rec.autos.simulators

Yes, in Novice races, you have a 15-minute practice/qualifying session
IMMEDIATELY before the race, in which the fastest time acquires the pole
position.  After the 15 minutes is up, you must hurry and drive you car out
to the starting grid (cool - and realistic - that you actually drive out to
the grid).

If you don't put your car out on the grid, and let the race start from the
previous menu screen, you can watch it in replay (actually real-time) by
choosing the Live Feed button.  You can watch a race as if you just sat it
out in the pits.

Yes, they make mistakes, sometimes very costly.  I was trying to pass Jack
Brabham this morning, and coming into the Parabolica at Monza, I was about
20 feet behind him.  When he braked, and saw me rushing up to him, trying to
stick my nose in, he slid wide, overcorrected, and would up facing the wrong
way in the middle of the road.  Then (when I went back into replay) he
peeled out, did a 180o, and got the car squirrelly accelerating after me.
Awesome!

Well, it's been awhile since I installed the "Slow" .INI files from Alison's
site, but I'd say a low 1:31 would earn a solid front-row starting
postition.  The slowest time I've seen by an AI driver (normally, without
the slow patch) is about 1:33.  Don't know about the Glen yet.

- John P. Wilson :|:
- Downshift http://www.racesimcentral.net/
- Ten Cylinders, Six Gears, Four Wheels, Two Wings, and One Brave Heart

As someone living is the Southern Hemisphere who hasn't got GPL yet could
someone please answer the following questions.

1/ Does qualifying happen in real time now (like in GP2)?  Can you go out
and qualify with other cars on the track with the other AI cars posting
times as they run across the finish line. Or does it remain like N2 where
the computer generates the qualifying time.

2/ Likewise can you "sit out" a race by not starting and watching it
unfold (again like GP2) in real time, or do you only have replay mode to
watch a race from?

3/ Does the AI make mistakes? Also and more importantly does the crash
model allow a AI car to touch and take out another AI car without (i)
passing through the other car (like in N2) and (ii) the "offending" car
being able to stay on track and continue after taking the other AI car
out.

4/ What qualifying time do you need to start on the front row of the grid
at Monza and Watkins Glen. And similarly what are the backmarkers times.

thanks in advance,
--
Rob Yates

Found in the Land of OZ
http://users.netcon.net.au/ryates/index.htm

Now that the setups ,AI and other settings can be changed it may be
difficult to have "benchmark" times. When I first tried Monza in the full
version with the default settings I went about as fast as I went in the
demo, about high 136's. With a slow CPU I can only race against 5 cars. By
default the game gives you the five fastest drivers to race against and they
do 131's. I tried changing the car setup so it was more to how I like it
(stiffen it up and mostly in the front) and my time dropped to 131's! I even
got a 130.6 but I rode the wall (by accident) in turn 1 and drafted a car
down the straight. There is no in game adjustment for AI cars but you can
modify the drivers file to make AI cars slower or faster.
Lutrell,
Dsr#74 :-)
http://www2.scca.com/amateur/club_racing/runoffs/photogal/dsr-74.jpg

Yes, real time.  Even when you're in the menus, setting up your car etc, the
action is still going on.

Yes, you can, and when you retire, you can watch a replay of the length that
your installed RAM permits.  When you've finished with the replay (which you
can view any time, btw), you can then switch to the live action and watch
the race from any of the cameras.  Accelerate time also is available, but
you can't accelerate _and_ watch the action, though you can switch to normal
time again if you wish to take another look.  The lap chart is also
constantly updated listing driver positions and time differences.

Yes to both questions. The AI can make driver errors, although the greater
skilled drivers are less likely to make mistakes.  Collisions are
effectively modelled between all AI cars - sometimes they'll recover and
other times not.

This depends on the level of racing you've selected.  AI at the novice
settings will qualify slower than AI at Pro settings.  If you're struggling
to keep up with the AI, after a number of races it will be adjusting to your
level allowing you to run higher up the field.  Similarly, if you outpace
the AI, it won't be long before they cotton on to that and will up their
pace to match you.  It's a decent system that works remarkably well
(requires a change in thinking over previous sims).  Some folks have been
tempted to install files that slow down the AI.  Of course it's their choice
to do that, but the incentive to improve is reduced somewhat by doing that.
I'm one of those guys that likes mixing it up in the field, and the GPL AI
is sufficiently advanced that I feel happy doing that - unlike F1RS's AI
which scares me stiff when I'm around them.  I always feel safe racing
against the GPL cars - I know they race hard - they don't give anything away
but if you're fair to them, they'll usually give sufficient room to have
real quality side by side tussles.  Superb stuff.

Mike.