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Von RSC:
Announcing the GPL Preservation Society
I am pleased today to formally announce the creation of a new organization in the GPL community, the Grand Prix Legends Preservation Society.
At one time, Grand Prix Legends ruled the simracing universe. Upon the release of NR2003, that exclusiveness was lost. Now, GPL is being assailed on all sides by sims such as rFactor, GTR & GTR2, and GTL. And of course the iRacing product is just over the horizon. All of these are outstanding sims in their own right, but what none of these sims has to offer is the atmosphere that GPL provides, at least in our opinion. We realize, especially considering the rFactor platform, that it is possible to recreate the cars and tracks that we’ve grown to love, but the reality is that it still won’t feel the same. And it’s that feel, the uniqueness of GPL that has made it what it is today. We feel it needs to be preserved, and that’s where the GPLPS comes in.
The GPLPS was formed with the mindset that all aspects of GPL and its community need support from a central group for its continued longevity. This is not a group that is going to ‘force’ anything upon the community; that is not our intent. We are not trying to establish the GPLPS as a governing entity. Our purpose is to act on many fronts to consolidate and protect our GPL resources, and to offer support where possible. Although they will likely evolve over time, these are our initial goals:
1) To acquire and catalog every car, track, utility and file available for GPL. Not the rights to these products, mind you (although we will offer that service if someone so wishes), but rather as a central repository of these files so they will never be lost. We do not intend to be the primary distributor of these files; we just intend to preserve them.
2) To act as a knowledge base for the creation of GPL mods, and to provide assistance if needed.
3) To actively promote GPL both within and outside of our community. Again, we have a unique product, and we don’t want it to be forgotten.
4) To support the online racing community, and to do what is necessary to keep the online community healthy, whether it’s league-based or casual pick-up racing.
So ‘who’ is the GPLPS? For one, the acronym is not entirely original. Long-time community members may remember that the Grand Prix Legends Editors Association was first created with this title, but quickly became known as the GPLEA instead. That fact had escaped us, but I am honored to say that the GPLEA is very much in support of us using this acronym for our purpose. Our idea is borne of a concept first proposed by Bernd Nowak, and continued by Bernd, Arturo Pereira, and myself. We have already enlisted many of the key “movers and shakers” in the community, and they have co-signed below. If you are one who feels you should be part of this, contact us via PM or email. Please do not feel overlooked; it’s likely that it was recommended that I contact you, but I didn’t have a valid email or PM address. I know this to be the case in some situations.
As for our file storage, and eventually our website, those matters will be handled by the Speedgeezers family of Bill Cooper, Paul Jackson, and Bernd. Space will not be a problem.
We admit that we are still very much in the building stage of this project. But with the current atmosphere in the simracing community and its numerous diversions, we felt that it was time to reassure the GPL community that someone was looking out for their interests, and that the GPL ship is still very seaworthy. There is much to do, of course, and we will keep you informed.
The GPLPS Board can be reached at gplps1@gmail.com
Long live GPL!
David Fletcher
Bernd Nowak
Arturo Pereira
Co-signed by:
Bob Berman
John Bradley
Richard Cooke
Phil Flack
Rory Gibson
Martin Granberg
Bill Guillaume
Sergio Loro
Charles Mark
Ian Pinkerton
Martin Pitts
Nils Ruwisch
Paul Skingley
Keith Smith-Gillespie
Paul Thurston
Tore
And a few other loyal supporters
__________________
"I can't drive these cars; they don't stop, the don't
turn in, they don't do anything. I don't know how you
guys did it"
Damon Hill to Phil Hill, Goodwood Revival Meeting,
1998
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06.11.2006, 22:46
