Dummy questions for GPL

Hey guys, I finally got the full version of GPL and my voodoo 3 installed. I got a few questions regarding GPL 1. Is the field suppose to be spread out? I was qualifing for a 80 lapper at Silverstone. THe difference betweent he fastest and slowest time is like 17 sec (1:31 by Clark and 1:48 for the other Ferrari) Is it suppose to be like that or is something wrong? 2. What is a good time at Silverstone? My best lap is 1;33:50 3. My frame rate at the start really bites. I seem to be getting 14 or 26 fps when i am sitting on the grid (the letters for the fps are too small, too hard to see even at 1024x768 res) Is there a light I suppose to look for for the start or do they use that stupid flag man? It seems like sometime he sticks it up and not wave it. Sometimes he would. What am i suppose to do?!? 4. Is there anyway I can check for damages on my suspension? I am asking because I do tap walls quite often. If the steering wheel stay straight, does it mean i am okay? 5. I remember in GP2, there are a few "greatest crash sites". I am wondering if there are any of those for GPL because is fun to see cars flying on top of you :) 6. Can I damage my car if I ride on the curbs too much? (like the ones in Monaco and Silverstone)

In article <[email hidden]>, "Matthew V. Jessick" <[email hidden]> wrote: > > >Cossie wrote: > >> Hey guys, I finally got the full version of GPL and my voodoo 3installed. I >> got a few questions regarding GPL >> >> 1. Is the field suppose to be spread out? I was qualifing for a 80 lapperat >> Silverstone. THe difference betweent he fastest and slowest time is like17 >> sec (1:31 by Clark and 1:48 for the other Ferrari) Is it suppose to belike

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>> that or is something wrong? >> > >Presumably GPL uses a historical spread. There seems to be quite a >gap (which I fall into ;) between about 10 and 11th. > >

Same here, I qualify 10th in practice 1 and 8th in practice 2

In article <87krep$ese$[email hidden]>, Cossie <[email hidden]> wrote: > Hey guys, I finally got the full version of GPL and my voodoo 3installed. I > got a few questions regarding GPL > > 1. Is the field suppose to be spread out? I was qualifing for a 80lapper at > Silverstone. THe difference betweent he fastest and slowest time islike 17 > sec (1:31 by Clark and 1:48 for the other Ferrari) Is it suppose tobe like > that or is something wrong? Was this your first outing (race or training) at Silverstone? The "global hype" system attempts to spread out the qualifiers so that at least some of the slower cars are lapping at around the same pace as your most recent laps - so initial qualifying spread is large but as you get faster the spread narrows until eventually, I assume, all cars are lapping at their full potential. Put in a few laps in training/races and assuming your doing a reasonable lap time I think the spread may narrow dramatically. > 2. What is a good time at Silverstone? My best lap is 1;33:50 > 3. My frame rate at the start really bites. I seem to be getting 14 or26 > fps when i am sitting on the grid (the letters for the fps are toosmall, > too hard to see even at 1024x768 res) How much detail is turned on. I recently found a tip here of swicthing drivers arms off which gives a noticable fps boost. Also, the "mirrors patch" (allows you to update mirrors at a fraction of main view frame rate - mirrors every 3 frames is acceptable + significantly boosts fps) > Is there a light I suppose to look for > for the start or do they use that stupid flag man? It seems likesometime he > sticks it up and not wave it. Sometimes he would. What am i suppose todo?!? GPL is a sim thus they simulate the start mechanism of that era - i.e. man with green flag. I think he just raises the flag and then after a variable time drops it to indicate the start. Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.

Actual spread across the 20 starters at Silverstone in '67 was 9.5 seconds. Not long after GPL came out and people started fiddling with the various .INI settings there were a couple of gpl_ai.ini files that tried to bring the gap (globally) into line with history. Problem was that it improved the situation at some circuits but made the gap unrealistically small at others. -- Regards, Bruce Kennewell, Canberra, Australia. --------------------------- Matthew V. Jessick <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > > > Cossie wrote: > > > Hey guys, I finally got the full version of GPL and my voodoo 3 installed. I > > got a few questions regarding GPL > > > > 1. Is the field suppose to be spread out? I was qualifing for a 80 lapper at > > Silverstone. THe difference betweent he fastest and slowest time is like 17 > > sec (1:31 by Clark and 1:48 for the other Ferrari) Is it suppose to be like > > that or is something wrong? -----------== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News ==---------- http://www.newsfeeds.com The Largest Usenet Servers in the World! ------== Over 73,000 Newsgroups - Including Dedicated Binaries Servers ==-----

Cossie wrote:

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> Hey guys, I finally got the full version of GPL and my voodoo 3 installed. I > got a few questions regarding GPL > > 1. Is the field suppose to be spread out? I was qualifing for a 80 lapper at > Silverstone. THe difference betweent he fastest and slowest time is like 17 > sec (1:31 by Clark and 1:48 for the other Ferrari) Is it suppose to be like > that or is something wrong? >

Presumably GPL uses a historical spread. There seems to be quite a gap (which I fall into ;) between about 10 and 11th. > 3. My frame rate at the start really bites. I seem to be getting 14 or 26 > fps when i am sitting on the grid (the letters for the fps are too small, > too hard to see even at 1024x768 res) Frame rate gets better soon, as the race gets going. > Is there a light I suppose to look for > for the start or do they use that stupid flag man? It seems like sometime he > sticks it up and not wave it. Sometimes he would. What am i suppose to do?!? He will wave it eventually. Learn to find him from where you are on the grid. You can count seconds under your breath from when you go to the track to give yourself a better guess about when it will wave. > 4. Is there anyway I can check for damages on my suspension? I am asking > because I do tap walls quite often. If the steering wheel stay straight, > does it mean i am okay? > Usually. However a deflated tire might not show up that way. The easiest way to detect a deflated/ing front tire is by understeering into the hedge on the next fast corner ;) > 5. I remember in GP2, there are a few "greatest crash sites". I am wondering > if there are any of those for GPL because is fun to see cars flying on top > of you :) There are so many I can't choose ;) > 6. Can I damage my car if I ride on the curbs too much? (like the ones in > Monaco and Silverstone) Dunno. I usually smack the guardrail or cliff or bridge soon after I get that out of shape so I couldn't say ;) - Matt

The qualifying times are loosely based on the original spread. In 1967, the gap to Clark on pole to Guy Ligier was 9.5 seconds. As Global hype kicks in, you will find the slower cars speeding up more rapidly than those at the front. I think Sierra used a bit of artistic licence here so that people of all abilities would have at least one car to race with. My best is a 1:29.xx but people are at least 3-4 seconds faster than that here do?!? Wait for the flag to drop, just as they did in 1967. Of course, if you are in a lowly position it is more difficult to see the flag and you might want to keep an eye on the other cars. If you are able to continue driving just keep going. There are no pitstops in GPL. I have managed to complete a GP distance after deranging the suspension on lap 20. It aint easy but it's possible. Err. Just checkout your replay after a typical pickup race on VROC <G> You are more likely to damage the car by hitting a wall following your efforts to ride kerbs. Have fun MS

Cossie wrote ... IMO, it's designed that way so that you'll always have cars you can race with, as your personal speeds improve. do?!? It seems the biggest hit on framerate is sounds, and you have all of them on the grid. Everyone's fps are smallest at the start. Once you get in your car offline, the flagman waits a random amount of time to raise the flag (no waving, just holds it up). Then after another random amount of time, the flag drops and you're off. It seems that once it's raised, it's somewhere between 1 and 5 seconds before it's dropped. I haven't noticed any degrees of damage after contact. If the damage is past a certain point, your car pulls to one side and you have to drive with the wheel slightly turned to stay straight. If the damage isn't past that point, you don't notice any effect. (That's not with full damage on, I haven't got to that point yet ;-)

The higher the resolution the smaller the letters. duh.

Seems quite a way apart. I've never raced against a full field, but now race against 14 AI, which gradually improves the more you race, and the spread from 1st to 15th is only about 3 seconds, no matter which circuit I'm at. If you really want to compare yourself to others then anything near or below 1:30 is a good starting reference point. However, don't let that put you off any ideas you may have of racing online. Unless you come across idiots like me, but that's another story. :-) That's probably ok for the start of a race. Once the cars get under way and start to spread out you should be aiming for 36fps. You could press the pause key, but I think the game does not give an accurate enough reading whilst it is paused. On most occasions a good test of car damage is to see if centre steering keeps the car going straight, like you say. However, there can be the odd occasion when damage seems to place itself directly under the rear axle of the car and it becomes very difficult to avoid the back end from coming round when in corners. I find that if I hit something and the car is going straight and it doesn't show any signs of being extra loose in the corners then I'm normally confident that I got away with it. :-) I'm not aware of any, though I would be interested in something of the kind that shows anything a bit out of the ordinary in GPL. In other words crashes would have to be something special to ring my bell. I sometimes save replays of things that are a bit different or appeal to me in some way. For instance I have a shot of me at Mosport heading through the 3rd gear dip of turn 4 towards the right-hand climb with the tail*** right out, wheels smokin' like crazy. I saved it because at the time I just don't know how the car didn't spin round. It was made all the better by the fact that an AI car had some mechanical problem and was currently pootling through the same section on the right hand side of the track. It looks great from the AI in-car to see my Lotus come flying by almost sideways, then get gathered up and disappear up the hill. :-) Don't think so. -- 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.