Re: Your thoughts on SODA racing?

Way ahead of its time, and hampered only by butt-ugly graphics. I recently rediscovered it and ran it on my newer notebook and found it to be more fun than I remembered. The physics model was quite advanced, and it's a hoot to watch all those little suspension components moving around. If you have driven GPL, you will appreciate the driving model. If you have not, you'll probably spin out a lot. The impressive thing was that it was written by a small company. The track editor is a bonus. Make a dirt circle track and drift for hours and hours. Make the screaming wall of death and test your airtime. Really, if it had supported D3D, it might have sold well and we would be talking a lot more about it. The screen shots you have seen are Rendition acceleration only. The software version is a little...er... less nice. I find it as much fun as GPL. Sierra probably sells it online. Stephen Andrew Turner <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> I'd say "a penny for your thoughts", but then we'd have to adhere to all > kinds of international shipping and trade laws... > > Also, how is the track editor? It looks really good in screenshots. > > Last, does anyone know a good place, online or somewhere physical in the > US, to buy it? (if it is good, of course) > > > thanks, > Andrew >

I'd say "a penny for your thoughts", but then we'd have to adhere to all kinds of international shipping and trade laws... Also, how is the track editor? It looks really good in screenshots. Last, does anyone know a good place, online or somewhere physical in the US, to buy it? (if it is good, of course) thanks, Andrew

I enjoy SODA, though I have trouble getting good frame rates, even on my PIII-450 with a Rendition-ready Herc Thriller vid card. I don't know of any other sim on the market that does as well at protraying this form of racing. The graphics are somewhat dated, but the physics are believable. I don't believe the FF is compatible with modern FF wheels. My ActLabs RS wheel does not recognize any FF, and just uses standard centering force. You can still find SODA sold in a Sierra Classics box at various retailers (try Best-Buy, Wal-Mart, Toys-R-Us, maybe EB). "Andrew Turner" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> I'd say "a penny for your thoughts", but then we'd have to adhere to all > kinds of international shipping and trade laws... > > Also, how is the track editor? It looks really good in screenshots. > > Last, does anyone know a good place, online or somewhere physical in the > US, to buy it? (if it is good, of course) > > > thanks, > Andrew >

Hi Andrew, You can think of SODA as the ground breaker for GPL. It was the first sim where people complained about the light throttle touch required. Hehe. The sim runs in 640x480 fine in software on a fast PC (P2-333+). I set the cars to low detail so the suspension isn't shown, but it really isn't that bad looking. Much better than 320x200 and all graphics on ;-) The AI are great! They have to train on your track once before you race with them the first time, but they are competitive. The 4x2 trucks are a hoot :-) and the buggies are my favorite. This is the true simer's sim -- good physics with adequate graphics. Your Viper is not Rendition compatible. http://members.home.com/mondsj/soda/soda.htm http://soda.trackclub.net/ Jason. Andrew Turner wrote:

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> Hi, thanks for the info - > > I've read here that the graphics are crap without "rendition". > I've got a Viper 770 Ultra 32 meg... will that even make a difference? I > don't know if it supports "rendition". > > thanks, > > Andrew > > rtice wrote: > > > It is a relatively good sim. You asked about the track editor, I > > spent a lot of time making tracks, so here are my impressions. > > The editor itself is not hard to use at all. The actual track size > > is limited to a relatively small area, you cannot have too big a > > track. You cannot make too sharp a turn, the track is segmented into > > sections and the segment points cannot be too close together. > > You can create crossovers but the AI is not too smart sometimes > > and you can confuse them. You can create VERY dramatic elevation > > changes, to the point that they cannot be traversed. It is mostly > > useful for scenery near the track -- Big mountains and Deep waters. > > All in all, I would recommend it, but it is not in the GPL class of > > sims. I would compare it to MotoCross Madness as most closey > > resembling, both in sim play and track editing. > > > > My $.02 > > > > On Thu, 15 Jun 2000 13:50:35 GMT, Andrew Turner <[email hidden]> > > wrote: > > > > >I'd say "a penny for your thoughts", but then we'd have to adhere to all > > >kinds of international shipping and trade laws... > > > > > >Also, how is the track editor? It looks really good in screenshots. > > > > > >Last, does anyone know a good place, online or somewhere physical in the > > >US, to buy it? (if it is good, of course) > > > > > > > > >thanks, > > >Andrew

-- Jason Monds http://www.proracingclub.com - Pro Racing Club! (N3, GPL) http://members.home.net/stuff.mondsj/csp - Car Sim Project (Please remove 'no extra spork' when replying)

It is a relatively good sim. You asked about the track editor, I spent a lot of time making tracks, so here are my impressions. The editor itself is not hard to use at all. The actual track size is limited to a relatively small area, you cannot have too big a track. You cannot make too sharp a turn, the track is segmented into sections and the segment points cannot be too close together. You can create crossovers but the AI is not too smart sometimes and you can confuse them. You can create VERY dramatic elevation changes, to the point that they cannot be traversed. It is mostly useful for scenery near the track -- Big mountains and Deep waters. All in all, I would recommend it, but it is not in the GPL class of sims. I would compare it to MotoCross Madness as most closey resembling, both in sim play and track editing. My $.02 On Thu, 15 Jun 2000 13:50:35 GMT, Andrew Turner <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>I'd say "a penny for your thoughts", but then we'd have to adhere to all >kinds of international shipping and trade laws... > >Also, how is the track editor? It looks really good in screenshots. > >Last, does anyone know a good place, online or somewhere physical in the >US, to buy it? (if it is good, of course) > > >thanks, >Andrew

Hi, thanks for the info - I've read here that the graphics are crap without "rendition". I've got a Viper 770 Ultra 32 meg... will that even make a difference? I don't know if it supports "rendition". thanks, Andrew rtice wrote:

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> It is a relatively good sim. You asked about the track editor, I > spent a lot of time making tracks, so here are my impressions. > The editor itself is not hard to use at all. The actual track size > is limited to a relatively small area, you cannot have too big a > track. You cannot make too sharp a turn, the track is segmented into > sections and the segment points cannot be too close together. > You can create crossovers but the AI is not too smart sometimes > and you can confuse them. You can create VERY dramatic elevation > changes, to the point that they cannot be traversed. It is mostly > useful for scenery near the track -- Big mountains and Deep waters. > All in all, I would recommend it, but it is not in the GPL class of > sims. I would compare it to MotoCross Madness as most closey > resembling, both in sim play and track editing. > > My $.02 > > On Thu, 15 Jun 2000 13:50:35 GMT, Andrew Turner <[email hidden]> > wrote: > > >I'd say "a penny for your thoughts", but then we'd have to adhere to all > >kinds of international shipping and trade laws... > > > >Also, how is the track editor? It looks really good in screenshots. > > > >Last, does anyone know a good place, online or somewhere physical in the > >US, to buy it? (if it is good, of course) > > > > > >thanks, > >Andrew

Andrew Turner wrote: > > Hi, thanks for the info - > > I've read here that the graphics are crap without "rendition". > I've got a Viper 770 Ultra 32 meg... will that even make a difference? I > don't know if it supports "rendition". No it won't I'm afraid, "Rendition" was/is a 3D chipset along the lines of 3Dfx, they had their own proprietary 3D API which wasn't compatible with anything but their own chips, just like 3Dfx has Glide, think it was called Rredline or something, awesome stuff for their time, so without one, SODA will indeed look crap On the good side though, if you have an old P100 or something gathering dust somewhere, Rendition cards, both in the early V1000 and the later V2100/2200 variants, ca be found very cheap these days, both second hand and new from surplus stock, and they are mostly PCI cards too, so you can convert that old PC to a SODA machine :-) Beers and cheers (uncle) Goy "Team Mirage" http://www.teammirage.com/ "The Pits" http://www.theuspits.com/ * Spam is for losers who can't get business any other way * "Spamkiller" http://www.spamkiller.com

Very good. Very good physics and throttle control is very essential, one of, if not the first games to simulate this! It's very fun, the track editor is cool, except you can't make hairpins too sharp :( (Can't practice my rally pendulum turns :) ) But there are tons of cool tracks out there and it's very simple to create, hell when I got it at the age of 11, I could easily put together nice tracks! I'd reccomend buying it, it's only $10 or $20 also. Thanks, Alex Andrew Turner <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> I'd say "a penny for your thoughts", but then we'd have to adhere to all > kinds of international shipping and trade laws... > > Also, how is the track editor? It looks really good in screenshots. > > Last, does anyone know a good place, online or somewhere physical in the > US, to buy it? (if it is good, of course) > > > thanks, > Andrew >

Nope, that's D3D. Renidition is the OLD cards :) I think one of them was the Stealth somthin or other :) It should run fine in software mode, graphics don't matter all that much. It runs quite smooth on my P666mhz with 133mhz system bus :) And it ran nicely in 320x240 mode on my P120. Thanks, Alex Andrew Turner <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> Hi, thanks for the info - > > I've read here that the graphics are crap without "rendition". > I've got a Viper 770 Ultra 32 meg... will that even make a difference? I > don't know if it supports "rendition". > > thanks, > > Andrew > > rtice wrote: > > > It is a relatively good sim. You asked about the track editor, I > > spent a lot of time making tracks, so here are my impressions. > > The editor itself is not hard to use at all. The actual track size > > is limited to a relatively small area, you cannot have too big a > > track. You cannot make too sharp a turn, the track is segmented into > > sections and the segment points cannot be too close together. > > You can create crossovers but the AI is not too smart sometimes > > and you can confuse them. You can create VERY dramatic elevation > > changes, to the point that they cannot be traversed. It is mostly > > useful for scenery near the track -- Big mountains and Deep waters. > > All in all, I would recommend it, but it is not in the GPL class of > > sims. I would compare it to MotoCross Madness as most closey > > resembling, both in sim play and track editing. > > > > My $.02 > > > > On Thu, 15 Jun 2000 13:50:35 GMT, Andrew Turner <[email hidden]> > > wrote: > > > > >I'd say "a penny for your thoughts", but then we'd have to adhere to

all > > >kinds of international shipping and trade laws... > > > > > >Also, how is the track editor? It looks really good in screenshots. > > > > > >Last, does anyone know a good place, online or somewhere physical inthe > > >US, to buy it? (if it is good, of course) > > > > > > > > >thanks, > > >Andrew >

Yeah, I was afraid of that. That would just about kill it for me I think.... Unfortunately, no other computers laying around.. Regards! Andrew Goy Larsen wrote:

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> Andrew Turner wrote: > > > > Hi, thanks for the info - > > > > I've read here that the graphics are crap without "rendition". > > I've got a Viper 770 Ultra 32 meg... will that even make a difference? I > > don't know if it supports "rendition". > > No it won't I'm afraid, "Rendition" was/is a 3D chipset along the lines > of 3Dfx, they had their own proprietary 3D API which wasn't compatible > with anything but their own chips, just like 3Dfx has Glide, think it > was called Rredline or something, awesome stuff for their time, so > without one, SODA will indeed look crap > > On the good side though, if you have an old P100 or something gathering > dust somewhere, Rendition cards, both in the early V1000 and the later > V2100/2200 variants, ca be found very cheap these days, both second hand > and new from surplus stock, and they are mostly PCI cards too, so you > can convert that old PC to a SODA machine :-) > > Beers and cheers > (uncle) Goy > > "Team Mirage" http://www.teammirage.com/ > "The Pits" http://www.theuspits.com/ > > * Spam is for losers who can't get business any other way * > "Spamkiller" http://www.spamkiller.com

thanks Alex - I probably would buy it in a heartbeat if the graphics could only look good on my system! Andrew Alex Kihurani wrote:

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> Very good. Very good physics and throttle control is very essential, one of, > if not the first games to simulate this! It's very fun, the track editor is > cool, except you can't make hairpins too sharp :( (Can't practice my rally > pendulum turns :) ) But there are tons of cool tracks out there and it's > very simple to create, hell when I got it at the age of 11, I could easily > put together nice tracks! I'd reccomend buying it, it's only $10 or $20 > also. > > Thanks, > Alex > Andrew Turner <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... > > I'd say "a penny for your thoughts", but then we'd have to adhere to all > > kinds of international shipping and trade laws... > > > > Also, how is the track editor? It looks really good in screenshots. > > > > Last, does anyone know a good place, online or somewhere physical in the > > US, to buy it? (if it is good, of course) > > > > > > thanks, > > Andrew > >

Ah, the processor of the devil. By the way, any idea where I could see screenshots which are software-only? Andrew Alex Kihurani wrote: > It runs quite smooth on my P666mhz