Interesting.. why would anyone buy cars for a sim that is utterly broken?
It is like selling boats in the desert.. (Jack Sparrow did actually manage
to maneuver The Black Perl in
Davy Jones' Locker - a desertlike and
desolate place - by the aid of crabs that emulated stones).
Yo ho, yo ho, the pirate life,
The flag o' skull and bones,
A merry hour, a hempen rope,
And hey for Davy Jones.
—J. M. Barrie
But seriously.. did Racer die? Or is it just sleeping? Are we
waiting for
Godot or is there still hope?
Racer didn't die, everyone just got bored of actually releasing content, but being happy to perpetually show screenshots of it ad infinitum!
I know the old Gallardo isn't the best car out there for lots of reasons but it shows a car can look ok, drive ok, sound ok, have some fun config options, and actually be updated/released for people to enjoy.
We can all work together to make Racer better even if Ruud isn't around. 80% of Racer's problems are content based. Ie, we don't have much.
I think if tomorrow Ruud came on here and saw 100 amazing cars and 10 amazing tracks that looked as good as Forza or GT6 and we were all banging the drum for better AI or better multiplayer he'd probably find his passion for Free Racer again and put some time in from his free time to make it better.
It is sad that Racer has kinda stopped but in my view that is only the faults of everyone involved. We've all let it slow down and come to a crawl, Ruud included...
That is easily forgiveable, we all lead real lives and things. Free Racer has just fallen down the list of our hobbies/passions over time so we do less with it.
You could also argue that all the conversions that *can't* be released here, but have screenshots here, don't do us much good. People come here and see screenshots of private work they can't get... what good is that?
The only way to push it back up the list so we WANT to sit down on an evening after work to do some car modelling or texturing, or sound editing, or whatever else, is to make us feel that it's worthwhile and will be enjoyed.
So my 2p. Someone start a *non* conversion screenshot thread. Run it for a week.
It has to be done in RC5. The car and track need to be able to be downloadable from this forum with a refreshed release thread making it clear that the content has been updated (at least graphically)
This will probably mean old cars updated but so be it, there are LOADS of amazing old cars that can be updated.
Let it run for a month and I'll throw in a £20 as a prize for the best one.
No photoshop work, only F12 in Racer and resizing allowed. Feel free to use the tone-mapping in Racer, or wacky TOD curves. Whatever, just make amazing car artwork that others can download here!
I might try add my own entry and if I come first, then the money can go to 2nd place
Money shouldn't be a motivator but hey. Lets see what happens!
Dave