GPL undrivable, what am I doing wrong??????

Well, 22fps isn't very good. You want to get it pegged at the game's maximum of 36 fps. Unlike GP2, GPL won't give you a constant framerate unless you get the full 36 fps. It's important to have a constant framerate because those tiny fluctuations have a tendency to make you crash. That could be part of your problem. Turning off objects in your mirrors is a big fps help. If you're determined to succeed, I would say try the trainers rather than the grand prix cars, at first. They are much more forgiving. If you must drive a grand prix car, go with the Coventry. GPL is really a blast once you get the hang of it, and you can slide that F1 monster all the way around a corner. Good luck! -A >I've had this game for a couple of months now, runs fine (about 22 fps) but

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>I just can't seem to drive the ***y thing! >Now I'm no sim driving ace but I can pull a half decent lap on most >driving sims. I still play gp2 from time to time (great game) and have >recently begun playing rally 2000. I can drive well on both of these (and >many other driving titles) but on GPL I can only complete a lap of Monza 1 >out of 5 times. >I love the feel of it, but I just can't drive it. I must be doing something >wrong. >I practised night and day fro a month and I certainly did improve (I can

now >finish a lap of monza now and then). It is just too ***y hard. >Its not being played here anymore, like any game that's just too hard I give >up eventually. I feel cheated, I thought this would give me more pleasure >than GP2 but it doesn't just frustrates me. >Anyway back to rally2000, bit arcadey but tons more fun than GPL. >Scott Andrews

I've had this game for a couple of months now, runs fine (about 22 fps) but I just can't seem to drive the ***y thing! Now I'm no sim driving ace but I can pull a half decent lap on most driving sims. I still play gp2 from time to time (great game) and have recently begun playing rally 2000. I can drive well on both of these (and many other driving titles) but on GPL I can only complete a lap of Monza 1 out of 5 times. I love the feel of it, but I just can't drive it. I must be doing something wrong. I practised night and day fro a month and I certainly did improve (I can now finish a lap of monza now and then). It is just too ***y hard. Its not being played here anymore, like any game that's just too hard I give up eventually. I feel cheated, I thought this would give me more pleasure than GP2 but it doesn't just frustrates me. Anyway back to rally2000, bit arcadey but tons more fun than GPL. Scott Andrews

I'm a GPL fan but i tried Colin McRae Rally and liked it! Played it for about a day and then back to GPL. Oh, horror! I was waving all around the track, turning into the corners way to sharply, second down on my usual times, etc. This is the price you pay for infidelity to GPL! It is sad but GPL is a sim and the rest are games! Borut

You need to get your fps up a bit. Try setting the mirrors to "cars only", then turn off skid marks and the driver's arms. These are big CPU users and you don't need them. Leave the scenery level turned up because if you reduce the # of objects you will also lose some good braking-point markers (such as the sign on the left coming into Parabolica at Monza). Some good setups downloaded from one of the many GPL sites will also help. The biggest improvements will just come from time. I used to go off all the time, but now I can drive within my limits in a consistent way without having to think about it all the time. Doug Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.

try the beginners car, all aids on and nonlinear steering halfway or a bit to the right. and after that: use the cooper. oh yeah, very important: try to get max. 36 fps by reducing resolution, detail or whatever: its much easier with a constant high framerate (like always ... check quake and the like ...) Lio

Join the ***y queue mate......... Don't nobody get me wrong GPLs a top notch wizzer, but it can SERIOUSLY do your ***ing head in......I mean, c'mon lads and lasses both the big N and Monaco is a ***s dreamboat.... Memories...... 1st time around Monaco..... "Eh..?........***y pavements.....turn yah sod.!!!!!.....ooohhhh the tunnels nice n' easyyyyyyy.......kersplash straight over the ***y barrier arse over tit......" Head for pit..........avoiding eye-contact with pit crew... "AND what the *** do you call that then......!!" "Er........well, yer see boss there was this blonde with big bazzokas sunbathing ........" 1st drive around the big N. Flicking through manual........... "How many ***ing miles.......!!!!!!!!!" Mechanic.."AND what the *** do you call that then........!!!!"..he screamed looking at my bent front end and wobbly wheels........ "Er........it was this great big ***ing rabbit, y'see boss..." Somebody PLEASE write a program which lets yer coffin be glued to the ground like a ***ing piece of gum.......... I've still got the shakes after I pushed too many revs in 5th and blew the shit out of the engine and set fire to my arse...... Altogether now........ "AND what the *** do you call that then...........!!!!!!!" idav

Scott What system do you have? I have a PII 450 with 128 meg of ram. I am also using an old Hercules Thriller card for GPL. I was experiencing some lag as well , so I turned off smoke. This really helped me in the corners when you are smoking the tires a bit. Cleaned up my driving a bunch, especially on-line. Although the good drivers say never to smoke'em, but I am at a loss as to how this is avoided with any consistency. Anyway give it a try. Rick Sweeney

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> I've had this game for a couple of months now, runs fine (about 22 fps) but > I just can't seem to drive the ***y thing! > Now I'm no sim driving ace but I can pull a half decent lap on most > driving sims. I still play gp2 from time to time (great game) and have > recently begun playing rally 2000. I can drive well on both of these (and > many other driving titles) but on GPL I can only complete a lap of Monza 1 > out of 5 times. > I love the feel of it, but I just can't drive it. I must be doing something > wrong. > I practised night and day fro a month and I certainly did improve (I can now > finish a lap of monza now and then). It is just too ***y hard. > Its not being played here anymore, like any game that's just too hard I give > up eventually. I feel cheated, I thought this would give me more pleasure > than GP2 but it doesn't just frustrates me. > Anyway back to rally2000, bit arcadey but tons more fun than GPL. > Scott Andrews

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> Join the ***y queue mate......... > Don't nobody get me wrong GPLs a top notch wizzer, but it can SERIOUSLY do > your ***ing head in......I mean, c'mon lads and lasses both the big N and > Monaco is a ***s dreamboat.... > Memories...... > 1st time around Monaco..... > "Eh..?........***y pavements.....turn yah sod.!!!!!.....ooohhhh the > tunnels nice n' easyyyyyyy.......kersplash straight over the ***y barrier > arse over tit......" > Head for pit..........avoiding eye-contact with pit crew... > "AND what the *** do you call that then......!!" > "Er........well, yer see boss there was this blonde with big bazzokas > sunbathing ........" > 1st drive around the big N. > Flicking through manual........... > "How many ***ing miles.......!!!!!!!!!" > Mechanic.."AND what the *** do you call that then........!!!!"..he screamed > looking at my bent front end and wobbly wheels........ > "Er........it was this great big ***ing rabbit, y'see boss..." > Somebody PLEASE write a program which lets yer coffin be glued to the ground > like a ***ing piece of gum.......... > I've still got the shakes after I pushed too many revs in 5th and blew the > shit out of the engine and set fire to my arse...... > Altogether now........ > "AND what the *** do you call that then...........!!!!!!!" > idav

Hey Bud, You ever done any real time commentating? Murry Walker has nothing on you.... you are using technical discriptions about racing that Murry has obviously never heard of!!! If someone could put a vid to your prose... it would be a world beater. DH

Skid marks and high mirror detail will *** frame rates. Also leave the detail slider at midway - any more is a bit wasted. If you must start in an F1 make it the Coventry with Alison Hines setups. It might be ugly but the in car dash veiw is fine and it is by far the easiest car to drive - mind you, in the right hands it can be very quick also. Whatever you do don't give up !! There are plenty of people more than willing to help you through the early stages. Regards, Andrew.

I can get good frame rates and have been able to drive a couple of tracks pretty well, but I am using a joystick. will a good steering wheel really make a difference in driving GPL?

> I can get good frame rates and have been able to drive a couple of tracks > pretty well, but I am using a joystick. will a good steering wheel really make > a difference in driving GPL? Maybe not, some of the fastest drivers in the world use a joystick. Use whatever you like. But if you want to drive a "sim" then get a wheel, it just feels right. JM

Let me summarize some of the good advice. You really need to get the framerate higher. That is your biggest problem, it makes it very hard to control the car correctly. That can be either a system issue (cpu, video) or a graphics within the game issue. For the system a 400 or better with a V2 or V3 is needed, there are so many variables that I won't go into detail, really need to know what you have now. As for the graphic settings in the sim there are a few things to do, detail slider at 50%, mirrors to cars only, arms off,***pit textures off, specular highlighting etc off, keep turning things off until the frame rate gets higher. Reduce the number of ai cars to an absolute minimum, this will help a lot if you have a slow cpu (the ai is cpu intensive, the graphics are video card dependent), also reduce the sounds to0. Most drivers will accept fps of mid 20's on the grid at Monza, that should get you mid 30's by the first turn which is what you really need to drive correctly, (the max readout is a flickering 36 btw). I would also recommend going to this site [link lost in import] and downloading the setups for the Cooper (Coventry) and using that car for a while. While you are there read everything, and I mean everything. You should probably drive the F3 or F2 cars for a while as well. Turn off all driver aids, it just makes it harder when you turn them off. I started driving GPL over a year and a half ago and have accumulated over 200 seperate bookmarks for GPL site so if you need something let me know. Don't give up now, virtually every driver I know struggeld to make a lap for a while and then one day finally got it, took me a long time too but soon after was turning very competive times and rarely going off. Don't quit now, you are almost there. John Moore GPL is so, so, good, the online racing is unbelievable...

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> I've had this game for a couple of months now, runs fine (about 22 fps) but > I just can't seem to drive the ***y thing! > Now I'm no sim driving ace but I can pull a half decent lap on most > driving sims. I still play gp2 from time to time (great game) and have > recently begun playing rally 2000. I can drive well on both of these (and > many other driving titles) but on GPL I can only complete a lap of Monza 1 > out of 5 times. > I love the feel of it, but I just can't drive it. I must be doing something > wrong. > I practised night and day fro a month and I certainly did improve (I can now > finish a lap of monza now and then). It is just too ***y hard. > Its not being played here anymore, like any game that's just too hard I give > up eventually. I feel cheated, I thought this would give me more pleasure > than GP2 but it doesn't just frustrates me. > Anyway back to rally2000, bit arcadey but tons more fun than GPL. > Scott Andrews

Its all sooooooooo true:-)

>>Snipped..... You really, *really*, *REALLY* need as close to the max frame rate as possible to get the best from GPL, which is 36fps. 22 really isn't enough. I'm not just saying this, it really does matter. I get constant 36fps on my newer pc, with some adjustments made to the graphics and other game settings (see below for more info on this). But, I also have an older pc, a K6 200 (clocked at 225) with 64Mb ram on an ATX Supermicro m/b and a 4Mb 3Dfx card. On this pc I get around 20fps and GPL is like a completely different program, (eg, lots worse and its much harder to drive consistently cos the graphics are not as good) compared to my newer pc. Also, make sure you are using one of the easier cars to drive, the Lotus is a nightmare to master, try the Cooper or Brabham. The F1 cars are also harder to drive, try using the learner cars first. Also try some of the following tips to improve fps in GPL..... The following is from my GPL webpage, I hope the info helps. See the url in my sig: -------------------------------------------------------------- To get the best performance from your PC when racing GPL (on-line or off-line), ideally, it should be the *only* program running. Turn off all (or as many as possible) your other programs before starting GPL. To check what programs are running in the background on your PC, (especially if using Win95/98) press Ctrl and Alt and Delete together to get the "Close program" box on your screen. This will tell you what programs are still running. Ideally you only need systray and explorer to be running (but this will depend on how you pc has been set-up?) Turning off virus checkers, and programs such as MS FastFind or ICQ will help to improve GPL's performance on your pc, as these programs use up valueable cpu resources if left running in the background. GPL runs better with faster PC systems, *FACT!* If you have an older or slower PC system, do not expect GPL to run perfectly at its maximum (36fps) frame rate, with all the graphics and sound options turned on. Ideally, for on-line racing you want to try and run GPL at a constant 36fps. Unless you have a brand new fast Ninja PC, this means turning down or off some of GPL's options, Including some or all of the following: Reduce the no' of sounds heard, Ideally to 3 or 4. Turn off the effects in the GPL graphics screen (Smoke, Dust, etc). Turn off the quality items (Dynamic lighting, etc). Turn down the detail slider. Reduce the screen resolution. Reduce the mirror detail. Reduce the number of trackside objects. Reduce the number of textured items (Clouds, Horizon, etc) Reduce the number of AI cars running. If your PC set-up is optimised for games, this will also improve GPL's performance. 64Mb of system RAM is an absolute minimum, 128Mb is far better. The latest drivers for all your sound cards, graphics cards, and modem will also help speed things up. PCI based cards are also prefered to older ISA cards, as PCI cards appear to have a lower CPU load than ISA cards, which frees up more CPU cycles to concentrate on the actual game itself. 8-) *Peter* - http://www.cix.co.uk/~peterpc/home.html

Trust me and all those others that have suggested it. Get those fps higher. You won't be able to stay on the track otherwise. I had almost given up on this game after owning it for about 3 months and failing miserably to stay on the track for any considerable amount of time. I had run many, many laps at Watkins Glen according to the manual that came with the game and the best that I could manage with any of the cars was a measly 1:09 point something. GPL was slowly being relegating to collecting dust until that faitful day when I subscribed to r.a.s. and the guys here were saying 'Get your fps higher' to anyone who asked. So I bit the bullet and revelation of revelations, it worked. I could stay on the track and, whatsmore, I started to notice a feel to the way the cars handled. The game became like a breath of fresh air, my times started to tumble and haven't stopped - now have a best of 1:05.3 at the Glen. After over 6 months of regular GPLing my lap time improvements are just starting to slow up. Yes, over 6 months of regular racing and I still haven't reached my limit with this game. So, up those framerates, if you dare that is. It may change your life completely. 8-) -- Peter Ives - (AKA Ivington) No person's opinions can be said to be more correct than another's, because each is the sole judge of his or her own experience.

Thanks fer the reply Dave......... Problem with most of what I read from posts here is that everyone is so ***ing serious about their racing... "Hey, I've shaved off .000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 of a second of me lap time..........!!!!!!!!!" WHOOPEY ***ING DO.........sez I. Lighten up for pete's sake. idav. ps: I still think GPL is a game for mad ***ers. > > Join the ***y queue mate......... > > Don't nobody get me wrong GPLs a top notch wizzer, but it can SERIOUSLY do > > your ***ing head in......I mean, c'mon lads and lasses both the big N and

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> > Monaco is a ***s dreamboat.... > > Memories...... > > 1st time around Monaco..... > > "Eh..?........***y pavements.....turn yah sod.!!!!!.....ooohhhh the > > tunnels nice n' easyyyyyyy.......kersplash straight over the ***y

barrier

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> > arse over tit......" > > Head for pit..........avoiding eye-contact with pit crew... > > "AND what the *** do you call that then......!!" > > "Er........well, yer see boss there was this blonde with big bazzokas > > sunbathing ........" > > 1st drive around the big N. > > Flicking through manual........... > > "How many ***ing miles.......!!!!!!!!!" > > Mechanic.."AND what the *** do you call that then........!!!!"..he

screamed > > looking at my bent front end and wobbly wheels........ > > "Er........it was this great big ***ing rabbit, y'see boss..." > > Somebody PLEASE write a program which lets yer coffin be glued to the ground > > like a ***ing piece of gum.......... > > I've still got the shakes after I pushed too many revs in 5th and blew the

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> > shit out of the engine and set fire to my arse...... > > Altogether now........ > > "AND what the *** do you call that then...........!!!!!!!" > > idav > Hey Bud, > You ever done any real time commentating? Murry Walker has nothing on

you.... > you are using technical discriptions about racing that Murry has obviously never > heard of!!! If someone could put a vid to your prose... it would be a world > beater. > DH

One more suggestion,practice practice practice practice and practice.Then practice a little more. My times improve with the more hours I drive.Once in a while I'll take a week off and come back fresh. Then again, I have an ***ive personality. Happy racing all Buster

john moore wrote in part... http://simracing.com/alison/gpl/ Read that last paragraph twice, I couldn't believe the difference it made for me. I was frustrated too, and I started with the trainer cars with the aids on. My son refused to use the trainers and jumped right in the F1 car, so pride made me do the same. I didn't measure success in lap times as much as how many times I went off the course! Then I read The-Complete-Works-of-Alison, got in the Cooper, manual everything, Alison's setups, and all of a sudden I'm knocking 2, 3, 5 seconds off my best times at every track. Also, pick a track to train at (I'd suggest Monza). Look at the replay that comes with the game, using the in-car camera. Note the breaking points, and especially note the gear and throttle range (high-low-med) used in each of the corners. You should get a good idea of where you can push and where you need to back off to make it around. The Coventry gearage may be a little different from the Lotus you're watching, but they're pretty close. I recently made additional improvements by getting GPLSpyGirl (save that until you can hold your line and stay on the track the whole race, it won't be long). Discovered what I already knew, a little slower in gives you a better line and a lot more speed off, critical at places like Spa. As others have said, if you can stick with it, you'll love it!

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> Thanks fer the reply Dave......... > Problem with most of what I read from posts here > is that everyone is so ***ing serious about their racing... > "Hey, I've shaved off .000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 > of a second of me lap time..........!!!!!!!!!" WHOOPEY ***ING > DO.........sez I. > Lighten up for pete's sake. > idav. > ps: I still think GPL is a game for mad ***ers.

I'd be heartbroken if you stopped posting these little jewels. I'm laughing myself right out of my freakin' chair (arse over tit) every time I read your posts. Not that much unlike reading "Trainspotting". Quite a welcome breath of fresh air in my opinion. -Chris- ps: I'm definately a mad ***er. :) Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.

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>> Thanks fer the reply Dave......... >> Problem with most of what I read from posts here >> is that everyone is so ***ing serious about their racing... >> "Hey, I've shaved off .000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 >> of a second of me lap time..........!!!!!!!!!" WHOOPEY ***ING >> DO.........sez I. >> Lighten up for pete's sake. >> idav. >> ps: I still think GPL is a game for mad ***ers. >I'd be heartbroken if you stopped posting these little jewels. >I'm laughing myself right out of my freakin' chair (arse over tit) >every time I read your posts. Not that much unlike reading >"Trainspotting". Quite a welcome breath of fresh air in my opinion. >-Chris- >ps: I'm definately a mad ***er. :) >Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/

I couldn't agree more. Mauricio.