Downloaded and installed the patch, tried out the new default setups
(no good), went back to using Allison's Ferrari setups, played a
little with the core.ini, went to GPL Spy Boy and into a Glen race.
Only four or five players and some warping in the first lap, but the
start was amazingly clean and I coasted to victory. Next race was
Monza, 15+ drivers and I was about 7th (you know that deathspot
between practically everybody) on the grid. But just to prove me
wrong, it was the cleanest first lap I ever saw. Cars changing sides,
avoiding others and then organized and clean, slowing down for Curva
Grande. After that, the slicing and dicing continued for the whole lap
until I went a bit off at Parabolica and fell back to fight another
Eagle who was coming fast behind.
He got past me but braking into Parabolica he was a bit cautious so I
went for it, flew past him and just made the turn with some improvised
trail braking. Then when we accelerated out I got wheelspin and tried
to block left. Unfortunately he had some trouble as well and was
trying to pass me on the far left, so we had contact and a big
accident.
The thing was, it wasn't the usual 'GPL Warp Explosion (tm)' where
cars go inside each other, blow to bits and fly in all directions. It
was just a hard contact that threw my car into air and down on it's
wheels rolling towards the finish line like Christian Fittipaldi,
while the other Eagle was set on fire. Figuring I need more practice
after not playing GPL for weeks, I promptly retired.
Final conclusion: could have just been a freak of nature, but it looks
like some of this warping and horrible starting wrecks is gone. On the
downside, there are these short periods where the game kind of slows
down for a second or so. And no way could this patch live up to it's
expectations.
