rec.autos.simulators

I'm amazed! I've been driving TOCA 2 for two days now without driving GPL at
all. I just jumped back into GPL, after this short hiatus, and I couldn't
keep the car on the track!

I seem to have lost all my sensitivity after throwing the Honda about! Bear
in mind that I'm not the fastest guy around but at least a competent
mid-fielder, able to turn consistent 1:08s at The Glen in the Ferrari. But I
just quit after about 5 minutes of failing to complete a lap, realizing that
I didn't have the time, at the moment, to reacquire my touch.

Perhaps I got conditioned to "reading" the force feedback in TOCA and
temporarily desensitized my eyes. It was really a shock. I was actually
thinking initially that there was something wrong with my PC or MS FF wheel!

Has anybody else experienced this? I'm particularly interested in comments
from those of you using force feedback in TOCA 2!

We're not that easily fooled!

Have you driven TOCA 2? Did it affect you in GPL? Were you using force
feedback?

(Clever response though. On the other hand, I guess my original post could
be construed as a Papy ploy to frighten GPL devotees away from TOCA 2. )

Kyle (one of the many drivers on Team Wyld Kard)

not at all

FF is for whimps ;-)

Actually, any type of racing takes some time to switch from one to the
other.  It's even the same in real-life. Take somebody's SUV, and after hop
in a Olds Aurora.  It will take some time to re-adjust to the overall
feeling of the car, the way it handles, how the weight shifts, stiffness of
the suspension, the position of driving, etc..  Mostly all the feedback
possible of the cars.

The same goes in real-life racing, and in virtual racing.  In racing, I had
some difficulties re-adjusting from a Volvo 850T in racing conditions to the
early test car I tried who was just a Volvo 850T not in racing condition.
Even if those two cars are 99% identical, it was enough for me to find the
car bizarre, weird, and plain just not normal ;)

the same will apply to simracing.  Take a hop in your Lotus, and after 1hour
go hop in a Brabham. I'll bet it's a TOTALLY different impression, feedback,
etc...  For me, I often go from a NROS Nascar into a GPL 1967 Formula 1 car.
It always takes me at least 25-30mins after a switch to feel good with it.

so it's normal you feel that Toca makes GPL feel different after a
session...

-= Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard/Nas-Frank>
-= NROS Nascar sanctioned Guide http://www.nros.com/
-= SimRacing Online http://www.simracing.com/
-= Official mentally retarded guy of r.a.s.
-= May the Downforce be with you...

"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realise
how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

I hear you. Have you tried FF in TOCA 2. It's actually pretty good...you can
really feel the front end breaking free.

Yeah, but who's got those 25-30 minutes when we're already spending too much
time, according to our wives or girlfriends, messing with GPL?

It's an old joke, mostly when FF first appeared as "possible" for a ***
controller on the PC.  People said that FF would be for whimps because they
couldn't feel the feedback on the screen ;-)

No wife no girlfriend ;-)

-= Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard/Nas-Frank>
-= NROS Nascar sanctioned Guide http://www.racesimcentral.net/
-= SimRacing Online http://www.racesimcentral.net/
-= Official mentally retarded guy of r.a.s.
-= May the Downforce be with you...

"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realise
how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

And you're fast, aren't you? No wonder. <G>

By the way, how does a guy with a name like Fran?ois Mnard NOT have a
girlfriend?!? ;-)

I have a extensive experience in real and sim life with Touring cars and
Stock-cars (that one virtual only).  It's my world, my baby ;-)   Im
currently third in the world in road course on the NROS (on 6000drivers).

Well, it's a typical French name, but I do remember that when I was doing
trips in the US, that girls really like people with an accent. They just
fall in love for that ;-)

-= Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard/Nas-Frank>
-= NROS Nascar sanctioned Guide http://www.nros.com/
-= SimRacing Online http://www.simracing.com/
-= Official mentally retarded guy of r.a.s.
-= May the Downforce be with you...

"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realise
how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

You ain't kidding :-)  I always used to love that aspect of visiting
the U.S., but my fiance would get a bit annoyed about such goings-on
these days!

Cheers!
John