Demo Available

[siread]

This demo allows you to try a Quick Race in either Australia, Malaysia or China. The final version will contain all 17 F1 tracks and a full career mode. The real team/driver names will be changed in the final release.

At this stage I am looking for bugs, compatibility issues and feedback on the gameplay.

http://download.newstargames.com/NSGP/NSGPDemo0_9.zip

Controls
Cursor Key Left: Steer Left
Cursor Key Right: Steer Right
Cursor Key Up: Accelerate
Cursor Key Down: Brake

Space Bar: Show race info (positions, fuel, damage)
Escape: Pause/Options

You can reset the keys, change number of laps and so on in the options.

The Editor mode is also included but it is rather complex. Feel free to have a play with it but don't expect much support until after release day.

Enjoy!

[King Rob]

must admit i have been looking foward to seeing the new star take on F1,

downloading now


okay i have now driven my first race and already love it however i wish i was a better driver, a pitiful 18th place after being in 7th for most of the race.

[Cookie Monster]

Ahh, starting the day off with a NSGP demo release, hoorah I said on twitter i was gonna be one of the 1st to get my hands on it and by God I am!

[weiteck]

Having done a couple of races, I've noticed a few things immediately:

• rumble strips slow your car down - they shouldn't
• I changed the view to 'very high' but the setting wasn't saved and had to be changed again for the next race
• I couldn't set the controls to use my joypad
• performance of cars/drivers may need some tweaking to reflect 2009 season pace (e.g., McLaren have not looked very quick in pre-season testing, and Williams should probably be quicker than they are)

But it's awesome fun! You've come up with something really good, Si. I'd like to see a career mode demo sometime soon.

[King Rob]

My only problem so far aside from my lacklusture driving ability and the previously mentioned game pad issue is that occasionaly the game will jump slightly, so il be going around a corner and all of the sudden il be on the grass

loving the rain effect by the way

[Cookie Monster]

Looks great despite my 20th place at my first race controlling Raikonnen btw i changed camera height to low during a race and then no buttons would work, in the game options, pause menu or whatever.

@weiteck: you can try going to the settings folder in the NSGP folder and then open the Engine.ini and change the friction values to a more suitable value

[weiteck]

@weiteck: you can try going to the settings folder in the NSGP folder and then open the Engine.ini and change the friction values to a more suitable value

Yep, but this was just feedback for Si.

[Cookie Monster]

I was wondering can something be implemented so you'll see the time difference between you and the 1st placed (or 2nd or whatever i'm not THAT into GP ) when you go past a checkpoint? e.g. you go past the checkpoint you see +00.01.569

[Fry Crayola]

It's great fun - I do love the rain effects, and it controls nicely. A few points though:

I ran out of fuel during my second race, and the game just sat there waiting for the race to end. Perhaps the race should end there for me rather than leave me sitting on the track? Even when everyone else has finished and thus I'm definitely last, it doesn't end until I manually quit.

Are there keyboard/pad shortcuts for the pits? It's slow going into the pits and having to reach for the mouse to change tyres.

Finally, the camera seems centred on your car. Although much harder to implement, it might be nicer if it showed more of the track ahead of you.

Still highly playable as it is, and I look forward to a full career.

[Ruejas87]

downloading now

ok I played 3 races

australia - 2nd with massa
malasya - 8th with hamilton (i hate him soooo much)
china- 1st with massa (horaay)

I didn't noticed anything strange so far, and i loved the rain efects: when you turn the car, the rain turns too; the water in the course (from time to time I can't see anything), and I loved the little detail of the red light in the car!

Si, I think you maked a great game and now i am really looking forward to this!

something more, when you enter the editor and make some change (track tiles) when you go back, i don't understand anything, and when you click exit editor it goes back to normal, but if you click no it still the same



there is the "bug"



and there it goes back to normal



PS: if there is sth you didn't understand, sorry, bad english

[condar]

Hey Si!

First time poster! I started playing NSS 3, loved it, and have been following NSG ever since! Personally, I enjoy NSS 3 and Sensational Soccer but wasn't a fan of NSS 4 (felt the controls were wonky on the keyboard, and have no gamepad). Played a bit of NSH, and was hoping that would get developed more, but here we are with a racing game!

Let me first admit I'm not a big follower of either soccer or GP racing - I simply enjoy playing your games

So here's my feedback on the beta build / demo!

• Started up, and came to a nice, clean interface, which I really do appreciate. Very simple music, but sounds good and wasn't repetitive or annoying. Well done!
• Selected the quick race option, and left the defaults - figured the tracks were self-explanatory, but again as I'm not a GP fan, I had no idea what the different drivers did - do they provide different 'attributes', as in some handle better, others are faster, or what not? Or will there be options to customize the vehicles in the game, and the drivers names are simply for show / recognition? Since this is a demo, I can understand that not being clear right now - but something you might want to clarify for release!
• Controls were very easy to figure out (using a keyboard - see the previous note about not having a gamepad), and it only took a few laps to really get used to the speeds and handling of the car. Very pleased!
• I started on the Australia track, and did "OK" my first race, coming in sixth. I immediately played it again and came in first, so the learning curve doesn't feel very steep - but I also felt it was a little too easy. I was wondering if there was a difficulty option, and found it after pausing the game and going to Options (along with a number of other nice options, including view height, laps, etc.). This wasn't apparent that this could be changed originally - can you add these options at the 'main' screen, so that it's more obvious they exist, and can be changed before starting the race?
• Related to the point above, it seems a bit 'cheap' to have these options available to change mid-race - seems like this could be exploited. I realize I'm doing poorly in a race, turn the difficulty down, catch up, and change the settings so I win very easily. Naturally, this ruins the experience and is the choice of the player so it might not really be an issue at all, but will hopefully not be available in career mode.
• I really like how simple the pit options are - the fact that it pauses to allow you to select tires and amount of fuel is very welcome, as it doesn't make you feel rushed, something I always had a problem in with other games 'pit' options / features.
• Rumble strips, as another posted noted, cause the car to slow down - I was under the impression this shouldn't happen, or if it did, wouldn't be so significant.
• Similarly, driving towards the edges of the paved surface causes your car to slow down - if your car is on the white line at the edge (about half of the car), and still on the pavement, you'll slow down as if you were off-road or on a rumble strip. Should this be happening?
• I know you've noted this is an arcade style racer, not a simulation - but is there a 'rubber-band' effect that seems prevalent in most racers today? I ask because on my second race in Australia, I was doing outstanding with a huge lead - then all of a sudden, another car caught up to me, with a huge separation between us and third place. This seemed out of place, but I could have passed it off as a simple one-time occurrence. However, on my first race in China, I slammed into a wall after some unexpected curves - I was in last place and a significant distance behind. Nonetheless, I was able to catch up to the leaders in the pack (roughly fifth or sixth place) before the end of the lap. This leads me to suspect there is some rubber-banding going on - hopefully I'm just mistaken, or you might consider taking this out or being an option that can be turned off, as it's one of my biggest gripes with racing games.
• The 'Show Info' in my opinion lasts a little too long when space is pressed. Maybe add the ability to toggle the info with space, or allow us to adjust the length of time the info is shown?
• What effect does damage have on the car? I really noticed no difference after getting my 'damage meter' up to half other than trailing a significant amount of smoke. I seemed to be just as fast and handle just as well as before.
• Will tires wear down and need to be replaced, or is that part of the damage meter? This didn't seem to be apparent in the 'Show Info' portions.
• Editor was fun to play around with - I know you noted some support will come following release, but I was able to figure it out without too much difficulty after about 10-15 minutes. Again, nicely done!

I think that about sums it up! Sounds so far are decent, graphics are pleasant (I still love 2d games), and the gameplay is fun. No slowdowns or any problems with the game, but I have a very high end system, so I wouldn't expect any either. Very much looking forward to career and other modes! And, the 29th is the day after my birthday, so it might be a nice gift for myself

Thanks for your hard work, and another great game!
-condar

[Cookie Monster]

Aha, works properly on my Desktop so I think this game isn't very demanding?

[condar]

Just a couple quick notes as I've been playing a bit more:

• This might be a minor graphical bug or intended, but when it rains (nice effects by the way!), and I get behind a couple cars, the 'spray' completely covers my car - on the other hand, a computer-controlled car in the same type of situation doesn't disappear entirely, but may fade slightly or flash (from slightly obscured to completely visible). I've posted a screenshot of this - my car is the circled one, while the computer-controlled car who is directly behind 3 cars is still very visible.
• I believe the Record lap time is currently saving between ALL tracks - I was just racing Malaysia and noticed a record time of ~29 seconds (with a star next to it, which I assume means I completed it). There's no way anybody is completing a lap on there in 29 seconds I'd suggest making a unique Record lap time for each track.

Otherwise, still very much enjoying this demo!!
-condar

[siread]

Thanks very much for all the feedback guys. I will be fixing all the issues.

[Fry Crayola]

Si, what are the effects of using the wrong tyres for the weather? And also, when the rain stops, is there a period of time during which the track remains wet?