What about GPL? - Newb

I've been a combat flight simulation nut for many many years (Jane's, Falcon
4, Flanker, Lock-On, etc), and tinker with driving sims from time to time.
Although I admit I like the arcadish games like Need For Speed, I have
tinkered with GTR for PC and Forza for XBOX and like the "realism" that has
to be mastered.

I've heard throughout the years about GPL (Grand-Prix Legends?) but never
bothered much with it. Well, with as much fun as I've been having with Need
For Speed Most Wanted, I'd like to see what this classic is all about.

First of all, what to look for in a copy? I find many copies like this on
eBay:

Sorry, somehow this sent before I was done, see below:

"HockeyTownUSA" <magma at comcast dot net> wrote in message
...
> I've been a combat flight simulation nut for many many years (Jane's,
> Falcon 4, Flanker, Lock-On, etc), and tinker with driving sims from time
> to time. Although I admit I like the arcadish games like Need For Speed, I
> have tinkered with GTR for PC and Forza for XBOX and like the "realism"
> that has to be mastered.
>
> I've heard throughout the years about GPL (Grand-Prix Legends?) but never
> bothered much with it. Well, with as much fun as I've been having with
> Need For Speed Most Wanted, I'd like to see what this classic is all
> about.
>
> First of all, what to look for in a copy? I find many copies like this on
> eBay:
>
http://tinyurl.com/bweph

It says it requires a 486 66MHz or faster PC. Is this the right game? Has
this thing lasted the test of time for that long? Has it been updated to
look great on today's hardware? What makes this game so special?

Thanks for anyone that can shed light on this.

hello there from comp.sys.ibm.pc.flight-sim

yes the ebay one is the right one

for everything else look here

http://forum.racesimcentral.com/forumdisplay.php?f=36

or here (rec. autos. simulators)


"HockeyTownUSA" <magma at comcast dot net> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
> Sorry, somehow this sent before I was done, see below:
>
> "HockeyTownUSA" <magma at comcast dot net> wrote in message
> ...
>> I've been a combat flight simulation nut for many many years (Jane's,
>> Falcon 4, Flanker, Lock-On, etc), and tinker with driving sims from time
>> to time. Although I admit I like the arcadish games like Need For Speed,
>> I have tinkered with GTR for PC and Forza for XBOX and like the "realism"
>> that has to be mastered.
>>
>> I've heard throughout the years about GPL (Grand-Prix Legends?) but never
>> bothered much with it. Well, with as much fun as I've been having with
>> Need For Speed Most Wanted, I'd like to see what this classic is all
>> about.
>>
>> First of all, what to look for in a copy? I find many copies like this on
>> eBay:
>>
> http://tinyurl.com/bweph
>
> It says it requires a 486 66MHz or faster PC. Is this the right game? Has
> this thing lasted the test of time for that long? Has it been updated to
> look great on today's hardware? What makes this game so special?
>
> Thanks for anyone that can shed light on this.
>

> > Although I admit I like the arcadish games like Need For Speed, I
> > have tinkered with GTR for PC and Forza for XBOX and like the "realism"
> > that has to be mastered.
> >
> > I've heard throughout the years about GPL (Grand-Prix Legends?) but never
> > bothered much with it.
>
> It says it requires a 486 66MHz or faster PC. Is this the right game? Has
> this thing lasted the test of time for that long?

Yeas and yes.

> Has it been updated to
> look great on today's hardware?

Yes, but the updates are from the fans, not the company. Google "GPL
links" and have fun.

> What makes this game so special?

It was the first sim to have really good physics,
modeling each wheel individually. It is hugely challenging. You can
always get better and there is always someone out there better than
you. There's a vast array of fan programmed add-ons, cars, tracks,
telemetry, etc. etc. There's a lot of online racing (still). The cars
are a hoot, 400 HP and narrow low traction tires. The tracks are
classics. Your opponents are people like Jimmy Clark, Graham Hill, and
John Surtees.

All that said, I and others have dumped it for new
sims with better physics. The four top ones are GTR/GTL, rFactor, and
Richard Burns Rally. GPL has a few quirks. The cars don't respond to
setup changes very precisely, and the best setups are so low that the
cars are riding on the bump stops; essentially they're go-carts. That
works because the cars/tracks don't model bumps all that well. The
fastest laps involve sawing the wheel back and forth very fast (which
would not work in a real car) and some people go faster with a
joystick.

But I'll always have great fondness for it. How many sims are good for
5 years?

hi,
i have the original boxed copy and it says minimum spec pc should be
pentium 166 with 32mb of mem and gfx card with 2mb of mem !! to get the
best i say at least 1 gig cpu with 512 mem and 64/128 gfx. the last
patches for the game introduced direct 3d support which allowed
everybody to upgrade their pc without having to keep their 3dfx card.
also force feedback came in with the second(?) patch and the final patch
also removed the cd protection. go here.....
http://www.bhmotorsports.com/GPL/downloads/3239

and download the 2004 demo which features updated cars and a updated
watkins glen circuit. the tracks featured are fantastic(especially
zandvoort,nurburgring and spa) and now with 1965 and 69 mods the passion
still doesnt look like fading just yet. probably the greatest sim
released which still after all these years can give the latest sims a
run for there money.
enjoy demo,buy full game and rejoice in the fact that gpl is alive and
well.
Tango

> cd protection

I don't think GPL ever had it, once you installed it, it never looked
for a cd rom again.

> http://www.bhmotorsports.com/GPL/downloads/3239
>
> and download the 2004 demo which features updated cars and a updated
> watkins glen circuit.

If you download this demo, then all you need to do when you buy the
cd-rom is to copy the tracks to the demo directory, and you're ready
to go. There are also a lot of additional download tracks.

Regarding the lack of repsonse to setups, you're dealing with 400hp,
1300lb, non-downforce cars, and bias ply racing tires that had very large
working slip angles so the setups just don't make that much difference
when acceleration is so close to conering acceleration at moderate speeds.

The low ride heights are nothing compared to what works with downforce
cars that can really take advantage of it, like side skirts that ride
on the ground (now banned). The front wings in modern F1 cars were
recently raised upwards a bit, but the manufactures just put deflectors
on the nose section to regain the downforce lost from the higher front
wing. Regarding bump stops, unlike Champ and IRL cars which use under
body tunneling, F1 cars use flat skidboards, and the term "skidboard"
is an appropriate description (reduces the cool looking sparks though).

hi,
yeah it did have cd protection but everybody used the nocd patch which even
worked for racing online !!
Tango

"Jeff Reid" > wrote in message
news:F8Nsf.37$B93.24@fed1read07...
>> cd protection
>
> I don't think GPL ever had it, once you installed it, it never looked
> for a cd rom again.

US version didn't have it. UK and german versions had it.

--
Mika Takala

>"Jeff Reid" > wrote
> If you download this demo, then all you need to do when you buy the
> cd-rom is to copy the tracks to the demo directory, and you're ready
> to go. There are also a lot of additional download tracks.


All simulators by Papyrus always let you install them without the CD-Rom or
installation disk needed anymore. Goes back to Icr1... even Indy500 (well
it did have those fun indy history questions at the start eh). They always
had a good sense of structure in their files, basically it stayed the same
through their history. Simple directories, uncompressed .dat files keeping
all things structured, etc...


Anyway GPL is like the Falcon 4 of racing sims. People still fly it, there
are more beautiful flight sims. Same goes in the simracing world.




--
-- François Ménard <ymenard>
-- This announcement is brought to you by the Shimago-Dominguez
Corporation - helping America into the New World...

HockeyTownUSA schrieb:
> I've been a combat flight simulation nut for many many years (Jane's, Falcon
> 4, Flanker, Lock-On, etc), and tinker with driving sims from time to time.
> Although I admit I like the arcadish games like Need For Speed, I have
> tinkered with GTR for PC and Forza for XBOX and like the "realism" that has
> to be mastered.
>
> I've heard throughout the years about GPL (Grand-Prix Legends?) but never
> bothered much with it. Well, with as much fun as I've been having with Need
> For Speed Most Wanted, I'd like to see what this classic is all about.
>
> First of all, what to look for in a copy? I find many copies like this on
> eBay:
>
>
I used to fly IL2 and PF in the Hyperlobby for a long time. Then a few
guys from my squad and I did some online racing with GTR.
Then I tried GPL (2004 demo) and found it rather difficult. A few weeks
ago I downloaded the GPL69 mod. Now the cars feel more like a F1 car and
are easier to drive. But I have to practice a lot to race online.
With the latest graphics updates for the tracks, it looks almost like a
new sim. I like it more than GTR.


Michael