MotoGp2 For playstion2 FAQ: How does the physics work in simulation mode? Written by Louis “Nywing” Ng Contact: nyw7070@hotmail.com ============================================================ Version History ============================================================ Version 1.0 January 26, 2002 Everything. Version 1.1 January 28, 2002 Added to race lines, added Rain riding, and changed credits where there was originally errors. Version 1.2 February 25, 2002 Minor additions ============================================================ Table of Contents ============================================================ I. Introduction II. What’s so special with MotoGp? III. Differences between motorcycles, cars and MotoGp bikes. IV. Turning V. Race lines VI. Rain conditions VII. Notes and credits ============================================================ I. Introduction ============================================================ For those of you who aren’t motorcycle enthusiasts, this faq is for you. There are many reasons why you would seemingly crash for no reason at all in motogp2 simulation mode. Although they seem to be the game programmers having nothing better to do, it is actually the heart and soul of GP racing. Let me get on with this. ~ ============================================================ II. What’s so special with MotoGp? ============================================================ Well… they are the fastest bikes in the world to race on a circuit, as the great Doohan once said (well something like this)(correct me if it wasn’t Doohan that said it pls), “It doesn’t matter how many bikes you have ride before, or how many years of experience you’ve had, how many races you’ve won, or even how much determination you have. When you jump on the GP bike for the first time, everything you’ve ever learned will become obsolete.” Well, these bikes have the fastest speed, best brakes, greatest acceleration ever, best tires (hence friction), best dynamics, concept designs, newest engine designs, greatest torque, lightest weight, and the lowest tolerance for error. Luckily, only the best riders get a ride. ============================================================ III. Differences between motorcycles, cars and MotoGp bikes ============================================================ Motorcycles, as the word cycle tells us, only have two wheels. Cars tend to have four, so there is usually no worry about falling over if you don’t get the balance. On a bike however, if you lean over without any speed etc, you will fall over. Because the motorcycle is much lighter than the car, if you accelerate too much, your front wheel will rise and the bike will do a wheelie. If you pull the front brake too hard, your rear wheel will rise, doing a stoppie. Due to the fact that the bikes we are talking about have the greatest acceleration and brakes in the world, they will do wheelies even on 5th gear when you are accelerating, and stoppies when you are merely trying to stop. ============================================================ IV. Turning ============================================================ When you turn with speed on a motorcycle, unlike on four-wheels, you have to lean. The problem now is that because you only have two wheels, the friction between the bike and the ground are much lower than on a car. If you have too much speed while entering the turn, because your bike has the momentum to continue moving forward while you actually want it to turn, it will slid outwards (which is your original forwards position, but given you have turned it is now on your outside).Usually this would be alright for a car as you just go into the gravel and drive back out right away… With a motorcycle, because you get to fall over, when you reach the gravel which has much less friction that the circuit, you bike will stop sticking to the ground and you will hence lowside (a term meaning falling off the lower side of the bike). So to avoid falling over, you need to keep at an appropriate speed. Acceleration during a turn is tricky, because as I said before, these bike have the greatest torque, and as motorcycles are rear wheel driven, your rear wheel will slide outwards due to it spinning faster than the bike is going. SO, if you want to add throttle during a turn, you will have to make sure you do it gradually (so turn analog controls on and press slightly first). Now comes the most exciting yet dangerous part of GP racing. If you do accelerate too much and have your rear wheel sliding, there are two and a half things that can occur. You can: 1) slowly decrease your acceleration, mind the word slowly, you must decrease it gradually. 2) immediately releasing the throttle and result in a highside (yep you guessed it, exiting the bike on the high side.) 3) if you keep the throttle on and continue sliding the rear outwards, once again, you bike will highside The reason why the highside occurs is because the bike is accelerating forwards. When it slides, it loses traction and the wheel no longer accelerates. If you suddenly release the throttle, the acceleration returns, but as the rear has slide out and is now pointing in a different direction from where the bike is going, it pushes the bike forwards in this wrong direction and hence the only place the bike can go is upwards. The same thing is true for continuing to push the throttle, when the bike slides to a specific angle, it retains traction and bang! Braking hard during a turn is also a big no unless you have a lot of experience in doing it, generally speaking, braking during a turn at such speeds will have the same effect of accelerating hard. Your bike will slide outwards. But because your sliding wheel is not trying to retain traction like in the case of accelerating, the chance of highsiding is lower. (This is mainly because the game does not include a function of front and rear brakes, and instead does the norm of more front than rear. In a real life situation, if use the rear brake at anytime during a turn it will act exactly the same as the hard acceleration.) Your bike will eventually slide so much that your turning is no longer able to keep up with the tendency to bail outwards and the bike will simply lowside into the gravel. This is however made a very minor issue in the game and generally doesn’t apply very much. (unless you are seriously braking ever so hard) ============================================================ V. Race lines ============================================================ Racing lines are the specific place where your bike should be when racing, it will reduce the amount of unneeded road coverage, and also the turns will be made a lot simpler. The racing line for motorcycles is the same as for car racing. Just remember: out-in-out. Before approaching a corner, you go to the outside of the road, then you enter the inside of the turn, and then because your bike bails out during the turn, you are at the outside of the road. Once you get used to this, you will find the true fun in the game. The race lines are the black/darker colored parts of the road in the game, although you can’t always follow them exactly, it is generally faster to at least try. Doing so will allow you two things- 1) Learn to drive in the way the circuit was designed to be. 2) You will easily notice where you should have been faster and where you should have slowed down or accelerated less. I.e., when you bail out too much from the line, you are going too fast, when you are not bailing much and the line seems to be on your outside you are going to slowly. ============================================================ VI. Raining conditions ============================================================ Riding in the rain can be both good and bad. If you master the art of riding in the rain, you will find yourself much much faster than those who can’t. Yet if you are still learning, chances are you will crash more easily. The problem with rain is mainly that friction decreases by a lot. You will bail more easily, and not be able to brake as hard. Also, because friction is less, you are not able to lean as much as you normally would be able to. Fine tuning of how you control the bike plays a really important role here, you need to be able to turn without going to the lean limit (the control stick can not be pressed fully) or you will lowside. Accelerating while turning is much less tolerant and just a bit more than a little acceleration will make you lowside. Braking, same case. If you go too slowly during a turn, even if you don’t accelerate or brake at all you will fall, because there isn’t enough speed to keep you at a lean and the ground is much more slippery. If you go too fast, obviously you will go into the gravel and slide away. Rain conditions simulation mode is truly for the expert player, and I strongly suggest turning it off if you are still learning to play on simulation mode. ============================================================ VII. Notes and Credits ============================================================ -Dad for driving me to school everyday and introducing motorcycles to me. -MotoGp is property of Dorna the game is licensed by Dorna to Namco. -MotoGp for giving me so much fun and enjoyment every season. -Thanks to the people at www.gamefaqs.com for hosting this faq. -Kenshi for continually bragging to me about his ability to mass produce 9 faqs a day and then telling me to write one. -WW for telling me that you will definitely crash and die if you drive that fast. -NH for her cute birthday present. -HK-MXCLUB for giving me the enjoyment of motocross. -MXCLUB Ah Yuen, for all the sliding lessons you gave me. This document Copyright 2002 by Louis “Nywing” Ng and may not be duplicated or reproduced (in part or in full) for profit without the explicit permission of the author. This document is originally posted on http://www.gamefaqs.com. (additional links sites includes http://www.psxcodez.com and http://www.SPOnG.com)