SimHQ.com - Motorsports Zone - Preview: Behind the Scenes: The GPL 1969 Mod

As we know, when GPL was released back in 1998 by Papyrus/Sierra, it depicted the 1967 Formula 1 season, and for quite a while, modding was concentrated on learning how to build new tracks and updating car graphics and car shapes.

The 400+ add-on tracks, and the cars that we have for GPL today, belie the fact that out of the box GPL isn't particularly mod-friendly, as well as the fact that it took about one year before the first new tracks were released.

Pioneering work by the talented GPL community made this possible, and I won't name any names here because so many artists and geniuses have contributed over the years, I'd be certain to miss someone who deserves to be mentioned, and this isn't the GPL History Project anyway. Not yet.

A few years ago rumors started circulating on the the incipient Race Sim Central forum, that someone was testing new physics in VROC multiplayer (Virtual Racers' Online Connection). Reports of the existence of a car with physics intended to simulate a "1972 Tyrrell" led to a number of speculations about an official or unofficial mod group being at work, possibly even connected to Papyrus in some way. After some time the promise faded, and the "official" word in the community was that the project had been canceled.

At one time speculation that GPL2 was being considered by Papyrus caused a buzz in the community, but alas that also came to a premature end.

A while after that, a debate about the general desirability of modding the physics was opened by respected members of the GPL community on the Race Sim Central forum.

Discussions that sometimes turned into passionate debates about the consequences of editing the GPL physics ensued, and speaking in very broad terms the main concerns were:

In order to ensure a level playing ground in Multiplayer races, some sort of cheat protection had to be in place.

Furthermore, a lot of GPL drivers had been submitting their best lap-times to the GPL Rank site, and if the physics were to be changed, it ought to be done in such a way that the rankings would not be made obsolete overnight. Check the GPL Rank site here.

The debate continued for a while and at one point it was made known that a 1965 mod was in the making, with physics that would simulate the performances of 1965 cars; complete with accurate graphics and more. When the mod finally arrived, an additional surprise was sprung on the unsuspecting community in the form of the Race Search tool called iGor. iGor checks and makes sure that you can not enter a 1965 race with a 1967 car, without being found out.

Going with the 1965 season it would be assured lap-times wouldn't be faster than those achieved with the stock 1967 season cars. With 1500 cc engines, half of what the '67 cars had, and equipped with smaller tires, these cars would not produce lap times that could compete with the 1967 cars. The problem was solved.

MS 80 in car

Why 1969?

As the 1969 mod draws ever closer to completion and release, the GPL community will have cars that are quicker than the 1967-cars but as long as a 1967 mod is not in the offering, the 1967 Ranks are safe from erosion.

But why 1969. Why not 1968, as a very fine carset representing the 1968 season was already available for GPL. Why not use that as the base for a mod?

In 1968 the cars were not that much different from 1967. Wings at the front and the back of the cars only really made their appearances in ´69, although in many cases they were not working terribly well.

On too many occasions the wings broke apart while the cars were running at high speed; Jochen Rindt and Graham Hill both lost the wings of their Lotus 49's during the weekend of the 1969 Spanish GP, resulting in massive and terrifying crashes. These events led to high wings being temporarily banned, until the supports for wings were made sturdier.

In ´69 the cars ran with one of three rear wing configurations; wing placed high over the car, wing placed low over the car and finally no rear wing at all.

The mod group saw 1969 as a year where the cars were not yet radically different from 1967, yet different enough to warrant significantly modified car shapes.

Again we must remember that GPL really is not especially mod-friendly; changing a car shape must be done within nonstandard and community developed 3D editors, it is very time-consuming, and there is a bit of magic, special chanting and incantations involved as well.

At the time of writing, it seems we'll get a carset with high wings as well as one with low wings. I don't know about you, but I think that the prospect of having cars with the low wings is absolutely fabulous.

Additionally, the number of teams and drivers had to be manageable within the structure of GPL, which allows 7 different teams and 19 different drivers within those teams.

Finally, one car appeared in 1969 that was to make that year a very special year in terms of innovation and Formula 1 history. I'll tell you more about that a bit later.

Go To Page 3

Click here to go to top of this page.