rec.autos.simulators

Been a bit frustrated with GPL, but I had a revelation type experience last
night.

I'd been driving Alison's Ferrari at Kylami, and never completed a race,
because I would always go off at the first, second, or hairpin.

I couldn't work out why, for the life of me. Last night, I stopped taking
those turns in 1st, and started taking them in 2nd.

Suddenly I was able to stay on the track! I took 4 seconds off my lap time,
and qualified on pole!!!

So, first question, am I now doing it right, not using 1st at all, or should
I be using 1st for some of the corners, and focus more on changing down
correctly, so I don't end up spinning off?

So, after that, I had a fantastic race, and won! But as that was the first
time I'd ever finished a race, properly, I discovered that I didn't really
know what to do, once I'd crossed the line.

After being bored for a while, I pressed escape, then enter, and lost the
results. What am I supposed to do at the end of the race?

Thanks.

R.

If you downchange too quickly, especially to 1st gear the back end will
overtake the front and you're in the fence.

Which car?
The lotus is very hard for a newbie. Try the cooper or ferrari. They are
much kinder to drive.
Also, make sure you haven't got 100 laps worth of fuel. The kyalami
groove darkers at just about the right point for the braking zones so
try and stick to those. Also have a look at the supplied replay lap to
see where you might be losing time.

Most people seem to get the car well sideways and have a massive crash :-)

Then after that hitting escpae and return should bring you back to the
final results. Sounds like you might have pressed escape again maybe and
it's finished the race and gone back to the track selection screen.

Get some replays here: http://www.sim-replays.de/

:-)

--
-- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard>
-- http://ymenard.cjb.net/
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Corporation - helping America into the New World...

Marc

I had a hell of a time in the Cooper to reach anywhere near my Ferrari
times because it's much slower (on this track, anyway).
Then I found the Eagle actually was a bit easier to drive than the
Ferrari at Kyalami (tends to be a tiny bit more forgiving with the back
end in turns like T1 - which is usually taken in 2nd gear btw) and it's
a bit faster on most straights too.

(Note that I have only finished 3rd or 4th at Kya so far, whereas the
very same car won me 4 1sts at Monza by now, so I just plain suck in the
African veldt  ;)

The Honda is even easier to drive there, but after looking at the times
(ugh, that slow? Yuck!) I quickly reverted to the Eagle   8)

Last week I tried again at Kya and coming over the hill on the straight
I got quite a 'Tom Pryce' kind of scare: in a flash, a loose wheel flew
right toward me coming from the leading Lotus at Crowthorne which had
spontaneously lost it (quite realistic for it's days, btw). It missed my
head by just an inch and bumped further down the field, causing more
havoc no doubt  ;)

Regards, Ruud

<snip>

Normally you won't automatically exit until ALL cars have crossed the
start/finish line after the winning car, otherwise the race hasn't
actually finished.  If you can't be bothered to wait then just ESC to
exit and then Fast Forward.
--
Peter Ives
Remove ALL_STRESS only before sending me an email

I don't think ever use 1st on ANY turn on any track in GPL.
Too much engine braking effect in first, which will throw
the car off balance every time.  Those cars have enough
torque to lug it out in 2nd.  Any time you might gain
by using 1st will be lost either in wheel spin, or in
having to immediately let off to shift to second anyway.

I take T1 in third a lot of the time!  1:18.75 is my
fastest at Kyalami, BTW.

Pat Dotson