Racing simulation and wheel/pedals

Lucky · 12-19-2001, 03:33 PM

Yes this is a bit off topic, but I promise to choose a 911 or any other Porsche the software offers over all else (well maybe I'll try a Viper or Ferrari) and it is technical in nature... I mean, what can be more technical than computers?

It's been way too long since my last day at the track, so I'd like to bring the track to my computer. However I want to do it right, even if it costs a bit. I figure some of you PPBBers must have racing sims at home and feedback wheels... so I need your collective expertise...

What's the best combination of software (with a good 911 sim) and wheel/pedals? Any bundles with both?

As always, I expect I'll be wowed with knowledge, expertise, and a range of excellent opinions... thanks in advance!

JuiceMan · 12-19-2001, 03:48 PM

Well as far as price goes the best game is of course Porsche Unleashed and for less than $100 the ATI Raedon 7200 video card makes the game look awesome.

I seen some really neat pedals and steering wheel at Best Buy they had MOMO Pedals and steering wheel! I think they where way over $100 though

82SC · 12-19-2001, 03:51 PM

not many people have seen it but I have the guillemot ferrari pedal and wheel I love it...search the internet for them...

Grand Prix 3
Grand Prix legands

Porsche unleashed is more arcade then sim...

JuiceMan · 12-19-2001, 03:54 PM

Yes Grand Prix Legends is awesome. Also check out Sports Car GT it's rather realistic.

Reg · 12-19-2001, 03:57 PM

GPL is a great game, If you can fin dit it will be cheap, plus waaaaaay better in my opinion than GP3

Not sure how Porsche fits into that though.

I have an old metal thrustmaster with paddles and thum buttons and it works good.

Logitech and ATI (both Canadian eh) are both great products!

emcon5 · emcon5's Garage

I have the Logitech WingMan® Formula? Force GP wheel, which was about $100 and came with Sports Car GT. It is not a cool as the MOMO, but the internals are most likely the same, and it is much less expensive.

The other Porsche game is Need For Speed, Porsche unleashed.

Do a search in the archives, you should find a bunch of stuff on both games, including some links to a place to download cars (917, 908, etc) for Sports Car
GT.

I have been looking for Grand Prix Legends, but can't find a copy anywhere. It is kind of an old game. If anyone knows a place that carries it, please let me know.

Tom

Reg · 12-19-2001, 06:28 PM

sometimes you can find old stock software at bargain basement prices. I know when I got GPL it was a year old or so, and it was a third of new retail cost!

I dont have a burner, but I am sure there are those out there that do...but with the success of that game, I would think a sequel will be coming out very soon!

Maybe you can D/L a demo of GPL somewhere and then grab the mods online??

ebradway · ebradway's Garage

I'm going to go buy the Logitech MOMO force-feedback wheel with some of the proceeds when my car sells...

Right now I'm going to cry some more...

masraum · 12-20-2001, 01:00 AM

Best most fun driving games, Grand Prix Legends (it's pretty hard compared to most since you are driving old GP cars running on tiny little tires), Sports Car GT is pretty good stock, and yes you can download tons of cool classic Porsches for it, and Need for Speed Porsche Unleashed is very cool and a ton of fun, but that's probably because it's not 100% realistic. The logitech wheels are very good, better than the Thrustmaster or Microsoft. The new Logitech/Momo wheel is pretty cool. There are wheel and pedal combo's out there that run a grand or so, but unfortunately most of us probably can't manage those.

Jille · 12-20-2001, 04:02 AM

I guess you will love Need For Speed 4 High Stakes and World Sports Cars as well, as soon as these cars become available

911nut · 911nut's Garage

Hey Jille, World Sports Cars is now 2 years late? What's the hold-up?
I also have the Logitech formula force wheel. It's a good wheel for the money, especially when you consider that you can pay up to $2000 for one.
GPL is out of print (I think). I have the demo and it's difficult to drive. I've got EA F1 2000 and it's fun. It's taught me a few things about car set-up.
Any good driving sim will sharpen your reflexes. Since I don't track my SC (yet) I don't know if they help your driving, though.

jluetjen · jluetjen's Garage

My vote for the best racing Sims are Grand Prix Legends (

) and SCGT (

). You can still get GPL off of EBay for about $9.00. It is well worth it. Check out...

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&ht=1&SortProperty=MetaEndSort&query=Grand+Prix+Legends

For what it's worth, IMHO driving a rear engined Porsche 911 at speed has far more in common with driving rear/mid engined car (such as GPL) then a front engined car such as a Mustang. I'm basing that opinion after driving/racing FF's, S2's and SR's as well as my 911E. The experience is similar, but the trailing throttle oversteer tendencies of the 911 are just greater

than the rear/mid-engined car. By the same token, I think if you're fast in a rear/mid-engined car, you'll be fast in a 911. As far as the difficulty of the cars go, the following seems to be a fair analogy:

Beginner ~ FF
Intermediate ~ Similar power to weight ratio as good 911 race car. Great fun around the Nurburgring!
Pro ~ F1 a la 1967! Even more fun at the Nurburgring!!!

SCGT is a great game and the racing can be set to a comparable difficulty to club racing. GPL knows only one speed which is "professional". After a recent thread on this board I downloaded some of the Porsche's for SCGT and was a little let down. Basically the game is a little more "arcade" then a sim. As a baseline, I used the 1970 911S model around my local track -- Lime Rock. The model had too much of everything, HP, weight, Aero drag, tire drag, etc. It looks like the models for the other Porsches such as the 917, 908 and 910 are similar. For kicks I'm going to play with the 911S and see if I can get it "right" by baselining it around LRP.

Good Luck!

Jille · 12-20-2001, 05:41 AM

well, I don't know the planning of WSC... so I don't know if it's 2 years late...

oh, and to read more about these cars I posted, search of topics by "Jille"

or look for the topic: "WSC Porsche 917 and 962 new pics"

I have a Guillemot Ferrari wheel, and it's perfect, even though it's a bit weird: driving a Porsche on screen, but having a Ferrari wheel in your hands...

Lucky · 12-20-2001, 08:32 AM

A wealth of information!! Thank you all!!

Last night I downloaded a demo of SCGT. It's fun, pretty realistic, but a pain to drive with arrow keys... so now I'm bidding on a couple of games (GPL & NFS: Porsche Unleashed) and a Thrustmaster wheel/pedal combo on Ebay.

I know the Thrustmaster isn't the best, but it is by far the cheapest. I figure I'll start with it and if I really get hooked upgrade to the $200 Momo/Logitech and let my kids enjoy the Thrustmaster.

Thanks again for your collective expertise.

David McLaughlin · David McLaughlin's Garage

As usual, you need to be careful with ebay. Many time you are bidding on copies. For that matter, I have seen NFS PU for $19.95 at the local computer store (Comp USA); for the same price, I've seen that game and 3 others in one box.

Right now, all I have for driving sim is NFS PU and am still hooked. After the holidays I will go out to buy a couple more (I'm hopping for a Christmas surprise). I like some of the sports car and F1 games.

As per the wheel, I'll brag a little more. A good friend bought me the MOMO for an early Chrismas present anf I just love it. Unfortunetly I am so used to using teh arrow keys, going to a wheel is very difficult but I'll manage.

Here is a good link on wheels and how they compare, have fun.
http://firingsquad.gamers.com/hardware/2001wheelroundup/

Has anyone else heard that EA will no longer be hosting online games?

Z-man · Z-man's Garage

NFS: Porsche Unleashed: Very, very good. There may be other games out there with better graphics and physics, but PU has both great graphics and good physics.

ALSO: It is the only game that you can play that has exclusively PORSHCES. Nothing else: no sir: all Porsches! They have various types of games, including the Factory Driver series (my favorite), the Evolution Series, and the Tourney Series. I love this game!

As for steering wheel: I have a Logitech Wingman Formula Force-feedback steering wheel, and it's great!

-Z.

si2t3m · 12-20-2001, 11:51 AM

Same here.

Logitech wheel. As for sims, GPL is really realistic. BTW for the other Canadian out there, there is now the St-Jovite Track (Mt-Tremblant). Really realistic and it's my local track for DE's. Great practice for winter.

Oh, Just bought NFSPU yesterday... Real fun sim too. I'm kinda tired today as i stayed up a little late!

Marc-Andre

mreed · 12-20-2001, 03:09 PM

Does anyone have any thoughts on simulations for PS1, PSII, Dreamcast, XBOX, etc?

I am completely and utterly addicted to Test Drive Le Mans for Dreamcast. I originally bought the game for PS1 but the processor can't keep up with the software and the gamplay slows down. I was going to wait for TDLM to come out on PSII and buy that system when I read a review that claimed the Dreamcast version was superior to the ported PSII version. I was able to buy a used Dreamcast for $50.00 at Funcoland and the game was $30.00 new. The game for the PSII is $50.00 on top of the cost of the system ($300.00?). So, I basically got the whole deal for $80.00, only $30.00 more than the cost of the PSII game!

Anyway, the gameplay and graphics are amazing. I've spent the last six months trying to master Donnington in the GT2 Porsche. I haven't even spent much time in the protypes or other tracks. Any other addicts out there? I can just muster a 1:05 at Donnington in the GT2 and best I've finished is sixth starting from the back row. I don't know how I would survive the Chicago winter without this game and Speedvision.

see: http://www.tdlemans.com for more.