Reno Air Racing
Flight Simulation In Holding
Pattern
An Interview With
Software Developer Pat Hunt
(continued from
page one)
According to Hunt: "The
really fun part, it’s the
only flight sim that has ever
been made that engine management
is a big part of it. You
don’t just step on the gas
and go. For the Unlimited
airplanes, you might increase
your spray bar water and bring
down your BTU loads, or you might
use nitrous only on your last lap
so you don’t blow your
engine. If you do go full out,
like with 130 inches of manifold
pressure, you’ll go fast but
the game has it factored in.
There’s a chance that you
might blow it."
Hunt
elaborated on the Flight Sim
racer acting as his own mechanic:
"In addition to the flying,
to me it’s a really fun part
– you set up your airplane.
You pick your engine, the prop
diameter, the wingspan. And then
during the race, there’s a
lot of things that factor in
– there’s a lot of
variables. Now if you just want
to get in and race and have fun
you can do that. But there’s
the replay factor, for the guys
who really want to get into it,
it continues to be interesting
with all the variables within the
game."
Highlighting
the game's hands-on (interactive)
aspect, Hunt went on to say that
"It’s fun! Do you want
to go into high blower or low
during a race? How much nitrous
do you want to use? How much
water injection do you want to
use, or spray bar water (?)
– all of that is in there.
You can leave it on automatic,
but if you do it manual,
there’s a lot of stuff to be
thinking about...and as you fly
that thing –if you want to
come in at about 100 feet around
the pylons– you’ve got
to be watching it all the time
you’ve really got to be
focused, it’s
challenging."
The
last time we talked with Pat
about Reno Air Racing, there were
a number of airplanes within the
simulation that were modeled
after actual race planes. With
the agreement reached with
several new teams just prior to
Reno this year, we wondered if
–for instance– Critical
Mass had been modeled and would
be in the game?
Said
Hunt: "Oh yeah... it looks
just like it – Critical
Mass! Rare Bear, Dago Red, Miss
America... they’re all in
there.."
With
this much fun potentially on tap,
multi-player and even better
internet play would make this
simulation a fantastic addition
to the desktop.
Imagine
actually meeting up online with
Lyle Shelton or Tiger Destefani
– any of the guys who race
at Reno...
Hunt
: "Net play, multi player
yes – built in! Mattel
didn’t have a strategy for
an Internet racing site –
they only wanted an out of the
box net or IPX player capability.
But yes, whoever publishes it,
could generate a great deal of
interest with a net meeting
website for racing
multiplayer."
 "Another
thing we have," said Hunt,
"we’ve built a full
size replica of a P-51 cockpit
– the stick, the trim
console, all of it –
it’s so real [that] if you
look at it, it’s like:
‘Is that a real
cockpit?’ No.. it’s
ours. We’re going to use a
projection system for pilot views
and it could be mounted on a
motion system if you want. Our
plan is to get these into
locations where there are other
attractions, for instance: a
restaurant or bar setting. People
could actually race each
other."
We
asked Pat what kind of hardware
we would need to be running to
get a good frame rate from Reno
Air Racing?
"It
will require hardware
acceleration," said Hunt,
who added "I would recommend
a 3dfx card. We’re flying up
to 8 airplanes and the frame
rates are very good. Anything
open GL compliant will work well
with this. Compared to a lot of
current releases, the frame rate
is very good."
In
closing our conversation with Pat
Hunt, we asked him to sum up his
feelings – for example,
being so close to completion,
with something you have worked on
for so long, would have to be
terribly disappointing...
"It’s
a shame really," said Hunt,
who pondered: "I thought,
how can we help keep air racing
alive? This game would generate
interest world wide. There are a
lot of people interested,
it’s just a matter of making
it all come together. The
situation with The Learning Co.,
was not that the game was not
looking good, or they were not
happy with it; it was just an
economic decision after the sale
of the company."
For
those of use waiting for the
chance to race the pylons of our
imagination, while another
waiting period sits as an added
obstacle in front of us –
will we see this promising
release on our desktops soon?
I
guess Pat answered that in the
answer to the first question we
put to him: "Who
knows?"
 As fans
anxiously await further
developments, we are left to
wonder: what can we do to help
the process along?
That
is a good question...I know that
game producers keep their
"ear to the ground" by
watching newsgroup messages, as
well as reading e-mail messages
from the various producers'
websites on the Internet...
So
for now, let’s all keep our
fingers crossed; visit those
flight simulation newsgroups; (comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.flight-sim
for one) leave
messages stating our viewpoints
and desires; and write e-mail
messages to any simulation
producers we can think of...
Reno
Air Racing – The Simulation:
over for now.. but far from out!
By:
Wayne Sagar
Screen
shots and Reno Air Racing
graphic, ©2000 Mattel, Inc
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