I don't know how many of you follow Tim's blog, but his latest is about rF2 so I'm pimping it Great read: http://timwheatley.org/www/2012/01/12/the-historical-factor
Whoah TW's blog! Awesome. One can only imagine the stress Tim was under during this time. Much kudos that he kept his cool impeccably and was (of course) backed up by Gjod himself & the ISI team. (typo on purpose -no disrespect intended Gjon Thx buddhatree!
Historical cars AND the historical tracks really bring out the immersion factor. I accidentally loaded some Meganes on Spa and was shouting at the screen "no no no, this isnt right at all" I guess im a purist. I cannot wait for the other historic cars, the Lola's or whatever they are. They should be great fun at Spa. Plus, more open wheelers.
For my own personal taste I think the 60's era cars and tracks are where it's at. All the modern day tracks are sterile and lifeless. Billiard smooth tracks with sandpits lining the track. They have no soul. they have had all the character sanitized away. The historic tracks are full of life. character, soul and danger. Takes us back to the days when real men drove real cars, around real tracks. The only epic race still left these days is the Isle of Man TT.(which would be amazing in rFactor ) I hope that we get a 60's season of tracks up to the standard of the current build of Spa and Monaco. Also if there are going to be vintage sports cars then a 60's version of le sarthe would be great Also as a lot of these tracks have either changed, or no longer exist, then the digital medium of simracing games are the only chance we will get to experience them, unless we invent the flux capacitor Think of it as preserving a piece of history.
In this day and age I'm sure people would see that means whatever God they may have, if at all.. It's a generic release *wink
Sterile tracks rolf I used to love playing GPL racing online and hadnt felt anything close till the other day bring on the historical content ,there was great satisfaction in GPL when you would do a good lap at one of the big tracks .I would like to see Rouen as it had a great mix of corners ,but all the tracks in GPL would be fantastic .
Agree totally. Also a version of the old Green hell before it was bubble wrapped and made to be non toxic
Even the modern Green Hell is a pretty fearsome place compared to other tracks. Sure, there are the occasional sandtraps and the surface is smoother, but it's still pretty rough going and most of the way through the track the only thing you can expect to hit when you stray off the track is an ARMCO. That said, yes, modern tracks are sterile, lifeless and ultimately boring compared to old classics that were designed before any safety regulations.
Y'know...for the sake of keeping this thread too cheery I'm going to be the first to disagree...at least partially. I immensely respect those who came before us, and I agree that driving those cars on those tracks was a little bit insane (in a good way ). However, the thrill of it all is a bit lost when it comes time to play it on your computer. I don't think that driving the historic F1 car on Spa (emotionally) moved me any more than driving the FR3.5 around the Mills long course. To me, it's all about the corners, not the straight bits in between. On the computer it's about the challenge of coordination more than the daring. Where's the daring when you can hit 'reset', and you don't have to pay for the repairs? That being said...those cars ARE great fun to drive. They offer a unique challenge we haven't had in a racing sim in a long time (so I'm told--first for myself, since I haven't been simracing for very long). I'm very glad we have them, and I'm very appreciative of the work that's gone into creating those tracks! I'd love to see more tracks that are as 'organic' and probably most of all, beautiful to look at and drive through! While Malaysia and Portugal offer their own challenges, they're a bit of a dog to look at (by their design, I mean, not the artistry that's gone into them)--flat and uninteresting.
Yeah, taking one of the F1s out on Spa in the rain really makes the ol' sphincter clench. For the first time in a sim since GPL or the Historics it really feels like you have too much car for the conditions. Unlike GPL, though, the car responds quite believably to user input - the new tire model really makes a difference. I just went out in the above mentioned conditions and got sideways a few times. Finally spun the car, as expected. But unlike GPL and most of the rFactor sims, I could tell what the car was going to do and counter-steer. Instead of trying to correct and making the car gyrate crazily, my inputs eventually brought it back under control, pointing the right way. Most add-on sims get this wrong - the car feels more stable when it's rolling backward and you can't do that throttle blip to straighten it out. Spa is just a work of art. Has everyone looked at the animations and details around the track? The barbed wire fence (which I've seen way too much of, up close) has detailed wire on it, for heaven's sake. And FPS is dead constant all the way around, rain or no. When they get the final graphical tweaks enabled, I can't imagine how good it will look. I'm all in favor of more historical cars/tracks - Can-Am and Group 6/7, anyone?
Very nice read. Tim nailed it and iam all for this direction The major fun part is indeed driving these cars in there historic locations, it's the combination that make them so much fun to play with.
