Best Lap Ever?

[G'Kyl]

Since it doesn't concern only Wipeout games I decided to put this thread in here.

I am sure most everybody is constantly taking notice of the fact that when you finsih your first round on a new track in almost every racing game you get the fabulous "fastest lap!" message. And I am getting more and more annoyed by that. Simply because it's so silly. 'Yes, this has of COURSE been my best lap so far - might have something to do with the fact that I have never DRIVEN this course before.'
So OK, granted, it's no big deal and it's far from being a problem. But then is it really that difficult to change some value from 0 (=don't display message X) to 1 (=display...) when you start lap 2? I never understood why no programer or designer ever worked that out. ;)
Anyway, sorry to bother you, but I HAD to complain about this just once before I die. ;-) So there you are. *g*

Ben

[Roger]

How about "slowest lap" instead? :wink:

[Set]

I think a lot of games have strayed toward the better idea of spoken word announcements during a race rather than text popping up. Having both can somewhat defeat the purpose...
I know a few of my races of F-Zero GX were a bit stunted because of all the information being thrown at me after the lap break. If boost power is going to be granted at the start of every second lap of the race, I don't particularly need giant, green words obstructing my view of the far-off track to tell me so.
If I've noticed one other similarity between a lot of racing games, it's that this huge, booming voice always tells you the information (F-0 GX and WoF). This is one of the many reasons I love Wo3. 8)

[infoxicated]

heh!

This is frickin annoying in IndyCar Series 2005 - you leave the pits, complete one lap, and your spotter says "That was your best lap yet!"

Of course, after that lap, your tyres are warmed up... so you go faster again.... and he says it again. Your tyres will gradually reach optimum temperature over the next three or four laps, depending on the circuit, so he'll say it every frickin' time you cross the finish line unless you make a mistake. :brickwall

And during a race... he'll let you know if a car in front is a back-marker. Except that when you're leading the race every car is a back-marker. And he still says it... again.. .and again... and again. Over a 200 lap race this can get a little annoying, I can tell you.
:lol:

[G'Kyl]

AFAIR that's the same in the first ICS, isn't it. It really is an annoying feature, alright. ;) I can't help myself but mumble something like "yeah well, go figure, huh!" every time I cross the finish line and he tries cheering me up like that. *g*

[infoxicated]

I usually pretend I've asked him first - as in:

"So, mo-fo... how fast was that?!" and he'll say
"That was your best lap yet!"

Next lap I'll try spice it up a little, by asking:
"I'll bet you ten dollars I was faster that time around - so was I?"
"That was your best lap yet!"

Next lap...
"Man, your sister was hot last night... and your wife... wow, she must be addicted to oysters!"
"Come on buddy, we know you can do better than that!"

Granted, he only says that if you're within a few hundredths of your best lap, but it's always entertaining if you manage it... well, for me it is... :wink:

[Lance]

.
Roger, you are evil. :lol:
.

[Roger]

Thanks, Lance, we try our very best :wink:

Speaking of annoying, how about that guy in Ridge Racer type 4. Three or four times EVERY LAP he goes either "Sweet! You really flew through that section" or "My grandma drives faster than that. Get with the program!". How friggin' annoying is that? And keep your grandma out of my game, will ya! :x

[Task]

In a way, this is a "game design" problem. Games have this strange tendancy to ship in a "zero state", as in: all the high scores are zeroed.
For a racing game, that's totally ridiculous. Every single track has been raced dozens of times (time trials at the very least) before a single race happens. Tracks should come with race and lap records. And not just crappy records that Rogers grandma can beat, but actual records that the actual AI opponents have made during test runs. That way, when you set a record, it's actually an achievement. Because it's faster than any of the AI opponents have been able to do it.
Similarly, if an AI beats you around the track, their times should become the new best time. Sure, this might mean keeping track of "track records" and "personal records" (the personal ones would start out zeroed as is usual of course), but memory is cheap, and I think it would add a lot to the game.

Of course, that doesn't fix Foxies problem of an over-verbose announcer, but that's a different game design problem entirely.
Those announcers should have an on/off switch and a voice selector. End of story.

Uh, /rant I guess. :oops:

[lunar]

the commentator on F104 arcade mode has to be the most irritating ever. He only speaks in capital letters, every syllable bold, italic and underlined with a very generous helping of exclamation marks - so many that the original script must have looked like a few random letters peeping out of a forest.

"YOU CRASHED YOUR CAR!!!" - Judging by the hideous crunching sound, the sudden loss of forward motion and the cloud of smoke now trailing behind me, I realised, thankyou.

"COME ON!!!! YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT!!!!" .Yes I know but some twat just rammed me off at the corner, defying several of Newton`s Laws in the process.

"HEY!!! WATCH THE CAR!!!" sorry - is it yours?

"GREAT OVERTAKING MOVE!!!!" err no I actually just cheated by off-roading like Colin Macrae and skipped an entire corner just because I want to p*ss you off.

"YOU WRECKED YOUR CAR!!!!" Good.

fortunately I don`t play arcade mode, and the pit guy in simulation mode is classic.

[infoxicated]

Yes.

I have no idea why we have that guy on arcade mode... I thought it was meant to appeal to the US market or something, but since SCEA haven't picked up the game in a couple of years maybe that's not true.

Maybe it's the constipated guy from Wipeout Fusion, and he's on a retainer so we have to use him for something?! :lol:

[Thruster2097]

...What was I saying about shameless tie-ins?
:lol: :lol: :lol:

[UncleZeiv]

On the other hand, I never got tired of ssx's announcer singing "the only trick you ever knew" :D

[infoxicated]

:lol:

Yeah, that was kind of funny... the first 500 times... ;)