GPL: Secret to traction?

Okay, what's the secret to getting traction in GPL? I mean apart from stepping on the gas gingerly. I get the distinct feeling that there is something I'm missing in the setups, because I see the computer racers getting their power down and outdragging me in the straightaways, whereas I'm modulating the gas pedal so gingerly that I might as well be standing still. Any tips about setting the limited slip differential settings? What about using the computer throttle help? (Yeah, I know using the trottle help is cheating, but I'd like to know if anyone uses it to go faster?) Yousuf Khan

I'm just starting to fool around with setups, so I can't answer your questions. But I think the following links should be able to, if you haven't seen them already: Alison 'Eagle Woman' Hines page. Click on 'Help' http://www.simracing.com/alison/gpl/ Richard Nunnini's GPL Foolishness http://website.lineone.net/~richardn/ I downloaded some setups from Alison Hines page and suddenly the car was driveable. Hope this helps. "Yousuf Khan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:dc8f6.67700$[email hidden]...

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> Okay, what's the secret to getting traction in GPL? I mean apart from > stepping on the gas gingerly. I get the distinct feeling that there is > something I'm missing in the setups, because I see the computer racers > getting their power down and outdragging me in the straightaways, whereas > I'm modulating the gas pedal so gingerly that I might as well be standing > still. Any tips about setting the limited slip differential settings? What > about using the computer throttle help? (Yeah, I know using the trottle

help > is cheating, but I'd like to know if anyone uses it to go faster?) > > Yousuf Khan > > >

On Sun, 04 Feb 2001 08:15:05 GMT, "Yousuf Khan" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>Okay, what's the secret to getting traction in GPL? I mean apart from >stepping on the gas gingerly. I get the distinct feeling that there is >something I'm missing in the setups, because I see the computer racers >getting their power down and outdragging me in the straightaways, whereas >I'm modulating the gas pedal so gingerly that I might as well be standing >still. Any tips about setting the limited slip differential settings? What >about using the computer throttle help? (Yeah, I know using the trottle help >is cheating, but I'd like to know if anyone uses it to go faster?)

Yousef. No, using throttle help will not make you go faster. The AI do not drive with the same physics as you do, so don't try and copy what they do (braking points etc.). Theres no secret top traction that I know of. The best you can do is make sure your tires are up to temp/pressure. Do a lap or two from cold, press Esc, seelction Car Setup and look at the boxes on your right, they show tire temps (3 readings per tire) and PSI. You want to be running at around 25-26 PSI and at about 200-250deg on average (I think so, sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong). Maxx

"Schwag" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:_Rcf6.162$[email hidden]... > I'm just starting to fool around with setups, so I can't answer your > questions. But I think the following links should be able to, if youhaven't

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> seen them already: > > Alison 'Eagle Woman' Hines page. Click on 'Help' > http://www.simracing.com/alison/gpl/ > > Richard Nunnini's GPL Foolishness > http://website.lineone.net/~richardn/ > > I downloaded some setups from Alison Hines page and suddenly the car was > driveable. Hope this helps.

Yeah, I've gone to Alison Hines' webpage before too, downloaded some setups. I can't seem to match the way she tosses the cars into a corner with the tail hanging out without going barrelling off the road or hitting an outside wall, or going into the inside curb sometimes. Not with any consistency anyways. Yousuf Khan

Try these: http://home.cfl.rr.com/boxwood/mgsetups.zip I am a very poor driver with lousy reactions and the attention span of a dead otter. Yes, I'm sure the setups of Alison Hine and Gregor Huttu are great if you are able to handle them, but they are no fun for me. So using the information presented in the GPL Race Engineer (GRE), which is available at http://simracing.com/alison/gpl/gre.htm, I built a set of basic chassis setups. I used them at *all tracks*. Yes, I'll wait while you purists pick yourselves up off the floor... I never have been good in any of the racing games with setups and I don't have the patience to go through endless training sessions to see if changing the fugglestat a quarter of a micron has improved my times. I just want to race!! So I use the same setup at each track with the exception of the gearing. To use my setups, you have to modify them to have the right gearing for each track. To get the right gears, do this: 1) start GPL and make sure you have the right chassis selected, 2) go to the track you want to race on and load the default setup, 3) reduce the fuel to, say, five gallons (plenty for novice races, which is all I do), and 4) save this new setup with some catchy name like "default_5gal". Then exit GPL. If you have not already done so, install the "mg_GREroadcourses.xx" setups in the setup folder of your player (EG C:\SIERRA\gpl\players\"your drivers name"\setups), but not in any of the track folders in there; I put them one level up, directly in the "setups" folder. Now start up GRE and open the "mg_GREroadcourses.xx" setup appropriate for the chassis you want to use. Then save it in the right setup folder appropriate for the track you selected with any name you want. Then use the gearbox copy feature of GRE to copy over the gearbox settings from the "default_5gal" setup. The above steps sounds like a lot of work, but you only have to do it one time for each chassis at each track. Once you have worked with the GRE for a while you will find it an excellent tool. The advantage of course of having the same chassis for all the tracks is that once you learn the ins and outs of that setup you can go to each new track and just race instead of spending hours tweaking a brand new setup. Yousuf Khan <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:5Nhf6.75326$[email hidden]...

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> "Schwag" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:_Rcf6.162$[email hidden]... > > I'm just starting to fool around with setups, so I can't answer your > > questions. But I think the following links should be able to, if you > haven't > > seen them already: > > > > Alison 'Eagle Woman' Hines page. Click on 'Help' > > http://www.simracing.com/alison/gpl/ > > > > Richard Nunnini's GPL Foolishness > > http://website.lineone.net/~richardn/ > > > > I downloaded some setups from Alison Hines page and suddenly the car was > > driveable. Hope this helps. > > Yeah, I've gone to Alison Hines' webpage before too, downloaded some

setups. > I can't seem to match the way she tosses the cars into a corner with the > tail hanging out without going barrelling off the road or hitting anoutside

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> wall, or going into the inside curb sometimes. Not with any consistency > anyways. > > Yousuf Khan > > >

Shoot, I also forgot to mention the other secrets to traction: 1) AITweak. If you slow down the other guy magically you will seem to have more traction! 2) Guardrails and walls. Gosh, you do have GPL set to "No damage", don't you? 3) Your opponents. Remember, eight wheels grip better than four. Sorry, just had to get those out of my system!

On Sun, 04 Feb 2001 19:08:49 GMT, "Yousuf Khan" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>> I downloaded some setups from Alison Hines page and suddenly the car was >> driveable. Hope this helps. > >Yeah, I've gone to Alison Hines' webpage before too, downloaded some setups. >I can't seem to match the way she tosses the cars into a corner with the >tail hanging out without going barrelling off the road or hitting an outside >wall, or going into the inside curb sometimes. Not with any consistency >anyways.

The consistency is a combination of experience and good hardware. If you have a consistent 36 frames-per-second display rate you'll do better than if you only are managing 24 FPS. Much under 30 and it's like driving slightly inebriated. You are always reacting a few milliseconds too late. The biggest epiphany I ever had was the the car will stick really well when you go through a corner with the throttle in a neutral position where the engine is not really driving the wheels nor vice versa. This unlocks the rear differential and stops making the rear wheels travel the same distance when cornering. I usually will play the throttle to set the tail out with a touch of a lift before going to neutral through the middle 1/2, steering for a good exit to start laying on the power. Most of this all comes with sufficient investment of time. A good force-feedback steering wheel helps, too. Regards, Brett C. Cammack brettDOTcammack@worldnetDOTattDOTnet (remove the DOTs from my return address to reply privately)

On Sun, 04 Feb 2001 21:29:12 GMT, "markgame" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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> >I never have been good in any of the racing games with setups and I don't >have the patience to go through endless training sessions to see if changing >the fugglestat a quarter of a micron has improved my times. I just want to >race!! So I use the same setup at each track with the exception of the >gearing. >

From reading Steve Smith's "Four Wheel Drift" strategy guide, this is pretty much all the teams of 1967 did as far as "setup" went. DG

After I picked myself off the floor from laughing, I said, "shoot, we must be thinking alike". Yousuf Khan "markgame" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:ZWjf6.66954$[email hidden]...

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> Shoot, I also forgot to mention the other secrets to traction: > > 1) AITweak. If you slow down the other guy magically you will seem to have > more traction! > > 2) Guardrails and walls. Gosh, you do have GPL set to "No damage", don't > you? > > 3) Your opponents. Remember, eight wheels grip better than four. > > Sorry, just had to get those out of my system! > > >

"Brett C. Cammack" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > The consistency is a combination of experience and good hardware. If > you have a consistent 36 frames-per-second display rate you'll do > better than if you only are managing 24 FPS. Much under 30 and it's > like driving slightly inebriated. You are always reacting a few > milliseconds too late. Tbird-1000, 256MB of PC133, GeForce 2 GTS with 32MB of DDR. That hardware should do the trick, but sometimes I see little skips in the action. It doesn't happen all of the time, maybe one skip in three laps, but it's like watching a video tape with a rumple in the tape.

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> The biggest epiphany I ever had was the the car will stick really well > when you go through a corner with the throttle in a neutral position > where the engine is not really driving the wheels nor vice versa. > This unlocks the rear differential and stops making the rear wheels > travel the same distance when cornering. I usually will play the > throttle to set the tail out with a touch of a lift before going to > neutral through the middle 1/2, steering for a good exit to start > laying on the power.

Works if you got a nice constant camber corner, but most corners aren't like that in this game. > Most of this all comes with sufficient investment of time. A good > force-feedback steering wheel helps, too. I got an MS FF wheel. I can't get the thing to gently nudge me as opposed to try to twist my computer desk into splinters. I've tried setting the max_steering_torque setting to as low as possible, and it doesn't seem to accept it: [ Joy ] allow_force_feedback = 1 ; Use FF if device has it force_feedback_damping = 40.000000 ; force feedback damping coefficient force_feedback_latency = 0.085000 ; force feedback latency (secs) max_steering_torque = 45.000000 ; steering torque in N*in giving max device force

The lower, the stronger. : I got an MS FF wheel. I can't get the thing to gently nudge me as opposed to : try to twist my computer desk into splinters. I've tried setting the : max_steering_torque setting to as low as possible, and it doesn't seem to : accept it: : : [ Joy ] : allow_force_feedback = 1 ; Use FF if device has it : force_feedback_damping = 40.000000 ; force feedback damping : coefficient : force_feedback_latency = 0.085000 ; force feedback latency (secs) : max_steering_torque = 45.000000 ; steering torque in N*in giving max : device force : : :

Why would a lower setting make it stronger? Yousuf Khan "Mario Petrinovic" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:95lipi$817p$[email hidden]... > The lower, the stronger. > > : I got an MS FF wheel. I can't get the thing to gently nudge me asopposed > to > : try to twist my computer desk into splinters. I've tried setting the > : max_steering_torque setting to as low as possible, and it doesn't seemto

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> : accept it: > : > : [ Joy ] > : allow_force_feedback = 1 ; Use FF if device has it > : force_feedback_damping = 40.000000 ; force feedback damping > : coefficient > : force_feedback_latency = 0.085000 ; force feedback latency (secs) > : max_steering_torque = 45.000000 ; steering torque in N*in giving > max > : device force > : > : > : > >

On Mon, 05 Feb 2001 13:09:43 GMT, "Yousuf Khan" <[email hidden]> wrote: >Why would a lower setting make it stronger? Because it states the torque from the virtualized car, at which point the maximum force feedback is given. So at only 45 N.in (from the physics calculations), you get the max feedback. Try setting it at 450, or higher. ... >> : max_steering_torque = 45.000000 ; steering torque in N*in giving >> max >> : device force Ruud van Gaal, GPL Rank +53.25 Pencil art : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/ Car simulation: http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/racer/

On Mon, 05 Feb 2001 06:46:30 GMT, "Yousuf Khan" <[email hidden]> wrote: >That hardware should do the trick, but sometimes I see little skips in the >action. It doesn't happen all of the time, maybe one skip in three laps, but >it's like watching a video tape with a rumple in the tape. Change your swap file (virtual memory) settings from "Let Windows Manage It" to "I'll Manage It". Set your Max and Min sizes the same at around 2 or 4 times your memory size. (experiment). Make sure nothing's running but Explorer and Systray before starting GPL. Also, check to see what you have your graphic aperture size set to in your CMOS setup. Try 64 megs and others until you lose the stuttering.

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>> The biggest epiphany I ever had was the the car will stick really well >> when you go through a corner with the throttle in a neutral position >> where the engine is not really driving the wheels nor vice versa. >> This unlocks the rear differential and stops making the rear wheels >> travel the same distance when cornering. I usually will play the >> throttle to set the tail out with a touch of a lift before going to >> neutral through the middle 1/2, steering for a good exit to start >> laying on the power. > >Works if you got a nice constant camber corner, but most corners aren't like >that in this game.

That's right, but if you don't grasp the concept and apply it, these things understeer like pigs because the rear wheels are locked together trying to push the thing straight ahead. I feather the throttle most every corner once I've turned in until I'm lined up for a clean exit. Did you mean camber or radius? Suffice to say if the engine is not matched in revs to the car's speed in any gear at coast, the differential is locked to a greater or lesser extent and that reduces the ability to carve a corner well. It may only be a transitory phase of taking a corner, but is quite important nonetheless.

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>> Most of this all comes with sufficient investment of time. A good >> force-feedback steering wheel helps, too. > >I got an MS FF wheel. I can't get the thing to gently nudge me as opposed to >try to twist my computer desk into splinters. I've tried setting the >max_steering_torque setting to as low as possible, and it doesn't seem to >accept it:

Are there settings in the Windows Control Panel under Game Controllers also for overall settings? The Logitech FF wheel has a place there where you can set the baseline values for all games. Instead of just three figures to screw around with, I have four. It just extends the amount of time necessary to find what you like. A tedious, but rewarding endeavor. Regards, Brett C. Cammack brettDOTcammack@worldnetDOTattDOTnet (remove the DOTs from my return address to reply privately)

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] (Brett C. Cammack) wrote: > > >> The biggest epiphany I ever had was the the car will stick reallywell > >> when you go through a corner with the throttle in a neutralposition

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> >> where the engine is not really driving the wheels nor vice versa. > >> This unlocks the rear differential and stops making the rear wheels > >> travel the same distance when cornering. I usually will play the > >> throttle to set the tail out with a touch of a lift before going to > >> neutral through the middle 1/2, steering for a good exit to start > >> laying on the power. > >

Damn, I just had that epiphany tonight. Haven't played much--hardly at all lately--and decided to try a few laps at Rouen. Of course having the epiphany and executing are two different things. I did manage to shave 2 secs off my dismal Rouen PB and I haven't touched this game since November :-) Chris Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/

MichaelJP <[email hidden]> wrote:

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> In article <IQjf6.66884$[email hidden]>, > [email hidden] says... >> I never have been good in any of the racing games with setups and I don't >> have the patience to go through endless training sessions to see if changing >> the fugglestat a quarter of a micron has improved my times. I just want to >> race!! So I use the same setup at each track with the exception of the >> gearing. > I'm a believer in this as well. My lap times can vary by as much as 2 > seconds a lap just through minor mistakes, so its impossible to tell > whether you've shaved 0.1 seconds off your laptime through the setup or > just because you drove better!

I'm with you as well. My consistency has lately been improving a bit, but I'm still not consistent (nor patient, as the case often is) enough to start tweaking the cars. I simply use Alison's setups and only make minor corrections. And where I am forced to build my own setups, I do a horrid job. I just downloaded Goodwood 1.1 and AVUS 1959; my makeshift Ferrari setup for the latter (the default setup had camber and toe values that could have been, and probably were, culled from a Monty Python episode) is so bad I'm having a hard time keeping the thing on the tarmac. ;) OTOH, AVUS must be the only track where I've ever managed a successful setup job from scratch. While we're at it, could someone give me a hint on how to fix this: whenever I change the car's bearing slightly at higher speeds, the car continues to try turning in the same direction as if it was on rails, and I have to constantly correct the steering in the opposite direction, causing a tiny, slow undulating zigzag motion. I can't really describe it any better; this very annoying behaviour is most noticeable in Alison's Eagle Spa setup (in places like the straight after Eau Rouge), and in my aforementioned Goodwood one (on the two "straight"s). PS. Trivia of the day: "Avus" is Latin for "grandpa". ;) +Cinquo [GPLRank 27.14]