rec.autos.simulators

Martyn_D

Paul

It is that challenge that has kept me into gpl longer than any other driving
game, the challenge never really ends.  No matter how good you get, there are
other good people to race, so the challenge is always at a high level.
 Only the default setups come with full tanks of fuel. Play with the fuel level
in the setup screen and watch how the cars weight changes. A good habit to get
into: very first thing when entering a race, look at the number of laps, then
go check your fuel, always add a few extra laps, as the fuel estimate in the
setup page is low. Another easy mistake to make: in the setup screen you have
two setups, Current and Race, make sure you have the proper setup selected in
race or you'll end up starting a race with the default setup with a full tank
of fuel and wondering WTF is going on.

--
Don Scurlock
Vancouver,B.C.
GPLRank -3.51

Come see how you rank, at the GPLRank site
http://gplrank.schuerkamp.de/

Hehe, great story, brings back memories of my first tentative sessions
with GPL, my was it *that* long ago?

Just take your time, and practice, practice oh and did I say practice?

You do *not* need to be doing 1:30's to race at VROC, as long as you are
consistent, and don't get in the way of much faster drivers, then
you can try VROCwith no probs, thats what realy counts.

When you get some more experience, and the times start to tumble (they
will, I promise) you will then begin to *feel* the car, thats when the
fun really starts....

8-)

*Peter* -  http://www.cix.co.uk/~peterpc/home.html

Martyn_D

Like fellow regular Andre put it: "you have been assimilated, resistance is
futile." ;-)

It's fun though, you'll never be able to satisfactory explain an outsider
why, but it's fun nonetheless.

Jan.
=---

When starting a new session, the first lap out of the pits is always
godawfully slippery on stone cold tires.  I suppose if you never
make it past the first lap without using Shift-R, then you'll be
constantly driving on cold tires.  That's definitely no fun at all.
But don't get discouraged.  Just take it really easy for the first
lap or two until you work some heat into the tires.  After putting
in a couple of successful laps the tire temps will be much better
and you'll notice a huge increase in grip and control.

If I have to Shift-R after that, I find the car will still have
similar high levels of grip.  It's not at all like going back to
stone cold tires.  I'm sure I'm not just imagining that, right?

Using Shift-R WILL reset your fuel levels though.  So if you started
your session with a full fuel load, raced for many laps without
crashing and are finally down to well-handling car with a light fuel
load, and then crashed and were forced to use Shift-R late in the
session, you would certainly notice a big difference in handling due
to the sudden increase in fuel load.

        -Ferdinand-

Martyn_D

<snip>
--
Peter Ives - (AKA Ivington)

No person's opinions can be said to be
more correct than another's, because each is
the sole judge of his or her own experience.

Everyone keeps saying that.  But is that actually true?  I haven't
noticed this to be the case.

--
Peter Ives - (AKA Ivington)

No person's opinions can be said to be
more correct than another's, because each is
the sole judge of his or her own experience.

Feeling how the car is handling ranks very close to the top of the list of
skills you need to go even moderately fast. Cold tires (and their poor grip)
is probably the most easily noticed. I'm not belittling you here, but I have
to wonder how this can escape notice, even without a thermometer?

Michael.

I saved a replay of one rather messy lap at the 'Ring which included
a quick spin right off the bat at Hatzenbach, another spin [hah,
missed the tree this time!] at Adenaur Forst, followed by a big mess
in which I climbed up the fencing backwards at Pflanzgarten did a
full roll and half flip miraculously landing back on my wheels and
pointing in the right direction, then mightily clanged off the
guardrails in the final chicane, and still managed to complete the
lap in 8:48!!  That was only possible because of the no-damage mode,
otherwise I would have lost several wheels along the way.

Ouch.  Now you've got me seriously doubting my own sanity.  Maybe my
lack of feel is the reason why I'm only ever moderately fast.

There's no mistaking the total lack of grip when first starting any
new session.  I can spin the car exiting the pitlane if I'm not
careful, and I go skating straight off at the first corner unless I
brake gently and very early.

After a lap or two the tires are up to normal temperatures and
everything is fine.  If I crash then and need to use Shift-R, the
handling never feels anywhere near as bad as that first lap out of
the pits did.  I can immediately go back to full race pace.

If the tires temps really did drop back down to stone cold, it
should take me a lap or so just to get up to speed again.  But I
really haven't noticed that to be the case.  Why is that?  Am I just
more focused after several hot laps?

        -Ferdinand-

JensSchumi homepage at http://members.xoom.com/JensSchu/
Racing simulation, esp. GPL
Logitech Wingman FF optimization
Classic cars, esp. Morris Minor
Radio controlled airplanes

I've always run with damage control 1 notch down from realistic as (i)
with realistic I blow engines far too often (or perhaps I just haven't
had the patience to learn not to blow them at this damage level) and
(ii) having no damage doesn't quite feel within the true spirit of a
simulator.

Perhaps turning damage down to none is the key to getting past 1:30 at
Monza. Thinking about it I too have often noticed that if I string a
couple of good laps together then I can continue with a few more good
laps - as soemone else commented I've attributed this to "getting into
the ryhtmn" - perhaps its much more to do with having got tyres up to
the right temperature.

Postscript on damage control - I wish the same could be applied to my
ForceRS which (after a year) is starting to disintegrate - hitting the
wheel in disgust after a major spin is not a good idea - though then
again I'm nearly ready for a realistic modern F1 sim as I'm about to get
a detachable steering wheel :-(

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

Uwe

--
Uwe Schuerkamp, QuBiz ////////////// Phone: +49 5241 80 10 66
Carl-Bertelsmann-Str. 161 I  \\\\\\\\\\ uwe.schuerkamp at qubiz.com
33311 Guetersloh \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ http://www.schuerkamp.de/
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