Quote from MaKaKaZo :

1. First of all, when someone spectates gets a warning and ~10 seconds to rejoin the race to not lose his slot. Maybe he was thrown out of the limits of the track during a post-race "crashing party" or just hit shift+s unintentionally instead fo shift+p. So, this prevents people from losing their slots, or at least they get warned.

2. When you try to join and the race is full you get added to the queue and are informed of how many people are ahead of you. When someone leaves the queue you get updated info (people who now are in the race or disconnected).

3. When it's your turn and there's a free spot you receive a button saying "you can join the race now, click me!" with a 5~10 second timer. If you don't click it the system skips to the next racer in the queue, and so on.

Folks shouldn't indulge in post-race crashing parties IMO, if they lose a race slot because of doing so then that seems OK. If they spent the period between races practising the circuit there may be fewer crashes in the actual racing. And sometimes you get sent into outer space (took the wrong route) and spectated as a result of an in-race crash, but without a mechanism like that to throw a curved ball now and again, it would slow down the process of bringing in new drivers. Having said that a proper queueing system would be nice, although the option to opt out of the queue (i.e. not even be asked if you wanted to join) should be available. You might be having your tea and just watching a race with a viewer app, or, on some short tracks the circuit might just be too busy - I usually watch the map and look for a sensible gap in the traffic opening up a few laps from the end before trying to join.

As I thought, thanks

Just wanting to check - I was on the receiving end of a shunt on the last lap of a race yesterday which knocked me in to the pit lane entry, I rejoined and crossed the finish line properly but presumably I could have continued along the pit lane and still have been credited with a finish - although if I broke the pit lane speed limit in doing so, I would presumably have been disqualified?

Whilst tweaking the MyCTRA page, is it somehow possible to display the racer's racing name (either the one they last used, or most commonly used, whatever's easiest) in their stats, either in a column, or as a "hover", or in their CTRA "bio" (e.g. Fred Bloggs races for Bloggs Team as blogman) - currently I think you can only see these on the server page if they are actually racing at the time and have not set a real name in their CTRA control panel. Personally I would find it useful to have the option to see names in places like the country league table, in terms of who I know them as on the racetrack, as well as their real names. Just a suggestion.

Seen a fair few "can I share?" "Sorry it's a team set" chat messages recently. Doesn't bother me particularly as I like to try and tweak my own settings, otherwise it seems to me too much like getting a cheat code for a MMORPG game to give you access to weapons and riches you wouldn't otherwise have. But it's nice sometimes to at least start your tweaking from a set-up that you have just seen deliver a decent time on the exact circuit you are trying to master.

I've been doing this only since about March and like you I usually find points hard to come by. I'm on Race 1, Single Seater 1 or UFBR, depending mainly on the track they're on and also whether I can actually get on the server when I'm on-line. If I do get a decent result it's a bonus but I don't worry about them too much as, more often than not, I'm scrapping for something like 10th place. Points are usually easier to find in the single seaters as that server is not usually as busy as the saloon cars. The only thing with the team racers is that they are unlikely to share their setups with you.

For me the fun is finding someone I *can* race with - I've got a mental list of folk I've had good tussles with before, so I look to see if any of them are racing. Look at the results at the end of each race, you can easily set yourself a target for each race (the top "team" racers are usually a couple of seconds ahead or more on lap time, but mid-table there are usually a few guys who are posting similar fastest laps to you, set yourself a goal of beating them, and just leave the other guys to hare off into the distance). Trying to stay on the lead lap is another good thing to aim for (easier on some circuits of course).

Another goal I set myself is trying to keep out of everyone else's accidents (not always possible!), but you really can make up a lot of spots as a result of others' over-optimistic driving. For aggressive drivers trying to muscle past you - just let them past, they will either be too fast for you or they will be parked in the hedge round the next corner. Also be aware of yellow flags, lift off a bit and choose a safe route through any carnage ahead - remember racers caught up in crashes may now have damaged cars so that means you can often hold off someone who would normally leave you for dead.

At the end of the day you can find your own fun in the races simply by setting yourself an achievable goal for each one.

Absolutely... but I was able to rejoin and only lost 11th for 12th or something like that so it wasn't really a big deal, not really worth reporting but I've made a note to watch out for him in future - I was just using it as an illustration of Bandit's point.

Quote from Bandit77 :

some of the faster / "better" drivers just show no respect towards slower drivers and/or newbies.

Hear hear. I was nudged off track yesterday by an admittedly faster driver (for position, not unlapping); he'd got half way past me, moved across to take his line for the corner and clipped my front wheel in doing so knocking me into the guy on the other side of me as well. After the race he claimed "I was past you, it's your problem then". Looking at his CTRA stats, a good portion of wins, but many yellows and a poor finishing record; seems to be a common theme with fast but aggressive drivers. To my mind making a clean pass involves a duty of care to the car you passed, and not leaving him in a position where he has nowhere to go or where he could lose control and take you out further along.

I think I had to pay for John Cleese. He's getting a bit samey now after a few months use. I see you can now get "the real" Mr T which might be a laugh. There's a free Dalek voice as well but it sounds like it was done with a Yorkshire accent which was surprising as I thought the Daleks came from much farther away than that.

I was always an ardent map-user, maps were my thing since I was at school, but earlier this year decided to take up a special offer on a Tom Tom ONE as I had a lot of solo driving to unfamiliar places coming up. I have to say I don't regret getting one, although I still keep a paper map handy just in case, I rarely need to pull over to read it, I just go where John Cleese tells me. I found a better route locally using a "B" road to somewhere I go regularly that I hadn't even considered; the Tom Tom said it was quickest and it certainly beat my original just using "A" roads by several minutes. I also have the traffic receiver which can be useful if it finds a valid delay on your route, and the speed camera add-on which is pretty much a must-have, along with the "nag" sound for when you are going faster than the speed limit. My only gripes are that it only remembers favourite destinations, not routes, it would be quicker if you could ask it do give you the same route it gave you last week rather than recalculating. A lot of the road speed limits are wrong so you get nagged over 30 in a 60 limit for example. And I'd like to see a "most economical" route option in these days of costly petrol. Some of the Tom Toms now have this "smart routes" feature that will give you a different route at different times of day to avoid traffic though, which is a step in the right direction. All in all pretty good.

Quote from Dru :

If you don't want to mess up your FF, then press escape after you have finished....

To see the CTRA points display you have to stay on track though? Or Shift+P and then leave the pits.

The post-race wrecking and parking on track thing would be a good inclusion IMO. It's a shame there isn't a proper parc fermé area on every track after the finish line that folk can be asked to drive to. Maybe some explanations of why the rules are there could help people to understand. E.g. "crashing into a car unexpectedly can cause damage to the user's force feedback wheel, or cause him to spill his coffee" etc. I agree if there are too many rules it will just be like one of those software licence agreements you just click through without reading.

Most drivers do seem to be pretty good but as Turbo Dad says it's the blue flag / mid race joiner thing that seems to be most misunderstood. Looking at rules 6.1 and 6.3 they also seem to contradict each other a little. 6.1 taken literally means that all mid race joiners are expected to line up at a safe distance behind a very slow car (maybe on their first visit to that combo) waiting for him to pull off and retire (what the rules say you should do), whereas in practice what probably happens is they shoot past him quickly before even generating a blue flag for themselves. And then 6.3 suggests that mid race joiners can actually fight for positions in certain circumstances. Perhaps there's an opportunity to clarify things in that area as part of any changes implemented?

I'm sorely tempted to enter but Saturday night at 8pm is a really bad time slot for me, too much going on in the house, kids going to bed and so on, plus I know already some coming Saturdays we are already booked up with other things. If it was a Sunday night through to Thursday night with a 10pm (UK) start I'd be there though.

Is there a timetable anywhere that shows when the next endurance days are being held on each CTRA server? Good fun but didn't know about it till I logged on yesterday.

True. I guess some folk choose not to look at it or maybe if they're new haven't understood the colour system. Or they're just plain crashers.

That's fine, and confirms my understanding. I checked the replay and the other guy had previously pulled well out of the way to allow the leaders through but then started to comfortably un-lap himself from some of the (real) back markers who were perhaps struggling with car damage. I think I must have been the first of the mid-pack he got to and maybe he thought he was racing for position, so I guess I will give him the benefit of the doubt on this occasion and make a note for the future.

It did make me think however, whether there is a case for an on-screen warning to pop up to confirm to the car behind, that the car in front is indeed a lap or more ahead. Kind of an opposite to a blue flag, perhaps in orange. If you have tyres or suspension display switched on, then you can't see the race order so I could see it being an easy mistake to make. Having been given such a warning, everyone knows where they stand and if the guy behind wants to make a lunge he is in full possession of the facts before doing so. I.e., "overtake this chap at your own risk". Does that sound possible?

Last edited by modelmotorracing, Sat 19 Jul 2008, 15:50.

If a faster car comes up behind me and wants to unlap itself, even if I'm some way down the field, I'm not obliged to let that happen, is that correct? (Although it may be in my interest to let him through to get him out of my mirrors). And if the other guy is a mid-race joiner, he shouldn't even be trying to pass, is that also true? Earlier today a guy (who on viewing the replay did turn out to be a mid-race joiner) crashed trying to pass me when I was on the tail of another car for about 10th place with a couple of laps to go, and seemed to suggest his crash was my fault for not leaving him room. I'm normally quite accommodating but in this case I didn't want a lapped car between me and the guy I was chasing so I held my racing line. The impact cost me a couple of seconds so I was not able to catch back up again. No great loss but I wanted to check I had the correct understanding.

In my LFS World pages I'm not seeing the fastest laps for the races I've competed in (only if I go through the list of times at the bottom of each set of race details), should I be able to? According to my CTRA stats I have set a couple of fastest laps and I wanted to find out which races they were in. Seems like there is an empty column in the main results table.

Surviving Turn 1 carnage is critical, letting a few cars past if I'm near the back of the grid often works out in my favour, but if you're further up the field it's not really possible and it's more a case of drive with care and hope for good luck. Depending on the Turn 1 outcome, I then see each race largely as a series of duels for the next position ahead. Sometimes an outbreak of angry chat followed by a reduction in your race position by 1 or 2 shows that someone ahead has done you a favour, which is always nice of them. After a while in the game you build a mental list of who's ultra-quick and you just let them through, others who are on a par with you and you could have a good tussle with, and then there are those who crash a lot or are easily hassled into letting you through. Ultimate aim to finish the race in one piece after a clean race, maybe having beaten someone you never finished ahead of before, which gives plenty of satisfaction. A win or podium (rare in my case) are the icing on the cake and a nice surprise after a good race but I rarely expect either.

I was also thinking about this, but having a split chat - I occasionally play Guild Wars where there are several chat streams, one for the local area, one for the team you are currently grouped with, one for trading and so on. You can toggle any or all of them off at any time with a single click. In LFS we could have a chat stream for racers (just for the key-mapped smilies and "good pass" stuff), another for the spectators (to comment on the race and ask for setups for the next one), and maybe a third for system/insim messages.

Does anyone find their real life road driving helps or hinders their LFS performance? If you've had your confidence knocked by making some silly error on the public road, having some bloke shout at you for pulling out in front of him or whatever, if you play LFS that evening you might perhaps subconsciously be more cautious? Or perhaps you beat a guy in a BMW away from the lights in your Citroen 2CV so you now feel a bit more gung-ho. For me I think it works a little bit the other way, I found myself braking later or clipping a kerb a couple of times in my real car and thinking "I'm sure I never used to do that..."

Fair point I guess.

One little idea I had that might help is to take the short-laptime tracks out of the CTRA "circuit" at the peak times. Say just for the three busiest European evening hours, stick to the longer tracks where people have more room to spread out. With the host almost full all the time and folk having to do mid-race joins and get quickly up to speed in amongst a constant stream of other cars just to get in a race, it just adds to the possible frustration potential. Just a thought.

Quote from Flyinsi :

"water off a duck's back"

Yes that seems a sound approach. Personally I'm not a "win at all costs" driver so am more than happy to let another car past for position and continue at my own pace rather than defend a corner to the death (particularly against someone I know is prone to arguments or to wayward driving!). In fact sometimes that approach works out really well, as the other guy was not expecting such an easy pass and they spin off in surprise!