The online racing simulator
Virtual RC Racing Pro released 1 Sept 2011
(91 posts, started )
Quote from jtw62074 :Good point. I can see where you're coming from.

Do you think people would pay to beta test? Would that be even worse than charging for a demo?

Don't think it's worse, demo is for the taste of the product. For instance people might never know what they've missed if refused from demo because of money, that's throwing away most of your future customers. If the taste is good people are willing to contribute on the game including beta.
I meant beta testing as in 'before there's a release or demo you need beta testing.' Would people pay for that?
Quote from jtw62074 :I meant beta testing as in 'before there's a release or demo you need beta testing.' Would people pay for that?

Some might, not everyone in this world will find anything expensive as long as it is a "hobby".

TBH I had my RC controller sitting here, but decided to not even try the demo. Can I afford 5 euro? Of course, but when I look at the page all I see is "excessive spending needed". Stuff like that doesn't float my boat, and probably many others aswell.
Netkar's not in what I would call beta testing if that's what you mean. It's released and being sold.
Quote from jtw62074 :I meant beta testing as in 'before there's a release or demo you need beta testing.' Would people pay for that?

Honestly? I do not know... In my mind they equal pretty much the same, perhaps expression "beta tester" adds a bit of spice and hope for some exclusive content on the way.
we all paid for LFS which, until recently has been alpha
Yep, clearly the same thing.
In all seriousness you should pay us to Beta test for you, we (the consumer) are the ones that will play it and continue to play it ect. For us to pay for the privilege to test a a un completed game seems a bit odd.
And a beta test is meant to work out all the final kinks for the finished game, stress testing random bugs ect.
So your options are to either pay us to Beta test for you or let us do it for you for free and see what the games like before everyone else.
As for the demo since its a demonstration of what the final game offers same deal its free....Atleast thats what i think.

I like the idea of the game but how do we view the game? From the control point from behind the car? How to we see it and control it?
Quote from jtw62074 :Netkar's not in what I would call beta testing if that's what you mean. It's released and being sold.

Beta testing isn't anymore what it used to be. All kinds of products are being released and later being revised or recalled.

Or just left as an abandoned product after some sort of release. Mobile phone division is the best example.

But clearly people are willing to pay for unfinished products. NetKar was/is even sold/released when you couldn't even admin the server, like for example kicking or banning (don't know current situation, didn't bother to look again). It's an example of an unfinished product, hence the beta flag which it currently still is holding.

I could test the demo for free.. Discovered it wasn't for me.. Didn't have to scream that I was ripped off. Everybody happy.
For those that were put off by the paid demo (lots of people): We've eliminated this and put in a free 30 day trial, so give it a go if you're into RC at all and have a proper controller. Don't expect to play it with the keyboard

https://www.vrcworld.com/
Quote from jtw62074 :For those that were put off by the paid demo (lots of people): We've eliminated this and put in a free 30 day trial, so give it a go if you're into RC at all and have a proper controller. Don't expect to play it with the keyboard

https://www.vrcworld.com/

Would a wheel work? =P
Not very well.
Probably cheaper to just download and arcade emulator and find a version Super Sprint.
Sure. And those that want to play LFS can play Pole Position instead. To each his own
Bought it for a year + an USB adapter and it feels pretty good. Been racing some with Magnus (turbofreak) and my brother who also bought it :-P

Yes, its expensive, but I assume its great for practising. I used to do a lot of RC back in the days, and I quite like this sim :-) Havent got the time to play it lately though.
so it supports standard joystick inputs? gotta try it with a transmitted hooked up to our wireless trainer va ppm receiver setup some time then
although i kinda fail to see the appeal of using rc sims for anything other than stuff thats really hard to learn
It supports standard joystick controllers so it might work with anything you want it to (no guarantee though). My G25 shows up in the controller options like you'd expect in other sims, but I wouldn't dream of trying to drive VRC with a regular racing wheel. Typical lapping is going full steering lock one way to full steering lock the other in a fraction of a second over and over. In 2000 when I first got involved on the project I used a regular joystick for awhile and it wasn't half bad. I played LFS with a joystick for a long time too along with GPL and Indycar Racing II.

The keyboard input algorithm in VRC Pro is lousy for our particular application. It has some ramping delay stuff in it that makes it undrivable even if you're just trying to putter around the track at 2kph. In the first VRC we did back in 2004, pressing a key resulted in full steering/throttle/brake immediately. You could tune the limits and with a reasonably good car setup it wasn't half bad. I recall one guy setting a track record with the keyboard. Now though a keyboard is no good.

I think I recall somebody in our forums whose son is using a gamepad to run Pro, but I might be mistaken on that one. With that it'd at least be like a regular 2 stick controller.

A big appeal of VRC to a lot of people is that they can go racing any time they want on tracks around the world in cars they might not own. Much the same as LFS or other sims in that regard. Some of the RC cars we simulate are thousands of dollars in reality. I recall at the 1:8 scale World Championships in Cincinnatti in 2002 being told by the Serpent engineers that their fully prepped cars, engines, etc., cost around $3000, and the $800 engines (at the time) would last something like 10 hours before blowing up in a way that wasn't repairable. When they travel across the globe to do a weekend event they would bring a whole stash of engines with them. So it can be an expensive hobby. (I also remember somebody stealing a bag of their engines from their trailer which would have put them out of the competition had somebody not loaned them their spare engines. Even RC competition can be vicious at the top levels. )

The vast majority of VRC players race RC in reality. We don't generally pick up the casual gamer types out looking for something new. Had I not been hanging around the LFS forums for almost as long as I've been involved in VRC, I wouldn't have bothered posting something here about it. I just remember that there were a few RC guys around here that wanted me to come back and say something when the new version was done, so here I am.
good my trainer port to usb adapter that i use for rc flight sims is recognized as a standard joystick
considering that no pistol transmitter ive ever seen comes with a trainer port ill have to try and see if it actually works with a receiver that has a ppm output (it should considering weve already used it a lot as a wireless trainer cable)

also what you say might be true at the absolute top level of competition but realistically you can pick up an old vector chassis from ebay for around 100€ put in some cheapish gear and youll have just as much fun
in fact thats pretty much exactly what we did a couple of weeks ago when we brought 3 vectors into full driving condition in one weekend (2 electric one nitro)
What's a trainer port? Is that the power supply thing so you can run it without batteries?

Is the usb adaptor you're using something like ours that lets you use your real radio?

If you like Pro and get into it, by far the best way to use it is with one of these adaptors and your real radio. I use our plastic USB controller which isn't nearly as good. Resolution is a lot lower and it's prone to get the jitters. The USB adaptor makes it feel significantly better.

Vectors are so '90's I've got a brochure sitting here from that car. It was one of the first things Pieter sent me probably in 2000 or early 2001.
Quote from jtw62074 :What's a trainer port?

its a port that passes the ppm signal that would normally go into the rf hardware out of the transmitter
its extremely common on flight radios and is meant for hooking up 2 transmitters so that the master can switch between having full control over the plane himself and handing some control functions over to the slave radio so that someone whos new to rc flying can fly safely with a more experienced flyer who can take over any time the plane is going to crash

Quote :Is the usb adaptor you're using something like ours that lets you use your real radio?

yeah

Quote :Vectors are so '90's I've got a brochure sitting here from that car. It was one of the first things Pieter sent me probably in 2000 or early 2001.

looking at the 966 other than the chassis braces round the engine (which presumably wouldnt fit with the rather large electric motor we use anyway) and the lower sitting steering servo (one of the cars we readied was a vector nt so that doesnt have that particular "problem" either) i dont really see anything that would make the car go significantly faster
1:8 onroad development has been entirely stagnant at least since the excel and propbably even longer than that
Quote from jtw62074 :The vast majority of VRC players race RC in reality. We don't generally pick up the casual gamer types out looking for something new.

I think this is what a lot of people don't understand. I see a lot of comments such as "it's too expensive for me, therefore it's too expensive/stupid/whatever" when in reality it's totally fine that it's too expensive for them, but they are just not in the target market
Funny, that's a track near me where I actually drive.
What track are you referring to? It must be very similar to the one in the video. This one is actually our own design by Pieter Bervoets, founder of Serpent (modeled by Tony West). It's one of a handful of the fantasy tracks we have. He's hoping to build it in reality in Haarlem, NL, for the world championships if I'm not mistaken. This may be a track going from a sim to the real world instead of the other way around for once

I'll tell Pieter what you wrote. He'll get a kick out of that

Virtual RC Racing Pro released 1 Sept 2011
(91 posts, started )
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