rec.autos.simulators

I know this has been discussed here before, so I am sorry for bringing
it up again, but I just got GP2 for Christmas and I am obsessed.
Anyway, is it possible for the cars to actually flip?  I have had
several crashes as well as downloading several from the net that seem
to have had the potential for flipping but has never actually
happened.  Can someone shed some light?  Thanks!

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It seems that the 3D engine cannot handle the car being upside down,
the cars will tilt up to 45 degrees to either side but not actually flip.

Oh well maybe someday we can simulate the unfortunate luck that Martin
Brundle ran into at the start of the 1996 F1 season in Australia when
his Jordan was launched off David Coulthard's McLaren flipping in the
air and landing upside down to break apart in a mass of crumbled pieces.

Amazingly Martin was able to walk away from this terrible accident, when
many of us watching the race live were fearing the worst.

Once you see some of these terrible accidents happen while you are
watching the race, you tend to lose your eagerness to have these flips
included in the simulation.

I'm not saying that I wouldn't like it being there in GP2 or the Papyrus
sims, only that personally I don't mind them not having been implemented
yet. Anyways somehow I don't think it is possible for them to
realistically simulate terrible results that happen to a driver and
vehicle when it flips and lands upside down or breaks apart.

If you saw the terrible accident that happened at the CART Indycar race in
toronto this year, you would have experienced the sickening feeling of
what a terrible crash does. Driver Jeff Krosnoff and flag marshal Gary
Avrin both died as a result.

Well sorry for the downer long explanation for such a simple question, I
guess we all forget that these "sims" are realistic but only up to a point
since our ass really isn't on the line like it is for the real drivers.

Cheers.

--John

John

No....they will not actually turn turtle.  The greatest angle (fore/aft)
that I've seen a car at would be about 40 degrees.
--

BruceK
VR #31, Pro. Division
VRE Site is http://www.netspeed.com.au/brucek/vegemiteracing/index.htm

but they sure get high in the air sometimes and then come smashing down
and breaking in half

I know what you mean. Jeff Krosnoff's incident was indeed sickening, as
was another motorsport accident I saw where the driver was killed
recently [Formula 3000 it might have been]. However, just flipping the
car didn't cause either of these incidents; the drivers actually went
over the track barriers in each. I've seen plenty of harmless flips in
motorsport, Hill in Estoril qualifying 1994, Brundle and Badoer in 1996,
and basically in a sim they would simply mean YOU HAVE RETIRED, rather
than your nose cone has fallen off, pop into the pits for 8 seconds and
get a new one!

On the token of the cars breaking realistically, I think GP2 does a
pretty good job there. If you've ever seen a really big crash in GP2
you'll know that you can end up breaking your car in two, as happened
with Brundle in Melbourne.

Yep, I wouldn't mind a flip!
--
Dave Bowers

That is what I figured...

Yeah, I was watching the race when it happened.  It was a terrible
accident -- one of the worst I have ever seen in auto racing.

True, but that is the good part about a sim -- you can have a
horrendous crash and start over and try to do it better next time.  It
would have been more realistic if they had included the ability to
flip (like in NFS) but it doesn't detract from the game much for me.
It is still the best racing sim out there BY FAR.

***********************************************
    Todd Walker                          

    iAmerica Tech Support Representative  
    T-Type on IRC                        
    Homepage: http://cust.iamerica.net/twalker  
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