Hi!

I just bought the S2 license after playing a few hours of the demo, the game is awesome and I was always searching for a more realistic racing simulator, so I couldn't resist. I'm a racing fan and I'm very familiar with racing etiquette, although since I'm quite new to the game and I'm having some issues with my wheel, I'm rather slow.

Ok, now the questions:

Is there a server that welcomes slower but fair drivers wishing to learn or just wanting some fun playing fair? I just want to enjoy driving a car as fast as I can... But I'm afraid to join a random server coz I'm too slow yet.

The other question is about my steering wheel, it's an USB Driving Force for PS2 which I used in my PC and it worked somewhat fine (LOL), although the force feedback isn't working in the game. But well, the question is that if it's possible to make the pedals less sensible? when I press like 10% of the gas pedal it reaches a really high rpm, almost the maximum...same for brake pedal, I just barely touch it and the car is locking the tires. That's a pain when dealing with more powerful cars.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading
See you
Ale

Quote from -ale- :

Is there a server that welcomes slower but fair drivers wishing to learn or just wanting some fun playing fair? I just want to enjoy driving a car as fast as I can... But I'm afraid to join a random server coz I'm too slow yet

I think you will find that most server's will welcome you no matter your speed, as long as you can keep it clean( ie. respect the blue flags). Jump into any server and your sure to get some advice/set ups to help you out.

As for your wheel , i have a momo, but ive read that you should download the latest wingman drivers. Do a search and im sure you will find some helpful info

Welcome to lfs, enjoy your stay!!

when in the game go to controller options and click calibrate. then press brake, accelerator, and turn the wheel left to right, hope that helps.

Quote from -ale- :

Hi!

I just bought the S2 license after playing a few hours of the demo, the game is awesome and I was always searching for a more realistic racing simulator, so I couldn't resist. I'm a racing fan and I'm very familiar with racing etiquette, although since I'm quite new to the game and I'm having some issues with my wheel, I'm rather slow.

Ok, now the questions:

Is there a server that welcomes slower but fair drivers wishing to learn or just wanting some fun playing fair? I just want to enjoy driving a car as fast as I can... But I'm afraid to join a random server coz I'm too slow yet.

The other question is about my steering wheel, it's an USB Driving Force for PS2 which I used in my PC and it worked somewhat fine (LOL), although the force feedback isn't working in the game. But well, the question is that if it's possible to make the pedals less sensible? when I press like 10% of the gas pedal it reaches a really high rpm, almost the maximum...same for brake pedal, I just barely touch it and the car is locking the tires. That's a pain when dealing with more powerful cars.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading
See you
Ale

Hi Ale,

Welcome to the LFS community! You do not sound like a n00b at all, and I think a serious sim racing driver is welcomed in any server.

For a hint, maybe you should try to drive some laps to familiarize yourself with the cars and tracks, and trainning mode of the game isn't a crappy one.

Hope you enjoy!

Be sure to read I need to find a Host who welcomes the SLOWEST drivers. There's some good advice in there to get you started.

As for the wheel, get the Wingman Team drivers.

http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=6345

Check that thread for how to setup your wheel correctly in LFS.

Quote :

I think you will find that most server's will welcome you no matter your speed, as long as you can keep it clean

This isn't entirely true, sadly. A car which is very slow can actually be a menace and interfere with the race result - take the ever popular Fox/SO Classic combination, a good lap there is in the 42 second realm with us megre mortals doing 43-44. A driver doing 55+'s would be extremely dangerous to stumble across in the chicane.

I've seen how some drivers treat "liabilities", I recall a race recently on said combo where one driver was going through the chicane in 2nd gear (4th for more experienced racers) - everyone was having a go at him, I felt quite sorry for the lad but my best advise to help out was taken along with the furor his presence caused :/.

Even today at Fe Gold I was trying out some setups I had just been given in the hope of competing better in the 'next' race, having scored a 2nd previously so not actually being 'that' slow. I found myself getting a blue flag as I went into a bend so afterwards I eased off, I saw the leader in my mirrors pushing the limit hard and so I actually moved off the track for him to let him by... After the race I got a load of sexist abuse because I had "ignored" the blue flag for "ages"... I checked the replay, he'd been spamming "Blue flag" messages since I was a dot on the horizon!

Regrettably some people do have an extremely low tolerance of people they see as being inferior to them.

Well, the FOX@SO Classic is always a massacre .

Someone using a key to scream "<<<BLUE FLAG! BLUE FLAG!>>>" clearly has no idea how the rule actually works.

Indeed the so1/fox can be a mess, which is why i said most If you are polite and have the slightest bit of racing etiquette, most people(in my experience anyway) will be helpful and not flame the noob! Feel free to join us on our servers anytime, we suck really bad, so your safe there :P

Quote from th84 :

we suck really bad

lies.

Quote from th84 :

your safe there

lies.

Quote from filur :

Someone using a key to scream "<<<BLUE FLAG! BLUE FLAG!>>>" clearly has no idea how the rule actually works.

Really very very true!

I dunno why but I've been seeing this an awful lot recently. People who are hellishly fast on-track have apparently absolutely no concept of widely accepted rules.

However, to get back on topic, if you're not fairly well experienced in LFS, and someone starts screaming "Blue flag" at you, get out of the way as best you can. If you don't, there's likely to be an accident, and you're gonna catch it in the neck because you're the slower driver. Worst case scenario, you'll be accused of doing it deliberately.

On tight tracks, be prepared to hit Shift+S, which will pit you immediately, devastating your chances of winning most races, but also saving you from harsh accusations and a lot of ear-ache.

Quote :

and someone starts screaming "Blue flag" at you

I couldn't disagree more. These blue flag hotkeys are generic, and there is NO WAY to determine who is being shouted at. It's also considerably more dangerous to read the little text in the corner than it is the big text in the middle of the screen, and they start pressin these hotkeys so early that if you do ease off for them the speed differential as they pass will be too great to be safe.

I advise everyone to totally ignore blue flag hotkeys and worry instead about the big blue flag letters across the middle of the screen. And your mirrors of course...

The issue with blue flag beeing "shouted" in what seems to be too early for some is that it usually happens when there's much stakes (relatively speaking, in context).

If the leader has no one on his tail, he'll usually just get closer for safe pass, hoping the lapped car to be considerate and respect blue flag, only if blue flag isn't respected and safe pass is hard he'll start "shouting".

On the other hand, if there's an extremely tight race at the front, and the leaders are about to enter a long complex section of the track, where every 1/10 matters and there's a lapped car ahead, the leaders may wish to warn the lapped car by shouting in advance.

I've seen too many cases where lapped cars thought they could "push it" for few more secs, without realizing how slower they are on certain sections of the track from the leaders. this could easily ruin the race for the leaders.

Lapped cars are _usually_ much slower and hence, lapped. respecting blue flag is very important because it let the leaders concentrate on their opponents rather than on slower cars ahead.

same goes for me too btw. eventhough i'm usually driving at a reasonable pace, if i enter the race late and have a blue flag with slow car nehind me, i'll let them pass eventhough i'd probably be able to run away. just let someone who's racing others go cleanly. very simple.

I'm all for respecting blue flags, but people who shout "blue flag!!1" and honk all the while just create a bad image of themselves. The car that is being lapped already has "blue flag" written on it's windshield, so the driver already knows that there is a blue flag. Why tell him again? And why tell everyone on the circuit that there is currently a car being lapped?

I don't like people who spam during a race, and thus I don't like people who shout "blue flag".

Vain

Quote from Vain :

I'm all for respecting blue flags, but people who shout "blue flag!!1" and honk all the while just create a bad image of themselves. The car that is being lapped already has "blue flag" written on it's windshield, so the driver already knows that there is a blue flag. Why tell him again? And why tell everyone on the circuit that there is currently a car being lapped?

I don't like people who spam during a race, and thus I don't like people who shout "blue flag".

Vain

it should be balanced. if every racer would have respected blue flags then no one would have been shouting. however, that's not the case, and with too many ppl not respecting blue flags, comes the shouting ppl.

Quote from avih :

I've seen too many cases where lapped cars thought they could "push it" for few more secs, without realizing how slower they are on certain sections of the track from the leaders. this could easily ruin the race for the leaders.

I've seen alot more cases where leaders thought they could "push it" no matter what, south city chicane under yellow flag at 150km/h, great idea.

Quote from filur :

I've seen alot more cases where leaders thought they could "push it" no matter what, south city chicane under yellow flag at 150km/h, great idea.

true indeed.

I think some people dont realise when the Blue Flag warning comes up onscreen. It's a few seconds ahead of the leader, not 5 seconds or more.

Often, as was the case in my Fe Gold story from earlier, the leader beleived I was under blue flag a lot sooner than I was.

To be perfectly frank in the many races i've done since joining LFS a few months ago i've only seen the blue flag ignored by a couple of drivers, both of whome ignored it out of general incompetency and where actually 'trying' to honour it - but didnt understand how and got it wrong.

I've never yet seen a driver completely ignore it. What I have seen is a lot of race leaders scream and shout that it's being ignored - when frankly it wasn't.

I've done my share of real racing at which i'm fairly competetive and often near the front, so i've had blue flags given to the car infront of me in real racing situations - and blue flag behaviour in LFS is without question substantially better as often no time is lost at all. In real racing you almost always have to wait until after "that series of bends".

I think the main problem is that a lot of people don't understand the actual definition of a "blue flag". I've been playing LFS since S1 and i've seen this happen hundreds of times.

The person being lapped doesn't know what they should do and/or the faster car gets too anxious and tries to pass in a manner that is not safe (because they think the slower car should pull to the side and stopillepall )

In most racing leagues(aside from Champ Car in certain conditions),a blue flag is used only to "inform" the slower car that they are about to be lapped. It is not a requirement to let the faster car pass...it is only a courtesy

If you really are fast enough to be lapping a car, then you will have plenty of opportunites to pass in a safe manner, without the other car completely driving off the racing line, or slowing down to the point where it isn't safe.

In my own racing experience in MSA racing (UK) the blue flag was regulation not a courtesy, it's definately a regulation in FIA (F1's) and I think testosterone has made it a regulation in LFS.

Quote from Becky Rose :

and I think testosterone has made it a regulation in LFS.

lol...i agree

are you saying that you would get black-flagged for not obeying a blue-flag? must be a UK thing

Quote from Becky Rose :

...
Even today at Fe Gold I was trying out some setups I had just been given in the hope of competing better in the 'next' race, having scored a 2nd previously so not actually being 'that' slow. I found myself getting a blue flag as I went into a bend so afterwards I eased off, I saw the leader in my mirrors pushing the limit hard and so I actually moved off the track for him to let him by... After the race I got a load of sexist abuse because I had "ignored" the blue flag for "ages"... I checked the replay, he'd been spamming "Blue flag" messages since I was a dot on the horizon!

Regrettably some people do have an extremely low tolerance of people they see as being inferior to them.

becky, i presume you're talking about the issue with me yesterday? if that's what you're talking about then 3 things:

1. you were "a dot on the horizon" but that's more than enough after i saw the gap between us shortenning fast enough that i knew i'd get you right where i didn't want to.

2. iirc, i was beeing chased hard and you caused me to get off the racing line, nearly hitting you, while you had plenty of room to slow down at the end of the bridge and let me pass quietly, and then continue to test your new set.

3. you can call me many things, but chauvinist isn't one of them. "load of sexist abuse"? come on, you're welcome to post the replay to let everyone have his on oppinion about it, so don't use the fact that you're a female to get more sympathy. you'll get sympathy for what you are, not for your gender.

however, if you didn't talk about me on your post, then i take back everything that i've said here and appologise

cheers,
avih

Quote :

are you saying that you would get black-flagged for not obeying a blue-flag?

I remember doing an club level endurance kart race where I unlapped myself against 3rd place and then got a blue flag, I ignored the blue because I had just overtaken him but I was then given a black and white diagonal (caution flag) along with the blue, so I let him back past.

I then made sure I re-overtook the guy right infront of the clerk of the courses box so he couldnt miss it. I was then given the black flag for a stop & go penalty, which courtesy of a pit/car radio never actually took place because I was able to notify the team and they protested it - but without a radio we would have had our race screwed over...

Yep, it's blag flaggable.

Avih, your incident was the one I elluded too although I had no intention of naming and shaming.

I got the blue flag message onscreen for the first time after the bridge and that was the first I knew there was a leader closing. I eased off after the following corner, even departed the track because I could see you wheren't going to move offline and if i'd done it that would have been a sudden move, so I went the other way and took to the grass instead... Gladly throwing my 'race' because I wasn't really racing.

The "sexism" in question referred to your complaint after the race where you differentiated my actions from others based upon my sex. I dont have the full chat log in the replay for recollection because I saved it the moment you complained, but one quote, "you want to be treated like a man?"...

The fact is you where hollering "blue flag" long before I had any way of even identifying you where hollering at me. You where the one who was all out agression on track, not me.

The fact that you caught me after the strait and not before is not my problem. Once I had the blue flag notice I gave you ample consideration - and you actually had the audicity to name and shame me as ignoring the blue flag - when I hadn't!

Your actions where irreprihensible.

I wouldn't have said that, it'd just have been an anonymous example story - but you couldn't let it rest could you...