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Aged
That's MISTER Lag Monkey to you.
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 Posted - Jan 20 2003 : 16:40:51
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NR2003 demo (149 Mb)
I'm downloading it and I'll let you know about it.
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Arcane
Administrator
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Posted - Jan 20 2003 : 16:46:32
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Cool.
Looking forward to your report 
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Novus Ordo Seclorum
Knowledge is power... has been since time eternal. Arcane knowledge is thereby ultimate power and can
therefore lead to ultimate corruption. Wisdom (and the experience that comes with age) is a serum for corruption.
Perhaps that is why there are so many Old Men with Arcane knowledge and so few young ones...
Arcane OMO - Circa 2001
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PacemakerOMO
The Florida Racer!
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Posted - Jan 20 2003 : 17:27:52
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149mg? WOOOAH!! freaked out my ISP DUDE!!
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Aged
That's MISTER Lag Monkey to you.
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Posted - Jan 21 2003 : 11:11:47
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Ok, first impressions.
Machine: p3 733 @ 900, 512 Mb RAM, Radeon 8500, Soundblaster Live OEM, MS FF wheel and pedals, Win98SE, DirectX 9, Catalyst 3 video drivers.
You get 2 tracks (Talledega and Michigan). You get about 10 cars (just guessing) - a handful of real cars (e.g., Mike Skinner, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Jimmy Johnson, etc.) and the #83 Papy car (it's a chevy). You can play around with the setups, replays, paintshop, etc. There are a few more control settings under advanced controls (most of which I didn't play with) which is where you'll find the steering linearity. You also get the usual easy, intermediate, fast and qual setups along with an additional Jasper setup (reportedly the same setup that the Jasper engines team used). An additional camera has been added High Chase - similiar to the bugged and abused 3rd person view of MW4. The color scheme has changed and there's a few new things but it's all pretty familiar.
The game plays very similar to NR2002. (Arcane will be disappointed with another "patch in a box".) I drove both tracks with the Jasper setups. Talledega was pretty predicitable, but Michigan was an adventure (some people are saying that the Jasper setup of for Michigan is actually a qual setup). Grip seems a bit better. Steering is bumpy with FF (assuming the modelling of bumps in the track is responsible for that). The biggest difference I've noticed so far is that throttle response is far more tricky - it's really not a binary device anymore. I was swapping ends coming out of turns 2 and 4 pretty regularly.
Graphics are good. The seem more immersive and smooth, but the textures seem a bit less detailed than before. The change is somewhat similar to the difference between MW4 maps and Mercs maps. I like it, but in the details it's occassionally not as impressive. (I can't remember how I had the video options setup.) The cars themselves are modeled a little differently - the Chevys look dead on (which is a shame because the 2003 Chevy is butt ugly ), the Fords look a little wrong somehow, but I haven't seen very much of the real thing for 2003 so, it may be correct (I suspect it is given the new NASCAR template rules for 2003). The lighting is different as well - more shine, take a look at NASCAR Thunder 2003 cars and reduce the shine about 50% and you get the idea.
Sounds are different (again) - engine sounds more raspy and the backfire sounds are much more realistic sounding. I've seen people rave about the sounds, but I've never been in an actual stock car so I'll take their word for it. There is also a sound file for the garage - clinking metal, etc.
Still to try, I want to see how it runs in Win 2000. I want to play around with the video and audio settings. I want to try the other setups and also run with some other cars to see how the AI is and how the windshield dirt and full pit crews work. (I just did testing sessions so far.).
I, also, plan to post a few screenies.
I plan to get it myself, but then I'm kind fo addicted to this stuff.
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HEARTBURN-OMO
Spammer wannabe
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Arcane
Administrator
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Posted - Jan 21 2003 : 21:25:28
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Yes, it is HB... SO... don't waste your money on 2002 because 2003 is just around the corner.
BTW - If you didn't notice this is Papy's last Nascar sim. Pretty damn sad state when the folks that damn near single handedly created a genre have the license basically bought out from under them and all for f'ing consoles.
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Novus Ordo Seclorum
Knowledge is power... has been since time eternal. Arcane knowledge is thereby ultimate power and can
therefore lead to ultimate corruption. Wisdom (and the experience that comes with age) is a serum for corruption.
Perhaps that is why there are so many Old Men with Arcane knowledge and so few young ones...
Arcane OMO - Circa 2001
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Country: USA
| Posts: 2980 |
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HEARTBURN-OMO
Spammer wannabe
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Aged
That's MISTER Lag Monkey to you.
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Posted - Jan 22 2003 : 16:10:00
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Release date is projected to be February 4, 2003.
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Country: USA
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Aged
That's MISTER Lag Monkey to you.
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Posted - Jan 23 2003 : 09:23:58
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More impressions (I'll start with Sammy Davis Jr. )
I definately like the fast setup for Michigan better than the Jasper one.
I did a quick race using that setup for both the race and qual. The AI was set for 70% (which made them too slow - if I hadn't spun, I would've lapped the field in a 17 lap race). I can't really comment on the AI because it was set so low, but I rarely race that way so if it's an improvement over the past I wouldn't know.
But, here's what I can say. The car just feels better than in NR2k2. The FF just feels like it's telling me more about what's going on. My settings (75% force, 0% latency, 10% damping, 100% linearity, rest of the settings on default - sterring ratio set to 19/1 I think via the setup, stock is 25/1 I think). Anyway, I could really feel when the car was starting to get loose and could adjust before it was too late. It felt a bit more real than NR2k2.
Now I can see what people are talking about with the improvements to the sound. In a pack, it is just like an in-car camera from TV. The cars sound right and the position (at least with headphones) was really good.
Get behind somebody or spin  and you'll pick up dirt on your windsield. This is much better than DTR2 (where the mud looks a little hokie), it looks realistic. Another little graphical nicety (which cost me about .5 sec on a lap from watching it) is there's a blimp, and it moves! It's kind of cool. The sun effects are pretty cool too - glare, shadows on the track. (nice touch) The full pit is pretty cool too. I entered the pits at the end of the race, so it wasn't mass confusion but it wasn't that hard to find my stall (mostly because I had the poll - and stall #1), but this could end up being an interesting addition.
I'll post some more screenies tonight.
Still more to test out
Here's some things I've read but can't confirm by experience yet.
- less "wall glue"
- when you bottom out you don't necessarily spin, but you will take damage
- more tape means more downforce that you can feel
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NR2003 demo out
