Quote from boothy :

Interesting. What was the thinking behind the choice of FXR given that 4WD is not allowed under S2000 rules, 320bhp is 50bhp more powerful than the BTCC, and the general look of the cars is different to the B/WTCC?

For supports - yes definitely FOX (so someone can use my Fortec livery! ) and a Clio cup style series - XFG or XFR - maybe XFR is more like the SEAT Cupras, while the Ginettas are RWD.

Am interested though, a good touring car racing series is something I've been wanting for a while.

Good question! Thankyou and let me elaborate

Basically we wanted a touring car series using LFS as the simulator. The only two cars which look remotely like touring-cars are the FXO and the FXR.

Having driven both cars, we felt that the FXR more closely reflected a modern racing-car, unfortunately yes it is 4WD. What would have been ideal would be to have a FWD and a RWD 'touring car' but unless there is some way of making the FXR FWD/RWD-only and making that limitation enforceable, then it's a non-runner. So there you have it, our reason for the choice of car.

Also, the benefit of 4WD is that the cars are pretty controllable. We think this will benefit the series in that less effort will be wasted trying to control the car and more effort given to overtaking, and squeezing the maximum performance out of the car. Basically, using the FXR gives us more chance of closer racing, whilst also looking like touring-cars.

We did try limiting the FXR to 40%, but really it was totally undramatic to drive, no fun. There's a reason the CTRA chose 32%, it's the happy medium between power and controllability.

I love the ideas you said about the support series - it just so happens the other series we're organising - an RAC series - fits in with the idea of a support race. Ah, you got me thinking now....... The XFG and FOX series are also interesting too, although now we're talking a day's meeting to do them all and that's an awful lot to broadcast and commentate and admin!

Right now, we're going to see what the level of support is for the iTCC. But sure, let's not rule out the full gamut of support races. It is definitely something I'd like to try.

Quote from J@tko :

So which track is the Pre-season event at? I don't think it was in the OP

Oops, you're right. Edited now. I realise AS GT is actually a bigger track but we found during testing it did lend itself to a good amount of action. So it got the vote.

Quote from J@tko :

Sounds great. I'll try and make the test event.

If you're having 6 rounds, I presume it will make sense to have 1 round at each of the LFS tracks yah?





Mr Passingham/Mr Palmer?

Yes, that will be the idea, obviously we'll revisit Aston in the series proper.

Suggestions for tracks are welcome, bearing in mind that we're aiming for the middle ground with these cars. Definitely not a track that's too small, we're looking for flowing tracks that help drafting/overtaking. Not something too big though either, big tracks are great in the GT1 cars but not IMO a fantastic spectacle. By keeping to the medium-sized tracks, we can get a good race, without having lots of lapping (small tracks) or stringing the field out (big tracks).

Mr Passingham and Mr Palmer would be MORE than welcome to commentate - I watched their fantastic coverage of the MoE event at the weekend, I must say they both have the gift of keeping a commentary going. I'll PM them shortly to ask.

I'm in if that's okay? LX6 please!!

ICON JOE (Joe_Keaveney)

Just like in F1 - make sure you beat your team-mates! Ah they're great guys..

Hello racers,

DOWNLOAD THE RACE REPLAYS HERE

After many weeks of preparation the ICON Racing team would like to invite potential participants for a touring-car race series taking part in early 2009:

The iTCC Touring Car Championship

The car used will be the FXR, air intake-restricted to 32% to give 320 BHP. This is a sequential geared car, with similar power to modern touring cars. There is scope to expand the championship to include the FXO in seperate support races, however initially we will be concentrating on the FXR class.

The idea of this championship is for it be run, as far as is practical, in a similar way to both the BTCC and WTCC. This means a similar race format, with partially 'reversed' grids and also success ballast.

The start of the race will be a standing (grid) start.

It is envisaged that the series will run for 6 'triple-header' rounds. That is to say, there will be 3 points-scoring races at each round - all of equal length; about 25 minutes each.

The races themselves will be available to watch via LFS Remote and ICON TV, which will be broadcasting commentated live in-game coverage. Additionally there will be replay files made available soon after the race, as well as whole race coverage video and edited highlights video, with analysis, coming after the race.

There is a TeamSpeak VOIP channel available for every race, it is envisaged that this will be used primarily as a 'Race-Director-to-Car' driver control, however, teams are free to request private 'team' channels from ICON.

As you can tell, from the work on the website, server, LFS Remote, broadcast facilities, TeamSpeak and so on, what we are trying to do is to 'hit the ground running'.

Therefore, in order to test all our procedures, admin staff, and hardware/software setups, we are inviting racers to declare their interest in the following event:

























33 H. Richmond
34 Y. Laprevotte





Unable to attend

2 D. Zanetti
10 J. Taylor
11 K. O'Keefe
31 J. Rees



Also DOWNLOAD HERE for the 1024x1024 version and HERE for the 2048x2048 version - the Numberplate kit you should use when creating your skins for this race. Please download this and amend your skins. Remember to upload the finished skin to LFS World!

EDIT: As you can see, every racer now has a race number. Please make sure your race number is displayed prominently on the supplied numberplate.

Also make sure that your REAL NAME and number is displayed on your 'in-game' name tag in the format:

2 D.Zanetti (for example)

Last edited by Joe_Keaveney, Mon, 22 Dec 2008 12:18.

Yeah, all very good points.

I'm in agreement, immersion is what sim-racing is all about to me. Do I feel (as far as it is possible) like I am racing for real?

When a car is on it's roof/immobile after an incident, why is there no recovery-truck? When tyres are hit, why do they disappear after a short time?

I agree with Becky for what my opinion is worth. How closely do tyre dynamics need to be explored? The environmental aspects of the simulation are equally important in immersing us in the race, suspending our sense of reality - they should be given equal attention.

Ah man, felplacerad is coming? And Bob?

If they're going, I'm going (if Tristan lets me). It was great to race some of you guys at Bob's meet in the summer. BTW I may be able to put up a driver or two overnight as i live in Wiltshire, just up the road. Note the 'maybe'!

Can't believe felplacerad will come (again!) from Gothenburg for this. You're properly dedicated to your racing man. Respect.

Quote from AndroidXP :

Or you just use the Live Alert feature of LFSW.

Well that's one solution, but the problem is I can't LFS Join to work.

Anyway, I really do think this would be a good feature to have.

A suggestion that I would see as being an improvement to LFS.

On the 'multiplayer' selection screen, it would be, in my opinion, a good idea to have 'See friends online' instead of 'find user online'

This 'see friends online' would take you to another screen where you can add or remove friends - adding them by LFS-username, or removing them by clicking on an 'X' button next to their name or something.

You could also see which friends are online, and at which server they are racing on - if you clicked on the friends' name or the server name displayed, this would then take you to the page to join the server.

Expanding the idea one stage further, you could add a button in-game to 'add as friend' (a button saying AF in the connections list?), with the corresponding button on the potential friend's display illuminating to indicate a friend request has been made. (In much the same way the handover/takeover system works). The potential friend would then click on this illuminated AF button to confirm the friend request.

What do you think? Is it a good idea? I get these ideas and then look at them later and think 'what a pile of ****', but this one has stuck with me for a while now and I think it's a pretty good idea.

Looking forward to your comments..

Quote from [UKR] Race King :

I turned on my pc today and the problem that I had before isnt fixed.

A bit more information? What are your systems specs? What mobo are you running? What OS? What GFX card DID you used to run before the 4850? What memory are you running? What CPU are you running?

Quote from [UKR] Race King :

It was because of wrong drivers.

I downloaded drivers from this site and it works perfectly now.

Good to hear!

Enjoy the extra power!

Quote from [UKR] Race King :

Now I have another problem.

And its not only in lfs like that.

Have you tried it at different resolutions?
And are you using Vista or XP?
What DirectX version are you running?
What motherboard are you using? (Just wondering if there's any 'problems' with that mobo/GFX combo been reported on the 'net forums)

Quote from [UKR] Race King :

Today I bought the Asus 4850.

Right now I am trying to install the drivers but at some point the installation freezes.

Any ideas?

First off, make sure you have the right drivers. Go to ATI's website and download the latest drivers for your system (is it Vista or XP? 32 or 64 bit?) - the 4850 comes under the '4800 series' range.

Next, use Driver Cleaner Pro to 'clean' your system of old graphics drivers. Start the program and select your OLD graphics card maker (ATI/Nvidia etc), the program then gets rid of all those old files still hanging around on your system.

Reboot your machine, then install the new drivers. If you're still crashing the system, is it a hardware problem? Have you connected the power to the graphics card? Is your power supply powerful enough to support the 4850?

Yeah roughly the same temps here on my Sapphire 4850.

I can't fault the 4850, I run all my games on max detail, and they look fantastic and run PERFECTLY smoothly.

I did exactly the same as you when I was looking at a graphics card, read the review, decided I'd rather have the cheaper, more energy-efficient card.

BTW Sapphire changed their GPU cooling on the 4850 a little while ago apparently, mine is the later revision. It is VERY quiet. I've never had such a powerful PC run this quietly.

Username: Joe_Keaveney
Real name: Joe Keaveney
Number: 47
Entry requirments: Check.

Travelled distance: 20586 km

CTRA lisences: See Sig.

Hotlaps: Yep.

The program you're looking for is JBindX

Hi guys,

I'm making my own race cockpit based on Kolthars wood frame design.

Getting the wood materials is no problem, but I'm having some trouble finding a cheap bucket seat. The reason I'm building this cockpit is to save money, so it would make no sense spending all the money I've saved on an expensive seat.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

Quote from GrIp DrIvEr :

i agree, you christian? I am! and i'll keep yelling it out even if i got shot. you athiests (idk how to spell that, cause i dont care) should be ashamed. but, God forgives. thats the cool part about him. God takes you, and helps you. so yeah, idc if you make fun of me. i m christian.

Why should I be ashamed for not believing in God? Should Muslims be ashamed for believing in the same deity as you? Or Jews be ashamed for not liking the New Testament an awful lot? Where do you draw the line?

If you can tolerate these different religions (I do, it's their thing, if it makes them happy then that's great), then I would think you should be able to tolerate people who don't believe in any God.

I don't believe in God, I try to live a good and moral life (and I'm doing OK there I think, but it's not up to anyone to tell me otherwise), it's your choice if you want to tell us we should be ashamed, likewise it's my choice if I want to tell you you're talking out of your arse.

I'm of the opinion that I don't mind what God(s) people choose to believe in, if they would just please not knock on my door every week trying to get me to believe in what they do, I'd actually like them more! I'm very tolerant of whatever people choose to do, spiritually,sexually, whatever, as long as they don't hurt others, and keep it out of my face, it's fine.

P.S. I'm surprised (and maybe a little disappointed) - where are the Jedis? Does no-one believe in the force anymore?

Live long and prosper

Quote from Joe_Keaveney :

OK I've got a problem.

In the Profiler, I can select all my gears, 1-6th and reverse.

In the controls section of LFS, I can selct my gears (1st is mapped to shifter 1st, 2md to 2nd and so on), I have selected shifter mode, and a clutch axis.

I can see my three pedals being seen by LFS.

When I get in my car, I cannot select any gear, the clutch works, but I stay in neutral no matter what gear is selected (LFS is getting the command for 1st, 2nd, etc but not doing it in-game!)

Any ideas guys?

I'm an idiot.

I was trying to H-shift an FXR, duh it's sequential.

No PMs berating my lack of awesomeness please, I know already.

OK I've got a problem.

In the Profiler, I can select all my gears, 1-6th and reverse.

In the controls section of LFS, I can selct my gears (1st is mapped to shifter 1st, 2md to 2nd and so on), I have selected shifter mode, and a clutch axis.

I can see my three pedals being seen by LFS.

When I get in my car, I cannot select any gear, the clutch works, but I stay in neutral no matter what gear is selected (LFS is getting the command for 1st, 2nd, etc but not doing it in-game!)

Any ideas guys?

Quote from hrtburnout :

Hi guys

Since I installed my sound card, I noticed my GFX card getting much hotter. I think it's because it doesn't get enough fresh air because the sound card is right (few cm) underneath it. A case fan might be the solution, I thought. I want to mount one on the front of the case.

The problem is that I can only find 12*12 case fans that suck the air out, instead of in. Is there a way to make those fans do the opposite? Or is there a special type of fan for this?

I'll assume for a minute that you're not joking.......

If you've got a 120mm case fan and you want it to blow the air in, instead of out, then just turn the fan over and remount it. Assuming the mounting holes go all the way through the fan. Then the fan will blow air in, instead of out, along with picking up all the dust that is in the atmosphere near where your computer case is.

Have you mounted your sound card on the furthest slot away from the GFX card that you can?

Now tell me, you were just pulling my leg about this whole fan thing, weren't you.....

Can I just add a note of thanks to Darin & co, and especially to Mp3Astra.

Well done Mp3Astra, you're representing the LFS community in a way and I look forward to seeing your reports in the future. I've seen that video before I think, but hey, others haven't so why not show it. I do think LFS is more than that so I'm looking forward to those race reports (and mods features) you mentioned.

Darin & Co, well done on a well-produced show - Making these videos can only make sim-racing a more attractice proposition in the eyes of the non sim-racer and hopefully get more people into this virtual motorsport of ours.

To the LFS community - I don't think overly-harsh criticism is anything but demoralising for the guys who are doing this. Why not think up an idea for Mp3Astra to put in his slot on the show? That way, you get to see what interests you and perhaps, others?

Thanks again, guys - keep up the good work. (And lots more FFB/G25 tips! Liked that last one)

Quote from Haze7 :

I'd like to add, force feedback gives quite a bit of "feel" to grip, IMO, it does make a very good difference to driving when you get it's strengths how you like it.

All in all... when your G25 gets here you'll get alot better feeling!

Yeah, +1, I've got a very old MS Sidewinder wheel (non-force feedback) which is adequate, but I do tend to destroy my tyres during a longer race as I'm not getting the feeling of the limits of the tyres.

I've had a go with my brothers' G25 and believe me, LFS becomes a different game, the feeling of the car underneath you is immense, when I'm using the G25 I can feel the car moving through the wheel, as well as hearing (as before) when the tyres are trying too hard.

I dare you to come on here and NOT be totally blown away by the G25! (Bear in mind it takes a day or so to get used to driving with the G25)

Now that is funny!

No harm done, Mike, it was bound to happen when the pack bunches up like that, look at the Webber crash from last year in F1, happens to us all.