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Is it possible to actually become good at Checkered Flag?


sirlynxalot

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With enough patience I think one could get the hang of it. I have managed to finish all the races in tournament mode and got a 2nd place score.

 

Yes, it IS possible to become good at the game. Sometime between '96 and '98 I spent a few hours one day, determined to play through the game and did. I drove using manual transmission (automatic will get too fast to control too quickly) and rarely went above 3rd gear. The slower speed helps to maintain control of the car and (up to a point) the enemy AI doesn't seem to care how fast you go... they adjust their speed accordingly. The better you race, the better they race; the worse you race, the worse they race (again, to a certain point).

 

The game does have an ending. I took pictures of it with my 35mm camera (long before the days of digital pictures). I kind of enjoyed the game -- I really wanted to like it. However, I've never made the effort to play through again, so that probably says it all.

 

Thanks, y'all. With all the snarky one-liners I was beginning to despair of getting an actual answer to my question! :D My limited experience with Checkered Flag hasn't been inspiring, but even if a game is bad I often enjoy mastering it (sometimes swearing under my breath the whole time, mind you).

 

Plus, I'm trying to treat the Jaguar a little differently from my other consoles: I want to beat at least some of the small library I have (~5 games) before getting any new ones.

 

So Checkered Flag, bad as it may be, is on that list. But if it didn't have an ending, I wouldn't bother with it, as I'm not usually interested in racing games where the only challenge/payoff is surpassing your own best times.

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  • 4 weeks later...

If you really want to have fun with Checkered Flag trying doing what I've done. Play free practice without drones in manual transmission. Stay in 1st gear through the whole race and the control will be perfect and you won't spin out. If you try this in tournament mode you won't win any races but in free practice its pretty fun. It was great seeing all the tracks again and not spinning out and crashing constantly. Once you go into 2nd gear the control issues come back. I've found this is the only way for me to have fun in the game.

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I just played this game for the first time in about a year or two last night. The last time I played it was for the Jaguar HSC, which I won, because I was really good at this game at that point. But I wasn't nearly as good last night, I've lost my touch with it. I know I could get good again, but after three tracks I had my fill. The problem is that when you do get good at controlling it (at the full 200 mph), you realize that the A.I. sucks. the other cars are set to race at various speeds, not sure if it's permanent or if each track the program picks the tops speeds for each car, but they just race around the track as if they are the only car on it, ramming into the back of each other and you (if you are not going fast enough). I've always loved this games graphics, and the tracks layouts are good, and the music really rocks, but I always end up wishing it controlled like WTR and the A.I. was as good as WTR. I also like the look of WTR's cars better. If those three elements from WTR were in CF, it would be an awesome racing game. But alas, it is not too be.

 

It is amazing at the sense of speed you do get from CF, considering the frame rate isn't even as good as WTR's, I think they just skipped more and more frames as you go faster in CF to create the sense of speed though.

 

But I just can't bring myself to play it long enough to get good at it again due to the lousy A.I. At least it's a real race with WTR and there is excitement racing against the other cars. So back to the shelf it goes...maybe in another year or two I'll play it again just to enjoy the scenery and music.

 

But for the best experience with CF, put the camera in the farthest away view you can, pick the FOG effect as the draw distance is shorter, and just race with a couple of other cars. This will improve the frame rate and does make the game easier to control and a bit more fun. Or like LianneJaguar64 suggested, just do the time trials without other cars and try and get the best time for fun. You don't have to leave it in one gear though, pick automatic transmission and then accelerate just until you feel you are at a comfortable speed, try about 100-120 mph and hold the cruise control button (you don't have to hold the accelerator anymore once you hold the cruise control, unless you crash) and you will control the car much better. You can beat the fastest A.I. cars if you just get up to about 140, with the cruise control and don't crash. You don't have to go balls out at 200 mph.

Edited by Gunstar
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My remarks were sarcastic, I'm pretty sure I prefer Forza 6 right now, before that the whole GT series on the various Playstations.

If I need my fill of polygon formula racing, Virtua Racing on 32X is much more enjoyable (heck VR on MD is better imho).

 

So, no I won't be playing it anytime soon, I have no desire to find any redeeming qualities in CF especially not to the detriment of better games I already have around the house that deserve to be played much more than CF.

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My remarks were sarcastic, I'm pretty sure I prefer Forza 6 right now, before that the whole GT series on the various Playstations.

If I need my fill of polygon formula racing, Virtua Racing on 32X is much more enjoyable (heck VR on MD is better imho).

 

So, no I won't be playing it anytime soon, I have no desire to find any redeeming qualities in CF especially not to the detriment of better games I already have around the house that deserve to be played much more than CF.

If you are replying to my post, I wasn't referring to your posts, but to LynxJagLunatic and LianneJaguar64, so I really don't care if you were being sarcastic or not. But I certainly find no problem with you avoiding it all together and understand.

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You guys know I patched the controls, right?

Yes, and I thank you for the effort. Now if you could just patch up the A.I. so that some actual racing can be had, it would be worth it to keep it on my skunkboard to play instead of popping in the unpatched cart so I don't have to put unneeded wear and tear on my skunkboard constantly changing out one or two games.

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Yes, and I thank you for the effort. Now if you could just patch up the A.I. so that some actual racing can be had, it would be worth it to keep it on my skunkboard to play instead of popping in the unpatched cart so I don't have to put unneeded wear and tear on my skunkboard constantly changing out one or two games.

 

No it wouldn't - it'd still be shit slow and horrible.

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No it wouldn't - it'd still be shit slow and horrible.

Shit slow and horrible racing is still racing. As it is the A.I. cars don't actually race, they just drive around the track at set top speeds and rear-end you and the other A.I., that's it.

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The patched version is a staple in my Skunkboard and while I too will always appreciate and encourage further improvements (not at the expense of games like Rebooteroids mind you), I'm good with calling the game what it really is: an impressive tech demo designed to show off the potential capabilities of the Jaguar, and moving on. :)

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the game got pros and cons ;-)

sadly there are cons that make the game .. lets say.. bad

and that is as you guys correctly recognized controlls, AI, and a little the framerate :_(

 

now you ask for the pros?

i think the sound (music), visuals and presentation are not that bad.. i like them.. kind of british :-D

 

i personaly prefer those more than VRacings japanese look and feel

but the VRgameplay itselfe is of course far better

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Only on a Jaguar forum would someone recommend playing a racing game and never leaving first gear so that the game is "playable." Honestly, why are people spending so much time trying to squeeze some fun out of what is ultimately a terrible game? Play something that's actually designed well instead.

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I think I'm going to create a thread to determine who is the best at the game as determined by fastest laptime on a particular course. Maybe we can get a sense how mucha variance in time might be in terms of play on an emulator versus the console and stock version versus steering modified version and catalogue other strategies such as staying ina particular gear, to see which gets you the fastest time on the particular track. In fact maybe I'll do a statistical analysis with information provided to me via pm and I can do a breakdown of how the different gameplay strategies and difference in steering impact a faster versus slower time, and announce the top 3 fastest and what appears to be the optimal strategy. In fact maybe o should just write a PhD on checkered flag. (Totally going to solicit times for the analysis now though when I'm not on my phone.(

Edited by sirlynxalot
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I think I'm going to create a thread to determine who is the best at the game as determined by fastest laptime on a particular course. Maybe we can get a sense how mucha variance in time might be in terms of play on an emulator versus the console and stock version versus steering modified version and catalogue other strategies such as staying ina particular gear, to see which gets you the fastest time on the particular track. In fact maybe I'll do a statistical analysis with information provided to me via pm and I can do a breakdown of how the different gameplay strategies and difference in steering impact a faster versus slower time, and announce the top 3 fastest and what appears to be the optimal strategy. In fact maybe o should just write a PhD on checkered flag. (Totally going to solicit times for the analysis now though when I'm not on my phone.(

I volunteer as tribute to play the stock version (STOCK version... Ahh bad race car puns 'D)... Shall I try each course for 10 laps and see what my best time is? Seems the best way to me :) crashing will ruin a lap and probably the next after so seems fair...

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I'll have to pop in checkered flag tonight to see what methodology is best for the study. If it records individual laptimes rather than one time for the entire race, then I think that would be best because people don't have to play the game for so long and would be more inclined to contribute. The more contributions I get, the more evidence we can draw conclusions from.

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Honestly, why are people spending so much time trying to squeeze some fun out of what is ultimately a terrible game?

probably for the same reason you spend so much time posting replies in threads about games you think people are morons wasting their time playing. So ask yourself why you waste your time reading threads about games you think have no redeeming qualities and replying to them dis'n people who play them and you will have your answer. Edited by Gunstar
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