So, for the case, if you goes to continue series, I want to tell advise for you, guys. I'm played a lot with WR2 and WR1, may to say, I was even fan. Cobra11 liked, too, but not so great... it has a range of strange specialities. They all well known, and even here, in Russia, reviewers mentions it very good. One problem is that you so slow fixes sometimes those obvious defects and sometimes even returns to previously fixed errors. Last game is... eatable, mainly for city with its topology and instant challenges. Night for the end looks quite good, but with day there are problems, you know... in demo it was furiously, then - alittle better, but for future this aquarium with muddy water and cartoon buildings... may be, previous game with great light effects and deep relief objects is better foundation. But I want to say one, main. Do you know, that your game has WORST EVER DRIVING ENGINE for last at least 4 years? We played WR2 and even1... there it looked not so furiously, but now... its impossible! Like your car simply attached to somewhat rubber plait, no sence of wheels, no any drifting, power slide effects, and in the ends of all - idiotic special effects with car no-reason rotating and so on. Really, those race events, which you included into last game, are incredibly bad, worst ever, disgusting. Its a real idiotism... remember, that your game is firstly driving! On our forums, trying to say a good word about your games, I allways hear "with such driving?". Look at such hybrid project as Driver Parallel lines with exellent street race events, and even Wheelman, which does not support wheel device, but has so great drift effects, that exceed all your achievments (so, just force feedback is one of most bad elements in your system). ANY modern game is ten times better in driving, then yours, and my advise is so: completely remove mentioned system, create new, may be, not like as in Shift or GTR, but... eatable! NEVER AGAIN THIS SHIT, which you force us to eat, throw it out to rubbish. Its, I repeat, main element of game, and now it destroys all good, what you produces. Make it good - and you'll recieve glory and money, really. Otherwise, it really better NOT to continue.

I don't believe you are from Moscow, cos Russian race-sims are worse by times !!

Synetic racing engine is best in WR2, Cobra's are quite arcade, thats true. But you got to take into account AFC11 target audience

Those russian sims worse in many aspects, but even some of them are better... they made by somewhat brute way, hack-work, synetic engine, in the same time, made with some quality standarts, but its principically bad, its unnatural, ugly, stupid in its idea. And its really kills Synetic games. The way for futher development of series is one: create new engine. Great succes of shift, not so good game in many aspects, - this great succes shows: players dont want "arcade" regimes, they like realistic driving. Its absolutly clear.

And what is "AFC11 target audience"?..

Casual gamer, not hardcore. The entire Cobra11 franchise is a mid price non-sim racing game, arcade style. Don't compare it to WR2 or MBWR.

I agree: it's a big fault that you cannot eat Synetic's games...

I said not about lack of "hardcore". Problem is not that driving in Synetic games are too simple. No, this driving engine is first of all generally unnatural, annoying, sometimes idiotic. In WR its advanced mode, really, may be interesting for hardcore gaming, but just in latest arcades all its defects becames especially unbearable. Players dont wants simple driving, they wants natural. I dont compared these AFC11 with WR, I said about such games as Wheelman and Driver4. Arcade, you sais? Please, take NFS Hot Pursuit 2 (2002). Is it sim? hardcore? - no, but I can say, that its driving system much better, more natural, then Synetics engine. And some later NFS games - not briliiant, but better... and now NFS Shift. All these "casual" gamers, played before only with arcades, squeal in ecstasy: they like natural physics! Dont try to invent "target audience", its fiction. You deceives yourselves, guys. The large community of racing gamers does exist, they all knows about your games, and they refuse it for the reason I mentioned here. Fix problem - and they will be yours, no problem. Because enviroment is good...
And, then, if AFC11 is arcade, why we see so many race-track events in last game version? For what it needed - at least strange...

Sounds like you are a representer of the Need for Speed franchise.

Of course, the AFC games are arcade games and the driving physics isn't realistic, but what you tell here is not understandable. The main audience doesn't expect a game which is, as you call it, natural. And the success of the late AFC games is a proof for the right way of handling in those games.
And please don't say Shift has a natural handling. It is the same unrealistic as in many other arcade games and Shift is also far away from a real simulation.


Bis denne, Han Solo

I did played NFS-HP2 this weekend - I can't say it's a sim at all

I dont like NFS latest games, I dont like, particulary, Shift. I sweared a lot af EA forum, proving there, that at least in graphics (and, of course, general gameplay) Grid is mush better, than shift. But I cannot say it about shift's driving system. Its more realistic, and compareable with GTR. A propos, seems, I remember you well, I met you in Grid, where I played a lot as Ivanushka, (made over 1500 wins in half-year). So, Grid physics is quite good for such game as Cobra, and very strange to see here professional lap races with SUCH furious driving . I repeat, I prefer practically any modern game engine, which are usually free from that unnatural stress, somewhat perversion, which we sence in Synetic system. Just now I played TDU... after that its simply nasty to think about return to this german nice city. Why not to try imitate such exellent engine? Why not to try work-out somewhat for TDU's "target audience"? Time for it is comed! Because its NOT success, that, what reached by Cobra. May be, in Germany, but over the world... difficult to compare with success of real German cars, true. A propos, I remember, how I, playing with pleasure MBWR, decieded , in the same time, at instinctive level, that I'll never buy German car... although understanded very well, that real mercedes not quite good represented there... No, its time to end with that all, time to make really good game!

And two additional words. About map (mini-map). In your games road (street) width often seems to be practically larger then length. It produce illusion, that needed turn is far, but really its closely, and you lose it - have to go back. Its a really annoying problem. Please, look, how this problem solved in Test Drive Unlimited (no-width lines) and especially Driver Parallel Lines with dynamic-scale (speed-dependent) map. Its possibility for improving your game, too.