I've tried yesterday the "crazy game", it's just a bunch of crap... unplayable, uninteresting, uninstalled after the first trial...
As some people said on the forum, Tacx should first solve some bugs and try to improve its OEM Fortius software before releasing such an useless thing.
Velodrome is simple but nice. Too bad you've got to buy it... I think it should be supplied with the three terrains you've got when you buy the Fortius.
Atlantis is the more interesting terrain of the three supplied with the Fortius. It's the largest, with many possible variations (if you have the steering frame).
You can even go a little bit offroad, on the grass and the sand, on the railroad (strange...), but not through the woods... so you MTB adventures will be quickly limited to the vicinity of the roads...
dimanche 23 décembre 2007
samedi 22 décembre 2007
The Fortius potentialities
Besides the several drawbacks and caveats described in this blog, the Fortius is a fantastic toy at an affordable price.
The Fortius limitations
Yes, although the possibilities offered by the Fotius are numerous... it's got some limitations...
First, if you live in the USA, you can't go faster than 26mph (42kmh), the motorbrake is limited because of the limitations linked to the 110v supply.
If you want to go faster, you must equip a room in your home with a 220v supply, and buy an european version of the TACX (with a 220v power supply).
With my Fortius, in Europe, pedaling on a 53X12 at 104 rpm, I've been able to go over 58kmh downhill, which is about all the speed I could have reached in real life.
If you try to climb a slope over 15%, the tire gets slippery (although I'm using the Tacx "trainer's special" tyre) and it becomes quickly very unpleasant to pedal with a choppy motion. For the moment, I think this is a probleme linked to the RLV, I've tried steeper slopes on VR, and it didn't feel slippery till 20%. More on this later...
At least, when you go on the Computrainer website, they warn people that their device is limited to 15% slopes... I think this is a limit that will never be overcome, as it is linked to the conception of those trainers : a 20mm tire, past a certain applied power , will never have a grip sufficient enough to sustain that same power. I'll try a larger tire...and will tell you about it later...
You can't repeat a short ride right away.
Let's say you've done a 250m sprint on the Velodrome course, and you want to do it right away after a 30" rest, you must record the sprint you've juste done, then go back to the starting panel, then choose that run again, then wait for the PC to load it, then start again... it took around 2 min...
So, if you wan't to do intervals with Fortius, you'd better plan them before...
You can't record the video of your run, this is a thing you can do with some online car racing video games, you can't do that and watch your races with friends.
You can't use the terrains made for the Imagic (Capricorn and Sipscape)... although you can use the terrain made for the Fortius with the Imagic... It's a bit like buying the latest japanese car, and having less options in it than in your 5 years old Chevy.
First, if you live in the USA, you can't go faster than 26mph (42kmh), the motorbrake is limited because of the limitations linked to the 110v supply.
If you want to go faster, you must equip a room in your home with a 220v supply, and buy an european version of the TACX (with a 220v power supply).
With my Fortius, in Europe, pedaling on a 53X12 at 104 rpm, I've been able to go over 58kmh downhill, which is about all the speed I could have reached in real life.
If you try to climb a slope over 15%, the tire gets slippery (although I'm using the Tacx "trainer's special" tyre) and it becomes quickly very unpleasant to pedal with a choppy motion. For the moment, I think this is a probleme linked to the RLV, I've tried steeper slopes on VR, and it didn't feel slippery till 20%. More on this later...
At least, when you go on the Computrainer website, they warn people that their device is limited to 15% slopes... I think this is a limit that will never be overcome, as it is linked to the conception of those trainers : a 20mm tire, past a certain applied power , will never have a grip sufficient enough to sustain that same power. I'll try a larger tire...and will tell you about it later...
You can't repeat a short ride right away.
Let's say you've done a 250m sprint on the Velodrome course, and you want to do it right away after a 30" rest, you must record the sprint you've juste done, then go back to the starting panel, then choose that run again, then wait for the PC to load it, then start again... it took around 2 min...
So, if you wan't to do intervals with Fortius, you'd better plan them before...
You can't record the video of your run, this is a thing you can do with some online car racing video games, you can't do that and watch your races with friends.
You can't use the terrains made for the Imagic (Capricorn and Sipscape)... although you can use the terrain made for the Fortius with the Imagic... It's a bit like buying the latest japanese car, and having less options in it than in your 5 years old Chevy.
What Mr. Tacx should do to improve my toy.
There's much to say there...
The software and its menus are not that bad, but not as intuitive as they should be... Particularly, when one wants to choose a new route, or set his rider profile...just have a try at it, you'll understand...
The long names of your opponents are overlapping each other in the menus, so not that easy to choose one...
Why don't they make some serious map...
the virtual "worlds" are in fact virtual "kindergardens"... you've got three "maps" there, with only one of them with enough roads to allow you to actually create your own runs using the steering frame... The two others maps, basically, will let you pedal around a tiny island during 20' and you're done... would'nt be the opportunity to ride against other riders on those virtual worlds, it would quickly get boring (which is the inverse aim, I guess, of that kind of device...).
A good idea could be the release of a map editor... apparently, Mr. Tacx doesn't want to (Frankenstein syndrome ? the fear its toy could live by its own...)
The RLVs :
they are filmed from a motorcycle in real life. Several drawbacks are linked to this method of making the RLV :
-In real life, you're forced to slow down at road jonctions and stop signs, so the RLV movie will slow down proportionnaly to the slackening of the motorbike used to make the RLV.
So, while riding on your RLV, you're going full speed then you arrive to a stop : although your speed (as displayed on the screen) stays high, you "visually" see yourself slowing down... no matter how hard you go on the pedal... (of course the faster you go, the faster you'll get out of the "slowing down passage" but you'll still have that feeling of a "speed drop" compared to the speed you were going just before...).
-In real life, when you're climbing or going downhill on sharp turns, you don't look in front of you, but 4 to 5 meters ahead in the curve (or else you'd quickly hit the planet). When making a RLV the camera is fixed to the motorcycle, so what you see in a sharp turn while riding your bike on RLV, is just the first meter in front of you... NAUSEOUS....
I think a good idea for Mr. Tacx for doing his RLV may be to use a camera as the one skydivers use, it is to say, fixed on the helmet of the rider.
Besides, doing so, the RLV would seem more realistic.
No lap function, what you can do with a tiny bike computer, you can't do with the 3 ghz PC powered Fortius... It could be notably useful, to work out with a lap function while doing intervals on the velodrom.
The software and its menus are not that bad, but not as intuitive as they should be... Particularly, when one wants to choose a new route, or set his rider profile...just have a try at it, you'll understand...
The long names of your opponents are overlapping each other in the menus, so not that easy to choose one...
Why don't they make some serious map...
the virtual "worlds" are in fact virtual "kindergardens"... you've got three "maps" there, with only one of them with enough roads to allow you to actually create your own runs using the steering frame... The two others maps, basically, will let you pedal around a tiny island during 20' and you're done... would'nt be the opportunity to ride against other riders on those virtual worlds, it would quickly get boring (which is the inverse aim, I guess, of that kind of device...).
A good idea could be the release of a map editor... apparently, Mr. Tacx doesn't want to (Frankenstein syndrome ? the fear its toy could live by its own...)
The RLVs :
they are filmed from a motorcycle in real life. Several drawbacks are linked to this method of making the RLV :
-In real life, you're forced to slow down at road jonctions and stop signs, so the RLV movie will slow down proportionnaly to the slackening of the motorbike used to make the RLV.
So, while riding on your RLV, you're going full speed then you arrive to a stop : although your speed (as displayed on the screen) stays high, you "visually" see yourself slowing down... no matter how hard you go on the pedal... (of course the faster you go, the faster you'll get out of the "slowing down passage" but you'll still have that feeling of a "speed drop" compared to the speed you were going just before...).
-In real life, when you're climbing or going downhill on sharp turns, you don't look in front of you, but 4 to 5 meters ahead in the curve (or else you'd quickly hit the planet). When making a RLV the camera is fixed to the motorcycle, so what you see in a sharp turn while riding your bike on RLV, is just the first meter in front of you... NAUSEOUS....
I think a good idea for Mr. Tacx for doing his RLV may be to use a camera as the one skydivers use, it is to say, fixed on the helmet of the rider.
Besides, doing so, the RLV would seem more realistic.
No lap function, what you can do with a tiny bike computer, you can't do with the 3 ghz PC powered Fortius... It could be notably useful, to work out with a lap function while doing intervals on the velodrom.
Hardware
today I've tried to change my AGP2x 128mb graphic card, for an AGP8x 512Mb.
Well... doesn't change much the gamability of the software...
But, the video runs better in RLV, and I can display every tiny detail in VR (I wasn't able to see the drafting marks with the old card, and I was forced to set the details to "low" if I wanted to see my rider on the bike...)
Well... doesn't change much the gamability of the software...
But, the video runs better in RLV, and I can display every tiny detail in VR (I wasn't able to see the drafting marks with the old card, and I was forced to set the details to "low" if I wanted to see my rider on the bike...)
Installation
What I would advise you to is to use a Windows XP SP2 version, there's too much trouble with Vista (more due to Microsoft than to Tacx), but Tacx is releasing little by little the necessary drivers for Vista.
I've used Windows XP SP2 and have got no problems getting the Fortius working.
Minimum specs :
I must admit that I still hav'en't found on the Tacx website (I know I'm a pain...) what should be the minimum specs necessary to run the Fortius.
For the moment, my Fortius seems to run perfectly with an Athlon 3300+ (2.2 Ghz), an AGP 8x graphic card with 512 Mb memory, and 1 Gb Ram.
I had some troubles with a 128Mb graphic card, although the Fortius ran Ok, I had to set the graphic settings very low.
I've used Windows XP SP2 and have got no problems getting the Fortius working.
Minimum specs :
I must admit that I still hav'en't found on the Tacx website (I know I'm a pain...) what should be the minimum specs necessary to run the Fortius.
For the moment, my Fortius seems to run perfectly with an Athlon 3300+ (2.2 Ghz), an AGP 8x graphic card with 512 Mb memory, and 1 Gb Ram.
I had some troubles with a 128Mb graphic card, although the Fortius ran Ok, I had to set the graphic settings very low.
Problems
well... the Fortius technology isn't quite finalized and you'll probably encounter some problems.
The first thing you'll probably do, is to go to the "support and services" page of the Tacx Company.
Don't try to send an email to Tacx, they won't answer (Dutch philosophy of marketing ?)
You can also try the Tacx Forum which is quite active and where I've found some answers to my questions
The first thing you'll probably do, is to go to the "support and services" page of the Tacx Company.
Don't try to send an email to Tacx, they won't answer (Dutch philosophy of marketing ?)
You can also try the Tacx Forum which is quite active and where I've found some answers to my questions
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