rec.autos.simulators

  I'm trying to get to grips with Monaco on GPL and, frankly, I'm
baffled.  Using other people's set ups:

  1) I inevitably crash into the outside of hairpins after crawling
round them on full lock.
  2) I can't reliably get through the chicane after the tunnel at any
speed whatsoever.
  3) The steering ration seems to be so high that I tend to career off
the road at any momemnt by putting in too much steering input.

  Help....  how do people get round Monaco?

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

1) To get around the hairpins, I find that I have
to use less than a 10:1 steering ratio.  Right
now it's set to 8:1 on my setup.  If you are
running anything more than 9 or 10, that is
likely your problem.

Another problem could be that the car is pushing
too much through the turns, but you already said
you are crawling.  Do you get completely slowed
down before you turn in?  That might help.

2) Monaco Chicane - It took me 100 laps to figure
it out when I first got GPL.  This little rule of
thumb applies to a lot more than GPL - "if you
look at it, you will hit it".  I was concentrating
so much on NOT hitting the bales, that I
inevitably clipped them.  I found the key to be
to watch the racing groove that passes between
the bales. By concentrating on it, instead of not
hitting the bales, I probably have a 99.9% success
rate on getting through them at full throttle.

3) Touchy steering - Moving the steering linearity
slider to the right works wonders.  You can run
a low steering ratio for the hairpins, and still
be able to control the car on the straights!

--
Pat Dotson
IMPACT Motorsports
http://www.impactmotorsports.com/pd.html

Not sure here.

I lift as I'm approaching the crest before it drops down towards the
kink.  You don't want to be weaving back-and-forth as you're trying to
line yourself up.  Gas-n-go once you've locked onto your line.  It'll
come to you where you ought to be.  Look at a hot-lap replay to get an
idea of where you need to line yourself up at speed.

Dunno, I use 16 with linearity dead in the middle.

Maybe you're learning the track with damage on?  If so, perhaps you're
having troubles because you're cars suspension is already whacked from
the kink, curbs, etc?  Bump ride height up ~3-4".

Just my measely $0.02.

Bill.

As for the hairpins, it sounds like you have your low speed steering ratio
turned off. You have to put the steering ratio down to about 6 or 8:1 to
make the hairpins without it, and then the steering is really sensitive!

Make sure you have the following lines in your core.ini:

[ Hack ]
steer_ratio = 1                             ; Enable low speed ratio
override

Kevin Caldwell
Calgary, Canada

I'm at Monaco as well right now. I at first found it way too narrow and
frustrating, I couldn't do a lap without hitting curbs. Now after a few
hundred laps I hit nothing and am into the 27s. It's a great track.
I'm having success with the Ferrari setup from the Ricardo Nuninni page,
which you get to from Schubi's hotlap page.

I found I had to turn the steering hack back on to cope with the hairpins,
but I also have my steering ratio set at 20 degrees for max control.
When in the hairpins do you hear any tire skid sound ? you should hear NONE,
or else your going to fast. Even the smallest amount of throttle will push the
car wide.  Download the world record lap and look and listen,
he goes really slow in the hairpins.

It's really a fine line, but it's a straight one. When coming out of the tunnel
just before going down hill to the esses, you can see two apartment buildings
in the distance, line up the center of the car with the space between the
buildings.

Like I mentioned, steering hack on with 20 degrees of steering ratio, works for
me.

--
Don Scurlock
Vancouver,B.C.

Lol SpeedFreek

<Lots of handy advice snipped>

  So is the consensus to turn the steering hack ratio back on for Monaco
only?  Sounds a bit annoying.  I'd just got used to being without it.

--
Richard G. Clegg       Only the mind is waving
    Networks and Non-Linear Dynamics Group
      Dept. of Mathematics, Uni. of York
    www:  http://manor.york.ac.uk/top.html

I've turned it back on for Monaco and Mexico, so far. I'm using a ECCI
wheel which only has a lock to lock of about 170 degrees, and I'm finding
that I have finer control if I set the steering ratio to the full 20
degrees. I keep a shortcut to the core.ini on my desktop to ease switching  
the hack on and off.  The readme says that it only comes in play below
60mph. It would be easy enough to watch the included replay for a track and
see how many, if any, turns on each track would be affected by it.

--
Don Scurlock
Vancouver,B.C.

Do any of you use a short jab on the throttle to rotate the car round
the hairpins at all?

One thing that has helped (only slightly, cos I'm still terrible at
getting through) was to ensure that the frame rate was constant coming
into the chicane. It tended to drop slightly (~25 fps) just before,
which wasn't helping. What kind of ride height is needed to get
through without scraping, or is it too much of a compromise to raise
it just for one corner?

I haven't come to a conclusion. I just know that when I viewed the world
record replays for Mexico and Monaco it seemed that they had it on, so who
am I to argue, I turned it back on for those tracks.

I tried to slide it around with the hack off but found it to hard to control
consistantly.

One of the better setup theory pages said that your going to scrape in the
Monaco chicane no matter what, so don't use it as a ride height indicator.

--
Don Scurlock
Vancouver,B.C.

Getting used to having the hack back on will take a bit, but it sure
does make the hairpins easier. I've been trying the 20:1 with hack on
advice, but the change in ratios can be a pain when it's not wanted.
Still yet to try the hack off, but non-linear steering with a low
ratio though.

At last Monaco is (almost!) driveable.

Rafe Mc

Eldred
--
Tiger Stadium R.I.P. 1912-1999
Own Grand Prix Legends?  Goto  http://gpl.gamestats.com/vroc

Never argue with an idiot.  He brings you down to his level, then beats you
with experience...
Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

Wha-?  You're *kidding*!  Line up the car with distant buildings?  That's a new
one...

Eldred
--
Tiger Stadium R.I.P. 1912-1999
Own Grand Prix Legends?  Goto  http://gpl.gamestats.com/vroc

Never argue with an idiot.  He brings you down to his level, then beats you
with experience...
Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

   Just a thought.
  hans

What about the front-stretch ? Or the uphill stretch after turn 1 ?   The
little stretch after the *** corner ? The tunnel ? And finally the
stretch behind the start finish line ? ;)

Anybody should go full throttle there, plus they should go full-throttle in
everything else (the whole loews section, chicane, etc..)

--
-- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard>
-- 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."