GPL ... Why is it so popular?

by **Tony Rickar** » Thu, 30 Sep 2004 05:09:04

> first time i hopped behind the wheel of a single seater i was amazed at
how
> comfortable i felt following a few years of gpl.

Having sat in a few sports saloons, hopping into a single seater presented
me with a "GPL induced" problem - the clutch!

I had no difficulty jumping from a standard car into an Imprezza, Accord
Type-R, Westfield and Elise as these felt like cars. The single seater felt
like GPL and my brain had to adjust to not using two pedals and left foot
braking. I literally had to tell myself to use the clutch in a vehicle (for
the first time since my first day in a car!). Even jumping from autos to
manuals I have never experienced this.

However, this had nothing to do with the physics but just the sensation of
sitting in a single seater.

Clearly the physics of the single seater were a bit off as I managed a top
gear spin which I'm sure I would have caught in GPL :)

Cheers
Tony

by **Jan Verschuere** » Thu, 30 Sep 2004 06:00:50

The physical experience is different, the concentration required is the same
and techniques involved should be.

Eh no, you only need to learn to exploit the flaws if you want to have your
name on top of the time sheets.

I use what I think are pretty realistic (as realistic as possible/drivable
in the sim) setup and driving techniques and I find I don't have to adjust
those when moving from sim to sim (except for RBR, as rallying requires a
different driving technique). Note I restrict the word sim to mean "racing
games where such an approach is possible/competitive".

I hate it when people get up to that kind of stuff in online races. Trying
to make it "better" or "more heroic" than real life. I'll quote myself from
6 or so years back: "It's a SIM, it's not supposed to be fun!!"

Correct, GPL's cars were seriously beefed up between the beta I managed to
get my hands on and the release version.

Yup, all recommended reading and, you're right, it should be viewed as a
learning tool. You can rack up a lot of race mileage and experience without
spending much at all.

Jan.
=---

by **John DiFoo** » Thu, 30 Sep 2004 12:22:48

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 21:00:50 GMT, "Jan Verschueren"

>> I've found sim race cars are a LOT more durable than
>> real race cars. In F1 racing, contact = broken. In
>> dirt racing, contact=black flag.

>Correct, GPL's cars were seriously beefed up between the beta I managed to
>get my hands on and the release version.

I remember driving (in a moderate damage race) at Rouen, had
a spin and hit a tree *** the side of the fuselage (didn't
touch the tires tho). When I came to a stop, just got back on
the track and won the race. It is my understanding that you
can mess up the suspension something awful, but the fuselage
is like the kind of armored bathtub you might find in an A-10
Warthog...

John DiFool

by **Leo Merikall** » Thu, 30 Sep 2004 16:48:13

Now youre misinforming. In TRD2 players do not get penalized for
bouncing walls etc. The reason why the winner got only 5 points
compared to your second place with 14 points is the relativity of
skills. The winner had much higher online ranking than you and he does
not get rewarded greatly when playing against lesser ranked players.
In fact, he would have gone negative with the second place.

If you have ever played the game of chess you will notice that the
whole ranking system in TRD2 is copied from there without any changes.

The online performance is really good, and so are some vehicle physics
(ie. formula fords). Way better than any Codemasters product since the
first CMR and TOCA2.

Gpl is the daddy,
LM

by **Jan Verschuere** » Thu, 30 Sep 2004 19:00:33

The tub in GPL is indeed unbendable/breakable, but frontal hits will damage
the cooling system and can thus lead to engine failure.

I was indeed talking about suspension damage... in the beta, e.g., hitting
the curbs and taking the chicane flat out at Monaco would eventually result
in quite severe suspension damage on the Realistic setting. With the release
version one can now do that for an entire GP and get away with it.

Not that I mind, mind. It's hard enough as it is not to kiss a wall or a bit
of armco in a 100 lap race.

Jan.
=---

by **Darf** » Fri, 01 Oct 2004 00:31:29

Must have just been coincidence that most of the higher rated players that I
have been up against tended to bounce off walls. I just assumed that this
was the reason for the difference in points. In that case I still think it
would be a good idea to incorporate car abuse into the rating system.

Wouldn't it be great if we could take all of the best "Modules" of every
good Sim and make one huge "Super Sim".

GPLF1CICR2RBRLFSTRD2 Maybe? :-)
Lets see who can work that one out.

Darf

"Leo Merikallio" wrote

by **Leo Merikall** » Fri, 01 Oct 2004 22:27:46

Yes it would be nice if the car abuse factor would be in the ranking.
The city tracks in TRD2 are too railrider friendly and thats the
reason I dont play ranked races on those tracks. They just collect the
arcade racers together.

Sadly large majority of players online prefer the arcade mode over the
pro-sim and Ill bet that the same group likes to bounce around with a
car that is made out of kryptonite.

I have heard that the new ISI's tire model module (6.99$) is out.
Papys G-force pack is quite good but requires more cpu power than the
Bugbears Forcepack. If youre using the Menumodule form LFS team I can
vouch for the West Brothers awesome team transporter menu background
render pack which is out by the christmas (comes in a leatherish
case)! btw I cant believe most leagues still run with the old Ubisoft
trackmodule system.

by **Darf** » Fri, 01 Oct 2004 23:48:36

Problem is the Sim mode is too arcadeish but the Pro Sim is too far over the
top in the other direction, I have found it totally unrealistic, and near
impossible to drive. Adjusting the Suspension seems to do little to fix the
situation. It feels like driving a Hovercraft.
It needs to be somewhere in the middle.

Darf