Eh...it was meant to be a realism discussion guys.

Don't you find downshifting quite odd?

Quote from Gunn :

The cars have clearly outgrown Monaco. If it wasn't such a historic circuit (and the home of many drivers) it would have been dropped many years ago on safety grounds alone. Having said that, safety has come a long way.

Nice pic, remember back then some drivers crashed into the seas.

Quote from keiran :

I liked the race last year some great overtaking and close racing wing to wing at times. The great pass by Trulli over the huge kerb

Keiran

Yeah that was gutsy, but unfortunately he disturbed his car handling doing that, and later retired...

Quote from 96 GTS :

Is Monaco ever good? IMO it's the most boring race of the season every year. Sure they can't pass on other tracks, but at Monaco it's guaranteed that they won't. Sure I like strategy and pitlane drama as much as the next guy, but in the end, it is a race, not a parade.

Monaco 96
Monaco 97

Quote from Tweaker :

I just hope one of the good drivers has a DNF or something... would really mix things up

I've been thinking... what if Alonso couldn't finish a race sometime this year... then it would be a close battle for Schumi. I know it sounds bad, but I hope Alonso doesn't do well the next couple of races, so Schumi can get even with the points. It would at least mix things up a bit and make a better championship finale in my opinion

That Renualt is bulletproof, the chance of rain on race day is much higher than an Alonso DNF. Damn, I hate it.

Of course you know in 2002 Michael Schumacher finished on the podium in each and every race.

The following vid is the full onboard camera coverage of Alonso's R24 lapping Top Gear's test track, driven by the Stig.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhC2Og_vd_4

Below is a clip from the show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uphjLppVGM

I had planned to make an onboard camera vid of the BF1 for a comparison, but later it proved my laptop couldn't live up to this goal. However I at least find that the in-game camera can be adjusted to an angle and position extremely similar to the one used in the R24. Look here---

Well, to start with, I think the sound in LFS is not as bad as people are saying, but still, it lacks that bit of raw element in RL. I don't know how the sound files are made, but it may be a good idea to sample as many RL engine sounds as possible and use them in corresponding situations. There can be a big improvement, though I can live with it for now.

The general feeling in the cockpit is about right, but I am still hugely annoyed by the tyre sound when you take a fast corner, actually IMO that's one of the worst things with the BF1. Another one is downshifting, both the ways it sounds and operates have some flaws, in the game people are making really unreastic fast downshifts. Typically it takes about 0.5 secs from top gear to the fourth or third gear, while in RL if you do that, there must be a lasting extremely high pitch sound resulting from overrevving the engine, plus several clearly recognizable change of the degree of the pitch upon each downshift. What we get is this toneless grave sound, it's almost as if the game doesn't know what sound to make when players downshift that fast.

Thanks for reading and welcome to comment.

Nice try. But is far from perfect.

Quote from JaguarUSF :

Watching F1 races from an American perspective presents a skew I'd like to eliminate by asking for varied European views.

I am getting the sort of feedback I was hoping for by asking the LFS community. The lack of "NASCAR r0x0rzzzzzzzz d00000d F1 suxorzzzz" posts is refreshing. Let the responses keep on rollin'.

Well, I'd predict Kimi and Fernando Alonso will share between them at least 7 titles in the next 10 years. Do keep an eye on Rosberg and maybe Heikki Kovalainen in the future.

But at present, I will root for Schumacher, probably this will be his final season. All is said and done, he remains one of the greatest, if not the greatest.

Am I the only one who's confused at the idea to ask others about which is your driver?

Quote from tristancliffe :

May I make reference to the brilliant world of Sniff Petrol yet again (see the off topic forum for my last insane thread about it).

http://www.sniffpetrol.com/AllenCampaign2006_02.gif

:ices_rofl

although you know I think Steve Rider is worse, he just can't stop starting a sentence without "how important is it..." I'd kill myself if he commentates for the race!!!!!:banghead:

Quote from Vain :

Not only does he burn more fuel and thus has to go into the pits earlier than when he drives behind silently, he also gets into dirty air, gets problems with engine-heat, brake-heat and tyre-wear. When, for example, Schumacher is behind Fisichella it is best to stay well behind, spare the engine and burn less fuel. The aerodynamics of the cars are so complex that it is very hard to drive behind someone with less than 0.5 seconds distance.
Overtaking someone is one of the worst thing you can do in F1.

Vain

I am confused at this idea that following someone would put you in disadvantage, I am even more confused how this comes to be a popular idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FU8Yx87c5o

They do get very close.

Quote from Hallen :

The standard used by pretty much everybody is the "International" foot. The "US Survey foot" was based off an older standard and is slightly different. It only comes up because many of the land surveys done in the US are based off of the older definition of the foot... Painful, isn't it?illepall

I was in the military for a lot of years. We used metric units for all distance calculations. For example, I used to know that at 90 KIAS (Knotts Indicated Air Speed) that I was doing 3 Klicks (Kilometers) per minute. All our maps were metric.

Got your point, thanks for your patience to explain all these.

It's always metric that gives me a direct idea of how fast/long something is, but I have no problem with the imperial units, sometimes it's even a bit interesting to change them around.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Hmm. The last two boring races we had, you enjoyed. Bit of a Schumacher bias at all?

lol not quite, at least at Bahrain, Europe and San Marino we had proper fights for the first place, Spain was just a Alonso runaway. But Alonso is the man that's for sure. FYI I didn't enjoy too much of most Schumacher's 04 victories as well.

Well done but what a bore.

Surprisingly boring, especially after we had races like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9flAHP52f4 in the same season.

Quote from Hallen :

Yes, I am 6' 2" as an example. We use MPH for all cars, but KPH is also listed on all of them too.

We use pound (lbs) for weight instead of Kilos, and gallons for fluid (which is different than European gallons).

Er...I mean what is an International foot? It sounds to me that both the English foot and the International foot is used in the U.S.

Quote from Hallen :

I use Imperial in LFS. I don't like KPH because there is too many ticks per unit so to speak. A MPH analog gauge is readable, a KPH guage is hard to read.

Don't Americans use imperial standard for one's height? Like five six, or six two. What gauges do you use in America, MPH or KPH?

Hey people, we have to get this!



Top Gear Test Track!!!!!!


http://www.dunsfoldpark.co.uk/images/dpav2.jpg

Quote from Marc Ainley :

Well one of the questions in my first post was, "which would be the easiest track to get hold of?"

Why not Silverstone?


Since LFS has a solid UK fan base and also the HQ is here. One could persuade the circuit owner that a Silverstone in LFS could be very helpful for their attendance figures. Be it a race day or a public open day, people will potentially be more interested in coming to the track.

Quote from Hoellsen :

Originally, Ferrari was part of the GPMA.

Other than that: more rule changes in the 21st century have been made against Ferrari than in favor: new points scheme, new qualifying system in 2003, no tire change in 2005. Every time these changes came after a dominant Ferrari season and every time Ferrari struggled to adjust. And these changes were done by the FIA.

Thanks for pointing out the inaccuracy. Just got baffled by the antis. But by using the word antis, maybe I am hugely biased as well.

Quote from JJ72 :

however don't forget the state of FIA is pretty close to a one man dictatorship - by Bernie.

And I do think Ferrari personals has quite a close relationship with Bernie thus FIA, compare to other competitors.

Links? Or is it just your gut feeling?

Due to their inability to build championship winning cars, Ferrari's rivals make up this GPMA thing, threaten to leave F1 to start their own series. However, just after European GP, words came out that Renualt want a break from GPMA. Link---http://www.gp2006.com/news/con ... ewsForm&news_id=19244

Quote:"Renault vice-president Alain Dassas spoke with the other GPMA teams (BMW, Honda, Mercedes, Toyota) at the Nurburgring and revealed that the French based squad wants to sign the new Concorde Agreement and therefore leave their club. However, Dassas was reminded that his predecessor, Patrick Faure, has signed a contract that does not allow any one of manufacturers to take any individual action before September."

Ferrari is a name that no one could easily write off, even in a year like 2005, Ferrari made a few surprises. The FIA even changed its rules to slow Ferrari. It's interesting to see how things change, now Renualt get what they want in F1, surely they don't care about the GPMA any more. All these are about politics in F1, which although I am not particularly interested in, I know it happens all the time. But time and time again I find it quite amazing how people claim FIA is favoring Ferrari, or Ferrari is "closer" to the FIA than other teams. Well, I suppose that's what success brings you.

I know opinions vary, but I'd appreciate it if you could provide some proofs. Sometimes gut feeling can be misleading.

Quote from StewartFisher :

But why is it more flexible? The rules say they must be rigid, therefore the teams should never be using their flexibility to gain an advantage.

1. The rules say so, but none of the wings are strictly rigid. The FIA use tests to make sure the wings are legal. Since all teams pass the tests, then you couldn't call a particular team a cheater.

2. Ferrari has no idea how flexible other teams' wings are, they focus on their own car design given that it fits the rule, and they succeed in doing so.

3. You couldn't blame Ferrari for gaining an advantage (if any) with their wings, since they don't know whether other teams' wings are more flexible than theirs or not. FIA should improve the rule by bringing in more specific tests regarding the flexibility of wings. If anyone's to blame, it's the FIA.

Quote from StewartFisher :

The article on ITV-F1 quoted an 'insider' saying that since Ferrari are getting away with using flexible wings, other teams are going to redesign their wings to flex in a similar way. The problem I have is the rules say that no moveable aerodynamic parts are allowed and now we have engineers designing aerodynamic parts to flex in order to gain an advantage. They're clearly breaking the rules, but they're only doing it because Ferrari have been doing it and aren't being punished for it.

Thing is, even before they found out about Ferrari's flexible wings, their wings did flex too. You could refer to pictures in my previous posts for visual evidence. IMHO, it's just the usual politics around F1, when some teams perform badly they always want to find something to move the focus away to avoid critics. I can't believe Honda lodged a formal concern to the FIA about Ferrari's wing just based on the fact that they are a bit faster on the backstraight.

Ferrari's wing may be a bit more flexible than others', but calling that cheating is a far too subjective view.

Last edited by wE1l, Thu 11 May 2006, 22:41.

Quote from StewartFisher :

As has already been mentioned before, ALL structures flex under load. Thus it is inevitable that wings on all F1 cars will flex. A few years ago some teams started making their rear wings flexible which is why the FIA introduced the current 'flex test'.
What Ferrari seem to be doing this time is to design the wing in such a way to cause the top plane of the wing to deflect in an advantageous way. That is clearly not in agreement with the regulations.

I read thoroughly every word of your posts, just can't quite get your logic behind them. So do you think the top planes on other cars don't bend downwards as those on Ferrari do? If they bend too, aren't they gaining an advantage throught it as well? And then all cars are illegal by your standard.

Quote from StewartFisher :

Ferrari are clearly using moveable aerodynamic devices to gain an advantage, which is against the rules. Now that Ferrari have been allowed to get away with it, all the others will have to join them.
It's not about Ferrari thinking harder than the other teams, forcing the others to play catch up, it's about Ferrari cheating and getting away with it. Again.

By that do you mean ONLY Ferrari's rear wing flex? Thus breaking the rules?

Quote from J.B. :

Cool stuff. I've always been wondering about what these simulators are like that the F1 teams use. See what you can find out: Who writes them? Are they in-house productions? What hardware do they run on? Are they perhaps mods of commerical sims? etc.

And does the driver feel G-Forces in the simulator?