"Dave Henrie" > wrote in message
. 97.136...
> If you have paid attention lately, you have probably notice there has
> been an enormous ground swell against First-Racing(now called iRacing.)
> They have played the bully in restricting previously allowed mods in the
> Nr2k3 community. I know of many mod groups that have been working with
> Papy for 10 years that have dumped them because of the 'reclaiming of
> copyright' legal manuevers.
>
> So soon, we are led to beleive, rFactor will be released. A mod
friendly
> big advancement from prior ISI sims. I am going to guess that even with
> all the improvements from the multiplayer demo, that rF will not quite
rise
> to the level of previous Papyrus titles when examining online features.
>
> Now my question. Even if rFactor is the 'next great sim', what will it
> take for the faithful to go back to iRacing? What feature? What
> advancement? What are you looking for in a Next Gen Sim? What will jump
> out and MAKE you go running back home?
>
> and Part 2..
>
> What could ISI do to allow you to never want to return to Papy-style
> sims? What do they need to complete your racing requirements?
>

Aside from the brouhaha over getting the NR2003 code rights back under wrap,
the future for iRacing/rFactor isn't that much different from the past with
Sierra-Papyrus/EA-ISI. Papy were always rather protective of their product,
while ISI, from SCGT on, were more mod-friendly. I have no issue with
someone protecting the fruits of their labor and investment (& even making a
buck), so the First/iRacing fuss doesn't bother me one whit. I do
sympathize with some of the guys who got caught out during the transition
phase though; DK & Co. could probably have handled that better as for this
group of folks. But in the larger market sense, what our little community
of sim-heads thinks doesn't really matter much.

It's just two groups hitting the market from different angles, trying to
define the niche that will best work for them. And only when they do will
we enjoy the benefits of a long pipeline of first-tier product. And product
is what it comes down to in the end, as ever. Whoever delivers the best
product, or at least the best product at the price level the market's
willing to pay, will dominate. In the past it was Papy. Future will tell.
IMHO, mods are not that big an issue; the biggest question is how pay to
play will be rolled out and whether that model will fly in the face of an
established free-online-racing precedent.

As to your questions about what's looked for in a racing sim; for me it's
realism in physics, graphics and sound; depth, polish and reliability in
game design, interface and function; quality multiplayer and replay
capability. There are other sims out that do bits and pieces well, but no
one has yet put the total package together as well as Papy did. All any sim
developer has to do to succeed is DELIVER. Simple. Just not easy.

SB