Should I start with F2 in GPL

First, to all you guys that said I'd get hooked on GPL once I tried it, I am not! Just because I went out and bought a $35 B&M leather wrapped stick shift knob to add to my Ferrari wheel so it looks more like the Ferrari 312 knob, doesn't mean I'm getting carried away. (Hmmm, but the new shift knob feels gooood). And just because I haven't raced another sim this past week since I've installed GPL, doesn't mean I can't pull myself away. Instead of eating lunch out, I'm coming home for lunch and running a few laps on GPL, but I'm only trying to save money by not eating out so much and I happen to like Spaghetti-O's (are you supposed to heat them?). Anyway, I'm running the Ferrari in GP on Monza with Alison Hines' setup. I've had the game for a week now and the best lap times I can get are in the high 1:32s, and that's rare. I hear about all the guys getting 1:28s and lower and wonder if I should be discouraged. So, I was wondering if I should be starting off with F2 cars? I run the Ferrari because it looks good with my wheel, but should I be running a different car? Or, should I just give up on GPL and just go back to the sims I'm good at? Tell it like it is, gents, my feelings don't bruise easily, and you know I'm not hooked on this game anyway. Slot

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> First, to all you guys that said I'd get hooked on GPL once I tried it, I am > not! Just because I went out and bought a $35 B&M leather wrapped stick > shift knob to add to my Ferrari wheel so it looks more like the Ferrari 312 > knob, doesn't mean I'm getting carried away. (Hmmm, but the new shift knob > feels gooood). And just because I haven't raced another sim this past week > since I've installed GPL, doesn't mean I can't pull myself away. Instead of > eating lunch out, I'm coming home for lunch and running a few laps on GPL, > but I'm only trying to save money by not eating out so much and I happen to > like Spaghetti-O's (are you supposed to heat them?). > Anyway, I'm running the Ferrari in GP on Monza with Alison Hines' setup. > I've had the game for a week now and the best lap times I can get are in the > high 1:32s, and that's rare. I hear about all the guys getting 1:28s and > lower and wonder if I should be discouraged. So, I was wondering if I should > be starting off with F2 cars? I run the Ferrari because it looks good with > my wheel, but should I be running a different car? Or, should I just give up > on GPL and just go back to the sims I'm good at? Tell it like it is, gents, > my feelings don't bruise easily, and you know I'm not hooked on this game > anyway. > Slot

Run what you feel most comfortable with, Both car and class. Having the Sim for a week and doing 1:32 is DAMN good!! Those doing 1:26-29's have had the Sim for over a year so don't get discouraged. BTW: The F3 (Basic Trainer) class is fun as hell on line:) -- ========================================= Mike Barlow of Barlow Racing? ========================================= http://members.xoom.com/BarlowRacing/ Racing online with the help of...... Race Communications Association Holodyne Engineering Mystic Music (have Your !!Name/Address!! placed here)

First things first; Don't even consider giving up! The satisfaction of one good lap is worth more, soooo much more because of the challenge involved. It's easy to win against mediocre competition. If you don't improve your performance in other sims, I would be surprised. Going back to ICR2 or Nascar2, I could equal my PB without any effort at all. I jumped into GPL at the F1 level and floundered until I got used to the car. My choice for cars is either the Honda or the Ferrari, and I haven't gotten below 1:29 at Monza in those. After a handful of laps, I got down to 1:27 in the Lotus, but for me it's not as much fun to drive . The F2 has been more fun since it's easier to keep under you. The best part about F2 is that you don't have more hp to compensate for a less than optimum driving style. If you can be fast in an F2, you can be faster in an F1(unless you're too *** the throttle). Jeff

Your'e doing great. Try the Cooper (Ali's setups) you can drive the $hit out of it. Drive all the cars and all the tracks to develope more of a feel for the sim. When you can run consistent laps of whatever time go to VROC. Life has changed. Gman

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> > First, to all you guys that said I'd get hooked on GPL once I tried it, I am > > not! Just because I went out and bought a $35 B&M leather wrapped stick > > shift knob to add to my Ferrari wheel so it looks more like the Ferrari 312 > > knob, doesn't mean I'm getting carried away. (Hmmm, but the new shift knob > > feels gooood). And just because I haven't raced another sim this past week > > since I've installed GPL, doesn't mean I can't pull myself away. Instead of > > eating lunch out, I'm coming home for lunch and running a few laps on GPL, > > but I'm only trying to save money by not eating out so much and I happen to > > like Spaghetti-O's (are you supposed to heat them?). > > Anyway, I'm running the Ferrari in GP on Monza with Alison Hines' setup. > > I've had the game for a week now and the best lap times I can get are in the > > high 1:32s, and that's rare. I hear about all the guys getting 1:28s and > > lower and wonder if I should be discouraged. So, I was wondering if I should > > be starting off with F2 cars? I run the Ferrari because it looks good with > > my wheel, but should I be running a different car? Or, should I just give up > > on GPL and just go back to the sims I'm good at? Tell it like it is, gents, > > my feelings don't bruise easily, and you know I'm not hooked on this game > > anyway. > > Slot > Run what you feel most comfortable with, Both car and class. Having > the Sim for a week and doing 1:32 is DAMN good!! Those doing 1:26-29's > have had the Sim for over a year so don't get discouraged. > BTW: The F3 (Basic Trainer) class is fun as hell on line:) > -- > ========================================= > Mike Barlow of Barlow Racing? > ========================================= > http://members.xoom.com/BarlowRacing/ > Racing online with the help of...... > Race Communications Association > Holodyne Engineering > Mystic Music > (have Your !!Name/Address!! placed here)

No, of course not, we understand. I'd say your doing well. It took me 6 months to get into the 28s, and that's with a Lotus. Since the beginning it's been advised to start out with the trainer then the F2 before getting into the F1s. I personaly have not patience and went straight for the Lotus F1. I've always been fascinated by the Lotus and I'm also motivated be lap times, and the Lotus is without doubt an advantage. So it depends what your trying to do with the game. I think it's said that the easiest car to drive is the Cooper, but I haven't given it a chance. Didn't anyone tell you ? You can never leave. Don Scurlock Vancouver,B.C.

Congratulations!!!! 1.32's in your first week AND in a ferrari! And you're being discouraged???? Boy you're a natural! Try the eagle with a WW setup (Wolfgang Woeger that is, you may have heard about him, he's an alien you know :p). The ferrari handles good, looks good and sounds good but he isn't as fast and responsive as the Eagle IMHO. You'll make up a few seconds for sure. To me the Lotus is faster but twitchier so harder to learn and to be consistent in. I have the game for more than a year by now and I'm did a 1.28.82 It took me a lot more time than you to crash the 1.32's. Watch some replay's and see where you loose time. I'm getting faster every single day, 1 month ago I dreamed of 1.31's, and I wasn't knowing that I was able to go any faster. When I drive the Ferrari now (using Alison's setups) I'm having trouble getting under the 1.31's BTW the first times I played gpl, it sure didn't got me hooked (as I mentioned I have got the game for over a year and it's got me hooked for only a month or 3), but once you get to know your car and get close to the 1.30 barrier (wich you will demolish in the next weeks I'm sure), that's when it's getting you hooked.

Gee, ummm... thanks gents. Not what I expected to hear. I thought you'd all be saying 'throw the bum out!" "don't give up your day job!" "better play Hot Wheels with the kids!". Stuff like that. I don't want to mislead anybody. Although I've only raced GPL for a week, I'm not new to online racing. I am on the GTX team for Monster Truck Madness 2, and we are 1998 and 1999 champions, and I do hold the record on 3 or 4 tracks. I also pull in pretty decent lap times on SCGT. So, I just don't want anyone to think that I've never raced before, in real life or online. But as you know, GPL is really different than any other sim. It seems to be a love / hate relationship. I did run a few laps last night with the Lotus and a makeshift setup and got into the high 1:31's a couple times, but when I hopped back in the Ferrari, I couldn't get below the mid 133s. Mike, the F3 class sounds like fun. I'm sure there's setups somewhere? I'd like to give it a try. John, I'll try the Cooper, thanks for the tip. Tim, the Eagle sounds interesting, and yes I've heard of Wolfgang, but he's not an alien. Actually, I built him out of a kit. Came out pretty good, huh. Don, thanks for the encouraging words, but what about the Spahgetti-O's? Is the 2 minutes it takes to heat them up a waste of valuable track time? If I emailed a replay of a couple laps, would anyone critique it for me? Is that done? Slot

Yo! I felt the same way as you a week ago. I'd been driving the Ferrari with Allison's setup since I got the game dec 2, 1999, with a PB at Monza at 1.30.88. The I downloaded some dudes hotlap setup for the Lotus. The setup was stiff as hell, and with a steering ratio at 13:1. At first, I found this setup and car undriveable. But after a couple of days, I could controll this beast. Now, one week later, my PB is 1.28.31! My improvement came so quick that the AI was fooled. Now I win against the AI every time I try. I qualify more than .5 sec before the best AI. Allison Hine's setups may be good for learning to find the racing line, but makes the cars responsiveness too slow for me. If you still are using soft setups, I suggest you use fully linear stearing and a stearing ratio at 10:1 - 7:1. That way it is possible to counter steer when the back breaks loose. Keep up the good work! Jon

It sounds like your probably just running on your own at moment ie. in training mode. If you want to spice things up a bit and have even more fun and give yourself more incentive to go quicker you could try racing against the AI. I know what you're thinking. 'What chance would I have so where's the fun in that?' Well, there are simple ways of slowing the AI down to your level. The easiest one that I have done is to edit the gpl_ai.ini in your gpl folder. In there you'll find a line quite near the top that says : base_gearshift_hiatus = 6.000000 If you change the number before the decimal point then that has an affect on the time it takes the AI to change gear. Up it to about 100 for example and they can be as much as 5 seconds slower per lap. Set it to a value that puts you somewhere in the middle of the pack and you'll get a chance to be competitive not just at Monza, but all the other tracks as well. Alterntively I think there's a program that you can download called tweakAI which allows you to play about with the AI settings even more, though I'm not sure where you would get this. Then, once the AI becomes predictable, there's this place called VROC that you will probably want to try out where real live idiots like myself get to curse and swear at you because we were both going for the same piece of tarmac. Or watch complete nutbags who think that their car can suddenly brake over half the distance that it normally used to. Or turn a corner to find 2 wheels hopping along the road and wonder to yourself 'Mmmm, what happened to the car?'. Also you'll learn how to instinctively find the sry and np keys on your keyboard without even looking. Oh yeah and while you're at it possibly win a few races as well. But hey! All in good time eh? And don't worry about being crap. We were all that once. :-) -- 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.

> Yo! > I felt the same way as you a week ago. I'd been driving the Ferrari with > Allison's setup since I got the game dec 2, 1999, with a PB at Monza at > 1.30.88. You had the game for a month and get a time like that ? Hell, I had the game for over a year and I've yet to break 1:30 in the Eagle. Either my setup is completely wrong, very concistent at 1:30-31 though or I'm just no racer. A real blow for motivation..... -- Olav K. Malmin remove spam when replying

Yo! I found setup crucial. Default settings isn't responsive enough. Change the steering ratio to 10:1 and fully linear. That way you can make fine adjustments if necessary during turns. A stiff and low setup helped me a lot. My setup makes the car nervous, but thats OK, 'cause I'm nervous too:-) One more thing: To my surpise, I found that only a light touch (1-2 cm?) on the brakes reduces speed efficiently. When discovering this, trailbraking seemed possible. Trailbraking, coupled with the squashball trick, also did wonders to my times. If you haven't tried the squashball trick, I strongly recommend you to try. As for my achievment so far at Monza, I have to say that it is the only track I've driven so far. I must have driven about 500 laps. Anyway, it is my belief that anyone with wheels and pedals and with the proper car, setup and amount of training, can achieve sub1.30's at Monza. Keep on racing! Jon

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> > Yo! > > I felt the same way as you a week ago. I'd been driving the Ferrari with > > Allison's setup since I got the game dec 2, 1999, with a PB at Monza at > > 1.30.88. > You had the game for a month and get a time like that ? > Hell, I had the game for over a year and I've yet to break 1:30 in the

Eagle.

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> Either my setup is completely wrong, very concistent at 1:30-31 though or > I'm just no racer. > A real blow for motivation..... > -- > Olav K. Malmin > remove spam when replying

Gman has a good point. Most of us started with the Cooper and worked our way up. I personally ran F2s for a solid month, then started over with the F1s. Right now I drive a Ferrari in F1 and turn consitant 1:30s at Monza with a very rare 1:29. In F2 I drive my favorite car, theBrabham, and at Monza I can turn 1:37s all race long. Joel Willstein

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> Gman has a good point. Most of us started with the Cooper and worked >our way up. I personally ran F2s for a solid month, then started over with >the F1s. Right now I drive a Ferrari in F1 and turn consitant 1:30s at Monza >with a very rare 1:29. In F2 I drive my favorite car, theBrabham, and at >Monza I can turn 1:37s all race long. >Joel Willstein

I disagree with you, if you start with the F2 and F3 car. There is no way in hell you can switch to a F1 car without running into problems. On the other hand, it is much easier to switch from F1 into lower classes sicne the lower classes have less power.