I know this has been brought up in the past on RSC and may be been here as well but I think my ideas may differ enough to warrant a new thread. If I am wrong close it.
Since using LFS S2 Alpha I have come to love all the new circuits, but also notice that there could be a few more interesting circuits built using different parts of the tracks. There was a similar idea back during the S1 days, which while not resulting in a tool to define our own circuit configurations, did I believe result in the creation of the South City Town configuration. Most of the current racing venues have enough unique track segments to allow for at least one additional configuration of a Sprint (No Pit) or Traditional (Pit Access) configuration, with the possible exception of Westhill & Blackwood, some perhaps a new Rally-Cross configuration, while a track like Aston has room for several.
While we could just encourage Scawen, Eric and Victor to build these additional configurations it might be less work to instead just have the configurations user definable through a tool some what like the current Autocross editor. I have two ideas on how this could work. Both ideas would require the entire racing surface of each venue to be accessible.
One way to do this would be to use a tool like the Autocross editor to place objects, both visible and invisible on the racing surfaces. The visible objects allow the racers to see the configuration by blocking of the sections that are not part of the circuit and the invisible to define the circuit to the simulation. The visible objects are the same as those in the autocross editor, while the invisible ones would consists of things like pit designation, start/finish line, split time gate, etc.
The other possible way to implement this would be less work for the racers but maybe more difficult to develop. They could break up each racing venue in to predefined track segments, which the racers could select using a new interface to define a configuration, with back end rules to define what is a valid or invalid configuration. While this would lead to less flexibility, it would be easier to control and monitor, as well as be more user friendly to the racers.
I am sure there are also people that have a desire to have unrestricted access to a racing venue for open practice of specific corners, or for different types of entertainment just as the some times popular LFS stand by “Cops & Robbers” or a new format such as “Follow the Leader” where the driver in the lead picks and chooses the course as they go and the trailing drivers must attempt to follow this ever changing course.
As an example one configuration I think would be a great addition is at the Aston venue. Starting at the Cadet starting line and pit lane section, it would follow the Aston GP course until it reached the chicane before the main Pit on the front straight. Instead it would continue straight ahead on to the back section of Club and re-enter the front straight past the overpass, making a right turn on to the straight, through the sweeper and back to the start/finish line. This would be a very interesting configuration offering several fast, medium and slow sections, be the longest configuration yet and place the pits in a slow section instead of at the start of the straight.
I think adding in a system like this might help to keep people interested longer once S2 is released while we patiently wait for the next phase of LFS development, whether that is the rumored Rally Pack or S3.
Since using LFS S2 Alpha I have come to love all the new circuits, but also notice that there could be a few more interesting circuits built using different parts of the tracks. There was a similar idea back during the S1 days, which while not resulting in a tool to define our own circuit configurations, did I believe result in the creation of the South City Town configuration. Most of the current racing venues have enough unique track segments to allow for at least one additional configuration of a Sprint (No Pit) or Traditional (Pit Access) configuration, with the possible exception of Westhill & Blackwood, some perhaps a new Rally-Cross configuration, while a track like Aston has room for several.
While we could just encourage Scawen, Eric and Victor to build these additional configurations it might be less work to instead just have the configurations user definable through a tool some what like the current Autocross editor. I have two ideas on how this could work. Both ideas would require the entire racing surface of each venue to be accessible.
One way to do this would be to use a tool like the Autocross editor to place objects, both visible and invisible on the racing surfaces. The visible objects allow the racers to see the configuration by blocking of the sections that are not part of the circuit and the invisible to define the circuit to the simulation. The visible objects are the same as those in the autocross editor, while the invisible ones would consists of things like pit designation, start/finish line, split time gate, etc.
The other possible way to implement this would be less work for the racers but maybe more difficult to develop. They could break up each racing venue in to predefined track segments, which the racers could select using a new interface to define a configuration, with back end rules to define what is a valid or invalid configuration. While this would lead to less flexibility, it would be easier to control and monitor, as well as be more user friendly to the racers.
I am sure there are also people that have a desire to have unrestricted access to a racing venue for open practice of specific corners, or for different types of entertainment just as the some times popular LFS stand by “Cops & Robbers” or a new format such as “Follow the Leader” where the driver in the lead picks and chooses the course as they go and the trailing drivers must attempt to follow this ever changing course.
As an example one configuration I think would be a great addition is at the Aston venue. Starting at the Cadet starting line and pit lane section, it would follow the Aston GP course until it reached the chicane before the main Pit on the front straight. Instead it would continue straight ahead on to the back section of Club and re-enter the front straight past the overpass, making a right turn on to the straight, through the sweeper and back to the start/finish line. This would be a very interesting configuration offering several fast, medium and slow sections, be the longest configuration yet and place the pits in a slow section instead of at the start of the straight.
I think adding in a system like this might help to keep people interested longer once S2 is released while we patiently wait for the next phase of LFS development, whether that is the rumored Rally Pack or S3.
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