From: lishka@dxcern.cern.ch (Christopher Lishka) Subject: Re: TECH: Sega promises 'virtual-reality' game in 1993 (Virtua Racing) Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 11:25:31 GMT Organization: CERN European Lab for Particle Physics [I actually sent an article to the moderators a while back regarding Virtua Racing, but it did not appear to make it into the list. Having played it, I will add a few comments below.] In <1iqdreINNblm@shelley.u.washington.edu> deloura@cs.unc.edu (Mark A. DeLoura) writes: >[...] on a recent trip back to my homeland (Seattle), I >encountered an arcade game called "Virtua Racing". That's >right-- the initials are "V.R.", and they abuse the term >endlessly. The game cabinet describes "VR buttons", and the >term "V.R." flashes up on the screen of the game during >attract mode. Yes, "VR" is all over the game. It is a commercial use of VR, but it certainly isn't as immersive as the Virtuality games. However, the controls are better than the various Virtuality games, and there has been more thought put into the user interface. It is much like the Hard Drivin'/Race Drivin' games by Atari, although Virtua Racing leans more towards arcade fun than realistic simulation. >Game play starts after you drop in the requisite coins (75 >cents/$1.00, where I was.) The machine gives you a choice of >three different tracks to race on, with varying difficulty >levels. The tracks are nicely designed. The medium-difficult track is built around a landscape borrowed from San Francisco scenery. Indeed at one point you race over the Bay Bridge. (Not ever having been to S.F., I am deriving this from the fact that my wife, who is not a video game person, exclaimed "Look! The Bay Bridge!".) >After you choose the track you want to race on, as well as >automatic or manual shifting, up pops a scantily-clad young >woman with "VR" tattooed above her left breast. This brings up an important aspect of the game: detail. From the scantily young woman to the guys who fix up your car at the pit to the pigeons eating in front of the bridge before you drive off to your virtual hands on the virtual steering wheel: there are many little details that make the games more realistic. Like the cows in Race Drivin' (which would "moo" if you hit them), Virtua Racing succeeds due to attention to important detail. >The machine has 4 buttons on the console, the so-called "VR >Buttons". By pushing these at any time during the game, your >viewpoint will smoothly shift. It is interesting to note that I found the default (up and behind the car slightly) to be the easiest to drive with. However, I preferred the immersive setting (inside the car) to be the most fun, although it was harder to tell what the road was like ahead. Another observation: I find it important that the shift from one view to another was *smooth*. I think a cut from one view to another (much like in a film) would very much detract from the feeling that you are in a virtual world. >If you spin out or for some reason roll the vehicle, you can >watch your car roll realistically-- or at least, it sure >*looks* accurate. :) This ties in with another comment about "Nintendo physics". Being a beginner, there were several times when I spun out or completely flipped the car. Unlike Race Drivin', the car does not get damaged (at least in my experience) if you bounce all over the place. (In Race Drivin' the car would blow up quite a bit, although this is about as realistic as cars instantly blowing up in movies.) I don't know if the indestructable car is good or bad; however, it does make you believe that you are in a make-believe environment where you can do many things you normally would not be able to. At no point did I think I was in a "real world". >Sega has some serious graphics power in this machine-- I >don't where they got it from, but it has a smooth frame rate >(no detectable chunk-chunk-chunk) and lots of polygons (they >had so many extra that there are birds that fly around, an >amusement park with moving rides, ...) Yes, this machine is obviously next-generation equipment compared to Race Drivin'. The scenery flies past pretty smoothly, although the clipping plane is close enough that my wife (again, *NOT* an arcade-game type) noticed *where* the scenery cut off in the distance. It didn't detract from the game much, but was easily detectable if you looked for it. >An alternate version of the game was a one-player cockpit, >which ran $1/play. Alas, this is the only version I have played. >Added benefits included a wider screen (which gave a wider >field-of-view, not a horizontally-stretched version of the >smaller screen) and pneumatic/ hydraulic seat action-- if you >slam on the brakes, that seat pushes you forward to simulate >G-forces. Likewise if you zip around a corner too quickly-- >the seat pushes you to the left or right. It's... *almost* >got quick enough action to feel realistic. The big screen was very nice, but I disliked the "pneumatic/hydraulic seat action". Because I live in France (in an area that is mountainous), I drive a *lot* on tiny French "routes departmental" at decent speeds (~60mph). I *know* what the pull is like on my body when I round corners at high speeds -- the car leans, the bucket seat puts pressure on your side, and my head tells me that I had better ease up on my speed before I break free. All the "pneumatic/hydraulic seat action" tells me is that some big pad is pressing on my side. Plus, the pump is noisy. If you ask me, this could have been completely left out of the game, and I would be *MUCH* happier. >Oh, a warning, though-- the machine seems to have "Nintendo >physics", to make game play more exciting. Yup, "Nintendo physics" all the way. It is fine for a game, but Virtua Racing does not feel as much like a complete simulation as Race Drivin' did. >Anyway. Is it a "VR"? Well, choose your definition of VR, >and then you be the judge. IMHO, Virtua Racing is VR in a limited sense: on a 0 to 100 scale of VR, I put Virtua Racing at about 20, maybe 15. It presents a set of virtual worlds to interact with (although you interaction is only through the simulation of a car), includes some details that make the world believable, but keeps the complexity and "real-world" aspects at a low level to make it more "playable" for the beginner. As a game it *is* a lot of fun. -- Christopher Lishka Never drive a car when you're dead... PPE Division, CERN -- Tom Waits lishka@dxcern.cern.ch vxaluw::lishka