i have been considering use LFS as a simulator for my driving lessons, but i found two important features LFS doesn't have:
1) idle speed. with clutch, idle speed drives the car as slow as possible.
2) side mirror adjustment. in real world, we can see part of the car from the side mirror, but in LFS, we can't.

You really can't use LFS (or any other sim atm) to help you to learn to drive - and lord knows i've tried...

with auto clutch off, the car rolls, doens't it?

That mirror thing is well, that would be nice indeed!

Quote from Jakg :

You really can't use LFS (or any other sim atm) to help you to learn to drive - and lord knows i've tried...

I'd disagree...
LFS, or any other sim can be helpful to learn theoretical basics of how the car should behave in certain conditions. Of course, the same can be achived by reading certain books. Atleast it gave some sort of knowledge about what happens with the car while driving.

In no way it is a highly helpful option, but still an option

Racing? Yes, Driving on the road? No.

Any sim is useful to learn how to use the pedals.

While racing yo learn to use the mirrors and the correct moment and the direction where you have to turn your head to see other cars



@ Itl: without automatic clutch idle speed is real

I thought the same about mirrors few days ago hehe

You could practise all week in a racesim and never learn as much about actually driving a car in normal conditions, as you would as your first 2 hours in a real car.

Quote from Bob Smith :

You could practise all week in a racesim and never learn as much about actually driving a car in normal conditions, as you would as your first 2 hours in a real car.

Hear the voice of wisdom You can stop considering altogether.

As for learning the pedals... the only thing you can learn in a sim is clutch left, brake center, gas right Except for that, the clutch doesn't work anywhere like a real one and for a number of reasons I find more difficult to carry out a smooth take off in LFS than in any road car I've ever driven IRL. The brake pedal on most wheels bears no resemblance to the real thing.

You won't be able to learn the smoothness which comes more or less natural when you're behind the wheel of a real car, e.g. in LFS you can dump the clutch or stomp on the gas/brakes without any ill effects. Do the same IRL and your passengers will throw up whatever they ate last christmas in no time.

And I'm far from having covered all the differences that makes it basically useless

Listen to Bob Smith. He shits wisdom.



But if you use manual clutch and removes the auto clutch, then try to idle speed the car.

Quote from Tim_J_23 :

Listen to Bob Smith. He shits wisdom.



But if you use manual clutch and removes the auto clutch, then try to idle speed the car.

+1
If not using the autoclutch, the car will drive away when in gear.
Have tried it myself, pretty fun actually :P

Quote from Riel :

with auto clutch off, the car rolls, doens't it?

That mirror thing is well, that would be nice indeed!

Yes, with my G25 it can do the idle speed.

if you have a G25 you can practise shifting

Quote from Tim_J_23 :

Listen to Bob Smith. He shits wisdom.

And after eating sufficient spinach, that's green wisdom.

Quote from G!NhO :

if you have a G25 you can practise shifting

well that is far away from real shifting..

I learned how to clutch and shift in an old 1930 Chevrolet. It was up on bricks, being restored.
I was about 12 years old at the time, and when I turned 15 and first drove on the road (1975 Ford Escort) it was easy to master the technique of shifting. Admittedly I'd ridden motorcycles a bit by then, but I still believe that old Chev taught me the basics, even though its wheels weren't actually touching the ground.
Having said that, it takes perhaps 5+ years on the road in traffic before you can consider yourself an experienced road driver. Regardless of how much practice you've had, how many miles you've done, or how skilled you appear to be, until your mental approach to driving matures you aren't really there yet.

Any practice is helpful, even LFS, but there's a lot more going on in real life that will affect your ability to drive well.

*sorry for the slightly O/T post

well no matter how long you practice in LFS, you can probably learn the same thing within the first half an hour or actual driving practice if you are reasonably talented (i.e. not dumb), the only challenging thing is the clutch, modulating it for different situations such as uphill start, rolling up a hill at near idle speed etc etc, which is meaningless with your virtual car, since you can't feel the vibration from the clutch, and you can't feel how smooth you are doing it without actual G forces - it is very easy to get away from bad driving in LFS.

The main thing to learn for real world driving imo is how you look, with real 180degree plus vision your 3D perception is quite different from on screen.

Quote from Tomba(FIN) :

well that is far away from real shifting..

yes but you get a bit of a feeling, at first i couldnt downshift at all but now i can

Quote from Riel :

with auto clutch off, the car rolls, doens't it?

That mirror thing is well, that would be nice indeed!

without auto clutch, the car just dies when it rolls off the line. version X though, yeah the car rolls

also, people... its PRACTICE. not practise. a C, not an S.