GPL Advice to newbie's from a newbie

I thought most of the advice given to us newbies is from people who are already really good at a sim so I thought I would pass along some info I have learned from playing the sim. First, if you don't have a Hercules Thriller 8MB card then you need one. This is the card for this game, and should also be good for the next version of Nascar. Second, I think the Eagle is the car you should "cut your teeth" on. It seems to me to handle better and be a little smoother than either the Lotus or Ferrari. The Ferrari engine sound in divine but that is tempered by the grinding sound and sparks that you will inevitably hear once you hit something. Third, Monza is a good track to learn at first. I think its learning curve is smaller and Watkins Glen isn't too bad either. Fourth, leave a little room in the gas until you have a better feel for the track. I hope some of this feedback will help someone. Greg Alexander

>I thought most of the advice given to us newbies is from people who are >already really good at a sim so I thought I would pass along some info I >have learned from playing the sim. While I'm not a newbie, I am, shall we say, GPL-challenged. I can sympathize with those having a hard time. Thriller for 3D = pretty damn good Thriller for 2D = BLECH! (I've been told I was spoiled by my Matrox) Actually I would reccomend the BRM first. It's a total pig, but for the first couple of days attempting the GP car, it's stability can really help. I would move to the Eagle after the first two or three days. As far as tracks go, I'll give one warning for beginners. Don't be fooled by Kyalami! It's simple layout is easy to learn. However, the track surface has very little grip. It can make for some very frustrating times. Amen! The number one rule for learning to drive these cars: full throttle is *NOT* always necessary! -Bill -- Bill Mette | "A person is smart. People are dumb." MCSNet, Chicago | - K MiB

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>>Second, I think the Eagle is the car you should "cut your teeth" on. It > Actually I would reccomend the BRM first. It's a total pig, but for the >first couple of days attempting the GP car, it's stability can really >help. I would move to the Eagle after the first two or three days. >>Third, Monza is a good track to learn at first. I think its learning

curve >>is smaller and Watkins Glen isn't too bad either. Actually, I had good luck learning in the Brabham at Watkins Glen, then moving to the Ferrari. The Brabham is very driveable, with a nice wide power band and not too much top end, and it seemed to suit the Glen very well. The Glen is nice because it is pretty easy to learn (but hard to master!) - relatively few corners, but a couple challenging spots to get you used to things like dealing with road crown and blind braking areas. After three days of pounding around the Glen, I've gotten under 1:11 in the Ferrari, and know that I can do better if I can just string the corners together in one lap :) I've already fiddled with my setup a bit, just to make 4th and 5th gear taller, and take out a lot of fuel, and it helped a lot. The cool thing is, once you get one track down to the point where you're *driving the car* and controlling it, you can move those skills to the other tracks. I have never had a more satisfying experience with a computer game than my first controlled slide in GPL, coming through Big Bend at the Glen a little too hot, but keeping the car on the road and pointed in (roughly) the right direction with the throttle and opposite lock. Once you've done that, it's not such a big jump to run Spa at a decent clip, tossing the car into Stavelot and letting the slide scrub speed off as the corner tightens. Absolutely brilliant! Rick

I've yet to be actively impressed by anything "non-game", so 2D is not much of an issue. How many times has anyone gone "WOW!" when you fire up Excel and pop a chart on the screen? :-) My own suggestion would be the Coventry, I have a real soft spot for that car. It's sweet to drive, very well behaved and without the wild power that breaks the Lotus loose all the time. It's well behaved nature mean that it is great on tracks where precision is rewarded - I can give Lotus drivers a fright around Zandvoort with it, since it runs 1:27s around there. Not enough to scare a top Lotus driver (since Lotus can do 1:25s), but if anyone is a little off the pace being beaten by a Coventry will be a wake up call :-) Agreed. The layout looks easy but the turns are cambered and tricky. Cheers! John

> I have never had a more satisfying experience with a computer game >than my first controlled slide in GPL, coming through Big Bend at the Glen a >little too hot, but keeping the car on the road and pointed in (roughly) the >right direction with the throttle and opposite lock. The best thing is figuring this out for yourself,, I completely agree,, A little lightbulb appeared above my head --ding-- and I realized that you could control slides in this game unlike just about any other. What incredible fun... then you watch real 60's footage and you see them doing exactly the same thing. Watching Dave Mansell's replays will convince you that this sliding can be elevated to a high art. woooooohoooooo! (which I think has been said before here..) Rae

Ooh, tell me about it - with my old Matrox Mystique GPL was hopeless but GP2 gave me full grfx and full framerate (in VGA). Now with my Thriller GPL is wonderful and GP2 has dropped to about 20fps....... Cheers! -- Graeme Nash You know what to do with "don't_spam_me"... http://www.karisma1.demon.co.uk/ ICQ# 11257824 "My car appeared to disagree with my preference for living"

OK, here's a really dumb one that took me forever to figure out. The control for driving linearity is a slider, it has a LOT of settings between full right and full left. I knew this but for some reason didn't explore it. Full left was WAY to squirrely to use, but full right was so mushy I couldn't get the damn thing straight to brake into a corner. Finally it dawned on me to reduce the setting from full left just a bit, in my case about 1/4 of the way. Wow, I can actually steer the car now, I can even manage to correct a spin ... okay, on occassion anyway. I would suggest that if you have difficulty keeping the car straight while getting ready to brake, or while braking, adjust the slider just a bit. I was about ready to give up on this great game, which would have been a real shame since I first got interested in F1 ... in 1967. Joe

I couldn't agree more with you John. I also find i can do excellent times in the Coventry, much to the derision of my sim racing friends here in OZ. I find that with the Coventry, longer races become much easier to maintain control over the car as opposed to the Lotus/Eagle etc... As a hot lapping car, the Coventry leaves a bit to be desired, but as i am not interested in hot lapping, i find the handling characteristics and power transference of the Coventry is a very formidable opponent when it comes time for a decent length race. With a few small adjustments to the gear ratios and a bit of a chassis tune towards the stiff side, don't be surprised if you find a Coventry in your Lotus/Ferrari/Eagle mirrors, looking for a way to get past! I agree with most postings here on RAS, regarding the capabilities of the Lotus when hot lapping, but come race day, the Coventry will make a name for itself on the podium... Sure, it will be left behind a bit at the start of a race, but come mid race distance when all the hot lappers are pulling themselves out of the gutter and off the armco, the Coventry will dawdle by with a gentle wave from the driver's arm and a big grin. :-)) Cheers, see ya on the circuit. Ron

For those of you who just can't keep your foot out of the throttle, here's a little something that helped me. I changed the sample rpm in the app.ini file from 5200rpm to 4900rpm. This makes the engine sound like it's revving a bit higher at a given speed, and lessens my tendency to want to boot it more. Choose whatever sample rpm works for you. The rate in the demo was 5000, btw. Steve B.

Even as a hotlapper the Coventry can cause some surprises. The top guys will always be able to take the Lotus, Eagle etc way beyond what the Coventry can achieve, but some people drive the Lotus who cannot extract it's full potential. In such a case a driver with the more fogiving Coventry who CAN achive it's potential will likely turn the faster time. Working with your car is generally preferable to fighting against it, and this becomes most apparent in long races as you pointed out. Cheers! John

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> OK, here's a really dumb one that took me forever to figure out. The control for > driving linearity is a slider, it has a LOT of settings between full right and > full left. I knew this but for some reason didn't explore it. Full left was WAY > to squirrely to use, but full right was so mushy I couldn't get the damn thing > straight to brake into a corner. Finally it dawned on me to reduce the setting > from full left just a bit, in my case about 1/4 of the way. Wow, I can actually > steer the car now, I can even manage to correct a spin ... okay, on occassion > anyway. I would suggest that if you have difficulty keeping the car straight > while getting ready to brake, or while braking, adjust the slider just a bit.

After struggling with too much linearity for a while, I tried something that seems to make sense and has made controlling the GPL cars easier. I adjusted the steering ratio and linearity slider until the movement of the on-screen steering wheel matched the movement of my ACT Labs RS wheel. They are now very close through about 90 degrees of rotation left or right (beyond that the on-screen wheel moves more than the RS, which I only use in hairpins). The setting are 20:1 steering ratio, with linearity set to 1/4-1/3 from the left (YMMV). The cars are easier to control that way and, as I said, it just makes sense that the on-screen wheel and PC wheel movement should match. -- Pat Dotson IMPACT Motorsports http://www.impactmotorsports.com/pd.html