rec.autos.simulators

The way I look at the cost of the hardware to run GPL is something like
this:

Where else could I, for roughly US$1200, get to drive, not one, but any
one of seven different incredible Grand Prix cars, on any one of eleven
of the most fantastic race courses ever built?  

And not just for a few laps on one special day, but any time I want, for
as long as I want.  And race against people all over the world, while
never leaving my home.

What a deal!  $1200 for seven Grand Prix cars, unlimited access rights
to eleven Grand Prix circuits, and all the superb racing I could ever
want!

Frank Williams, go home.  Sayonara, Jim Russell.  Bernie Ecclestone, eat
your heart out.

Alison

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http://www.racesimcentral.net/,ultranet.com/~alison

I totally agree with what Mike says here.  GPL is far and away the most
realistic racing experience I've ever encountered outside of a real race
course.  And, like real racing, you've got to put in the time to learn
the skills in order to really be quick, but when you do, it's immensely
rewarding.

Alison

Me too!

Amen, brother!  Insanity - but glorious, gut-wrenching, pulse-pounding
screaming maniacal fun when you get it right!

In my report of the Nurburgring Papy Cup, there is a screen shot of
Scott Sanford flinging his Ferrari through Antoniusbuche.  The car's
longitudinal axis is offset from its direction of travel by at least 5
degrees.  The speed indicator on the replay reads 175 mph.  If you look
carefully, you can see air under all four wheels.  

Alison

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GPL really gives you a good experience of the Ring though, having
extremely complex sections where precision is rewarded. Sections like
Monaco where bravery will gain you big time (or you lose it big
time...), power sections, the lot. One of the corners just past
Hohe-Acht is a favourite of mine - as you descend sharply toward the
right hander the road goes dramatically off-camber in mid-turn. To get
a good turn-in and run along the following straight you need to have
the weight of the car moving into the turn at the right moment to
counteract the change in camber, while at the same time not turning in
too early. These technical parts buried among jumps, flat out sections
and the corners that favour the brave and the committed mingle
together to make the Ring an enormously rewarding drive. I would also
say that IMO it's not _too_ difficult to learn, and five or six laps
gives the general layout. To know all the corners and to drive it well
though is a different proposition, quite apart from the normal
sim-racing difficulty of trying to string together a "perfect" mistake
free lap. I look forward to seeing who is going to be the sim-world
"Ringmeister".....

Cheers!
John

The descent  IMHO would be Eschbach, with a left hander, followed by a
tighter right-hander into Bruennchen. The wrong camber is a challenge
especially for bikers, and the people watching there make some drivers
go over their limit. Some go too quick through the left-hander, and
arrive at the right, inner side of the right-hand turn, where they
have to brake hard. Within a few minutes, I saw a biker falling of
there, and a car scratching along the armco on the *inside* after
getting surprise oversteer under braking. Others manage to get round
the corner, but then run over the curbs into the grass on the
straight.

Nowadays, there is a big open space on the left side of Bruennchen,
just near the street. In GPL, the track is probably in the middle of
the forest as it used to be.

--
   _____
 /_______\              .\\ a t t h e a d
I  XT /~~~~                    
I  500\_____       1977' Yamaha XT.Rex 500 Enduro
 \____/\__I_I      http://www.racesimcentral.net/

Mike.

That's the section - the right hander between Eschbach and Brunnchen.

Open space? WHAT open space...? :-)

Cheers!
John

Why "Antoniusbuche", I believed it to be "Anteniusbuche"? At least
that's what's on my old circuit guide. Anyone know?

Cheers!
John

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

That's my experience precisely.  I'm running an AMD k6 233 and Pure3d.  I
get
exactly the same framerates whether running with all graphic options turned
off
in 640x480 or everything turned on (including in rear-view mirrors) in
800x600.
No difference.  Only the number of opponents and whether I'm currently
sliding
down the track on my rollbar make any difference :)

I will be very interested to hear if the actual game is better.  If I can
only get 15-20
fps with 0-2 opponents onscreen, I'll just have to wait until about next
February
when I get a better computer to buy the game.

As far as the graphics go, I think Sierra did a great job, making wise
compromises
where possible.  At first I thought the graphics were lousy because the
trackside
objects looked bad up close.  As my ability to stay on the track for more
than a second or
two increased, I realized that the trackside objects look ok so long as you
are
flying by them rather than ramming them.  Overall, I don't this is the best
looking game
ever released, and perhaps the sensation of speed could be greater, but it's
still really
good and of course I'm holding out my hopes for the actual game rather than
judging it by what Sierra never meant for us to see.

rob.

Clark

"O" is right. The name derives from a  big "Buche" tree that old
legends linked to St. Antonius. It was cut in the 1930s when the
street left oft the track was build - farmers feared that the old tree
might topple over any day.

--
   _____
 /_______\              .\\ a t t h e a d
I  XT /~~~~                    
I  500\_____       1977' Yamaha XT.Rex 500 Enduro
 \____/\__I_I      http://matthead.home.pages.de/

Actually, in GPL there are some trees and crowds scattered there.

See http://home.sol.no/~espenm3/pictures_t08_Brnnchen-2.html

Nowadays, an open field, as big as two football fields or so, is on
the left side of the track at the "Brnnchen" straight. A popular
place for fans, because it's directly near the main street, and offers
a lot of space to park (unlike Pflanzgarten). Used as a camp ground
during the 24hours race, but camping is "verboten" on other times.
Last year, I parked a campmobil there over night, and the first thing
I saw the next morning were race cars coming down Eschbach,  warming
up for the VLN race. ;-)

--
   _____
 /_______\              .\\ a t t h e a d
I  XT /~~~~                    
I  500\_____       1977' Yamaha XT.Rex 500 Enduro
 \____/\__I_I      http://matthead.home.pages.de/

Could be interesting to see some statistic performance material on how much time
GPL spends in the different sections: How much time spent in the graphics dept,
how much time is spent in the physics dept, the i/o etc... I am one hundred %
sure that Papy has done this analysis, because it is imperative in real time
apps... Anyway, these figures would certainly reveal some info on the invention
of this game, but it would also give valuable info on where your systems sucks,
or where dollars are best spent...

On hardware requirements, I think I might be able to sum things up:
1) The slow processors (I'd say up to around P200) positively need Rendition
cards in order to play at any decency (I think the Stealth II and Thriller might
work even with your P133...)
2) The faster processors (PII) can use Voodoo I and II, and Rendition with great
success, doesn't matter which graphics card!
3) The slow non-Intel CPUs might be even slower than slower Intel CPUs because
they lack fast floating point operations, if they're supported at all!

If this is the price for the most advanced physics around, I am more than
willing to pay it! The constraint of running on old computers would retard the
games development, you cannot possibly mean that Papy should make games playable
on yesterdays computers...

---Asgeir---