Noob greetings....

[CapeDoctor]

Hi folks
i'm a relative newcomer to GP Bikes, and new to the forum.
thought i'd pop in and say hello, as I plan to be here for a long time, all going well. 
before i start down the road of endless questions concerning this epic sim, a bit of background so you all have some idea where i'm coming from.
I'm a 46 year old dude from Cape Town, and have been a real life biker most of my life, from my humble beginnings on a Honda MBX50 back in '83, and i have pretty much tried every so-called bike sim on the market over the years, most of them being super disappointing, and my favorite to date is still the ol' Microprose GP500.
most of the others, including the recent RIDE, are nice in their own way, but fall well short of anything worthy of being called a sim.
GP Bikes has to be the first one I have tried that qualifies.
after trying the demo for a while, and crashing endlessly around the Victoria/Phillip Island track, I fell in love with the insane difficulty, and just bought a license day before last.
since then, I've been reading up on what's what in the forum, and have been downloading bikes and tracks like a maniac, lol.
i chose my nick as a play on Mr. V.Rossi's race name, and the prevalent south-easter wind here in Cape Town, which we locals call the Cape doctor - 'cause it blows all the cr*p away 
as far as sims go, i've spent most of the last decade heavily involved with flight sims, specifically IL-2 Sturmovik, where I am a head admin and co-owner of a site catering for mods for this particular flight sim.
after so many years, that mod scene has expanded to an insane level, and i decided to trade in my wings for  some two-wheeled virtual action, just to get my feet back on the ground, so to speak, hahah! 
I have many questions in the pipeline, so be warned - and do let me know if i become a pain in the arse,  lol.
for now, my little intro will do, and i hope to see this sim grow in leaps and bounds. there simply isn't anything else of this potential available on the market, and so it must be a success!
g'day, all, and well met, I hope   

[davidboda46]

Welcome! Good to have you onboard. The people in this forum are pretty good when it comes to answering questions so don't be afraid to ask.

Cheers,

/David "Gonzo" Boda #46 

[Napalm Nick]

Welcome Cape Doctor!

Thanks for the great intro. Its great to have you.

Yeh I was an IL2 fan too and hugely DCS!

All I will say for now - whatever question you have, do a forum search first and we will love you long time!

See you on track 

[Hawk]

Nice intro Cape Doctor.... Welcome aboard mate! 

Any problems just ask and we'll help all we can.....

Hawk.

[doubledragoncc]

Hi and welcome Cape Doctor. Pleasure to meet someone with positive attitude to GPB from the get go.

DD

[WALKEN]

 

[Boerenlater]

Welcome. Do you speak Afrikaans?

[CapeDoctor]

thanks for the warm welcome, guys!

@ Boerenlater - ja, ek praat Afrikaans   (translation - yes, I speak Afrikaans)

[Napalm Nick]

And you have got here just in time to join our new fun race club and make the first race this Sunday!

Sign-Up thread

[CapeDoctor]

thanks for the invite, Nick - although, it might be jumping the gun a bit - my biggest drawback is that i'm currently one of the minority of pschiatric patients who is using a keyboard, lol - so getting any half-decent lap times is still something of a pipe-dream.
i'd gladly join a fun race, so you guys can have a good laugh at my attempts, lol   
a little bit about my current setup - i have a great G25 wheel, but to be honest, i really suck with it, and am actually better with the keyboard than the wheel, believe it or not
that said, one of my first hurdles will be to get a decent controller setup - i have quietly been following the great work being done by guys like DoubleDragon, although that sort of setup will most likely be out of my price range, taking the horrendous exchange rate of my country into account.
what i have been looking high and low for is the Thrustmaster Freestyler bike controller, but it seems easier to dig up gold in my lawn than find one of those anywhere..
I've actually even emailed Guillemot, the company that made them, and begged them to consider re-releasing it, as the bike scene has grown hugely in the years since they discontinued it.
in fact, if i provide a link, maybe i can gather up some support and get a whole bunch of guys to email them with the same request - i'm willing to bet if there inbox starts filling up with hundreds of similar requests, they might consider it.
something to think about, maybe?
i've always been pretty damn good with the keyboard, at least in most sims up to this one, lol - i'm guessing it must be something to do with the keyboard not being able to differentiate the 'progression' that an axis provides.
so yeah, if you guys want to be entertained by my keyboard attempts, sure - if you're after some competition, i'm afraid to say i'm still a ways off in that department, lol - although, given the right tools, i am a super-competitive guy - virtually, at least! 

[JamoZ]

Just get a 360 controller, problem solved....

[HornetMaX]

what i have been looking high and low for is the Thrustmaster Freestyler bike controller, but it seems easier to dig up gold in my lawn than find one of those anywhere..
I've actually even emailed Guillemot, the company that made them, and begged them to consider re-releasing it, as the bike scene has grown hugely in the years since they discontinued it.

That object is utterly useless, confirmed plenty of time. Don't get it, not even for free. And I'm not joking.

Get a joypad: Xbox 360, Thrustmaster GPX (arguably a tad better than the xb360 one), Logitech F310. Whichever you can buy.

MaX.

[Napalm Nick]

Agreed Cape,

get an xbox controller or the like for now - and at Christmas DD is giving away free real handlebar controllers to every member here for Beta testing       .PS I have been know to speak untruths. Sorry DD (no advertising is bad advertising, right?)

Personally I don't have a problem if you want to come race, I know some members take things a bit more seriously than me but as long as you can keep out of the way all is good.  Besides it would be an honourable thing for you to do, to allow me to actually beat someone. This comes with a huge caveat that you must not beat me of course, or I will be the laughing stock 

See you on track (pop to shops, get xbox controller, come race).

[CapeDoctor]

thanks for the responses. 

Max, I am honestly very surprised to hear that, mate - during the time I have been searching for this, which is going on two years now, I have found most reviews to be very favorable, concerning the Thrustmaster?
i guess i can try one of the controllers suggested, although my history with these hand-help console style controllers is not good at all. basically, I am all thimbs when it comes to such controllers, and with almost any other available sim out there, i guarantee i can seriously run circles around most using my keyboard, lol.
i figured this controller thing might be an issue, so before I start dissing anything, let me say that I will fork out for one, probably the Logitech F310, just to give it a go - however, i have tried several times in the past using this console type gamepad thing, and it is the one type of controller i simply could never get to grips with.
as far as the keyboard goes, i can do  pretty well, but it all falls apart when leaning and braking, and as these are critical for a decent bike sim, it seems i'll never master it with a keyboard - for me, having my hands in some configuration that makes sense to me, is vital - and the gamepads simply don't offer this - my thumb/s have to do the leaning, and it just doesn't work for me, not like a proper bike controller might.
anyways, i'll be sure to put in some practise hours once i order one, and hopefully i can overcome the obstacles, lol
i look in awe at some of the stuff some guys have built for themselves, but i don't really have the technical savvy to tackle it myself, and really need an affordable option - preferably one that looks/acts/feels like a proper bike (which a gamepad simply doesn't)
and so, the saga begins.... 

@ Nick, you posted as i was finishing my post.... sounds like a plan, i don't mind losing - i know the day will come when i am kicking everyone's ass, and they'll be saying something like 'remember when he was a noob who we lapped several times in a race...' LOL

[Napalm Nick]

Cool  good job.

As I tell my son- don't give up you just need to train your brain/thumb in a cognitive muscle memory movement. Once it is learnt (usually within a day) and second nature kicks in you will be wishing you had gamepads rather than hands.

Round about this time he is demonstrating another muscle movement to me but Im sure my theory holds water.