35. If LFS had been around 20 years ago my chances of finishing high school would have been slim.

Quote from Batterypark :

This is the off topic forum

I think you probably get what I meant, but just to clarify: I wasn't questioning whether the original post was related to LFS and therefore worth posting, but rather whether the breakup was caused by his playing too much LFS.

And definitely the odd scary post in this thread. I won't name names, but some people seem to be taking the first steps down the road that leads to woman-hating serial killer land.

Quote from R3DMAN :

i join you ...

LFS related? (I am not single, but may become single at the rate I am playing.)

Schneefee, I don't know if this is useful, but I got that same "Username already online" error message today. I had just been disconnected from a server due to some sort of random internet trouble, and then when I tried to reconnect to the same server I got the "Username is already online" message. I got the message again when I tried to connect to an alternative server. Then I killed LFS and restarted it, and bingo, no more problems. Are you sure this was really a hacking of your account and not some bug related to hanging connections to servers?

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Seems like as soon as the downforce starts making a difference the car goes from wobbly overpowered nuisance to super-trustworthy speed machine instantly.

Great description. I completely agree. But who knows -- maybe the low-speed performance is what such a car would really feel like before the downforce kicked in? Low weight, tons of power, etc., etc.

Shouldn't you take it as a compliment if people want to use your skin?

I'm a bit confused about why this is such a big issue for some people. I guess you must spend a great deal of time on skin design. Good for you. Personally, I need all the spare time I've got just to get a bit better on the track, and I don't really notice a lot about the designs painted on the other cars. Now that I think about it, typically after a few corners the other cars end up far enough ahead or far enough behind that I'm not in a position to appreciate the artwork even if I was looking for it. Do you guys spend a lot of time reviewing replays perhaps?

Anyway, no offence meant, and your mileage obviously varies, etc. But for me, at the end of the day LFS is a driving sim/game and not an art gallery.

I haven't gone so far as to delete my old favourites, but I will say that since LFS got installed I haven't driven a lap of NR2003 (original), the NR2003 Redline GTP mod, nor good old Grand Prix Legends.

As a serious player, I never drive in LFS unless I have heated the room up to about 50 degrees C, got a burning pot of oil going in the corner for the smell, and then asked a friend to stand behind me with a baseball bat ready to whack the side of my helmet whenever I hit a wall. Now that's realism.

You could start by making first and second gear a lot taller (smaller numbers). That way you won't have so much wheelspin but will still get off the line well. Also try using the kindest possible differential settings at first, like 10/90 power/coast. This will also help avoid wheelspin.

I agree with Sinbad: I think Montoya's record in the US shows that he's not the clown Tristan is making him out to be. Why so down on JPM, Tristan? I agree that he could be more consistent, and a little less hot-headed, but the talent is there surely. And "noob" is a very strong word to be using for someone who (we have already agreed) is in a pretty elite driving club.

As for Sato, well: I have a soft spot for the guy because I used to race online with him in a Nascar 4 league. By the standards of online racing, he was clean, polite, and very fair, so I hate to hear a bad word said about him. Lovely chap. I wish I could point to some positive things about his recent performance in F1, however.

Last edited by jtr99, Fri, 14 Oct 2005 18:48.

Quote from Vain :

I had the worst racing experience with fast drivers.

Interesting. I know what you mean -- had a terrible experience one day on Aston National driving a car that I don't usually drive. Maybe the RA? Anyway, I was leaving everyone plenty of room to get past me, but one "I am faster" guy ploughed into the back of me not once but twice and then instead of simply accepting that I was braking later than he was, he voted to kick me off the server. I guess he thought I was brake-testing him or something, but this was very far from being my intention.

Quote from speedfreak227 :

nothing to do with anything, but it took me a second to figure out what you meant by that. in north america we call them elevators.

Yes, I know. Sorry, I was considering a translation (lifts = elevators) but then that seemed like trying too hard. There are other forums I participate in where the North American majority is so extreme that I would just use your version of the word to avoid confusion. But given the Euro-bias of LFS, I thought I'd just come right out with "lifts". Feel free to respond with a baseball analogy.

Quote from Tweaker :

You know, I haven't seen an intentional Turn 1 rammer in a long time...

Agreed. I've seen some optimistic turn 1 late braking, but not the classic idiot move of ploughing into the whole field. I think the general standard of driving in LFS is pretty good: most people are out for a clean race rather than a destruction derby.

I admit it gets a bit frustrating when you leave room for someone who's intent on barging through (lap one, turn one or two of course) and they not only fail to notice that you've done them a favour but repay you by running wide on exit and nudging you into a wall. But then these guys probably fart in lifts. What can you do?

Quote from 5th Earth :

Regarding snap oversteer while braking...try adjusting your diff. Set the coast lock to a smaller value, and make sure NEVER to downshift early. I've found in all the GTRs, an early downshift while braking almost always causes snap oversteer.

5th Earth, is that definitely the right way round? I thought he would want a higher coast lock value in order to avoid this problem, but I am still coming to terms with differentials so may well be mistaken.

Cheers,
--Jason.

Quote from Chris_Kerry :

Set-up's frutrate me, as I have very limited knowledge of how things work when it comes to some of the setting's avaliable...

Mmm-hmm, the Cole Trickle approach. I hear you buddy. Where is Robert Duvall when we need him?

:auto:

Quote from Bob Smith :

Locked diffs provide too much of a benefit if you ask me. Their advantage is that spinning a wheel becomes harder, since you HAVE to spin both at once...

Interesting point Bob. Getting the diff right in GPL used to make a lot of difference for me, so I have started experimenting with the diff on the Formula XR (my favourite LFS car I suppose) to try to find a sweet spot. I agree with what you said about a fully locked diff. Assuming a clutch pack diff, what sort of power/coast settings do you find to give some of the advantages of a locked diff without all the disadvantages?

Note that I would guess I'm having more trouble than you are with wheelspin on applying the power out of a corner. Not that I am slipping and sliding everywhere, more that I am so nervous about doing so that I get the power on too slowly.

Wow, thanks a lot guys. Fantastic and very educational feedback.

Bob: the wheel is a Thrustmaster Ferrari F1 Force Feedback -- I think that's what it said on the box. It's quite heavy duty with a big solid aluminium shifter bar across the back of the wheel.

(And nice aluminium pedals, although good old Thrustmaster / Guillemot saw fit to mount those aluminium pedals on a stupid plastic base, necessitating a bit of a rebuild with my carpentry 101 skills.)

I notice you are S2 licensed. If you can afford the game, surely you can afford some kind of wheel? I promise you, your life will get a lot happier.

Have you really been playing GPL all these years with a keyboard?

Anyway, if you insist on sticking with the keyboard, or genuinely can't afford a wheel, I think there are posts elsewhere on the forum describing some of the things you can do with the button rate settings to make your experience a little less horrible.

Best of luck.

My god, Kid. I would hate to see your response to something important.

Hi, all.

First, a terrible confession: I have often been using auto-shifting during my brief LFS career. This has been for two reasons. One, I have enough to do trying to find the line, braking points, etc., and attempting to manage the throttle, so leaving the shifting duties out of the equation has (I think) helped me to focus on the more important stuff. Two, if I'm playing late at night, the click of the aluminium paddle shifter on my wheel is ridiculously loud and will lead to my sleeping wife waking up to divorce me.

When I have tried manual shifting on a track/car combination that I'm starting to get familiar with, such as Aston Club in the Formula XR, I've found that I get quite similar lap times. Maybe a shade faster if I get all the shifts right. But then I watched and listened to the in-car view of some of the fast guys, and realized that a lot of people are not lifting off the throttle at all when they change up. This is something that auto-shift does for you automatically (and indeed you can't stop it from happening, I think?) and something that I do instinctively when shifting manually, probably because of time in real cars and playing a lot of NASCAR Racing 2003 on road tracks.

In NR2003 of course, the engine damage model will quickly penalize you (with a blown engine or gear) for never lifting on upshift. Whereas in the current S2 alpha the engine damage modelling seems pretty generous and I get the impression you could shift at full-throttle all day without paying the price. (Not complaining about this and I realize that more accurate engine and gearbox damage simulation is almost certainly coming soon in LFS.)

So, sorry for the rambling, but here's my question. What sort of lap time advantage do you think you get from not lifting the throttle at all on up-shifts? I haven't put in enough laps to be sure, but I get the impression that on Aston Club in the Formula XR I can shave off 0.3 to 0.5 sec / lap by remembering not to lift.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I guess the only danger is getting used to this practice and then getting hammered with blown engines when the damage model is updated.

Thanks Todd / JTW for that explanation. For years I have been taking a few PSI out of the rears in games like GPL and NR2003 and assuming that this was helping me to tame the oversteering beast. This thread was therefore really starting to confuse me, but you have set me straight. Much appreciated.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Seriously, for the tap. Try WD40 or similar product. "Penetrating Oil" is what you're looking for. Leave the tap over night with plenty on the joints and pivots etc. In the morning, with luck, you might be able to turn it.

My god, Tristan -- you are the picture of confidence on all subjects. I may ask you questions about my sexual life if I get in a spot. No, on second thoughts...

Nice personal touches, Scawen. And just in case it hasn't been said often enough, thanks for a great game.

Hi, Bob.

I enjoy these setups a lot. Thanks for making them public. It's fun to see what my road car would do if I had the nerve to chuck it around they way I do in LFS.

Cheers,
--JTR.

Thanks very much, I appreciate it.

Hi, all.

Could someone tell me where the replay files are stored? I can't find them under the LFS directory and I'm wondering whether they're placed in a temp directory somewhere.

Thanks,
--JTR.