How many here still play online?

[JeffR]

Not just NFS5:PU but any racing or other type of game. What's popular these days?

My personal survey:

NFS4 - High Stakes (via IPLounge), 4 to 6 players out of a group of about 20 that still play online.

NFS5 - Porsche Unleashed, 8 to 16 players out of a group of ??? that still play online.

NFS6 - HP2 - haven't visited in quite a while, but it seems to have a dedicated group.

NFS7 - Underground 1 - 20 to 30, turnover rate is high (lots of players have come and gone, average "lifespan" is 3 to 6 months). With limited and very short tracks, and most 10 lap races because of the point system, it get's boring pretty quick. Out of all the players that got to 100 million points, there's only one still "active" (which only requires playing once a month).

NFS8 - Underground 2 - 20 to 50 depending on US/EU server and time.

Nascar Racing Season 2003, sierra server, about 100 to 120 when it's up, mostly doing ovals, although the draw is not so much the tracks, but the close racing with 30 to 40 players in a race. Watkins Glen is the most popular road course online. Of course when the sierra server is down (maybe shutdown?), like it was last night, 0 players online. There is also some league play. Seems to be new interest in this game, as it's going for $65 to $110 at Ebay and Amazon.

GTP (NR2003 mod) can be played online, but I haven't checked it out.

GPL - VROC - maybe 20 players, a lot just chat. A lot of players just do hot laps offline, or they race in leagues.

Other games I haven't tried online ever or not since a long time: GTR, MBWR (not in a long time), F1C99-02 and it's mods, Live For Speed (waiting for S2, and then just maybe, with only 3 people doing LFS, it's falling behind other games). Toca Race Driver 2 (only went online 3 or 4 times, was more interested in other games at the time).

For several reasons (life: wife, pet, work, other hobbies, limited game time, lots of good games out there now) I just don't spend that much time with any one game any more. Back in the EAOR days, I was online with NFS4 for about 2 years, NFS5 for about 1 year during the same time, maybe spent 9 months on and off with GPL doing hot laps. I played NFSU1 and NFSU2 since the first day of the demos, played NFSU1 for about 3 months, NFSU2 for about 2 months. I've done all the Tomb Raider series, and I'm looking forward to TR Legends. The rest of the stuff, I'll go through the game (or career mode) once or twice and I'm done with it, although I do backup all my save files just in case I check out an old game again.

[chris]

I don't play any of the NFS games at the moment. GTR was out right away as soon as Starforce was mentioned. F1C 99-02 I still have. :)

But I'm more interested in Flight Simulator 2004. You can do online flights with that, with real people as air-traffic-controllers through Vatsim. The amount of people flying online can be huge, so you can imagine there is a potential for chaos, unless everyone obeys ATC properly and sticks to the proper airways. Some of the ATC actually are real life Air-traffic-controllers, and some of the people flying online are real life pilots (some even airline pilots).

[[RS]Alt]

Occasionally I play NFS:PU / 2000 online. Thanks to the IP Lounge that makes it so easy to do. Oh, the lounge also works with NFS:HS as well.

I can't sit as long as I used to be able to. I guess losing all of this weight has had a major impact in my life (less padding?). FYI, I'm down to 315 pounds from approx. 450 pounds last year (about this time).

Cheers :)

[DC_Geezr]

I stopped playing NFS 4 a couple of years ago,and only played it online a couple of times.Besides,there's already a "Geezr" online there,so it was too confusing. ^_^

I've only played NFS 5 once or twice in the past year,or year and a 1/2. I miss the folks there,awesome community,but I can't ever see myself running those same 28 tracks again.Referring to your other thread,after 5 years of the same old same old,it's just getting old.

HP2,NFS U,never got past the demos. :ack: NFS U2,fogettabouttit.

Nascar games,bore me to death ovals.. &(

Racing sims,such as GPL..Treied it a long time ago,and was impressed,but i'm just not serious enough about real racing to enjoy these games.The learning curve is too steep for me. :confused: Again,real roads interest me,not lap after lap of a closed circuit.

WR..the only game I play atm.Mostly players from Europe online,so it's busiest during the afternoons over here.No online stats,so it's more for the fun of it than anything else.Tons of add on cars and more coming almost daily.Many are crap,and never make it past beta,but some are brilliant.Very good community,many really nice ppl,and recently quite an influx of new players,as WR has funally become more widely available outside of Europe.WR2 with a host of enhacements,is expected in the fall. :cool:

Chris,I find it interesting that real life pilots and air traffic controllers would play a game representing their work,in their spare time. :look: I would have thought they'd rather play something completely different;unless they reverse roles,like the pilots play air traffic control,and the controllers play Baron Von Ricthoven. &(

What do U do when you're flying a simulated flight in a 747 between,say,New York,and London? Put it on autopilot,and go do the laundry?Go to bed,and land in the morning? :p Just wondering :D

Ric :wave:

Edit: Hey Ray.Great job on the weight loss! That's fantastic! -^

[chris]

@Geezr: Well, I would say on a 747 flight, you'd have to stay with it and listen out for ATC communications, or TRAFFIC ALERT! advisories. :eek: Though most of the good addon planes have TCAS systems to let you know of aircraft that are nearby. The one I fly issues verbal and graphical traffic warnings along with resolution advisories to help you avoid the other traffic.

I never used 747 or other subsonic heavies, because the flights are too long. 10+ hour flights are not my thing. I can put up with 3.5 hour flights, but 12 is too much. That's why I fly SST's. :) So I can still do long-distance flights, but I get them finished quickly. And besides, SST's are more interesting and unique in their flight characteristics. :) In Concorde, you tend to do a lot more thinking in terms of planning the flight, and managing the front/rear weight balance. So it's more interesting.

As for the real life ATC's and pilots sometimes flying in the sims, I think you can say that aviation is sort of like a disease for some people, once it's in your system you never get rid of it. :) Some people who fly in virtual airlines are very serious about their flight-simming, and will only fly one particular model of plane, and they'll keep very detailed records of their flights, and hours in that model of plane.

One other benefit of online flying is that it is organised to include all of the most popular planes. So for instance, I can fly the payware Concorde I have (www.sstsim.com) online if I want with no troubles. And at the same time, there won't be any troubles if someone else is flying for instance the payware PMDG 737-800 for instance, and I don't have it.

Only difficulties are when someone might be flying something very unusual, like a Lockheed Constellation for instance.

I'd love to see more people from RP get into flight-sims. Might even be possible for us to start a Virtual Airline. Currently I think it's only myself and Frank who are really into FS2004. It's a shame because it offers so many mods, and some of the planes offer truly incredible realism.

The Concorde I fly - it is of such realism that I'm doing 10 or so minutes worth of pre-flight calculations to work out V speeds and other necessary stuff. You know it's realistic when you go through all the procedures the real pilots used, and you are using the same reference data as for the real plane, from the flight manuals for the real plane! :)

[RS]Alt: Well done on the weight-loss. Keep up the effort. :)

[DC_Geezr]

Just curious;could you and Frank be Pilot and Co-pilot on the same plane?

Ric :wave:

[chris]

Such capabilities do look like being possible, with a new FS addon module being just released to handle that (IIRC). But this Concorde isn't tested with that, nor is SU3 AFAIK

For the plane, it really needs three people as in real life. 1 person to control the plane manually when needed, another to deal with the AFCS and navigation stuff, and the third person as the flight engineer. Sometimes it can get mighty busy on landing approaches to busy airport. &(

[Justin Martin]

I still play Counter-Strike online occasionally, and when NFSU2 came out I played it online a couple of times.

[FeZ]

For the plane, it really needs three people as in real life. 1 person to control the plane manually when needed, another to deal with the AFCS and navigation stuff, and the third person as the flight engineer. Sometimes it can get mighty busy on landing approaches to busy airport. &(

And what about the trolley dollys :p

[DC_Geezr]

And what about the trolley dollys :p

RotF! ^_^ Poor virtual passengers,noone to dispense plastic food,and in no in flight movie. =((

Ric :beer:

[DCMattius]

Haven't played anything online for years. If I did come back it would probably be GPL. That one I still have lots to learn and it was pretty exciting. I haven't seen the newer games out there, but on rare occasion if my co-workers and I are bored, we play some of the msn messenger games. Those old days playing PU, I'll always remember.

Matt

[DC_Geezr]

Hi Matt.Great to see ya. :beer: Yep,the days of PU in it's prime were quite probably something we'll never see again. =[ Too many platforms,too many games,everyone in the gaming industry in too much of a hurry to herd us on to the next big thing. :rolleyes:

Ric :wave:

[[RS]Alt]

The Concorde I fly - it is of such realism that I'm doing 10 or so minutes worth of pre-flight calculations to work out V speeds and other necessary stuff. You know it's realistic when you go through all the procedures the real pilots used, and you are using the same reference data as for the real plane, from the flight manuals for the real plane! :)
Chris, do you fly (as a pilot) in real life? If NOT, do you think that with all of the simulation / simulator time you've put under your belt that you could take off and land a "heavy" jet as well as banter with the ATC's?

I feel pretty confident that even though I haven't spent much time with my flight sim (I think I have FS2000 or 98) that I could decently land an airplane without too much trouble. I might however, need a lot of help from the ground to make sure that I follow procedure / protocols to get it on the ground safely.

I love aircarft - always have / always will. I did a short stint as a "Lineman" with a small reliever airport just east of Indianapolis, IN, USA (Mt. Comfort Airport) many years ago and loved just about every bit of being around nearly any aircraft that I could get "up close and personal with!" Ahhhh, the good old days. :)

Thanks everyone for the comments. I'm working on losing another 100 pounds by next year - to get down to around 225 pounds or so.

Cheers!

[chris]

I don't fly in real life.

But yeah, I think I could land a real airliner. But I wouldn't want any passengers on board. It'd have to be something I'm familiar with, so I know what I'm looking at.

I'd definately want to do it in a simulator a few times first. By that, I don't mean the computer simulators, but the big commercial simulators. BA had one for Concorde, and there are various ones for all the different subsonic airliners. :) I'd want to try the simulator first, just to become familiar with way certain switches operate and so on.

IIRC, you can actually buy time in an Airbus A320 simulator in Europe. I think Simware advertises that.

[Wazza]

When you touch the real controls in an aircraft, even small ones like myself, when I've touched the controls of a Cessna and other ones over the years, it's just so much different. I'm sure a airliner would be fairly difficult to fly. Not impossible, but just difficult keeping check with every guage, and maintaining the correct glidescope, and not taking photos out the window, as I like to do as a passenger when taking off/landing. :p

As for playing online.

I was racing online yesterday for a few. I've been racing about once every 1-2 weeks lately, for 1-5 races a time. Never long, but good to catch up with my old friends. :)

[JeffR]

Regarding GPL, someone just figured out how to get past the game's 15 mile limit, so another person is creating the Isle of Mann, 37.75 miles long. Suprised that such an old game still has a strong following.

Note that Nascar Racing Season 2003 has a large number of road courses as add-ons. Most of the popular real life circuits are available for NR2003 and it's mods. The mods are another nice thing about NR2003, the latest and greatest is the GTP mod. The tracks I like are Spa, Road America, and Nurburg Ring 1970 version. I liked the older Watkins Glen track, before they put in the chicane to slow cars down before the drop. I also have Willow Springs and Laguna Seca.

I made a video of the NR2003, Trans-Am mod, the Viper at Willow springs, it's a quad view (cockpit, bumper, chase, heli), if anyone is interested:

nrwsvp.wmv (http://jeffareid.net/cgi-bin/nrwsvp.wmv)

[DC_Geezr]

Very impressive video Jeff. :cool: Just add some inane commentary,and it's like watching TV. ^_^ Beutifully modelled cockpit.Too bad i would never use it.

Ric :beer:

[Sepecat]

DOnt Play Online anymore, and haven't played for a long time... I do however play Halo 2 System Link, with my mates... -^

[935Baby]

Hi all,

I still play sometimes Porsche Unleashed. Great to meet old friends. But last year i am not having time which i need to play.

See you in pits :)

[Ranger]

I didnt play online for about a year... still have NFS:PU installed on my main comp "just in case" if we ever get a big tournament or something going.

I'm quietly waiting for the day they release NFS:PU 2 actually :(

[DCMattius]

Hey Ric, good to see ya too. Jeff, what's this 15 mile limit in GPL? Is that just for custom tracks? I know Nurburgrings gotta be way over 15 miles. I use to love league racing around the ring.

Matt

[Justin Martin]

I know Nurburgrings gotta be way over 15 miles. I use to love league racing around the ring.
Actually, 14.1 miles in the configuration GPL uses. But it sure seems like it's waaaayyyy longer than that. :D

[JeffR]

Hey Ric, good to see ya too. Jeff, what's this 15 mile limit in GPL? Is that just for custom tracks? I know Nurburgrings gotta be way over 15 miles. I use to love league racing around the ring.

At a track length of about 25km or more, the AI cars cease to work. Someone recently just figured out a fix for this, so the full Isle of Mann is being worked on.

[VQ]

Chris: I found a Professional Concorde Add-on at Electronics Boutique, with a 180 page manual too, it's worth $70 though.

I play LFS S2 Demo at school online, mainly because it's easy to run and everyone else at school can hardly play, heck I suck at it without using my controller or steering wheel.

I now have a 9700PRO card, so I'm going to have a lot of fun playing games now.

[chris]

VQ: Don't touch that one. :yikes:

That's the wrong one. The SSTSim one is by all accounts far superior. You can get it through the author at www.sstsim.com. Andrew Wilson is the one to talk to. The price was far more reasonable than the "Concorde Professional" product.

The Service Update 3 soon to be available will makeSSTSim Altitude Concorde more accessible to first time flyers. It apparently has a Virtual Flight Engineer that will take care of fuel balance for you.

The manuals in electronic PDF form are very helpful. While the new take-off-form program will take the hassle out of your pre-flight calculations.

Not everyone will like having to do things like 6x cos(2x24), along with multiple other calculations to work out V speeds and the like. The program lets you enter the information, or even get weather data directly from the payware ActiveSky software, and it does all of the calculations for you, and gives you the results you need in order to do a precise, accurate take-off just as it would be done in real life. :)

[VQ]

Wasn't planning to, at least till I get a bigger hdd, I can't keep Flight sim on my hdd anyway.

[Blitz]

I used to play Midtown Madness and High Stakes online. But I haven't played any games on-line in like three or four years. Still though.. it was fun times while it lasted. :HB:

[FIATLOVE]

Still play PU online weekly using IPLounge, GTR not that often. Offline I play Richard Burns Rally (PC) "expert" mode :)

[(AR)Göran]

Hi folks :-)

I'd been in the lfs for quite a while now, been doing alot of races there online - way too many according to my stats there...:-) Bought the GTR when it was released in Sweden, felt it was kinda good sim so drove it alot online, now the LFS s" alpha version is out so now im back in the LFS community again...ohh yes, bought the NFS U2 a while ago and finnished it in a week, was kinda fun for the entertainment but i never went online with it. Looks smooth and has a good speed feeling but im too much of a simracer now to really enjoy those games as before...

If u havent tried the LFS i suggest u give the demo a try. And if u have 24£ left to spend on something spend it on LFS S2 (its 12£ per version) kinda affordable for most ppl i guess.

JeffR hi again :-) U are definitly right - that formula V8 is a really fast car in any track :-P I prefer tho the slower formula car, the formula XR, because it gives alot of very tight races were u have to plan your race very carefully - especiall y on the oval when the drafting gets important. I had a race on the oval with that car and we were 3 drivers driving side by side almost all of the race, me (AR)JJ, and another guy and this was one of the most thrilling experiencies u could imagine - so d**n tight til the fiunnish line :-) (and i won of course4 hehe)

Take care folks, you are all in my mind sometimes :-)

Göran

[[SK]FR2]

Good to see you all. I have to say it is still NFS PU for me, race daily. Will go on to say that having great time still on the IPL, those guys are great my hat is off to them, thank you TEAM [RS] great work and always improving.

I have tried other games of all sorts but i think more for the friendly community is why i still find myself on NFS PU, like before in the old EA days the IPL is growing steady. There is about 170 reg. members now and growing all the time. They added stats to the ipl about a year ago, and they keep both stock and mod stats nice little extra if u ask me. Soon there will be a new version of the IPL, will have many new extras like built-in hack detector, team competition among other things, one really owes it to themself to get thier NFS PU game off the shelve, if for some reason you deciede not to you missing out on a load of fun and really great ppl. :beer: to PU of yesterday , today and far beyond tomorrow

[JLK]

I'm still playing NFSPU with the IPL, but not as much as I would like. Still lots of nice guys and gals in the lobby. It amazes me to see how many new folks drop in for races.

I also play Live for Speed online. A major upgrade S2 was recently released, but haven't got it yet. The S2 demo is nice, suits my driving style better. I will be getting to full S2 soon.

I'm looking forward to rFactor - nice sime demo. Also need to get out & look for GTR, that was another incredible demo.

See you in the IP Lounge
Jim aka FreddyK ;)