rec.autos.simulators

When I'm powersliding in corner (Lesmos , Monza, for example) , it seems
that I can't correct the slide with anti lock but instead doing the opposite
thing, the slide will be corrected. If I for example go to the right-hand
corner and rear starts to slide to left , normally you 're supposed to turn
steeringwheel  to the left to correct a car. But that doesn't work for me in
GPL. I have to turn wheel to right. Why? I have a Microsoft FF Wheel (which
is absolutely incredible and accurate steering device) and GPL 02.00.

Asko

 This is one of those things that ruin sims for me...lack of feel!!But
first Ill explain what happens.See,when you back loses more grip then
your front tires the car will start to oversteer.Depending on the
setup this can be easily controlled by either more throttle to send
weight to the rears or if it happens a little quicker,reverse
lock.With the coventry,I rarely ever lose my rear end and a very quick
opposite lock will catch it for me since the car is set to understeer
much more.Now the reason that turning the wheel into the turn catches
a spin is that your completly losing grip at the front wheels and the
car becomes balanced again.In a real race car you can feel this edge
of grip for the front tires thru the steering wheel.When you fronts
lose traction and start to slide the steering gets all light.In GPL
you cant feel this very important effect and so you turn the wheel
past the point of grip and the car starts to slide evenly,and catches
the oversteer.

 Papyrus has added a tiny little effect to combat this lack of feel in
the steering wheel.When you near the limits of traction in the front
wheels,the steering wheel will start to shudder slightly.Many Many
people have reported erratic behavior with theri steering wheel
jumping from side to side.I have posted many many times that its
signaling the edge of traction for the front wheels but nobody and I
do mean nobody listens.To try it go around a turn where your sure your
in a four wheel drift,then turn your steering completly into the
turn.What youll notice is that at a certain point your steering wheel
will stop shuddering.

Skeeter

On Tue, 5 Jan 1999 22:22:52 +0200, "Asko Kallonen"

Catching slides with opposite lock is fairly easy once you learn to give
it power as you turn the wheel!  Your instincts tell you to slow down,
but if you let off the gas or hit the brakes, the car will spin.

Dave Ewing

On Tue, 5 Jan 1999 22:22:52 +0200, "Asko Kallonen"

What is GPL 02.00? Don't you have the full version?

I can't really imagine the situation you are describing above. You
describe that you are powersliding, and that the rear of the car is
coming around (therefore the front has more grip). If you turn right
(into the developing spin) the car will simply spin all the earlier,
since you are increasing the grip imbalance between the front and the
rear. (Or am I completely misunderstanding what you are doing?).

If the rear of the car is sliding you need to steer _into_ the skid
(as you described) to catch the car or, if the rear is too far gone to
recover, you can dab the brakes to slow down the rear of the car and
reduce the rotational momentum. That will lose a bit of time but
hopefully keep you on the road and pointing the right way. At a point
somewhere inbetween the above two is where a lift off the throttle can
help to stabilise the rear and get it back in line, although if you
have lost the rear through too rapid downshifting (and locked the
wheels through inadequate speed at the wheel) then lifting off will
make things worse.

Cheers!
John

Basically you are reducing the front tire grip by not steering onto the
skid.  This makes the front end slide with the rear.  You may catch the
slide but the whole car is now offline.  Ineffect you are making a car go
go from oversteer to a full slide.  In some cases you will not recover and
car will go into the weeds front end first.  By doing this you may make it
around the corner but its not the fastest way.  I usually can catch a
oversteering car by giving it more throttle,  this will shift wieght to the
rear of the car and make the front light inducing a touch of understeer.
If the rear is out a lot you need to steer into the skid a bit to help
things along.  If you only steer into the skid the front tires will
increase grip, because they are addressing the road with the tread not the
sidewall and the rear will wnat to slid more.

Dave

Once your rear end has passed the point of no return, as far as catching
it by steering into the skid, there is a place where steering the other
way really hard will let the front wheels open up enough that the front
end can roll back under the skid. This can be done in real cars in the
mud or wet, or on a dirt oval.  If this is what is occuring to you, it
sounds like you need to gain some sensitivity to your slides, and begin
to correct earlier than you are.

MM

<snip>

He is not lying, and It certainly is there in the full version.  Whether or
not it's
realistic, the effect is quite dramatic in GPL.  You can recover from
situations much worse than countersteer will control.  To me it seems to
work best combined with letting off the throttle or braking a bit.  It seems
kind of wierd though others have offered their explainations of why it
should work.

rob.