My vote for the best simulator

The most realistic simulator I've seen on a small machine would have to be Ferrari Formula 1 for the Amiga, by Rick Koenig. The graphics weren't particularly amazing and the sound effects were fairly feeble (for an Amiga), but the simulation was _great_! Instead of shoddy digital joystick control like everyone else was using at this stage (about three years ago now), it allowed use of the mouse for proper analog control. It felt a bit weird using the mouse at first, but after a while it wasn't too bad. The main problem was centering after a corner, and to this end a Grand-Prix mad friend and I constructed a steering wheel and pedals to control it. The steering wheel had a *** band to re-center it automatically, and provided a much more precise feeling of control. With this setup the game was very impressive indeed! The "feel" of the car on the road was streets more convincing than other driving games, particularly the effect when the car was sliding. Skills I'd learnt in my Corolla applied directly to the game :-) The sad part is that when I upgraded to AmigaDOS 1.3 the game stopped working. Shoddy coding I guess. Also our home-hacked steering wheel was always breaking when we got e***d - "Oh no! No steering! Aaarrrgggghhh...!" *thump*. But hey, it was fun :-) So who these days makes a simulator that feels like a real car when you're controlling a slide? +-----------------------------------+----------------------------------------+ | | "A man with one watch knows the time; | +-----------------------------------+----------------------------------------+

Yes, Ferrari Formula One still is best when it comes to road racing on the Amiga. (Yes, F1GP is flashier, but doesn't use mouse control, and the computer steers the car for you anyway.) But it isn't "about three years old" -- it's about eight years old! My, how time flies. If you want the best driving experience on the Amiga, get Papyrus' "Indianapolis 500: The Simulation" distributed by Electronic Arts. It's four years old, but nothing compares to it. The IBM version didn't use mouse control (what driving sim on IBMs does?), but the Amiga version does, and it's far, far more realistic than Ferrari Formula One. Get that program and you'll be digging out that wheel/pedal setup you built, I promise you! Pity it's just one oval track. I always said if the same people made a road racing simulation, it would be the best. Well, they have, for the IBM, and it is. Now if only they'd dispense with all the fancy, slow graphics that eat up memory on the IBM version and refine it to the same sort of graphics that I500 had, and put it on the Amiga, with the same excellent mouse control... My money is waiting to be spent. I hope it isn't in vain. 37.00 seconds; 243.24 mph fastest lap -- My physical mail address will change. Those who have had or are having dealings with me through physical mail should email me requesting to know my new address.

>The most realistic simulator I've seen on a small machine would have >to be Ferrari Formula 1 for the Amiga, by Rick Koenig. >it allowed use of the >mouse for proper analog control. It felt a bit weird using the mouse >at first, but after a while it wasn't too bad. The main problem was >centering after a corner, I played this quite a bit when it came out. As you say, steering a racing car with a mouse was a bit odd at first, but it worked ok. I also got started on World Circuit (on the Amiga) using a digital joystick (left/not left, right/not right, etc.) I'd like to see Ayrton Senna drive his new Williams using toggle switches to steer with :) World Circuit on a 486/66 machine and an analog joystick will give you this in spades. Frame rate of 25 and 256 colors and analog make this a real nice piece. I've played with Indycar a bit but I still much prefer World Circuit's feel. -- Brian Jackson Account courtesy of Commodore. Words and thoughts my own.

> >The most realistic simulator I've seen on a small machine would have > >to be Ferrari Formula 1 for the Amiga, by Rick Koenig. >> a real nice piece. I've played with Indycar a bit but I still much > prefer World Circuit's feel. The most realistic _simulation_ (not to mention best feel and fun) I've ever seen so far on any micro-computer was on my Commodore 64 !!! The program is called 'Revs' (they even had a 'Revs+' I think with more circuits), and it really tried to be a realistic simulation, not an arcade game (Formula 3 simulator more exactly), it was in real 3D (i.e. surface 3D, no sprites or something else) and it did have the feel of a real car ! You had to accelerate to 'drop the clutch' in 1st gear otherwise you'd stall. Actually, a lot of people did not like the game because it really took some time to learn how to drive the car, at first it was very difficult. If you hit the curve at speed you'd be sent in the air and the tracks (Silverstone and Brands Hatch) were represented very well (with up and downhills). And this was on a C64 in med-res mode (160-200), I would have really loved to see the game just ported on the Amiga, but the author then wrote 'Sentinel' which got ported. And I agree with everyone here: It is unbelievable that none of the games on the Amiga supports analog joysticks (more precise than a mouse), it's a joke. There's nothing more ridiculous than having to go left-center-left-center-left... in alternance, just to try to get a line in a curve (where you would need to be in between left and center). It'd be so easy to make some kind of paddle joystick (yeah, like on pong or on that first 'video-game' you ever saw) stick it on a plastic stand and put a small steering wheel on it, just that would be a great improvement. Oh well, all I have at home now is a Unix Workstation ... to log to work !!! )-: !! Now the question everyone wants to ask: who has ever heard of a driving simulation for Unix ?! Damn, I've seen flight simulators, I know it's possible (-:. JNM -- --- '88 Hawk / '62 MBZ 220S - Riding the 1st one, is not like driving the 2nd one !

> And I agree with everyone here: It is unbelievable that none of the >games on the Amiga supports analog joysticks (more precise than a mouse), >it's a joke. There's nothing more ridiculous than having to go >left-center-left-center-left... in alternance, just to try to get a line in >a curve (where you would need to be in between left and center). Actually, World Circuit (F1GP) on the Amiga supports analog joysticks. All you have to do is go down through the "Set Game Options" menu from the main menu. One of the panels gives you the option to enable analog joystick support. So then all you need is a way to plug in an analog joystick. Fortunately, there is a company out there that makes a analog joystick adapter for the Amiga. You just plug one end in an Amiga mouse/joystick port, and plug your favorite PC-style analog joystick in the other -- it's even got a 3 position toggle switch to change the sensitivity, so you can adjust it to best match your joystick and the game you're playing. I've had one for several months now, and it has made WC a much, much more enjoyable game to play; you can actually feather the throttle to a degree, and shifting and braking are noticeably easier to control. But the biggest thing for me is that the steering seems far more responsive. I don't have the name of the company that makes the adapter, but if anyone is interested, I'll post it later on. -chuck- -- Unix Systems Programmer | US Mail: Box 7901, NCSU Campus Engineering Computer Operations | Raleigh, NC 27695 USA North Carolina State University | Phone: +1 919 515 2458

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>Subject: Re: My vote for the best simulator >Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1993 14:40:34 GMT >>The most realistic _simulation_ (not to mention best feel and fun) I've >>ever seen so far on any micro-computer was on my Commodore 64 !!! >>The program is called 'Revs' (they even had a 'Revs+' I think with more >>circuits), and it really tried to be a realistic simulation, not an arcade >>game (Formula 3 simulator more exactly), it was in real 3D (i.e. surface >>3D, no sprites or something else) and it did have the feel of a real car ! >>You had to accelerate to 'drop the clutch' in 1st gear otherwise you'd >>stall. >Revs was a wonderful game. Originally written for the Acorn BBC Micro. >Er Try Formula 1 Grand Prix, it was written by Geoff Crammond, the same guy >who wrote Revs. It is similar in many ways, but with better graphics and >less bugs. Oh, and more courses, more realism... I could go on.

I have to agree. REVS was incredible. I never had the chance to test it on a BBC, but the handling of the car was better than anything else I have ever seen. F1GP is like driving a train in comparison. SOFTWARE-94 0DH -- Tim Alexander Bye --- Oestfold Distrikts Hoeyskole Admin leder ----- Tvetervn. 2b ------------ Os Alle 11 3.IT ------

Revs was a wonderful game. Originally written for the Acorn BBC Micro. Er Try Formula 1 Grand Prix, it was written by Geoff Crammond, the same guy who wrote Revs. It is similar in many ways, but with better graphics and less bugs. Oh, and more courses, more realism... I could go on. Formula 1 Grand Prix allows the use of an analog joystick on the amiga. You can even get analog steering wheels that work with it. What we need is an amiga simulator for UNIX. Then you can run anything. Maybe a BBC Micro simulator would be more practical, since there are less custom chips, then you could play Revs. Anyone want to try. Bov! -- _ __ __ _ __________________________________________________________ | | / / | | Project Manager Vision Park Tel : +44 223 236555 |_|/_/_\|_| Cambridge UK FAX : +44 223 236466

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>The most realistic _simulation_ (not to mention best feel and fun) I've >ever seen so far on any micro-computer was on my Commodore 64 !!! >The program is called 'Revs' (they even had a 'Revs+' I think with more >circuits), and it really tried to be a realistic simulation, not an arcade >game (Formula 3 simulator more exactly), it was in real 3D (i.e. surface >3D, no sprites or something else) and it did have the feel of a real car ! >And this was on a C64 in med-res mode (160-200), I would have really >loved to see the game just ported on the Amiga, but the author then wrote >'Sentinel' which got ported.

But wasn't Geoff Crammond the author of Revs, who wrote F1GP/World Circuit for the Amiga ?? Unbelievable if it were true, but it isn't - F1GP/World Circuit on the Amiga supports an analogue joystick. I wouldn't play it with anything else. (Except the keyboard, but that's too easy :-) Calum +---------------------------------------+----------------------------+ |Logica Cambridge (User Interface Div.) | Tel: (0223) 66343 x4825 | |Betjeman House +------------------+----------------------------| |104 Hills Road | " I just wouldn't know a single word to say | |Cambridge CB2 1LQ | If I flattened all my vowels and I threw | |UK | the R away." (The Proclaimers) | +--------------------+-----------------------------------------------+

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>So then all you need is a way to plug in an analog joystick. Fortunately, >there is a company out there that makes a analog joystick adapter >for the Amiga. You just plug one end in an Amiga mouse/joystick >port, and plug your favorite PC-style analog joystick in the other -- >it's even got a 3 position toggle switch to change the sensitivity, >so you can adjust it to best match your joystick and the game you're >playing.

Or you could just buy an Amiga analog joystick in the first place - okay, so there's less of a choice, but it saves having to sell out to those PC b******s ... :) Calum +---------------------------------------+----------------------------+ |Logica Cambridge (User Interface Div.) | Tel: (0223) 66343 x4825 | |Betjeman House +------------------+----------------------------| |104 Hills Road | " I just wouldn't know a single word to say | |Cambridge CB2 1LQ | If I flattened all my vowels and I threw | |UK | the R away." (The Proclaimers) | +--------------------+-----------------------------------------------+

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>>So then all you need is a way to plug in an analog joystick. Fortunately, >>there is a company out there that makes a analog joystick adapter >>for the Amiga. You just plug one end in an Amiga mouse/joystick >>port, and plug your favorite PC-style analog joystick in the other -- >>it's even got a 3 position toggle switch to change the sensitivity, >>so you can adjust it to best match your joystick and the game you're >>playing. >Or you could just buy an Amiga analog joystick in the first place - okay, >so there's less of a choice, but it saves having to sell out to those >PC b******s ... :)

Well, before getting the analog adapter, I had actually looked for an analog joystick that worked with the Amiga, but I couldn't find one. Maybe I didn't look hard enough, or maybe they just don't sell any here in the US (Amiga products are getting quite scarce here...). The analog adapter I have is made by a company called DigiPrint. Here's there address: DigiPrint, Inc. P.O. Box 13016 Richmond, VA 23225 USA Their phone number is 804-560-1769. I bought mine from a mail order house that was selling them for $13 -- a very reasonable price. Then I found a CH Mach 1 analog joystick at a local store for $24 -- With shipping charges, I paid a total of about $40, and given how much better WC plays when using this setup, I have to say it was well worth the money for me! -chuck- -- Unix Systems Programmer | US Mail: Box 7901, NCSU Campus Engineering Computer Operations | Raleigh, NC 27695 USA North Carolina State University | Phone: +1 919 515 2458

Sorry, but that is nonsense. You can't turn the steering help off in the amiga version, so steering with the stick (even if it's an analog one) is exactly the same as steering by using the keyboard. I don't know IndyCar Racing yet, but at least till its release date Revs has been the best racing simulation. -- == Andreas == Wir entschuldigen uns fuer die Strapazen (Douglas Adams). NeXTmail accepted.