rec.autos.simulators

I've been experimenting with these utilities.   FANTASTIC!!!!  MAXIMUM KUDOS  to
Gerhard for developing and the crew at the Pits for making this available to us poor
***ed computer racers.  These greatly enhance the fun we can get out of Nascar
and ICR2.  Thanks much guys!!!

Please do not take offense if I make a small comment about how this stuff works.  I
think what you have done is great (see above).  I thought that Cleveland would be a
natural for sliding the great behemoth Nascar machines around with its wide track
and all so I started there.  It words fine and I quickly achieved competitive lap
times but there is a great disparity in speeds on certain corners.  The computer
cars are so much faster than I in turn 1 that they just plain run over me if I am in
the way!  Does this have anything to do with the AI settings/files?  Is it possible
for me to edit these?  Or am I just confused in my setup philosophy and should be
going much faster through turn 1?

No problem!

Yes. Not only does the track data contain how the track looks, it also
contains elements of track AI. Don't forget that Cleveland is an ICR2
track and the AI is written for an Indycar. In a couple of cases, the
Nascar engine gets confused by the Indycar AI and does things a bit
odd.

One interesting thing I saw was a Nascar at Australia try to take a
corner as quick as an Indycar, realise it wasn't going to make it.,
back off and end up spinning.

Gerhard has a utility which converts replay files to LP files.
If it works well, a good driver can set a perfect lap and then the AI
cars would follow this example. Until its release, this is a guess.

It could be the line or the setup as well. At Surfers, Gerhards
default setup and time gave him around an 85mph speed. Same setup,
different driver (me) and different line and on my second lap I popped
a 88mph. It does make a difference.

Jed
The Pits
www.ukps.com/thepits
www.fwb.gulf.net/~jkohl/thepits

Jed,
  Thanks for the answers.  Very clear and understandable but it does lead to some
exciting speculation.  If you wizards give us a utility for generating our own .LP
files this sounds like we could redo them for any track in ICR2 or Nascar.   Hmmmm,
with a chance to customize them to our own way of driving/seeing the world.  Maybe,
even getting those slowpoke computer cars to speed up in the corners at Phoenix, or
other places that bug us!  That could make a tremendous difference!!!  Waiting
anxiously for this one.

I've seen many times the AI cars at Martinsville (using Nascar, not
Indycar) decide that the line they want just happens to be in the
crowd.
They will drive the whole straight with the bumper up against the
wall, all without losing any speed or taking any damage.

Very interesting.

--
Dean Bobin

http://www.zeta.org.au/~dbobin