Man, what a game!!! My friend, and fellow forum member, U4IK ST8, gave me the word on this. I'm so impressed for many reasons.
First of all, it actually runs on my machine. Without a graphics card! My PC was bought for internet access only, yet with only a 2.8 P4 with 512mem and an integrated graphics chip that shares up to 128 of system mem, I can run this game at 1024x768x32 at 60hz. I dropped it down to 800x600x16 because I spent the last few years console gaming and that res is on par with the Xbox at 480p. Good enough for me and easy on the machine. Now, THAT is an efficient game engine.
Then there is the fact that once I dusted off the ol Red MOMO wheel from a past period of PC racing, installed and calibrated it within Logitech's Wingman Profiler, all I had to do in-game was select it as my controller, turn the wheel all the way left and right, mash the pedals likewise, and I was good to go. This is the FIRST game I was ever able to do it that easily with. Phenomenal!!
To top it off, there is the easy to use spectator mode. I'm mainly a hot lapper. U4IK can tell you from our days with Project Gotham Racing 2 that I'll run a serious race every now and then, but I quite often would drop back and watch others battle for position. The relatively small number of cars and tracks, and the fact that racing online didn't have much appeal to me, made the price of S2 seem steep, especially for a work in progress. But with the well functioning spectator mode, I was sold. I told U4IK that after all the fun I was having with the demo, and him telling me about all the little well thought out and useful features that come with the full game, I felt obligated to support these 3 individuals for their outstanding efforts. Well done fellas!!! Well done.
:wow::clapclap::clapclap: