rec.autos.simulators

I've got GPL (UK ver. 1.2). It's wonderful. I love it. It's the best
game I own by a very long way. Having played it a fair bit, I'd really
like to have a go online, but I don't want to unless I can have a
decent game without annoying everyone else (besides which, we Brits
pay by the minute for phone calls, so I want value for money!).

I have two questions. Firstly, is my PC good enough? And secondly, am
*I* good enough? I've looked at Alison Hines' excellent FAQ pages, and
trawled through Dejanews, but can't *quite* find the answers I want.

First, the PC:

It's a Celeron 400 with 64Mb, Win 98SE, a PCI soundcard (Videologic
Sonic Storm) and a Voodoo 1. I have a normal DUN account on a 56k
analogue Winmodem (yes, I know, I know...), which connects quite
reliably at 44k.

I also have a MS FF wheel, but it seems to hit the frame rate
considerably, so I often just use a basic MS joystick.

I can get a steady 36fps without a great deal of effort in a race
against 5 AI cars if I stick to 512x384. At 640x480 I have to turn
down the sounds quite a bit (to 4 or 5 voices).

It's not my personal PC, and I'm short of cash right now, so I *can't*
do any h/w upgrades (even a 'proper' modem is absolutely out). As for
a faster connection: British Telecom's ISDN prices are absurd, they've
hardly started ADSL, and I don't get cable.

Second, my driving:

I've almost never driven the F2 and F3 cars. I started in F1 and
persevered, so I don't really wan't to do F2/F3 races as it will mean
a lot more acclimatisation time. What I want is 'F1 for not very quick
drivers'!

I suppose that I can run reasonably comfortably (ie, be pretty
confident of not crashing) at Silverstone at 1:32/1:33 - ish. I *have*
done 1.29.9, but only by taking a lot of silly risks - not good in a
race. Likewise, at Spa, 3:25 is about my comfortable limit, and maybe
a high 1:07 or low 1:08 at the Glen. My times don't vary much whether
I use the wheel or the stick.

I'm absolutely hopeless at starting, and tend to lock the wheels badly
under heavy braking. I've tried several setups here, and I still do
it, so it must be me.

I hope someone can tell me whether I'm up to it (ditto for the
computer). If not, well, never mind, I'll stick to playing vs the AI,
and be ***y jealous of them as have got the ability :-)
--
David.
"After all, a mere thousand yards - such a harmless little knoll, really."
(Raymond Mays on Shelsley Walsh)

Your cpu is fast enough and the pci soundcard is good but it would be nice to
have a newer video card.

The winmodem will hold you back. Set it to connect at 28000, no data
compression, no error correction.

Once online you want to maintain 36fps so you might end up using the joystick.

I suppose that I can run reasonably comfortably (ie, be pretty confident of
not crashing) at Silverstone at 1:32/1:33 - ish. I *have* done 1.29.9, but
only by taking a lot of silly risks

Your'e quick enough, we all want to be faster.

So is everybody else, just be overly cautios the first lap.

Don't brake so hard....

Definitely go online, i would use the cooper with Alison's setups.
 http://simracing.com/alison/gpl/
And read this carefully
 http://www.powerup.com.au/~philmak/gplac/rec_driver_beh.htm
Be considerate and have fun.
Seeya on VROC
John Moore

MS

I *may* be able to scrape together just enough funds for a second-hand
Voodoo 2 in a few weeks. Would this make enough of a difference to be
worth it on my machine?

<snip>

<snip>

Okay. But do I have to get a steady 36fps at the start? I have to turn
a *lot* of stuff off for that, though it's fine by the end of the
first corner and stays fine.

--
David.
"After all, a mere thousand yards - such a harmless little knoll, really."
(Raymond Mays on Shelsley Walsh)

DirectX- 7a seem to get rid of the performance hit of the MSFF, so I've
heard.
Might worth a try,.

Okay, thanks for the help everyone - much appreciated.

Don't think I'll use the Cooper though - I find the Lotus & Eagle much
easier to drive. Maybe I'm just strange that way.

Oh, for a USB modem...

--
David.
"After all, a mere thousand yards - such a harmless little knoll, really."
(Raymond Mays on Shelsley Walsh)

Your pc should run GPL ok, you may have to turn off some graphics
options, etc to stay at 36fps when *on-line*  though? (See my webpage
for tips on running setting up your pc, DUN, etc for GPL) You can speed
things up a bit, How about overclocking the Celeron, a 400 will probably
clock to 450 or 500 (There is info on overclocking at my website too).
You can also overclock the V1 card. Winmodems are ***for on-line
***, there is no way around that, they are cpu intensive, try setting
it to run at 28.8 only (slower connection can be better for GPL).

Apprently DirectX 7a is better for gamers using controllers? not sure
how true this is though.

Also turn off the effects, and mirror detail, and non essential
textures, etc.

Ok, but I've suggested at least 4 ways to speed up your pc that do not
cost anything. O/c the cpu, O/c the video card, install Directx 7a, and
configure your pc for games and on-line racing.

Fine, almost every WinVROC race will have some slow drivers in it, not a
problem. Or you could join a league to race against people of similar
ability, the UK GPL League is linked from, yep, you've guessed it.....
my website.

These times are pretty quick, you should not have any problems dicing
with others on-line, just try and avoid hitting people.

We are all hopeless, most of the time, and even worse when on-line
racing, just do your best and try not to crash.

Now stop posting messages, and get on-line....

8-)

*Peter* -  http://www.racesimcentral.net/~peterpc/home.html

From everything I've heard, nobody gets 36 at the start.  For one thing,
there's just too much math going on, but I've also noticed that the number
of sounds you have on is the biggest frame rate hit on starts.

I'm using a WinModem presently and I can get 20-22 FPS on-line (400
Mhz Celeron, 64Meg, Voodoo 2) with nobody around, 17-18 with a car in
front of me, 13-15 with one in the mirrors.  With a car in front and a
car in back everything goes to hell in a handbasket.  The entire
experience is somewhat like some sort of inaccurate, time-release
barbituate. <g>

My next acquisition will be a USB modem to relieve myself of this
handicap.

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

--
David.
"After all, a mere thousand yards - such a harmless little knoll, really."
(Raymond Mays on Shelsley Walsh)

I've been using a Linux firewall with an ISDN board for the last
18 months, and it's worked beautifully on my local network (the
game machine has an ancient NE2000-BNC ethernet card).

Cheers,

uwe

--
Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/
Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E)
Ever wondered what's wrong with the world?      http://bnetwork.com/
PGP Fingerprint:  2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F  67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

We can, but the prices BT charge make it totally unrealistic for
ordinary users. Maybe ADSL will turn up eventually...
--
David.
"After all, a mere thousand yards - such a harmless little knoll, really."
(Raymond Mays on Shelsley Walsh)