rec.autos.simulators

Prersistence is the answer! If you want to go quick, work at it - that's all.
If I didn't have a race at Spa in a couple of weeks I'm sure I could knock
another 5 seconds off my Mexico personal best.

Good luck,

Rob Swindells
3rd equal in Goldline Bearing FFord Championship (18 Points);
9 points behind Championship Leader (as of round 4 of 6)
"If you're a great driver, you will get through. It's not harder than any time
before." ~Martin Brundle

the answer! If you want to go quick, work at it - that's all.

I found that was the case up to a certain point, then I just didn't go any
quicker! I usually only drive at Spa,  Monza and sometimes the Glen and have
not improved my time at any of them on months!. I practice at least 1 hour
(and usually 2 or more) almost every night of the week and just don't get
any faster or more consistent. I fact I usually find I do my fastest lap of
the night within the first 10 laps of the session and then go downhill from
there! As you can understand this is getting a little frustrating, and on
more than one occasion I have been tempted to delete GPL and throw out the
CD. I've tried all sorts of different setups ( I find Allison's  mostly
undriveable due to the Godawful understeer). Best times are  around 1:31 at
Monza, mid 1:07's at the Glen and 3:30 at Spa. Just can't go any faster and
stay on the track.
p.s. I've had both the demo and the full game since the day they were
released !!
    I  HATE  THIS  ***Y SIM !!!!

Lio

:> It's just a case of 'how much do you want to practise??> Prersistence is
: the answer! If you want to go quick, work at it - that's all.

: I found that was the case up to a certain point, then I just didn't go any
: quicker! I usually only drive at Spa,  Monza and sometimes the Glen and have
: not improved my time at any of them on months!. I practice at least 1 hour
: (and usually 2 or more) almost every night of the week and just don't get
: any faster or more consistent. I fact I usually find I do my fastest lap of
: the night within the first 10 laps of the session and then go downhill from
: there! As you can understand this is getting a little frustrating, and on
: more than one occasion I have been tempted to delete GPL and throw out the
: CD. I've tried all sorts of different setups ( I find Allison's  mostly
: undriveable due to the Godawful understeer). Best times are  around 1:31 at
: Monza, mid 1:07's at the Glen and 3:30 at Spa. Just can't go any faster and
: stay on the track.
: p.s. I've had both the demo and the full game since the day they were
: released !!
:     I  HATE  THIS  ***Y SIM !!!!

  Heh - I know EXACTLY how you feel - my times are only a margin faster
on these tracks in the Ferrari.  (I can be a bit faster in the Lotus but
somehow I think of using the Lotus as cheating - don't ask me, perhaps
it's a hint of *** in my make up but I really want to be a
Ferrari/Eagle driver).  One thing that might help is to take a bit of a
change and learn a different track.  Rouen and Zandvort are fun.  I find
that if I go away from a track for a little, when I get back to it I
reconsider the lines through corners and experiment a little more and
sometimes find things.  (On the other hand, sometimes I forget things -
I've lost my way through the "Esses" at the glen so my time has gone up
from high 1:06s to mid 1:07s because I can't remember the line I used to
take through that little lot).  I think that I get lazy and set in my
ways so I drive laps which are all very similar in time and don't
experiment with new lines.

  Just an idea but I think it helps to have two different driving styles
in GPL - race style where you aim for consistency and drone round and
round trying to keep the same line and speed - and testing style where
you try out new lines and new approaches.

--
Richard G. Clegg     Only the mind is waving
Dept. of Mathematics (Network Control group) Uni. of York.

www: http://www.racesimcentral.net/

I think it's possible to get "locked into" a particular setup and not
progress any further, so the key is to try downloading other people's
setups (unless you can design your own of course) or try other cars to
see how they behave.

I'd also recommend trying all the tracks - I just did a World
Championship season against 2 AI (that's all my system can manage!) and
it was a blast!  I ended up in a Prost/Senna situation going into the
last race where I had to win and try to get Jim Clarke to come 3rd - I
managed to bump into him in the S-bend after the first turn at Mexico to
let Brabham through into the lead, then chased down Brabham and passed
him only to mess up with victory in sight!

I often find that if I then come back to a track I'm slower to begin
with, but then often start going faster, as I try something different
that works.

I agree with you about Alison's setups - the understeer makes it
impossible to go round corners fast enough - but if you try some of the
demon hotlappers' setups at http://www.racesimcentral.net/~schubi/fastlaps.htm
it's a different story!  They're like night and day compared to the
comfortable Ali setups, but they are incredibly quick if you can keep
the car on the road.

Personally I much prefer close nose-to-tail racing than just hotlapping
anyway - the best thing is to enter an online race and find someone just
a bit slower than you, then practice trying to pass them cleanly!  If
you get past, wait for them and try again!

Sounds pretty anti-social, but I think other drivers enjoy the s***as
well, even if they don't realise you're doing it deliberately!

I also find Allison's setups exhibit a bit of understeer when used with
my driving style.  There are several ways to work in some oversteer:

  1) Tire pressure - lower the front tire pressure -OR- raise
     the rear tire pressure

  2) Camber - more negative front camber -OR- less negative
     rear camber

  3) Swaybars - decrease front swaybar -OR- increase rear
     swaybar.

You should really broaden your racing horizons and move on to some
competition instead of just running around the track by yourself.  It
helps if you can watch other people (in replays), and try to emulate
their drioving lines and shift points.  Keep in mind that setups and
driving styles vary wildly from one person to another.  And one guy's
shift or brake point won't be good for your setup/driving style.  It's up
to you to makethat kind of call.

One last item of note - a good hotlap doesn't necessarily mean you have
any racing talent.  Can you stay on the track for "long" race with the AI
or other human drivers?  Can you avoid hitting everyone?  Can you finish
the race at all, much less, on the lead lap?  How well can you start from
the start/finish line when you qualify in the middle of the grid?  Can
you make the first lap clean without hitting anyone?  Can you drive
smart?

*THESE* should be your goals, and secondary consideration should be a
hotlap.

Of course, this is just my humble opinion...

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oops - I was talking about the ninety not the loop ... just in case
someone was wondering ;-)

Lio

That sounds like the point you're at, and that's where the hard work
starts - driving round and round no longer improves your times, you
are as good as you're going to be with that line, those braking points
and that setup. You now need to think your way creatively around the
track, can you compromise your setup to lose a little time in one
place but gain a little more elsewhere? Can you compromise your line
and/or braking point into one section to be faster in the following?

Taking Spa as an example, perhaps being a little slower into Malmedy
would gain the precision to give greater speed all the way down to
Masta? If you drive a slower car like the Brabham perhaps shorter
gearing would give a lower top speed but the fact that you reach it
more quickly may pick up some time. These may or may not be the case,
but that's the way to break down the wall and start picking up time
again. You fall into a groove of driving and tend to pick the same
braking points and same line every time, and to improve that needs to
change. FWIW I have been (and am) in the same situation, but can't
summon up the enthusiasm for lots of testing to improve my times - I
get bored running on an empty track. However my times invariably
improve when I run online and follow someone faster, since the spirit
of competition fires me up and I can also go to school on their lines
and braking points.

Cheers!
John

        May, or may not be important...  Talking to a driver that had the track
record at the Glen in a GT(3) Opel and a FV.  he said that the way he
takes the 90* (turn 1) at the Glen is to get the feeling of approaching
it, stop and wave to the crowd, turn, then floor it.  I can't say if
this is still true with the pre 1971 configuration, but It does feel
good to me.

        I'll stick to the left side of the track and slow so much that it does
feel like I'm standing still.  (While watching the replay I'm actually
about 1 mph slower then the regular guys I run with).  I'll then wait
till the last second and turn the wheel and go.  When ever there is
someone ahead of me, by the time I reach the S/F line I'm actually
slamming on the brakes to keep from hitting him.

Just something you might want to try,
Mike

--
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Stilla bit of a wobbler under braking sometimes, but I'm confident I'll be
able to work that out.

BTW, I too found Ali's setups nice for learning about setting cars up,
especially when accompanied by her great explanations, but impossible to drive
due to the understeer. Maybe I'll be able to go back to similar setups though
once I master the art of trailbraking, something I still find putting me in
the armco more often than not.

Sounds like a good way to break someone. "Oh, I just regained the lead for the
7th time and now I lost it again, what a lousy driver I am!" -:)

Cheers,
   /ft

Cheers,
    /ft, who really has to stop staring at the car in front  -:)

Yeah you're right about practice, it really is the only way.  Looking
forward to next week's posting of that 1:44 lap.  Don't let us down now.
;-)
--
Peter Ives

   Cheers, Andrew ;-)

Well when you're SLOW, like me, it's EASY to stay on the track.  It's sometimes
hard to get out of the way when the leaders lap me, though. :-)

Eldred

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All I see is them accelerating away from me out of the turns.  I was in a race
with Thom_J. at Monza last week.  I could *usually* gain in the braking zones,
but he'd just STREAK away from me down the straights.  It was frustrating,
because I could never get close enough to pull off a pass.  It was FUN, though.
 Don't ask about Silverstone - disaster!

Eldred

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