RE: Lotus Challenge
Friday 10th August 2001
Lotus Challenge
New game gives you the chance to drive a whole host of Lotuses
Discussion
Seems weird to me that they chose a PS2 rather than a PC. Most lotus drivers are "well off"/working and use PCs rather than game machines. Shame really cos I would have bought it, and I''m sure lots of other people would buy it, but not by spending £200 to get the machine to play it on.
Not all us game developers get paid loads!
From what I've heard it will drive and play quite nicely. The 3d models are more detailed than the GT3 ones without a doubt, however it is true to say the GT3 ones look more realistic because of a special rasterisation method (I don't know much about it).
However, all this is irrelevant and should go down a storm with Lotus folks equipped with a PS2 or XBOX. I'm just a little annoyed they havn't created a PC version so we could setup online races like in GPL!
To Funk..whatever
Most PC games have more depth, better graphics (monitors have a higher resolution than a TV) and most importantly update! Case in point Grand Prix Legends, not only a cracking game but has online racing and updates regulary with new tracks cars etc. You don't get that with a console. The type of game you get with a console is arcade type (shallow). With PCs you get a game which is designed to last a long time with development built in. Don't get me wrong I am sure that PS2 games are good, but I refuse to pay through the nose for what is essentially a PC that plugs into a TV. My point was that I was surprised that they released a Lotus driving game without PC support when a lot of Lotus drivers will own PCs rather than consoles.
Its sad that you think "all PC gamers are lame" because you have missed out on some cracking games. Also without PC gamers a lot of the games you play now would never have been developed.
Madskills - you are totally correct.
However, as all console games are developed on a PC with the vendors development kit, I often wonder how much more difficult it would be to make a PC version.
From a financial perspective, the publishers have already shelled out for development of a game and a quick port over to another platform would make good economical sense.
As far as I can see, the only significant thing that needs to be changed is the rendering processes, and with the advent of the XBOX this should be even a simpler issue than ever before.
I guess one additional problem you shouldn't overlook though is that PC games need to allow for wild variations in hardware - processor speeds and different 3d cards, etc. Consoles are much less of a nightmare with just one system to develop for. This is why we see so many patches for PC games.
MegaT!
The current project I'm involved in runs at some 20fps at minimum (Voodoo3) up to an estimated 100fps (GeForce3).
The latest trend is to have an adaptive 3d engine which automatically adds and removes detail according to performance solving the problem you mention (CPU performance isn't an issue when transferring from console to PC).
However, the glaringly obvious problem here is that the 3d engine needs to be adaptive from day one which clearly a console game isn't going to have (or need).
Ho hum! I blame the publisher scum... 
Not true as far as I know (met the lead developer and the Lotus engineers involved the other week).
The developers came up with the physics engine and then the Lotus engineers plugged in the relavant values then test drove the cars on screen to compare them with their experiences on the test track.
That would make more sense PetrolTed (Dave?).
I was told this...
"I met one of the artists working on this a while back. He was telling me how the programmers were forced to go and drive all these Lotus cars round the Lotus test track"
...so maybe that was an earlier "outdoor" session! All will become clear within the first moments one steps into a virtual car of course.
Personally, I'm waiting for World Sports Cars - been in development for years now and will ofeer the realism (and frustration?) of GPL with modern GT cars. You can even stall them if you have a clutch pedal!
The Esprit models look pretty good but the more 'rounded' Elise/Elan seems to have a few 'square' edges I've never noticed in the flesh. 
However if the playability is good, and the ability to damages cars works, that could make up for it.
Edited by hoganscrogan on Thursday 16th August 13:34
Edited by hoganscrogan on Thursday 16th August 13:35
However if the playability is good, and the ability to damages cars works, that could make up for it.
Edited by hoganscrogan on Thursday 16th August 13:34
Edited by hoganscrogan on Thursday 16th August 13:35 
I think the cars look quite bad in most shots, how many in a race at one time?
How long are the courses?
Whats this rubbish about Lotus test drivers coming up to help with tweaking the car parameters. What a load of tosh.
Sure it's a publisher PR thing and it's nice to meet them n'all but get real, they cant actually help you by trying the game out!
You make a game, it's an approximation of some real world events, it's fake. You (the game developer) tweak these values until it (in your opinion) starts to reflect what would happen in the real world.
doh.
As soon as I saw it I thought it looked ropy, saw an earlier demo and NFspeed on the 3DO looked better.
Admittedly I havent seen a version running for ages, is there gonna be a covermount demo or anything?
It looks childish, the cars are very poor and whats with the Carlton in the footie type stadium? Jeez.
I thought Kuju were good at one point, cant remember why :-) 95% of people in game development are ****e full stop.
If you can get a semi decent game out with that 95% getting in the way you've acheived something!
I have to agree, this game is awful. Having raced round the track at Hethel for real I was really looking forward to having a virtual go....
I was so disappointed! OK, I don't expect it to replicate everything from the Hethel circuit but I do expect it to have something in common with it!! In Gran Turismo, Laguna Seca circuit was as close a copy to real track as possible. So what hell went wrong at Hethel??
The driving model was appalling, the graphics were crappy and then the circuits were just dull.
I played it for about 10 minutes and then went back to playing GT3 again!
I was so disappointed! OK, I don't expect it to replicate everything from the Hethel circuit but I do expect it to have something in common with it!! In Gran Turismo, Laguna Seca circuit was as close a copy to real track as possible. So what hell went wrong at Hethel??
The driving model was appalling, the graphics were crappy and then the circuits were just dull.
I played it for about 10 minutes and then went back to playing GT3 again!
Hi, I disagree that all IT types use high spec PC's. Me, and my mates who all have decent PM/Consulting Jobs all have consoles. We gave up messing about with trying to get the right graphics card and drivers years ago. The last thing you want to so is to have to spend 3 hours configuring your PC, or worse buy new hardware, each time you buy a new game. And my 32in TV is bigger than any monitor i can afford and I dont want a PC in my lounge thanks!
Also this game is now ony £25 which is good becuase that cheap, but bad becuase it may well indicate its a bit pants.
Also this game is now ony £25 which is good becuase that cheap, but bad becuase it may well indicate its a bit pants.
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