This is not just a private chat by the way, I beat the cwap outta Edam tonight
He seemed to enjoy it?
Er, excuuuuuse me? Who beat you and won the first race?
Last night was the first time nk Pro actually worked properly for me. Now I realise what was going on in the previous versions - the 'latency' for want of a better word was just too much to actually drive the cars.
For instance, with 1.0.2 and previous, actually even shifting gears in the 1600 and 1800 was hit-and-miss for me. Last night was the first time when I could do it right and it would actually work (still messed a few up tho
). It's not quite the same as a REAL Formula Ford though, and I rather wish it was - in a real car, you apply pressure to the gear stick, then either tap the clutch pedal to remove drive from the dog gears, or you back off the throttle for a moment, which does the same thing. Then the 'box just 'snicks' into the next gear. It's a lovely feeling when you do it right. Most dog boxes are the same.
What I'd love to see in nkPro is a control method where you could hold down the shifter/paddle/whatever, then just ease off the throttle to get the next gear. It doesn't work like that though - I did try - you need to back off, click the shifter/paddle, then make sure it engages before flooring the throttle again. Note that this is with the auto clutch - I'm sure it's probably easier with a real shifter, but some of us haven't got around to that level of sophistication yet
Anyway, I digress. A lot of the problem for me I reckon was framerates. The control system is dependant on the frame rate, as Stefano has rather foolishly coded the controler poller into the main display loop, so the controller is only polled when the screen is refreshed. Obviously that means if you suffer from low frames, you'll quickly lose control of the car. It's actually pretty much the same in Simbin's titles I think, but somehow seems to be much more obvious in nK.
I also think that there's more 'lag' or latency in the controller than in Simbin's titles. Hard to put my finger on it, but when trying to recover a slide, there's a perceivable lag in response from the car. Stefano's been mentioning controller/USB lag on RSC recently, and I'm wondering if this is something that's been made worse by the reintroduction of flat spots... This is where Ginsters and Mo(?) perhaps have an advantage over me, because IIRC they use non-FF wheels.
Anyway, I suck at single seaters. I'm still longing for the day that nkPro gets a tin-top. Doesn't matter what. Had great fun with Namie (Nk 0.99) and the Ferarri, but last night came pretty close to re-creating that actually! Really smooth framerates, good net code, close racing, and a track like Aviano, with it's flowing curves and unexpected bumps really reminds me of the old racing at Newbury/Crystal Palace/Lime Rock. Apart from the slight lag, the feedback from the wheel is pretty good, and gives a really good sensation of the bumps.
The other problem I had with 1.0.2 and before is that the default setup was just pathetic, particularly with the lower-end formula cars (nosedive city under braking!). 1.0.3 sees a much better default set, provided by Jaap Wagenvoort, which is really nice, and is an absolute must for numpties like me who can't set up a car (or don't want to, or haven't got time to). Shame about some settings like FOV, seat position STILL being part of the loadable set up, but at least you can now load/save set up from the actual game, rather than the bloody Windows interface.
Speaking of FOV, what do others use? I found the default of 60 just too narrow for my tastes. I found I could see corners better with FOV set to at least 70 ( I can see my own tyres then!), and seat height at +0.020 (or some odd figure like that)
So yeah, I think I'll be playing it more in future, now that the net code is fixed, and some of the more intolerable bugs have been removed. Still a long way to go though, and I hope the next patch doesn't take another 2 years, but you may see me online from time to time.
I can see the 1600/1800 being the weapon of choice online now. Not just because that's the only car you get in the demo, but because it's easy-going, predictable, nice-and-slideable, and slow enough that you don't get into too much trouble. Still pretty damn hard to keep it on the track sometimes though! But over a race, it rewards smooth consistent driving, rather than banzai laps. I like it more than the slicks/wings cars already!
