GPL, first thoughts

w00dsy · Post by **w00dsy** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 10:22 am

Was having a yack with Mick last night, and we were reminiscing about the first times we saw and tried GPL. Mine was a beta version of it, i had seen it in PC Powerplay and couldn't wait for it. My brother in law had it, it was running at 320x240 in software mode with most things turned off. I decided to have a run at Monaco because i knew that track from GP2. I learnt while stuck in the fence at T1 that both GPL and this version of Monaco were very different from GP2.

Then i got a Voodoo 2 and the game just looked so damn real. That was when my life changed. It is also the only game i have ever felt fear in. I remember learning Spa, and heading down to Stavelot my hands were sweating and i was getting nervous while preparing to die. Hopefully one day another game will come along and be so far in front of every other sim game it'll do the same as GPL did. I doubt it, but we can only hope.

Dr. Pain · Post by **Dr. Pain** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 11:19 am

I bought it for $50 about 6 months after it came out. It was my second race sim, got N'99 about 2 weeks earlier, although I had been playing console race games.

I took a GP Fezza for a run at Monza and said WTF? this is insane! Took me a long time to get a feel for the game as I only had a joystick and I sucked for about 2 years, oh hell I still suck now.

Never really played it that much till the end of 2001 as it was too hard for me and my machine to run.

I still think it's the best race sim around mainly due to the fact that you can't really dumb it down. I'll never beat the AI

Exar Kun · Post by **Exar Kun** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 4:13 pm

I remember my mate got a voodoo banshee on his P2 233 and we used to play NFS 3 head to head on it all the time. The day came to replace my old P133 with a Celeron 300A @ 450 (remember 50% overclocks?

) and a banshee and I decided to go down to the shopping centre and buy NFS 3 too. Fortunately, it wasn't in stock so I decided to pick up GPL for $70 instead. Got it home and couldn't believe how smooth it was. My first experience was in the Lotus at GP level (of course - only pussies tried the trainer first

) at Kyalami. Being used to hundreds of hours in GP2, I hit the brakes about 200 metres too late and went plowing off at the first corner. Watched a reply and was amazed at the suspension movement. Nothing else came close. Driving down the back straight at Mosport with my non-FF joystick I remember actually feeling scared like Rod says. The sense of speed was amazing. Nothing will ever come close to the leap that GPL was. It was close enough to realism in the driving physics that now it's just impossible.

Dr. Pain · Post by **Dr. Pain** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 12:34 am

Mosport had me scared for a long time as the crests caught me out alot. But the jump at Mosport is geat still makes me take a deep breath approaching it now.

I had a celery 433 to run it on but that machine had onboard graphics and sound so was not the best.

But didn't the Fezza make the best noise ever when you first heard it? Did it for me

Nigel · Post by **Nigel** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 1:33 am

First saw it at Meyer in the city. Thought "Man that fantastic" Bought it, got it home and realised it was almost imposible to drive with an analogue joystick. So put the game way for a while. Bit the bullit some time later and bought a wheel. Only to realise that the PC was to slow to really race with it (could do test laps though) Later when PCs and equiptment caught up. I finally got it to work the way it was supposed too.

Woodee · Post by **Woodee** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 6:18 am

I saw a demo of it running on a mates computer who had a voodoo 2. I thought wow...look at that suspension arm actually move!!! Sims before had been GP1 and 2...so it was a major difference

I went and bought it, tried it with keys..and my dodgy wheel, couldn't get the hang of it so only used it for crashing and seeing what I can do to vault my car over fences and stuff

I took a break from it for a year or so, then came back to it when I got an MS FF wheel...and started the joy of running online with it. Joined UKGPL and 10 years since i'm still there

I to fell in love with the ferrari, I was like WOAH! that sound is amazing

Jazzman · Post by **Jazzman** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 10:51 am

I met Darren Marsh on the bus. As the bus was taking a poor apex, Marsh introduced me to GPL... I haven't looked back since, mainly because no one else is ever behind me - lol.

Cheers,

(Anybody seen Diffboy lately).

Jazzy.

KNAPPO · Post by **KNAPPO** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 11:18 am

I found GPL thru the need of having the old Nurburgring in GP3.
I was a fan of the GP series until i tried GPL.

I bought GPL thru the web in 99 i think. WOW was totally blown away and forked out more cash for a force feedback wheel the next day.

Originally i wanted to sample the old school tracks like the ring & spa but fell in love with the cars and ALL of the tracks for GPL, the physics were just amazing.
I got right into GPL creating graphics for the tracks n cars, some of you might recall GPL Rally2 over at RSC. I helped out in that one.
As almost every GPL'er knows the addons were just manditory. GPLEA cars were to die for and the amount of absolute NUTSO tracks out there make GPL the best driving game for the amount of outright insane corners to 4 wheel drift thru.

GPL creates the best simulation of driving a car RIGHT ON THE EDGE that i have ever experienced. LFS is the only game, with a very slight exception to NR2003 that has pulled me away from GPL. I still played GPL while gettin into NR2003
BUT.... the LFS tracks are still WAY to small compared to the monsters in GPL, man LFS + the Ring

If you havnt tried GPL, DO IT.
Its a must to drive a 1967 F1 to the limit.

Jamo · Post by **Jamo** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 11:03 am

I remember the very early demo with nothing but the Lotus, Brabham & Eagle and Watkins Glen oh and no tyre model! Must've turned hundredds of laps there which is probably why I loath it now. Then Monza was leaked and you could overwrite the Glen with the classic Italian track. This is what F1 should be all about speed! Then a beta version leaked and I was all over it, wow it's nice to have warm tyres for a change. The tracks Spa my God the Ring! Bought the full game the moment it hit the shelves, remember the 1.1 controversy then the brilliant 1.2 which brought unity. Then we had the crisis with technology leaving the game behind thankfully remedied by Papyrus with the GL, D3D, BW, and finally CPU patches. The other landmarks on the way the first tracks Dubai then Brands Hatch. The staggering work of GPLEA! The Software GPLRA GEM et all.

Sadly I've yet to see anything equal GPL let alone surpass it. I don't believe there will ever be such a quantum leap again. GPL is special.