rec.autos.simulators

But at least you can play F1GP on a notebook (for those long, boring
flights).  ICR with the keyboard is just a tedious, tire scrubbing
exercise in futility.  Personally, I'll take the "artificial" steering
if it allows me this flexibility.  When I am back at home, I turn the
steering help off and use a stick.

--
Stephen Ferguson

: : : In F1GP you can't see the revs gauge if you use the external vision.
: : [snip re. peripheral vision]

: : Surely you don't drive looking at the rev limiter?   You need to be
: : able to drive and change gear by listening to the revs, then your
: : problem is solved!  :-)

: The PC speaker sound is too loud for me. Perhaps with a sound card it's
: better. I drive with sound switched off and look at the revs
: indicator to change gear. By the way, I switch at about 12,500. Which is
: the best level to switch? Usually engine power drops slightly
: at the upper rev limit, so I think it's better not pushing it up to
: 14,000 even if you can't blow the engine. (13,000 is already in the red
: area).

I have found (of course, I'm not the quickest driver :-) ), that 12,750 is
about optimum.  To better enable me to grab exact shift points, I always
run with GPperf enabled.  (GPperf V2 or later provides a dash-mounted LED
display of 3 configurable rev points, two yellow and one red).  I set the
two yellow LEDs to come on together at 12,500 and the red to come on at
12,700.  The LEDs are very visible without having to look directly at
them.  In the lower gears, I shift when the yellows come on (reaction time
will result in an actual shift point near 12,750.  In fifth, and on some
tracks, fourth, I shift when I see the red.  I'd be very interested in
anyone else's use for this feature.

BTW, you can get GPperf (and the other _must have_ goodies) from Dave
Gymer's excellent site at  http://www.mal.com/~dgymer/f1gp/

Regards,

--Brian Ferguson      |  "When I'm racing, I'm alive.   |   LFRS '95-96
--Newmarket, ON, CAN  |    Everything else is just      |  Uranus-Nissan

--

Have you ever tried turning your head at 200MPH?
I suspect that you'd find the buffeting was not at all comfortable.

It is also a completely useless thing to do in the context of a racing
game, where the purpose is to concentrate ahead and drive fast, not
admire the pretty flowers by the trackside.

Also, you mention lack of peripheral vision, but again, this is something
you don't get an awful lot of when you're strapped into a racing helmet!

If you want realism, then don't forget progressively covering the screen
with oily gunk as you race ;-)

If you ask me, they got the keyboard wrong. Playable, but not ideal IMHO.

I used to play Revs on the humble Beeb, and that had excellent keys -
once you were used to them. I hate having to play the game with an auto
gearbox, but the naff manual control for gear changes in F1GP really
bugs me (get on the grass and try to get into 2nd or 3rd gear without
going into a spin... This is because you can't change up a gear unless
you've got the accelerator pedal on the floor. Revs was much better,
in its use of "change up" and "change down" gear keys, so you could
select a gear without having to use the throttle. Sortof like a real
car, really). I'm not saying MPS should replace the keyset, just
offer a way of configuring it that will allow me to program in the
Revs keys!

Actually, the only real thing I've seen that is wrong with F1GP2 is that
I don't have a copy of it yet! Arrrrgh!

;-)

--

Whatever it was I just said was probably just personal opinion
rather than the official view of my employer.

going into a spin... <<

Em, EXTREMELY easy. It's extremely UNusual to spin after you're on the
grass unless you want to (if you spend time to practice and become
good).

you've got the accelerator pedal on the floor.

Yes you can...... Just go into the settings and disable the
gear/throttle linkage (which is there to make the game easier for
people as it's more intuitive, less realistic). Read the manual maybe? <G>

Cheers!
John

--
      oooO   _    _    Oooo   John Wallace, Edinburgh (Scotland)
     (   )  / )  ( \  (   )   CompuServe : 100347,3560

       \_)(___)  (___)(_/
          oooO    Oooo

Doesn't make any difference if you did - you'd just see a big blur.
Try taking a motorbike ride at 150mph - your vision just telescopes to
a box the distance, and everything else is just a blur, and the blur is
worse the closer things are. Something like a trackside wall or verge
is impossible to make out deatils.  I'm sure I've seen the same thing
from film taken on F1 mounted cameras racing down the main straight...

--

  John -
          "Nice computer, but I couldn't eat a whole one....."

: Try taking a motorbike ride at 150mph - your vision just telescopes to
: a box the distance, and everything else is just a blur, and the blur is
: worse the closer things are. Something like a trackside wall or verge
: is impossible to make out deatils.  I'm sure I've seen the same thing
: from film taken on F1 mounted cameras racing down the main straight...

For mere mortals, this is undoubtedly true; however, F1 drivers are
believed to rely a lot on peripheral vision - Gilles Villeneuve, in
particular, trained his vision with eye exercises to improve his
abilities.  Whether GV could see as much in his mirrors as you can
in Indycar2 is somewhat doubtful, however! :-)

                  [Who hasn't ridden a motorbike at 150mph, but has
                   driven a Ferrari at 165mph (legally) - so there :-)]