rec.autos.simulators

I've always wondered why the drivers hands are always
moving fast back and forth in those modern day
in-the-cockpit shots. Certainly a modern F1 or
whatever-they-call-them-now cars can't be that
hard to drive.   ;)

- Matt

It all depends on the driver.  Jacques Villeneuve likes to hack at his
steering wheel very frenetically.  If you ever watched Alain Prost drive an
F1 car -- you would realise that a race car can be driven ***y fast with a
minimum of arms and hands flailing around in the***pit.

I find the game very fun and realistic. My dad used to race in SCCA in the
60's, in fact, I think he drove from 66-68. He idolized Jimmy Clark, and
still does. He drove the GPL demo the other day on my computer, and he loved
it. He's always said that back then there was more driver skill involved
since the machinery just slid around from too much horsepower and too little
tires/grip. When I first drove GPL, I thought it was lame, but then after I
got used to how to drive one of those cars, I'm down in the 1'10" range and
still have lots of room for improvement.

Craig

I agree !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wish everyone would stop blaming GPL and Papy for their lack of
driving skill and/or bad control setups. I don't claim to know
everything about driving, but I have racing experience that varies from
karts to stock cars and GPL is one of the best simulations of a racing
car that I have ever had the pleasure to drive. Yes, it has the steepest
learning curve of any sim. But, it is far from undrivable and not real
as the header says.

I have just got my lap times under 1:10 in the Lotus and expect them to
drop further with more seat time. Do me a favor, download some of the
fast lap time replays from The Apex, http://gpl.gamestats.com/ watch
them, and then come back and tell me that GPL is undrivable. I believe
the fastest lap is a 1:07.22.

Kyle

It wasnt like modern F1 were money talks and not skill...

A good "drift" was the important thing back then... at certain tracks that
is... however at The Glen... corner exit speed is VERY important and not a
good drift. I suggest you head over to the Apex (http://www.racesimcentral.net/)
and down load a replay or two. You wond find any of the guys doing 1:07's
*** their tail out.  Another secret lay in braking... go easy on the
pedal and dont lock the wheels up. You'll cut braking distance alot that
way.

--
Best,
Edwin Solheim
ed_ on NROS

The Paddock - a legendary site..: http://www.racesimcentral.net/
Cheek Junior Team: http://www.racesimcentral.net/~solhmrek

:> I refuse to believe that all this sliding around simulates a real 60's
:> F1 car.   The car drives like its a drunk on a dirt road.   I've seen
:> 60's F1 footage -- the cars do not slide all over the track as they
:> negotiate corners or even straights and when they brake they do so
:> cleanly.  I'm not even at full speed and I find the car wants to have
:> an off-road excursion.

I'm the same way here.  I find that if I even think about braking I can
have the rear end out and I'm in the ditch.  Even if I come into the
corner with my hair on fire and expect to get a push situation, the
moment I turn the wheel I get a loose condition (and this is withOUT
braking and FULL throttle).

I think my main problem is frame rate.  I only have a P166, but I do have
a Voodoo2 card.  I am not sure of the FPS since it is never displayed,
but I have to have absolutely everything turned off to even get something
that closely resembles a frame rate of at least 10-12 fps.

I find that coming into the last corner before the start/finish is where I
have the most trouble.  The FR is really low there and since the corner is
actually setup by turning slightly left before turning right that I almost
always loop it there.  

That and the fact that I think the steering is just too quick for me right
now.  I hope we will get to adjust the steering lock like in the other
sims.  That should help me out for sure.  I already have it on max
Non-Linear.

And now for the irrelevant part.  I have driven race cars at full speed on
both a road course (Indianapolis Raceway Park) and an oval (the Milwaukee
Mile).  I have spun on both.  The road course was because I did not match
the revs properly on a downshift and the rears locked up when I let out
the clutch and spun me.  The oval was because I was left-foot braking and
I upset the balance while turning and the thing did two 360's in turn 2.
I did not hit the wall since I scrubbed LOTS of speed off doing the
doughnuts!!  :)

So I can drive a car.  I think that once I get a monster machine (ie a
P2 - 333) that will allow me to get a better frame rate I will vastly
improve my lap times.  But until then I will just have fun sliding off
every time I just touch the brakes due to the lack of reaction time caused
by the low frame rate.  :(
--
-------------------------------------

Just out of curiousity, how much ram do you have in your machine?  You
should be getting very playable framerates with a 166 and V2. I have a
P200 classic w/ 80 MB and a voodoo 1 and the framerate is quite good
with all details at 640x480. The only time I get a framerate slowdown is
if I get into a guard rail down one of the straights and throw up a lot
of dust/smoke.

Kyle

On Fri, 10 Apr 1998 19:25:56 -0400, "Charles Mak"

Cheers!
John

Chin-chin,
Matt

--

Matthew Birger Knutsen
Cheek Racing Cars (http://home.sn.no/~kareknut)

"Racing cars is like dancing with a chainsaw"
       -Cale Yarborough