newbie GPL questions

Hi all. I'm just getting into GPL and have done a ton of reading but still have a few questions I can't seem to find answers for after visiting the various FAQs and online resources. If you could help, I'd appreciate it. In no particular order: I have the GPL disk and a little book called 4 wheel drift (actually a pretty informative book). Is 4 wheel drift the docs that came with the game? I got my CD and book from my little brother last christmas, so I have no idea. I've actually seen it in the 1/2 price store for ~15 USD and wondered if anything else came with the game that would make my life easier as I come up to speed. I've been experimenting with trainer, adv trainer and gp cars. I seem to crash up my car much quicker in gp mode, even though I've got the damage model set to realistic for each car. Is this just because I suck and gp cars are fast or does the damage model vary for trainer and adv trainer? I ask becuase I seem to have smacked the wall awful hard in my trainer and still manage to keep the wheels attached. It's just incredible the depth the community has taken this sim to. I was up waaaaaaay too late last night downloading add-on tracks, reading about setups, and generally having a blast. That hasn't happened in a long time; what a great feeling! Tim Elhajj I know there are an enormous amount of on-line racing options, but I'm not ready for that yet. Would much rather practice timed laps for a bit more. What metric is everyone using to determine what a fast lap is for each track?

You should have an other small book, called "Game Guide", in this book you find all the options of GPL. But the book "Four Wheel Drift" you should really read, it is very good. This site is closed, but you can find lap times for al tracks. http://www.parc-ferme.de/fastlaps.htm For more Questions, take a look at the Forum at this site: http://www.gplea.org/ Rob. "elh4jj" <[email hidden]> schreef in bericht news:3a492c96$[email hidden]...

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> Hi all. I'm just getting into GPL and have done a ton of reading but still > have a few questions I can't seem to find answers for after visiting the > various FAQs and online resources. If you could help, I'd appreciate it. > > In no particular order: > > I have the GPL disk and a little book called 4 wheel drift (actually a > pretty informative book). Is 4 wheel drift the docs that came with the

game? > I got my CD and book from my little brother last christmas, so I have no > idea. > > I've actually seen it in the 1/2 price store for ~15 USD and wondered if > anything else came with the game that would make my life easier as I comeup > to speed. > > I've been experimenting with trainer, adv trainer and gp cars. I seem to > crash up my car much quicker in gp mode, even though I've got the damage > model set to realistic for each car. Is this just because I suck and gpcars > are fast or does the damage model vary for trainer and adv trainer? I ask > becuase I seem to have smacked the wall awful hard in my trainer and still > manage to keep the wheels attached. > > It's just incredible the depth the community has taken this sim to. I wasup

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> waaaaaaay too late last night downloading add-on tracks, reading about > setups, and generally having a blast. That hasn't happened in a long time; > what a great feeling! > > Tim Elhajj > I know there are an enormous amount of on-line racing options, but I'm not > ready for that yet. Would much rather practice timed laps for a bit more. > What metric is everyone using to determine what a fast lap is for each > track? > > > > > >

"elh4jj" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:3a492c96$[email hidden]... > Hi all. I'm just getting into GPL and have done a ton of reading but still > have a few questions I can't seem to find answers for after visiting the > various FAQs and online resources. If you could help, I'd appreciate it. <SNIP> > I've actually seen it in the 1/2 price store for ~15 USD and wondered if > anything else came with the game that would make my life easier as I comeup > to speed. Unfortunately, the one thing you really need doesn't come with the game...time, to Practice, Practice, and Practice some more!<g> This site has helped me out in the past with driving tips for some of the tracks: http://lightsoutracing.simplenet.com/trackguides/index.html -- don New GPL Programs for the Converted Tracks: http://www.ianparker.co.uk/gpl/bapom/

True enough. Thanks for the link Don! "don hodgdon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:92bov4$bhb$[email hidden]... > > "elh4jj" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:3a492c96$[email hidden]... > > Hi all. I'm just getting into GPL and have done a ton of reading butstill

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> > have a few questions I can't seem to find answers for after visiting the > > various FAQs and online resources. If you could help, I'd appreciate it. > > <SNIP> > > > I've actually seen it in the 1/2 price store for ~15 USD and wondered if > > anything else came with the game that would make my life easier as I

come

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> up > > to speed. > > Unfortunately, the one thing you really need doesn't come with the > game...time, to Practice, Practice, and Practice some more!<g> > > This site has helped me out in the past with driving tips for some of the > tracks: http://lightsoutracing.simplenet.com/trackguides/index.html > > -- > don > > New GPL Programs for the Converted Tracks: > http://www.ianparker.co.uk/gpl/bapom/ > > > >

Thanks for the help, Rob. Appreciate the link. Tim Elhajj "Rob." <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:q2b26.28558$[email hidden]...

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> You should have an other small book, called "Game Guide", in this book you > find all the options of GPL. > > But the book "Four Wheel Drift" you should really read, it is very good. > > This site is closed, but you can find lap times for al tracks. > > http://www.parc-ferme.de/fastlaps.htm > > For more Questions, take a look at the Forum at this site: > > http://www.gplea.org/ > > Rob. >

Tim, By all means take a look at the hotlaps but please don't get disheartened by the fact that are way faster than you could ever do. These guys have been "at it" years. Theres a huge racing community out there running times way below those you see listed. By all means have fun with the F1s but you'll find some excellent F2 and FD (more later) racing online. I would recommend that when you are ready you check out the VROC-F2 club (see here : www.vroc.net) ->F2 Club You need to build up some level of consistency but outright speed is less important as we often have 3 classes of race, Gold, Silver & Bronze and the ethos of the club is to provide everyone with a good race so even if you are still relatively slow, if your fairly consistent and considerate, you'll be made very welcome and you'll have a blast. FDs are F1 chassis with F2 engines adn you need a 3rd party patch program to enable them., Don't worry about these for the moment, just practice with what you have. You can see some F2/FD hotlap times here : http://estori85.free.fr/index.htm You will rarely see times like this in races, and only then in Gold. If you can run around 110% of these and are fairly consistent, you'll be competitive in Bronze IMO. Good Luck. Maxx On Tue, 26 Dec 2000 15:39:32 -0800, "elh4jj" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>Hi all. I'm just getting into GPL and have done a ton of reading but still >have a few questions I can't seem to find answers for after visiting the >various FAQs and online resources. If you could help, I'd appreciate it. > >In no particular order: > >I have the GPL disk and a little book called 4 wheel drift (actually a >pretty informative book). Is 4 wheel drift the docs that came with the game? >I got my CD and book from my little brother last christmas, so I have no >idea. > >I've actually seen it in the 1/2 price store for ~15 USD and wondered if >anything else came with the game that would make my life easier as I come up >to speed. > >I've been experimenting with trainer, adv trainer and gp cars. I seem to >crash up my car much quicker in gp mode, even though I've got the damage >model set to realistic for each car. Is this just because I suck and gp cars >are fast or does the damage model vary for trainer and adv trainer? I ask >becuase I seem to have smacked the wall awful hard in my trainer and still >manage to keep the wheels attached. > >It's just incredible the depth the community has taken this sim to. I was up >waaaaaaay too late last night downloading add-on tracks, reading about >setups, and generally having a blast. That hasn't happened in a long time; >what a great feeling! > >Tim Elhajj >I know there are an enormous amount of on-line racing options, but I'm not >ready for that yet. Would much rather practice timed laps for a bit more. >What metric is everyone using to determine what a fast lap is for each >track? > > > > >

elh4jj <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:3a492c96$[email hidden]...

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> Hi all. I'm just getting into GPL and have done a ton of reading but still > have a few questions I can't seem to find answers for after visiting the > various FAQs and online resources. If you could help, I'd appreciate it. > > In no particular order: > > I have the GPL disk and a little book called 4 wheel drift (actually a > pretty informative book). Is 4 wheel drift the docs that came with the

game? > I got my CD and book from my little brother last christmas, so I have no > idea. No unfortunalty Papy let themselves down by presenting such a complicate game (setup wise) without any documentation. Luckily the screens aremore or less straight forward and there is plenty on the web to explain setups. > I've actually seen it in the 1/2 price store for ~15 USD and wondered if > anything else came with the game that would make my life easier as I comeup > to speed. Sorry, nope :-( > I've been experimenting with trainer, adv trainer and gp cars. I seem to > crash up my car much quicker in gp mode, even though I've got the damage > model set to realistic for each car. Is this just because I suck and gpcars > are fast or does the damage model vary for trainer and adv trainer? I ask > becuase I seem to have smacked the wall awful hard in my trainer and still > manage to keep the wheels attached. yeah you can set the damage levels. And besifes you hit the wall with alot less force in a trainer than in a GP car. GP cars are great but take a long long time to go fast in since they have such a high power to weight/grip ratio. You can also find on the web how to actually run races in Trainers and advanced trainers which is recommended. Get good at trainer (i.e. able to run a few straight laps with crashing and all then try advacned, then GP cars, as you get better. It's easier that way. > It's just incredible the depth the community has taken this sim to. I wasup > waaaaaaay too late last night downloading add-on tracks, reading about > setups, and generally having a blast. That hasn't happened in a long time; > what a great feeling! Yip, I alot of dedicated people out there! > Tim Elhajj > I know there are an enormous amount of on-line racing options, but I'm not > ready for that yet. Would much rather practice timed laps for a bit more. > What metric is everyone using to determine what a fast lap is for each > track? Try GPLRank, you'll find the address on this NG. Then you'll see the fastest laps. then subtract about 30 seconds and you get a good humanly posible time for most tracks, except the Nurburgring, subtract 10 minutes there :-) Godd Luck.

What video card are you using? If you have a Nvidia chip based card you'll want to get the D3D patch. Have you upgraded the game to version 1.2? Go here: http://www.theuspits.com/index.shtml for all that and much more. -- Don Scurlock Vancouver,B.C. GPLRank -5.29 Come see how you rank, at the GPLRank site http://gplrank.ringlord.com/

<snip> > I know there are an enormous amount of on-line racing options, but I'm not > ready for that yet. Would much rather practice timed laps for a bit more. > What metric is everyone using to determine what a fast lap is for each > track?<snip> Kiss your social life goodbye. http://gplrank.ringlord.com/ This is the link to what is known as the GPLRank, or - as some prefer to say - the GPLWank. It is the ranking of the players, measured against eachother, with the sum of the Papyrus benchmark times as the absolute benchmark. A player with a negative GPLrank has driven the original tracks faster than the Papyrus benchmark (replays that came with the game). Not necessarily (hmm... how do you spell this word?) faster on each track, but the sum of their best lap times are lower than the sum of the best replay lap times provided by the game "out of the box". You'll probably find that, after you have done "the lap of the century" at any track, there will be at least 500 people that has driven faster than you. When you experience this you may think: "What is wrong with me?", thinking that your achievements are lousy. Well, if you find yourself amongst the top 500, just recently having bought the game, you should be proud. The majority of the 2000+ drivers behind you most likely has had this game for a longer period of time than you. Luckily, the GPLrank includes the St.Eldred's Cup. In case you haven't noticed, EldredP is the "official" slowpoke of GPL. EldredP has struggled with this game for 2 years, and still hasn't beaten the Papyrus' benchmarks. He was the first slowpoke to "come out of the closet". His postings at RAS are legendary. Anyway: Newbies easily get demotivated by comparing themselves against Greger Huttu, Andreas Wilke and the other top drivers at GPLrank. Thus, comparing to EldredP is the proper thing to do, though he is faster than the average driver, + 28.80 compared to the average driver's score at approx +55.8x (his Ring time are getting too fast these days). EldredP is to the slowpokes as SAVATS are to the fast guys. EldredP is too modest, as SAVATS isn't <provocing mode: on>. --- If you want to be amongst the top 250 drivers, you'll need this: 1) talent 2) insane amounts of practise If in short of 1), increase amount of 2). If you have both, and still isn't amongst the top 3 at GPLrank, I suggest you start loudmouthing. It probably won't improve your driving, but may make you feel better <provocing mode: on> I was short of 1), thus increased 2). Did it help? Yes, but not enough. Now, where can I buy some more talent? More talent may not improve my GPLrank, but may hopefully improve my loudmouthing..... Jon Andersen

<snip> Would much rather practice timed laps for a bit more. > What metric is everyone using to determine what a fast lap is for each > track?<snip> Kiss your social life goodbye. http://gplrank.ringlord.com/ This is the link to what is known as the GPLRank, or - as some prefer to say - the GPLWank. It is the ranking of the players, measured against eachother, with the sum of the Papyrus benchmark times as the absolute benchmark. A player with a negative GPLrank has driven the original tracks faster than the Papyrus benchmark (replays that came with the game). Not necessarily (hmm... how do you spell this word?) faster on each track, but the sum of their best lap times are lower than the sum of the best replay lap times provided by the game "out of the box". You'll probably find that, after you have done "the lap of the century" at any track, there will be at least 500 people that has driven faster than you at that perticular track. When you experience this you may think: "What is wrong with me?", thinking that your achievements are lousy. Well, if you find yourself amongst the top 500, just recently having bought the game, you should be proud. The majority of the 2000+ drivers behind you most likely has had this game for a longer period of time than you. Luckily, the GPLrank includes the St.Eldred's Cup. In case you haven't noticed, EldredP is the "official" slowpoke of GPL. EldredP has struggled with this game for 2 years, and still hasn't beaten the Papyrus' benchmarks. He was the first slowpoke to "come out of the closet". His postings at RAS are legendary. Anyway: Newbies easily get demotivated by comparing themselves against Greger Huttu, Andreas Wilke and the other top drivers at GPLrank. Thus, comparing to EldredP is the proper thing to do, though he is faster than the average driver, + 28.80 compared to the average driver's score at approx +55.8x (his Ring time are getting too fast these days). EldredP is to the slowpokes as SAVATS are to the fast guys. EldredP is too modest, as SAVATS isn't <provocing mode: on>. --- If you want to be amongst the top 250 drivers, you'll need this: 1) talent 2) insane amounts of practise If in short of 1), increase amount of 2). If you have both, and still isn't amongst the top 3 at GPLrank, I suggest you start loudmouthing. It probably won't improve your driving, but may make you feel better <provocing mode: on> I was short of 1), thus increased 2). Did it help? Yes, but not enough. Now, where can I buy some more talent? More talent may not improve my GPLrank, but may hopefully improve my loudmouthing..... Jon Andersen

If you stick with GPL you'll also run into lots of modest people (like Jon with his -44 handicap) who don't realize how envious those of us way down the ranks (like me, at -3.24) are of these superhuman drivers <g> Cmon John, with your rank you're wanting to buy more talent? Seems to me you have enough to sell to those of us who are REALLY in need! (Trade you a slightly used F12K for 5 seconds at the Ring :) "Jon Andersen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:ZVO26.7103$[email hidden]... > <snip> > > I know there are an enormous amount of on-line racing options, but I'mnot > > ready for that yet. Would much rather practice timed laps for a bitmore.

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> > What metric is everyone using to determine what a fast lap is for each > > track? > <snip> > > Kiss your social life goodbye. > > http://gplrank.ringlord.com/ > > This is the link to what is known as the GPLRank, or - as some prefer to > say - the GPLWank. > > It is the ranking of the players, measured against eachother, with the sum > of the Papyrus benchmark times as the absolute benchmark. A player with a > negative GPLrank has driven the original tracks faster than the Papyrus > benchmark (replays that came with the game). Not necessarily (hmm... how

do

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> you spell this word?) faster on each track, but the sum of their best lap > times are lower than the sum of the best replay lap times provided by the > game "out of the box". > > You'll probably find that, after you have done "the lap of the century" at > any track, there will be at least 500 people that has driven faster than > you. > > When you experience this you may think: "What is wrong with me?", thinking > that your achievements are lousy. Well, if you find yourself amongst the

top > 500, just recently having bought the game, you should be proud. Themajority > of the 2000+ drivers behind you most likely has had this game for a longer > period of time than you. > > Luckily, the GPLrank includes the St.Eldred's Cup. In case you haven't > noticed, EldredP is the "official" slowpoke of GPL. EldredP has struggled > with this game for 2 years, and still hasn't beaten the Papyrus'benchmarks. > He was the first slowpoke to "come out of the closet". His postings at RAS > are legendary. > > Anyway: Newbies easily get demotivated by comparing themselves against > Greger Huttu, Andreas Wilke and the other top drivers at GPLrank. Thus, > comparing to EldredP is the proper thing to do, though he is faster thanthe

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> average driver, + 28.80 compared to the average driver's score at approx > +55.8x (his Ring time are getting too fast these days). > > EldredP is to the slowpokes as SAVATS are to the fast guys. EldredP is too > modest, as SAVATS isn't <provocing mode: on>. > > --- > > If you want to be amongst the top 250 drivers, you'll need this: > > 1) talent > 2) insane amounts of practise > > If in short of 1), increase amount of 2). > > If you have both, and still isn't amongst the top 3 at GPLrank, I suggest > you start loudmouthing. It probably won't improve your driving, but may

make

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> you feel better <provocing mode: on> > > I was short of 1), thus increased 2). Did it help? Yes, but not enough. > > Now, where can I buy some more talent? More talent may not improve my > GPLrank, but may hopefully improve my loudmouthing..... > > Jon Andersen > > > >

"Jon Andersen" <[email hidden]> wrote > Kiss your social life goodbye. heh, hell it's ok, I'm married anyhow. ;) > http://gplrank.ringlord.com/ Thanks much! I've been and it looks pretty cool. I really appreciate you setting it all out for me. Now I've got something to aspire to! However, I've got quite a bit of work to do before I can even upload a file. I've only ever raced at Monza and I just d/l about a dozen add-on tracks! Woo, whoo. This is going to be fun. > You'll probably find that, after you have done "the lap of the century" at > any track, there will be at least 500 people that has driven faster than > you. heh, I bet it's discouraging. I'll just focus on beating the pappy times and getting something for each of the default tracks. Tell me, if you (or anyone) will, is it better to get the times in training, like I see in the pappy replays? Does it matter if you use times from an actual race? I seem to do better when I race against the AI. My strategy is to use the AI tweak, which slow the other cars down. When I'm racing with others (and I haven't been completely blown out of the water), I seem to do a little better. The down side is fighting traffic. Is there conventional wisdom on the best mode to use for timed laps? > Luckily, the GPLrank includes the St.Eldred's Cup. In case you haven't > noticed, EldredP is the "official" slowpoke of GPL. EldredP has struggled > with this game for 2 years, and still hasn't beaten the Papyrus'benchmarks. > He was the first slowpoke to "come out of the closet". His postings at RAS > are legendary. Yes, I saw the St.Eldred's cup and wondered what that was about. Thanks for filling me in on the history. Again, thanks for the help! elhajj > Anyway: Newbies easily get demotivated by comparing themselves against > Greger Huttu, Andreas Wilke and the other top drivers at GPLrank. Thus, > comparing to EldredP is the proper thing to do, though he is faster thanthe

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> average driver, + 28.80 compared to the average driver's score at approx > +55.8x (his Ring time are getting too fast these days). > > EldredP is to the slowpokes as SAVATS are to the fast guys. EldredP is too > modest, as SAVATS isn't <provocing mode: on>. > > --- > > If you want to be amongst the top 250 drivers, you'll need this: > > 1) talent > 2) insane amounts of practise > > If in short of 1), increase amount of 2). > > If you have both, and still isn't amongst the top 3 at GPLrank, I suggest > you start loudmouthing. It probably won't improve your driving, but may

make

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> you feel better <provocing mode: on> > > I was short of 1), thus increased 2). Did it help? Yes, but not enough. > > Now, where can I buy some more talent? More talent may not improve my > GPLrank, but may hopefully improve my loudmouthing..... > > Jon Andersen > > > >

<snip > Tell me, if you (or > anyone) will, is it better to get the times in training, like I see in the > pappy replays? Does it matter if you use times from an actual race? I seem > to do better when I race against the AI. My strategy is to use the AItweak, > which slow the other cars down. When I'm racing with others (and I haven't > been completely blown out of the water), I seem to do a little better. The > down side is fighting traffic. Is there conventional wisdom on the bestmode > to use for timed laps?<snip> Your GPLrank is the sum of your lap times at the original tracks. It doesn't matter if your fast laps are done in training mode, during qualifying or in a race. I find it harder to do fast times while hotlapping in training mode than doing fast laps during qualifying or in races. This is probably because I'm more consentrated when driving against others and do not drive as risky as I would do if I was to hotlap. The more cautious driving in races provides me with a cleaner style of driving, and probably higher corner exit speeds. The only tracks I have driven faster in training mode than in races/qual is Monza and the Ring. Slipstreaming may improve your lap times. On the other hand you can turn off damage mode and use insane gearing ratios when using training mode. What is faster? That's the wrong question. What do you prefer: Hotlapping or races? That's the right question. Jon Andersen