Career Demo 0.95

[peter-27]

Errors/Problems with the game: (These may have been mentioned before, but this is just from my experience)

Force India/Brawn GP - Currently in the game Brawn GP is listed above Force India in the teams order. However from last week when Brawn GP fully tookover from Honda they got pushed to the back of the grid so basically Force India should now be ahead of Brawn GP as on the F1 website

Force India (Flag) - Force India has a British Flag in the game, this is wrong. Although the teams' headquarters is at Silverstone, the team is officially listed as a duel British/Indian entry to the F1 World Championship. I haven't raced as BMW, but i suspect they have the same problem, they are a duel German/Swiss entry.

Leaving the pits - For some reason in qualifying the cars leave the pits in car number order. It should be more random.

Speeding up in pits - Also in the pit lane, when you enter during a race it speeds you up and moves you straight into your pitbox. Everyone should go the same speed in the pits though.

Improvements that could be made:

Casino option - Currently when you click the casino icon, the only two options are to go with friends and to go with the pit crew ... an option to change your mind and not go to the casino would be nice.

Place of Birth - When you are setting your drivers place of birth it might be nice for the newbies if there was something saying (Place, Country) as the format. This is what all the other AI drivers have, so it would just be for consistency. I made the mistake of just putting Panaji without putting , India after it. This isn't a major problem though.

Pit Lane Crashes - Currently you can go through other cars when going down the pitlane. It might be more exciting if you had to avoid them.

Overall the game is brilliant though and i can't wait for the full realease!

[condar]

With regards to cheating on the leaderboards, I was planning to lock down the car settings in the final release. It's the only way I can see that will stop cheats, but what do other people feel about it?

I plan to respond to others concerns (and post a bit more feedback of my own), but I'm at work right now and don't have too much time - however, I did want to respond to this and ask you to *please* not remove the ability to edit the Engine.ini file (and as previously noted, I'd like to see more options here including damage variables).

I feel one of the most attractive parts of this game is having the ability to tailor it to your own personal preferences and playstyle. For instance, personally I like having the game a bit more punishing in regards to missing a corner and going off-road, while others may like the base settings. Some people may want to adjust fuel consumption to be less (for fewer pit stops), while I enjoy having more pit stops and might even increase tire wear.

By removing the ability to tailor the gameplay to a player's style, I think you'll alienate some players who enjoy the game you've built, but want some minor changes to how things work.

My proposal would be along the lines of my original proposal - create a 'time trial' mode that could be accessed from either the main screen / homepage, or the track screen within career mode. When using this mode, the game forces you to use the settings you have as the defaults. Thus, the only times that can be submitted are the ones achieved while playing this mode.

I think this is a good compromise, although I'm sure some will be upset that they may have achieved an absolutely astounding lap time (while using the base settings) in career mode, but unable to upload that. At the same time, for those of us who prefer to alter the game engine, our times are unfair to use for comparison purposes (for better or worse), but we enjoy playing with the modified engine - but if we wanted to submit our times, we'd be forced on to the same, level playing field.

Thanks Si, and I desperately hope you will not be removing the ability to alter the engine, nor do I want to see the online leaderboard removed (although if it was a 'delayed feature' that was implemented later when a solution to remediate this potential cheating problem could be implemented, I'd support that too).

-condar

[siread]

Maybe the official version should have locked down settings, but then a separate version allows you to edit the ini but disables the upload laptimes button. Shouldn't be too hard.

[Cookie Monster]

Maybe an option to check if the Engine.ini was tinkered with before uploading?

[condar]

Maybe the official version should have locked down settings, but then a separate version allows you to edit the ini but disables the upload laptimes button. Shouldn't be too hard.

That would work for me too! Just as long as we can continue playing with the 'modified' settings of our choosing, I'll be happy

CookieMonster's idea is good too - it appears the values are loaded into memory at launch rather than loaded at the beginning of each race (because changes don't take effect until the client is restarted), so maybe just add in some comparisons.

Thanks Si for keeping options open!

-condar

[Fry Crayola]

This is really excellent. I just had a blindingly good race on the China GP.

I've used 20-lap races, which gives a decent sized race with room for pit strategy, but without taking too long over it. The first race saw me finish tenth, as a member of the Toro Rosso team on Normal. I figured this wasn't too bad, and went to the next race with a lot more confidence only to find myself finishing dead last. I didn't expect much in China.

Qualification went as usual and I found 15th spot on the grid. The last race taught me that if I've got a car to follow, my racing line is usually better and I'm less prone to overbreaking. My strategy, therefore, was to fight my way up the pack early, keep within viewing distance of the leaders, and take them on the long straight. I'd also need to be risky with my pits, but I had time to get to know my fuel tank.

I battered my way up to 7th place and kept up with the leaders, and near the halfway point of the race I'd found myself in fourth. As they went to pit, I checked my fuel gauge and took a chance: there's enough here for another lap. If I can get into first and build a lead, I might be able to hold.

Scraping into the pits at the end of the lap, I'd managed to put a screen's width between myself and the chasing pack. Knowing now that I'd probably be able to get an extra lap out of my tank each time, I decided to just concentrate on staying in front until they pitted again, and I had a fair idea of when they'd do it.

Midway through that lap though, everything changed. It started light, but then the rain came battering down and I knew that I would have to pit now as well, there was no way I was risking slicks on a wet surface - one missed corner could end my challenge.

I came out in front, with four laps remaining. It was a matter of holding on, taking the corners with confidence and keeping my distance. Yet I knew that every lap they would draw closer - turns 11 and 12 were my nemsis, and each attempt lost me valuable time. They gained. On the final lap, I approached it for the last time with perhaps three quarters of a second separating me from second place, and that got cut by a third. With only two corners to go, I knew I could do it. I rounded the hairpin, took the final bend with ease and celebrated my unexpected victory.

And then I got annoyed because I have to wait now for the game to be released. Grr!

A few other thoughts:

-driving cars you buy is good fun, but it'd be great if we could race them, either against anonymous AI drivers, or the other F1 guys. Or perhaps we could race our "friends", maybe putting a little wager on it, boosting our relationships with them but angering the boss (because we're being irresponsible). A quick race using those vehicles would also be great.

-when driving the Mini (the only car I could afford in my brief career), it was raining. The red light at the rear hovered behind the car, like I was being chased by the ghost of Rudolf. Works fine for the F1 cars, but the Mini was too small. I suspect other cars might have similar problems.

-After a race, I don't think it was possible to view my lap times. If I've missed it somewhere, cool, if not it'd be good to get that sort of breakdown.

-As mentioned by others, and a factor in my win, every car likes to pit around the same time. I'm not sure if the cars all have the same fuel consumption or tank sizes. It might also be good if other drivers took reasonable risks - one lap remaining, is it worth changing to Wet tyres? Some might, some might not. Fuel would be good too, if you could find a way of doing it without running the risk of cars running out (which would kinda ruin the game if the AI was that daft).

-You don't have to wait your turn in the pits at qualification. Probably makes little difference, but it's kinda weird when Lewis Hamilton pulls out of the pits to begin and then you smash into his side because you're impatient. Weird and funny.

-Qualification is good, but perhaps there should be a little more strategy in it too? In the real thing, don't the leading cars have to start on the fuel they finish qualification with? That could be linked to the above comment about pit times - if teams had different fuel levels at the start of the race, that'd help. Extend qualification time a little (to 5 minutes say) and add a little strategy whereby a driver might choose to pit for a better fuel tank, or keep driving to improve his grid position when he's finishing up. Just as long as they always have enough fuel to do a lap in the race, of course.

-off the track, it's a lot weaker than NSS. I love buying and driving the cars, but I don't see any point in buying properties. Whereas in NSS money helped you improve your game (by paying for training equipment or helping improve/gain relationships), here it's separate. It makes the casino less interesting, too, if the only reward is virtual cash. I'd prefer it if the four groups we have to keep happy could be kept happy through racing - the friend races I mentioned before, or maybe a couple of perfect (i.e. no crashes, no off-roading) laps at a decent pace would boost the pit-crew. Keep the prize money aspect, for buying new cars of course.

I am loving it though. That last race had me gripped throughout, which is always a very good sign in any game. Heck, even when I was jostling for lowly positions in the first two races, every little overtake and every corner had me interested.

The first demo sold me on the game, this one has me eager for release. It's hard to believe it's only been less than five months since the release of NSS4 and we've got a whole new title that's this good.

[statto]

I will be honest - I haven't watched much F1 in my life so there are a lot of weird rules I'm not fully aware of. Take qualifying, for instance - I'm not really sure how you qualify (or why Lewis Hamilton keeps finishing 20th).

All I'm recommending is that you add a little insight about what is going on - don't assume the user knows everything already. Could be the last thing to do.

Finally, I was able to win two races handily on Easy with the Indian team (Force India?) which makes me wonder - if you do well and win F1 with the worse teams, will they improve? For instance, the worst team has two stars for each at the end of the first season - will they go up to 3 stars in say, handling? That would add an interesting dynamic to the career mode.

[Dinosamp]

Wonderful game! But i have twu questions.
There is not a music in menu'.
Not hear box voice.
I can't chanche tires.

sorry for my english.....

[King Rob]

"Finally, I was able to win two races handily on Easy with the Indian team (Force India?) which makes me wonder - if you do well and win F1 with the worse teams, will they improve? For instance, the worst team has two stars for each at the end of the first season - will they go up to 3 stars in say, handling? That would add an interesting dynamic to the career mode."

Thats a good idea.

Just finished the career demo and love although im now wondering how long it will take my new job to pay me

I have a quetion though, will the A.I drivers change teams at the end of the year or will in other words will the A.I teams make you an offer to move to them?

[Cookie Monster]

There is not a music in menu'.
Not hear box voice.
I can't chanche tires.

Try checking if the master volume in Windows is at a decent value and if the other volumes are not muted too and check if your sound card's drivers are up-to-date. As for the tire problem, try changing them by going to the pit boxes and using the arrow keys in your keyboard

[siread]

Wonderful game! But i have twu questions.
There is not a music in menu'.
Not hear box voice.
I can't chanche tires.

sorry for my english.....

Also try deleting the QuickRace.db in your My Documents/New Star Grand Prix/Save folder. A new one will be created.

Other questions such as team transfers will be answered tomorrow.

[AfterDeath]

I will be honest - I haven't watched much F1 in my life so there are a lot of weird rules I'm not fully aware of. Take qualifying, for instance - I'm not really sure how you qualify (or why Lewis Hamilton keeps finishing 20th).

All I'm recommending is that you add a little insight about what is going on - don't assume the user knows everything already. Could be the last thing to do.

I agree - the only ever F1 I've ever watched was the last 10 minutes of the deciding race last year! (Wasn't bad though)

If you do have the time, a help file/quick explanation would be great. The game seems to be playing fine, but I don't really know the best way to play, so I'm currently just driving round and finishing 7th/8th all the time.

[Dinosamp]

If I play with joypad i can't change tires.

[hellboy1975]

I have big problems with my Xbox 360 gamepad. I could select the buttons fine in the options, but in the actual race I couldn't do anything, and as the keyboard seemed disabled, I basically had to crtl-alt-delete to exit the game.

[condar]

I've seen a few requests for a manual now - out of curiosity, what would people like to see in a manual / help file / guide? "Real" F1 information; how the game plays; how the "real" applies to the game; or what?

Just want to see what ideas people have, and hopefully give Si some better insight as to what we're requesting

-condar