GPL: Observations\Bugs etc

Don't get me wrong! This sim sets new stardards which will be hard to match by other sim producers and, thak you Papyrus for a racing sim that is truly ***ive! I have had the sim since its UK release date (9th Oct) during this time I have encountered the following: BUGS 1. crashed back to Windows (6 times) during driving various circuits or selecting menu items 2. In practice at Kyalami 'Jim Clark' qualified with an amazing 1:20.36 and yet when I looked at the replay his best time was 1:21.50 (this was intermediate setting and I had the whole replay recorded) 3. while racing, the screen suddenly pauses for a fraction of a second 4. reply stops about 1cm along the scroll bar and neccessitates the need to click the play button again 5. if you change a setup and forget to save it under a new name it overwrites your previously (and possibly better) setup when you return to the circuit OBSERVATIONS 1. During a race the A1 cars do not seem to power-slide but tend to go round the circuit smoothly. I can only assume that this would have required a lot more proccessing power to recreate this for every car. I'm old enough to remember (especially on the first lap) the cars looking very ragged indeed. I must say though, that on replay on my first lap (with cold tires) the A1 cars to tend to make me look like a speeding cement-mixer truck! 2. I don't think I'm slow. Kyalami in the 1.22s. But the A1 cars are doing low 1.21s in the intermediate race setting which in real life was much faster than the fastest lap recorded in the race (1.29.9 by Hulme). I'm dreading what the GP setting is going to show in times. MY BIGGEST PROBLEM 3. Being a Brit, the wonderful Lotus is the car I want to drive most (Only wish its engine had been more reliable). However, to get good lap times, I change up without lifting my right foot. I remember that Jim Clark said he could judge changing gear without lifting on the accelerator. The problem is that 90% of the time in practice and race the engine blows. Without a clutch control as I presume most people who drive this sim don't have one of these then the only alternative is to lift and therefore reduce speed to change. (obviously you would not lose so much speed lifting with a clutch). I cannot match my best lap time by lifting. Has anyone else discovered this problem or have a viable solution? Are the other cars as sensitive as this? At the moment, I am holding my own at Kyalami (intermediate short race). Qualified 8th and maintained 8th to the last half of the last (12th) lap when the engine blew! ENHANCEMENTS If any of you have the new SB Live! sound card set it to 'forrest' for the Rouen circuit for creating the most realistic sound. HARDWARE Pentium 11 x 333Mhz 128Mb ram Hercules Thriller 8Mb AGP (I get better frame rate (36) than my V2) Voodoo 11 SB Live! brilliant sound card Labtecs wonderful sound system etc,etc,etc.... Alan

<snip> % 3. while racing, the screen suddenly pauses for a fraction of a second Make sure you have NO applications running other than Explorer and Systray before running GPL. Also ensure that ALL modes of screen savers are turned off (this includes monitor power saving modes -- for which you may need to check your CMOS settings for also). % 4. reply stops about 1cm along the scroll bar and neccessitates the need to % click the play button again Maybe a bug, depends.... Did you pause the program before viewing replay? If not, then the need to press play again is to pick up any new replay information while the sim runs in the background. % 5. if you change a setup and forget to save it under a new name it overwrites % your previously (and possibly better) setup when you return to the circuit Roger on that, at least it should be made a little bit clearer that this is what is going on. I am used to being able to modify and modify and setup and not have it become REAL until I save it. % OBSERVATIONS % 1. During a race the A1 cars do not seem to power-slide but tend to go round % the circuit smoothly. I can only assume that this would have required a lot % more proccessing power to recreate this for every car. I'm old enough to % remember (especially on the first lap) the cars looking very ragged indeed. I % must say though, that on replay on my first lap (with cold tires) the A1 cars % to tend to make me look like a speeding cement-mixer truck! While I can't say that I've really seen the AI powerslide a whole lot, it does seem that they will wiggle their rears while accelerating with cold tires, but they seem to have real good brakes and "traction" under braking with cold tires. % 2. I don't think I'm slow. Kyalami in the 1.22s. But the A1 cars are doing low % 1.21s in the intermediate race setting which in real life was much faster than % the fastest lap recorded in the race (1.29.9 by Hulme). I'm dreading what the % GP setting is going to show in times. Check out Alison Hine's GPL page for information on AI tweaking to help keep them in line with your performance <http://www.nh.ultranet.com/~alison/gpl/files/aitweaks.zip>. <snip> -- **************************** Michael E. Carver ************************* Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./. [- < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Hi Alan, I have yet to see such crashes. As Michael said, make sure you have no other applications running at the time - ICQ, screensavers etc. I would be very surprised at this. I have never seen anything like that during the whole testing period on GPL. I'm not saying it didn't happen, but... :-) Probably new replay information if the live action is still continuing underneath the replay (this happens when online or in single player). Make sure you pause the game first. This is by design. For what it's worth, it I also dislike the implementation and communicated this back to Papyrus, but changes were not forthcoming. Yes and no. I agree that they're smooth, however they do make mistakes. I would not complain much about that. :-) 1:22 is certainly quick. But I am able to run 1:20's so the AI is not running at an unrealistic speed. Keep practising - you've not had the game for long and can't hope to have discovered all the setup techniques and the driving secrets for Kyalami. Hint, if you take them right, you can make up a LOT of time through turn 2 and the first turn into the chicane. Try rotating and sliding the car early into the apex. You'll KNOW for sure when you do it right. :-) change up Ooooh, badness! :-) To be honest, you hardly notice a loss of time lifting and changing once you learn the ability. The hardest bit is doing this when cornering. You'll get the hang of it and it soon becomes second nature. yeah, that tends to happen! Mike.

[This followup was posted to rec.autos.simulators and a copy was sent to the cited author.] says... This is that dynamic AI in action (I don't remember what their name for it is). If you do not want this to occur, you have to disable that feature in one of the .ini files. I believe that Alison Hine's website (http://www.nh.ultranet.com/~alison/gpl/) has information on how to change that. The Lotus is *most* sensitive to this, but the others are also susceptible. -- Rob

I'll agree with that! I started up CPR to check on a suspected joystick problem, and puzzled more than a few moments on why the shifts were so rough. Once learned, it's as difficult a habit to break. Michael.

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> >(Only wish > >its engine had been more reliable). However, to get good lap times, I > change up > Ooooh, badness! :-) To be honest, you hardly notice a loss of time > lifting and changing once you learn the ability. The hardest bit is doing > this when cornering. You'll get the hang of it and it soon becomes second > nature.

I highly doubt you or anyone could shift faster with a clutch than with the "semi automatic" clutch provided by GPL. You don't have to lift-off the accelerator more than a fraction (1/4, 1/3?) for clean fast shifts. With a true clutch, you would have to lift off more...and you'd have to depress and release the clutch properly! I say it would be impossible to do that faster than the no-clutch GPL set-up. Also, as you have discovered, it is highly not advisable to abuse and over-rev the GPL car engines in the manner that they are abused by shifting without lifting off the accelerator. Marc.

% I highly doubt you or anyone could shift faster with a clutch than with the % "semi automatic" clutch provided by GPL. You don't have to lift-off the % accelerator more than a fraction (1/4, 1/3?) for clean fast shifts. With a % true clutch, you would have to lift off more...and you'd have to depress and % release the clutch properly! I say it would be impossible to do that faster % than the no-clutch GPL set-up. Can you imagine the setup that would be required to be able to use all three pedals at once in GPL. It would have to be a well anchored pedal system. The footage in Grand Prix of their foot work just makes me tired to watch. Can you imagine the drum solos these guys could do? <G> <snip> -- **************************** Michael E. Carver ************************* Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=<[ /./. [- < ]>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=