Personally I'd like to see the "blue flag" message not reduced to an animated little trackside flag, but the text doubled in size, flashing, alternating with the text "LET HIGHER POSITIONED CARS PAST", making a dinging sound on every flash and with a Crazy Frog song playing in the background.
Then people might pay more attention to it.
Then people might pay more attention to it.
Are you saying she has a particularly large arse?
Leaving pits with incorrect fuel load
While in the garage screen adjusting car setup, etc, I increased the fuel load I needed for a 10 lapper, and clicked "ok" to return to the track. Someone was dis/connecting at the time, so it didn't do anything and asked me to wait. Once they had joined/left, I clicked ok again and returned to the track.
Didn't notice until the start of the race that it had ignored my changed fuel load, and I was starting with the %age I had in the previous race. Going in and out the pits still doesn't give me the correct amount, I have to change the fuel load to something else before the load in the car is updated when I return to track.
Not sure if that's the best way to describe it but it appeared as though changes made in the garage (at least to the fuel load) aren't done when you try and leave the garage while someone is leaving or joining. (Sorry if this is already known, couldn't see it anywhere else).
Didn't notice until the start of the race that it had ignored my changed fuel load, and I was starting with the %age I had in the previous race. Going in and out the pits still doesn't give me the correct amount, I have to change the fuel load to something else before the load in the car is updated when I return to track.
Not sure if that's the best way to describe it but it appeared as though changes made in the garage (at least to the fuel load) aren't done when you try and leave the garage while someone is leaving or joining. (Sorry if this is already known, couldn't see it anywhere else).
Mmmmm, she's very nice. I used to think that the guys manning the LFS stand at the MPH show had a bit of a raw deal since they had to put up with the general public - never occurred to me that blonde glamour-type models would be trying it out. I take it from the outfit that she's a promo girl? Don't tell me nobody took the opportunity to offer her some "hands on" personal tuition in a hydraulic vibrating seat...
And of course, happy birthday Tiny. Haven't had the pleasure of racing on a dSRC server lately but hopefully will do again soon. And what's this nonsense about not drinking? It's your birthday - go and get pissed. You know you want to.
Nice to see you show such appreciation for fifteen good quality skins being made available for free public download.
And which survey are you referring to here, in which 90% of them said they didn't mind car damage?
Well I think most things have already been covered by others, and I'll say that I think the review seems a reasonably balanced effort but one that gets disparaging in a couple of areas which don't appear justified to a regular LFS driver.
The price is one thing that seems to be increasingly used against LFS - the idea of paying £12 per release is somehow "expensive". Of course it all depends on how much you play and consequently appreciate the product, but as already mentioned, £24 is simply not expensive for a continuously developed product with personal involvement/accountability from the devs within the community. Look at what many large publishers do with all manner of sports and simulations titles - crank out the same stuff every year as a full price, new title; but with each release (usually) offering far fewer new features/content than the transition from S1 to S2. Whether or not one enjoys LFS enough to get the most out of S2 doesn't change the fact that the S1/2/3 licensing system represents far better value for the content and improvements than the yearly, almost identical releases of the traditional publishing system. From my own experience with LFS, I haven't played anything this much for ages and as such I think it's underpriced compared to the enjoyment per pound ratio of whatever is on the shelves in GAME.
Then there's the physics issues - of which there are certainly many. Now I'll be the first to hold my hand up and admit that I haven't driven a 500bhp GTR car on cold tyres around a track so I have no idea what it should feel like, but I certainly wouldn't be surprised if I struggle to stop it swapping ends on me, until I invent a time machine and start karting and racing from the age of seven like most pro drivers have. But while the physics (and especially the aero & low speed grip - the two most prominent current failings) are definitely in need of improvement, they are at least 100% consistent. I don't like the way the XRR suddenly loses the back end in a steady low speed corner for absolutely no reason, but after familiarising/learning the car some more, the driving or setup adjustments required to limit it make perfect sense and the car reacts accordingly to whatever changes you make to it. It doesn't react in the right way each time, but it reacts in the same way each time; which imho is one of the things that contributes to the immense accessibility of LFS.
I was more disappointed to note that the review fell into the same failing as most other reviews of LFS S2 Alpha, imho. Apart from a token mention at the beginning and end, with the occasional sole reference inbetween, there's a striking lack of caveats in the review regarding the fact that it's not even a beta product yet, it's an alpha. There are several (justified) criticisms of LFS in the review that could/should have been accompanied by the fact that this feature is widely expected to be improved upon by the final release. As it stands, a reader who is less knowledgeable about the concept of LFS may be left thinking that the final S2 for £24 is going to have pretty much the same failings. This is possible, and it's impossible to predict the future, but it seems highly unlikely.
As for the tracks, I thought it was generally known that the newer tracks were squarely aimed at the faster cars in S2. If the reviewer considers South City in a GTR/open-wheeled car to be a moderate challenge, then I'd suggest that the reviewer's driving skill is way in excess of the average racer. If it wasn't for the wide, sweeping turns of Aston, Kyoto and Westhill, more folk would find it prohibitively challenging to get a race in - a far higher proportion of people would just be crashing all the time. And vice versa, if you drive the original/road cars around the longer configurations of the new tracks, the high speed corners do indeed become pointless and dull. But to make such an accusation would, imho, be a case of missing the point of the new tracks.
If you pair the tracks/configurations with the according car classes (which is just what they do in real life - F1 cars at Silverstone use the full length, relatively fast circuit while most of the other more humdrum stuff uses a much shorter track with tighter corners) then I happen to think the track design is superb, especially if you consider the rationale behind each circuit. Aston, for example, is clearly a fairly historic circuit and as such is never going to have too many slow, technical sections. I don't ever recall this working against Monza, Silverstone, or Spa-Francorchamps. All the tracks have their defining features for me, which makes them all appeal in their own way - from the sunny sand and palm trees of Fern Bay to the dark walls of South City, via two dozen hilly circuits set in middle England's countryside. The biggest failing with the current track selection is not that they're dull to drive round, it's that the environments are dull because they're not different enough. We have Blackwood, Aston, and Westhill. If S2 ever includes any more circuits, we do not need another hilly, sweeping British track with a palette of greens and greys and browns. There needs to be more to capture people's imaginations - I don't mean abandoning LFS's realistic colours and designs, but with more obvious variety of locations to appeal to more people. A circuit in the dusty U.S. midwest; or among the heat and jarring concrete of the urbanised areas of the U.S. west coast; or a punishing Canadian circuit with a lot of water about. Or something obviously Scandinavian, with a low sun peeking over the top of thick, dark forests; or a chilly, bleak, technical circuit that's clearly identified by East European architecture of the nearby town.
Phew, that's me done.
The price is one thing that seems to be increasingly used against LFS - the idea of paying £12 per release is somehow "expensive". Of course it all depends on how much you play and consequently appreciate the product, but as already mentioned, £24 is simply not expensive for a continuously developed product with personal involvement/accountability from the devs within the community. Look at what many large publishers do with all manner of sports and simulations titles - crank out the same stuff every year as a full price, new title; but with each release (usually) offering far fewer new features/content than the transition from S1 to S2. Whether or not one enjoys LFS enough to get the most out of S2 doesn't change the fact that the S1/2/3 licensing system represents far better value for the content and improvements than the yearly, almost identical releases of the traditional publishing system. From my own experience with LFS, I haven't played anything this much for ages and as such I think it's underpriced compared to the enjoyment per pound ratio of whatever is on the shelves in GAME.
Then there's the physics issues - of which there are certainly many. Now I'll be the first to hold my hand up and admit that I haven't driven a 500bhp GTR car on cold tyres around a track so I have no idea what it should feel like, but I certainly wouldn't be surprised if I struggle to stop it swapping ends on me, until I invent a time machine and start karting and racing from the age of seven like most pro drivers have.
But while the physics (and especially the aero & low speed grip - the two most prominent current failings) are definitely in need of improvement, they are at least 100% consistent. I don't like the way the XRR suddenly loses the back end in a steady low speed corner for absolutely no reason, but after familiarising/learning the car some more, the driving or setup adjustments required to limit it make perfect sense and the car reacts accordingly to whatever changes you make to it. It doesn't react in the right way each time, but it reacts in the same way each time; which imho is one of the things that contributes to the immense accessibility of LFS.I was more disappointed to note that the review fell into the same failing as most other reviews of LFS S2 Alpha, imho. Apart from a token mention at the beginning and end, with the occasional sole reference inbetween, there's a striking lack of caveats in the review regarding the fact that it's not even a beta product yet, it's an alpha. There are several (justified) criticisms of LFS in the review that could/should have been accompanied by the fact that this feature is widely expected to be improved upon by the final release. As it stands, a reader who is less knowledgeable about the concept of LFS may be left thinking that the final S2 for £24 is going to have pretty much the same failings. This is possible, and it's impossible to predict the future, but it seems highly unlikely.
As for the tracks, I thought it was generally known that the newer tracks were squarely aimed at the faster cars in S2. If the reviewer considers South City in a GTR/open-wheeled car to be a moderate challenge, then I'd suggest that the reviewer's driving skill is way in excess of the average racer. If it wasn't for the wide, sweeping turns of Aston, Kyoto and Westhill, more folk would find it prohibitively challenging to get a race in - a far higher proportion of people would just be crashing all the time. And vice versa, if you drive the original/road cars around the longer configurations of the new tracks, the high speed corners do indeed become pointless and dull. But to make such an accusation would, imho, be a case of missing the point of the new tracks.
If you pair the tracks/configurations with the according car classes (which is just what they do in real life - F1 cars at Silverstone use the full length, relatively fast circuit while most of the other more humdrum stuff uses a much shorter track with tighter corners) then I happen to think the track design is superb, especially if you consider the rationale behind each circuit. Aston, for example, is clearly a fairly historic circuit and as such is never going to have too many slow, technical sections. I don't ever recall this working against Monza, Silverstone, or Spa-Francorchamps. All the tracks have their defining features for me, which makes them all appeal in their own way - from the sunny sand and palm trees of Fern Bay to the dark walls of South City, via two dozen hilly circuits set in middle England's countryside. The biggest failing with the current track selection is not that they're dull to drive round, it's that the environments are dull because they're not different enough. We have Blackwood, Aston, and Westhill. If S2 ever includes any more circuits, we do not need another hilly, sweeping British track with a palette of greens and greys and browns.
There needs to be more to capture people's imaginations - I don't mean abandoning LFS's realistic colours and designs, but with more obvious variety of locations to appeal to more people. A circuit in the dusty U.S. midwest; or among the heat and jarring concrete of the urbanised areas of the U.S. west coast; or a punishing Canadian circuit with a lot of water about. Or something obviously Scandinavian, with a low sun peeking over the top of thick, dark forests; or a chilly, bleak, technical circuit that's clearly identified by East European architecture of the nearby town.Phew, that's me done.
Laaaaag (a.k.a. sudden router problem)
LFS used to be fine - decent pings although not amazing.
Tonight, I switch on and all I get is laaaaag, and I mean lag. Every server, every connection I make.
Go to start -> run -> cmd and ping a variety of web sites. Everything is fine, pings normal.
Reboot computer, router, and modem. In-game lag still there.
Connect modem directly to computer, reboot both, and hey presto, no more lag.
Put router back in, unplayable lag again. Take router out, no lag.
By connecting directly to the modem, then putting the router back in, then rebooting the modem, I managed to get everything running normally again, i.e. with router, no lag.
But then I rebooted the pc, and it went back to massive, piss-taking lag again.
Nothing has changed on my end - not the router, not my computer. And yet suddenly the router renders my game unplayable.
Anyone got any ideas?
The ISP is Blueyonder, the router is a Linksys WRT54G running firmware v3.03.9, with my computer being the only attached device to one of the LAN ports (the wireless function of the router is disabled). It's got me thoroughly stumped, and more than a little pissed off.
Tonight, I switch on and all I get is laaaaag, and I mean lag. Every server, every connection I make.
Go to start -> run -> cmd and ping a variety of web sites. Everything is fine, pings normal.
Reboot computer, router, and modem. In-game lag still there.
Connect modem directly to computer, reboot both, and hey presto, no more lag.
Put router back in, unplayable lag again. Take router out, no lag.
By connecting directly to the modem, then putting the router back in, then rebooting the modem, I managed to get everything running normally again, i.e. with router, no lag.
But then I rebooted the pc, and it went back to massive, piss-taking lag again.
Nothing has changed on my end - not the router, not my computer. And yet suddenly the router renders my game unplayable.
Anyone got any ideas?
The ISP is Blueyonder, the router is a Linksys WRT54G running firmware v3.03.9, with my computer being the only attached device to one of the LAN ports (the wireless function of the router is disabled). It's got me thoroughly stumped, and more than a little pissed off.
Happy birthday Scawen!
Got any 24 hour pubs, bars or clubs near you?
Got any 24 hour pubs, bars or clubs near you?
Oooh, I know what I'd run. GTR cars on a different circuit every week (or maybe fortnight) with longer-than-average races and possibly a bigger event every weekend or so.
When the aero model is improved the GTR cars will get even better.Not sure if this is the right topic for this, but here goes.
I voted "haven't competed, and not sure if I want to". It's not because I have no interest in events, it's because I could never afford the time, persistence or inflexibility required to practice (sometimes from scratch) a particular car/track combo and have to race it on a particular day.
But that's not to say I love the public servers - I've often grown frustrated with the T1 spills, random shunts, etc. And recently over the past week I've noticed a couple of times that even when an admin is present, it doesn't do anything to improve things as they behave childishly and abuse their power, restarting the race just because they didn't make it through T1 in the way that they wanted, or threatening to ban you because you (unknowingly) tried to kick their friend whose car never moved from it's starting position on the main straight. Sure, I've just been unlucky and in both cases I just left and looked for another server, but both rude folk/n00bs and six year old admins take the fun out of public server racing sometimes.
So basically what would interest me most is a kind of "half way house": a server that runs longer races, but on a (automated?) schedule so they're much more regular than a weekly/fortnightly league event. For example, a server that:
- starts the cycle at the top of the hour with 10 mins free practice / messing about
- at ten past the hour, 20 mins qualifying.
- at half past, the race starts, which would last for 20-25 mins.
With no mid-race join and all the other n00b-unfriendly measures switched on, the racing would be cleaner but still accessible to all. Each week, it could change to a different car class / track combo, run that for a week, then change again, etc. And by sticking to an hourly schedule, once you know what that schedule is then you don't have to worry about missing the start of the next race if you go and make a drink/snack as is often the case on a public server running sprint races.
I voted "haven't competed, and not sure if I want to". It's not because I have no interest in events, it's because I could never afford the time, persistence or inflexibility required to practice (sometimes from scratch) a particular car/track combo and have to race it on a particular day.
But that's not to say I love the public servers - I've often grown frustrated with the T1 spills, random shunts, etc. And recently over the past week I've noticed a couple of times that even when an admin is present, it doesn't do anything to improve things as they behave childishly and abuse their power, restarting the race just because they didn't make it through T1 in the way that they wanted, or threatening to ban you because you (unknowingly) tried to kick their friend whose car never moved from it's starting position on the main straight. Sure, I've just been unlucky and in both cases I just left and looked for another server, but both rude folk/n00bs and six year old admins take the fun out of public server racing sometimes.
So basically what would interest me most is a kind of "half way house": a server that runs longer races, but on a (automated?) schedule so they're much more regular than a weekly/fortnightly league event. For example, a server that:
- starts the cycle at the top of the hour with 10 mins free practice / messing about
- at ten past the hour, 20 mins qualifying.
- at half past, the race starts, which would last for 20-25 mins.
With no mid-race join and all the other n00b-unfriendly measures switched on, the racing would be cleaner but still accessible to all. Each week, it could change to a different car class / track combo, run that for a week, then change again, etc. And by sticking to an hourly schedule, once you know what that schedule is then you don't have to worry about missing the start of the next race if you go and make a drink/snack as is often the case on a public server running sprint races.
Struggling with XRR + Aston
Hi all,
I'm trying to gain some speed and experience in the XRR around AS3/4/5 (usually I drive the FZR). But I'm finding it tough going - learning to drive this car seems harder for me than the FZR ever was. I think much of it must be down to the setups; I've yet to find a good base setup to work from and therefore I just can't seem to adjust the setup to get the car to do what I want.
Can anyone throw some XRR race setups (not hotlap setups) this way that are suitable for either AS3, AS4, or AS5? I've tried the ones from the inferno website but they feel way too twitchy/tyre-hungry to be used in a race.
Many thanks in advance.
I'm trying to gain some speed and experience in the XRR around AS3/4/5 (usually I drive the FZR). But I'm finding it tough going - learning to drive this car seems harder for me than the FZR ever was. I think much of it must be down to the setups; I've yet to find a good base setup to work from and therefore I just can't seem to adjust the setup to get the car to do what I want.
Can anyone throw some XRR race setups (not hotlap setups) this way that are suitable for either AS3, AS4, or AS5? I've tried the ones from the inferno website but they feel way too twitchy/tyre-hungry to be used in a race.
Many thanks in advance.
Current big Ferraris are front-engined, not front wheel drive.
The FZ50/GTR is rear engined like a Porsche, and to me it has an ingenious hybrid shape that's like an illicit lovechild of Ferrari and Porsche stylists.
A perfectly valid point in terms of the logic, but ssshhh! The rest of us are looking forward to the physics/aero updates!
Thanks Scawen for S2Q.
So young, so unexpected, so awful. A loss of a truly talented man.
Or a progressive / analogue look system that would allow the new Thrustmaster wheel to use it's extra axes.
If your family usually goes over by a few gig, wouldn't the obvious solution be to either change your ISP, or switch to a different tariff from your current provider? 
Because once you've gone online and got into the multiplayer racing... well, let's put it this way: LFS is crap in single player.
Because once you've gone online and got into the multiplayer racing... well, let's put it this way: LFS is crap in single player.
I think what Hyper was meaning was the lack of information about slightly longer term stuff than weekly language patches, because I feel the same way. Don't get me wrong, I fully support LFS, the devs, and the way it's being made. It's great that the money goes to the devs rather than it being siphoned off by a lazy & greedy publishing corporation, and even in alpha phase it's still by far the best racing game imo. I haven't played any game this much in ages (apart from one quiet weekend in, when I blitzed GTA:SA to get it finished.
). But there are times when I wonder "when" and "what"?Obviously Scawen doesn't want to say too much because it can either start spreading rumours which then become interpreted as fact (eg. Scawen says "I'm starting work on aero and physics in December", which eventually becomes "Scawen said the aero and physics will be all done in December!"), or people could leave out of boredom and not come back for a while if he admits that it's going to be months.
But despite all that, I'm sure that just some idea from the guys themselves of precisely what's on Scawen/Eric/Victors "to do" lists and the order in which they'll be tackled would go a long way to calming the occasional doubts that myself and others may have regarding the progress of S2.
I think the GTR class is pretty evenly balanced on the whole, but could do with some refinement.
When someone said that the FZR is too dominant, that's not always the case. Remember that a lot of the public servers only hold short sprint races of five or six laps, ten at most. Over these distances, the nature of the FZR causes it to be dominant.
Open up the distance, and the FZR's weaknesses show in the form of the rate it gets through consumables. I recall driving FZR in a 10 lap race around AS4 (ok so it's only ten laps but they're long laps), and I was consistently slightly quicker than an XRR. I thought I was easily going to beat him... until I realised my rears were melting, I'd underestimated the sheer quantity of fuel required, and I had to pit while the XRR cruised past with it's ultra-low tyre wear and fuel consumption. It's differences like this that provide some interesting variety in car choices and strategies; however it's rarely noticeable when most public servers do races that last 8 - 15 minutes.
But I do think there are the following problems with the GTR cars, and what would redress the balance a little so we see more than just the FZR...
FZR
Fuel consumption. I recall reading a topic here where the fuel consumption was compared to real life cars on the track, and the general consensus was that it was close enough. But the FZR (and FZ5, I think) came out as having some totally improbable/unrealistic thirst for fuel when compared to other (real) racing cars. Reduce some of the FZR's thirst - not so much that it takes away it's weakness in longer races, just enough to make it more realistic.
XRR
Starting: impossible. I appreciate there are known tyre physics issues at low speed, but getting this off the line is a black art. If ever a film company needed some pyrotechnics, just get an XRR to start off the line - it provides all the smoke you ever need. I know it will never launch as fast as the rear-engined FZR or the AWD FXR, but it needs to do better than what it can at the moment in order to not instantly lose 5 places. It doesn't make the car very accessible or popular, imho - which contributes to the FZR's popularity.
Laaaaaaag: the turbo spool-up can be measured with a calendar, not a stop-watch. It needs to be reduced a bit - to find a nice compromise between having to be aware to keep the engine on the boil, but not having to drive everywhere with one eye on the boost guage.
Zebidee: Both the other GTR cars are fine, so why does the XRR have the rather curious habit of bouncing up and flipping over if you drive over a tall kerb? In order to cement it's position as the endurance car of choice, it should be somewhat more forgiving.
In terms of forgivingness, you'd expect the FXR to be the best and the FZR the worst. As it stands the XRR (to me) is way down at the bottom with it's awful starts, turbo lag, and desire to recreate an immortal character from The Magic Roundabout.
FXR
Simple, really: top speed. Ok, so the FXR's profile isn't as svelte as the other two, and it has the drag of an AWD drivetrain. But it gets annihilated in a straight line by the other two. And as I'm sure the devs have noticed, the eight most popular tracks all feature a considerable straight/high speed section. Increase the top speed, but give it a few extra kilos or suchlike to (almost, but not quite) cancel it out in terms of lap time.
Of course, all the above is purely my own personal opinion, not fact.
Could you elaborate on that please? I haven't heard about that aspect before.
When someone said that the FZR is too dominant, that's not always the case. Remember that a lot of the public servers only hold short sprint races of five or six laps, ten at most. Over these distances, the nature of the FZR causes it to be dominant.
Open up the distance, and the FZR's weaknesses show in the form of the rate it gets through consumables. I recall driving FZR in a 10 lap race around AS4 (ok so it's only ten laps but they're long laps), and I was consistently slightly quicker than an XRR. I thought I was easily going to beat him... until I realised my rears were melting, I'd underestimated the sheer quantity of fuel required, and I had to pit while the XRR cruised past with it's ultra-low tyre wear and fuel consumption. It's differences like this that provide some interesting variety in car choices and strategies; however it's rarely noticeable when most public servers do races that last 8 - 15 minutes.
But I do think there are the following problems with the GTR cars, and what would redress the balance a little so we see more than just the FZR...
FZR
Fuel consumption. I recall reading a topic here where the fuel consumption was compared to real life cars on the track, and the general consensus was that it was close enough. But the FZR (and FZ5, I think) came out as having some totally improbable/unrealistic thirst for fuel when compared to other (real) racing cars. Reduce some of the FZR's thirst - not so much that it takes away it's weakness in longer races, just enough to make it more realistic.
XRR
Starting: impossible. I appreciate there are known tyre physics issues at low speed, but getting this off the line is a black art. If ever a film company needed some pyrotechnics, just get an XRR to start off the line - it provides all the smoke you ever need.
I know it will never launch as fast as the rear-engined FZR or the AWD FXR, but it needs to do better than what it can at the moment in order to not instantly lose 5 places. It doesn't make the car very accessible or popular, imho - which contributes to the FZR's popularity.Laaaaaaag: the turbo spool-up can be measured with a calendar, not a stop-watch. It needs to be reduced a bit - to find a nice compromise between having to be aware to keep the engine on the boil, but not having to drive everywhere with one eye on the boost guage.
Zebidee: Both the other GTR cars are fine, so why does the XRR have the rather curious habit of bouncing up and flipping over if you drive over a tall kerb? In order to cement it's position as the endurance car of choice, it should be somewhat more forgiving.
In terms of forgivingness, you'd expect the FXR to be the best and the FZR the worst. As it stands the XRR (to me) is way down at the bottom with it's awful starts, turbo lag, and desire to recreate an immortal character from The Magic Roundabout.
FXR
Simple, really: top speed. Ok, so the FXR's profile isn't as svelte as the other two, and it has the drag of an AWD drivetrain. But it gets annihilated in a straight line by the other two. And as I'm sure the devs have noticed, the eight most popular tracks all feature a considerable straight/high speed section. Increase the top speed, but give it a few extra kilos or suchlike to (almost, but not quite) cancel it out in terms of lap time.
Of course, all the above is purely my own personal opinion, not fact.
Could you elaborate on that please? I haven't heard about that aspect before.
When I said to learn the basics of a circuit offline, I was talking about braking points and the issue of faster cars ramming into the backs of unpredictably slow people.
When it comes to the (on topic) subject of T1, obviously you can't practice that offline. But nonetheless you know whether you're quick or not, and in fact whether you are quick or slow makes little difference as trying to attack at T1 is rarely a good idea. Only if you see a gap in the traffic ahead and you know you have the grip/power/brakes to put your car there straightaway, then go for it. If you only think you can do it, then chances are you can't and you'll cause a pile-up as you lunge for the gap.
Yes you can only learn how to race online, and learning how to race into T1 only comes with experience, which is all the more reason why newbies should approach T1 more cautiously until they gradually gain more of a feel for jockeying alongside other cars and adjusting their driving accordingly. Of course, learning the basics of the track offline will help enormously as then when you go back online, you can concentrate more on racing/avoiding the other cars, rather than simply getting round the corner itself.
When it comes to the (on topic) subject of T1, obviously you can't practice that offline. But nonetheless you know whether you're quick or not, and in fact whether you are quick or slow makes little difference as trying to attack at T1 is rarely a good idea. Only if you see a gap in the traffic ahead and you know you have the grip/power/brakes to put your car there straightaway, then go for it. If you only think you can do it, then chances are you can't and you'll cause a pile-up as you lunge for the gap.
Yes you can only learn how to race online, and learning how to race into T1 only comes with experience, which is all the more reason why newbies should approach T1 more cautiously until they gradually gain more of a feel for jockeying alongside other cars and adjusting their driving accordingly. Of course, learning the basics of the track offline will help enormously as then when you go back online, you can concentrate more on racing/avoiding the other cars, rather than simply getting round the corner itself.
Regarding the passing of slower cars by faster drivers...
When the fast car hits the back of the slow car under braking - isn't always clear cut who's to blame. Of course in the real world when everyone is of a much closer standard on the track, it's the fault of the guy behind. But when some newbie has no clue of the braking zones and barely knows their way round the track, is it still the fault of the faster guy when the newbie brakes so much earlier than even medium-speed racers?
I'd say that just as the fastest guys have the majority of the responsibility being tolerant and careful around the newbies, the newbies have a responsibility to practise offline until they can get round the track with reasonable consistency and not be a mobile chicane. Admittedly the learning curve is much faster when racing online - you can follow other cars, ask for their setups, watch in spectator mode to see their lines, etc. But if I was to race my FZR on a brand new circuit tonight, I wouldn't dream of doing so unless I'd spent some time in single player at least getting an idea of where to aim to brake and what speed to expect to get through each corner. And then when I'm online, I'd look to expand my knowledge of driving the circuit, not start it.
On a similar note I was spectating on the hugely popular AS3/GTR combo last night before joining in for a handful of races. As I joined the server and started to spectate, the race was on lap 4/5 and the leader wasn't one of the super-quick guys. In fact a lot of the super-quick guys appeared to have retired or dropped by the wayside, and this lead car wasn't particularly quick - getting lines wrong, locking wheels, and having to use considerable amounts of opposite lock to keep it all under control. But despite that, I can only presume he was having a ball, since with the laptimes he was running he would rarely get to lead a 5 lap AS3 race.
That's until a super-quick guy (regular 1:43s) racing for a well known team (I won't mention any names) caught him up, and drove so aggressively that what happened next was inevitable. On lap 5/5 they came down to the chicane, with the team member having spent the previous half lap all over the back of the leader, often only inches apart. Under braking for the chicane, teh leader got it crossed up slightly, slid, and the team car which was following so closely, ran into him and crashed him out on teh very last turn of the race. The team car apologised and carried on unhindered... and in the process, unlapped himself.illepall
I'd say that just as the fastest guys have the majority of the responsibility being tolerant and careful around the newbies, the newbies have a responsibility to practise offline until they can get round the track with reasonable consistency and not be a mobile chicane. Admittedly the learning curve is much faster when racing online - you can follow other cars, ask for their setups, watch in spectator mode to see their lines, etc. But if I was to race my FZR on a brand new circuit tonight, I wouldn't dream of doing so unless I'd spent some time in single player at least getting an idea of where to aim to brake and what speed to expect to get through each corner. And then when I'm online, I'd look to expand my knowledge of driving the circuit, not start it.
On a similar note I was spectating on the hugely popular AS3/GTR combo last night before joining in for a handful of races. As I joined the server and started to spectate, the race was on lap 4/5 and the leader wasn't one of the super-quick guys. In fact a lot of the super-quick guys appeared to have retired or dropped by the wayside, and this lead car wasn't particularly quick - getting lines wrong, locking wheels, and having to use considerable amounts of opposite lock to keep it all under control. But despite that, I can only presume he was having a ball, since with the laptimes he was running he would rarely get to lead a 5 lap AS3 race.
That's until a super-quick guy (regular 1:43s) racing for a well known team (I won't mention any names) caught him up, and drove so aggressively that what happened next was inevitable. On lap 5/5 they came down to the chicane, with the team member having spent the previous half lap all over the back of the leader, often only inches apart. Under braking for the chicane, teh leader got it crossed up slightly, slid, and the team car which was following so closely, ran into him and crashed him out on teh very last turn of the race. The team car apologised and carried on unhindered... and in the process, unlapped himself.
illepallThanks for that tip avih, I'll have to give it a shot sometime. Albeit very very carefully, given my (lack of) DIY skills. Seems as though I'll have to check out a DFP in the flesh before deciding whether they're suitable or not. The MS SW is still soldiering on in the meantime, though.
Seems as though I'll have to check out a DFP in the flesh before deciding whether they're suitable or not. The MS SW is still soldiering on in the meantime, though. FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG