rec.autos.simulators

I've not come across this. In what way do they drive like
psychopaths? They seem pretty good to me.

The graphics are the best out there, IMHO, and the merits of
the letterbox effect has been discussed time and again.

There is a steep learning curve to drive the GP cars well, but you
can drive a trainer with no damage and auto gears/brakes/throttle.
What other aids do you need?

And I think these cars were very, *VERY* difficult to drive, think
about it....Very highly powered machines, Lots of torque, skinny
grooved tyres, no wings, no ground effect, no aerodynamics, no
traction control, no active suspension, sounds like a lethal
combination to me, and it often was lethal.

Again, this is a matter of opinion, the sounds in GPL appear no worse
than any other game/sim. And the Ferrari sounds awesome.

8-)

*Peter*    8-)
(NB: remove asterisk to e-mail)

You mean that maybe, perhaps maybe, one tiny aspect of what I wrote might
have had a grain of truth in it <g>?

Apart from the aids that are found in other sims (steering help, suggested
gear, training track, increased grip, reduced opponents etc), with a little
imagination perhaps we could come up with some others. Perhaps driving sims
could take a leaf out of the flight sim book - what about a tutorial on
driving technique, for example you could sit 'in-car' with one of the AI who
'talks' you round the lap using a recorded commentary. OK, so it's not
entirely "realistic", but it would be good fun.

I'm not denying that the cars were very difficult to drive, just not very
very very very very difficult. The pros did have a limited amount of
practise - a bit like me really <g>. I still reckon GPL is more difficult
than is realistic, and what's more it would be more fun, more popular and
have a longer shelf life if it gave *the option* to make the cars a bit
easier to drive.

Cheers!
John

Fact is, if you asked me I am 100% sure I could run a full GP distance
without an accident, and have done so several times. That is far more
than I would expect in the real thing - surely then GPL is easier to
drive if anything?

Given that there are few of us, very few of us, who have ever driven
our real cars anywhere NEAR the limit I'm not sure it could be stated
with confidence that such additional feedback would even be noticed,
far less acted upon. In any case, many people are driving GPL
extremely succesfully which suggest that not only is GPL not as tough
as is made out, but that the feedback provided more than makes up for
the lack of seat of the pants feel. Whether this is a form of feedback
or merely the benefot of longer seat time or Pavlovian response can be
argued at will :-)

Cheers!
John

I have a few comments about it below:

1.  This does inprove framerate as less screen has to be drawn.  GPL is very
CPU dependent game.  

2. Harder to see on 15" and below but great on my 17".

3.  Much easier to see around a corner with the wide screen format.  

4.  I didn't like the fisheye of CART and earlier indycar series.  I prefered
GP2's view to those earlier Papyrus sims.  Hopefully a future GP3 will have a
widescreen option.

5. This is just a great game.  No other sim has given me the satisfaction of a
great lap turned.  
6  The widesceen format allows the steering wheel to be shown fully and that
gives more driver feedback than most would think.  I think the wheel vibrates
as to the amount of grip and also helps you see how much lock your aplying.  

7. Best driving SIM to date period!!!

8.  How much for that SONY widescreen monitor?

In summary I give the widescreen a big thumbs up.  

Jerry

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Wolfgang Preiss   \ E-mail copies of replies to this posting are welcome.

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