Hi all.

recently my boyfriend (Blakey.) started playing this sim, after just buying his G25 like yesterday!

I've been spending quite a while on it too, and so far i'm really enjoying it, but with no prior driving experience i'm not exactly good, although my boyfriend says that i'm improving really fast.

sooo.. i have a few questions..

1) Do you think a G25 is worth it? (it feels great, and seems realistic, but i've got nothing really to compare it to)

2) Is there a way to play 1v1 races via LAN, or is there an easy to way set up a dedicated server? (from what i here only a low spec machine is needed to host)

3) *reserved*

Ahh! i know the other question!

I'm going to be starting to learn to drive within the next few months, would driving and shifting with clutch on the G25 be good practise, is the sim accurate enough to help me learn how to smoothly operate a real car? (at least on a basic level)

Uhm.

Welcome!

<Awkward silence>


1) Yes

2) Uhm, just directly connect via connect to IP or on the LAN or something, or get a server for like £8 a month.

3) !

Bonus question) Yes!

First of all, welcome to the community

second, the G25 is definitely worth it!

and yes you can host lan servers, just go to create new server/host (can't remember what it is in english) and choose "local" as the server type

1) I personally love my G25, feels magnitudes better than my Momo that it replaced.
2) LAN games are really easy to setup, you can start them from in game (Multiplayer -> Start New Game -> Visibility = "Local", then the driver who's joining from the other computer goes Multiplayer -> Join Game (or something) and then selects LAN and types in the hosts IP address)
3) I found it helped me none learning how to drive by practicing with G25. If anything, it made me a better sim racer, after learning how to drive in real life, I could use H-Shifter+Clutch in LFS.

3.- Well, it could be a help on basic levels... But LFS is based on racing, so it's *not that accurate* when driving slow... But I haven't got a G25 to really tell (I wish I had tho)
Still, it's a great base when starting from nothing.

It can give basic understanding of having to lift off the throttle, and clutch to change gears, stalling, etc etc. No it can't make you magically able to drive amazingly, but if someone who has never even driven before, it can make things much easier to understand without being placed in a car, with all the accompaning pressure.

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

It can give basic understanding of having to lift off the throttle, and clutch to change gears, stalling, etc etc. No it can't make you magically able to drive amazingly, but if someone who has never even driven before, it can make things much easier to understand without being placed in a car, with all the accompaning pressure.

This pretty much answers it for me, I'm not expecting it to make me an amazing driver, but it should be true to life enough when it comes to clutch operation etc?

The G25/LFS combo is more for fun than learning to drive, i just wanted to make sure i wasn't going to be wasting my time assuming that if i could handle gear changes smoothly in game id be much better at doing it in a real car.. it seems like it will help in that respect!

of course i realise theres a massive difference between high speed racing and normal day to day driving though .



Thanks for the quick responses so far guys.

I think it does help a bit with gears and pedal control. The handling of the cars really can't be compared to driving a real car though, as you have no forces acting on you, and you can't really feel what the car is doing. It definitely won't do any harm anyway, I played LFS for a year with a G25 before getting my first car and I haven't crashed yet

welcome! atleast you didn't get attacked by guys like the last girl that came into lfs.

It does help. My grandad let me try his car and i doubt i would have instantly been able to use the clutch etc without lfs

Quote from Luke.S :

It does help. My grandad let me try his car and i doubt i would have instantly been able to use the clutch etc without lfs

this is the effect i was looking for

just a little kickstart in the right direction.

Quote from Laura. :

Ahh! i know the other question!

I'm going to be starting to learn to drive within the next few months, would driving and shifting with clutch on the G25 be good practise, is the sim accurate enough to help me learn how to smoothly operate a real car? (at least on a basic level)

Driving - i.e. gears will be a little easier, but tbh the hard part is the traffic, parking etc, which LFS cannot teach you.

LFS (and a few years of karting) meant I learnt the basics quicker than most but i didn't find the rest (i.e. double bloody roundabouts) was made any easier.

FWIW I had my test just over 2 weeks ago and passed first time, I did try LFS to help me but it really didn't - best advice I can give is to get the best instructor you can get...

EDIT - Seeing as the clutch simulation is... dodgy in LFS when pulling away slowly, and seeing as you can't "feel" rough changes the best advice I can give it take a car to private land and just have a go - I did this with my Dad's old Golf (a terrible old company car) on a local disused Airfield when i was 14 on Christmas day :P

Quote from mutt107 :

welcome! atleast you didn't get attacked by guys like the last girl that came into lfs.

What girl was that?

My 2 cents, I have only brifly tested G25, maybe it's worth it and maybe not. Personally I would go for a cheaper wheel first, and if you like it and wants to get a extra "dept" over the driving, go for G25.

Logitec's wheels are good, and cheap compared to G25. Ofc they has some limitations compared to the G25, but still a good choise if you don't want to use a lot of money on it before you are sure you really enjoy and want to keep driving

Quote from The Very End :

What girl was that?

My 2 cents, I have only brifly tested G25, maybe it's worth it and maybe not. Personally I would go for a cheaper wheel first, and if you like it and wants to get a extra "dept" over the driving, go for G25.

Logitec's wheels are good, and cheap compared to G25. Ofc they has some limitations compared to the G25, but still a good choise if you don't want to use a lot of money on it before you are sure you really enjoy and want to keep driving

Money isn't really the problem, i just know that my boyfriend tends to get the "best" stuff, even if its not really the best or worth it, but from my own research, and what a lot of people on this forum seem to suggest is that it actually is the better choice of wheel.

Buying a lesser wheel, only to be dissapointed by it compared to the G25 isn't really what I'd call "christmass"


haha.

Yes it's more for fun that driving lessons, but I made it try to my girlfriend to practise (she never drove a car before). And it helped her understand things that are not told in the driving school : like how does the car behaves when you don't lift off, how does the oversteer comes to the car.

So, she intuitively follow the racing line (did not speak of this to her) at daily driving speeds and she went fine I think it helps to understand the cars' behavior and get some basic control reflexes

Quote from Zen321 :

Yes it's more for fun that driving lessons, but I made it try to my girlfriend to practise (she never drove a car before). And it helped her understand things that are not told in the driving school : like how does the car behaves when you don't lift off, how does the oversteer comes to the car.

So, she intuitively follow the racing line (did not speak of this to her) at daily driving speeds and she went fine I think it helps to understand the cars' behavior and get some basic control reflexes

hehe, sounds cool. thanks for the replies so far guys!

Quote from The Very End :

My 2 cents, I have only brifly tested G25, maybe it's worth it and maybe not. Personally I would go for a cheaper wheel first, and if you like it and wants to get a extra "dept" over the driving, go for G25.

I agree with that. I have a Logitech FF EX and it's fine for me. About £30's worth

Welcome btw, see how nice we are when a girl comes along

Quote from Laura. :

Money isn't really the problem, i just know that my boyfriend tends to get the "best" stuff, even if its not really the best or worth it, but from my own research, and what a lot of people on this forum seem to suggest is that it actually is the better choice of wheel.

Buying a lesser wheel, only to be dissapointed by it compared to the G25 isn't really what I'd call "christmass"


haha.

Haha, your one of those who know what you want eh? It's a good ability btw.

Well, then, then if I were in your situation I would go for G25

Or, if that Porche wheel is out yet, heared it should be great aswell.

Quote from Jakg :

Driving - i.e. gears will be a little easier, but tbh the hard part is the traffic, parking etc, which LFS cannot teach you.

this is what i meant by "basic understanding" i know full well that the hardest part (for most) is roadcraft and situational awareness etc, however I've been taking a lot of back seat driving sessions lately, and i'm pretty up to speed with this sort of thing, and i'll be doing a lot more about this shortly.


---- Rest assured i know the difference between operating a car, and driving on a real road!

Quote from J@tko :

Welcome btw, see how nice we are when a girl comes along

Lol, everyone seemed nice enough in my boyfriends first posts:

http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=51663
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=51650


However.. we've both noticed that my thread seems to be garnering a lot more interest than his!


Anyway, thanks for the welcome so far guys, spose i'll be getting that S2 license very soon (presuming that we Can't use our individual PC's online at the same time on a server even though its same household/IP/router whatever!

Welcome to lfs! As it has already been said, lan games are easy to set up, no need for dedi hosts.

Lfs won't be a great help in learning to drive. Visibility out of the in-car view is not comparable, lack of forces, can't feel clutch bite, brakes based on travel instead of pressure, no slippery or dark conditions etc.

Borrow a car and find a secluded spot

Quote from NotAnIllusion :

Welcome to lfs! As it has already been said, lan games are easy to set up, no need for dedi hosts.

Lfs won't be a great help in learning to drive. Visibility out of the in-car view is not comparable, lack of forces, can't feel clutch bite, brakes based on travel instead of pressure, no slippery or dark conditions etc.

Borrow a car and find a secluded spot

ok, on the flipside, would it be fair to say that a good driver in real life would have a much easier time with LFS than someone who has never driven?

Quote from Laura. :

ok, on the flipside, would it be fair to say that a good driver in real life would have a much easier time with LFS than someone who has never driven?

Not really. If the guy is used to the racing principles, then he will be very good at the start in LFS.

Otherwise, a daily driver will have the basic understanding of the car but will lack the racing reflexes

FWIW, I started playing LFS in October 2002, a full year before I got my license. I did fine. Granted, I did play some other racing games before LFS, but none were anywhere near as realistic. I used to think the Gran Turismo series was realistic before I found LFS.