rec.autos.simulators

Moving up to GPL

Joe Heima

Moving up to GPL

by Joe Heima » Thu, 27 Jul 2000 04:00:00

I've finally decided to make the move to REAL racing and picked up a
copy of GPL and I'm looking for a little advice.  I've progressed from
NFS to Gran Tursimo to Colin McRae (my wife ties up the PC a lot playing
RTS stuff so I bought a lot of console racing games) but when the Direct
3D patch for GPL came out I thought I would give it a shot.  Well, now
I'm hooked.

First of all, I need some recommendation on a racing wheel.  I am
currently driving with my neGcon through a USB adapter that I ordered
but it's not precise enough for GPL.  Should I be thinking force
feedback or just a quality non-force feedback  wheel?  If it's not going
to help my driving I'm not going to miss the feedback.

Second, since I'm new to GPL and this newsgroup, how much time should I
invest offline before I try to race online?  I can't wait to race
against human opponents but I realize I need a fair amount of skill on
the tracks before I venture out to online racing.

Any other suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

Regards,

Joe Heiman (mixdj1)

Morgan V. Wooten

Moving up to GPL

by Morgan V. Wooten » Thu, 27 Jul 2000 04:00:00

A lot of the people you'll race with online can't race worth a damn anyway so
you got nothing to lose. Just do it and don't worry about not being fast. Just
be courteous and try not to crash and you'll do fine.

--
-----------------------------------
Morgan Vincent Wooten
GPLRank: +31.07

http://members.tripod.com/~morganv/
-----------------------------------


Michael Youn

Moving up to GPL

by Michael Youn » Thu, 27 Jul 2000 04:00:00


FF, definitely. You can drive OK without it, but you'll never go back once
you've tried it. Some tracks have strong vertical elements; Zandy, Mosport,
and the Ring come to mind. They're extremely difficult to drive well without
unambiguous feedback when the fronts get light. Also, holding the fronts for
optimum slip is a matter of guesswork without FF. Hairpins show this most
strongly, since they are probably the longest steadystate turns. I wonder
now how I ever drove one without FF. With FF, they're a simple matter of
holding the proper steering angle and juggling the gas for the right feel.
In short, you need enough info to respond to transients -- whether dips in
the road, or the car simply taking its set entering a corner. My ability to
judge this without FF, such as they were if they ever were, have atrophied
significantly since getting the MSFF. Everyone else swears by the Logitech
junk; MSFF works on my dual processor Win2K system, and works well enough
for me to not look any further. Who knows what I'm missing, though.

First, learn to drive the full race distance competitively without wrecking.
That'll keep you busy for a while! and probably earn you a win or two right
off. :-)

Michael.

Bendit

Moving up to GPL

by Bendit » Fri, 28 Jul 2000 04:00:00


>First of all, I need some recommendation on a racing wheel.

   I use the Logitech Wingman Force Feedback (LWFF) wheel. This is an
excellent wheel but the pedals are lame. Solutions to this include the $50
CH Pedals, or modifying the LWFF wheel (with a squash ball!). You'll need to
play around with the core.ini file and DXTweak to get the right FF settings,
but there are sites which guide you on all this. Go here for some advice on
wheels:

http://www.racesimcentral.net/

  I'm a newbie like you, and I haven't raced online yet. My philosophy is
that if you can't race offline against the AI without causing a crash every
few races then you shouldn't be racing online. I wouldn't want to***
people off, so I'm waiting till I can race cleanly and consistently, and am
able to overtake other people or let other people overtake me without
incident. But that's just my philosophy.

Bendito;

m.seer

Moving up to GPL

by m.seer » Fri, 28 Jul 2000 04:00:00



And remember not to go upsetting InDiGo on lap 63 of a GP distance race <G>

MS

jackdo

Moving up to GPL

by jackdo » Fri, 28 Jul 2000 04:00:00

Thanks for the suggestions.  I think I've got a while to go before I
can go several races in a row without incident. :)  But I am determined
to keep at it until I'm consistent.  I think a quality wheel will help
considerably.

Regards,

Joe Heiman (mixdj1)



Sent via Deja.com http://www.racesimcentral.net/
Before you buy.

jackdo

Moving up to GPL

by jackdo » Fri, 28 Jul 2000 04:00:00

I'm surprised to see a recommendation for the MSFF.  Everywhere I've
looked they have said that the MS wheel has too much "stiction" (what
an odd word) for the subtle corrections needed in GPL.  How did you
overcome this, or was it ever a problem for you?

Regards,

Joe Heiman (mixdj1)



Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

bph..

Moving up to GPL

by bph.. » Fri, 28 Jul 2000 04:00:00

I'll share my experience for whatever it's worth.  When I got gpl, I
bought a thrustmaster nascar pro wheel/pedals.  It was fine but broke
after 3 months.  I had trouble getting parts from tmaster so bought a
ch set.  Pedals were ***and it broke after 2 months.  Fixed the
tmaster and it broke after 3 months.  Got a tsw 14 months ago-luv it.
www.thomas-superwheel.com.  I waited way to long to try online.  When
you can drive without running over others, go for it.  1.30 laps at
monza will even let you finish well occasionally.

If you can run 1.30 laps at monza and can aIn article


Sent via Deja.com http://www.racesimcentral.net/
Before you buy.

Eldre

Moving up to GPL

by Eldre » Fri, 28 Jul 2000 04:00:00



>  I'm a newbie like you, and I haven't raced online yet. My philosophy is
>that if you can't race offline against the AI without causing a crash every
>few races then you shouldn't be racing online. I wouldn't want to***
>people off, so I'm waiting till I can race cleanly and consistently, and am
>able to overtake other people or let other people overtake me without
>incident. But that's just my philosophy.

The AI often *help* you crash, so that may not be a good yardstick.

Eldred
--
Tiger Stadium R.I.P. 1912-1999
Homepage - http://www.racesimcentral.net/~epickett
GPL hcp. +69.95

Never argue with an idiot.  He brings you down to his level, then beats you
with experience...
Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

Michael Youn

Moving up to GPL

by Michael Youn » Fri, 28 Jul 2000 04:00:00

Stiction is not and never was a problem on my MSFF. Alison recanted much of
her earlier negative comments, probably the original source of the worries
about stiction, after trying a different unit. To each their own... I did
not actually recommend MSFF, since I've never tried the others, and
therefore have no basis for comparision. They work as well as I expected,
and have the benefit of working in Win2K, which I believe the LW still does
not.

On the negative side, I initially becried the flimsy looking pedals,
preferring my old (but by then broken) CH pedals. They required only a 2
length of 2x2 to prop up the back of the base, so the pedal action was
downward and stabilizing, instead of forward and pushing away. It took a
full weekend to finally decide they were OK enough to keep. I actually like
the pedals now. Also, the clamping arrangement conflicts with the center
drawer on my computer desk. It was an easy decision to ditch the drawer, but
I really do miss the convenience, especially for quick access to small
screws, connectors, adapters, bubble gum, and all the other junk I keep
there.

Michael.


> I'm surprised to see a recommendation for the MSFF.  Everywhere I've
> looked they have said that the MS wheel has too much "stiction" (what
> an odd word) for the subtle corrections needed in GPL.  How did you
> overcome this, or was it ever a problem for you?

> Regards,

> Joe Heiman (mixdj1)



> >. Everyone else swears by the Logitech
> > junk; MSFF works on my dual processor Win2K system, and works well
> enough
> > for me to not look any further. Who knows what I'm missing, though.

> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Before you buy.


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