Quote from Gunn :

So much to learn in this world and so little time. Why waste it bickering?

Because there is nothing to learn, and plenty of time ?

Quote from nihil :

And there are tree huggers who hate the bloody lot of you

"Tree huggers" creates a distubing image when used in the context of a racing community. Or is it just my morbid mind ?

What about ascii art avatars ?

Either that or breasts, the only two things that come to mind.
I mean three things.

If you create any new 'Walkerisms', be sure to share them.

Quote from Hankstar :

i-racing looks like a really promising sim -

The video looks interesting. Of course, so did a half dozen other pre release videos. Sounds like its some time before it's released, so I guess we'll see when we see.

Quote from danowat :

I find that having fun on other sims keeps LFS fresh and interesting and stops me getting "sim burn out" (a phrase that is prevelent in the flight sim fraternaty)

Dan,

Dan,

I understand and completely agree. I love LFS. So much so that I when I'm into it, I play it a lot, and eventually experience 'sim burn out'. It's inevitable. Although there aren't many other sims that interest me for more than a day at a time, it is nice to experience something else when the burn out comes along. The bonus is, it usually makes me appreciate LFS all the more. Sometimes I even take something from playing the other game that helps me in LFS.

An interesting thing ( I think ), is that when I bought GTR2, I was using a momo racing wheel. I thought the game was OK, nothing like LFS, but then if was like LFS it wouldn't serve a purpose.

Anyway, I just got a G25, and after playing LFS for several hours using it, I decided to try GTR again. It felt entirely different, and not for the better. I didn't much enjoy it at all. The feedback was pretty strange.

In LFS, I'm shocked to find what a piece of junk the momo racing wheel is in comparison to the G25. I quickly found out why I could be fast, but not consistent. The momo racing wheel isn't feeding back nearly as much information about what the car is doing. In contrast, it seems like in GTR2, you immediately notice the poor nature of the force feedback in that game. It's pretty obviously 'canned' effects, as others have suggested.

I've digressed from the initial point. GTR2 is a different experience. It's not LFS. It's apples and watermelons. But for 20 bucks I can't find any reason to get too upset. I wasn't expecting it to be better. I was just curious. Netkar, in contrast, feels like an immitation of LFS, without the functioning multiplayer, which makes it useless to me ( all just opinions, based on my experience as the person who purchased the games.).

I've always done primarily right foot braking in real life ( I prefer manual transmission cars).

The odd thing is I've always done left foot braking since I first bought a wheel and started playing sims.

I suppose I'm not looking to shave a few 10ths off my time to work or the shops in real life, but in LFS left foot braking makes a big difference.

Not sure what will happen when my G25 arrives, although I don't think I'll use the clutch with the open wheel cars, anyway.

If I had the option, I'd have paddle shifters in my car in real life.
For that matter, I'd wire the brake pedal to be activated by the horn.
I tend to only use them both simultaneously, anyway.

Quote from Rhymez :

o soz i do apoligise 4 my faults
p.s dont tell people what not to do coz they will only do it!

Until they grow up.

In the mean time - DONT stop typing out purely emotional responses to things without letting rational thought and relevance interfere.

Quote from zeugnimod :

There are enough very good videos on youtube, you just have to watch further than page 1.

Ironic that you'd assume I hadn't looked past page 1, while you evidently didn't bother to read past sentence 1 of my post.

I watched the first 2 videos you linked, and they are exactly what I said I wasn't looking for - quick one, two, or three seconds splash shots of cars careening through chicanes and around corners. All external views with people going ape shit on camera views and external filters.

The type of videos here could just as easily be made of netkar, gran torismo, GTR2, Nascar 1999, or Super Mario Cart. The only difference would be texture coloring and quality. There is no real sense of what it's like to be IN a close race in LFS, the variety of cars available - more importantly - the fact that they ARE very different, not just the same experience with a different window drawn around it.

1) Deployable oil slicks and smoke screens...
a la James Brown...or James Bond - I always get those two confused.

2) Secret tunnels - preferably with which to by-pass turn one.

3) Driver access to the shops at South City, especially the Casinos.

4) A landscape delightfully free of monster trucks, nascar trucks, motorcycles, airplanes, skateboards,lawnmowers, volkswagon beetles, etc etc.

All of the above OR 15 new tracks with 12 configurations each.

Quote from Rhymez :

i didnt ask for your opinion but if u put one then it could have at least been good thisnameistaken 8)

Jesus Allah Buddah.

You might be in the wrong buisness.
Scratch that.
The buisness that you currently wish you were in might be the wrong
one to wish you were in.

I've searched You Tube a couple of times looking for a decent video that would impress some friends and make them understand why they WANT to buy the game. Almost every one I've seen is drifing or crashing or just poor.

I'm surprised there isn't a elegantly simple video, of a decent length, that really shows everything LFS has to offer....maybe created by the devs, in fact. Not something that focuses on a racing style, personalities, etc, just some real racing in various cars - long enough shots to capture the interest of someone with no previous knowledge of LFS.

The BR video is well done. It would be nice if there was such a 'history of LFS' that focused on the game itself. The quick shots of cars going through a chicane or corner are things we can all relate to, but for an absolute newcomer to lfs, they hardly show how much fun the game is, or how great the racing is.

Racing Games I haven't deleted:
LFS

Quote from speedfreak227 :

I remember before the last change that if you gave 100% throttle at race start you would sit there and spin your tires while most other people passed you by. Now it seems that 100% throttle is the best way to start every race.

I think I do recall what you are referring to. I think it's still there, but not as severe. I know in Fox or MRT you have to do some slight wheel and throttle feathering to get the maximum start. But I do recall there being a lot more cars spinning tires ( or spinning sideways) at the green in the past.

My Xmas present is the G25 ( arrives next week ).
Anything else would be gravy (i.e. wonderful)

I hadn't even thought about such a xmas time release.
Now I'll think of it every day.

I have many priceless memories of LFS. The ones I mention I probably have the replays of, but they were in S1 days - when mrt was very popular and there were a LOT of great racers and races to be found.

1. I remember the first MRT race I won. After leading 3 laps, with my legs shaking from excitement, the 2nd place racer passed me. I stayed on him for the next lap and passed him at the start of the 5th ( last ) lap.
He passed me soon after, and I kept on him. It was Fern Bay gold.
Nearing the last sections of turns, I made a classic racing pass, pusing inside on one turn, backing off a pit, and squeezing down inside the next ( opposite turn) - sensing he would probably push a bit too hard

Banshee56 had joined the server on the last two laps and was cheering me on, and he had been one of the first friends I'd made on LFS, and one of the first people to 'show me the ropes ', so it was a great feeling.

2. MRT on blackwood with Necavo. We raced a two car, 5 lap race where we literally passed each other at least twice on every lap, sometimes more - spent more time running wheel to wheel than one behind the other. I was so pumped up at the end I had to quit the game. Lol. I couldn't imagine anything comparing to it, at least at that moment.

To me, these kinds of moments are what seperates LFS from all other sims. I have no real memories of such real 'racing' with any other sim, and I have hundreds of similar memories from LFS. Don't know if it's the game, or the people it attracts. I suspect a bit of both.

Mine is due next week.

I'm so excited I could just pooh.

By 'could' I of course mean 'did'.

I don't enjoy drifting, but that's just one perspective. As long as drifters aren't trying to ruin what is already an obvious 'racing server', what would be the issue ? I'm sure they feel the same way about racers joining their server. Live and let live. Just keep the invisible force field up in between.

It's hands down the best.
Pants down too, I suppose.

Sprint 2 Reverse.
Most of the SO tracks in Reverse are a lot of fun in the fox, the bumps, and the general tightness of the course makes you work pretty hard, despite the relative ease of driving the FOX.

Sorry, but I'll continue off topic one more post, as I can't find a reliable answer elsewhere.

Are you faster using the G25, do you think, and is it extremely better
then what you were using ( assuming it was a momo, dfp, or sidewinder type / price range wheel) ?

The H-shifter isn't a big deal to me, personally, and it sounds like, as I hoped, the G25 offers more precise control - do you feel you have more
response using the paddle shifters ( again over your previous wheel).

That's as far as I'll veer off topic. I'll even bring it back in line -
The BF1 should not be driven unless you are naturally or artificially
STOKED.
BF1 + Mountain Dew = BF1 + Guiness =

Me too.

I hope there is more reason to buy a G25 than the H shifter.

Quote from SamH :

I love the BF1, but I do find that the biggest downside of it are the numpties. I never race on public servers in the BF1, but on the occasions when I get together with some other good BF1 drivers, it's fabulous.

I tend to drive certain types of cars / tracks for a period of time, then move to other types. I drove BF1 and F08 for quite a while recently.
When I'm tuned into those cars (BF1 specifically) I don't necessarily want to go drive U1000 or MRT.

Now I'm racing Fox and MRT, which are enjoyable again.

It seems natural for certain tracks and cars to featured more on servers.

You could always join an empty BF1 server - people will join. Unfortunatly you'll get a lot of people who see it and thinkg " hmmm BF1, I'll give that a go". Not the best car for casual racing.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

It's also harder to brake for T1 if you start near the back than it is when you start near the front, because there are more cars infront of you and the braking point gets pushed further and further back. Because newbies are usually starting at the back, this means the least experienced drivers have the most difficult job in avoiding accidents at T1.

But this is always the problem. The endless restarts don't often teach anyone anything. A helpful suggestion is just as often met with ' f.u.' as it is with 'ohhhh...I see'.

When there is a huge turn one crash, some number of people from the back usually squirt through to the front, and end up being passed by the end of the lap - usually running off the road and into the people passing them out of ...shear panic .

While I'm in bitch-fest mode, I do have an actual point:
I don't understand why more servers running short races don't engage the no mid-race join rule !

If you do make it through turn one, you're frequently met at the start line next time around by someone with an uncanny ability to pull straight into traffic at the absolute most ridiculous instant possible. It's a stunning skill.

It's 5 laps. If you crash, you're done. No restart. No rejoin. How much more simple could it be ? It's only a matter of minutes. Watch other people manage to drive on the same track for several laps without bashing into each other. That's a realistic and productive teaching tool.

Still, all that said, there are a lot of skilled people playing LFS. They aren't always online, in the same place, but it still makes it worthwhile when you
do hook up.

I wish more servers would set a time limit on the shorter races - a limit before a restart can be instigated, that is.

Not that that would stop people for begging for restarts as the field is coming down the front straight on the last lap.

Can you set a limit to the number of restarts for a given race ?

Quote from Gunn :

Yeah I'm sure they will go great around FE Club.

I don't think 'around' is the best description. Maybe 'over'.

You could probably drive straight through the hill that people use to launch their cars.