Product Description

Virtual Skipper 3 gives you a taste of nautical competition. Enjoy the most meticulously created sailing game around as you recreate the feel of racing on the open water! Solo or multiplayer games with fleet racing for up to 8 vessels Advanced 3D engine portrays yachting more accurately than any other game Tropical Map Editor lets you design your own paradise and set sail

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7770 in Video Games
• Brand: Enlight Software
• Model: 10115
• Released on: 2004-08-30
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platforms: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP
• Format: DVD-ROM
• Dimensions: .30 pounds

Features

• Race people from all over the world in online regattas, team or private races
• Several different boats and sails to choose from -- from the spinnaker to the Open 60, Genoa, and the fore staysail
• The water in the simulation is simply incredible - It's modeled for dynamic movement with eddies, motes, wakes, ripples and whitewash
• Become a true sailor, understanding the wind angle, polar speed, velocity made good, and efficiency
• Participate in races using approved International Racing Federation rules

Customer Reviews

For a land lubber and skipper alike!
I am new to the world of sailing having played games such as Sea Dogs, Pirates of the Carib. ect. that really lack the reality of really being on the open sea and focus more on combat which is slow, boring and bad for the most part but when I tried the DEMO out of this game I couldn't believe the detail and the graphics to boot!

First of all the graphics rival those of Far Cry and DOOM 3. Excellent!

The water looks real and the waves splash against your sail boat as if you are really there. You can almost feel the wind as it swings your sail back and forth!

Next, unlike PC Gamers review on this game it's not that hard to learn, really! I figured it out in about ten or so minutes and I'm pretty dense when it comes to PC games.

Al you have to do is figure out what task you want your crew of AI to do and they will get the job done. Focus on the navigational meter on the bottom because that help a great deal with direction and steering your boat to the finnish line correctly. Choosing the sail is a little harder especially if you are not learner with sailing but by experimenting with this in a few mintues you'll have it down.

PC Gamer said because of lack of a trainer the game really lacks but I think you would have to be pretty dense not to accomplish this by yourself. Sorry PC Gamer I think this game is awsome!

Satisfy your sailing jones year round
There is absolutely no reason for anyone that loves sailing and has a computer not to own this game. Awesome is an understatement. 4 different boats and they all have completely different sailing characteristics. The simulation of the water and waves is phenomenal. As you pick up speed, the wake gets longer. As you go up a roller, the boat slows down, down the other side and you speed up. Winds shift, current, storms it is all there. The night I downloaded the free demo I was up until 2:00 AM sailing against the machine.

When you reach the windward mark and want to raise the chute, make sure you give the crew enough time to do what needs to be done before they raise it. Similarly, at the leeward mark, if you don't call for the chute drop early enough, you won't round the mark. Sail in an opponent's lee and you will get gassed. Pinch a little, you loose a little speed, pinch a lot and you will stop.

The best part is that you can do it on the internet or on a LAN. A good friend and racing bud has a wireless network in his house. Three of us on lap tops drank beer and sailed in front of the fire yelling "STARBOARD!!!!!" All we needed was someone to throw buckets of salt water on us.

Yes the computer simulation has its faults but they are laughable. If an IACC boat hits a rock, there is a thunk and the boat stops. If the IACC boat hits one of the inflatable marks.... Same thunk and the boat stops. Sail right up to the sandy beach and you don't hit bottom with the 12 foot keel, the hull hits the sand with the same thunk and stops.

There is also a little room for improvement. The camera keys are F1 through F8 and raising headsails is 1 through 4 with 4 being the spinnaker. When you are sailing upwind, and you want to see an alternate angle, make sure you hit f4 and not 4. If you hit 4, you are raising the spinnaker and there is no cancellation or abort key. After the spinnaker, or should I say "drag chute" is up, you then hit 2 to raise the Genoa and drop the chute. Remember earlier I said you had to wait for everyone to do what they need to do, as in real life, this seems to take forever.

My wife bought this for me for Christmas and now has realized that she will be a Wednesday Night Racing widow in the winter too.

Dennis Doherty
A drinker with a sailing habit

Learn how to sail without going through much of the work!
This game is a great on value and good otherwise. The graphics paint quickly and the realism of the experience - changing sails, direction, etc - really can teach you some of the basics of sailing without actually being out on the open water. Overall, a good game.