I finally got a negative sign before my gplrank! Wheee! :)
So I decided to share some thoughts with you, fellow racers.
I've always liked car racing games. I played the good ol' F1GP quite a lot
back then with Amiga, and also Indy 500 by Papyrus (probably one of their
first games). Before that, Test Drive on C64 :) On PC, the Need For Speed
series caught my attention.
I remember reading about GPL in some magazine. They said it was very
difficult, and simulated the old F1 cars. Then after a year or so, I
stumbled upon it again on some web page or news group, where there was
some discussion about how realistic the physics actually were. I thought:
"would be nice to give it a try".
That finally happened when a friend told me about it. He was currently
participating in a gpl league. I drove some laps, using keyboard. Then I
bought the MS Sidewinder FF wheel, and a bit later also the original game
(it was just re-released). This was in March 2001. I wish it had happened
in 1998 already.
The game sucked me in like a black hole would suck anything in its near
vicinity. The challenge of driving the cars and learning the tracks was
huge. I started driving around Monza and Silverstone with the Coventry. I
read a lot of web pages, including the great site by Alison Hine.
At first, I crashed a lot. I couldn't believe how hard it was to stay on
track. I think it took a whole weekend of hard driving to learn lap
consistently on Silverstone.
Gradually I got faster, I learned to drive the Ferrari and the Brabham and
got to know the other tracks too (not the 'Ring, no way!). I read about
trail braking and experimented, trying to unravel its secrets.
I noticed that all the hot shoes in gplrank had driven the Lotus. I
surmised Lotus must be the secret of fast lap times. Even though I could
stay on track with Ferrari, I most certainly couldn't with Lotus. Very
frustrating. After some hard work I finally tamed the Lotus and beat all
my previous records, set with Brabham.
I was within a few seconds of Papyrus on all tracks but the 'Ring, where
my time was about 9 min. So I thought I should really work on it. I drove
around the 'Ring. Then I drove some more. And after that, a lot more. I
drove it so much I sometimes couldn't get to sleep at night because I was
still driving it in my head, thinking where I could do this and that to go
a bit faster. The track is truly awesome. The people who drove there are
the real grand prix legends. After all that manic 'Ringing, I got the time
down to 8:20 in Lotus. I'm not stopping there though, there is no limit
for improvement.
Thr Lotus is a fast, delicate car, and has the feeling of being on the
edge all the time. It sort of connects with me, especially on the 'Ring.
The Ferrari and the Brabham are more forgiving, I can throw them around
more carelessly. I haven't really tried those big, heavy cars at all.
The popular opinion about the Honda and BRM doesn't seem to be of the
positive sort, either.
The most fun tracks to drive are Zandvoort (flowing movement), Monza
(relaxed), Silverstone (rhythm). Nurburgring is on another level, and
cannot be compared to the other tracks. It's great because of the
challenge, and great fun to get it right. On the other hand, it has a lot
of "arse-clenching points that have to be taken with commitment", like
Icanseezepubfromhier and Soddingprivit Hedgenschtop (scary place).
Setting up the car is what I haven't really tried yet. I've used Alison's
setups, which are very driveable. I also haven't raced online much. That's
what I'm going to do next. So...
Thank you Papurys!
I'm going to sleep now :)
--
/K-P