I remember Indy500 as being a quantum change realism wise at the time, and a lot of fun to play, was Never a big fan of Geoff Crammond's Grand prix series, never felt "right" to me, But I did enjoy thishttp://uk.youtube.com/watch?v= ... ceMxE&feature=related,
GPL changed everything in 98 , still remember day One at Spa, first thoughts were, whats up with this $$^&£$£ game ..... "ARGH spun again"..... "This is impossible"... "I will never make one clean lap"... How do I slow the AI down?.
The forum has changed beyond recognition for the worse since I signed up for a tour of LFS,does it bother me? ...no.. I have the option of not reading.
On the track things are still look healthy, seen some new drivers who will do very nice in the months and hopefully years ahead.
Observed a change where a few years ago blatant Wreckers would post on the forum and would come over like very reasonable misunderstood chaps, thankfully that trend now seems reversed.
I wish this and other forums were here when I studied Psychology years ago... rich pickings.
I admined for a year on Redline and I took it seriously ,it sucked the fun out of LFS for me, nothing to do with the server or most of the drivers, count many of them as friends but having to watch replays of drivers who don't give a damn hour after hour changed my outlook of LFS.
So Think hard before you volunteer, or at least think why you want to do it.
I went into Curry's and even with a crap signal and default garish settings one set stood out by a large margin the 42" pioneer Kuro 768 pixel set, expensive but worth it, Had mine for 6 Months now.
Viewing Blu ray films It beats any 1080p LCD set I've seen and for viewing freeview or standard broacast material the difference is even bigger, shame they stopped making them.
From my point of view up to 18 was sheer bliss looking back, there was no internet, I was always short of money, there was Led Zepplin and I saw a unknown band at Stirling University at the age of 17 called " Queen" with the women who later became my wife .
Technology has transformed our live's since my stone age days, but I think where it really count's nothing has changed.
Enjoy life its painfully short, stop bitching and complaining.
PS :I complained as well at the time but the Internet was so slow back in the 70's its only coming through now.
CTRA is about as good and impartial as it gets these days in LFS.
Personally I think your already bending over backwards to much trying to be fair and transparent wasting time on people who frankly repeatedly show again and again they don't give a shit.
I see you are swamped with replays, bite the bullet and raise the bar of what is acceptable when viewing replays, the vast majority of CTRA users will thank you.
We only' Buy' the software, the real reward comes from other user and putting a value on that lately makes for pretty depressing reading TBH.
Had 3+ years of laughs and good racing so I got a bargain and then some.
I've been in races on ctra1 starting at the back and got a 60%yellow flag ratio while having the cleanest no contact enjoyable race..... thats why I got 60%.
I wish some CTRA user's would stop number crunching and just ENJOY It for what it is.
Regularly see very fast drivers with all the right numbers who I would not want to race if you paid me, and some with 'terrible stats' who gave me goosebumps with there car control and awareness in the course of a race.
Yes I remember them on theTeam400 server when I first tried Teamspeak, her casual swearing would have make Peter cook and Dudley Moore proud.Have many good memories of those days,cracking racing but more importantly some really good laughs.
Glad you've enjoyed yourself.
Points and Badges serve a really good purpose It gives you something to lose, and that for me is the point of CTRA.
A few things that's always worked for me, don't get hung up on stats and Pb's,don't get into a racing situation without an exit strategy, and finally show respect to other drivers regardless of how fast or slow they are, and If they break the rules make a point of reporting them ( sorry admin ).
The crash bug that I keep hearing about can be alleviated by not hitting the wall/ object/ which in real life would end your race and probably kill you many times over from what I've observed over the years.
I got my £24 worth after the first few weeks, everything else a bonus. Content isn't the problem new tracks/cars would be sticking plasters.
I think we have too many servers, and a general apathy to online conduct or lack of it, many bitch and complain when they get carved up or wrecked but If its someone else... tough.
I see team members tacitly excepting there fellow team members inexcusable behavior I see admins not practicing what they they preach.
There are many server's where you will get a good race.
Never drifted in a racing sim apart from GPL where it actually worked and made sense .
BTW the GTI still provides some of the best racing going on pickup races, has done for 4 years +, don't attribute low speed with boring racing its far from it.
The most important thing is your fellow racers and not the car/track combo, you get to know the good guys/gals pretty quick if you watch and listen.
I fly model aircraft as well, have done since 2005, I recently built my first large model http://www.apacheaviation.co.uk/Chipmunks/Pepsi/pepsi.html wood ,glue and months of swearing later I flew it, Incredibly rewarding and terrifying in equal measures.
To OP I find you get what you give in LFS at least on the track, yes there a few on the forums who seems to enjoy flaming others, for me I never really saw the appeal of It.
LFS is just like life you get the good ,the bad and Ugly.