UKGTL Season 16 Mini's -v- Skoda's - Karlskoga - Jul 18

[SpecialKS]

Tried the Mini for the first time - 1:20.3 atm, Skoda 1:22.5 still with a - sometimes and never projectable - bizarre driving behaviour.
BTW - don't really like this track 

[EvilClive]

After solving my "mini" issues thanks to Tony's help, I did not have too long to practice yesterday.

I feel that there is at least another second ( maybe more ) in the Skoda, but I would have to cure the tendency for the car to react to early gas with the tail slewing around. I think the rear springs and the diff might need some attaention to control that...................if I have time brfore the race.

The Fiat Abarth is great fun to drive and although more predictable than the Skoda, it just seemed to lack top speed. If I keep things tidy and smooth there might be some time to find, possibly sub 1:20 in my clumsy hands.

Thanks for the tip on driving that pesky mini. I had sort of found that style as a solution, but years of driving rear wheel drive cars and braking deep into corners and using the power to correct oversteer is instinctive. I am therefore going to try and re-programme my brain if I find time before the race as I feel there couldbe a sub 1:16 in that mini if I could only avoid fighting terminal understeer through every corner!! I did try Pelle's setups initially, but I just could not hook up with them so started tweaking things to try and make the car do what I wanted. I might go back and adjust my driving style instead of the setup.

We will all know if I am right ( or wrong!!) at around 9:30 this evening!! lol 

[Geoffers]

Not turned a wheel here yet, although I have raced here before, so it will be turn up & hope for me tonight! 

[EvilClive]

just baffled and fed up!

Initial attempts to join showed the circuit opening OK. Then the various drivers loading...except the same names started to repeat and behind I could see the cars being loaded on the timing screen. My GTL appeared to think that some drivers were using a Chevy Camaro 66!!!

OK.............I'll fix that and remove that car from wherever it is hiding..... tracked it down and removed it.
Rejoined server and now some guys were using Shelby Mustang??!!...........OK....we'll remove the Muscle Car folder. In fact I removed all folders except the TC -65 containing the Minis,Fiat and Skoda.

Rejoined server............."car not present on server", at which point after 45minutes of cursing swearing and file deleting, the race started.

It is just too hot here to bother with this now, so I am going outside with a beer!

[Wiltshire Tony]

Time for another fresh install Clive. Honestly I don't know what you do to your GTL to stuff it up so often and so comprehensively. Gutted for you Mate 

Results now posted. The replays will be published ASAP but are currently delayed to to technical difficulties. Sorry.

[phspok]

I had similar trouble after going to WIn10 Clive. may not be WIn10 related, but I reinstalled WIn7 and did yet another Steam GTL install
and so far everything has worked fine.

[BillThomas]

Apologies Erling, for spoiling your second race, hitting once was bad enough but twice was unforgivable! 

Apart from that I had a good nights racing with Kurt, with PBs all around. Ended up a couple of seconds faster than my best pre-race lap and I wasn't lapped. 

[Ziu Bacubacu]

Yesterday afternoon i had the nice idea to go on the beach for the pause lunch and i had the nice idea to sleep 2 hours while i got the sun care..........what happened ? That when i back home after shower my skin begin to become red more and more  and burn also too, so you can imagine how i was in the evening when i sit in front my monitor holding my g27 between my hands. Drive so it has been a torture !!!!!

In race 1 not bad with Abarth i get second time in qualy and when start race start also  my battle with Geoffers ( with who could be then ?), Geoffers was in front to me when he mistake on the last corner so i passed him. After we did some laps very closed, Geoffers tried to pass me on the start straight until when i dont see more him in my mirror, so i drove avoiding to not make mistakes also because Bob and Matt were very closed to me. And i did mistake at 2 laps to go on the last corner so Matt start to be very closed to me in the last lap but not enough for try to pass me and I win.

In race 2 with me i wronged totally my setup every time i touched the brake perdal it was as i touched the hand brake so i ran a bad race. MaiPor hit me in the first lap (not problem Mai it can happen) i lost three places but with this setup it was very difficult to think a recover. At least i passed these race in good company with Erling and Tony  and i finished 7th.

But honestly i have say that yesterday i was impossible beat Geoffers. I won race 1 but i didnt beat him, Race 2 i could be close to him just with the fantasy.
It confirm that Geoffers is an ace with little cars (he is an ace also with power car), and that Ziu is a donkey when he drives Mini. Grats Geoffers !!!!
I have say also that is  period where i m some tired, it will the hot summer effect, i dont know. I m driving few time on practice.

I m very happy for Bob, yestarday he was very strong and in Race 2 he got a podium very important for our team. Grats Bob !!!!!!

Grats Matt !!!! You drove very well Skoda and you got a great lap time with it. It not was easy drive Skoda here so this is a Double Grats Matt !!!!!

[phspok]

Race one I was surprised to still see Ziu not far in front. I think Bob and I were slowly catching as well 
The Skoda is a dog. It would be more useable if it had a bit more power to make up for the nasty handling
I had to cut off it's spheroids to tame it, and even then it wanted to spin into and out of corners.
I did a very aggressive setup, and once I was used to it, and drove around it's little pecadillos it was fun.
I could have taken the Mini both races, and might have won Race 1 with it judging by the times
But in prac my times in the Czech doggy were close enough that it looked a good race, so I took it.

Had another great chase with Bob in race 2, though I couldn't quite get a consistent laps I managed to
keep him (and Geoffers for a while) in sight. For the mini I set the brake bias well forward, which
stopped the spin on braking, but too far forward the thing goes straight on in nasty way as well.

Looking at some history, the 130R in rally trim was up to 140BHP and later models had 5 gears
this one is slower on the straights than the little 1 litre Fiat! and the slightly more powerful mini
leaves it for dead. Shame, as it makes a good alternative car.

[Wiltshire Tony]

Race One Replay: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/phspok2/Gellerasen_160718_2031.Vcr

Race Two Replay: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/phspok2/Gellerasen_160718_2112.Vcr

Thanks Matt 

Replays are also now in the replay folder.

[EvilClive]

Time for another fresh install Clive. Honestly I don't know what you do to your GTL to stuff it up so often and so comprehensively. Gutted for you Mate  .

After an evening of frustration and desk pounding, I pondered on exactly why I might continuously be getting these issues.

I recalled that when I first started dabbling in GTL, I did not fully understand the way in which cars are added to the game and GTL uses them. Maybe because I had spent so many years in GPL, where cars have to be placed in the same place/folder in order for the game to function.
So when we were asked to install cars for upcoming series, I would download the car file and place it in the same folder as the other cars to be used in the upcoming events.
 Force of habit, in GPL, also had me moving some cars from other folders into the same grouping so that everything was neat and tidy ( I thought!!).

Later I came to understand how the installation of a new GAMEDATA folder, which only updates (and did not fully replace, which I had originally feared) and now just point the new GAMEDATA folder at the G.TL install and let it do its thing.

Is it possible ( in fact probable) that the early fiddling with where cars were added and moved is corrupting the game? The thing that I don't understand is that everything works fine offline, so the game is finding all the relevant cars to run a race. When I go online and I am the only person on the server it all works OK, but when I attempt to join a race with other drivers they show as being in random cars, even though those cars no longer exists in any of my car folders??!

My hard disk is not big enough to have multiple installs of GTL each with different car sets ( I have managed to squeeze in the F1 as a separate install), so I simply overwrite the gamedata as normal and add the new cars to an ever growing stable of selectable machinery. I find it difficult to believe that this large collection of cars is causing problems as surely the game is designed to cope with many cars. But maybe there are a couple of mis-filed cars from the early days.

Either way I am going to try a fresh download. So a few questions first, just so that I understand things correctly.

1) the new install is left as just that, "a completely intact virgin install"
2) and any new cars are added via the overwriting of the gamedata folder, which will only add the new cars ( in the correct folders) and not delete existing content.
3) Cars to be used in a particular series do not need to all be in the same folder in order for GTL to use them correctly? The overwriting of the gamedata folder does all the placement.
4) There is no problem with adding, and retaining, numerous cars in the gamedata  folder and this does not impact upon the game . Assuming that all of the cars have been placed by the overwriting?
5) Alternatively, I try what many of you guys do, and have a fresh install for each series which is deleted after a series is completed?
6) is it possible to have multiple GAMEDATA folders that are swapped in and out of the GTL root folder for each class?

[Wiltshire Tony]

Time for another fresh install Clive. Honestly I don't know what you do to your GTL to stuff it up so often and so comprehensively. Gutted for you Mate  .

1) the new install is left as just that, "a completely intact virgin install"
2) and any new cars are added via the overwriting of the gamedata folder, which will only add the new cars ( in the correct folders) and not delete existing content.
3) Cars to be used in a particular series do not need to all be in the same folder in order for GTL to use them correctly? The overwriting of the gamedata folder does all the placement.
4) There is no problem with adding, and retaining, numerous cars in the gamedata  folder and this does not impact upon the game . Assuming that all of the cars have been placed by the overwriting?
5) Alternatively, I try what many of you guys do, and have a fresh install for each series which is deleted after a series is completed?
6) is it possible to have multiple GAMEDATA folders that are swapped in and out of the GTL root folder for each class?

1) Yes
2) Yes
3) Yes
4) Yes
5) If you want to. You could have every car for every race series in one GTL install. The advantage of seperate installs is for Practise etc. You have the right cars for that series and no interlopers.
6) In theory Yes, but I've never tried it.

Tracks and cars downloaded from this site come in their own installer which will put the contents in the right place. All you need to do is specify where your GTL folder is located and what it's called e.g. e:/GTL Fifties

[Erling G-P]

Apologies Erling, for spoiling your second race, hitting once was bad enough but twice was unforgivable! 

Apart from that I had a good nights racing with Kurt, with PBs all around. Ended up a couple of seconds faster than my best pre-race lap and I wasn't lapped. 

No worries Bill; these things happen.

Alas, can't seem to catch a break in this series; something goes wrong in every race.  Had a splitting headache, which didn't exactly help either - possibly why I couldn't quite match my practice pb in each car.

1st Race:
Picked the Skoda over the Abarth, as the former was just a tad quicker in my hands.  Surprised to be 4th on grid.  Start went ok, as it's difficult to do wrong in the Skoda.  An insistent Matt squeezed past through the first corners.  Had to brake for a very wobbly Abarth and avoid over the grass. As a thank you, I received a cut track warning and a tap from a hapless Maipor behind be, who probably didn't expect me to slow and change course.  It sent me over the grass and down to 9th.  Regained a couple of places later same lap, when others had moments.  Found myself behind John (Jeep), fighting for 6th over several laps.  Surprised to be outdragged down the straight by his Abarth, but could go faster in other places; particularly before the final corner.  Eventually got past and built a gap.  Ahead was Tony, but not much I could do about his Mini, so had to settle for 6th.

2nd Race:
Again 4th on the grid, now in Mini, but dreaded the start.  Seems just about anybody and his grandmother can get faster off the line in the Mini than me.  No matter what I try, I always bog down when shifting from 1st to 2nd, and cars stream past left & right.  How do you guys do it ? Is there a secret 1½ gear I don't know about ?

Thus down 3 places already before the first corner. Then caught a gaggle of cars around a sideways Ziu and had to slow, losing more places (and gaining 1 or 2 from others who slowed).  Next at the tight hairpin, as Bill mentions above, he hit me - very hard indeed, sending me far off the track.  Rejoined 9th, as Bill waited, but was 9 secs behind the 8th place car.  Eventually caught Kurt and found a way past.  Some lonely laps ensued until I caught a rejoining and uncharacteristically slow Ziu - surprised to find him down among us bottom dwellers. Raced him to the end, but wasn't faster and could only hope he would make another mistake, which didn't happen - not big enough at least.  Thus finished a disappointing 8th.  Would probably have enjoyed the racing, if not for earlier events and my head positively killing me at this point.

Grats to the podiums in each race, and thanks to Tony for the organising.

Clive: A very important point Tony raises about the track/car install procedure:  Just pick your GTL install folder (the top most one) and let the installer do its work - you don't have to worry about which subfolder(s) the tracks & cars are to be installed in.

Cheers,
Erling

[Geoffers]

First, bad luck Clive, I'm sure you will eventually sort out the problem. I can only guess that you have some files in the wrong place.

It confirm that Geoffers is an ace with little cars

Nah, just lots of experience in Minis after several seasons in the GC Mini League trying to keep up with the really fast guys. Not sure how I have got the Abarth going so quick. Before the Nordschliefe race I had always struggled with it & steered clear of using it. Setup is still not perfect as it understeers too much on the power, as my 'off' at the final turn proved! Later 'off' was due to getting a wheel on the grass & overcorrecting the slide. Still it was a good evenings racing if rather hot, was sweating buckets even with the windows wide open.

Congrats to the podiums, cya all next week.  

[Geoffers]

  No matter what I try, I always bog down when shifting from 1st to 2nd, and cars stream past left & right.  How do you guys do it ? Is there a secret 1½ gear I don't know about ?

I know what you mean Erling, done that many times. You are probably giving it too much throttle in 1st & spinning the wheels too much, then thinking you are on the limiter in 1st you change to 2nd, the wheels grip & you bog down because you are going too slow. You need to rev it to about 1000rpm below max on the line, as you let the clutch out give it a little more throttle but don't floor it! If you get it right it will grip straight away then you can floor it & you will shoot off the line. Its easier said than done, just needs some practice.