Re: GPL has made me appreciate (evenLONGer)

"Keith Daniell" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > There should be another GPLRank category for Uwe to consider.GPLwithChildren. I > can start by sending in several birth certificates :) -Keith You know, part of me wishes I was still a youngster with the eye-hand coordination of a 16 year old, but after reading all these posts about wives and kids interrupting races, I feel a lot better about my wife leaving me<vbfg>. -- don New GPL Programs for the Converted Tracks: http://www.ianparker1.freeserve.co.uk/gpl/index.html

Great post Larry! I've also become very interested in Grand Prix history as the result of GPL. I also upgraded my cable TV in order to get Speedvision and watch "Legends of Motorsport" with it's showings of "Nine Days in Summer" and color replays of the British Grand Prix of 1964 (..."down into Dingle Dell it's Clark, Gurney, Hill, but Clark's not getting away!"). I also now feel the loss of people I DID know about before, but never really appreciated until I'd "...travelled a mile in their shoes" (and then totalled my Lotus). And yes, after pausing my computer at the safest available point on a lap, I also frequently lose that ineffable rhythm and put it into the hedges. Approaching two years after it's release and I see no reason why I won't be driving it for years to come. John Nelson HainesLC wrote:

Quoted text (59 lines)

> I've been a big fan of present day auto racing beginning with NASCAR in the mid > 1980's. I took an interest in F1 shortly before we lost Senna. Racing history, > on the other hand, particularly F1, I couldn't have cared less about. I had no > interest whatsoever in anything dealing with stuff that happened before I was > even born. Who cares. That stuff is ancient history. Eight months ago, I didn't > know who Jim Clark was, other than some racer who got killed along time ago. I > knew Graham Hill only as Damon's dad. That all changed when I finally got GPL. > > I only bought GPL, I believe, in November 1999. I didn't buy it when it first > came out for two reasons. 1) I only had a P166 and knew the sim would run > terrible on it, and 2) every review I ever read about the sim said it was > incredibly difficult and far too frustrating for anyone to ever enjoy. So I put > off buying it. When I finally did, I was, of course, addicted to it > immediately. My wife didn't understand how I could be enjoying myself. She > would see me sit at the computer for fifteen minutes or so, then in a furious > rage I would punch my steering wheel, slam my headphones down on the floor, and > say a few choice words as I stormed out of the house to smoke a cigarette. Five > minutes later, I would come back in and do it all over again. She would say, > "Why the h!@# do you play that stupid game if it makes you so mad." She didn't > understand, I HAD to play it. > > At about the same time I bought GPL, my cable company finally added Speedvision > to the cable system. After driving GPL for a few weeks I became familiar with > the driver names, cars, and tracks of that era. I had an understanding of what > these men actually endured. I decided to check out this show called "Legends of > Motorsport", and for the first time I saw actual footage of The Ring, Spa, > Monza, Rouen, Zandvoort, and other tracks, my jaw dropped and the hair on my > arms stood up. I was seeing these places for the first time but I felt like I > already knew them. I had raced there. I had never seen these drivers before but > I knew them, I had raced against them. The present day photos of Rouen that > were posted on here the other day were absolutely fantastic. I could sit and > stare at them for hours. Before GPL, I never even heard of Rouen, now I have > this strong feeling that the ground there is somehow sacred, the same for Spa > and the rest. Before GPL, I never heard of Jochen Rindt and really didn't give > a crap who he was either. Now when I see the footage of him being killed, it > makes me sad. I wish Jim Clark and Graham Hill were still with us. I live in > Pennsylvania, USA, for God sakes, why should I care if they bulldoze some > rundown grandstands at some place called Rouen where guys once drove race cars. > Rouen is approximately eight million miles from my home for crying out loud. > Why do I care? All because of GPL my friend. GPL is amazing, simply amazing. > > By the way, just out of curiousity, how many of you have ever experienced the > following; > > You have spent an hour or more racing in a full length Grand Prix, you're in > the zone, real smooth consistent laps. Haven't made a single mistake in over an > hour. OK maybe you booted Surtees off the track a little earlier but we all > know it was completely his fault. You need to hit the pause button for some > stupid reason, maybe some moron is knocking on your front door or maybe your > wife needs to say something really unimportant to you. After ONE minute you get > back to GPL, you settle back in your seat, you take a deep breath, double check > to see where you are on the track, you picture the next corner in your mind, > get your peddles set just right, and get a good grip on the wheel. Then you > unpause the game and completely blow the next corner, thus ending your Grand > Prix after investing an hour and a half of your time. Am I the only one? > > Thanx for listening. > > Larry Haines

I've been a big fan of present day auto racing beginning with NASCAR in the mid 1980's. I took an interest in F1 shortly before we lost Senna. Racing history, on the other hand, particularly F1, I couldn't have cared less about. I had no interest whatsoever in anything dealing with stuff that happened before I was even born. Who cares. That stuff is ancient history. Eight months ago, I didn't know who Jim Clark was, other than some racer who got killed along time ago. I knew Graham Hill only as Damon's dad. That all changed when I finally got GPL. I only bought GPL, I believe, in November 1999. I didn't buy it when it first came out for two reasons. 1) I only had a P166 and knew the sim would run terrible on it, and 2) every review I ever read about the sim said it was incredibly difficult and far too frustrating for anyone to ever enjoy. So I put off buying it. When I finally did, I was, of course, addicted to it immediately. My wife didn't understand how I could be enjoying myself. She would see me sit at the computer for fifteen minutes or so, then in a furious rage I would punch my steering wheel, slam my headphones down on the floor, and say a few choice words as I stormed out of the house to smoke a cigarette. Five minutes later, I would come back in and do it all over again. She would say, "Why the h!@# do you play that stupid game if it makes you so mad." She didn't understand, I HAD to play it. At about the same time I bought GPL, my cable company finally added Speedvision to the cable system. After driving GPL for a few weeks I became familiar with the driver names, cars, and tracks of that era. I had an understanding of what these men actually endured. I decided to check out this show called "Legends of Motorsport", and for the first time I saw actual footage of The Ring, Spa, Monza, Rouen, Zandvoort, and other tracks, my jaw dropped and the hair on my arms stood up. I was seeing these places for the first time but I felt like I already knew them. I had raced there. I had never seen these drivers before but I knew them, I had raced against them. The present day photos of Rouen that were posted on here the other day were absolutely fantastic. I could sit and stare at them for hours. Before GPL, I never even heard of Rouen, now I have this strong feeling that the ground there is somehow sacred, the same for Spa and the rest. Before GPL, I never heard of Jochen Rindt and really didn't give a crap who he was either. Now when I see the footage of him being killed, it makes me sad. I wish Jim Clark and Graham Hill were still with us. I live in Pennsylvania, USA, for God sakes, why should I care if they bulldoze some rundown grandstands at some place called Rouen where guys once drove race cars. Rouen is approximately eight million miles from my home for crying out loud. Why do I care? All because of GPL my friend. GPL is amazing, simply amazing. By the way, just out of curiousity, how many of you have ever experienced the following; You have spent an hour or more racing in a full length Grand Prix, you're in the zone, real smooth consistent laps. Haven't made a single mistake in over an hour. OK maybe you booted Surtees off the track a little earlier but we all know it was completely his fault. You need to hit the pause button for some stupid reason, maybe some moron is knocking on your front door or maybe your wife needs to say something really unimportant to you. After ONE minute you get back to GPL, you settle back in your seat, you take a deep breath, double check to see where you are on the track, you picture the next corner in your mind, get your peddles set just right, and get a good grip on the wheel. Then you unpause the game and completely blow the next corner, thus ending your Grand Prix after investing an hour and a half of your time. Am I the only one? Thanx for listening. Larry Haines

>or maybe your >wife needs to say something really unimportant to you. BTW the part about my wife was only a joke. Me and her get along just great. My GPL time is late at night after her and my little boy are fast asleep. (just covering my a!@ in case she reads this ;) Larry Haines

GPL has changed us all, to some extent. It was the only reason I bought my PC. I saw a games mag with a preview, and then, after it came out, I went and got the best PC available (at the time), an MSFF wheel (RIP: 1998-2000) and two Voodoo 2s. My dad had always raved about Clark, Brabham and Hulme. After GPL, I had a new respect for these guys, and as you say, it makes their loss harder to bear, especially when you've just had a ding-dong race against them. Seeing the greats in action, you really can put yourself in their seat... because, in a way, you've been there. I once found myself watching footage from the German GP, and commenting about the performance of the Ferrari as if I'd really driven the thing- but I felt that I *had*. And it's all the worse when you prang the car, knowing you would have died- because so many really did. No other time have I really felt so bad after smacking into the scenery, because I was lucky enough to live. No way in hell would I have bought the Exoto Lotus 49 if not for GPL. I would'nt have scoured the web for pics and articles about vintage racing, and I would'nt have stayed up in the early morning to catch the old footage on cable. No other game has had such an impact on me. Disturbance during a race? they can go to hell. I'm not going to pause it. At work, instead of working, I'm thinking whether or not a to change the roll bars at Rouen or something. I can't escape from GPL. -- -Ace- HainesLC <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > I've been a big fan of present day auto racing beginning with NASCAR in the mid > 1980's. I took an interest in F1 shortly before we lost Senna. Racing history, > on the other hand, particularly F1, I couldn't have cared less about. I had no > interest whatsoever in anything dealing with stuff that happened before I was > even born. Who cares. That stuff is ancient history. Eight months ago, I didn't > know who Jim Clark was, other than some racer who got killed along time ago. I > knew Graham Hill only as Damon's dad. That all changed when I finally got GPL. <snip>

Wonderful post, Larry, and sounds very familiar. Just 10 minutes ago, a buddy left after coming over to see what all my raving was about. Before GPL, I knew nothing about RACING. I bought a few driving games like NFSII SE and such, because I kinda got a charge out of the sense of speed. Then the demo of GPL showed up, and my life hasn't been the same since. Kurt HainesLC wrote in message <[email hidden]>... >>or maybe your >>wife needs to say something really unimportant to you. > >BTW the part about my wife was only a joke. Me and her get along justgreat. My >GPL time is late at night after her and my little boy are fast asleep.(just >covering my a!@ in case she reads this ;) > >Larry Haines > >

HainesLC <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > wife needs to say something really unimportant to you. After ONE minuteyou get > back to GPL, you settle back in your seat, you take a deep breath, doublecheck > to see where you are on the track, you picture the next corner in yourmind, > get your peddles set just right, and get a good grip on the wheel. Thenyou > unpause the game and completely blow the next corner, thus ending yourGrand > Prix after investing an hour and a half of your time. Am I the only one? > I think all driving sims need a return from pause mode that is similar to the changeover in the old GP1 and GP2 hotseat modes, or SCGT exiting the pits. When you come out of pause, it backs up about 5 seconds and replays what you were doing, with a big countdown to when you get control again. Mimicking the steering and pedal motions of what you were doing before pausing sets you up much better than a cold start from a pause. Stephen

On 05 Jul 2000 21:20:52 GMT, [email hidden] (HainesLC) wrote:

Quoted text (15 lines)

>You have spent an hour or more racing in a full length Grand Prix, you're in >the zone, real smooth consistent laps. Haven't made a single mistake in over an >hour. OK maybe you booted Surtees off the track a little earlier but we all >know it was completely his fault. You need to hit the pause button for some >stupid reason, maybe some moron is knocking on your front door or maybe your >wife needs to say something really unimportant to you. After ONE minute you get >back to GPL, you settle back in your seat, you take a deep breath, double check >to see where you are on the track, you picture the next corner in your mind, >get your peddles set just right, and get a good grip on the wheel. Then you >unpause the game and completely blow the next corner, thus ending your Grand >Prix after investing an hour and a half of your time. Am I the only one? > >Thanx for listening. > >Larry Haines

I reckon that has happened to all of us. My instance. Racing at Kylami, sitting in a handy position in 8th, also catching people in front at about 1 second a lap. Thinking im a good chance to finally score some points here. I spun out earlier on the first lap because i got punted off :|. Then, my mum comes in, asks me a serious off pointless questions that i dont care about "what do you want for tea? Do you want pasta with that? How about sausages? When do you want it" Proceeding to get in a shit mood at a rate of seconds, i spun off and nearly hit the roof. ___________________ Macca "I'd kill myself for you...Id kill you for myself" Pantera - This Love

Macca <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted text (7 lines)

> On 05 Jul 2000 21:20:52 GMT, [email hidden] (HainesLC) wrote: > got punted off :|. Then, my mum comes in, asks me a serious off > pointless questions that i dont care about "what do you want for tea? > Do you want pasta with that? How about sausages? When do you want it" > Proceeding to get in a shit mood at a rate of seconds, i spun off and > nearly hit the roof.

Nice that someone makes your tea for you, allowing you more free time for racing.... :-) I always try to keep things in perspective when an interruption ruins a good lap or race: 1) It's a game 2) You had fun for the last 59 minutes, you can do it again 3) You don't have to rebuild the car if you wreck 4) More practice is always a good thing in GPL 5) I wouldn't trade my girlfriend / mother / brother / sister for anything, not even a ride in an authentic Lotus 49 at the 'Ring (see point 1) 6) Blowing up at the "offending" party may cause more damage than that double barrel-roll over the fence at the Glen Stephen

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says... > >or maybe your > >wife needs to say something really unimportant to you. > > BTW the part about my wife was only a joke. Me and her get along just great. My > GPL time is late at night after her and my little boy are fast asleep. (just > covering my a!@ in case she reads this ;) That's definitely the best way. I never play GPL before about 11pm as there are too many possiblities for interruption! - Michael

On 05 Jul 2000 21:20:52 GMT, [email hidden] (HainesLC) wrote: >I've been a big fan of present day auto racing beginning with NASCAR in the mid >1980's. I took an interest in F1 shortly before we lost Senna. Racing history, <snip> Wow, what a great story, it feels like you just wrote my biography :) And believe me, the crashing immediately after pausing for a moment part, you're not the only one who has this, it happens everytime when I pause :) Pausing gets you out of your rythm. Drive very slow and carefull after a pause, for a lap or so, to get back into the rythm. Have fun, Andre >Thanx for listening. > >Larry Haines

or how about - it seems like about 16 years since I've been trying to break the 1:29:00 mark at Monza, my last 2 times earlier in the day (I get to play more on holidays like July 4, Labor day) were 1:29:01 and 1:29:03, and I'm on this flying lap where I know... I KNOW I've hit the second Lesmos like I've never hit it before...floating just floating, accelerating with hardly any wheelspin right on the edge, missing that narrow grass strip on the left (with that nasty hedge) by a c- ..uhm.. by a cat hair, accelerating, just accelerating now, Glorious... one curve left, don't even have to take it on the extreme edge (but I probably will) and... My 9 year old son is standing beside me. He is waiting patiently. He has been carefully instructed to wait for a straightaway before Dad can hit the F1 key. There is now a straightaway and it is a long one. He is apparently having an internal hemmorage about an obviously very pressing matter. I hit F1. I remove my headphones. "Yes Jason. What is it?" He says "Oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh oh never mind Dad I think I know where it is..." and runs off. I experience a mixture of about 11 different emotions and visualizations. The last one goes something like "OK. OK. Ok. Ok. ok. ok. ok. oookkkay. ok." Put the headphones back on. There... Good. I hit F1 again. Ok, my foot is on the accelerator. Good. My other foot is off the brake. Good. Ok, I'm still a bit near the hedge. Hmmm, yeah I think the wheel was right here. Yup, still straightening out a bit. No problem. Visualizing the Parabolica. Plenty of straight left to get comfy. Ok here we go. Press pause. Ok. The car is now stopped. The left wheels are no longer visible. They are in the hedge. I'm in the HEDGE for Chrissakes. I'm IN THE HEDGE. There should be another GPLRank category for Uwe to consider. GPLwithChildren. I can start by sending in several birth certificates :) -Keith HainesLC wrote: <snip>

Quoted text (18 lines)

> By the way, just out of curiousity, how many of you have ever experienced the > following; > > You have spent an hour or more racing in a full length Grand Prix, you're in > the zone, real smooth consistent laps. Haven't made a single mistake in over an > hour. OK maybe you booted Surtees off the track a little earlier but we all > know it was completely his fault. You need to hit the pause button for some > stupid reason, maybe some moron is knocking on your front door or maybe your > wife needs to say something really unimportant to you. After ONE minute you get > back to GPL, you settle back in your seat, you take a deep breath, double check > to see where you are on the track, you picture the next corner in your mind, > get your peddles set just right, and get a good grip on the wheel. Then you > unpause the game and completely blow the next corner, thus ending your Grand > Prix after investing an hour and a half of your time. Am I the only one? > > Thanx for listening. > > Larry Haines

LOL! Tell me, did she leave you during a race, and if so, any pointers on how others might achieve the same outcome? ----------------------------------------------------------- Got questions? Get answers over the phone at Keen.com. Up to 100 minutes free! http://www.keen.com

[email hidden] (Keith Daniell) wrote in <[email hidden]>: >Press pause. Ok. The car is now stopped. The left wheels are no >longer visible. They are in the hedge. I'm in the HEDGE for >Chrissakes. I'm IN THE HEDGE. >There should be another GPLRank category for Uwe to consider. >GPLwithChildren. I can start by sending in several birth >certificates :) -Keith I laughed and laughed. It's good to read all these posts, it makes me feel a bit less weird for being so into this game. Don Scurlock Vancouver,B.C. GPLRank -2.86 Come see how you rank, at the GPLRank site http://newgplrank.schuerkamp.de/

U�ytkownik "HainesLC" <[email hidden]> napisa� w wiadomo�ci news:[email hidden]... > I've been a big fan of present day auto racing beginning with NASCAR inthe mid > 1980's. I took an interest in F1 shortly before we lost Senna. Racinghistory, uff It's nice to read that I'm not the only one . Most of it also happened to me and I think may many Gpl drivers. I can add from myself that my girlfriend bacuse of my long trainings on the Ring knows tha track beter than half of you :) wanna bet ? Gpl rank -44,45 Richie ( Piotr O. ) [email hidden] Icq 7510765 http://gpl.pulse.pdi.net http://oj.gad.pl