I did not mean an automated reply, just a manual hotkey assignment reply.
I am wondering though, as LFS after the latest patch are displaying the TCP or UDP pings, can this not be read via an Insim activating an automated reply or kick. Yes, I know there is no way you would've missed considering this, so I am just wondering why this will not work.
I also agree that the current insim lag test is next to useless, as by the time it warns or auto-spec a racer, anyone with half a braincell would've seen something is wrong, mostly by checking the lag bar or seeing other drivers being static on the min-map or disappearing. Too late, too tolerant.
As far as South Africa is concerned, the war between wireless and landline ISP's have been going on for some time. Luckily the majors wireless companies, namely Cell-C, MTN, Virgin, 8-TA target different market segments. Prepaid and contract customers also are provided different quality of internet services, all difference basically depends on how expensive your ISP's servixce is. Vodacom mostly attract the professional market, also the people mostly to use the internet for extra-ordinary recreational activities, such as on-line gaming which require more expensive hardware, accessories such as wheels etc. Thus, choosing the wireless provider wisely, helps to avoid from falling into a saturated overpopulated connection - I assume that is what you mean with 4G(LTE) going to worsen the problem.
Currently the cheap, slow, low bandwith ISP's and our sole landline provider, Telkom (all others just ride on their services) are way ahead with prices and bandwith, but not line quality. I tried them all trying to get a better LFS experience. Some private suppliers, to which I do not have access, must be much better, including at least one optical line. ACE, that you mentioned may be one.
But in a time when the Netherlands are watching television over the internet, I have to worry before league events about running out of bandwith, I have 2.2 GB available montly ;-). Via Vodacom contract, which are at the moment the best quality public wireless provider.
I also agree that issues like these should attain much higher priority in LFS than tyre physics (aaaargh) development. Per continent ocommercial and official LFS servers, bringing latency of players on par, with occasional international events based0on player quality. Obviously more car and track diversity, less sterile atmosphere during events. For me as an engineer, the physics and tyres are good. Let's worry about things that matter!
Ok, despite any 'bad words' that may have dropped between me and Dave, I understand completely why he did the block. I left cargames (still the server I prefer), because I got sick and tired to be accused of poor driving or poor lag. Lag is the real culprit when I make mistakes (mostly lag manifesting as poor braking skills).
It is quite often difficult to distinguish accidents due to lag and poor driving without spending lots of time analising the incident. The problem with lag in LFS is that the client with lag are mostly ignorant of it, except when it gets really bad.
What I sometimes cannot understand is that I get accused (on cargame) of my high ping, when I cannot see any trace of lag when I pull the replay off cargame. I mean, come on, if I have a high ping, but not causing problems, what is the issue?
One of the reasons why people get upset when drivers or admins get angry due to lag, is that they do not know what the implications on the track with regards to lag is. I will attempt to explain that within a day or two.
As far as Inouva is concerned, he is a driver I always respect and never had lag issues with him.
Again in Dave's defence, I cannot even do a ping test between South Africa and Argentinia. The South American line is really pathetic, but then also routing from South Africa to there is via Europe with a massive amount of reroutes.
We can argue about it, but Africa and also South Africa are poor countries, but without effective communication networks, especially internet nowadays, a country's economy cannot grow. That is why, even though South Africa does not have a great connection to Europe, it is okay, even via wireless and huge effort and capital investment are put into improving it. Yes, I have to live with a wireless ping of 210ms, and a landline ping of 170ms, but better lines and wireless (4G) are being installed or already in a limited way available. Also, I have very little jitter (less than 10ms), and most of the time zero packet loss. Theoretically South Africa to Europe should have a ping of 80ms (do the math), obviously barring server induced and rerouting added lag. In practise, once our lines improve, I guess we should be able to get a 120ms ping. Team speak is also a nice way to check your connection apart from pingtest.net.
BUT, I do think admins or other drivers can ask laggy drivers nicely to leave a server. Yes, they admin the servers voluntary at their own time and expense, but we as drivers are needed to keep those servers going. And some of us really love it, we make a huge effort to be careful and to improve. A little bit of sympathy and niceness will go a long way - it does not have to be a lot of trouble, do it impersonally, like a hot message 'you are lagging badly, please join again later when the server is quiter' or something to that effect.
BTW, sometimes I feel like I am the most unlucky driver when I take part in leagues, but after thinking hard about it, I came to the conclusion that the biggest reason why I am involved in a higher that average amount of incidents, is due to my lag. Sorry guys, sigh!
Join cargame.S1 and S2 when your rating is better.
Check out the populated 'league' practise servers - the league drivers are in general decent guiys, also the redline, AA, MrC, Gentleman Drivers Club, Club, burnoutcrew and so on. The racing crowd mostly are nice to drive with.
torque is diectly proportional to engine displacement
Speed is directly proportional to power (function of rpm)
Diesel cars run at very low rpms, and is thus are very much power and speed restricted.
In order for diesel cars to develop the same power (thus speed) as petrol cars, a higher engine displacement and less restriction are required.
Thus to make a diesel and petrol car indentical in terms of performance, the diesel car needs an higher engine displacement. The disadvantage is that the power to mass ratio gets reduced. The petrol cars have a distinct advantage as they are lighter.
Saying that the diesel car has an unfair advantage is not true, as these cars in your example are identical in terms of power.
I not think anyone will consider that a giant earth remover with an engine displacement of 20 liters will have an unfair advantage at Le Mans...
We can argue maybe about what is the sense in using diesel cars for racing, seeing that much more engineering and money need to go into these cars to make them more competitive. Well, less pollution, better efficiency, better torque - making for better cornering characteristics and less speed drop on inclines. The worse mass obviously require stiffer suspensions, cancelling out some of the better handling characteristics.
Evententually - diesels, love them or hate them. But diesel cars are the future, more so than hybrids.
Quite a few well-known races have been won by diesel power cars. Le Mans, Paris Dakar. Diesels do have advantages in racing - better torque, durability, lower fuel consumption (is mostly why the Audi won at Le Mans).
But never mind that, modern diesels are just so much fun to drive.
Not really true, the higher torque at lower rpm is because of the slower diesel combustion process that releases energy over a longer period. Any car's (with or without electronics, even old carburator cars) engine's idle speed is controlled the way you describe above - but idling and torque has nothing to do with each other.
Btw, I think the slight increase in speed that you feel when you change gears with a diesel car, is when the DMF flywheel kickbacks after picking up (storing) the initial torque - very perceptive of you.
Most modern diesel cars use DMF (duel mass flywheels) to prevent drive train shock (serves as a shock absorber), that is when the gear train takes up the diesel engine's higher torque. It is easier to kill the diesel engine in lower gears if you do not do a very smooth transfer between lower gears, like 1ste to 2nd. It is something that is a bit irritating if you are used to a gasser. You may feel in the diesel car a slight shake when you change gears, if you are not used to controlling it. Diesel flywheels in general are heavier than gassers'.
But mostly, the biggest difference you may feel and enjoy with a diesel, is pull-away torque, maybe the sound of the engine, and being able to stay in higher gears. Maybe one day LFS will give us a nice VW or Audi TDI - the best diesel engines currently available.
Not true - using the clutch and throttle with a petrol or diesel car are identical. I am saying this after 28 years of driving both, and a major part of my business is repairing clutches on gear box on diesels and petrol cars. Using clutch and throttle are a smooth transfer between both.
IMO: zero tolerance for anyone passing during the first lap after a green flag that are in an accident involving any driver that started ahead of him. Simple as this, get the aggresiveness after starts away from NDR and RN events.
I love both leagues and have huge respect for the organisers of both. I take part in both, but as I am older than a number of the kiddies taking part, I am more cautious (I simply cannot be aggressive and controlled when 25 drivers are surrounding me, can anyone really be??) than them, which usually costs me dearly.
Somehow, 2 days ago my Vodacom 3G started working again. From Firgrove towards Kuils River it seems like 8ta is good, here it is slightly worse than vodacom at its best.
Yeah, my issues also started after that terrible wind.
I am probably running the same system as you are, mostly a 7.2mps Vodacom usb dongle, laterly 8ta (just because something seriously wrong with vodacom 3G here in Somerset-West at he moment). We are probably utilising the same vodacom server in cape town.
Also on windows 7 64 bit.
Best advice I can give you, remove all anti-virus, firewalls etc software. See how it goes.
What mobile service are you using? Vodacom sucks atm.
What yellow thing on air box? The thing behind the driver's head? But it is yellow in mine??? Well, if you can sort it out I will appreciate it very much!
Car 185 - can you please explain what happened when you sideswiped me, car 47, on a straight line with ample space to the left and right of you, in front of the pits? Lap 11, time 13:12.02.
Practise session 6: My feeling in the beginning of this race was - lots of drivers closed their eyes, foot to the throttle and just went! If I was in a real car, I would have been afraid for my life, as such, even i, the sim, I was scared and seriously rattled.
About passing - yes, there are exceptions, but - passing on the left hand side is a great idea. Passing on the outside is a bad idea! More than once, I drafted a car, passed on the left, tried to get back on the racing line, only to find someone closing fast on my outside - RESULT - I cannot get back to the line, am on the inside, blocking other cars trying to draft me, all the time wondering what the driver on my outside is going to do. Like one guy, forced me to the centre, passed me on the outside, slammed to the inside, hit me, forced me through the pit lane last night.
About the start of the race - my feeling is a lot of drivers, especially the once that qualified at the back of the grid, want to get to the start of the field in turn 1, driving like mad through the field. You qualified at the back, you deserve to be at the back, at least give the field time to spread out.
And damn - stop asking for permission to chat, do what the hosts says and stay silent during the race and concentrate on the track.
Guys.. admins/hosts/safety cars are doing a great job...
A bit of patience on the restarts... wait for field to stabilise... get rythm.. will help a lot, minimise tyre warming during safety cars.. avoid unnecessary yellows...