GPL: The Continuing Saga

Day 3: (I suppose it's a bit abusive to keep posting my developing thoughts/feelings about GPL but I can't help it. Plus I keep hoping some nice person will say the "one true thing" that makes it all come together :-)) I am crashing the Brabham with what is beginning to be predictable regularity. I have been told to change cars but I feel I've invested too much time in the Brab to give up now. My PB at The Glen is 1.12.40 but an "easy" 1.14 is a more realistic result (10 laps without crashing). My biggest problem (other than CONCENTRATION) is keeping the baby flat when it's time to brake coming into the big bend. If I get a good exit on the loop I reach some good speeds as I push it pedal to the metal all the way into the bend. However, it is really easy to go just a bit to the left and then the correction to the right sets up a *** vibration and I can either brake while boucing and hope I hit it just right or go flying into a spin or I can wait for the car to level out and brake hard late and hope I can make it around. I am still mostly steering around the corners although I have learned to (inconsistently) use those killer (see above) springs to bounce me through the esses. Exit speeds at the 90 and the Loop are pretty poor. In order to keep my car in one piece I find I need to back off the throttle pretty early (speed trap) going into the bend, forget about speed past the pits and take it easy entering the esses. I figure once I learn this elusive four wheel drift I'll be able to carry more speed through the corners (like the demo that comes with the game--yikes). Once I can get consistent 1.10.xx's at the Glen in the Brabham (I set it as a goal and I'm stubborn--someone tell me if this is utterly unrealistic) I'm going straight to the Cooper. When I get home tonite I'm going to set up my CH Pro pedals (hope they work as well as the regular ones--which many people have praised) and relearn my controls. Christian Hansen

the key is smoothness: move less, get fast. the more you move, the worse the vibrations, turning and rolling etc.. even if you are in a situation where you should panic: be smooth. this applies even more to the brake than to the wheel or the gas ... if you feel vibrations, don't get off the brake too fast: go slowly! this way the cars remains at least a bit balanced and might even gain balance. just imagine you pedals are made out of glass ;-) Lio

I guess the only things left to add are to watch the road crown and elevation changes, and learn to drive your setup balance. An understeer setup needs a different line than one leaning toward oversteer. Watch the weight shifts -- fore/aft primarily -- and learn how to control them, especially coming over crests. Tune the brake bias to match the car balance. In short, anything you can do to keep the over/understeer balance consistent will help you control the car smoothly. The rest of the setup has to wait until you can consistently hold a line, which means initially taming the car's nose and tail. Michael.

Basically I think you've gone towards the best approach towards GPl anybody has taken. Make your problems - and your level of driving - public, and loads of people will take the opportunity to help you. I think you're doing pretty well. And: there are 3 points to improve youre laptimes enormously. 1.: when you get towards the Loop. Turn in much too early. When you're just above the slight hill, shift down and turn in just afterwards. It will give you a nice slide throughout the Loop. 2.: the Big Bend. It's pretty difficult IMHO to pass the Speedtrap under full acceleration and to shift down just before the Big Bend. But it's absolutely necessary. Get to the Speedtrap on the right side, turn in early under full acceleration so you leave the Speedtrap on the left side. Accelerate further on. Breake heavily when the racing groove gets darker and shift down to 3. 3.When you're in the middel of the Big Bend start to accelerate again. You have to pass the part towards the 90 in a constant slide (seems to be difficult at first, but is coming pretty easily; you just have to keep the throttle at about 3/4s). When coming towards to the 90 STAY LEFT!!!!!!! (mandatory!!!!!!!! -> still not enough exclamation marks!). If you stay left, shift down to second; you'll get a good exit from the 90, which is important for the continuing and the next lap! Hope it helps - Reaperle

One thing to remember is that there is a huge weight shift during braking. Because of this there is a different amount of shift for every corner. What this means is that the brake bias can only be set for "ONE" corner and it is wrong for the rest of the corners. Remember that in reality the brakes are set up wrong for most of the corners. That alone explains a lot of driving problems. Wider tires, better brakes and modern suspensions have greatly reduced the effect of weight transfer. Think more like your family car with bad shocks when driving GPL as far as braking goes. buzard

Almost forgot to mention: be sure to upgrade to 1.2.xx. The files are available at all the usual places, including Sierra and Papyrus's sites. If you can do so at all, FF is well worth the time, effort, and expense to get setup properly. This was added with 1.1.xx, which is included with the 1.2 update. Michael.

depends very much on the car and the setup. no problem with the brabham and alison's setup. Lio

A year!!! Now that is depressing :) My girlfriend already thinks I am insane. Last night I was up late practicing and she came into the office, looked at me--in deep concentration, hands gripping the wheel in terror, with my headphones on--and just started laughing. Oh well, it can't be any worse than golf. Christian Hansen

Quoted text (23 lines)

> CHris... dude... (don't want to sound rude...but) > Come back to us after a year for some fine tuning... > In the meantime choose one car spend time making a setup or d-load few and > choose the one that suits the best, d-load a replay also, have a friend do > the same tracks as you (some friendly compo helps), be patient, learn > consistency prior to braking record laps, when it just doesn't go right > leave GPL for a day or two and do...what ever you do when not loosing your > eyesight... > Hope you have understanding girlfriend\wife... > Cheers, > -- > Oli ( a nice person...) > BeoRocket Racing > http://www.beorocket.co.yu/ > > Day 3: (I suppose it's a bit abusive to keep posting my developing > > thoughts/feelings about GPL but I can't help it. Plus I keep hoping some > > nice person will say the "one true thing" that makes it all come

together > > :-))

CHris... dude... (don't want to sound rude...but) Come back to us after a year for some fine tuning... In the meantime choose one car spend time making a setup or d-load few and choose the one that suits the best, d-load a replay also, have a friend do the same tracks as you (some friendly compo helps), be patient, learn consistency prior to braking record laps, when it just doesn't go right leave GPL for a day or two and do...what ever you do when not loosing your eyesight... Hope you have understanding girlfriend\wife... Cheers, -- Oli ( a nice person...) BeoRocket Racing http://www.beorocket.co.yu/

A year buddy! if she's still down with the program marry the jewel... -- Oli BeoRocket Racing http://www.beorocket.co.yu/ The Mighty Puck <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:lkFm4.971$[email hidden]... > A year!!! Now that is depressing :) > My girlfriend already thinks I am insane. Last night I was up late > practicing and she came into the office, looked at me--in deep > concentration, hands gripping the wheel in terror, with my headphones > on--and just started laughing. Oh well, it can't be any worse than golf. > > Christian Hansen

writes: Assuming of course, that he CAN change setups, and understand them. A new driver might not be able to make quality changes. Hell, I'ce been driving sims since ICR/NCR and I still can't make a decent setup... Eldred -- Tiger Stadium R.I.P. 1912-1999 Own Grand Prix Legends? Goto http://gpl.gamestats.com/vroc Never argue with an idiot. He brings you down to his level, then beats you with experience... Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

EldredP <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > Assuming of course, that he CAN change setups, and understand them. A new > driver might not be able to make quality changes. Hell, I'ce been drivingsims > since ICR/NCR and I still can't make a decent setup... Same here. :-) Driving a mediocre setup well is an equally valid skill. Racing from full tank to empty tank, as in a full GP, at a competitive pace requires precisely that skill. I gave up on the hotlap times. Honing a setup the last few percentage points takes more patience than I wish to spare. Also, adding even a moderate amount of fuel to a hot lap setup generally throws it all to sh*t anyway. In any case, you might not be able to optimize the car perfectly, but balancing the under/oversteer tendency is a fundamental skill that should be mastered early. The remainder of the gross adjustments will come when you can feel the difference they make. Oh, and I have to say, tuning a car for Ostereich is a bitch. The car feels great in the fast right-handers, but I'm sure I traded off more than I wanted from the off-grade left-handers leading to the Schikane. They seem to go on and on forever, but I haven't been able to gain much more there, no matter what I do. Even so, I find my best passing opportunities at the exit of the first left hander out of Bosch; I'm taking a much deeper inside line there than the AI. (I really, really wish for faster frame rates at this track. My eyeballs are still jittering from an hour of lapping. Best lap was 1:45 something, good enough for 5th on the grid, and averaged 1:49 on the 33 laps, in traffic and starting with fuel for the full GP distance.) Michael.

Quoted text (12 lines)

>Oh, and I have to say, tuning a car for Ostereich is a ***. The car feels >great in the fast right-handers, but I'm sure I traded off more than I >wanted from the off-grade left-handers leading to the Schikane. They seem to >go on and on forever, but I haven't been able to gain much more there, no >matter what I do. Even so, I find my best passing opportunities at the exit >of the first left hander out of Bosch; I'm taking a much deeper inside line >there than the AI. (I really, really wish for faster frame rates at this >track. My eyeballs are still jittering from an hour of lapping. Best lap was >1:45 something, good enough for 5th on the grid, and averaged 1:49 on the 33 >laps, in traffic and starting with fuel for the full GP distance.) >Michael.

My best time at the O'ring is only 2:05.74. Admittedly, I only drove about 17-20 laps on it. I *might* be able to squeeze another 5 seconds out of it. Hey, I still haven't gotten under 2:00 at Rouen(2:09.80)... One of these days, maybe I'll TOTALLY humiliate myself by posting my best(worst?) times... :) Eldred -- Tiger Stadium R.I.P. 1912-1999 Own Grand Prix Legends? Goto http://gpl.gamestats.com/vroc Never argue with an idiot. He brings you down to his level, then beats you with experience... Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

Eldred, some thing you can better keep to yourself... :) Andre