rec.autos.simulators

I have been racing GPL since it first came out but unfortunately haven't
been able to devote the sort of time to it that I need in order to become
particularly good. My Monza best is only a 1:30.28 but I am able to
consistently run in the 1:31-1:32's. I really would like to try out some
online racing but am a little apprehensive that I may just not be up to
speed enough yet....

So my questions are:-

1) Is there anywhere for people like myself to go along to and give online
racing a bash without having the worry of spoiling everyone else's fun. It
would be great if there was somewhere that newbies to online racing could
go along to just to try it out.

2) I am a little concerned that my connection may not be up to online
racing. I live in the UK and am not in an area where cable is available...
running with a 56k connection at the moment... any advice on tweaking my
settings to help online play would be appreciated. Again, I would not want
to spoil it for everyone by joining a race and having my connection bog
everyone down. Is there anywhere I can test the connection out??

3) Would it be advisable for me to try out racing the F2 / F3 categories
first... I don't have a particular problem with that if it is considered
the best way to go but I have only very rarely tried them out so would need
to delay my online debut a bit whilst giving them a go offline first for a
bit longer.

Many thanks for any and all offers of advice.

Hoping to see some of you online in the near future.

Peter Hooper

Entered my first online session at Monza and after a practice session in
which I qualified 8th out of 12 (I think) felt ready for the race....

Unfortunately I didn't realise it would start so quickly and was too busy
chatting to notice that the race was starting :-[
Anyway, everyone got away and I started from the pit lane (didn't even know
I could do that....)

It was only a Novice race so not too many laps to worry about for my first
attempt. Soon came upon a couple of spinners and thankfully managed to avoid
them and then spent the rest of the race racing one fella.. what a thrill..
I can only now fully understand what everyone has been talking about when
they have mentioned how much more fun it is than racing against the AI. We
had a great wheel to wheel tussle at one point through Serraglio and up to
the bridge but I eased up rather than cause an accident and then messed up
at Parabolica and he got away a bit. caught him again for the last coulpe of
laps but never enough to cause him any problems... What a blast!!! :O)))

Finished 4th (perseverence paying off there) and couldn't wait to try again.

I had a quick bash at Monaco only to find that I hadn't set the steering
right and couldn't get around the hairpins without clattering the hay bails
every time then decided to try Watkins Glenn and had a couple of good races
there (well good as far as giving me some experience goes as I had yet to
actually drive there so was well off the pace but I managed to keep out of
the other racers way).

Finally, had one more go at Monza but unfortunately I got disconnected jsut
before the end of practice after setting my best lap... PC then froze on me
so I decided to turn it off and get some sleep (well it was 3:30am by
then.....).

All in all a great experience and I am raring to go for some more... I'm
gonna have to practice some other tracks though as there was a good
selection to choose from last night.

One quick question though... what weer the gauges in the upper right of my
screen whilst racing.I think they had something like 'L' 'S' 'Q' from
memory.. Latency, Speed, Quality???? never seen them before...

Anyway, thanks again for all your help and advice... the wife and kids would
like to speak to you at a later date ;O)

Cheers

Peter Hooper

PS:- One last thing.. A few times when I tried to join I simply got a
'Connection Timed Out' message.. could this be because my connectionwas just
too slow for the race I was trying to join or is that something I will have
to get used to ...

I think it is "latency", "synch", and "quality".   Ideally, you
shouldn't see anything more than a thin red line at the bottom of each
meter.  Latency is self-explanitory.  Synch is an indicator of how out
of synch you are with the server's clock.  Quality is a measurement of
how many packets have been lost.  The more lost, the more out of synch
you get with the host.  The Latency meter can tolerate some pretty
high levels, but if the Synch or Quality peg then you're going to get
disconnected.

This is a common glitch in GPL.  Sometimes I'll get straight through
to the host and other times I've got to sit at that screen tapping the
"Return" key until it finally connects.  If it's really bad, I may
have to exit the server and rejoin to get in.

Welcome to the on-line GPL racing community!

Regards.
Brett C. Cammack
That's Racing! Motorsports
Pompano Beach, FL

I recently upgraded to an ADSL connection. I'm not online a lot (usually
around 8PM to 10:30PM EST on some weeknights/weekends - Toronto Canada) but
when I am I'll try to host a "newbie" race or two. I'll include a comment
"No passing until after turn 1 please" and I'll set the grid formation to
"loose" to minimize starting accidents. I haven't tried setting up a
dedicated server yet but I may join the races from the back of the grid and
race with the backmarkers. I encourage newbies to bring a stable setup,
drive smoothly and cleanly, practice your lines (inside, outside, racing)
beforehand, and know your braking points. If you build up a lead try letting
off a bit to get more racing experience and learn to defend your position.
Most of all, enjoy the racing (Winning is a bonus)!

I hope that more "high speed" folks will host newbie races so we can get
more people into GPL racing. Thanks to all the hosts I've joined in the
past. You're the life*** of online GPL racing!

<snip>

Peter Hooper