This advice from Peter Gagg is terrific. The only thing I would add is
to start out in the Advanced Trainer, rather than the Grand Prix car.
The AT cars all have 200 hp, vs about 400 hp for most of the GP cars.
This makes it much easier to learn to control the cars; they are not
quite so ready to leap at the scenery at the slightest touch of
throttle. Also, in terms of overall lap times, the Advanced Trainers
are not too much slower than the GP cars; I've done a few laps in the
1:32 range at Zandvoort, for example. I found that when I was learning
to drive in GPL, if I did a few laps (maybe 50 or so) in an AT, then I
did much better in the GP car.
Don't feel like a wimp if you choose to race the AT's for a while. With
their size and weight, the ATs are roughly comparable to the full-house
1.5 liter GP cars of 1961 through 1965, and not much different from the
cars derived from the 1.5 liter cars which many of the teams used as
interim cars in 1966 and early 1967.
It is possible to race against the AI with the Trainers if you change a
single character in your player.ini file. See the general FAQ on my GPL
site for details:
http://www.racesimcentral.net/~alison/gpl/
One other point which may not have been emphasized in this thread quite
enough: you need to practice a lot. <Very Big Grin>
I drove more than 500 laps at Monza before I felt I really was
competitive there, and Monza is the simplest track. And I'm still
learning. Although I know all the tracks fairly well by now, I find
that I need about 200 laps at most circuits to get down to reasonable
times, if I've been away from that circuit for more than a week or two.
Yeah, I guess I agree with the title of this thread. :-)
Alison
>> That's an interesting one. I've wondered sometimes if it's better
>> to start off fast and work on consistency, or start consistent and
>> work on speed. Would you mind explaining the advantage of the
>> latter?
>> >6) Start off slowly and gradually build up your speed, not the
>> other
>> >way around.
>Most people get a new racing game/sim and jump straight in with both
>feet and immediately try to break all known lap records at the first
>attempt without even glancing at the manual!!!!
>This usually results in lots of unscheduled *off-road* driving
>admiring the scenery when you should in fact be on the track
>practicing. This is caused because the drivers have not learnt how to
>control the car, not learnt the circuits, and they are driving *TOO
>FAST* and end up continually crashing. This in turn dents confidence,
>and can get very annoying? and you do not learn that much from
>continually crashing (apart from where the barriers are situated?
>and how slow it is to get out of the gravel trap?)
>The more conservative approach (driving slower and gradually building
>up speed) will ultimately be more beneficial (IMHO?) because of many
>reasons...
>1) Driving slower gives you more time to react.
>2) You can see & learn the correct racing line easier at lower
>speeds.
>3) Car control is easier at lower speeds.
>4) You will crash less at lower speeds.
>5) If you crash less your confidence will rise.
>6) Remembering circuits is easier at lower speeds.
>My method for a new game/sim is to take a few laps to just drive
>around the circuit, not fast at all, to familiarise myself with the
>general layout. (Also check out any maps or diagrams in the manual,
>etc).
>Then try some faster laps, but the object is to just try and stay on
>the track without spinning/crashing off. Once I can do this
>consistently (I have learnt to anticipate the corners and bends) I
>start to gradually increase speed and try to lower my laptimes, but
>the emphasis is on gradually.
>As you gradually drive more laps, you get more familiar with the
>circuit, and can anticipate better, try to go faster on the straights
>on each lap by accelerating out of corners earlier. also try to brake
>into corners a little bit later on each lap. Each lap you are only
>trying to improve on the last one (even if it is only by 1/100th of a
>second) and not trying for an out and out record. Although,
>obviously, if you drive an outstanding lap, then that is a bonus!
>As the laps count off, you will find the best braking points, the
>best gear change points, and the correct line for the circuit. You
>will also be learning about the car, how it brakes, how it
>accelerates, how it slides, how the wheels lock up, etc. Because you
>are doing it gradually, you are learning that little bit extra on
>each lap, feeling for the limit of the car, the braking limits, the
>traction limits, etc.
>I find using this method, after about 20 - 25 laps of pretty much any
>circuit, in any game/sim, that I have learnt enough about the car and
>circuit to drive a fairly competitive lap? This means after say about
>half an hour to an hour I can be pretty quick and fairly consistent.
>Whereas, the guy that just jumps in feet first and drives hell for
>leather (unless he is *very* talented?) ends up spending the first
>half an hour to an hour spinning all over the place, crashing out,
>smashing into things, *AND* at the end of it all, he knows *** all
>about the cars limit or the layout of the circuit, cos he has spent
>more time off the circuit than the marshals!!!
>8-)
>*Peter* 8-)
>(NB: remove asterix to e-mail)
Alison
Remove the spam blocker NOSPAM to email me.
http://www.racesimcentral.net/,ultranet.com/~alison
