I was gonna flame you heavily for this, but remembered that I agree a
little, if only in principle. Much as I think you deserve a good
flaming, I'll just point out that you're overstating the case.
Most real people, as though I were the authority and not you, don't ever
come near their cars' limits on purpose. Not even close. You may think
you're fast, but I would bet real money you haven't reached even half
your friction circle. My wife (nature's own speed governor) has a
full-blown cow when I toss turns as low as .3g lateral. Not that I'm
even good -- I'm being over-generous if I think I can hold 75%
consistently -- but I also know that last 25% is more than I want to
ride every day. Threshold braking is one thing. Power-off cornering
isn't much different. They don't mean very much until you can hold max
lateral under heavy braking or gas consistently.
Why is this? Is it that I can *feel* the car at its limit? Speaking for
only myself, I continually surprise myself when I push what I thought
were limits, and find that there's more, probably much more, on the
other side. So, I don't think it's just a sensitive ***that keeps me
from destroying myself every day. Instead, I think it's an overly
developed sense of self-preservation that lets us putter about meekly in
our herds.
My car, a 96 Cobra, is more than enough for my meager skills. I've
lapped Vipers and Porsche's on open track events. (It's not the car, and
most definitely, it's not a lack of *feel*.) Sometimes, I lap faster
than I ever have in the past. Most often, though, my lap times are down.
Is it the car that's off those days? Or was it the Novacaine I shot in
my buttock? I don't think it was either (I was kidding about the
Novacaine; I doubt I can spell it, let alone shoot myself with it). It
was me -- not the car; not a deadened ***-- that didn't *feel* quite
up to finding the limit.
So here's my point in case you missed it above: your suicidal tendencies
in GPL has less to do with feel than it has to do with what you're
accustomed to. You learned in GP2, ICR2, N2, and (good heavens!) CPR
that trail braking works wonders. You developed a fine sense of apparent
speed, and proved to yourself that you can hold the line at the car's
apparent limits. Unfortunately, you learned all this on a much more
forgiving chassis. Radial tires, complex *** compounds, aero
packages, suspension geometry... In other words: everything good that's
happened to vehicle dynamics in the past 30 years.
All of a sudden you find yourself in a roller skate on bias ply tires.
Optimal slip angle is 12 deg. now, maybe higher. The contact patch is
smaller than that on your mini-van, and treacherously enough, the
coefficient of friction is laughably low. The center of gravity is high,
and the thing rolls like a sloven pig, throwing weight everywhere but
where you need it most. In spite of all this, you insist on pounding
*** on your first few laps.
So, you tell me. Which end of you is deader: your butt, or the thing you
stuff your helmet with? It's true that you'll make finer corrections if
you can *feel* them as they develop. However, there isn't much
correcting you can do when you overcook your turns the way I still do.
Over the limit is over the limit; there isn't anything your finely tuned
***can do for you, except maybe suck in a little tighter on the seat
as you tumble down the embankment and over the fence.
I'd be faster with bigger stickier tires, and a big wing in front and in
back. But that's missing the point, isn't it? This is what we've been
given to work with. We're blind in one eye, and our butts are numb from
sitting on them all day. So what? Go do the best you can with what you
have; it's no more or less than what the fast guys are running with. We
can't even cry that they can setup a car better than us. (I almost wish
they wouldn't come out with a garage in the game. I'd spend too much
time tinkering just to make my car slower.)
Michael.
> What I mean is that in the real world people wouldn't try to do 180mph
> cause they'd have enough feel to suggest to them they're over their or the
> cars' limit. The sim doesn't suggest a limit to me. I get to know the
> corners largely from experience, from falling off twenty times :-), and not
> so much from inherent car feel. Even when driving a real car on totally
> unknown roads one doesn't generally fall off.
