In my one of my Web pages I said about GRE, "Your days of poking around
on the Internet for setups and begging people to send you their setups
are over."
Someone responded:
"Marketing hype for sure.
"This is a tool to assist in the development of a setup.
Better than the game itself, but it doesn't bring Ron Ayton
to the states to live in your computer.
"What it does mean is that the setups you poke around for and
beg for will be better."
Ok, I concede the point that I can't say for sure that GRE will make
everyone capable of creating fantastic setups. I'm not sure I want some
Australian lout living in my computer anyway (just kidding, Ron!) So
I've added the qualifier "We believe" to my page.
However, I know for sure that GRE makes creating setups vastly easier
than it was before. Since Nate sent me the first workable version in
January, I've been using it to create a new setup before every race I
run.
I'm in a bunch of racing series and have scheduled races every day
except Monday. I use any of three different cars in either GP or F2
depending on the series. I don't have time to prepare setups in
advance.
When it's time to race, I run GRE on my old computer and connect across
the LAN to the players folder on my racing computer. I join the
practice session, and then using GRE (and sometimes Windows Find) I poke
around among my existing setups for something recent for any car from
that track, and something recent from any track for that car. I display
these setups on GRE, and then mix and match various settings to create a
new setup for today's car and track.
Usually this takes me three or four minutes. Then I'm on the track and
trying the setup. If it needs tweaking, I swivel on my chair back to
the computer with GRE and tweak, then reload the tweaked setup into GPL.
This is really fun, and adds to the challenge of the event. But the
point is that I could never have done that before. Without GRE, it
simply isn't practical to rummage through a zillion existing setups to
find something relevant to work from.
Now we come to the point of this posting (you were hoping I'd get there
someday, weren't you?)
Last night, Nate called me up and told me that for the last few days,
he'd been developing setups in GRE during practice sessions for races.
He got a real kick out of being able to develop setups so quickly. He
didn't know I'd been doing it too.
One difference between Nate and I is that Nate has done very little
setup development, while I've been hacking GPL setups for two years.
One reason he wrote GRE was to give himself a handle on creating setups.
He hasn't got that handle yet, so he's using GRE's context-sensitive
Help to give him the information he needs. He just right-clicks on a
given setup parameter (say, "Tire Pressures") in GRE's Setup window, and
a context-sensitive Help menu pops up. This leads him to the Quick
Reference item on that parameter, where he can read about what the item
does and what I suggest as a starting value.
In a very few minutes, using GRE and its context-sensitive Help, Nate
can produce a baseline setup to start with at any track for any car. He
says these setups are better than his old setups, which he'd adapted
from setups I sent him before we started developing GRE and GRE Help.
So, before you start trolling the Internet for setups for those new CART
and NASCAR conversion tracks, try right-clicking on GRE's setup
parameters.
And really poke around in the GRE Help. It contains almost everything I
know about setups and could write down, and there's not much in there
that's superfluous. I know it's big, but I think it's worth it.
Alison
From: [email hidden]
Reply-To: [email hidden]
Remove the spam blocker NOSPAM to email me.
http://eaglewoman.maximumspeed.com
Alison Hine <[email hidden]> wrote:
> "This is a tool to assist in the development of a setup.
> Better than the game itself, but it doesn't bring Ron Ayton
> to the states to live in your computer.
Hmmm, when I use Ron's setups, I only do about 125 Mph. I also can't
find my 5th gear....people are driving circles around me on my
favourite track....yeah, Monza! <G>
>Usually this takes me three or four minutes. Then I'm on the track and
>trying the setup. If it needs tweaking, I swivel on my chair back to
>the computer with GRE and tweak, then reload the tweaked setup into GPL.
This is great! Unfortunally, (well, in this case..) I use an
Hyperstimulator. I guess you can imagine the picture of me climbing in
and out that thing for every setup tweak...heck, in a short time my
biceps would be as huge as my thighs! (Hey Alex, Richey! <g>)
>Now we come to the point of this posting (you were hoping I'd get there
>someday, weren't you?)
Well, I thought you gave me a great handle to attach my lousy jokes
to...
>He hasn't got that handle yet, so he's using GRE's context-sensitive
>Help to give him the information he needs. He just right-clicks on a
>given setup parameter (say, "Tire Pressures") in GRE's Setup window, and
>a context-sensitive Help menu pops up. This leads him to the Quick
>Reference item on that parameter, where he can read about what the item
>does and what I suggest as a starting value.
Well, I must say, this feature is the thing I really like in GPE. Also
the fact that you can use more values then within GPL, makes it such a
great tool. There are only 2 things missing, IMO. The tyre
temperatures and the amount of fuel used. For this you still have to
go back to the GPL setup screen.
And the real killer is the "Happy Mechanic" TM...
Now, if GPL Replay Analyzer could add the tyre temperatures, life
would be even better....(I know, this will be impossible...)
I'll end with an huge THANKS to Nate and Alison, for creating such a
great util.
Remco
Thanks to you and Nate for this fantastic, phenomenal, amazingly helpful,
useful, terrific, much-needed supplement to GPL (which has had enough
superlatives thrown at it I don't need to add any).
I cannot say enough about how much it improves my ability to do my own
set-ups and actually understand what the hell is happening. Within a few
minutes of using your base-line set-ups for each chassis and with a bit of
tweaking I set personal bests in every chassis at several tracks I
experimented with.
And so other readers know, 1/2 of the greatness is in the user interface of
the very handy tool and the other half is in the context sensitive help and
racing guide that Alison is referring to in this post. Easier access to all
the settings wouldn't help if you had no better idea what you were doing.
Thanks a zillion. You really should be nominated for some sort of GPL
community service life-time achievement award--except that they usually give
those to people who are on their way out...which we all hope is not the case
with either of you Hines.
In reality, Papy would be insane NOT to include a tool and guide exactly
like this in every future sim they release. How are your NASCAR set-up
skills Alison? And make sure they pay you well for it...charity can show
the way, but at some point, you should be recognised for your considerable
contribution. Listening anyone from Papy??
Marc.
"Alison Hine" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted text (85 lines)
> In my one of my Web pages I said about GRE, "Your days of poking around > on the Internet for setups and begging people to send you their setups > are over." > > Someone responded: > > "Marketing hype for sure. > > "This is a tool to assist in the development of a setup. > Better than the game itself, but it doesn't bring Ron Ayton > to the states to live in your computer. > > "What it does mean is that the setups you poke around for and > beg for will be better." > > Ok, I concede the point that I can't say for sure that GRE will make > everyone capable of creating fantastic setups. I'm not sure I want some > Australian lout living in my computer anyway (just kidding, Ron!) So > I've added the qualifier "We believe" to my page. > > However, I know for sure that GRE makes creating setups vastly easier > than it was before. Since Nate sent me the first workable version in > January, I've been using it to create a new setup before every race I > run. > > I'm in a bunch of racing series and have scheduled races every day > except Monday. I use any of three different cars in either GP or F2 > depending on the series. I don't have time to prepare setups in > advance. > > When it's time to race, I run GRE on my old computer and connect across > the LAN to the players folder on my racing computer. I join the > practice session, and then using GRE (and sometimes Windows Find) I poke > around among my existing setups for something recent for any car from > that track, and something recent from any track for that car. I display > these setups on GRE, and then mix and match various settings to create a > new setup for today's car and track. > > Usually this takes me three or four minutes. Then I'm on the track and > trying the setup. If it needs tweaking, I swivel on my chair back to > the computer with GRE and tweak, then reload the tweaked setup into GPL. > > This is really fun, and adds to the challenge of the event. But the > point is that I could never have done that before. Without GRE, it > simply isn't practical to rummage through a zillion existing setups to > find something relevant to work from. > > Now we come to the point of this posting (you were hoping I'd get there > someday, weren't you?) > > Last night, Nate called me up and told me that for the last few days, > he'd been developing setups in GRE during practice sessions for races. > He got a real kick out of being able to develop setups so quickly. He > didn't know I'd been doing it too. > > One difference between Nate and I is that Nate has done very little > setup development, while I've been hacking GPL setups for two years. > One reason he wrote GRE was to give himself a handle on creating setups. > > He hasn't got that handle yet, so he's using GRE's context-sensitive > Help to give him the information he needs. He just right-clicks on a > given setup parameter (say, "Tire Pressures") in GRE's Setup window, and > a context-sensitive Help menu pops up. This leads him to the Quick > Reference item on that parameter, where he can read about what the item > does and what I suggest as a starting value. > > In a very few minutes, using GRE and its context-sensitive Help, Nate > can produce a baseline setup to start with at any track for any car. He > says these setups are better than his old setups, which he'd adapted > from setups I sent him before we started developing GRE and GRE Help. > > So, before you start trolling the Internet for setups for those new CART > and NASCAR conversion tracks, try right-clicking on GRE's setup > parameters. > > And really poke around in the GRE Help. It contains almost everything I > know about setups and could write down, and there's not much in there > that's superfluous. I know it's big, but I think it's worth it. > > Alison > > From: [email hidden] > Reply-To: [email hidden] > Remove the spam blocker NOSPAM to email me. > http://eaglewoman.maximumspeed.comThanks so much, Marc! Feedback like this makes all that hard work
worthwhile!
Alison
On Sat, 25 Mar 2000 02:53:46 GMT, "Marc Collins"
<[email hidden]> wrote:
Alison
From: [email hidden]
Reply-To: [email hidden]
Remove the spam blocker NOSPAM to email me.
http://eaglewoman.maximumspeed.com
