Watkins - I've hit a wall

I have Hit a wall at watkins, not literally, but I can't break the 1.09 barrier. I have been playing the game a little over a month and can't get to 1.08. At first it was really cool, I would be running 1.20 then drive a little more have a great run look at the lap 1.15. What a thrill. Practice some more 1.10, now I'm really pumped. Running Ali's ferrari setups everyhting is going great. Now I can run consistent 1.11's, 1.10's with the occasional 1.09 thrown in. I figure I'm ready to try a Novice race and smoke these guys. Half the pack is as slow as can be and the other half is running consistent times I can't touch. Is there a track guide anywhere so I can compare and try to squeeze that extra few seconds out? I know the answer is practice, but I have tried different things to get faster ie; taking corners in a higher gear, letting the car wind out, or short shifting, but I haven't set a best time in a while. Chris

one month of practice isn't practicing. One month of practice is a drop in the bucket. One month of practice is probably about 3 hours of practice(?) One month of practice aint going to get you fast. The only possibility to get those few extra seconds that you're after is... PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. Look for at least 100 hours on track. Then Practice some more..

Quoted text (13 lines)

> I have Hit a wall at watkins, not literally, but I can't break the 1.09 > barrier. I have been playing the game a little over a month and can't get to > 1.08. At first it was really cool, I would be running 1.20 then drive a little > more have a great run look at the lap 1.15. What a thrill. Practice some more > 1.10, now I'm really pumped. Running Ali's ferrari setups everyhting is going > great. Now I can run consistent 1.11's, 1.10's with the occasional 1.09 thrown > in. I figure I'm ready to try a Novice race and smoke these guys. Half the pack > is as slow as can be and the other half is running consistent times I can't > touch. Is there a track guide anywhere so I can compare and try to squeeze that > extra few seconds out? I know the answer is practice, but I have tried > different things to get faster ie; taking corners in a higher gear, letting the > car wind out, or short shifting, but I haven't set a best time in a while. > Chris

-- ========================================= Mike Barlow of Barlow Racing? ========================================= Racing online with the help of...... Race Communications Association http://members.xoom.com/RCA/toc.html Holodyne Engineering Mystic Music (have Your !!Name/Address!! placed here)

And then still like GPL!!!!! :-)) -- Groetjes Kees Not a very fast driver but still like the game. > one month of practice isn't practicing. One month of practice is a > drop in the bucket. One month of practice is probably about 3 hours of > practice(?) One month of practice aint going to get you fast. > The only possibility to get those few extra seconds that you're after > is... PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. Look for at least 100 hours on > track. Then Practice some more.. > > I have Hit a wall at watkins, not literally, but I can't break the 1.09 > > barrier. I have been playing the game a little over a month and can't get to > > 1.08. At first it was really cool, I would be running 1.20 then drive a little > > more have a great run look at the lap 1.15. What a thrill. Practice some more > > 1.10, now I'm really pumped. Running Ali's ferrari setups everyhting is going > > great. Now I can run consistent 1.11's, 1.10's with the occasional 1.09 thrown > > in. I figure I'm ready to try a Novice race and smoke these guys. Half the pack > > is as slow as can be and the other half is running consistent times I can't > > touch. Is there a track guide anywhere so I can compare and try to squeeze that > > extra few seconds out? I know the answer is practice, but I have tried > > different things to get faster ie; taking corners in a higher gear, letting the > > car wind out, or short shifting, but I haven't set a best time in a while. > > Chris > -- > ========================================= > Mike Barlow of Barlow Racing? > ========================================= > Racing online with the help of...... > Race Communications Association > http://members.xoom.com/RCA/toc.html > Holodyne Engineering > Mystic Music > (have Your !!Name/Address!! placed here)

> I've had the game for a year and am at the same 1.09/1.10 wall in > Watkins Glen. Sometimes you need practice, but this isn't one of those > times. Sometimes you need more theory and actual help. Anyone? Definitely take a look at the world record hotlap site at: http://216.13.117.36/~schubi/fastlaps.htm It includes setups and replays from the world's fastest GPL drivers, and I for one managed to improve my best time by over 3 seconds in this way (although I'm still nearly 2 seconds off the world record of 1:03.61). Note that these are GPL 1.0 hotlaps, nearly all using low-rider setups AFAIK, but it looks like Schubi will be starting a GPL 1.1 hotlap site as well, judging by the link on the main page.

Quoted text (7 lines)

> one month of practice isn't practicing. One month of practice is a >drop in the bucket. One month of practice is probably about 3 hours of >practice(?) One month of practice aint going to get you fast. > The only possibility to get those few extra seconds that you're after >is... PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. Look for at least 100 hours on >track. Then Practice some more..

I've had the game for a year and am at the same 1.09/1.10 wall in Watkins Glen. Sometimes you need practice, but this isn't one of those times. Sometimes you need more theory and actual help. Anyone? Joe McGinn ========================================== Staff Writer for the Sports *** Network [link lost in import: /***.com/] ==========================================

>hey go >[link lost in import] >and check out some of the hotlap replays for some hints. >hope this helps Unfortunately it doesn't, much. Driving style and car setup affects the way people drive so much, I don't really find hotlaps by themselves to be all that useful. Like the first poster, what I really need is a "track guide" like the ones that exist for other tracks. No one's done this for Watkins Glen? Joe McGinn ========================================== Staff Writer for the Sports *** Network [link lost in import: /***.com/] ==========================================

Schubi's site certainly helped me. Its a matter of finding the setup that suits YOUR style of driving. Try a few, I experimented with about 10 setups from certain sites, now i'm doing 1.04.1x in races at the glen , it wasn't long ago I was struggling to remember even which way the track went.... Andy Marson

Quoted text (15 lines)

> > I've had the game for a year and am at the same 1.09/1.10 wall in > > Watkins Glen. Sometimes you need practice, but this isn't one of those > > times. Sometimes you need more theory and actual help. Anyone? > Definitely take a look at the world record hotlap site at: > http://216.13.117.36/~schubi/fastlaps.htm > It includes setups and replays from the world's fastest GPL drivers, and > I for one managed to improve my best time by over 3 seconds in this way > (although I'm still nearly 2 seconds off the world record of 1:03.61). > Note that these are GPL 1.0 hotlaps, nearly all using low-rider setups > AFAIK, but it looks like Schubi will be starting a GPL 1.1 hotlap site > as well, judging by the link on the main page.

>Schubi's site certainly helped me. Its a matter of finding the setup that >suits YOUR style of driving. Try a few, I experimented with about 10 setups >from certain sites, now i'm doing 1.04.1x in races at the glen , it wasn't >long ago I was struggling to remember even which way the track went.... >Andy Marson Thx. I haven't always found hotlaps all that helpful, but I just found out there's a utility (GPL dump) that allows me to compare them to my laps. So I'll take another look. Joe McGinn ========================================== Staff Writer for the Sports *** Network [link lost in import: /***.com/] ==========================================

hey go http://get.to/gpl and check out some of the hotlap replays for some hints. hope this helps David

Here you go: [link lost in import] Andre

Well, I have the game about a month too and I'm currently at 1.06.low at the Glen. I have started with the ferrari in 1.0 standard setup and steering linearity set to about 25% non linear (experiences from GP2 - I could not drive this game with linear steering). I 'hit a wall' with this setup at about 1.08.50. Then I tried Alison's ferrari setup and got 1.07.high. Then I tried the other cars and found out, that I couldn't drive them at all. Way too much understeering. I had to throw the lotus in Monza into the turns with brute force, which only left me spinning around. I found out, that the problem was the non-linear steering. With steering set to fully linear, I could drive the standard lotus a little bit faster than Alison's ferrari. I also tried the new 1.1 setups, but although they are very easy to drive, I could never get as fast(?) as before. I have never tried any hotlappers setups because I think first I should learn to handle the car and then try to find a setup, which supports my driving style, not the other way round. Now I use the lotus setups of Ricardo Nunnini at http://www.simracingnews.com/guides/gpl/nunnini/ These are very neutral high rider setups, great for learning and quite fast. I only changed break balance to 57% front (I find the 55% too unstable), rear rebound dampers down to 2 for more understeering entering the corner (I want to learn trailbraking ;-)) and one click harder rear roll bars (gives a little bit oversteer mid corner - IMO better for Ascari in Monza) and I use the standard 1.0 gear ratios because these setups are meant for racing and therefore the gear ratios are little bit too long). With these setups I have a very good response too steering with the throttle and I think I can learn trailbraking with them. BTW this is one setup used for all tracks (except gear ratios). I think it is good to learn the behavior of the car with one setup under different conditions first and then try to tweak it to get better times on the individual tracks. I also try to change the tracks I practice a little bit.(But I haven't tried all yet) If I can't get a PB at the Glen, well, lets go to Silverstone and try. BTW, I think Siverstone is an excellent training course. No difficult combinations of turns and always enough time to settle yourself for the next corner. Well..., OK., that's enough, I don't want to bore you to death. Just the experiences of another GPL newbie.(If anything I wrote is complete nonsense, please let me know) Peter Vienna, Austria

Check http://lightsoutracing.simplenet.com/ There's a few good track guides there. -- Cheers! Graeme Nash http://www.karisma1.demon.co.uk ICQ# 11257824

Hi Chris, One other thing that hasn't been mentioned in this thread, and that made a major improvement on my lap times, was getting a decent fps. This may not be a problem in your case, but similar to yourself the best I could manage was mid 1.09s at the Glen after many, many laps in all cars, and I felt there was nothing more I could wring out of these machines. Yet once I got my fps higher the cars became instantly more drivable and it wasn't long before I was running 1.06s. -- Peter Ives