Ten Tenths Friendly Racing League (TTFRL) for GPL - Season 3

[Cougar]

Originally Posted by petestenning

Sorry i had to dash had i good time watching Jeremy catching me at the end seeing the time come down , just as i thought he was going to pounce he dropped back, phew.

Two podium finishes in first season albiet one very lucky win.


Pete

Yeah it was good fun and it felt good to be able to catch someone atleast... Now the next step is getting close and actually passing without making silly mistakes at the cruscial time. Ive got a sneaky feeling that I was suffering from a FPS problem when i got close to someone but Ive never noticed it before for obvious reasons. Ill have to sort that out.

During practice I ran out of fuel so I added about 4 clicks of fuel. And I was amazed how much difference it made. My breaking zones were all messed up and I kept running wide at the end of the straight. In the race, near the end and after I had not Shift-R'd for a while I noticed I could break much later again. But I was amazed how much difference it made.

It was also great not to be lapped so many times. So I dont think I got in anybodies way. I know in practice someone spun out behind me but I dont think I was at fault

Shame I cant get a 2nd go at that! Hopefully Monza will be good to me as well!

Cheers Guys

[Cougar]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

By the way, did anyone apart from me take the replay? If not, I'll have to try and find some way to get it to Spud for ther website.

I thought only the host can take the replay? or is that in IGOR?

[petestenning]

I did take a replay Ayse.


Pete

[Aysedasi]

Well done Pete. The problem is that my ISP will not permnit me to email items that large. Are you able to email it to Spud?

Anyone can take a replay Jeremy. The host can have it saved automatically but anyone else can capture it in the usual way.

[Aysedasi]

Jeremy, I didn't check how much fuel I had left at the end of the race. I knew from before last night that I needed to put 15 laps worth in for an inter short (12 laps), so I went for 31 for the inter long. I was silly not to do at least a couple of laps in practice with that fuel load because it did catch me out as well at the end of the straight on L1 when I failed to brake sufficiently. Unfortunately that gave Owen the 5-6 seconds that stayed reasonably constant (well say 6-8 seconds) for the whole of the race until the last half a dozen laps.

I thoroughly enjoted the race, but thought it was very short for an inter long. 24 laps at 1m10-11ish (for the front-runners) is pretty short. Having said that, if you run a race offline, the AI are very slow, failing to break 1m20, so perhaps the race length is based on their speed?

[petestenning]

When i get home tonight i will see if i am able to send Spud my replay.

Pete.

[pirenzo]

Well done Owen.

And congrats Ayse, subject to those results remaining as they are you are season three champion

[Aysedasi]

Really, I hadn't noticed............?















I will pass full comment on that when I think the time is right.......

[Aysedasi]

OK. We now have just one race left in Season 3 - Monza on the 1st February.

I'd really like to finish the season with as full a grid as possible. It seems to me that if we could get everyone out who has raced this season and maybe even one or two who raced in seasons 1 and 2, we could have a field of as many as 12-15 drivers out there. Wouldn't that be terrific fun?

So, who's going to commit to this now and put it in their diary as a date not to be missed?

[pirenzo]

Me.



It would be great to see Nathan back for a race

[Muzza]

Cheers, all,

I will be at the Monza race unless work gets on my way (as I live in the Pacific Coast, the races are at noon to me - thus I have to run home to take part on them, eating while I race and then dashing back to the office!).

The fact that Ten Tenths has thousands and thousands of members and that only six people took part in the Albi race in its third season - whereas other racing leagues I know sport up to sixty members - is a complete mystery to me, and only increases my admiration for people like Ayse and Spud for organizing and doing their best to promote it. I have spent some time trying to understand why the TTFRL turn-ups are so low, especially considering that the league is extremely friendly and easy to understand on its rules, and I still cannot figure out why things are like that.

As I said, now that I can run GPL again in my computer the only reason that may take me out of the Monza race is work.

I had great fun at Albi, even though getting connected was not easy and I thought I would not make it (GPL Launcher would not start GPL and I finally did "I don't know what" and it worked - I guess I finally made it by starting GPL manually).

Practice was therefore shortened, and marked by a rather bizarre incident with Ozzy right in front of me: on my first lap out of the pits I let him pass me on the main, back straight (I stood at the right side of the track, I slowed down and raised my arm) but as soon as he overtook me his car cartwheeled madly in the middle of the track and exploded! I have no idea why it happened - I looked at the replay time and again (I also have the full race replay saved) and I can't figure it out.

I was not particularly happy with my driving in practice, as I was scoring times at least one second slower than what I had done throughout last week - and, worse than that, I could not brake confidently at all. I made some brake bias adjustments but my car actually became much worse, but as I thought that this was due to the tyre temperature and fuel load, I went on to the race like that anyway (not a smart decision).

I started on the last position but overtook both Jeremy and Pete at the start, and I have the impression that Jeremy's engine expired shortly later. Pretty soon though I spun for the first of many times - always at the same spot, the end of the back straight - and Pete and Jeremy both went by. On lap three I had a strange incident with another driver that I want to believe was a case of a driving misunderstanding, but racers need to pay attention not to shift-r in front of others.

I was having a lonely but enjoying race at the very back, spinning at the end of the straight almost every lap, until I was surprised to be called by the officials to stop for shortcutting the double righthander. I looked at the replay three times and I don't think I did it - or, when I did get to the grass inside the turn, it was spinning and backwards, just on my way to the hay bales! I thought the calling was rather unjustified, but I obliged and stopped at the pits.

To my surprise the annoying Jean-Francois at the start/finish line continue to give me a flag to get to the pits, so on the following lap I obliged again and stopped at the boxes once more before continuing. I guess the Gallic officials had had a little too much bordeaux yesterday as the next time around I was shown a sign "disqualified", what made me shout quelle connerie de merde. Well, in that case I decided to park my car definitely at the pits, as I thought this would be the fairest and most sportive practice, and I watched the race to the end.

Ozzy led the whole race and set a best lap of 1min10.9 or so - but Ayse never let go too much, and when Ozzy crashed some six laps to the end the two of them ran some very exciting laps together, separated by less than one and a half second. It was interesting to watch them driving, as they have completely different driving styles (Ozzy's could be nicknamed "surfing with an alien"-style, but maybe his connection to the web is quite different from mine as the onboard images from his car are a little difficult to comprehend, and his car was disappearing from time to time when seen from Ayse's point of view). Ozzy's car was much more understeering than Ayse's and I was astonished to see his car control through the triple right hander after the start. Also, all other drivers surprised me by being able to brake so late and not spinning - I simply could not do that.

On the other hand, Jeremy was driving very smoothly and gaining a lot of ground on Pete, but he had a few incidents and could not overtake the latter - so at the end it was Ozzy, Ayse, Pete and Jeremy with Muzza watching from the pits (but enjoying it nevertheless).

Cheers,


Muzza

[Alex Hodgkinson]

I'll definatly be there

[Cougar]

Originally Posted by Muzza

Cheers, all,

...
I started on the last position but overtook both Jeremy and Pete at the start, and I have the impression that Jeremy's engine expired shortly later...

Yeah overdid the pull away and had lost power straight away. So Pete and you passed me on both sides.. I stopped and did a Shift-R straight away. Grrrr

Originally Posted by Muzza

...To my surprise the annoying Jean-Francois at the start/finish line continue to give me a flag to get to the pits, so on the following lap I obliged again and stopped at the boxes once more before continuing.

What does our rules say about this? If Muzza kept racing and he HAD stopped at the pits twice... Woould he be disqualified still? The game isnt always THAT clever about things like that?

Originally Posted by Muzza

On the other hand, Jeremy was driving very smoothly and gaining a lot of ground on Pete, but he had a few incidents and could not overtake the latter...

Yeah I was having a good time trying to catch Pete Maybe next time I can get closer and even try and pass.

Cheers again guys it was a good race!

And ill be there for Monza! Hope we get a good turnout

[ozywoodwards]

surfing with an alien? what do you mean?

the understeering bit is easy to explain, i have my car set-up very old skool, as in alison hine gen 2, therefore it has much easier to control (for consistancy) but understeery handling. it is most marked in difference to P, who is basically an alien now!

[petestenning]

A few points here
1) Jeremy your car was belching black smoke at me off the line so that is probably why you needed a Shift R.

2) the collision between Muzza and Ozzy was probably a warp.

3) The bizarre incident with the other car was again warp related , i was the other car.
As i had been following you, your car had been moving about on the track ie warping which is why i did not try to pass.

You then went off at the end of the back straight so did i , now i did not see you in my mirrors so, Shift R d next thing i knew was i could not pull away because i had locked wheels with your car. when i saw you no longer in my mirror, i shift R d again and again you appeared next to me.

I appologise for the confusion Muzza i do not deliberatly shift R
in front of people.

I was very worried that Jeremy was going to take my 3rd place from me
and i am sure you would have.


Pete

[pirenzo]

Originally Posted by ozywoodwards

surfing with an alien? what do you mean?

the understeering bit is easy to explain, i have my car set-up very old skool, as in alison hine gen 2, therefore it has much easier to control (for consistancy) but understeery handling. it is most marked in difference to P, who is basically an alien now!

I have to say I don't understand that comment either...
You do have a style of driving that suits an understeery car (actually, I should say one that requires a lot of steering input, meaning you can 'lean' on the car a bit more).
I think the general aim in setting your car up is to make sure you don't feel as though you're fighting the car. For me, fighting the car is struggling to make it turn, not struggling to stop it turning. If I have to turn the wheel more than about 45 degrees off centre to make the car turn I feel as though I'm fighting the car. So I do more turning with the throttle and brakes, because I'm completely comfortable with that, its totally natural to me.

[Aysedasi]

A few comments.

Firstly glad to see those who have committed to Monza doing so..... I really want that to be a great fun race.

Like you Muzza, it perplexes me that we struggle to top 5-6 drivers on a race night. Its an issue which I intend to open to free discussion during the close season in the hope that we can come up with solutions, novel or otherwise, that will make the TTFRL racing experience better for everyone.

The reason you saw warp from others Muzza (from my perception) was that you were actually warping significantly. (Its often a fact that the warper perceives it as all or most of the other drivers warping, whereas its them - a bit like the incident I had with Gil at the end of the Brands race - was was sure I had warped in front of him, but the replay proved otherwise). Having said this, I was delighted to see you able to join and take part in a race proper, really for the first time. It may be that in due course you can "tweak" your connection to make it better, although living so far removed from most of the rest of us, your "ping" is likely to be much worse than ours, I guess.

Muzza's disqualification - well, I guess I can't really do that much about that. I did notice when I ran an offline race last week that I was blackflagged for cutting the corner at the end of the back straight. It wasn't a case of cutting the corner at all - I'd lost it under braking! Clearly Albi is "sensitive" to this and that's why you were getting the flags. What I don't know is if there's a "three flags and out" or something similar programmed into the gpl.exe.......

It never fails to amaze me how differently people drive. Unlike Owen, I detest an understeering car, which is why in the early days I had it cranked up to 85/60s most of the time. I feel much more comfortable dealing with understeer, personally. As I've said many times before, I'd love to see if Owen's style is partly the result of using a joystick and whether that style would feel so comfortable for him if he was using a wheel........

Back to the Monza race - yes, lets try and get Nathan (Damon) on board for this race - but there are other former TTFLRers who are still around (sometimes) like ASCII, Juan and the likes of Any and Tony who disappeared from the scene at the start of the season. Maybe we could even get Rob Jones to dust off his copy of GPL......

One final thought/comment from me in this rather long post. I was going to save this until after I post the final results from last night's race and the league standings. But we all know what the position is.......

I know I can't now be caught in the league standings (and you can all have a good laugh about whether I'd be so keen to get evereyone there for Monza if that wasn't the case....... ), and I guess after finishing as runner-up in both seasons 1 and 2, I see ending up with more points than anyone else (and I use that description deliberately) as perhaps a reward for dedication to the TTFRL. A dedication which I am more than happy to share with Spud (in particular).

I know full well that in terms of speed and skill, I now lag some distance behind the likes of pirenzo, Gil abd Owen and that if all three had been sble to contest all of the races, I'd almost certainly be contesting the something below the bronze medal spot. So I don't kid myself that I've won the league because I'm the best, I know that's not the case, but I do pride myself on making participation one of my priorities and I've reaped this small reward for it.

So, here's to Monza and season 4..........

[ASCII Man]

I'd better start practising for that race then...
Which chassis will be used?

[pirenzo]

Lotus.

Or since the championship's decided we could make it open?

Me and Spud are still fighting over second place, but we'd probably both use the Lotus in that case anyway.

What about Ed (Try Hard) and Richard Crozier?

And Ayse, at least we'll never have to call you Stirling Moss... We'll just call you Damon Hill instead

[ASCII Man]

Allrighty then.
I'd prefer an open race though, after all that time off I don't think the Lotus would be all too nice to me, a bit like an old girlfriend you forgot to call back....

I'd probably just use the Ferrari...

[Spudgun]

I'll most certainly be there. I wouldn't miss this Monza extravaganza for the world. If it were to be made an open class, yes, I would still use the Lotus. Not just because it is the fastest car, but because the Lotus/Monza combination is just classic. Out there, ringing it's neck.

[Aysedasi]

I'm quite happy to make it open, if everyone prefers that.

[Cougar]

I dont mind either way. If it means more people want to race then thats great.

I am still learning a lot with GPL. Im still never on the right line all the time and spin out every few laps (instead of every few corners in the start). So my question is.. when do I start looking at my setup. At the moment I'm using mostly default setups and just taking out some of the fuel. Will I learn quicker if im on the propper setup? Seeing that I am not consistant enought I would not be able to tell if fine adjustments are making any difference. How difficult would it be to get -tive with the default setups?



Comments please.

[pirenzo]

When you can drive a few laps at a time, on the right line at a reasonable speed (i.e. not pushing too hard) then start looking at trying out other people's setups. See which ones suit your style, which ones you're comfortable with and which ones you're faster with. I recommend Roland Enstrohm to start with.

[petestenning]

Being slow in these things and spining out does seem to get to you. I have to say recently i have been staying on longer and it does give you more confidence i have found.

I too have found it difficult to feel set up changes untill i can do 5 or 6 laps without going off. It does take a lot of concentration.

Pete

As regards Monza as i may not stay the distance, and will be circulating at the back i will probably go with the Lotus .
And if it is open then i would expect the Lotus drivers to be awarded points as that was the original race allocation.