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What NOT To Do
First, a couple of caveats. Don't imagine your F1 setups will
work with the F2s. Although in the game there are no visual differences
between the two classes (the original intent was to have different-looking
F2s, but the developers ran out of time), there are distinct
physical differences. In real life, the F2s had half the displacement
(1500cc) of the 3-liter F1s, powering chassis a couple hundred
pounds lighter (they were about the same proportions as today's
Formula Atlantic cars to modern F1s), but in GPL each F2 has
the same weight as the "donor" chassis (i.e., the Brabham
is light, the Honda--er, Murasama--is heavy). So, to approximate
the same relative performance, GPL's F2s have about 270 horsepower
(vs. 200 for the real F2s). The F2s' tires--both in real life
and in the game--also have slightly less traction. All other
factors (at least in the game) are about equal: the gearing,
diffs, suspension geometry, c.g., aerodynamic drag, etc. The
setup differences are oulined below.
A certain sea-change obtains here: your old F2 setups (if any)
won't be appropriate for F2s in the patched game...any more than
your F1 setups will be...or, for that matter, your old hot-lap
records. Starting with the version 1.1 patch, Papyrus changed
the physics model very slightly, but enough to render all your
old data obsolete. The change ostensibly only affects the way
the tires respond to longitudinal--or maybe it's radial--input
(like braking or acceleration) while also under a lateral (cornering)
load. The idea was to make the handling more realistic. The practical
effect has been to make the cars easier to drive, more predictable,
with more apparent grip overall. Or so it would seem: the lap
times have fallen dramatically on the tracks where handling is
paramount (Zandvoort, Monaco), and least of all at tracks where
acceleration and top speed are more important than pure mechanical
grip (Spa, Rouen). |