rec.autos.simulators

(and please don't say. "at the back of the grid"...)

Well, I got it in the mail today.. I have a few questions!

1) After repairing the flashing mirrors problem, where should I go to
find the necessary tweaks/improvements/add-ons?

2) What is the best way for me to get familiar with and use GPL's online
multiplayer capabilities? I think I read VROC or something like that but
wasn't totally paying attention (smacking self now; reading through old
posts)

3) I think, based on what I've read, I'll be better off in trainer races
for now. Is this V3? How do I find these races?

4) I'm guessing that like Nascar 3 there are sites which have good car
setups... until I get familiar with doing this in GPL, I think I'd like
to use some of those.

5) Should I use a wheel/pedal combo, or use the keyboard? (kidding,
kidding, simmer down.)

Thanks!

Andrew

How about waving your friends and family goodbye ? :)

Congratulations

www.theuspits.com for Brands Hatch and ?sterreichring.
www.gpl.netti.nu for Snetterton
www.papy.com for the 1.2 patch

www.vroc.net

F3, you find them on VROC

Don't bother with setups yet, use the defaults, but reduce the fuel.

Final advice, practice practice practice and practice

Did I mention pracice ?

--
Olav K. Malmin
remove spam when replying

: (and please don't say. "at the back of the grid"...)

: Well, I got it in the mail today.. I have a few questions!

: 1) After repairing the flashing mirrors problem, where should I go to
: find the necessary tweaks/improvements/add-ons?

  GPLEA has beautiful car***pits for Ferrari and Braham.  Alison
hine's site has excellent set ups for a beginner in a Ferrari.

: 2) What is the best way for me to get familiar with and use GPL's online
: multiplayer capabilities? I think I read VROC or something like that but
: wasn't totally paying attention (smacking self now; reading through old
: posts)

  You'll bneed WinVroc.  Should be easy to find.

: 3) I think, based on what I've read, I'll be better off in trainer races
: for now. Is this V3? How do I find these races?

  f3 - formula 3.  Good place to start but do lots of practice before
going on line.  I prefer the F1 races myself.

: 4) I'm guessing that like Nascar 3 there are sites which have good car
: setups... until I get familiar with doing this in GPL, I think I'd like
: to use some of those.

  Sure - good plan - Alison Hine's site has some good ones to start with.

  Some tips people always give (and I ignored them too).  Practice one
circuit till you get OK at it - Monza and the Glen are OK for beginners.
Once you can do ten laps without an off (quite a challenge) move to
another circuit and start again.

  Don't waste time looking for a "magic" set up or trick - learn to
drive first (GPL is waaaay tough but rewarding).

  The line is everything - you can waste a lot of time trying to gain
time by braking later or accelerating sooner - it won't do you a damn
of good if you're on the wrong line.  (Contrary to popular belief it is
NOT all a matter of more accelerator and less brake).

  Take all the above with a pinch of salt - after 18 months I'm still
mediocre at best.

--
Richard G. Clegg       Only the mind is waving
    Networks and Non-Linear Dynamics Group
      Dept. of Mathematics, Uni. of York
     UPDATED WWW: http://www.racesimcentral.net/

Here is one place to go for some F3 fun...
http://bovineracing.com/zgnews.htm There are some links to leagues for f3
and some info is a series called "On The Edge OF Adhesion"...

Ken

F3 is a good place to start. If you want some good/drivable setups for F3 or
F2 that are extremely easy to drive (easy being relative in GPL) and very
competitive in the right hands go to my site,look under the "Setups"
section, and download Ron Ayton's setups. Jake Myer's has some there too but
they are mainly for the Ferrari. I agree with the other poster who said just
stick with the default setups to start but in the case of F2 and especially
F3 the default setups suck bigtime. Get to know one or two tracks really
well then go to http://vroc.net and download WinVROC. You'll usually find a
group that run F2/F3 around in the evenings.

Michael Horton
GPL F2/F3 Hotlaps and Other Downloadables
http://www.bus.nait.ab.ca/staff/mikeh/gpl

One word "Pants Ring"
Ahh crap, thats 2 words

www.deja.com/usenet is a very good place to start :)

Andre

Not if you write it as pantsring :)

Kev

Download some replays to watch. You may never be as fast as the
quick guys, but it's a great way to learn a track's line,
braking points, etc.

* Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet's Discussion Network *
The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet - Free!

Clear your diary for the next six months at least.  This sim will take over
your life.  Also start saving the pennies.  You will find that GPL will
force you to upgrade your PC just to improve the experience.

Seriously, the most important thing I found with GPL was to get a steady
framerate.  You can display your framerate by pressing Alt-F.  This has a
maximum value of 36fps.  You should aim to get 36fps at all times except at
the start of a race when this may fall back to 25-28fps.  If you find you
are not getting a constant framerate, the quickest way to improve things is
to move the detail slider to the left.  On my PC (P2 400 with 128Mb Ram,
Voodoo3 2000 graphics card,. SBLive! 1024 sound card, LWFF), I get a steady
36fps except at the start with the following settings:

Resolution: 1024x768
Mirrors: Cars + Track
Mirror textures: just cars switched on
Forward textures: switch off driver arms, driver textures and clouds
Detail slider: below B of Bias
Smoke and Dirt switched off
Number of sounds: 8
Number of opponents: 19

The framerate is even more important online.  You may need to drop down a
resolution step to maintain that steady framerate.

Another tip is to create three driver records, one each for F1, F2 and F3.
I suggest calling them Andrew Turner, Andrew Turner F2 and Andrew Turner F3.
This will allow you to enable racing in F2 and F3.  To do this, edit the
file player.ini in the folder gpl\players\<player name>.  You will find the
following section:

[ Personal Information ]
carNumber = 4                            ; preferred car number
driverNationality = 12                   ; nationality of the driver
driverRating = 3                         ; driver rating
drivingView = 1                          ; driving view
firstName = Phil                         ; first name of the player
helmetColor = 0                          ; helmet color
lastName = Lee                           ; last name of the player
lastTrackSelection = monaco              ; last track visited
team = 6                                 ; team

Change the value for driver rating to 1 for F3 racing and 2 for F2 racing,
in the appropriate driver file of course.  To race in a particular formula
you simply change drivers.  This has the added advantage of keeping best lap
times for each formula.

For tips on driving in GPL go to the following sites:

http://website.lineone.net/~richardn/
http://simracing.com/alison/gpl/

For add ons go to:

http://www.kotr.de/GPL/
http://www.olley37.freeserve.co.uk/
http://www.the-fastlane.com/
http://www.theuspits.com/

To record yourself as a GPL driver go to:

http://home.c2i.net/zlark/racing/drivers.htm

and when you've done a lap at each circuit get a GPL Rank at

http://gplrank.schuerkamp.de/

To feel humbled and astonished look at the lap times and replays here:

http://www.parc-ferme.de/fastlaps.htm

For even more links go here:

http://users.bart.nl/~hansvd/links.html

Most importantly, enjoy GPL.

Cheers

Phil

--
GPL Rank: +84.15 secs (193rd)

http://www.youpies.co.uk

But you will! <hehe>

Jens

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