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THE PITS NEWS
27 Apr - FINALLY!
We've FINALLY completed our revision of the site, it's taken several weeks to put all the files in their places, but it's finally done. We hope that it makes it easier for people to navigate The Pits, and to find what they want. Sorry for all the hassle, and if you detect a bad link, please contact the person responsible for the page so we can get it fixed.
27 Apr - New Gearhead!
GA-Sports.com has brought about a new racing column, done by none other than Jeff Downey, previous gearhead of PC Sports Games. You can check it out here, and we'll just have to see how far he has progressed in SCGT...bet he can't beat me in a stock Beemer race at Lime Rock! ;]
27 Apr - SCGT League
The Inside Line has started a league for offline SCGT racing, you can find it on their website under the heading of GTIC. Please note that we've got our SCGT page in full swing, you can find it on the bar at left...
27 Apr - And the Winner Is...
Joseph Kelly, Richard Wedsted and David Williford all made out like bandits on IWCCCARS' Survey this month. Joseph made the first prize drawing with a new Thomas Enterprises' TSW2 wheel and pedals, while Richard and David both get a software title of their choice from 4cds.com! Man, sometimes a survey ISN'T a bad thing...Congratulations to those three! And thanks to all the participants of the survey, it'll give us a good idea of what YOU all want and how we can do it better in the future.
19 Apr - New 3d Cockpit!
Roberto Arosteguy, who created the Top Driver's Challenge has created a new 3d cockpit for N99, go check it out at his site...looks superb!
19 Apr - BTCC here!
IWCCCARS has completed the 1999 BTCC carset, and it looks real nice...as well, they've got some great new updates to the NASCAR 1999 carset, go check them out!
On Labor Day Weekend, 1999, The Columbus Racing League (a LAN League)is
hosting a Simulation Nascar Race unlike any other. 39 Drivers, on the same
track, at the same time AND IT'S WARP FREE! Talladega, Bristol, Pocono,
Michigan, Charlotte, and many more. Imagine being in a 24 car draft down the back straight at Dega with NO WARP, or surviving Bristol. Think your
Charlotte or Atlanta setup is the one to beat? Try racing IN THE SAME ROOM
as your fellow competitors. Race YOUR CAR not one provided by TEN or N2 but the one you have painted. Who can race? You must have a valid TEN race ID that has shown reasonable
race experience with an emphasis more on your LPI than on your ranking. This is not a race for beginners. We are taking applications for those that would like more information. We
are not asking you to commit at this point, just to let us know that you are interested so we can put you on our mailing list. We already have 25
Confirmed racers and another 15 or so interested drivers. So far we have
people from Atlanta, Augusta, Charlotte, Indiana, Tennessee, Alabama, ALL
COMING TO RACE. DO NOT WAIT if you would like more info. Once we get to 50 confirmed drivers we will not accept any more applications. If you would like more information please write to: 19 Apr - LAN Race in Georgia!
Newsbrief sent to us...
Setup Friday, Race all day Saturday and all day Sunday.
We are providing the trophies and Post race Banquet / Grill out.
How much does it cost? IT'S FREE
Where is at? Columbus, GA 90 miles south of Atlanta.
David McCall (RaggidyMan on TEN)
dmccall@utmb.edu 16 Apr - New Layouts
We're currently changing the layout of The Pits extensively, so if you find that some files are not where they're supposed to be, stand by. Once we're done, it should be much easier for us AND you to be able to navigate The Pits... 30 Mar - Rally Championship 99 Interview
Yes, take a good look at a GA Sports interview with Richard Vanner, of Europress, about Rally Championship 99. Hopefully, it will be as good as it looks...where's my Ford Focus??? .
30 Mar - Awards Left-Right and Center...
We garnered Inside Sim Racing's Site of the Month award for this month, THANKS GUYS! Inside Sim Racing, for those who've not been there, is a great online guide for people who are interested in being competative in online racing (NROS). We also got our banners now for all the Awards that we won with Sim-Racing.com's Awards Banquet...we're really proud of them, and thanks to everyone who helped us get there. Sim-Racing.com, for those who don't know, is no longer around, but most of the guys can be found doing their good work at Racing Design now.
27 Mar - Problems...
The survey on IWCCCARS is done, but we're having problems with it working correctly, we'll get it up as soon as we get it fixed.
27 Mar - Feedback from Image Space
I sent a comprehensive message about a week ago to Image Space, listing all the problems users had currently found with the demo. Check our brand new SCGT page for the full rundown, plus fixes for some of the problems.
27 Mar - EA Gets Slammed
Someone (who has asked that they remain anonymous) felt that people should know what EA's been doing with NASCAR Revulsion. Here are some excerpts from a post he sent to The Pits...
Here's my thoughts, and I'm sure not alone from the other posts at the
message board-
--We were purposely mislead with this game, as it was advertised as a
"hard-core simulation", and it isn't even close. Now EA is claiming they
never said that, stating that it is, and was meant to be, an arcade-type
racing game. I believe, however, the web site continues to make reference to NR being a simulation.
I've never seen an outcry like this one, and EA is just plain unresponsive and project an attitude of "we like it, so it's fine. Go away". I'm not sure what got me so up in arms over this, but I feel the people who forked out $50 for this bowser are being treated unfairly, and there is a feeling of dishonesty on EA's part in the whole thing. I don't think it's right of them to try to disregard issues brought up by dozens of knowledgable people. If they'd just admit they screwed up and offer refunds, or make any gesture of goodwill it would be different, but it doesn't look like that will happen.
If they would read the reviews(I've yet to see a positive one), and listen to the consumer, they'd have to admit they released a buggy, unfinished beta version of a game. Until they do that, it's my feeling that as many people as possible need to know of this debacle.
Scott Hayden Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Scarborough Maine, becomes the Nation's
first NASCAR sanctioned Motor Speedway to sponsor the sport of Online
Sim Racing. Beech Ridge Motor Speedway has recently announced that it
has become an associate sponsor of the National Invitational Series, a
NASCAR Online Racing Series user league. Beech Ridge Motor Speedway is New England's premier short track
speedway. The third-mile asphalt oval facility is renowned across the
nation as a leader in the short track racing field. With a talented pool
of nearly 150 weekly local drivers, combined with a first-rate staff and
an immaculate facility, Beech Ridge is rated frequently by visitors and
race industry professionals as one of the top five short tracks in the
United States. Beech Ridge is one of only 100 short tracks in the
country distinctive enough to earn NASCAR's sanctioning rights. Some of the northeast region's most notable NASCAR drivers have made
Beech Ridge part of their career development. NASCAR Busch Grand National
North drivers Kelly Moore, Dick McCabe, Robbie Crouch, Brad Leighton,
and Dave Dion are some of the top drivers that have used Beech Ridge as
a launch pad to further their careers. NASCAR Bush and Winston Cup
drivers/owners such as Joe Bessey, Steve Park, and Ricky Craven , have
all competed at Beech Ridge. Some of the northeast's most notable NROS sim racers
call Beech Ridge their home track. Jonathan Lockhart "...PDPI and ACT LABS Join Together to Create Major Advancement in PC Racing Controller Technology..."
February 24, 1999. Auto Racing will never be the same for the PC. The
combination of these two great products interfaced together through the new
RS PDPI cartridge with Voltage Feedftechnology represents the ultimate in
racing controllers. WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT? This new technology, dubbed Voltage Feed,
translates the standard "current feed" signals from the controller into a
low-impedance voltage format that is virtually impervious to any electrical
interference over the 24 feet or so of cabling that stretches from the game
port, through the wheel unit, to the pedal unit, and back again. THE RESULT? An absolutely unparalleled level of performance. Never in the history of the PC has there been an analog, digital or USB racing controller that even remotely approaches the excellence in speed and precision provided by this combination of products. PRICE? Hah! This high performance racing gear has been priced so that
everyone who races can afford to own one. Total suggested retail price is
US$179.95, which includes the award-winning ACT LABS RS Racing Systemf, the
RS PDPI L4 Racing Engine cartridgef and the ultra-high performance PDPI L4f
digital game card complete with all cabling. We apologize for any
inconvenience this product package may cause any hopeful competition. AVAILABILITY? The new gear may be obtained directly from PDPI or any of
PDPI's distributors beginning March 15, 1999. It is available piecemeal or
as a complete set as follows: ACT LABS PDPI RS Cartridge Only US$49.95 27 Mar - Notices..
Several people have sent me some press releases, and here they are...please note these press releases are from contributors, and The Pits has no affiliation with the companies involved.
Beech Ridge Motor Speedway Sponsors Online Sim Racing
PDPI and ACT LABS Have Teamed Up to Develop an Exciting New Technology for
Racing Sims.
ACT LABS RS Racing System with PDPI L4 Cartridge US$119.95
PDPI L4 Digital Game Card with J3/J4 Cable US$59.95
ACT LABS RS Racing System, PDPI RS Cartridge, and PDPI L4 US$179.95
24 Mar - Forgetful as ever...
Yes, as per usual, I forgot to mention something...IWCCCARS is also taking a survey, and one lucky person who does the survey will be the winner of a real Thompson Steering Wheel! Wow! So check it out on the IWCCCARS page...
24 Mar - News at 1M!
Well, folks, it's here! The Pits goes over 1,000,000! And boy, do we have a nice little celebration for ya!
First off, IWCCCARS has been going full tilt, and has plenty of the 1999 cars online for NASCAR...as well as a brand new touring page. It's got alot of the old stuff from TPTCC, but also some new items as well. AAAnnnd..not to mention, Sean has started the Monaco Grand Prix Racing page, and you can find it here.
We've got all the tallys in, and now our Hardware page with user ratings on steering wheels is up! And now, finally we present to you...without further adieu, The Pits 1,000,000 Celebration!
One last several bits of news, Matt's N2 Homepage has a new location...click to get there! And since we have no plans whatsoever to torture ourselves with NASCAR Revulsion, you can check out Games Domain's review...and you can read the tortuous experiences THEY had!
16 Mar - WOOOOHOOO!
Sports Car GT demo is finally out, and we've got it!! Check out our review of the demo (which, BTW, is very, very, good) and download the demo when you're done!
3 Mar - NASCAR III
Yes, sometimes we are better late than ever, and that would be...right now! If you haven't seen the NASCAR III screenshots that were shown in a demo at this year's Daytona 500, well here are a few to take a gander at, and it looks pretty good. Given that they will be using the GPL physics engine to run NASCAR III...yep, I'm ready for it!
As well, we'd like to recognize a few sites that have made Site of the Month, but we've been away or very busy and haven't been keeping track of them like we should. First off, don't forget Racing Point-of-View, which has a superb weekly racing commentary that you can check out and even get involved with, along with Robert Arosteguy's Top Driver's Challenge and the superb cockpits and utilities he does there, which made our Nov-Dec Sites of the Month. And now we have The Art of Legends, Matthew Knutsen's great site with alot of GPL patchwork for the tracks, KOTR's GPL page, Joe Lafrite's GPL site with great driver/car patches, and Summer Bros, which always has great NASCAR Racing carsets.
28 Feb - NASCAR Revulsion
Some people have asked our unmitigated opinion of NASCAR Revolution. Put it this way...you will see a review of TOCA 2, you will NOT see one for NASCAR Revolution. Quote from the NASCAR Revolution bulletin board. "We truly feel sorry that people are disappointed with the game as it is. We know that the most vocal people on any bulletin board are the hard core simulation fans and unfortunately we did not design the game to be a hard core simulation." 'Nuff Said.
3 MAY - Great Utility
Donald English emailed us to let us know he's got a utility posted that will total up your NROS points, and let you know how many points you need to gain another skill level. Makes it easy to decide how hard you need to try to win races. (HA, HA..on NROS, everyone wants to win at the end of lap 1) You can get it at Donald's NASCAR2 Page.
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Cheers!
Jan Kohl
Apr 1999
