Quote from teaz-R :

thanks
It sure was a exciting race

It was a brave move and well executed.
Though I still have a grudge against Chris for insisting to go side-by-side through the chicane. He could've tugged in and challenged me for second on the remaining laps (in which he would propably have succeeded), but noooo, he wanted to become 9th...
But hey, the way it panned out all Muroc cars removed themselves from the top-three. Team ART for the win .

Vain

Thanks for the nice words.

Vain

Quote :

I'm just relaying the LFS position report

I found that to be completely useless. I don't even use it when I drive. When I developed the LFSpitboard I just recorded all IS_LAP and IS_SPX packets, sorted them chronologically and had a nice list of all cars with positions, splits, development of split-times over the last laps, laptime-development and everything I needed. It may eat some kbytes of RAM in long races, but this isn't MoE.

Quote :

[...] the camera doesnt follow 1 car.
[...]
I'm [...] still puzzling over the problem of detecting sensible cars to show the information about.

If you view more than one car those cars would be good candidates, wouldn't they?
I guess you can work something out both regarding splits and the camera focus indicator. I don't know how well it'd work out on the actual broadcast though.

Quote :

we also have the problem that we're not in the same room

I understand that it's not sensible for one commentator to abort the other unless they are very experienced. The commentator that is talking needs to watch the screen and just switch the topic when necessary. In real broadcasts the two commentators usually have well defined roles. One has the role to always shout and scream when something happens and the other has a couple of nice stories to tell when nothing happens on screen. Try enforcing such role-behaviour with regards to lag and I'm sure you can come to a good result.

Quote :

I cant get you to report each other

Well, call me stupid, but I think you already have the alpha-version of an incident-search-program.

Vain

The camera software worked great. I knew it was coming up from the stcc-boards but I was surprised how well it actually worked. The visual quality and framerate was perfect. The car position overlay is awesome.
Some feedback I can think of at the moment:
- Perhaps you can improve the position overlay by putting two cars that are alongside in the same position while their position is undeterminable. That stops the position overlay from flicking around and announcing false position changes.
- Add an indicator to the position overlay to signify the car that is being looked at, if a specific car is in focus. That'll help the viewer to identify what end of the field he's looking at. I personally got mixed up a couple of times during the show.
- Onboard cameras are a good filler. Instead of watching two cars driving behind each other for laps and laps and laps show some bumper-cam or rear-view footage to make things more interesting. If interesting stuff is happening onboard cams don't work (unless you look at AussieV8 moving onboard cams).
- Try some static cameras that don't focus on a specific car. Just a static camera on the inside of a turn that shows the field as it streams past. Very much like the curb-cams they have on some circuits. Again, that works as a filler.
- Add more information to the button interface. What is the split between the viewed cars? For internet broadcasting it wouldn't be sensible to view laptimes or other more sophisticated data because it's too hard to read, but you can view it to the commentators so they can filter out the important bits and read them out for the viewers.
- You did a great job commentating. You always managed to stick with what happened on screen. In round 7 you and Tristan got lost in a conversation a couple of times while everybody else was busy watching the most awesome racing-action ever recorded. This was a lot better in round 9.
- That said, you definitely need a second commentator. You didn't miss out on anything and did as good as you possibly could, but a conversation of the commentators makes the viewing experience a lot better. Don't hesitate though to stop a conversation at the end of the syllable you were just saying if anything worth noting happens on screen. There's nothing worse than watching a race and have the commentators talk about something else.
- Pre-show and after-show were a bit lacking this round. Most noticably there was a lot of complete silence while you had to talk the viewers through everything. How about showing some replays from quali or something like that to have something happen?
- The name death-wall was over-dramatic. "He's in the wall" is specific enough, and it doesn't make me smirk.
- Last point: Get the whip from the drawer. Driver discipline was lacking. I thought my defending against Vierumäki was bad driving, but some of what we saw on the broadcast really just wasn't on.

We had better races before, but the broadcast was fantastic.

Vain

[Edit]
Oh, and the camera-tool can be tricked into viewing a certain car during the SC phase by excessive weaving. I was in focus a lot because my tyres were at optimum temperature when the SC was called and I was the one who weaved the most. I need to keep that in mind once I have sponsors to statisfy.

I added some screenshots for this round here.

Vain

And 4 more screenshots.
I hope you enjoy them.

Vain

These are the pictures from round 3 of the Road Sport Summer Cup. There was a lot of good action going on.
The shots are in 1280x1024@8xAA&16xAF using the 512² skins from LFSW.

Vain

Last edited by Vain, Fri 17 Aug 2007, 15:02.

I qualified 3rd with a proper time just 11 hundreths behind my pb, which is my usual race-pace if I have clean air.
After the start and a nice little dice with Azaazaa I found myself in a rather secured 3rd spot and tried to follow Ghost, which kind of worked. A few laps later Pickard made a mistake and I became 2nd. Thus the only thing left to do was catching Ghost. But for some reason from lap 5-6 on I lost 5 tenths each lap and I had no clue where they were gone. Tyres were normal, car felt fine, but I lapped 4-5 tenths slower than normal.
I only managed to rectify the situation slowly from lap 12 on and got back into the low 1:55s but then it was way too late.
Nice first few laps. But a frustratingly bad performance by me.

Vain

Quote from LFSn00b :

Saturday is the best imo

...Unless you have a social life.

Vain

You're propably driving by what you see, not what you hear.
Try making rules. When I started out I used:
Flat right: 6th gear
Easy right: 5th gear
Fast right: 4th
Medium: 3rd
Everything below: 2nd
When it rains just drop a gear from those figures.

That should get you through most turns safely. Change accordingly if something scary comes up, like fast right into medium left. Later, when you feel safer you can speed up a little depending on what the copilot says.
The line you drive is *very* important. A basic strategy is entering the corner from the outside and planning the apex *very* late. When I can't judge a corner I plan a so late apex that I only hit the inside of the corner when the corner is over. That way I can always react when the corner is longer than I thought, or if I overheard a "tightens".
Make sure you really learn how to plan your line just by what the copilot says. "Easy left over crest into fast right" is completely different from "Easy left into fast right over crest" which is completely different from "easy left into fast right" which is completely different from "Easy left 30 fast right over crest" etc. etc.
Use your ears to decide which line you want to go. Use your eyes to correct the line you pictured in your head, if there are any bumps, holes, or cambered-parts to take note of.

When you go quick the risk never approaches zero. Even Loeb and Grönholm wreck their cars once in a while.
I reinstalled RBR a few days ago after not having played it for 6 months. I really didn't know any of the stages. Yet I managed to complete a season with exactly one incident, which happened today.
On my 2nd stage of the Australia rally, New Bobs, I approached a "100 fast right narrows 100", put the left rear wheel on the rough bits as planned, something I never saw coming lifted the complete rear axle into the air, I struck a tree and hit something with the radiator, lost cooling and the engine died on the next stage. Despite the wreck I finished the stage well below the RBR-WR, which means I could've tackled the corner 20km/h slower and would still have won the stage. Instead I lost the rally. (No deal though, still won the championship, and I only did the Peugeot/Pro rally to unlock all stages so I can practice the Toyota and do a Champion difficulty season.)
Once you know how to plan the lines according to the pacenotes it's really easy - if you can concentrate.
Oh, and a concentration hint: *Always* watch the replays. You need the cool-down time.

Quote from The Moose :

There is nothing more satisfying than flying through a stage of RBR and making it through unscathed.

Roger that. After that mistake I did the first run of Noiker in the dry with the Toyota and did a very nice 8:14. The stage is completely mental, hammering down a bumpy cart track in a forest at 180km/h, the copilot announces "over crest flat left" and you have to turn in before the crest into a 3 meter wide corner you can't see while driving 180km/h. Real "I'm gonna die now!"-moments. It's just awesome.
Bisanne is another stage that is completely mental when you have to really nail it because you need the championship points. If you concentrate hard enough and later watch the replay you go: "How is that even humanly possible!"

Vain

I gave it a shot.
I didn't go for the full "XXX driver" because that would leave too few space for the cars. Also I didn't want to use more than one font style.

Vain

Here's a design I came up with.
Thanks to userbars.com for the tutorials.

Vain

Hello.

I messed around a bit with the autocross editor and came up with the following layout. In theory the layout should work properly with multiple cars, although I didn't test it.
The track is called Colorblind because I used colored cones to give 'names' to each corner. That way you can address each corner easily.

There are a couple of layouts around that look similar because that's just the longest way a track can go around the AU arena. I still wanted to bring out my own interpretation. The key feature is that, despite having driven it for quite a while, I'm still not sure what the real ideal line is.
Feel free to modify.

Vain

I had a nice race.
I had troubles qualifying. I could only do two laps with a clear track, so a 2nd place wasn't too bad for that. Sorry to Willi for disturbing one of his flying laps only to go wide the next corner...
In the race I took first place from Breizh in the second corner and managed to run away with it to the finish.
The stats in the results-page are great. You can nicely see how my second sector completely sucked. I had great troubles braking into the uphill 180° corner after the long very fast right bend. The rear wheels always tried to lock up. My first split was half a second better than it was when I did my 2:48.8 pb, but by the end of the second split I was several tenths behind my pb-lap every time.
Well, at least I was very consistant in screwing the second split up .

[Edit] Can't wait for Race 2. Though I like South City Town Reversed better than the standard variation. In reversed it's one of the best tracks LFS has to offer, especially in the FZ5. Has this "elephant in the porcelain shop"-feeling to it.

[Edit2] Oh, and notice how the stats say that for some reason I caused 11 yellow flags in 10 laps without ever sliding the car.

Vain

Last edited by Vain, Thu 19 Jul 2007, 21:08.

On the other hand the FZ5 consumes double as much fuel as the RAC.
The FZ5 has to pit for fuel even before it pits for tyres. And do you know how long it takes to fuel up 100% in an FZ5? Try a full pit for 100% fuel and four tyres - you can safely pit in, go to the kitchen, pour yourself a glass of you favorite beverage, come back and not have lost a single second. Every ~25 laps the FZ5 spends over 30 seconds longer in the pits than the RAC. Even the LX6 is quicker on Aston Historic if you factor in fueling up.
My race-pace is high 2:49 from second lap to 2:48.8 as a pb. I think I can go way quicker than that though. Never really tried though - it's a boat, not a race-car.
Btw, after 3 flying laps with the RAC I achieved a 2:52.2.

[Edit]
Random fact from testing: The FZ5 can make a pass on a FZR in a straight line. I managed to nicely draft pass a FZR on the main straight (while laughing like a maniac ).
[/Edit]

Vain

Last edited by Vain, Mon 16 Jul 2007, 13:55.

I'd love to participate in an endurance-event, especially with driver change. FZ5 and Fern Bay is a great combo for an endurance run, even though the car is horribly inferior to the other cars there . I sometimes do a couple of Fern Bay Black Rev laps in the FZ5 just because it's so much fun .
However I don't think the event will happen. You propably won't be able to gather 64 interested drivers...

Vain

Actually there are hundrets of those attempts each year over the globe. And no, they are not stupid. Actually very smart.

The principle works like this:
You act like you came up with something that is going to revolutionize the world as it is. The 0.5 litre engine with 500 hp, a lightbulp that converts 95% electric energy to light, the super-alloy that weights less than magnesium and is stronger than steel, whatever. With your new and genius invention you start a new company, and offer yourself to become it's CEO.
Now you convince banks to finance you. After all, this invention is going to change the world as it is, and undoubtably your invention will generate money like plutonium generates radiation, so the bank will make great profit by financing you. During this phase you need to stirr up as much attention as possible. Every bank and every bank's advisor on this planet needs to believe that your invention works. And since you're talking about banks you don't convince them with physics but with flashy papers and nice powerpoint-presentations.
Being the CEO of the aspiring company you pay yourself a very hefty wage for something like two years. Then you go "Whoops, it didn't work!", declare insolvency, fire yourself off the position as a CEO, claim that you as your own employee may keep the wages you received and try to get away with it.

* ToDo: Study laws and add a proper legal explanation.

Vain

I'm in.

[Edit] FZ5, of course!

Vain

Last edited by Vain, Sun 8 Jul 2007, 12:27.

I'd suggest to revive the spirit of the OCC as a race-evening every 5 days.
An event would be on a monday, then saturday, thurday, tuesday, sunday, friday, wednesday, monday, etc.
Not everyone is going to be able to participate in every event every 5 days, but this system offers a chance to every driver in the right timezone to have a populated server with an interesting combo every 5 days. Even if you can *only* drive on e.g. sundays the server will be back to that day of the week in 35 days.
Most importantly this increases the chance of finding a populated server. The hoster could perhaps set up a newsletter that announces the meeting in the morning of the race-day and also announces the next race-day.

If this works out one could also think about creating a parallel event with a time-table that is more convinient for drivers from other time-zones.

Vain

Last edited by Vain, Fri 6 Jul 2007, 15:28.

So you're suggesting to turn the "have a lonely server host a lonely combo 24/7"-OCC into a "meet every friday evening and race something odd"-OCC?

Get's a from me.

Vain

Hm. Then not.
I wish you a nice race. Perhaps some other time.

Vain

Hello.
Since TBO and GTR seem bearable now I thought LRF should get some more attention. For that sake I summed up all LFSW WR-times and then calculated the "average LFS lap".
Over all 48 combos the cars score on average:
FZ5: 1:36.72
RAC: 1:36.61
LX6: 1:36.03
Note how the LX6 is on average 0.6 of a second quicker than the other two.

For those who want to see how those numbers came about and where each car has it's strenght here is the textfile that shows all WR's as of 25.6.07:
* Those are quite many numbers. I take no responsibility for typing-errors, though I checked everything twice.

Conclusion: The LX6 is superior to the other two in both absolute laptime and fuel usage. In a pitstop it has to stop almost only half as long as a FZ5 and carries fewer additional weight than a FZ5.
There are two possibilities. Either de-tune the LX6 by adding 20kg (*) to it, or speed up RAC and FZ5, which would require an incompatible patch and doesn't mix with the real stats of the RAC (though the current RAC doesn't fit its stats on www.raceabout.fi anyway). My personal suggestion would be to add 3% power (~7bhp) to the RAC and remove 3% (~40kg) weight from the FZ5. That needs testing though of course. 0.6 a lap is the target.

(*) Personally I think 20kg is a very conservative measure. The LX6 will propably still be quickest, but it's margin should decrease a lot since 20kg is significant relative to the car's absolute mass.

[Edit] (**) Alternatively a power reduction by ~5 bhp would also have a significant impact on the car.

Vain

Last edited by Vain, Thu 28 Jun 2007, 08:53.

I voted because I'm likely to participate, but it depends on wether I can make it. My status is "trying hard to take part".

But generally I don't think you can qualify 32 drivers in 30 minutes in a singlelap-quali.

Vain

Quote from tade :

Yeah, I tried that too yesterday, it didn't change the cfg.txt file but to no avail, CSR was still not working. It seems that when the race starts Pitboard changes the Outgauge port anyway.

Actually it should, but it doesn't. LFSpitboard initialized OutGauge exactly once, which is directly after connecting to LFS (within a tenth of a second).
That can cause it to lose OutGauge under certain circumstances (you can see that when it doesn't remove pitboards after 15 seconds anymore).
Usually you'd be able to disable LFSpitboard's OutGauge functionality by setting the OutGauge port to zero. However, I made an exception in the program and considered zero to be an illegal port, which causes LFSpitboard to set the default port. I'll fix that in the next release.

Vain

In LFSpitboard I work with C++ in conjunction with SDLnet. You might already know SDLnet if you come from a unix-background.
But generally it's a snap. Some basic code from LFSpitboard:

I'm aware that I could also write all packets into a buffer, store the address of the first byte and cast the pointer to *IS_WHATEVER so I don't have to copy data from the header to packets that store something important in the fourth byte, but I do it this way to stay type-save.

Vain