I'm a Mac user, which is nice (being Unix-based, MacOS X really is a lot
more stable than the older OS now, thank goodness), but Racer isn't
there yet (here's to ya Ruud, having bought a G4 :).
Imagine, no GPL either, and only the older Indycar II and the original
Nascar Racing as decent-for-their-time Mac race games/sims.
So, having had the chance to pick up an older 333 MHz PII w/Voodoo2, and
having bought GPL cheap "just in case" - I *really really* wanted to try
Clark's legendary Lotus someday; who wouldn't ;)
After trying for a couple of weeks with the keyboard in F1 (1:31.4 at
Monza and 1:09.6 at the Glen I think), weyhey: a cheap non-FF
wheel-pedal setup for about $ 14. Won't fit my Mac, sadly, but here we
go. Having read a wheel is "so much better", had to have a go... If
it's better, can't be too hard getting used to it in about 10 laps,
right? Off go the driving aids..
<<Scenes of extreme carnage in first 'hot'laps>>
Slide, screech, maim, wallop, *argh* - jeez, this is *hard*, which
smartypants said a wheel was *better*? ;)
Yeah, more controllable it is, but having to master the throttle/brake
all by yerself kinda undoes that advantage. And we wouldn't want to
leave them on, seeing we already raced Revs on the C64 back in the day,
would we? Nevertheless, wrecked a lot of beautiful classic F1 Ferraris
(in real life, would've been a crime indeed!)
Well, of course, after a while, things settled a bit, and going two
seconds faster to 1:07 at the Glen and 1 sec to 1:30.3 at Monza made
life a little brighter. Ok, it's no hotlap by sim standards, but then I
ain't no hotlapper by any means and it would've been enough to be on par
with Sir Surtees in the real GP. Could do worse, I guess.
However, having used Alisons Ferrari setups for a while (thanks Ali),
today I risked trying Greger Huttu's Lotus setup for Monza.
I imagined Greger's 'alien' settings to be twitchy, nervous and almost
undriveable. But it handled nicely, balanced - a surprise, I quickly got
into the low 1:30s again, despite locking my brakes nearly all the time
(this cheap wheel ain't the best configured I guess, even with extra
foam under the pedals). It felt like this setup could be stretched even
a little bit further, if I dared and was darn lucky for once.
And suddenly, a 1:30.17, as fast as the standard replay. Hey! Not too
shabby.
1:30.15, nice, even beat that replay time, trying to exit Lesmo 2 as
smoothly and fast as possible, but still lockin' those brakes at
Parabolica and Lesmo 1. And I'm sure I'm losing some time exiting
Parabolica, too. But the 1:30 barrier is only one-tenth of a second
away, so we keep on trying (and sliding off for most 'hot'laps).
Deep into the night, trying to scrape off those last few thousands,
really gunning it out of the Parabolica this time, suddenly the 1:29.92
appears. Woo hoo!
Took a couple of *weeks* (well, just the evenings of course) of trying,
but we got there. Very satisfying indeed, kinda makes up for the pain of
having to relearn GPL (which is hard enough already) for the wheel again.
What did it for me, I guess, is letting it slide a little to the outside
in the Parabolica, then turning in and shift up as fast and smooth as
possible almost in a straight line onto the straightaway. Greger's gears
work real well there in 3rd and 4th, although 5th seems a little long.
Now to practice my F1 starts - starting 6th from a mediocre saved
qualifier, I mostly drop behind and see Clark/Hill pulling away about a
mile or so right away (but managed to finish 5th later on, which is good
for my very limited talents).
(Wonder if Force Feedback really helps any further, and having no
separate axis for gas/brake pedals probably ain't that hot either.)
So, I just wanted to say Thankyou to Greger H., for being so kind to
share his fine setups. Made those days of practice almost seem
worthwhile. Thanks mate!
Now, to get some sleep, finally... Zzz <dreaming of 'real' hotlaps>
Regards, Rudy (the Netherlands)