organization in the GPL community, the Grand Prix Legends Preservation
Society.
At one time, Grand Prix Legends ruled the simracing universe. Upon the
release of NR2003, that exclusiveness was lost. Now, GPL is being
assailed on all sides by sims such as rFactor, GTR & GTR2, and GTL. And
of course the iRacing product is just over the horizon. All of these
are outstanding sims in their own right, but what none of these sims
has to offer is the atmosphere that GPL provides, at least in our
opinion. We realize, especially considering the rFactor platform, that
it is possible to recreate the cars and tracks that we've grown to
love, but the reality is that it still won't feel the same. And
it's that feel, the uniqueness of GPL that has made it what it is
today. We feel it needs to be preserved, and that's where the GPLPS
comes in.
The GPLPS was formed with the mindset that all aspects of GPL and its
community need support from a central group for its continued
longevity. This is not a group that is going to 'force' anything
upon the community; that is not our intent. We are not trying to
establish the GPLPS as a governing entity. Our purpose is to act on
many fronts to consolidate and protect our GPL resources, and to offer
support where possible. Although they will likely evolve over time,
these are our initial goals:
1) To acquire and catalog every car, track, utility and file available
for GPL. Not the rights to these products, mind you (although we will
offer that service if someone so wishes), but rather as a central
repository of these files so they will never be lost. We do not intend
to be the primary distributor of these files; we just intend to
preserve them.
2) To act as a knowledge base for the creation of GPL mods, and to
provide assistance if needed.
3) To actively promote GPL both within and outside of our community.
Again, we have a unique product, and we don't want it to be
forgotten.
4) To support the online racing community, and to do what is necessary
to keep the online community healthy, whether it's league-based or
casual pick-up racing.
So 'who' is the GPLPS? For one, the acronym is not entirely
original. Long-time community members may remember that the Grand Prix
Legends Editors Association was first created with this title, but
quickly became known as the GPLEA instead. That fact had escaped us,
but I am honored to say that the GPLEA is very much in support of us
using this acronym for our purpose. Our idea is borne of a concept
first proposed by Bernd Nowak, and continued by Bernd, Arturo Pereira,
and myself. We have already enlisted many of the key "movers and
shakers" in the community, and they have co-signed below. If you are
one who feels you should be part of this, contact us via PM or email.
Please do not feel overlooked; it's likely that it was recommended
that I contact you, but I didn't have a valid email or PM address. I
know this to be the case in some situations.
As for our file storage, and eventually our website, those matters will
be handled by the Speedgeezers family of Bill Cooper, Paul Jackson, and
Bernd. Space will not be a problem.
We admit that we are still very much in the building stage of this
project. But with the current atmosphere in the simracing community and
its numerous diversions, we felt that it was time to reassure the GPL
community that someone was looking out for their interests, and that
the GPL ship is still very seaworthy. There is much to do, of course,
and we will keep you informed.
Long live GPL!
David Fletcher
Bernd Nowak
Arturo Pereira
Co-signed by:
Bob Berman
John Bradley
Richard Cooke
Phil Flack
Rory Gibson
Martin Granberg
Bill Guillaume
Sergio Loro
Charles Mark
Ian Pinkerton
Martin Pitts
Nils Ruwisch
Paul Skingley
Keith Smith-Gillespie
Paul Thurston
Tore
And a few other loyal supporters