SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - F1 2002 Mods - Part Four: Roundtable Discussion

We talk to the Guest Writers of our F1 2002 Mods series, "Rick.50cal" Bourassa and Thomas Redeby about their experiences with F1 2002 mods and their own racing interests and backgrounds.

SimHQ: What's your background interest in racing, especially racing sims?

"Rick.50cal": I've been a fan of racing since about 1991, when I first started to follow CART/ Champ Cars. Several years later I found that Jacques Villeneuve was switching over to F1 and some friends and I watched his first amazing race where he led the entire field for most of the race until he missed a corner and went airborne. What was amazing was that he bounced twice in the sand, and got right back on the track without letting his team mate Damon Hill (in second place) or Michael Schumacher (third place) get the better of him! Later in the race, Damon's car seemed to have changed color, and it was revealed that Villeneuve oil pan was leaking all over his teammate's car having been damaged due to the "hard landing", so to speak! In more recent years I've followed F1, the British Touring Car Championship, Australian touring cars, several endurance races and so on.

With regards to racing sims, my first one was 1995's Need For Speed, which was the only version in that brand which might be termed a "sim". The cars' performance was really quite realistic, and the physics were reasonably good for the limits of such limited computing power (I was using a $5000 CAD workstation to play this "game"! The only 100 MHz Pentium in town, for an entire year!). Soon after that I discovered Papyrus' IndyCar Racing 2 and GP2 and had a fair time trying to get those wrapped around my brain.

A few years after that, after many very poor open-wheeled "sims" and major disappointments after another, GPL was suddenly able to work well on my new machine and two other sims came out: Toca2 and Sports Car GT. GPL is a true benchmark, of that there simply is no question. The physics and smoothness, the robust programming, and the awesome 3rd party tracks (well over 150 at last count). Oh, and the tracks themselves — some of them are absolute beasts!

With Toca2, the physics and car specs were quite dodgy. Snap oversteer was just way too pronounced (although it did force you to get really good with opposite lock techniques very quickly!), the car carried far too much speed through corners to be realistic: I can distinctly remember taking Donington's bottom of the hill right turn at over 120 mph and I doubt Shumacher or Montoya could do that in their F1 cars! That said, T2 had one major thing going for it at the time: ACTION. The action from the AI was really great, totally unpredictable, sometimes vengeful! I always had fun in that game, smacking other cars about, getting hit by some, other being careful not to hit anyone.

With SCGT, it just ran buttery smooth on my machines, and it looked great! I could run a whole grid without slowdowns, and the multiple classes of cars was a godsend. The physics were largely good, but they were a bit too "smooth" or "predictable" somehow. I must say, though, that SCGT actually shows very well against the "also ran's" of today.

Thomas: Well I started to view F1 in the Ronnie Petersons days (mid 70s). My dad always watched F1 so I more or less grew up with it. The interest grew stronger through the years and nowadays I
watch F1, NASCAR, Moto GP as well as some Rally events.

Sim racing has grown on me in the later years. I played some GP1 on my old Amiga. Then I bought GP2 when I had my first PC (a 486/66MHz). But it wasn’t until I bought a wheel that racing on the PC really became enjoyable. That must have been when GPL was released back in 98. I really don’t want to know how many hours I’ve spent with GPL! After that, I’ve enjoyed sims like NASCAR 4, NASCAR 2002, NASCAR 2003. F1 2000, F1 2001, F12 002 and now F1 Challenge 99-02. Other great ones in my view are: Viper Racing, MB Truck Racing, SportsCar GT, Dirt Track Racing 1 and 2, Screamer 4x4, Rally Trophy and Rally Master as well as the bike sims Superbike2001 and GP500.

I’ve always considered Papy’s sims the best. The combination of great feeling, graphics ,sound and exceptional multiplay is hard to beat!

Have you done any actual racing?

"Rick.50cal": If you mean "do you have a racing license", then no. However, I have done many kart races, have a lot of experience driving a really wide number of vehicles, from the M113 tracked armor, light airplanes, to tractors, transport trucks, and a Mustang 900 horsepower dragster. I have also owned many sports cars over the years, and also got to drive a 500 hp Toyota Supra Turbo (I think it was a '96 model).

Thomas: In a car? No. On bike…sort of! I did enter an amateur Yamaha 350 spec race season back in…uh...hmm that was long ago! Must have been 1984, I think. I crashed heavily in my first race, broke my wrist amongst other things. The bike was a mess too. I didn’t do any more racing. Just as well... I wasn’t one of the fastest guys anyway. Four or five years later, I visited Nurburgring (the old Nordschleife) on a bike. It was really fun! Unfortunately I wrecked a bike (not mine, a buddy's Honda 600) on that occasion so my racetrack experiences isn’t the best. Haha!

Which F1 2002 mod do you like the most and why?

"Rick.50cal": To be honest, I actually don't have a single favorite — I love them all!

Thomas: Well the GTR2002 mod is a masterpiece, no doubt about it. It’s also the mod I’ve played the most so I’m a bit biased maybe.

Have you tried multiplayer at all with it?

"Rick.50cal": No, I have a very slow connection at the moment, and playing games at work might not go over that well with my boss! ;)

Thomas: Yes, I’ve done some races with GTR2002. It’s great fun. Back in May of this year I was on a LAN event where we mainly played GPL, but we also did some racing in GTR2002. That was awesome!

Most anticipated new mod you know of?

"Rick.50cal": Classic Trans Am! Well, for me anyway. I do predict it will be the most popular of them once it's released though. The inertia, power, lower grip levels, I think this all leads to more action on the track with close, tight races. I also look forward to some CAN-AM cars, although some screens have shown up, but I'm not sure what stage they are at. Oh, and lastly SimBin's F1 '77 mod because the cars look amazing, the physics will be top-notch, and it will include a much better version of the Nordschleif along with other tracks. Then again, there are so many new mods being made right now, just yesterday LM 93 mod was released — and no one had any idea it even existed! They snuck it in under the radar and gave us this sports prototype/LeMans mod, just days after RSDG's Sports Car Racing mod was released. I haven't even had time to install either one or buy F1 Challenge yet!

Thomas: There are two mods that I really look forward too. F1 1977 and LeMans. Of course GTR2003 for F1Challenge is another one.

Early reports on F1 Challenge 99-02 claim some significant advances. Are you definitely buying it?

"Rick.50cal": Yes! One of the latest things is that many are finding the net code better, but also the frame rates are a bit better than F1 2002 on the same machines thanks to better LOD (level of detail) management.

Thomas: I’ve already bought it! ;) I have had it for a couple of days now, so far I must say it is really something special! Two things that immediately impressed me was the sound and the feeling when driving the car. It just feels right! I haven’t tested multiplay yet, hopefully this weekend, but if it is as good as I’ve heard then this one will be my favorite.

What do you hope is fixed or better in F1 Challenge 99-02 over F1 2002?

"Rick.50cal": Well, I hope that the physics have more detail, more realism, and thus far this seems to be the case. I also hope that the creation and installation of 3rd party tracks and cars will be easier and smoother. Lastly, I'm hoping for some character to the AI drivers, similar to what I saw with Toca 2.

Thomas: Before I bought F1C, after having read all the hype on the forums, there were three main things that I was hoping for: Better physics, F1 2002 was not good at really low speed and had to much grip in high speed corners. This is definitely much better in F1C. Better sounds, F1 2002 was a little “thin”, it didn’t sound like I was driving a 900 hp beast! The sound was the first thing I went “WOW” over in F1C. It must be heard really! And finally, multiplay. Haven’t tried this yet, as I said earlier.

All the added “extras” ISI has done in support for the modders really gives me great hope for future mods. Things like analog gauges, the possibility to have day/night races (A real 24 hours of LeMans!) a handbrake and more...it will be a long wait before the first mods appear!

Thank you both for contributing to the SimHQ F1 2002 Mods series and we look forward to your next article.

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