Michael Schumacher: Life on the Edge by James Allen. There's a lot of stuff F1 fans will already know in there but also some interesting stuff I didn't know about Schumacher growing up, and details from throughout his career, as well as a lot of quotes from those involved in F1.

I spent quite a bit of time recently driving the RAC, which I'm enjoying more now than in the past. It still has its quirks of course, but they're not quite as apparent as they were in the past. But then going to the LX4 from the RAC, wow. Wonderful. None of that turn in understeer, it'll go just where you point it, and on the exit it's easy to get the tail out a little to help rotate the car. Just does exactly what you want, I now remember why I love this car so much! I spent some time with the LX6 again after the LX4 and it's certainly a rush, feels good putting the power down, but overall I think the LX4 is a more balanced and fun machine on the limit. The power doesn't overwhelm the chassis, and you can just make it dance.

Another quick LFSW thing...I cannot currently upload RAC hotlaps, it says this is not a valid car. I understand the tables have just been reset, but I thought I'd mention it anyway incase it has not yet been reported/noticed.

This thread started it for me on August 18th 2002. Fun to read over it again now to see what we were all saying about it

Quote from Antsa :

UF 1000 - 56.4%: Mini Cooper Mk1 64:36%
GTi - 55%: Ford Fiesta XR2i 64:36%
XF GT (Turbo): - 49.4%: Mitsubishi Starion 52:48%, Mazda RX-7 50:50%
RB4 - 53.2%: Toyota Celica GT4 60:40%
FXO - 54.4%: Opel Calibra Turbo 57:43%
FZ50 - 40.7%: Porsche Carrera 966 36:64%

Very interesting, and good job noticing too Those are quite big differences in some cases when compared with similar RL cars, especially the UF1000 and GTi!

I remember stumbling across the thread at RSC in August 2002 about a new sim. Lots of people were impressed with it, and I decided to give it a go. Graphics were simple but clean, menus were nice and simple which was good, and then the physics... I had a blast in the XFG around blackwood, some good lift-off oversteer neutralized with some throttle. And that was the start of something great Five and a bit years later and here we are today!

I was also hoping to hear Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies, but when it switched music and they started going crazy, brilliant! I'm in tears here. How much work would it be to re-release it with Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies? I think that would be perfect!

Quote from the_angry_angel :

Perhaps you should record it?

I think you're on to something here, we should all mic up our ovens and record each time we use them, just incase this should happen Heck, we could even start webcams! Who needs to look at webcams of baby eagles when you could look at an oven!

Quote from the_angry_angel :

I guess it wasn't a new oven?

Quote from Bob Smith :

The oven was brand new, fitted in June this year.

That's pretty crazy. Would make a good party trick if you could get it to do it on command.

Quote from franky500 :

excuse the spam please

We need to get a mod in to clean thi... oh wait. Nevermind.

Welcome back! That's quite a while to be without power. The longest I've had to go is 5 days (and then another few without internet and tv after that) but that was bad enough... At least you got it back in time for the release of patch y

Great post, definitely agree about the restrictions on setups. As you probably know already, I don't have any answers, but a big +1 from me about your comments! When we were racing the other night, I much preferred the feel of my more realistic setup to the quick setup I tried afterwards. I really enjoyed driving with my setup, but we are all sacrificing that in order to get the times that everyone else with the less realistic sets are getting.

Great stuff This sounds like a good way of going about clutch simulation for the while, letting you get on with finishing touches for Y.

I got an email with a bunch of sales from NCIX.com and they have the G25 on for $200CDN at the moment. If I even had that much right now I'd snap one up! I don't see why it won't be that price again at some point in the future. The local store has them in for $300CDN.

Quote from wheel4hummer :

The laser could blind oncoming drivers.

That would be a great way to get back at the people who drive with their fog lights on when it's not bloody foggy! Sign me up. Actually, forget the nav system, just give me some lasers.

Nominations for next year are expected to include ROLFCOPTER and LOLLERSKATES!

Sounds like you had a great time Do you know if all the organizations like that limit you to higher gears, or does that depends on which one you go for and the price? Just wondering if you've done research on that...it's something I never thought about.

Quote from jibber :

No more laptime improvements on Road Atlanta, but i finished the "design" on the Carrera RS...

Gorgeous! Nice work

I haven't been playing much lately, but I plan on giving that track another time attack soon

Quote from teedot :

you can only get stronger from something like this.

Definitely a good way to look at it if you can. My dad took his own life in February, which has been really tough to deal with of course. If he had died of natural causes it would have been difficult (as he was only 50), but how it happened made it that much harder. But the feeling that other things in life are not such a big deal now makes me feel a little better. If I can deal with this, I feel I can deal with anything else that comes my way.

I definitely think I am becoming stronger, and hopefully you feel the same regarding your situation micky.

Sad isn't it. I could only make it part way through the second page! It would be interesting to see the stories behind how some of the cars ended up as they did.

With upshifts on the FBM you can 'preload' the shifter. Press to change up a gear (then hold) while holding full throttle, and it will stay in the gear until you lift off the throttle, at which point it will shift up. This eliminates the timing issue, all you need to do is make sure you lift off the throttle enough.

For downshifts, using auto clutch, I find I'm not too good at getting the timing right with the blip on the FBM. Is anyone else just not bothering to blip on downshifts with this car? I find as long as I choose the point when I shift down carefully, it's not a problem.

Talking of clutches... I've seen an S2000 with sticky tires launch at the limiter in autox several times. I think he span the wheels the first 4 times and then the clutch slipped pretty badly the 5th time. But in general, I definitely think the clutch heats up too quickly.

Congrats I used to be so happy when I got a win, now I'm more happy when I've had a really good battle with somebody, regardless of what place I finish in. I guess it makes me worry less about being quick that way :P

No, there is currently no option for this. If I'm using a steering wheel I just turn the driver and wheel off, or if I'm using a mouse I just leave the steering wheel on so I can see which way it's facing. I never have the driver turned on, which solves the problem for me!

I have to agree, this car is making racing single seaters much more appealing. Although the FOX was previously the slowest SS, it's still a bit of a hand full. This car is just great to drive, and makes close racing really entertaining. It's not too difficult to drive fairly quickly, but it will still take a lot of talent to get the most out of it. I've had some really great races with it so far, and I'm sure there will be many more to come

Very cool Do you have any plans to make your dials functional?

It's nice that doing that gives you the option of mounting the G25 pedals as you wish. That looks better for heel and toe to me Nice stuff.