Looking for UK GPL Players

Quick question: is there a group of GPL players based in the UK who kinda 'hang-out' together? I know of the UKGPL Championship, but I'm looking for something a bit less formal - a group who discuss this fine game, help each other get better, and have regular online races. Having played GPL for two to three months now, I've now got past the "crashing all the time" phase and am looking to move onto the next level, so to speak. If anyone can point me in the right direction I'd be very grateful. -- Alan astrang at innocent dot com

What are you looking for that r.a.s. and VROC can't give? **** Posted from RemarQ - http://www.remarq.com - Discussions Start Here (tm) ****

Probably nothing. I guess I'm just looking for the same things but on a smaller, more 'personal' scale. My background in sim racing has been, until relatively recently, confined to Microprose F1GP on the Amiga - as you can imagine I'm not really used to such a large scene! In terms of online racing, though, I would prefer to race against UK players so that start times and ping times would be favourable. -- Alan astrang at innocent dot com

Quoted text (8 lines)

> > What are you looking for that r.a.s. and VROC can't give? > Probably nothing. I guess I'm just looking for the same things but on a > smaller, more 'personal' scale. My background in sim racing has been, > until relatively recently, confined to Microprose F1GP on the Amiga - as > you can imagine I'm not really used to such a large scene! In terms of > online racing, though, I would prefer to race against UK players so that > start times and ping times would be favourable.

I'm based in the UK but generally disappointed with GPL online - you can either race against 3 other people in a UK hosted race or suffer long ping times and frequent dropouts in international races. I probably get 1 good race in 10 frustrating attempts. I think until more UK players start getting cable modems and DSL links so we can host races with enough players the UK scene will never take off:-( I for one am not really interested in 4 person races, GPL is such a difficult sim that you need lots of cars to make an interesting race. - Michael

On 10 Jun 1999 10:19:09 GMT, "Alan Strang" I am in a similar situation, sometimes I get together with my brother (The only human I know can play GPL for hours other than mysel) and we have such intense competition, sometimes you feel you couldn't get any closer to the "real thing". But then, I am back racing against the AI cars, it's fun of course but after a few months I tended to see them as more and more predictable, however much you changed their behaviour. Even when you finish a race far behind them. In the past few months I've improved dramatically (for my standards anyway) and the best races I've had have been the ones with my brother;s brain behind of the Lotus. I am one of those who would be interested. Saturday's are usually my "racing day" as my girlfriend works in the morning, otherwise she tends to drag me off the pc or just after I manage to get a solid rythm going, she starts "I thought this was your last lap..." ant then 3 hours later... GPL has made a lot of wives and girfriends very unhappy, believe me. Anyway I have 3 hours for myself now, bakc to the "ring" for more testing...

MichaelJ kirjoitti viestiss? ... I think you should be more disappointed to your ISP rather than GPL... I play from Finland to USA/Canada with very good connections (ISDN)

there are a good number of racers based in the UK who would be willing to race with you (a few with isdn or better - me included). The UKGPL league is at www.ukgpl.com and is not very "high brow" at all (no decent hosts). We are currently running with a non UK host for the races we do run, but have had to split the races into 2 groups, so the league is by no means very formal at all. On the web site there are links to join and join the mailing list too, where you will find many like minded drivers - a few VERY fast guys, but then a whole lot of very mediocre guys (liek me :D ) in the league. Cheers -Lindsay (remove "nunspam" to mail me)

There is a group of us UK drivers who Race regular "fun races" and League races. We meet on ICQ most evenings and drivers from all over Europe are also present with quite a few hosts with ISDN. We are mostly all members of the Sportsims forum on Compuserve and section 14 is where we have our Legends League based. Come and join us, new members are always welcome. I know Compuserve is considered by many as naff and very old hat but we have a great competition going with lots of various skill levels and we all have fun which is what on line racing is all about. MikeT. -- 22:24 on 06/10/99 From sunny Herne Bay, Kent.UK. mailable also at remove NO-SPAM to mail me.

On 10 Jun 1999 10:19:09 GMT "Alan Strang"

Quoted text (7 lines)

>Quick question: is there a group of GPL players based in the UK who kinda >'hang-out' together? I know of the UKGPL Championship, but I'm looking for >something a bit less formal - a group who discuss this fine game, help each >other get better, and have regular online races. Having played GPL for two >to three months now, I've now got past the "crashing all the time" phase >and am looking to move onto the next level, so to speak. If anyone can >point me in the right direction I'd be very grateful.

I wouldn't write off UKGPL. Its not really got going as a fiercely competitive championship both because of lack of hosts and actually because we want to create fun racing rather than highly competitive (the better drives try to drive uncompetitive cars). There is an e-mail list that is friendly chat and with lots of good advice which is as important as the racing. Just pop over to http://start.at/greenflag and sign yourself up - or if you want to just hang out for the chat then click on the link at the bottom of the page to onelist.com to connect yourself to a mailing list for the group. As well as an on-line racing series have had some unofficial offline races of the same circuit (actually only 4 of us seem to do this). Even if you don't get involved in any of this at least you can find some names you recognise and then meet them on vroc (host your own race?) Come on over Alan http://www.chandler.u-net.com

Quoted text (8 lines)

> > What are you looking for that r.a.s. and VROC can't give? > Probably nothing. I guess I'm just looking for the same things but on a > smaller, more 'personal' scale. My background in sim racing has been, > until relatively recently, confined to Microprose F1GP on the Amiga - as > you can imagine I'm not really used to such a large scene! In terms of > online racing, though, I would prefer to race against UK players so that > start times and ping times would be favourable.

I agree with your sentiments about ping times - I usually get much better pings if connecting to UK hosts. However, I did join a race in Finland last night with 16 drivers - got disconnected at the start but was able to reconnect, and it was great! A real war of attrition that one, with mayhem at the first corner and cars spinning off in front of me every couple of laps - my secret weapon was the Alison Hine Coventry setup! ;-) Trouble is, there are usually only 50 to 100 drivers racing on VROC at any one time, so it needs to be a worldwide scene to give enough choice of races!

Quoted text (18 lines)

> > > What are you looking for that r.a.s. and VROC can't give? > > Probably nothing. I guess I'm just looking for the same things but on a > > smaller, more 'personal' scale. My background in sim racing has been, > > until relatively recently, confined to Microprose F1GP on the Amiga - as > > you can imagine I'm not really used to such a large scene! In terms of > > online racing, though, I would prefer to race against UK players so that > > start times and ping times would be favourable. > I'm based in the UK but generally disappointed with GPL online - you can > either race against 3 other people in a UK hosted race or suffer long > ping times and frequent dropouts in international races. I probably get 1 > good race in 10 frustrating attempts. > I think until more UK players start getting cable modems and DSL links so > we can host races with enough players the UK scene will never take off:-( > I for one am not really interested in 4 person races, GPL is such a > difficult sim that you need lots of cars to make an interesting race.

If you want to race 'properly', ie. treat it as if you were in a real race and try to grind down your opponents, then I'd agree with you - it is a lot better with more cars. However, if you cooperate with each other then racing with just 2 or 3 drivers can be fantastic - just arrange for the slightly faster driver to be behind, and try to overtake the other guy, or he can go in front and just drive a bit slower to give the other driver a challenge. As long as you wait for each other if one of you gets too far ahead, it can be a much more "interactive" experience to be wheel-to-wheel for long periods rather than chasing a speck in the distance. I'm in the UK and often race like that - but I did join a great 16-car race at Zandvoort hosted in Finland that worked fine, presumably because the host had an ISDN connection and a fast computer. I'd recommend using the chat to see if other people want to "duel" rather than race!

A lot of the time hosts in the USA are far better for ping times. -- Tim "Calm Down" Wheatley ________________________________________________ Tim Wheatley "Yellow menacing helmet in the mirror" http://start.at/igps_stats IGPS - Ferrari Challenge - UKGPL - Summer Cup Driver http://drive.to/grandprixlegends http://website.lineone.net/~nascar ________________________________________________

Probably, but I spent a few years*** around the flight sim and sprtsims forums and miss them a lot... but not quite enough to justify the cash every month :-) Andrew McP

I've done that a couple of times, it's OK for practice but a bit unsatisfying at the end of the day. Nothing beats a big field race (10+) with a low ping time to the host. - Michael

Quoted text (11 lines)

> Quick question: is there a group of GPL players based in the UK who > kinda > 'hang-out' together? I know of the UKGPL Championship, but I'm looking > for > something a bit less formal - a group who discuss this fine game, help > each > other get better, and have regular online races. Having played GPL for > two > to three months now, I've now got past the "crashing all the time" phase > and am looking to move onto the next level, so to speak. If anyone can > point me in the right direction I'd be very grateful.

Hi Alan. I'm currently racing in the UKGPL league, and believe me, it is *not* formal at all. Maybe the website gives that impression, but it really isn't. The emphasis is all on *FUN* racing. Mind you, we still have the odd dispute every now and again!!! 8-) If you don't fancy racing, just join the mailing list, where everyone chats quite a lot, about every aspect of GPL. Try the following link: http://start.at/greenflag You could also try VROC or Spyboy. Personally I have had loads of great races with hosts from all over the world using both those (I've only got a 56k modem). Have you tweaked your connection for GPL? as this may be why you are suffering lots of disconnections? If you have the core.ini file, and you tweak your DUN connection, and tweak your GPL set-up (turn down graphics to ensure constant 36fps while on-line) for on-line play, you should be able to have a decent races with hosts from just about anywhere. Some of the best races I have been in were with US hosts? 8-) *Peter* 8-)

Don't bother if you want to race in this league Alan. I tried getting in here about 2 weeks ago and never got as much as an email in reply, as to why whether my application was filed or not. I can only assume so as I get the mailing list most days..... Mark

Quoted text (40 lines)

> > Quick question: is there a group of GPL players based in the UK who > > kinda > > 'hang-out' together? I know of the UKGPL Championship, but I'm looking > > for > > something a bit less formal - a group who discuss this fine game, help > > each > > other get better, and have regular online races. Having played GPL for > > two > > to three months now, I've now got past the "crashing all the time" phase > > and am looking to move onto the next level, so to speak. If anyone can > > point me in the right direction I'd be very grateful. > Hi Alan. > I'm currently racing in the UKGPL league, and believe me, it is *not* > formal at all. Maybe the website gives that impression, but it really > isn't. The emphasis is all on *FUN* racing. Mind you, we still have the > odd dispute every now and again!!! > 8-) > If you don't fancy racing, just join the mailing list, where everyone > chats quite a lot, about every aspect of GPL. Try the following link: > [link lost in import] > You could also try VROC or Spyboy. Personally I have had loads of great > races with hosts from all over the world using both those (I've only got a > 56k modem). > Have you tweaked your connection for GPL? as this may be why you are > suffering lots of disconnections? If you have the core.ini file, and you > tweak your DUN connection, and tweak your GPL set-up (turn down graphics > to ensure constant 36fps while on-line) for on-line play, you should be > able to have a decent races with hosts from just about anywhere. Some of > the best races I have been in were with US hosts? > 8-) > *Peter* 8-)

So *you're* the barsteward who doesn't wear his tux when racing. Damn poor show! Letting the side down, what? Andrew McP... UKGPL Uniform Police

Quoted text (7 lines)

> > I'm currently racing in the UKGPL league, and believe me, > > it is *not* formal at all. > So *you're* the barsteward who doesn't wear his tux when racing. Damn > poor show! Letting the side down, what? > Andrew McP... UKGPL Uniform Police

Sorry Guv......8-) *Peter* 8-)

Hi Mark, I have just taken over from the original administrator of the UK GPL league. Due to other commitments he has been unable to keep everything up to date, so I am currently catching up on all the latest applications. If you still wish to take part in the league then please join the "Onelist" mailing list on the homepage http://www.btinternet.com/~ian.parker1/ukgpl/index.html and also fill out the join section again as I have not recieved a copy of your application. ( The following link will be updated ASAP to point to the new site and send any info to me http://start.at/greenflag ) We are now aiming to run 3 separate leagues 1 Online UK championship 2 Online UK ladder (using ISDN UK hosts) 3 Offline racing league We are also considering running F2 and F3 races within no's 2 & 3 The Online UK championship is currently full until we arrange further high bandwidth hosts, but the others are open for people to join. -- Ian Parker

Sorry Mark, you already have joined the list , I should read the whole message. Remind me not to stay up till 5AM reading newsgroups (badly) -- Ian Parker