Grand Prix 2 - Playing Guide All change: ----------- Oh yeah, just drive round the track if you want. You might even win, if you set the other cars to novice level. Make them amateurs or professionals, though, and you might as well go home with your blonde motor racing girlfriend right now, because you'll be lucky to get in the points if you don't set your car up for each track. It's easy, though, and you'll be amazed at the difference it makes. Take Hockenheim as an extreme example. We took the front wings up a little, took all rear downforce off completely, upped the fifth and sixth gear ratios by a couple of points and found another 20mph on the straights, qualifying five seconds quicker than before. Impressive, huh? Here's the effect of each adjustment, but remember that every improvement has its corresponding downside. By way of an example, higher straight speeds result in slower cornering. 1. Rear wing: ------------- The rear wing gives the car downforce by creating drag. It reduces overall top speed but means quicker cornering. The effect is also related to speed. As the car slows, downforce is reduced. On tracks with plenty of straights and few corners, reduce the rear wing to create less drag and a higher top speed. On the windy circuits, such as Monaco, give it some more, particularly during qualifying to get at the front of the grid. 2. Front wing: -------------- Because of the nature of air flow over the body of a car, the front wing doesn't actually add any drag, and is used simply to balance the vehicle. It does, however, alter airflow over the rear wing. Too much front wing produces less downforce on the rear wing, so make sure the front wing has a similar value to the rear. 3. Gear ratios: --------------- The gear ratio affects acceleration and top speed in each individual gear. If you've decreased the wing values to achieve a higher speed, increase the sixth gear ratio to make sure that the engine can get you to this velocity. Similarly, if you're accelerating and decelerating a lot, such as at the Hungaroring, reduce the ratios to get quicker acceleration at the expense of a lower top speed, a top speed that you're unlikely to reach anyway. 4. Brake balance: ----------------- This affects steering when coming into a corner. If you find that the car is stubbornly refusing to make the turn as the curve begins (understeering due to a lack of grip on the front tyres), move the brake balance to the rear. Similarly, move it to the front if you find yourself oversteering into the corner. Unfortunately, each time you shift the brake balance from the centre you need to brake a little bit earlier. Grand Prix adjustments are all about trial and error. 5. Springs: ----------- For optimum car handling, particularly braking into a corner, you need to try and keep your car as level as possible. Bumpy circuits, such as Montreal, can drastically reduce your traction unless you soften the rear springs. If you find yourself understeering on the bumps, you should also soften the front springs. Soft springs, particularly at the front, cause the car to dip forwards when you brake, reducing braking force and possibly causing the wheels to lock. Shift the brake balance a little to the rear to compensate for this. 6. Ride height: --------------- F1 cars have a 1cm thick wooden plank attached to the bottom of the body which may rub against the road unless you compensate for soft springs with a greater ride height. Dropping the ride height reduces drag even more than reducing the wing values, but if the plank ever makes contact with the track surface, you'll generate considerable friction. 7. Dampers: ----------- Dampers are used in conjunction with springs to control the car in bumpy conditions by keeping the tyres on the track. If you find yourself losing traction on the bumps, reduce the rear dampers. Increase them to compensate for oversteering. 8. Anti-roll bars: ------------------ These come into play when you are cornering and your car attempts to roll away from the inside of the corner. The front and rear anti-roll bars work against each other. If you are understeering in long corners, soften the front anti-roll bars or stiffen the rear ones. Softer settings generally reduce tyre wear, improving traction and grip, but may result in less responsive handling and require a greater ride height to prevent the plank from rubbing. Spot the difference: -------------------- GP2 provides data logging to help you learn how car set-ups affect handling, and to help you decide what set-up to try next. The data logger starts when you first leave the pit lane and stops recording that lap when you either cross the finish line or re-enter the pit lane. When you eventually come back to the pits you can download this data and graph it, the idea being to compare it with laps you've raced previously. The data recorder plots several different types of information. 1. Brake -------- Check the laps before and after set-up changes to see if you can now brake later into the corner. You can also use it without set-up changes to see if later or earlier braking helps you to take the corner better. 2. Gear ------- The gear graph is used to help understand the other values, such as a sudden change in revs. Superimpose it over some of the other graphs. 3. Ride heights --------------- There're actually four of these - one for each wheel. This is perhaps one of the most obvious ways of changing your car set-up. Bring all four ride heights up on screen and read off the lowest value plotted. If it showed 20mm, you can reduce the ride height by 10mm (the plank is 10mm thick) so that the car is as low as possible on the track without the plank ever catching the ground. 4. RPM ------ The revs help to show how you are making use of the gears. Look out for the rev limiter cutting in on straights, where the graph levels out. Combat this by increasing the ratio for that gear. The revs should continue to increase right up until the next corner. 5.Speed ------- This graph helps you to see what straights and corners of the track are fastest. It should help you to adjust the anti-roll bars, springs and dampers. 6. Steering demand ------------------ The steering demand plots turns into corners, with increasing values showing left turns. This graph is used in conjunction with speed, ride height and suspension travel to alter anti-roll bars and ride height, but can be helpful in assessing other adjustments. 7. Suspension travel -------------------- Once again, there are separate graphs for each wheel indicating how much the suspension is moving relative to the amount of travel possible. For instance, when the travel hits 0mm, the suspension is fully compressed. To make adjustments to your car, bring up the ride heights and find the lowest height on the track. Go to the corresponding suspension travel and check the distance. If it reads, for instance, 2mm, you know that you can add 2mm of packers in the advanced menu to prevent unnecessary suspension travel. It makes your car more responsive. 8. Throttle ----------- The throttle level can be quite misleading. Remember that if you lose traction the throttle level can blip misleadingly as it still represents poor car performance. What is much more useful is seeing if your last set-up change meant you could drive faster around a corner (higher revs) or that you were able to accelerate away from a curve sooner. 9. Wheelspin ------------ Each of these four graphs shows the speed of the outside of the wheel, which will be the same as the speed of the car on level road and full traction. It's useful for seeing where you've lost traction, represented by sharp spikes in wheelspin, helping you to soften your suspension. Likewise, downward spikes show where the wheels are locking. So, with that in mind, here're what we've found to be the best basic combinations of brakes, wing and gear balances. They may not give you the fastest speed on the straights but overall they're pretty close to the finest settings we could find. We gratefully acknowledge the help of the rec.autos.simulators newsgroup and The No 1 Unofficial GP2 homepage at http://www.sax.de/~sts/_gp2.html in compiling this list. Wings and Brakes table Circuit Front Wing Rear Wing Brake Balance (F:R) Brazil 14 4 34.250:65.750 Pacific 15 8 36.500:63.500 San Marino 15 8 40.000:60.000 Monaco 20 15 40.125:59.875 Barcelona 15 10 39.750:60.250 Canada 14 9 40.500:59.500 Magny Cours 17 11 40.000:60.000 Silverstone 20 13 40.000:60.000 Hockenheim 13 1 37.500:62.500 Hungaroring 20 14 40.000:60.000 Spa Francorchamps 11 9 42.500:57.500 Monza 15 2 40.250:59.750 Estoril 17 12 41.500:58.500 Jerez 20 13 40.250:58.750 Suzuka 18 12 40.625:59.375 Adelaide 20 13 40.250:59.750 Gear ratios table ----------------- Circuit 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th Brazil 33:64 39:64 45:64 51:64 58:64 64:64 Pacific 20:64 27:64 36:64 45:64 53:64 60:64 San Marino 24:64 30:64 38:64 47:64 55:64 62:64 Monaco 19:64 26:64 33:64 40:64 47:64 55:64 Barcelona 27:64 34:64 41:64 49:64 55:64 61:64 Canada 25:64 33:64 40:64 48:64 54:64 60:64 Magny Cours24:64 30:64 36:64 42:64 51:64 59:64 Silverstone 24:64 30:64 37:64 43:64 51:64 59:64 Hockenheim 35:64 39:64 46:64 53:64 60:64 67:64 Hungaroring 28:64 34:64 41:64 46:64 51:64 55:64 Spa Francor 25:64 33:64 41:64 49:64 56:64 63:64 Monza 29:64 38:64 45:64 52:64 59:64 66:64 Estoril 24:64 31:64 39:64 46:64 53:64 60:64 Jerez 23:64 29:64 36:64 41:64 50:64 58:64 Suzuka 22:64 30:64 38:64 45:64 52:64 59:64 Adelaide 22:64 30:64 38:64 45:64 53:64 59:64 Green means go: --------------- 0-100mph in a couple of seconds, then? Well, if you get it right. You've spent hours grinding round the track perfecting your car setup and (as Damon Hill seems to delight in showing us) then make a complete arse of yourself on the starting grid. A good start derives from keeping the revs as high as possible without letting the wheels spin. The perfect start can gain you many places and even win you the race outright on the tighter circuits like Monaco. When you start have the revs pretty much on max. Stab the accelerator as the wheels spin and change up gears as fast as possible. The computer cars tend to steer to the centre before drifting across onto the racing line so if you're feeling brave nip up the inside. Just make sure to brake in time and don't be afraid to use some crash gear changes at the start - here the gains generally outweigh the potential technical risks. Pitstops: --------- In F1GP you required a 75% race distance before the computer cars would make pit stops but this has been reduced to 50% in GP2. Pit stops only really come into play in races over 50% full-length on the harder tyre-wearing circuits like Hungaroring. On a full length race you should generally go for two stops or, if you favour an extreme driving style on the twistier courses perhaps even three. Overtaking: ----------- Overtaking is probably the area where GP2 has improved most over the first game. You'll need to be so much more careful if you're to avoid damaging your car by contact. The best overtaking places are (not surprisingly) at the sharp corners at the end of the straights. The key to these opportunities lies in the couple of corners preceding the entrance to the straight. You have to be as close to the car in front as possible (be aware of the reduced downforce if you get too close) and ready to follow him up the straight. As you enter his slip stream pull up close and dart out from behind him at the last possible minute. Brake as late as possible and swoop on round the corner, taking care not to go wide. Perfecting the late braking without flatspotting your tyres is the key to this classic, simple manoeuvre. Kerbs: ------ Some kerbs are there to be ridden - some are not. The Bus Stop kerbs on Spa look more like cliffs at 120mph but the Hockenheim chicanes are beautiful extensions to the tarmac. Consistent use of the high kerbs is not recommended and only necessary in some places. Using the majority of the lower, flatter kerbs is essential to cutting seconds off your lap. Driver Aids: ------------ These are here to help you and there's no shame in using them. When you first start playing the game (even if you are an F1GP veteran) it's probably best to keep them on for a lap of two. It probably wont take long before you want to turn them off and, indeed, doing so will greatly improve the speed at which you drive. The first to go should be the brakes (F1) as once you've learnt the circuit there's no need for them and the computer braking actually kicks in too early for the most part. The Self Correcting Spin (F3) and Indestructible (F4) should probably be eliminated together, as if you're confident about braking in time and under control you shouldn't be hitting anything round you. It's also highly advisable to hit F3 when approaching and driving in the pits. There's absolutely no harm in having the Ideal Driving Line (F5) on all the time, especially if you are playing with the detail turned down which makes it harder to gauge the braking and turning in points. The Suggested Gear (F6) is vitally important to pay attention to once you have mastered braking. Keep it on and actively look at it and your rev counter as you round corners It's your final training helper before you go for the big one - turning off the gears (F2). Gearless racing will probably be an unrewarding experience at first. It's relatively easy to drive around changing up gears but synchronising changing down when approaching a hairpin with fully applying the brakes and trying to duck inside someone and not overshooting will take time. But that's why GP2 will be a game we're all playing in five years.
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