rec.autos.simulators

I've heard throughout the years about GPL (Grand-Prix Legends?) but never
bothered much with it. Well, with as much fun as I've been having with Need
For Speed Most Wanted, I'd like to see what this classic is all about.

First of all, what to look for in a copy? I find many copies like this on
eBay:

http://tinyurl.com/bweph

It says it requires a 486 66MHz or faster PC. Is this the right game? Has
this thing lasted the test of time for that long? Has it been updated to
look great on today's hardware? What makes this game so special?

Thanks for anyone that can shed light on this.

yes the  ebay one is the right one

for everything else look here

http://forum.racesimcentral.com/forumdisplay.php?f=36

or here (rec. autos. simulators)

"HockeyTownUSA" <magma at comcast dot net> schrieb im Newsbeitrag

Yeas and yes.

Yes, but the updates are from the fans, not the company.  Google "GPL
links" and have fun.

                   It was the first sim to have really good physics,
modeling each wheel individually.  It is hugely challenging.  You can
always get better and there is always someone out there better than
you.  There's a vast array of fan programmed add-ons, cars, tracks,
telemetry, etc. etc.  There's a lot of online racing (still).  The cars
are a hoot, 400 HP and narrow low traction tires.  The tracks are
classics.  Your opponents are people like Jimmy Clark, Graham Hill, and
John Surtees.

                 All that said, I and others have dumped it for new
sims with better physics.  The four top ones are GTR/GTL, rFactor, and
Richard Burns Rally.  GPL has a few quirks.  The cars don't respond to
setup changes very precisely, and the best setups are so low that the
cars are riding on the bump stops; essentially they're go-carts.  That
works because the cars/tracks don't model bumps all that well.  The
fastest laps involve sawing the wheel back and forth very fast (which
would not work in a real car) and some people go faster with a
joystick.

But I'll always have great fondness for it.  How many sims are good for
5 years?

and download the 2004 demo which features updated cars and a updated
watkins glen circuit. the tracks featured are fantastic(especially
zandvoort,nurburgring and spa) and now with 1965 and 69 mods the passion
still doesnt look like fading just yet. probably the greatest sim
released which still after all these years can give the latest sims a
run for there money.
enjoy demo,buy full game and rejoice in the fact that gpl is alive and
well.
Tango

I don't think GPL ever had it, once you installed it, it never looked
for a cd rom again.

If you download this demo, then all you need to do when you buy the
cd-rom is to copy the tracks to the demo directory, and you're ready
to go. There are also a lot of additional download tracks.

Regarding the lack of repsonse to setups, you're dealing with 400hp,
1300lb, non-downforce cars, and bias ply racing tires that had very large
working slip angles so the setups just don't make that much difference
when acceleration is so close to conering acceleration at moderate speeds.

The low ride heights are nothing compared to what works with downforce
cars that can really take advantage of it, like side skirts that ride
on the ground (now banned). The front wings in modern F1 cars were
recently raised upwards a bit, but the manufactures just put deflectors
on the nose section to regain the downforce lost from the higher front
wing. Regarding bump stops, unlike Champ and IRL cars which use under
body tunneling, F1 cars use flat skidboards, and the term "skidboard"
is an appropriate description (reduces the cool looking sparks though).

US version didn't have it. UK and german versions had it.

--
Mika Takala

Anyway GPL is like the Falcon 4 of racing sims.  People still fly it, there
are more beautiful flight sims.  Same goes in the simracing world.

--
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Michael

Thanks - I don't have a problem with the PC, just curious since specs were
so low.

I actually have a "retro" PC with a 3Dfx Voodoo 4500 graphics card in it for
older glide games (like Red Baron 3D, Jane's Longbow 2, Jane's F-15, Descent
II). While I don't play those much any more, there's always that itch to do
so, and I can have one hell of a time trying to get those older games
working right in Windows XP with current hardware.

--
Pete Ives
Remove All_stRESS before sending me an email

CPU fix is included in the "2004 demo".

Download the demo try it out. It has some flaws (low ride heights
e.g. mostly solved in newest version), but it's still very fun to
drive.

/andreas

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