IMO:
1) Is GPL hard? Yes
2) Is the stock AI too hard? Yes
3) Can you modify the AI? Yes
4) Is GPL worth the time and effort? Yes
I'm not a *** racing sim guy, but I enjoy driving a good
simulator. I have three boys (aged 13, 14 and 18), and not one of
them likes GPL. They would rather play NFSIII, as it takes very
little skill to bash around the track and win a race, or evade the
cops.
I bought GPL several weeks ago, and when I first played it, my
experience was like this ...
I loaded the game, started a training session with one of the novice
trainer cars. I went round and round Watkins Glen about 20 laps. I
felt I was ready to try and race. The next thing I knew I was seated
in a full power car turning in lap times 15 or 20 seconds off the
pace! I stayed in, and started the race in the last position. The
race started, and I was left in the dust ... finishing three laps
behind the leader. I was pretty upset. Christ, I thought, was that
fun? NO!
After that first try, I put NFSIII back in.
But, I came back and tried again. And again, and again and again.
Honestly I don't have the free time to sit down and really put the
time in to get good enough to pull off a 1:06 at the Glen. However
When I find the time to get away and race for a while ... I seem to
always put GPL in. I find the game an amazing challenge, and have had
some of the most satisfying *** experiences while playing it.
How did I go from wanting to crack the CD in half and throw it in the
fireplace ... to treasuring its place in my game collection?
First of all, I learned how to dumb down my AI competition. I'm not
going to go into how it's done here, but it's not hard at all. Once I
slowed things down to the point where I didn't come in last every
race, I found that I was learning more. Actually being able to keep
up, I learned more about the tracks by following other cars.
Not knowing much about car setup, I downloaded some setups off the
net, and tried them. I could notice a big difference between the way
the car handled before and after the change in setup. Then I printed
out, and scrutinized the differences in setup. I tweaked some things
here and there myself, and saved the setups as 'mine'. Furthermore,
as I just loved the sound of the ferrari, it was a while before I
tried any other car. In retrospect, that was a big mistake. The
first time I tried the Lotus, I shaved so much time off my laps that I
couldn't believe it.
The next thing I sat down and did ... was to take the time and try and
learn each track. I found that some tracks were more 'fun' than
others. I also noticed that certain tracks were more applicable to my
driving style. While doing this I learned perhaps the most important
thing that helped me go faster: "Watch the landmarks aside the
tracks". I started using trees, houses, and stuff to mark my breaking
points. This was crucial, and my lap times smoothed out to the point
where I was pulling laps within one second of each other --
consistantly.
After having gone through those steps, which were fun in and of
themselves ... I'm enjoying some of the best racing I've ever had in
front of my computer. The AI that I had dumbed down to get started,
is constantly being sped back up (If I win a race by a significant
margin, I give the AI some more ooomph.) By keeping the AI files
modified, and always keeping them one step ahead of me: I am assured
that I will always have a challenging race -- one in which I will
need to make no mistakes in order to win.
I now look forward to 4-wheel-drifting my Lotus around Spa, with the
leader in my sights. This game has given me more challenge than any
other. I keep coming back to it when I have some free *** time.
When I win a race, I actually feel as though I accomplished something.
And that ... if for no other reason ... is why Grand Prix Legends has
become my favorite game. The level of immersion is spectacular, I
actually feel as though I'm walking away from my race car when turn
off my computer (well, almost). I paid $35 bucks for a simulator that
takes me back in time; to the days when race cars were dangerous, and
their drivers must have been frickn crazy.
People that write in this newsgroup, about their dislike for this sim,
either haven't got the patience to work slowly and gradually, or are
simply miffed that they couldn't buy the game and win a race in the
same day. If GPL was EASY to learn, I simply wouldn't have spent so
much time with it ... and I certainly wouldn't have received the level
of satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment it has given me.
I tried some online racing too. Wow. That's all I can say ... Wow.