706 replies to this topic

[Alfisti]

This game is supposed to so wonderful but all it has done since I got it for Xmas is **** me to tears. It's just baout imnpossible to stay on the track let alone race with other cars who are so much faster than myself. I think i'd compelte one out of every 15 laps with a mjor crash.

For starters i am using the keyboards, do pedals make THAT much difference????

As soon as i change setting the car is even more skittish. ... I lower the ride height and it's nervous. Also, the bloody things ALWAYS lean to the right on the straight ... driving me nuts.

I just wan t have soem fun woth old cars, i am intersted in tinkering but frankly the settings mnake very little progress on this thing. Anyone know whewre i can print some seriously decent (as in grippy) settings???

[don hodgdon]

The default setups in GPL are awful.The ride heights are too low. 1967 F1 cars never raced that low. Get the 1.2 patch from http://www.papy.com. The new default setups are much better

Go here for the setups used by some of the fastest GPL drivers around: http://www.parc-ferme.de/fastlaps.htm

Download some replays and watch what these guys are doing. It takes months of practice to master GPL, you will not be fast overnight. Practice, practice and practice some more.

Go here for excellent tips on driving GPL: http://website.lineone.net/~richardn/

More setups by one of the fastest drivers around, Gergor (The Alien) Huttu: http://koti.mbnet.fi/ghuttu/

This ought to keep you busy for a while...and for god's sake, buy a wheel and pedals! Yes, it will make a HUGE difference in your laptimes and your feel for the dynamics of the car.

[Alfisti]

Ahhh thanks. See I always thought a lower ride height was the way to go (lower centre of gravity etc etc etc). Everytime i tough the thing it actually gets harderto handle. I'll use your resources and see how i go.

[Alfisti]

Dammit. I found some set up info before and had the same problem, when i click on the icon that it presents from the zip file, all it does is thank me for my interest in Winzip 80 and asks if i'd like to download it. Are there any setups in notepad or something?

[mahelgel]

one word: Practice...


GPL is a very hard game to master (and i would think it would be extra difficult driving with the keyboard...), but when you manage to complete "relativly" fast laps without "driving on the edge", and manage to stay on track for the whole race... then it's just about the best game/sim ever!

When i first got the game, i had lots of problems driving the cars, but some of that was that i just was driving far to hard for my skill... what one should do is to drive around way sloower than one manage, and then gradually go faster. After some laps you have build up good speed, and then you can "go for it" for a real fast lap... (at least thats how i usullay make a go for a lap record )

[don hodgdon]

>>Dammit. I found some set up info before and had the same problem, when i click on the icon that it presents from the zip file, all it does is thank me for my interest in Winzip 80 and asks if i'd like to download it. Are there any setups in notepad or something?<<

There should be a button that says "Accept". Click on it and then it should allow you to unzip the file. If this doesn't work, get a copy of PKZIP off the net.

The reason the car is unstable with a low ride height is that you are hitting the bump stops. Raise it up and let the suspension do it's job.

[Alfisti]

Yeah i do, i raise the bump stops (i've read that blasted book 42 times) but it still seems skittish. I reduce the rear bar but still the tail wags ..... anyway .. i'll try your tips.

[Alfisti]

I'm really not very good at this. When I open the zip file it has no program to open the file ...... am i supposed to somehow auto load it onte the game??

[Ursus]

A wheel makes a world of difference! Also make sure you don't run in software mode, get the Direct3Dpatch from Papyrus if you havn't got a 3dfx card.

[The Swerve]

'fisti, it will take you month or so of serious practive before you can get consistant enough to even stay on the track. And even longer to get competitive!

This sim isn't really for everyone, it takes a lot of dedication to enjoy it but the effort is worth it.

A wheel is a must, without it you will have braking and throttle help permanantly switched on (always enabled with a keyboard) and you can't really control the car properly.

Definatly get the patch from Papy before you go any further though.

Regarding the setup files, once you get them unzipped - if you have a Monza setup (for example)you need to put it in your C:Program FilesSIERRAgplplayersyour__namesetupsmonza folder. Obviously your path might be slightly different depending on where you installed the game on your PC.

[Alfisti]

OK thanks. Well i just downloaded the patch and I was right, it wasn't my driving that sucked, the new set up's are great. Within three laps i dropped 10 seconds off my time at Silverstone. The rear end feels so much tighter (that didn't come out right) ...... anyway ... suddenly I am njoying it ... but the keyboard makes it tough.

[Ross Stonefeld]

I hate GPL I think its because I played modern racing games for so many years, im spoiled by the faster I go the more grip I have. No wings and bad tires and suspension, its terrible. I think most of us are probably over driving the cars

[don hodgdon]

Originally posted by Ross Stonefeld
I hate GPL I think its because I played modern racing games for so many years, im spoiled by the faster I go the more grip I have. No wings and bad tires and suspension, its terrible. I think most of us are probably over driving the cars

LOL! Hate is such a strong word. GPL certainly is frustrating, but I find that when I win a race I feel a much greater sense of satisfaction than I do if I win in any other sim.

[DangerMouse]

Ross - when you are finished with F1 ( ) and have to delve into touring car or such like you'll realise the importance of GPL.

[DangerMouse]

Indeed Don - you may be probing into a profound argument - is a steering wheel good enough (reaction wise) at the limit?

FF, F3 and F1 steering wheels have silly gearing where a fart will see you round the next bend (I have only driven FF & FRenault but think I know what a racing car feels like)

The steering wheel is probably ultimately too cumbersome at the iimit (spot a full steering wheel in an F1 car) the joystick is probably the best compromise.

[mahelgel]

What i find most enjoying with GPL, is when one masters a powerslide through a whole turn, and just powers away on the straight... just loove that feelin'

More often than not, i usually do a 360 because that i go a bit to fast on the accelerator. And i know that powerslides are not the fastest way around the corner (usually at least), but it's just soo much fun ;)

BTW, anyone who have registerd in the GPL Rank ( http://gplrank.schuerkamp.de/ )? I'm in there under the name of mahelgel, but anyway, here are my best laps, what are yours?

Watkins Glen Lotus 01:06.78
Silverstone Lotus 01:30.88
Monaco Lotus 01:33.35
Zandvoort Lotus 01:27.78
Monza Lotus 01:30.32
Ruen Lotus 02:02.14
Mexico ` Ferrari 01:52.52
Spa-Francorchamps Lotus 03:29.18
Kyalami Lotus 01:21.99
Mosport Ferrari 01:25.66
Nürburgring Lotus 09:04.09

I'm ranked as nr 1083 with a handicap of 64.47 , so i'm way of the pace of those who really drives this sim... (been a long time since i've played it, so perhaps it's time to try to improve )

[The Swerve]

Most of the Atlas League drivers are registered on GPLrank and if you check out the league section you'll see us all in there. We all use our real names though, so you won't recognise us.;)

My own rank is awful, mainly because I have barely lapped at Mexico and Rouen - and haven't managed to tame 'the ring' yet. I am very low in the league ranking at 42.53. Most of my times are recorded with the Ferrari though.

[The Swerve]

Hi Knut.;)

[mahelgel]

The Swerve, or should i say Matt ;) (hope i'm not mistaken though )

As you can see, i too have problems with the Ring...

The tracks that i have raced a lot on, i have fairly competetive times, ie: Kyalami and Watkins Glen, but some tracks (as the ring and monaco) i don't have any good time at all..

I'll better check out the Altas leauge to se where i rank.. [p][Edited by mahelgel on 01-01-2001]

[The Swerve]

Nope you aren't mistaken!

[Linus27]

Here are my GPL Rank times.

Kyalami
Lotus 01:21.14 T

Mexico
Ferrari 01:51.25 T

Monaco
Ferrari 01:27.17 T

Monza
Eagle 01:28.98 T

Mosport
Ferrari 01:23.10 T

Nürburgring
Ferrari 08:28.55 T

Rouen
Ferrari 02:00.07 T

Silverstone
Lotus 01:29.47 T

Spa-Francorchamps
Ferrari 03:20.51 T

Watkins Glen
Lotus 01:06.39 T

Zandvoort
Ferrari 01:26.77 T

Your GPL handicap: 3.180 with a placing of 602.


Some tracks I just can't seem to improve on like Rouen, Mexico and Spa. Monaco is my favourite track and I'm very pleased with that time but I think I may be able to get a bit more time shaved of.

[mahelgel]

hmm.. those are pretty fast times... i see that i need some more practice

And i that thought my Zandvoort, Kyalami and Watkins Glen times was pretty good, and then i see that i'm beaten on all of them ;)

[Linus27]

HEHE Sorry.

[The Swerve]

Linus I dunno how you ever get around Monaco that quickly. I detest that track with a passion. Yuk!!

[Linus27]

HEHE Sorry again. I bet you hate it even more knowing I can do a 1.28.51 in the BRM there.

I love the place. Its my favourite track ever and I always set myself the goal that I will master Monaco in every sim I play. If you look also that my times are crap at long fast circuits like Silverstone, Spa Rouen and Mexico but are fast at Monaco, Zandy, Kyalami which are more sweepy rythmic tracks. Mosport and the Glen are exceptions as I don't actually like them much. Well Actually Mosport I love and hate and the Glen I hate. Its just boring.

[The Swerve]

Aha! See now I LOVE the Glen! I love the Esses, where you have to balance the car on the throttle through there and you are looking for enough grip to bury the throttle and shift up into top gear. And then you have that great corner where you are flying along at top speed and have to brake just enough to get the car to turn in, and then blast down to the 90.

It's a great little track, not too long and very satisfying I reckon.;)

[Linus27]

What do you think of the Le mans circuit?? I think its pretty cool. Very simple but very interesting. Some great outbraking spots as its mostly long straights.

You up for a race later??

[mahelgel]

Linus:
I really like watkins glen and kyalami... Not so sure about the "le mans" circuit yet...

[Linus27]

I love Kyalami, its a great fun track, especially outbraking into turn 1 and turn 4.

[The Swerve]

Linus - I would be up for a race but I'm working now.

[Uwe]

Alfisti,

one more hint: As a beginner do not use the setups of the hotlappers. They'll teach you nothing instead you will kiss the armcos once per minute if you'll try to be fast. Go to Alison Hines Homepage and download her setups. And yes, what the others said already: Go get a wheel.

[Linus27]

The Swerve

Any excuse, I don't know. Do you know I can't even remember when we lasted raced each other at GPL. I think the last time we raced was when James Hunt was going for the championship, 1976 I think it was. :):)

[The Swerve]

I think you might be right!

[MattFoster]

I have had GPL for about a month now and I am slowly coming to terms with the game. I have knocked 8 seconds off my Monza time over the christmas break.

I am still hopeless at the ring but so my GPL Rank score is crap 201.

I definitely recommend the Alison Hine set-ups. They are great for beginners like myself.

[The Swerve]

Monza's a good track for racing wheel to wheel. I have some really cool replays of some online races that I've been in - actually one of them is a nice wheel to wheel battle between me and Linus.

[Alfisti]

Originally posted by Uwe
Alfisti,

one more hint: As a beginner do not use the setups of the hotlappers. They'll teach you nothing instead you will kiss the armcos once per minute if you'll try to be fast. Go to Alison Hines Homepage and download her setups. And yes, what the others said already: Go get a wheel.

Thanks fior that tip. I downloaded some other set ups and the car "tracks right" on the straight and the rear is a little loose ... I HATE A LOOSE CAR. I have visited Alison's page so i will download thse beginner settings. I still find that consistancy is a problem.

On the Wheel issue .... .i'm not a kid anyumore .. i can't justify wasting $100 on a toy like that. I'm supposed to be saving for a house .... but I might have to because the car is still VERY hard to drive and i am usually pretty good at race games.

[The Swerve]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Alfisti
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Uwe
[B]On the Wheel issue .... .i'm not a kid anyumore .. i can't justify wasting $100 on a toy like that. [/QUOTE]

Okay, well we will try not to take offense at that comment! We aren't kids either.

[Linus27]

The Swerve

Wheel to wheel you say. Yeah, that was probably when I was laping you right :lol:

[The Swerve]

Actually I do believe I was in a Honda and you were in a Ferrari, desperately trying to pass me in the lesmos - but I was having none of it.;)

[The Swerve]

I think you did me at the parabolica in the end though.

[Alfisti]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by The Swerve
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Alfisti
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Uwe
[B]On the Wheel issue .... .i'm not a kid anyumore .. i can't justify wasting $100 on a toy like that. [/QUOTE]

Okay, well we will try not to take offense at that comment! We aren't kids either. [/QUOTE]

Nah what i mean is that you're probably "settled" already. I REALLY want to go to Europe next year without having to work there and I REALLY need to buy a house. it's maybe time i stopped buying toys if you know what i mean. Without a Ms Fisti I need to finance things myself and considering most houses here are topping $300K for a 3 bedroom slot in the burbs ... it's a lot of savings required.

[Ross Stonefeld]

How does GPL compare to F12000? I saw it in the store and was interested but physics wise... ?

[Alfisti]

Oh guys, since i downloaded that !@#% patch of the papy site the game is "chunky" and switches off every 15 minutes!!!!!!

Stupid internet.

[The Swerve]

It's 'chunky'??? Are you running it in software mode again? Check the Video rendering options and set it to OpenGL.

There are a lot of extra little patches for this sim, some improve the graphics quality - I think there is a patch for enabling D3D instead of openGL. I think that is on the Papy site too. If not then definatly check out: http://www.theuspits.com/ which has EVERYTHING you need.

As for the 'switching off' thing....dunno, never experienced that.

BTW, I'm not settled anywhere, I'm renting and also saving for a house (around here about £190,000!!) and also contemplating a move to Canada, but I guess sims are a hobby of mine (racing and flying) so I splash out on the equipment I need.

[The Swerve]

Originally posted by Ross Stonefeld
How does GPL compare to F12000? I saw it in the store and was interested but physics wise... ?

F12000 is a racing game - GPL is a simulation. The physics are the best around anywhere, nothing has come close for 2 years which is why the sim has stayed so popular with hardcore online racers.

It isn't an easy sim to drive, and it will take months of dedication to get up to speed. Once you are able to keep the car on the track then check out an online pickup race on VROC and you'll see how slow you really are!

[Linus27]

The Swerve

Canada????? Can I come??? I know exactly what you mean about house prices. They are so stupid. I am also saving up but I can't live without my racing sims.

F1 2000 Championship Edition is good. Like The Swerve says, its not a patch on GPL but its still good for a racer. The thing I hate about it is the arcade/cartoon like graphics which take away the realism for me. The physics are not bad but once you are hooked on GPL nothing comes close.

[Cinquecento]

Since getting Alison's setups for Ferrari in the middle of December or thereabouts, I've dropped my best time at Mosport from 1.28,08 to 1.25,96, that's on a keyboard and it was decent driving already... on auto-gears though.

Alison's setups took away the tracking to the right almost completely, and the rear end became a lot better. Keyboard driving is a dead end, because you can't play with the throttle at all and apparently the 'throttle help' kills optimum acceleration on gears 1 and 2.. or at least I lose 1 to 1.5 seconds on the backstraight of Mosport compared with the computer driven bastards. And I have shortened the gears from the Alison setup to get extra acceleration from 30 to 100 mph, no difference. The dozen fastest computer guys just rocket down the backstraight while my Ferrari trucks on like a diesel. It might have to do with steering too, seeing that the backstraight begins with a bumpy little curve to the left, and I might get in a slight powerslide or airborn there. But coming to the homestraight I lose out on the acceleration too, another 0.5 seconds, so I'm betting it's the throttle aid.

The shortening of gears works nicely for cornering though as the throttle response becomes "pokier" and gives extra handling.. again at least at Mosport and on auto gears.

I've played gp2 with keyboard for ages, there the gearshift is easier when you can use normal keys. Try cramming all functions of driving on that numpad, very uncomfortable IMO.

I'm looking for steering wheel and pedals myself. It's a great simulation, hugely addictive.

[mahelgel]

Alfisti:

GPL locks up? I've had big problems with most D3d games locking up, and i don't really know what was the problem, i've changed both the ram, videocard and the soundcard, and for the moment it seems like it's back up running. Never found out which of the components that fix'ed the problem, but it was hardware wice, not software (tried installing both gpl and the windows several times...)

And for you paddock thread, yes, PC's can be mighty frustrating, but mostly it's the users fault

[Linus27]

Try closing doen every program except for systray and explorer. Do this by pressing CTRL, ALT and DEL and select END TASK. Make sure you are not running anything like Virus detectors and other management programs. basically, your system should be as clean as possible. Also close down ICQ as this is a bitch.

[MattFoster]

ALf, here is your solution.

Move to Melbourne, u can get a 3 bedroom place in the burbs for half the price of Sydney. With the money u save u could buy a wheel and have a corporate box seat at the AGP every year for the rest of your life