rec.autos.simulators

Hey gang,

I have a question on qualifying in Nascar Racing 2. When ever I do the
practice mode, I'm only a second or two off of the best time, or sometimes
I have the best time. But when I go to qualify, it seems the cars get a
little faster, by a second or two, and then I'm stuck in the back of the
field. Is there anyway to fix this sort of. I know I'm not the best at
this. I'm only running on 98% opponent strength. I try to set my car up
good, and most time I do, but it seems the qualifying sucks. I can get the
pole on some tracks, like Tally, Texas, and a few other super speedways,
but then I'm in the back of the pack, on the shorter tracks, a second or
two off. But like I said, during practice mode, I'm right up there with the
times. Any help, advice?
Thanks!

Try qualifying with the AI set to 96%, save the game, then bump the AI back up
to 98% before you race.
Racer X
Veteran Sim Racer
Victory Lane-
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/1423/

You should be able to set the car up more aggressively in qualifying
because you don't have to worry about tire wear.  However if you find
you are still too slow, there are two lines in the individual track
text files that control AI speeds.  The first is RELS, which controls
their speeds at a track relative to other tracks.  You can reduce this
number to lower practice and race speeds.  Qualifying is controlled by
the BLAP line which sets the average qualifying time for the AI at
that track.  It is measured in thousandths of a second, so higher
numbers will result in lower qualifying speeds.

Eric

PRACTICE!!!!!!

soon you'll be running at 99%

Bill

If Im Not Here....Im In MY Jeep
'98 TJ...Black.<Krissy>
2.5L
Rag Top
30' Wheels

        Don't forget that in qualifying your tires are COLD, where
they get very slow times.  To set up your qualifying setup (kinda
catchy, huh?) you need to run ONLY 2 or 3 laps with it and start
tweaking and start over.  I think you'll find your practice times are
so good because you've had several laps on your tires and they've
heated up.  That's the most important thing about a qualifying setup:
it has to be FAST in only 2 laps (3 on the short tracks).  Doesn't
matter HOW fast you after that!

Gunner
who sucks at driving AND setups, but at least I know what I'm SUPPOSED
to be doing <G>.

Sierra did bring out a patch for this game which I used on my version of
the game and this may have, amongst other things, increased the
qualifying times of the AI drivers.  I can't say for sure as it was some
time ago that I used the patch, I just recall noticing a slight
difference in their qualifying, though I may have imagined it.  Anyway
try www.sierra.com to see if they still have the patch.  There were 2
versions depending on which version of Nascar 2 you have.

n2pat0(1).exe for version 1.0
n2pat1(1).exe for version 1.1

If you can't find either of these patches I still have both copies if
you want to try them.

With my patched version of N2 I found that the AI lap times stayed
pretty stable in both qualifying and practice, and that although my
times were ok for a racing setup - once I had put in some laps that is -
they just didn't cut the mustard for qualifying.  Generally, with the
right qualifying setup you should be able to improve those times and
compete enough to be up/near the front.

Also, can't think of any pages off the top of my head but there are
still Nascar 2 sites that can provide you with better qual. setups. I'm
sure you'll notice the difference. ;-)

A couple of other things would have helped to improve the game I feel.

Firstly, one thing about qualifying that would have been more realistic
would have been a bit more variety in the drivers qualifying times.
Whereas, when I used to qualify, now and again I would have a bad one
and my time would be down on normal by up to half a second, with the AI
the same drivers always qualified up front.  They *never* had a bad one.
I know I could always press SHIFT-R I think to try again, but I
preferred to just accept it if I qualified badly.  More realistic for me
you could say.

The other thing was not being able to decide how much fuel I could have
put in the car during my next race-day pit stop.  It was always down to
the pit crew and they always would put way too much in for the last
stint.  For instance whereas I could get by with about 15 gallons to
finish, they would put in a full 22.  That was frustrating, the more so
because from reading the manual it seemed that I should have been able
to do this.  Perhaps it was the version that I was running. :-(

Anyway hope this info proves helpful and, if it does, I'm sure you'll
soon be racing at 100%.  :-)  
--
Peter Ives