rec.autos.simulators

I see on here that GPL2 is on many peoples wishlist, I
cant help but wonder what more could people want?

Because of its addonability it now has a field of photo
accurate cars, extra detail at the tracks, every period track
you can think of and then some - all the stuff that most sims need
a new version to acheive, and all at no extra cost over the
original purchase price!

A reason why GPL is now so popular may be a reason
it struggled on release - the machine spec needed to
run it. At the time that spec was quite high for its day,
when I bought it I was quizzed in the shop about my PC's
resources, staff were sick of people bringing it back complaining
it wouldnt run. I spend a shedload renewing my PC for no
other reason than i'd driven GPL and had to have it.

Now GPL fair flies along on my PC whilst the hugely disapointing GP4
makes it crawl unless I turn most of the graphics off - do I think it
worth a new PC? No, cos it drives like a go-kart not an F1 car!
 On the other hand GPL flies along on the sort
of spec that most PC owners have now - it just worries me that an all
singing & dancing GPL2 would struggle to sell while we all upgraded our PCs
to
run it, and for what gain?

OK, had my go, snip & snipe away!

Davo

On Fri, 8 Nov 2002 11:31:50 -0000, "Dave Woods"

<snip>

Wings.  And turbos would be nice too.

And if Santa could bring me a Ferrari 360 then life would be
perfect....

Ian
--
Ian Riches
GPL Rank +1.76 Monsters of GPL +284.19

Who knows. Most of them are having problems running the community version of
GPL at a decent frame rate, yet they want more, I guess we live in a
consuming society where getting more then your money's worth is unacceptable
:)

I would like to see GPL2 primarily just to see what could be done if it
could take advantage of modern hardware.  32 bit color and proper
lighting would just make everything look so much better.  Support for
T&L would mean more detailed trackside scenery, which means more
flexibility in picking markers for braking point, turn-in, etc.  With
some of the standard GPL tracks I just have to guess my braking point,
there is no convenient marker anywhere nearby.  Also if it was designed
for a modern spec machine they could have a more comprehensive physics
engine.  I believe the reason they left out tire wear and brake heat was
not due to laziness, but because that stuff would require some
significant CPU time and yet would have very little effect on people who
were driving the cars properly.  But the perspective of time has shown
us that people appear to be exploiting those omissions to get better lap
times, so I would like to see how differently people would play this
game if those elements were accounted for.  Lastly, I'm tired of looking
at trees that look like giant asparagus stalks.  ;o)

On Fri, 8 Nov 2002 11:31:50 -0000, "Dave Woods"

A tire model?

Jason

Experience leads me to believe that some, rudimentary, tyre wear is in
there.  And here's my (possibly suspect) proof:

There's a track somewhere out there (I think it's one of the MadCowie
ones) that has a very steep hill section.  If you drive the car gently
down to this section, then accelerate smoothly up the hill (analogue
clutch might be useful), then you'll get up.

Head back down again, then wheelspin the car like hell up the climb.
Full-on burnout, smoke-everywhere stuff that certain traffic laws prevent
you from trying on your own street.  If your engine survives, now trundle
back down the hill.

The next time you try gently, the (now worn) rear tyres will break traction
approximately 2/3rds of the way up the hill, and you won't get any
further.  I've tried this a few times, and got roughly the same result,
so I think there might be some wear modelling.

Of course, GP tyres of this time were very hard - the manual or driving
guid speaks of them lasting two or three races, I think.  Has anybody
else noticed effects similar to this, or is it just me?

Regards,
        Matt
--

.. Being cosmopolitan, dynamic people who are wacky and wild enough to
watch BBC 2 of the occasional evening ...

|=- Contact Info: http://www.mattkimber.org.uk/contact -=|

That's the tyres overheating, GPL does model that.

--

Ian P
<email invalid due to spam>

GPL2 (if there really even was such a thing) was going to be based on the
1972 season iirc.

Hmm, I'm not sure if you understood the concept of GPL2.  It wouldn't be the
year 1967, that's the whole point of GPL2.  It would be "another" year,
another historical year.  Anyone you would want, actually that's much
debatable and has been over the past 4 years now LOL. :)

GPL doesn't give us new cars on new tracks, that's the thing.  Some want
cars from the 70's, others from the 80's, some from the 90's and the rest
from earlier then GPL.

--
-- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard>
-- http://ymenard.cjb.net/
-- This announcement is brought to you by the Shimago-Dominguez
Corporation - helping America into the New World...

Who was it back in 1967 that was joking that at Watkins Glen you had no
choice to pick a cow for a marker and hope it wouldn't move as you didn't
have nothing else to visualise!  :)

--
-- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard>
-- http://ymenard.cjb.net/
-- This announcement is brought to you by the Shimago-Dominguez
Corporation - helping America into the New World...