Stratos in a rally game

[andybee]

You may remember a while back I asked for some images of various rally Strati (is that the plural?)

Now I can tell you why! as some may know, I work for Electronic Arts and we will shortly be launching a rally arcade game for the PS2 (and later Gamecube). Its very much an arcade game (like Sega Rally rather than a sim like WRC or Colin McRae)

We are fortunate to have a Lancia Stratos in-game. Unfortunately due to licenceing issues, we were unable to use the full Alitalia livery but we've managed to create a hybrid with the Stratos logo used instead of Alitalia. Its the same in all other respects.

I'll try and get a screenshot organised over the next few days, but just wanted to say a quick thank you for your help in invstigating other alternative liveries.

There are 24 cars ingame including some other Lancias (037, Delta Int), older cars like the Hannu MikkolaMk 2 Escort and a mini with a very similar livery to my own! and some group B and modern cars.

in the meantime their is a little bit of speel on this site. http://www.ea.com/easportsbig/articles/shox.jsp


Once again, thank you very much, look out in the credits - there's a plug for the stratossupersite!

oh yes, if anyone is going to see David and Gary competing in the Spotted Dick & Custard stages on Sunday at longcross, then keep an eye out for the Union Jack Mini. That will be me! Car 78

andy

[andybee]

found one on the net...

[David May]

Not a bad representation - here's what one really looks like on ice...

[Stratos]

Originally posted by andybee
Once again, thank you very much, look out in the credits - there's a plug for the stratossupersite!

oh yes, if anyone is going to see David and Gary competing in the Spotted Dick & Custard stages on Sunday at longcross, then keep an eye out for the Union Jack Mini. That will be me! Car 78

andy

Andy,

The image looks good. Pleased you managed to get sorted in the end.

Looking forward to the rally at Longcross this weekend. Hopefully we'll see you there.

Oh, and thanks for the plug for the website.

[omicron]

Interesting.

For those who play Gran Turismo II on the Playstation, we lent Sony our Stratos for sound and graphic sampling at Donington.

Andrew

[JohnB_SPY8808053]

That's just too keen! I stopped trying to win the game after I got the Stratos and just drove it for fun there-after. :D I wish they hadn't cut it out of GT3 at the last minute though. :mad: Maybe they'll add it into GT4 though.

John B.

[andybee]

I understand that it will be in GT4

The sounds for our game were taken by one of our audio guys at the Abingdon sprint, which included David

[rutthenut]

I thought I'd mentioned this software before, but couldn't find an earlier post on the topic.

Anyway, there is some simulation software called 'racer', written by Ruud van Gaal and available for free from www.racer.nl

This particular software uses a physics model to try and replicate the correct vehicle responses when driving on the track. This is controlled by a large number of parameters defined for the chosen car, including weight, C of G, wheelbase, length, weight distribution, wheel size, gear and diff ratios, power output, torque curves, suspension sizes, spring rates, kinetic energy of flywheel and engine drag - you name it, then it's probably in there.

Where this get interesting is that you can not only change the settings in the car config file, but you can create your own cars. This takes some level of skill in a 3D modelling program, so not something I feel that I can do - but plenty other people can, and do. Similarly, it is possible to defined your own tracks too.

The web site www.racer-xtreme.com has links to many different track and car downloads. Of these, some enterprising soul out there has created a Stratos Stradale car model for use in Racer, as well as a Marlboro version of the same car. This is at www.kcendra.com/racerbolide and looks really neat.

If you download this car model, you can change the power, suspension and gearing to match your replica (if you have one), or try it out with an additional hundred horsepower to see how it behaves. You can also have a go at changing the graphics to use your own colour scheme for fun.

There are plenty of other cars available, especially the 4wd and WRC type cars - including Integrale, Subaru and Mitsubishi Evo models. For the Mini fans out there, that's available too...

Thought I'd share an update on this particular software, now that the Stratos is available to try out (and tweak), all for free.

[rutthenut]

Here's a screenshot of the Marlboro-liveried Stratos going into the first corner at Mallory Park

[rutthenut]

And here's what happens if you go for reverse gear when part way around Gerrards! :D

[rutthenut]

Here's a screenshot with the downloaded car model having a few mods for my own colour scheme (more work required on that, I'd say!).

Flooring it at the Mallory hairpin, car set up with no lsd...

[lpriestland]

Nice one John, I can see that I'm not going to get much work done today...

[rutthenut]

I understand that it will be in GT4

From another forum, there are apparently 500 cars in the next version of Gran Turismo. Don't know how many of them are in the 'preview' version available now, but the Lancia list is supposedly as follows:

Lancia (7)

1. Lancia 037 Rally Evo 2 Rally Car 83
2. Lancia Beta Monte Carlo Race Car 81
3. Lancia Carcerano Gran Turismo Concept 02
4. Lancia Delta S4 Rally Car 85
5. Lancia Stratos 72
6. Lancia Stratos Rally Car
7. Lancia Thema 8.32

More info at http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2836&page=1&pp=15

Cheers all,
J.R.


PS - I've got Shox, purely on the basis of seeing the comments in here...

[rutthenut]

Those of you with the PS2 will probably already be aware, but the long-awaited (i.e. late/overdue) GT4 'race simulator' is now available.

Hundreds of cars, plenty of tracks (including Nurburgring).

Bump available here.
http://www.granturismoworld.com/gtw.php?jumpTo=en_GB

TV adverts also out for the game now. Guess you can buy it almost anywhere that stocks PS2 games.

Think I'll concentrate on the real thing for now though...

[JohnB_SPY8808053]

Here are some pics of the Stratos in GT4 for ya to drool over. I haven't unlocked it yet but the game is very good so far.

John B.

[rutthenut]

Cheap price, if anyone wants to try it out on their Playstation:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=11055&item=8182694472&rd=1

[rutthenut]

Haven't tried this version myself, but the following page claims to provide a trial download of the 'Colin McRae' rally game for Windows PCs

http://www.game-revolution.com/download/pc/racing/colin_mcrae_rally_2005.htm

This should include the 205, GT-Four and Stratos cars, so must be worth looking at...

[rutthenut]

Review of 'Rally Trophy' game for the PC.

http://www.computergames.org.uk/rallytrophy.html

Includes Stratos, Escort RS, Lotus Cortina, Mini Cooper, Volvo Amazon, Fiat Abarth, Lancia Fulvia, Opel Kadett, Renault Alpine - reads like the entry list for the Historic section of the New Boucles de Francorchamps rally :)


The following site has links for software downloads of this game (don't know if they work or not though).
http://gr.bolt.com/oldsite/download/pc/racing/rally_trophy.htm

[rutthenut]

Some pictures here, which I guess are from 'Butch', who has done some 3D rendered images for Racer and other PC software:

http://hvs.free.fr/Lancia/

[Andy S]

Anyone know what you have to do to un-luck the Strat on GT4? Recon it will be a right handfull round the Ring!

[rutthenut]

This page apparently lists what you need to do within the game:

http://www.gw2k.co.uk/Ps2-Cheats/GT4-Cheats.php

But no actual 'cheats' as indicated in the page name :(


Another site that has two pages of similar info, and minor strategy, at
http://vgstrategies.about.com/od/ps2cheatscodesg/a/granturismo4.htm
http://vgstrategies.about.com/od/ps2cheatscodesg/a/granturismo4_2.htm

You could always try buying a loaded-up memory card, such as
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Gran-Turismo-4-Cheat-UNLOCK-ALL-CARS-GT4-Memory-Card_W0QQitemZ8230695687QQcategoryZ11323QQcmdZView Item

That is, if Mr Turton doesn't want to provide copies...

There are also 'eBooks' that claim to give extra info - for a price - but I bet they are the same as on these sites.

If you do find a shortcut to enabled the Stratos, do let me/us know.