rec.autos.simulators

Anyway, I'm running the Ferrari in GP on Monza with Alison Hines' setup.
I've had the game for a week now and the best lap times I can get are in the
high 1:32s, and that's rare. I hear about all the guys getting 1:28s and
lower and wonder if I should be discouraged. So, I was wondering if I should
be starting off with F2 cars? I run the Ferrari because it looks good with
my wheel, but should I be running a different car? Or, should I just give up
on GPL and just go back to the sims I'm good at? Tell it like it is, gents,
my feelings don't bruise easily, and you know I'm not hooked on this game
anyway.

Slot

        BTW: The F3 (Basic Trainer) class is fun as hell on line:)
--
=========================================
Mike Barlow of Barlow Racing?
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http://members.xoom.com/BarlowRacing/

Racing online with the help of......

Race Communications Association
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No, of course not, we understand.

I'd say your doing well. It took me 6 months to get into the 28s, and that's
with a Lotus.

Since the beginning it's been advised to start out with the trainer then the
F2 before getting into the F1s.  I personaly have not patience and went
straight for the Lotus F1.  I've always been fascinated by the Lotus and I'm
also motivated be lap times, and the Lotus is without doubt an advantage.
So it depends what your trying to do with the game. I think it's said that the
easiest car to drive is the Cooper, but I haven't given it a chance.

Didn't anyone tell you ?  You can never leave.

Don Scurlock
Vancouver,B.C.

I don't want to mislead anybody. Although I've only raced GPL for a week,
I'm not new to online racing. I am on the GTX team for Monster Truck Madness
2, and we are 1998 and 1999 champions, and I do hold the record on 3 or 4
tracks. I also pull in pretty decent lap times on SCGT.  So, I just don't
want anyone to think that I've never raced before, in real life or online.
But as you know, GPL is really different than any other sim. It seems to be
a love / hate relationship. I did run a few laps last night with the Lotus
and a makeshift setup and got into the high 1:31's a couple times, but when
I hopped back in the Ferrari, I couldn't get below the mid 133s.

Mike, the F3 class sounds like fun. I'm sure there's setups somewhere? I'd
like to give it a try.

John, I'll try the Cooper, thanks for the tip.

Tim, the Eagle sounds interesting, and yes I've heard of Wolfgang, but he's
not an alien. Actually, I built him out of a kit. Came out pretty good, huh.

Don, thanks for the encouraging words, but what about the Spahgetti-O's?  Is
the 2 minutes it takes to heat them up a waste of valuable track  time?

If I emailed a replay of a couple laps, would anyone critique it for me? Is
that done?

Slot

I felt the same way as you a week ago. I'd been driving the Ferrari with
Allison's setup since I got the game dec 2, 1999, with a PB at Monza at
1.30.88. The I downloaded some dudes hotlap setup for the Lotus. The setup
was stiff as hell, and with a steering ratio at 13:1. At first, I found this
setup and car undriveable. But after a couple of days, I could controll this
beast.

Now, one week later, my PB is 1.28.31!

My improvement came so quick that the AI was fooled. Now I win against the
AI every time I try. I qualify more than .5 sec before the best AI.

Allison Hine's setups may be good for learning to find the racing line, but
makes the cars responsiveness too slow for me.

If you still are using soft setups, I suggest you use fully linear stearing
and a stearing ratio at 10:1 - 7:1. That way it is possible to counter steer
when the back breaks loose.

Keep up the good work!

Jon

It sounds like your probably just running on your own at moment ie. in
training mode.  If you want to spice things up a bit and have even more
fun and give yourself more incentive to go quicker you could try racing
against the AI.  I know what you're thinking. 'What chance would I have
so where's the fun in that?'  Well, there are simple ways of slowing the
AI down to your level.  The easiest one that I have done is to edit the
gpl_ai.ini in your gpl folder.  In there you'll find a line quite near
the top that says :

base_gearshift_hiatus = 6.000000

If you change the number before the decimal point then that has an
affect on the time it takes the AI to change gear.  Up it to about 100
for example and they can be as much as 5 seconds slower per lap.  Set it
to a value that puts you somewhere in the middle of the pack and you'll
get a chance to be competitive not just at Monza, but all the other
tracks as well.

Alterntively I think there's a program that you can download called
tweakAI which allows you to play about with the AI settings even more,
though I'm not sure where you would get this.

Then, once the AI becomes predictable, there's this place called VROC
that you will probably want to try out where real live idiots like
myself get to curse and swear at you because we were both going for the
same piece of tarmac.  Or watch complete nutbags who think that their
car can suddenly brake over half the distance that it normally used to.
Or turn a corner to find 2 wheels hopping along the road and wonder to
yourself 'Mmmm, what happened to the car?'.  Also you'll learn how to
instinctively find the sry and np keys on your keyboard without even
looking.  Oh yeah and while you're at it possibly win a few races as
well.  But hey!  All in good time eh?  And don't worry about being crap.
We were all that once. :-)

--
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.

Hell, I had the game for over a year and I've yet to break 1:30 in the Eagle.

Either my setup is completely wrong, very concistent at 1:30-31 though or
I'm just no racer.

A real blow for motivation.....

--
Olav K. Malmin
remove spam when replying

I found setup crucial. Default settings isn't responsive enough. Change the
steering ratio to 10:1 and fully linear. That way you can make fine
adjustments if necessary during turns. A stiff and low setup helped me a
lot. My setup makes the car nervous, but thats OK, 'cause I'm nervous too:-)

One more thing: To my surpise, I found that only a light touch (1-2 cm?) on
the brakes reduces speed efficiently. When discovering this, trailbraking
seemed possible. Trailbraking, coupled with the squashball trick, also did
wonders to my times. If you haven't tried the squashball trick, I strongly
recommend you to try.

As for my achievment so far at Monza, I have to say that it is the only
track I've driven so far. I must have driven about 500 laps.

Anyway, it is my belief that anyone with wheels and pedals and with the
proper car, setup and amount of training, can achieve sub1.30's at Monza.

Keep on racing!

Jon

     Gman has a good point. Most of us started with the Cooper and worked
our way up. I personally ran F2s for a solid month, then started over with
the F1s. Right now I drive a Ferrari in F1 and turn consitant 1:30s at Monza
with a very rare 1:29. In F2 I drive my favorite car, theBrabham, and at
Monza I can turn 1:37s all race long.

Joel Willstein