rec.autos.simulators

I've tried everything to beat that time.  In particular, I tried the
Ferrari, Cooper and Brabham, thinking a clean lap in those might beat a poor
lap in the Lotus.  I did a 8:35 in the Ferrari, then an 8:36 in the Cooper
and an 8:34 in the Brabham.

So with about >30 laps under my belt over the last 4 days, and some good
clean laps in the other cars, a couple of hours ago, I returned to the
Lotus.  First flying lap, screwed up, turned GPL off in frustration.  An
hour later, another try.  My first flying lap was going really well, and
like usual, when I'm going for a PB, I got really tense, so much I had to
pause the game and take a breather half way through Schwalbenshwanz (also
know as Drivein Diegutter 2).  So five minutes later, back to the lap,
finish the last 30 seconds or so and cross the line.

I was expecting an 8:29, a 3 second improvement.  Up comes the bit board.
8:24 !!  What a moment.  7.9 seconds off my GPLRank in one glorious lap!
New GPLRank +6.29

Half an hour later, I'm thinking about the little mistakes I did on that
lap, so I have another go, 8:22.26 !  That's a full ten second improvement
in one day.  New GPLRank +4.24 and I'm only a decent lap round Spa and Rouen
away from going negative :)

| The last 4 days I've been putting a major effort into beating my PB at the
| Ring.  My GPLRank was +14, but I knew most of that was because of my 8:32
at
| the ring, so it needed fixing.
|
| I've tried everything to beat that time.  In particular, I tried the
| Ferrari, Cooper and Brabham, thinking a clean lap in those might beat a
poor
| lap in the Lotus.  I did a 8:35 in the Ferrari, then an 8:36 in the Cooper
| and an 8:34 in the Brabham.
|
| So with about >30 laps under my belt over the last 4 days, and some good
| clean laps in the other cars, a couple of hours ago, I returned to the
| Lotus.  First flying lap, screwed up, turned GPL off in frustration.  An
| hour later, another try.  My first flying lap was going really well, and
| like usual, when I'm going for a PB, I got really tense, so much I had to
| pause the game and take a breather half way through Schwalbenshwanz (also
| know as Drivein Diegutter 2).  So five minutes later, back to the lap,
| finish the last 30 seconds or so and cross the line.
|
| I was expecting an 8:29, a 3 second improvement.  Up comes the bit board.
| 8:24 !!  What a moment.  7.9 seconds off my GPLRank in one glorious lap!
| New GPLRank +6.29
|
| Half an hour later, I'm thinking about the little mistakes I did on that
| lap, so I have another go, 8:22.26 !  That's a full ten second improvement
| in one day.  New GPLRank +4.24 and I'm only a decent lap round Spa and
Rouen
| away from going negative :)
|
|
|

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Hehe :)  Thanks.  Just done a 1:28.32 at Monaco and my new GPLRank is +2.55
:)

Congrats Simon.  If you can improve by such a large amount in one go
(almost one go) then you've probably got a few seconds more in the tank
somewhere.   It's when your improvements start dropping to just
fractions of seconds each time, that it's time to start wondering if
you've reached your limit.

--
Peter Ives
Remove ALL_STRESS before replying
If you know what's good for you, don't listen to me
GPLRank Joystick -50.63 Wheel -17.06

What started to frustrate me was that I was losing the car at random
places, even at corners where I focussed and which I thought I took
very carefully. For some reason the car sometimes just slipped off the
road, and I didn't know why.

So I emailed a replay of one of the corners where I was losing the car
to a friend of mine who drives 7:50 laps at the Ring. He made a new
setup for me and asked me to test it.

I drove three laps in a row then, without a single accident or slip
off the road, all three laps were 8:20. Not the fastest laps ever, but
I was taking it really slowly, only focussing on staying on the road.
With my old setup I was sliding all over the place, now I barely hear
my tires screeching yet I drive allmost the same laptimes and I'm much
more stable now at the Ring.

I won't focus on hotlapping untill I can drive laps without accidents
again and again, and I'll slowly start pushing more and more.

Also, with this setup, I take the second part of the Ring allmost
completely in third gear (instead of 1st, 2nd and 3rd like I used to
do). With low revs in third gear the chance of spinning becomes much
lower, while it doesn't seem to influence my laptimes. More stable
driving and better for the car during those long GP races :)

Andre

Andre

My GPL Rank has stayed more or less stable in the past 6 months, at
comfortable (for me) -36 GPL Rank. I am fast enough at all other tracks to
be in 104 % of a World Record. But at the Ring, I am down to miserable 107%
with a 8:17 in a Ferrari.

That is my laptime from 6 months ago, and I have had some problems with my
wheel since, but now I am getting there again. I make my own setups and I
run all my hotlaps on same setups I use for long GP races, seems they are
the only ones that are so stable to make a clean lap and allow a bit of
pushing at Ring. After reading your post I am determined to make a new
setup, going for as much grip as possible and adjust the gearing for minimum
wheelspin. Also I think I'll trade my Ferrari for the Eagle, seems a decent
choice with its excellent power curve.

Here is to the 8:10 at the Green Hell !!

Mike

Great I gave you some encouragement Mike, but don't you dare break
that 8:10 before I do!! :)

Andre

That means on an average 8-corner track like Silverstone, you can do 3
or 4 hotlaps without crashing. However... with 70 corners at the Ring,
you only have a 1 in 36 chance of completing a lap without spinning!!

- Michael

Exactly the same for me, I am also losing car in random place,
now I have difficulty to find out a corner where I've never
crashed. And my regular lap times is also 5-15 seconds slower
than my pb.

Can I have this setup too please? I hope that it is not like
Monza setup that you sent to me. With that I could hardly
stay within 2:00. My email is alexti at internet dot look dot ca.

Alex
(alexti)

Alex
(alexti)

Something else:
A long time ago I read a tip about a good way to practise the Ring.
Choose a 3 lap Pro Short race against -5- AI's. Use AITweak to set
them to your average Ring time, maybe a bit faster. Then don't qualify
but start last.
My AI was driving 8:20 laps without tweaking, which was good enough
for me. I did 3 of these races yesterday and had big fun.
AI's constant in front and behind me, the first race I lost the car on
lap 3, I finished the 2nd race in 3rd place and on the third lap I was
in third spot with Clark and Brabham close in front of me. After the
long straight I did an 'everything or nothing' manouvre and.. ended up
with a wrecked car :)

Driving behind AI cars automatically gives more motivation to push
your car a bit to stay close behind them. And it's more fun than solo
training :)

Andre

| Something else:
| A long time ago I read a tip about a good way to practise the Ring.
| Choose a 3 lap Pro Short race against -5- AI's. Use AITweak to set
| them to your average Ring time, maybe a bit faster. Then don't qualify
| but start last.
| My AI was driving 8:20 laps without tweaking, which was good enough
| for me. I did 3 of these races yesterday and had big fun.
| AI's constant in front and behind me, the first race I lost the car on
| lap 3, I finished the 2nd race in 3rd place and on the third lap I was
| in third spot with Clark and Brabham close in front of me. After the
| long straight I did an 'everything or nothing' manouvre and.. ended up
| with a wrecked car :)
|
| Driving behind AI cars automatically gives more motivation to push
| your car a bit to stay close behind them. And it's more fun than solo
| training :)
|
| Andre

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Andre