I've been fond of racing simulators since I have had PCs - more than 20 years now.
There's also something I've been wondering all the time. And the older I'm getting the more I want to actually shout this question into the world. Because what I have in mind is becoming more doable (faster computers, more drive space, etc.) each and every day. But somehow...
It's the one question some of you are probably asking as well. Bear with me, because there's a lot of thoughts in my head.
We've got so many games covering different aspects of driving. Like...
... the Need for Speed series. Or Burnout Paradise. Theres not much good I can say about these other than some of those games had pretty nice open driving through large cities. Not something I'd call relaxed cruising sim but better than closed tracks without much diversity.
... the Test Drive Unlimited Series. Not bad in terms of wide open landscape and lots of miles of roads to drive on. Pretty looking, too. Part 1 was the lesser evil when it came to car handling, but very far from being realistic despite the "simulator mode". Was fun, though, sometimes. Too few polygons for the roads, so you we're more hopping than driving down slopes or uphill but that was only a minor annoyance compared to other deficiencies.
... the GTA-Series. Great freedom, big worlds, nice graphics for their respective time, but driving sucks. At least when you're looking for something which feels like a car. Didn't try 5 yet, so I don't know about that one. But I don't expect much improvement over past pieces.
... all kinds of great simulators which believably recreate how it feels to drive racing cars. Like LFS. Like TOCA. Like the bestest and loveliest pain in the asses of them all, GPL. I'd even go as far as to name Gran Tourismo. Not exactly a simulator, but it's good fun and there's lots of cars to explore which have a half-way believable handling. Problem: closed round tracks, no open roads.
... City Car Driving. Looks and feels a bit weird and it's pretty limited when it comes to cars and roads, but it's a nice indie effort worth supporting. And the environment and traffic feel like a living and breathing world.
... Truck sim games from SCS (especially ETS2). Nice landscape (at least they serve the purpose - who's actually looking at trees and houses while driving fast on highways). Great diversity in truck rides and customization, takes more than 1 hour to drive from one end of the map to the other. Even the AI traffic has improved to a level I'd call "not completely retarded" anymore.
There's a mod system but the physics engine is limited to large vehicles so you can't simulate regular road cars properly. I've tried a couple car mods. Some look great but all of them are fail when it comes to handling, sound and stuff, because they're essentially trucks with a car body. And they keel over if you touch the wheel beyond 100mph. It's funny once.
Great about ETS2: It's actually trying to simulate an automatic transmission from the real world. For example it actually shifts up gears if you're ease up on the throttle. The only other game which does that is City Car Driving (and to a certain degree the good old Interstate 76, yay).
You're probably getting an idea what I actually want to ask...
WHY THE HECK has never anyone tried to create a realistic autobahn/highway driving game for regular cars?
With rides from different classes (like LFS has, brands don't matter), which behave accordingly.
With realistic roads/highways (not necessarily real roads but at least life-like).
With half-way plausibly acting AI-traffic. (That's probably pretty difficult.)
With the ability to go flat out, pedal to the metal, balls-out insane full throttle for at least a couple minutes at a time (German autobahn-like, without speed limits).
With realistic fuel consumption so your Veyron can only go like 12 minutes at full throttle.
With all the bad things which can happen as well, like trucks swerving onto the left lane without any warning or grandpas trying to overtake a truck in their 100 year old VW beetle at 50mph (when the truck is driving 55).
With annoying left-lane junkies (BMWs) running into your trunk at 150mph.
But without traffic jams, hehe.
Have I missed something?
Is it that hard?
How about taking the physics model of LFS, dropping the world of ETS2 on top of it and adding a couple more roads (and less severe turns on the highways) and there we have it. Jeez, I'd pay 300 bucks for it if it was half-way decent.
Preferably with multiplayer options so we can have a Cannonball. :-)
Anyone agree?
There's also something I've been wondering all the time. And the older I'm getting the more I want to actually shout this question into the world. Because what I have in mind is becoming more doable (faster computers, more drive space, etc.) each and every day. But somehow...
It's the one question some of you are probably asking as well. Bear with me, because there's a lot of thoughts in my head.
We've got so many games covering different aspects of driving. Like...
... the Need for Speed series. Or Burnout Paradise. Theres not much good I can say about these other than some of those games had pretty nice open driving through large cities. Not something I'd call relaxed cruising sim but better than closed tracks without much diversity.
... the Test Drive Unlimited Series. Not bad in terms of wide open landscape and lots of miles of roads to drive on. Pretty looking, too. Part 1 was the lesser evil when it came to car handling, but very far from being realistic despite the "simulator mode". Was fun, though, sometimes. Too few polygons for the roads, so you we're more hopping than driving down slopes or uphill but that was only a minor annoyance compared to other deficiencies.
... the GTA-Series. Great freedom, big worlds, nice graphics for their respective time, but driving sucks. At least when you're looking for something which feels like a car. Didn't try 5 yet, so I don't know about that one. But I don't expect much improvement over past pieces.
... all kinds of great simulators which believably recreate how it feels to drive racing cars. Like LFS. Like TOCA. Like the bestest and loveliest pain in the asses of them all, GPL. I'd even go as far as to name Gran Tourismo. Not exactly a simulator, but it's good fun and there's lots of cars to explore which have a half-way believable handling. Problem: closed round tracks, no open roads.
... City Car Driving. Looks and feels a bit weird and it's pretty limited when it comes to cars and roads, but it's a nice indie effort worth supporting. And the environment and traffic feel like a living and breathing world.
... Truck sim games from SCS (especially ETS2). Nice landscape (at least they serve the purpose - who's actually looking at trees and houses while driving fast on highways). Great diversity in truck rides and customization, takes more than 1 hour to drive from one end of the map to the other. Even the AI traffic has improved to a level I'd call "not completely retarded" anymore.
There's a mod system but the physics engine is limited to large vehicles so you can't simulate regular road cars properly. I've tried a couple car mods. Some look great but all of them are fail when it comes to handling, sound and stuff, because they're essentially trucks with a car body. And they keel over if you touch the wheel beyond 100mph. It's funny once.
Great about ETS2: It's actually trying to simulate an automatic transmission from the real world. For example it actually shifts up gears if you're ease up on the throttle. The only other game which does that is City Car Driving (and to a certain degree the good old Interstate 76, yay).
You're probably getting an idea what I actually want to ask...
WHY THE HECK has never anyone tried to create a realistic autobahn/highway driving game for regular cars?
With rides from different classes (like LFS has, brands don't matter), which behave accordingly.
With realistic roads/highways (not necessarily real roads but at least life-like).
With half-way plausibly acting AI-traffic. (That's probably pretty difficult.)
With the ability to go flat out, pedal to the metal, balls-out insane full throttle for at least a couple minutes at a time (German autobahn-like, without speed limits).
With realistic fuel consumption so your Veyron can only go like 12 minutes at full throttle.
With all the bad things which can happen as well, like trucks swerving onto the left lane without any warning or grandpas trying to overtake a truck in their 100 year old VW beetle at 50mph (when the truck is driving 55).
With annoying left-lane junkies (BMWs) running into your trunk at 150mph.
But without traffic jams, hehe.
Have I missed something?
Is it that hard?
How about taking the physics model of LFS, dropping the world of ETS2 on top of it and adding a couple more roads (and less severe turns on the highways) and there we have it. Jeez, I'd pay 300 bucks for it if it was half-way decent.
Preferably with multiplayer options so we can have a Cannonball. :-)
Anyone agree?
.. I tried them (I have a team member account there).. But ... Well.. Yeah, It still some sort of straight line.. Thats true.. Only San Andreas comes to my mind and maybe there are follow ups, I never followed Rockstar anymore although there quite a lot of people which enjoy their releases. Next one is due for March (PC).