rec.autos.simulators

by **Greg Alexande** » Tue, 20 Oct 1998 04:00:00

I thought most of the advice given to us newbies is from people who are
already really good at a sim so I thought I would pass along some info I
have learned from playing the sim.

First, if you don't have a Hercules Thriller 8MB card then you need one.
This is the card for this game, and should also be good for the next version
of Nascar.

Second, I think the Eagle is the car you should "cut your teeth" on. It
seems to me to handle better and be a little smoother than either the Lotus
or Ferrari. The Ferrari engine sound in divine but that is tempered by
the grinding sound and sparks that you will inevitably hear once you hit
something.

Third, Monza is a good track to learn at first. I think its learning curve
is smaller and Watkins Glen isn't too bad either.

Fourth, leave a little room in the gas until you have a better feel for the
track.

I hope some of this feedback will help someone.

Greg Alexander

by **Bill Met** » Tue, 20 Oct 1998 04:00:00

>I thought most of the advice given to us newbies is from people who are
>already really good at a sim so I thought I would pass along some info I
>have learned from playing the sim.

While I'm not a newbie, I am, shall we say, GPL-challenged. I can
sympathize with those having a hard time.

Thriller for 3D = pretty damn good
Thriller for 2D = BLECH! (I've been told I was spoiled by my Matrox)

Actually I would reccomend the BRM first. It's a total pig, but for the
first couple of days attempting the GP car, it's stability can really
help. I would move to the Eagle after the first two or three days.

As far as tracks go, I'll give one warning for beginners. Don't be
fooled by Kyalami! It's simple layout is easy to learn. However, the
track surface has very little grip. It can make for some very frustrating
times.

Amen! The number one rule for learning to drive these cars: full
throttle is *NOT* always necessary!

-Bill
--
Bill Mette | "A person is smart. People are dumb."
MCSNet, Chicago | - K MiB

by **Rick Baumhaue** » Wed, 21 Oct 1998 04:00:00

>>Second, I think the Eagle is the car you should "cut your teeth" on. It

> Actually I would reccomend the BRM first. It's a total pig, but for the
>first couple of days attempting the GP car, it's stability can really
>help. I would move to the Eagle after the first two or three days.

>>Third, Monza is a good track to learn at first. I think its learning
curve
>>is smaller and Watkins Glen isn't too bad either.

Actually, I had good luck learning in the Brabham at Watkins Glen, then
moving to the Ferrari. The Brabham is very driveable, with a nice wide
power band and not too much top end, and it seemed to suit the Glen very
well.

The Glen is nice because it is pretty easy to learn (but hard to master!) -
relatively few corners, but a couple challenging spots to get you used to
things like dealing with road crown and blind braking areas.

After three days of pounding around the Glen, I've gotten under 1:11 in the
Ferrari, and know that I can do better if I can just string the corners
together in one lap :) I've already fiddled with my setup a bit, just to
make 4th and 5th gear taller, and take out a lot of fuel, and it helped a
lot.

The cool thing is, once you get one track down to the point where you're
*driving the car* and controlling it, you can move those skills to the other
tracks. I have never had a more satisfying experience with a computer game
than my first controlled slide in GPL, coming through Big Bend at the Glen a
little too hot, but keeping the car on the road and pointed in (roughly) the
right direction with the throttle and opposite lock.

Once you've done that, it's not such a big jump to run Spa at a decent clip,
tossing the car into Stavelot and letting the slide scrub speed off as the
corner tightens.

Absolutely brilliant!

Rick

by **John Walla** » Wed, 21 Oct 1998 04:00:00

I've yet to be actively impressed by anything "non-game", so 2D is not
much of an issue. How many times has anyone gone "WOW!" when you fire
up Excel and pop a chart on the screen? :-)

My own suggestion would be the Coventry, I have a real soft spot for
that car. It's sweet to drive, very well behaved and without the wild
power that breaks the Lotus loose all the time. It's well behaved
nature mean that it is great on tracks where precision is rewarded - I
can give Lotus drivers a fright around Zandvoort with it, since it
runs 1:27s around there. Not enough to scare a top Lotus driver (since
Lotus can do 1:25s), but if anyone is a little off the pace being
beaten by a Coventry will be a wake up call :-)

Agreed. The layout looks easy but the turns are cambered and tricky.

Cheers!
John

by **Raev** » Wed, 21 Oct 1998 04:00:00

> I have never had a more satisfying experience with a computer game
>than my first controlled slide in GPL, coming through Big Bend at the Glen a
>little too hot, but keeping the car on the road and pointed in (roughly) the
>right direction with the throttle and opposite lock.

The best thing is figuring this out for yourself,, I completely
agree,, A little lightbulb appeared above my head --ding-- and I
realized that you could control slides in this game unlike just about
any other. What incredible fun... then you watch real 60's footage and
you see them doing exactly the same thing.
Watching Dave Mansell's replays will convince you that this sliding
can be elevated to a high art.
woooooohoooooo!
(which I think has been said before here..)

Rae

by **Graeme Nas** » Wed, 21 Oct 1998 04:00:00

Ooh, tell me about it - with my old Matrox Mystique GPL was hopeless but
GP2 gave me full grfx and full framerate (in VGA). Now with my Thriller
GPL is wonderful and GP2 has dropped to about 20fps.......

Cheers!

--
Graeme Nash

You know what to do with "don't_spam_me"...
http://www.karisma1.demon.co.uk/
ICQ# 11257824

"My car appeared to disagree with my preference for living"

by **Joe R. Sha** » Wed, 21 Oct 1998 04:00:00

OK, here's a really dumb one that took me forever to figure out. The control for
driving linearity is a slider, it has a LOT of settings between full right and
full left. I knew this but for some reason didn't explore it. Full left was WAY
to squirrely to use, but full right was so mushy I couldn't get the damn thing
straight to brake into a corner. Finally it dawned on me to reduce the setting
from full left just a bit, in my case about 1/4 of the way. Wow, I can actually
steer the car now, I can even manage to correct a spin ... okay, on occassion
anyway. I would suggest that if you have difficulty keeping the car straight
while getting ready to brake, or while braking, adjust the slider just a bit.

I was about ready to give up on this great game, which would have been a real
shame since I first got interested in F1 ... in 1967.

Joe

by **Ron Ayto** » Thu, 22 Oct 1998 04:00:00

I couldn't agree more with you John. I also find i can do excellent
times in the Coventry, much to the derision of my sim racing friends
here in OZ.
I find that with the Coventry, longer races become much easier to
maintain control over the car as opposed to the Lotus/Eagle etc...
As a hot lapping car, the Coventry leaves a bit to be desired, but as i
am not interested in hot lapping, i find the handling characteristics
and power transference of the Coventry is a very formidable opponent
when it comes time for a decent length race.
With a few small adjustments to the gear ratios and a bit of a chassis
tune towards the stiff side, don't be surprised if you find a Coventry
in your Lotus/Ferrari/Eagle mirrors, looking for a way to get past!
I agree with most postings here on RAS, regarding the capabilities of
the Lotus when hot lapping, but come race day, the Coventry will make a
name for itself on the podium...
Sure, it will be left behind a bit at the start of a race, but come mid
race distance when all the hot lappers are pulling themselves out of
the gutter and off the armco, the Coventry will dawdle by with a gentle
wave from the driver's arm and a big grin. :-))
Cheers, see ya on the circuit.
Ron

by **SteveBla** » Thu, 22 Oct 1998 04:00:00

For those of you who just can't keep your foot out of the throttle, here's a
little something that helped me. I changed the sample rpm in the app.ini file
from 5200rpm to 4900rpm. This makes the engine sound like it's revving a bit
higher at a given speed, and lessens my tendency to want to boot it more.
Choose whatever sample rpm works for you. The rate in the demo was 5000, btw.

Steve B.

by **John Walla** » Thu, 22 Oct 1998 04:00:00

Even as a hotlapper the Coventry can cause some surprises. The top
guys will always be able to take the Lotus, Eagle etc way beyond what
the Coventry can achieve, but some people drive the Lotus who cannot
extract it's full potential. In such a case a driver with the more
fogiving Coventry who CAN achive it's potential will likely turn the
faster time. Working with your car is generally preferable to fighting
against it, and this becomes most apparent in long races as you
pointed out.

Cheers!
John

by **Pat Dotso** » Thu, 22 Oct 1998 04:00:00

> OK, here's a really dumb one that took me forever to figure out. The control for
> driving linearity is a slider, it has a LOT of settings between full right and
> full left. I knew this but for some reason didn't explore it. Full left was WAY
> to squirrely to use, but full right was so mushy I couldn't get the damn thing
> straight to brake into a corner. Finally it dawned on me to reduce the setting
> from full left just a bit, in my case about 1/4 of the way. Wow, I can actually
> steer the car now, I can even manage to correct a spin ... okay, on occassion
> anyway. I would suggest that if you have difficulty keeping the car straight
> while getting ready to brake, or while braking, adjust the slider just a bit.

After struggling with too much linearity for a while, I tried
something that seems to make sense and has made controlling
the GPL cars easier. I adjusted the steering ratio and
linearity slider until the movement of the on-screen steering
wheel matched the movement of my ACT Labs RS wheel. They are
now very close through about 90 degrees of rotation left or
right (beyond that the on-screen wheel moves more than the
RS, which I only use in hairpins).

The setting are 20:1 steering ratio, with linearity set
to 1/4-1/3 from the left (YMMV). The cars are easier to
control that way and, as I said, it just makes sense that
the on-screen wheel and PC wheel movement should match.

--
Pat Dotson
IMPACT Motorsports
http://www.impactmotorsports.com/pd.html

rec.autos.simulators

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