Try taking a break from the wacky baccy :)
Two years ago when I got GP2, it was my first expirience on a real Sim. I
defenetlly felt the same way you do. I think that comes with practice and
making mistakes, after a while you will probably be able to feel, but more
inportatly, see what the car is doing. You will know that the car will slide
even before it happens. I thinl it is all expirience. Of course I still have
my off days, where I can't anything correctly.
Thank you
Steven
> Is it just me or does everyone have their better driving days in GPL.
No, it's not just you.
Sometimes I have days where I feel "born to drive", and the car just
flows and oozes it's way around the circuit. Other days I fire up GPL
and fall off the track every other corner. I find on such occasions I
need to either switch the machine off and come back later or, if I
need to drive at that time (league race or whatever), start from the
basics, slow down, and work my way round the track. I will eventually
come back up to speed, although generally not as good as when it feels
right.
I've had this experience on track in real life as well, a couple of
days turning up at the track and winning every race I entered, and
even feeling like I knew I would win them. Other days just a
nightmare.
Take last night. I went for a few laps at Zandvoort in the Coventry,
and my best is a 1:27.8. Throwing the car around the track I managed a
1:30.1, which felt like a 1:26 with the effort I was putting in! C'est
la vie...
Cheers!
John
Quoted text (31 lines)
> Is it just me or does everyone have their better driving days in GPL.I dont > know why but sometimes I can get on and actually picture what the car is > doing at the tire contact patches and the relation of my steering inputs to > the direction of travel(makes sense??).Its as if I knew exactly whats gonna > happen when I lift off the throttle and jerk the wheel right,or how much grip > I gained at the front compared to how much I lost at the rears when I > brake,or how the car will react when it digs into the slight > banking,etc...Last night I go tothe Ring and couldnt believe how I was > driving.It was if mentally I was calculating how the car would react to my > steering,brake,AND throttle inputs at lightning speeds.Come into a turn and > lift the throttle slightly so the fronts grab better,then a touch of the > brake pedal at that point where the banking goes away and the car swings out > *BUT* I knew this would happen and I applied countersteer at just the amount > that I visioned the front weels should be turned and then as I sensed the > rears gaining more traction I slowly straightened out the wheel and powered > to the next turn. Tonight I get back on and I cant do the same thing from the > night before and back come the thought"I hate this game" instead of the > previous night's "that was incredibly realistic".I was dumbfounded when the > car would suddenly slide out and I couldnt even think to add throttle to > catch it instaead applying more brake thinking that would help it.Last night > I was actually feeling the car roll mentally and skipping across the road but > tonight its just visuals on a computer screen.Is this all in my > head?!?!?:))))Of course it is but I am getting mad that I cant FEEL this > beautiful sim everynight.Is this point I am bringing up have to do with what > sets apart the born to race guys from guys like me?I read this racing book > that said in order to race cars well you cant just have quick reflexes and > react to what you feel the car doing but you have to mentally > picture(anticipate)what you want the car to do and then make it happen as all > the pros do.Can someone with alot of sim experience or even real racing > experience tell me if this is something that comes with time and practice or > am I doomed to play Fallout2 type games for my leisure activities.> In sporting terms, it's called "the zone". You have amazing concentration and
> focus on the task at hand, and perform remarkably better than usual. It comes and
> goes for all of us, but through practise and training, it'll happen much more
> often....
And the saddest thing about being out of the zone is that it seems to
affect your favourite things the most. So driving GPL becomes a very
sensitive measure of how you are that day, overall. Maybe I should try
to persuade my boss to let me set up in the office so that when I've an
important decision to make I can run a few laps at Spa to see if its a
good day for decisions ;O)
Andy
>/Christer, the mind - easy to fool, hard to control
I've seen a very good book about this. Hold on....
The Inner Game of Tennis, by Timothy Gallwey.
A lot of what is discussed can also relate to many other things BESIDES tennis,
and it's fairly interesting.
Eldred
I find that when im thinking about something else, say im playing gpl, but
theres a good tv programme on, i end up driving my personal best laps, i
think its to do with me concentrating on the tv programme and my brain knows
what i should be doing on the computer( i mean we all know how to do a good
lap but its hard to get EVERY corner right-you might get one corner right
one lap, get it wrong the next but get a different one right), and so my
brain links it all together and does all the perfect corners one after the
other, it also happens when im a bit tired, or talking to a m8 on the phone.
Ross Hendry
