CONTENTID=7226">dfp 900 degree rotation</a>

works with a pc too, just download the drivers, also you can set the rotaion to whatever you want from 100-900 degrees.
personally I use 360 and I'll also put a vote in for RFactor.


<edit> sorry ... no html skills

This comment was edited on Nov 14, 23:52.

Anything with StarForce gets a pass from me.

But then again, I don't buy retail until a companion NOCD patch has been released. Limits the amount of games available, but at least I am not forced to act like a poodle and fetch my CD every time I want to play for a few minutes.

I'm wondering if I bought a USB>Xbox form factor plug if the XBox would recognize the wheel. I would love to play Forza with it.....

OOOOOOooooo!!!! Do that (no matter the cost) and let us know if it works That'd be sweet!


As for this game, I won't be buying, despite being a fan of the first two.

Their idiotic StarForce protection takes eleven billion years to start sits there doing nothing until I finally hit CTL+ALT+DEL, at which point I get to watch the hourglass for eleven billion years before task manager appears.. and then the DEMO of the game magically starts. WEEEEEEEEeee!

I've never had more than philosophical issues with StarForce, but this is plenty of reason for me to say no thanks to this game without a second thought; it's good, but it's not Chaos Theory or anything.

Too bad though, because what I saw of the racing was good for the most part.

For one thing, the AI is completely healed -- no more psychotic drivers on the track unless they're YOU! The only time I was ever bumped was when it was 100% my fault, and if you drive like an asshole on purpose, it's actually pretty funny to see the lengths they'll go to in order to avoid a collision. Big, important difference right there for the series, IMO.

Other changes are a bit less noteworthy and not all good (although hardly dealbreakers when the game is about driving cars plain and simple):

- the menu is worse. Even more consolitis than ever before!

- there are no options any more for customizing the HUD, so I can't tell how fast I'm going since I don't read "MPH" (made worse by the fact that the track signage is in metric)

- that doesn't matter since you CANNOT put yourself in any danger of coming off the track unless you are actually trying to do that. I never once crashed to the point of stopping my car. Not even with all the "Pro-Sim" options turned on and driving like a complete asshole to test the AI out. In fact, that was the only time I crashed at all. Maybe it's the car, but I'm not some kind of miracle-worker at these games, so I think there's something wrong there..
(and the annoying choice of only one car makes it virtually impossible to know for sure)

- graphics are fine, but don't look appreciably different to me than they did in the last game. Don't know if it's the same engine, but sure feels like it.

- overall, pretty 'meh' given what you can discern from the demo. TBH, it feels exactly like RD2 with better AI (very good thing), and much much MUCH more 'stick-to-the-road' handling (very bad thing, but can't really tell with only one car)


No racing game ONLY Richard Burns Rally 2 could make me look past SF though

-----
GW: Tashen Boke [R/Me]; Rosti The Ninja [Mo/R]; Gort Grimley [W/Ne]

I'm wondering if I bought a USB>Xbox form factor plug if the XBox would recognize the wheel. I would love to play Forza with it.....

----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.anysoldier.com/index.cfm

"This application failed to start because DRDX9_26.DLL was not found. Re-installing the applicatoin may fix this problem"

WTF! Man.. my FX5600 wont even run this?

Yeah, I have the squash-ball mod done to mine too makes it much more realistic...

Matter of fact I was going to snap one up but being the cheap bastard I am I went for the $22 entry level model instead.....

Those Formula-Force wheels were/are much loved by lots of folks. IIRC, the wheel you got is belt-drive vs. gear-drive, meaning that it should be a bit more precise than your basic "entry level model". It will definitely be less noisy, which is a plus. Either way, you should do a bit of Googling when you get it, since I know there are a ton of good mods for that wheel around the 'net.


Here's one I've used on my MOMO with FANTASTIC results. Took about 3 minutes:

http://www.lugnutsracing.com/pedals.html


EDIT: WTF??!?!?? LMAO!:

http://graphics.tudelft.nl/~paul/momod/

-----
GW: Tashen Boke [R/Me]; Rosti The Ninja [Mo/R]; Gort Grimley [W/Ne]
This comment was edited on Nov 14, 18:50.

I have the PC Logitech Momo wheel. Fantastic wheel sadly dosn't work on gt4. Blocked on purpose to promote the 'gt4' version allegedly...

Ironically the GT4 version (Basically a spruced up MoMo) WILL work on the PC with a simple software install. Matter of fact I was going to snap one up but being the cheap bastard I am I went for the $22 entry level model instead.....

----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.anysoldier.com/index.cfm

I have the PC Logitech Momo wheel. Fantastic wheel sadly dosn't work on gt4. Blocked on purpose to promote the 'gt4' version allegedly...

It will work on the PC even though it isn't advertised to:

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/FR/EN,CRID=2250,CONTENTID=11097&ad=emea_hpb_playseats_#11_05#1

I want a realistinc rotation on one. Seriously, if I could find a FF wheel that had ~900degree rotation I'd be all over it. Instead I'm stuck with 200degree wheels (barely more than half a turn).


"Space. It seems to go on and on forever. But then you get to the end and a gorilla starts throwing barrels at you."
-Fry, Futurmama

I had been looking around for a good basic FF wheel recently when i found this:

http://www.ictcompany.com/store/productinf.asp?idsr=791&Item=LD221

Its refurbished but for $22 with free shipping (plus its guaranteed or theyll pay for return shipping to swap it out with another) its a no-brainer. I had bought a Logitech Cordless Xbox controller about 6 months ago from this outfit and it worked fine.

Just figured some of you knuckleheads would be interested

----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.anysoldier.com/index.cfm

Ive been a raceing fan for a long time and ISI has been at the top of my list for doing incredible sims for EA.

Now they have gone independent and have been working on rFactor for awhile and its worth every penny, its not in stores but can be had on thier web site, be warned however its very much a work in progress still and is constantley being updated all the time, also the tracks are fictional and so are the cars, but that dosent stop the modders, as there are a couple of fine addons and full conversions that I enjoy.

As far as ToCA goes thanks btw for the tip on this as I also was fooled by those retouched screenies I saw in a mag.
so I stoped waiting in line to download this as i have better things to do atm with my bandwidth and HD space.

This comment was edited on Nov 14, 15:34.

force fuck my star


....



You must have really wanted to share that with us..

And if you reverse it, you get "star my fuck force" that sounds even better!



--------------------------------------------------------------
GW: Nilaar Madalla, lvl 20 R/Mo / Tolyl Nor, lvl 20 E/Mo / Xylos Gath, lvl 13 W/Mo

Don't look at me that way. It was An Honest Mistake. http://www.thebravery.com/

*sigh*

force fuck my star

....



You must have really wanted to share that with us..

-----
GW: Tashen Boke [R/Me]; Rosti The Ninja [Mo/R]; Gort Grimley [W/Ne]

Don't get your hopes up, I thought it was a big let down. Graphically it's quite pretty, but not much of an improvement on RD2. Also, it looks nothing like all the touched-up screenshots they've been posting for months (as we suspected).

It's a fun enough arcade racer, but they're having a laugh if they try calling it a sim. LFS, rFactor, GTR, etc. are all heaps more satisfying. If you're a sim fan, I wouldn't even bother downloading it.