rec.autos.simulators

I've had no luck doing any online racing.  I've tweaked my settings
and have gone from nothing-below-480 to as-low-as-350 ping times, but
it still doesn't seem to be enough to connect for more than 10 seconds
to a GPL host.  Phooey.  I know my modem is a cheapo no-name ISA 56K
internal.  I heard from someone that he got lower ping times with an
external Hayes modem, and of course there are those talking about the
better frame rates with a USB modem.  Would a USB modem also result
in lower ping times?

There needs to be a VROC sort of thing for Viper Racing!  Is there
any IRC group or anything where people arrange to have Viper races,
outside of formal leagues?

Talked to an Accolade programmer in the store where I work today.
A few interesting things said.  "I must admit, Test Drive Off-Road 2
isn't so great. But if you like racing games, Test Drive 5 is really
good."  Also asked if we sell more sims or arcade racers such as
TD5.  Frankly, we sell far more sims, apart from NFS3.  We've had
Speed Busters for a few weeks and I still haven't seen anyone buy it.
But GPL and Nascar 1999 still go out the door steadily.  That may
have something to do with the Sierra trade-up-and-it's-free rebate
offer, though!

--

http://www.racesimcentral.net/~keeper/toons.html - Animaniacs, P&TB, F!, etc. files
http://www.racesimcentral.net/~keeper/midi.html - My own MIDI files - Updated 5 Dec.

   Also, for joining races as a client, a V.34 modem (28.8 - 33.6
kbps) is really sufficient.  I find that if I use optimal settings
(such as error correction off) I can only connect to my ISP at V.34
anyways.

   Good luck!

"But in a way, fear is a big part of racing, because if there was
nothing to be frightened of, and no limit, any fool could get into
a motor car and racing would not exist as a sport." -- Jim Clark

I don't understand the technical issues here so no use trying to
pretend. But FWIW ...

I had a high quality 28k serial modem and got pings the same-ish as
you cite. I also had the same problems of falling out of a session
after only a short time.

I replaced the serial modem with a USB modem following Alison Hine's
recommandations. I now get slightly better pings, nothing great mind
you, but now I hardly ever get dropped from a server.

I don't understand the reasons but FWIW that's my experience. The USB
modem is worth it in my case IMHO.

Regards

Phillip McNelley

If you are having problems connecting to VROC, may I suggest a couple
of things....

1) You are using netscape (v4.5 is recommended) aren't you?
2) You have d/l'd the core.ini files from the VROC (or Alison's)
website, and placed the file in your GPL directory haven't you?
3) You have read the GPL & DUN FAQ on the two above sites and
carried out all the recommendations haven't you?

8-)

*Peter*   #:-)

--

http://www2.cruzio.com/~keeper/toons.html - Animaniacs, P&TB, F!, etc. files
http://www.armory.com/~keeper/midi.html - My own MIDI files - Updated 5 Dec.