Noob question

[x3 racer]

I have been playing since early Jan. about 15 hrs.
I tried all the cars in FIA 03 season in novice mode at Barcelona.
My GT1 times using automatic with default setups were

550 1.40.156
Saleen .435
Lambo .845
575 .872

Now I am in Sim mode with same setups and after 2 hrs can only get to 1.42.8 in the 550
My goal was to eventually enter a league in a few months but my skill level doesn’t look good.
Is there any point in downloading setups or other cars and tracks if I can’t beat my novice time ?
thx

[Nectaria]

It ofcourse depends of your personal preference (oversteer, understeer, tight grip or a bit loosen up...), but could you upload your set-up with a link? Or a replay of your hotlap, it might help to let us find out where you're losing time.

[night_owl2007]

Originally Posted by Nectaria

It ofcourse depends of your personal preference (oversteer, understeer, tight grip or a bit loosen up...), but could you upload your set-up with a link? Or a replay of your hotlap, it might help to let us find out where you're losing time.

yeah you might wanna upload your replay and setup for some of the guys on here to analyze, i can set low 1.35's in 550 round barca, but i know there is guys setting 1.34's or better consistantly...im not trying to knock your confidence, just the opposite, im showing you can improve a bit and you will trust me, it takes practice, i set my times on sim mode with a G25 wheel and no aids except the terrible shame of using auto clutch!
a good thing to show your better lines or where you can make time is to do time trials and have you previous best ghost lap loaded, as a carrot dangling in front of you (or a big bar of chocolate if you prefer! ) some people dont like to use a ghost lap, but its show you were you can improve your time and lines..so its worth it, damn pain tho when its right in front of your brake marker!

these setups may help a bit, but remember to tweak them for your style..
http://www.nogripracing.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=40353
and this thread has some helpful stuff, such as a link to the very useful setup development tool!
http://www.nogripracing.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=39695

good luck!

[Kev]

Originally Posted by x3 racer

Is there any point in downloading setups or other cars and tracks if I can’t beat my novice time ?

How about fun

That is afterall why you should be playing computer games.

As others have said you need to get to grips at least with the basics of setting the car up. If you haven't got GTR2XD, download it Knowing your tyre temps is a must if you are going to start setting the car up. Then read the setup guides mentioned above.

Next up is practice, practice, practice. Until you can set the same lap times time after time after time you won't know if you are going in the right direction when setting the car up. You will find after some time you will suddenly get a lot faster as you get used to driving without the aids. (I remember when I first switched off traction control, I couldn't drive for toffee. Then all of a sudden I got a lot better).

I don't do much online racing, but believe me, not everyone is Lewis Hamilton. You don't need to be rocket fast or spend hours and hours setting up a car then racing in a league at 3am in the middle of the week to enjoy the game.

[x3 racer]

Originally Posted by Nectaria

It ofcourse depends of your personal preference (oversteer, understeer, tight grip or a bit loosen up...), but could you upload your set-up with a link? Or a replay of your hotlap, it might help to let us find out where you're losing time.

Thanks ,Nectaria,Night Owl and Kev.

How do you upload a replay or set up ?

I know - dumb question but the game doesn't seem to offer much info.

[x3 racer]

Originally Posted by Kev

How about fun



As others have said you need to get to grips at least with the basics of setting the car up. If you haven't got GTR2XD, download it Knowing your tyre temps is a must if you are going to start setting the car up.
.

Kev,

Where do I find that download ?
I looked in the download tab. is it under setups ?

I have to say it is a little daunting the choices that are available !

This will take me a year to figure out !

btw i'm using a dfgt and I'm 3/4 finished my cockpit so I'm in for the long haul !
Cheers !

[Kev]

Originally Posted by x3 racer

Kev,

Where do I find that download ?

http://www.vitumo.de/

Yes the setup screen does look a little daunting doesn't it. But if you just learn the basics then you'll find you get a lot faster. Get your tyres at the right and your gears right and you are half way there.

[stagman]

Dunno even if you can run it in Sim mode, but are you still running with an automatic gearchange? My experience is that choosing the right gear yourself at the right moment is far better than any auto 'box. I'd wager you'd win a bit just by doing the gears manually.

[Kev]

Originally Posted by stagman

Dunno even if you can run it in Sim mode, but are you still running with an automatic gearchange? My experience is that choosing the right gear yourself at the right moment is far better than any auto 'box. I'd wager you'd win a bit just by doing the gears manually.

I was gonna mention that too, but I am also not sure if you can run auto in Sim mode (pretty sure you can't). I also take it as read you have a wheel x3 racer. Changing gears is easy with a wheel so there is no reason to use auto at all. If you are using a controller or keys it can be a git though! Especially as I come from a generation who's hands aren't freakishly deformed so we cant use the L1,L2... buttons on a PS2 controller!

[x3 racer]

Yes I have the Logitech DFGT wheel.
I'm in full sim with all the aids removed except the auo clutch and tranny.
I can still manual shift but i find i've got my hands full just braking, steering and getting the right amount of throttle.
i know i have to learn cuz i guess most of the leagues don't allow it.

I'm at work now, i'll download that file Kev when I get home.

Thanks everybody for all your help !

[x3 racer]

Originally Posted by night_owl2007

yeah you might wanna upload your replay and setup for some of the guys on here to analyze,

good luck!

My replay data folder is empty but in the game I can play several hotlaps.
what am I missing ?

[dartguy]

You should try to use manual transmission as soon as you can. It will help your laptimes. The first thing I noticed when I started using it was coming out of slow corners, you can be much more stable in a higher gear. You don't have to have such precise control of the throttle to keep you from spinning.

It just takes a couple of hours to get the hang of it.

Try looking up Tom Goodall's setups at Racesimcentral. I love them. To me they are a much better base setup. His cars all break a whole lot faster than stock, also. And there are many car and track combinations.

Good Luck

[x3 racer]

Arrrrgh !

I downloaded the setup pack v1_0 by Elvis_1 for GTR2
I opened it and clicked on Barcelona
I highlighted the 550-Qualy.svm file and clicked on extract to icon
I selected the user data/x3/settings/barcelona folder to extract to
then i started gtr2 and went to open practice but no setup file in the garage

Am I mental ??

Please throw me a bone !

thx

[trotty88]

You need to find the .svm file in the original package (just extract to desktop for now), Then cut/copy just the .svm file into the appropriate folder. Note that some tracks have different layouts, altho they show as the one folder on GTR, so that shouldn't matter.
Alternately, you can access setups via the online folders in the game itself. Which is easier to start with.
Practice and persistance is the key with these sims. They are not something you can just pick up and be great at (for most anyway).
As for the league, find a friendly group for now and ease into it. Just because it is a league, doesn't mean everyone is going to be super fast. I race a bit over at R2P, and they cater for all levels of skill. Consistancy should be your goal now, then the times will drop.

[night_owl2007]

Originally Posted by dartguy

You should try to use manual transmission as soon as you can. It will help your laptimes. The first thing I noticed when I started using it was coming out of slow corners, you can be much more stable in a higher gear. You don't have to have such precise control of the throttle to keep you from spinning.

It just takes a couple of hours to get the hang of it.

Try looking up Tom Goodall's setups at Racesimcentral. I love them. To me they are a much better base setup. His cars all break a whole lot faster than stock, also. And there are many car and track combinations.

Good Luck

yeah agreed use manual transmission as soon as you can, secondly tom goodalls setups are part of the vondutch pack that i have linked above, so you have even more to choose from, toms setups are good, but only a base for me, i had to do a fair bit of tweaking personally, everyones style is different, tho im sure he'd eat me for breakfast on track!

[night_owl2007]

Originally Posted by x3 racer

My replay data folder is empty but in the game I can play several hotlaps.
what am I missing ?

yeah after you set a great lap, save your time trial (if you're on time trials) then exit to the game menu, you will see the game saying, saving hotlap, this is when you can go to replays and see something like "barcelona hotlap" , rename it, to something like barcelona x3 racer 1.40.8 or something, cos the game will overwrite all your hotlaps otherwise, only the most recent lap will be kept automatically, also there is something called vcr (replay) saver here on no grip somewhere, but its a little buggy for me, caused a few crashes, but that may be my bad luck, if you cant find it let me klnow, ill try to link it for you!

edit: as for the setups, extract them to desktop or my docs, and then manually paste them into the specific folder, example is C:\Program Files\GTR2\UserData\LeeDavid\Settings\barcelona, but your directory will be slightly different, my advice is to stick to just a few of your fave tracks for now and one or two cars, and tweak your setups and use manual gears, more and more practice and you'll be setting good times im sure, but use the TG (tom goodalls) setups as a base- and tweak to your satisfaction, the elvis_1 pack isnt too good, lotsa mixed weird setups imo, no disrespect to the guy, cos he took the time to upload that lot for us all!

[dartguy]

There is a button to save replays, that says Time Stamp replays, or something like that. If you select that, all replays will be saved. It will, however, become a waste of space.

[x3 racer]

Originally Posted by trotty88

You need to find the .svm file in the original package (just extract to desktop for now), Then cut/copy just the .svm file into the appropriate folder.

Yes ! success !!

I followed your directions and then went into the garage lo and behold

Thar she was !!

Very cool. I didn't try it yet ( had to go to work ) tonite tho !!!

Now, if I can push my luck a bit

I 'm still having troulble with the replays.
I have about 10 Barcelona hotlaps saved under names like
Barcelone 550
" Lambo
" 550 sim
" lister etc....
But they don't show up in the replay folder
any suggestions ?

I also tried to download the GTR2XD file that Kev pointed me to and saved it in the installation folder but could not start the game. Realized I need to Dl the DX 9 patch as well. tried that and was not sure where to save it. put it in program files but got the same start up error."could not locate .dll file"
Panicked,thinking I broke the damn thing but just deleted the patch and all the update files and restarted. But now back to square one. It does look like a cool mod seeing your tire temps.
I'm running vista 32 home premium.
is that maybe the issue?

Thanks everyone for all your help- this is a great community !
x3

[dartguy]

I don't have Vista, but I seem to recall reading that Vista saves stuff in your My Documents folder. Look there.

Good Luck

[stagman]

Originally Posted by x3 racer

Yes I have the Logitech DFGT wheel.
I'm in full sim with all the aids removed except the auo clutch and tranny.
I can still manual shift but i find i've got my hands full just braking, steering and getting the right amount of throttle.

I just did a quick search on the net for this DFGT wheel and everything I find shows it has a pedal set. You say your hands are full with braking, steering and throttle. That comment makes me think you are not using your feet for two of those actions.
Do you not have a pedal set? If not, I can understand the choice for auto 'box to a degree. If you do, then I am unsure as to what you mean my 'hands full'.

[x3 racer]

Sorry Stagman, I should have been more clear. It's more like my brain has it's " hand's full ".
I have the pedals.I just don't multi task too well. I know that sounds wierd cuz I tear around in my 5 speed street car. it just is different in a game.
My main focus right now is to identify the proper line ,brake point, and turn in and then try to tighten those up till my times are consistenly quick.
I play around with it a bit upshifting, it's the downshifting where i screw up the most. I suspect it's a matter of patience and practice like Kev and others have mentioned.

thanks for your help.
x3

[Sensekhmet]

1. Line
2. Smoothness
3. Corner exit
4. Corner entry
5. Others

That's how I brake it down, taken from BMW CCA beginner's handbook IIRC.