I recently bought a black momo and the S2 licence. I have been racing LFS occasionally whenever I had borrowed a wheel from a friend and I have always liked the sim, but now I want to really learn how to race.

I'd like to know some tips from you guys on getting started. I know that practice is the key, and that's what I'm gonna do (and have been doing for a week or two now). I'd like to have a few tips on what to practice. A track/car combination until I reach competitive lap times? Or perhaps a single car on different tracks? Or different cars on the same track?

Should I race the AI or go online? The AI obviously sucks and driving with them is annoying as they bump into me constantly. On the other hand, in online games I get my ass kicked pretty bad and I don't want to be a race wrecker, because I am very error prone. (I apologize to the guy whose race I ruined by spinning in SO1 with the BF1 right in front of him when I had blue flag). I feel like I am Mr. Ide "the moving chicane" from the F1 circuits. It's kinda hard to learn how to race in the traffic when the AI is too slow and not fair racers and online opponents kick my ass so bad that I have an empty track in front of me and blue flags waving at me.

I have been racing XFG and XRG at blackwood and at south city classic. The cadet seems like a nice track too, but I havn't really gotten into that yet. I have watched the WR replays and tried to learn from their driving lines/breaking points. I also like to race the FOX and the BF1, but obviously my driving talent combined with all those horses under the hood results in a no-good outcome. I also tried the UF1 but I didn't like it because of the horrible oversteering when braking (or was it just my setup?).

My best laps in blackwood are about 1:35:00 with the XFG and 1:37:00 with the XRG. They're not good, but I have improved a lot lately.

I have downloaded the WR setups from the Inferno site and I am using them. They seem to be fast but also hard-to-drive rubberburners. Should I try a more conservative setup or perhaps try to tune my own?

When it comes to racing technique, I have tried to learn trailbraking from day zero on. I also try to drive the corners so that I am in a subtle drift. Are there any other techniques I should try to learn? Or should I try without trailbraking and drifting first and then incorporate them in later?

Do my methods of practicing sound OK to you? Do you have suggestions for good cars or tracks to rehearse? How did you guys start with?

-Riku
online: sikakoira666

BTW. Are there any in-real-life racers in the community? How does LFS compare to real racing (excluding the G-forces, of course)

Whatever you do, don't go online untill you are a better driver than Michael Schumacher. Otherwise, you'll get called a noob and get banned. Obviously this is in no way fair or resonable, but as some severs are run by 12 year olds, that's what will happen.

Its quite a difficult question to answer, there is no hard and fast answer to it, it really boils down to what cars you want to drive and where.

I would say that you want to try and race online from day one, anyone can hotlap, but not everyone can race, the only time I hotlap is to develop a setup or do a few laps of an unfamiliar curcuit/car.

Pick a car and track and stick with it for a while, untill you know both very well, I would also suggest you start with the RACE_S set's, which I think are very good, and modify to YOUR driving style, the WR sets are ok for hotlapping, but they are far to severe for racing, different people drive in different ways, some people like lots of oversteer others dont, this is why sometimes using others setups isnt the best idea as they will probably have it set to there style which may not match yours.

Trailbraking is fine for many cars, but bad for others, I find it works in the FXO, but I wouldnt do it in a RWD car.

Find a friendly server, and race with those people for a while, that way you can avoid the rather elitist members of the communtiy, normally these frequent the faster car servers as the slower cars arent L33T enough for them, avoid the larger GTR servers and BF1/FO8 servers, unless you like constant blue flag spamming and the "noob, noob" attitude.

As for real life, well, yes, there are real life racers here, how does it compare? well, it will never compare as there are so many things that the computer can't simulate, heat, smell, g-force, physical car movement etc, but for a digital representation its very VERY good.

Dan,

Quote from danowat :

I would say that you want to try and race online from day one, anyone can hotlap, but not everyone can race, the only time I hotlap is to develop a setup or do a few laps of an unfamiliar curcuit/car.

Dan,

i agree, my starts are terrible and i just used to join at the back so i wouldn't cause pile ups, but once you are familiar with the car and track i now think it's better to get in the mix at the start because practice is the only way to learn.

my starts are still pretty bad but at least i keep out the way when everyone else passes by.

Mate. Practice. Thats really all there is to it. . . Learn about setting up your vehicle of choice, have a mess around prehaps off line for a bit and then get out there and race .. . . .

Yes you might get kicked for noobing, but if you are a genuine racer with good intentions and good observation of track etiquette (And have 'sorry' as your F1 fast chat setting. You will be amazed at how far a good 'sorry' will go in the right places) then somewhere will become home. Prehaps keep away from the manic servers running the BF1 or the FO8, generally noobers playing around with overpowered monsters they can't handle.

I personally find some very satisfying racing happening on UF servers. ALthough generally I stick to the FZR.

If you practice away on a qieut server then mostly your felllow racers will be experianced and slightly more patient with you. They can give you a wealt of setup and driving advice . . . .

Noobs annoy us all sometimes, and noobs will come to annoy you in your time too. But we where all there once and most of us understand that. So long as you are courteous and willing to learn you'll soon fit in and will be racing with the big boys in no time at all . .. . .

So welcome my friend . . .to the machine . ..

You should go online, it's a lot more fun than against AI. People don't mind slower drivers, so long as you obey the rules and are generally nice and friendly. If you get called a n00b for being slow, time to find another server... Avoid crashfests like SO Classic in the BF1, maybe try somewhere like the UF1 at Aston Club or Fern Bay Club, or the GTi and XR at Blackwood.

I've found the default setups with the new patch to be very stable and drivable on most cars. If you are just starting out then don't worry too much about the setups you are using, find something stable and concentrate on learning your lines and not making mistakes. If you find you are crashing all the time, try driving a bit slower.

Don't try to copy the WR laps, those guys are barely human and you wouldn't want a racer who drivers like that in the public race anyway, download one where the lap is only a second or so faster than you own and learn from that instead.

You should just drive and develop your own style, don't worry about stuff like drifting and tail-breaking, it will come to you with practice. Concentrate on driving consistent laps, taking the correct line and being smooth. Just practice.

Go online and spectate as often as you can and learn the braking points and how the drivers are using the gears to tackle tricky areas of each circuit, look at the brake and accelarator indicators on the bottom right of the screen to see how they are powering out of corners and how far you can trailbrake into corners.

You can also download world records and watch how they do it. It's a good way to suss out car/track combos.

Quote from DarkTimes :

Concentrate on driving consistent laps

That is the key I think, consistancy, thats the thing I try to acheive, and something that shows a good racer IMO.

Consistancy is something to strive for

Dan,

Have you configured your wheel? Installed Logitech drivers and you're using the correct FF settings for LFS? If not check for example this thread for more info: http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=6345 (it's not FAQ but read my replies in that thread, there should be all the important info)

Setupfield site doesn't have much setups yet (because they of course deleted all the old version setups because of incompatible physics) but if you use them, easy way to make those little better is to set tyre pressures higher and campers more negative to get tyres last more than 1-2 laps. But the RACE_S setups are good, altough you should tweak the tyre pressusers on them too.

There are like millions of different car and track combos in LFS, you don't need learn them all. Pick some popular (but avoid Oval! ) combo that are much used in public servers, learn the track and if you can get ~5-10 (well depending on the track) secs from the WR times you are fast enough to race online. Just never join a server if the track or car is totally weird for you. Practice some laps first. And remember, "slower is faster". Don't try to go too fast.

And for driving tips, this is a real life racing driving guide but it appends to LFS too
http://www.turnfast.com/tech_driving/driving.shtml

I'd say stick with one or two cars and learn to drive them on different tracks to get an overall feel for them so that you can react safely when you're being passed or are passing. What I try to do while practising is build up a constant rhythm, repeating the same actions over and over again without really having to think about what I'm doing. Even if it's not terribly fast, it's a good way of getting in consistent laps and over time you will become faster.

When you're confident with the car, have a look at WR replays and especially braking and corner entry points, yours will probably be slightly different but it won't be all that difficult to adapt a bit since you know the car well.

In terms of setups I usually make my own (even if they suck), but if I do use Inferno sets I usually drive a couple of laps to get a feel for it and then think of how I'd prefer the car to handle so it suits me and then tweak the set a bit here and there.

Once you know you can keep the car on the track it's time to go online. First start at the back of the grid by joining late in the countdown period, and drive your own race and increase pace when you're comfortable with doing so.

Hmmm yes. And don't try to be too fast right of the bat, you'll find yourself in the gravel more often than not. Just take things steady, don't get impatient and all of a sudden the pb's will start sneaking up on you . . . .

I think the generally impression from everone here is stay away from the crashfests and go to some less popular (for less popular read 'tracks that people need to learn to race propaly on') car/track combos and just drive. We ain't all noob bashers and we will try to help if we see you online. In fact I'm heading that way very soon so if you have a bit of time hunt me out and I'll impart some golden nuggets . . .. .*Cough*

Good suggestions here. I say, first and foremost for going online is, you need to know the track. If you don't know the track, then you can't concentrate on the other drivers, the racing, or laptimes as you are busy trying to figure out where the next turn is. It's ok to go online right off, but a trick I use is sit in spectate mode as the race starts until you see the grid placed. Then join the race and you will be put in the back of the field. You'll stay out of harms way from others and will not be the cause of the harm.

If you are on an unknown track and start in the back, then you have an entire field ahead of you to watch to see where to go for learning the track.

Another thing is where you look. Once you know the track enough that you don't have to think about where the next corner is, then where you look is very important. You don't want to be looking at the apex of the corners, but want to look well past it into the next straight. Look where you want to end up, not where you are. Your driving will follow where you are looking.

IMO, 1:35.00 on blackwood with the XFG is good enough for some good online tussles (it was on Q anyway, don't know about new patch times yet)

Get online and have fun I'd say, the simple fact you've considered whether to go online or practice some more means you're going to be received better than a bunch of n00b flaming wreckers...

find a car thats somewhat similar to the one you drive everyday irl and learn racing on that one online
while you do that you should familiarise yourself with the faster cars offline
over time youll reach a point where you know all tracks somewhat and have developed some racing etiquette which will be the perfect time to apply you knowledge of how to drive the faster cars online

Quote from Shotglass :

find a car thats somewhat similar to the one you drive everyday irl and learn racing on that one online

Damn, that's me stuck in the XFG then

Well, probably closer to the UF really

well if your driving senses are schooled for fwds im sure youll make yourself at home in the fxo and ufr and xfr in no time

A good tip for learning close racing is not just to practice the fast racing line around a track, but try learning the tight and wide lines around some corners as well. This way when you do end up going wheel to wheel with someone round a corner it won't all be completely foreign to you. Learning the breaking and turn in points you would use taking a tight-line though a specific hair-pin can really help when you find yourself in that position in the race. You'll have much more confidence and control, also you will be far more likely to make the move stick and not cause any accidents.

Quote from mrodgers :

[...]
If you are on an unknown track and start in the back, then you have an entire field ahead of you to watch to see where to go for learning the track.
[...]

Unless you're in a fast car, in which case you'll smash into the back of the pack and cause a huge mess.

Steve

I always say to practice offline, at least until you can find your way around a track and the basic braking points with a particular car. You don't have to be competitive on that track to go on line, but you should at least be familiar with it. That said, anybody is welcome online. I find that if somebody goofs, they say they are sorry, and that they are just learning, then I am a lot more patient with them and am happy to try and help.

Use the mirrors and work hard on staying consistent.

I advocate making small tweaks on your own sets. I have learned a lot about setups in the last few years. I have researched online and learned about grip, damper settings, toe-in, camber, etc. It is fun to read about all these things on real race, and race driving web sites. LFS does a good job in general of modeling these settings and it is fun to see how the car reacts to the different changes.

The AI can be good when trying to learn alternate lines. They also help you concentrate on where you are on the track and not just following other cars... usually right off the track. I sometimes race them and try NOT to pass them. Just follow along and learn how to see my brake points and turn in points with them in the way. It is good training for real races.

I've been racing lfs online for a long time, bought license just last week, and have been looking for "slower" servers. Maybe I'm not very fast, (doing about 1:28-29 ob Bl GP with GTTurbo), but I've managed to finish on podium or even win having almost slowest best lap
So i think, that you have to learn 1) drive consistently 2) watch space around you, know where others are, and try to guess, what they will be doing. It's better to take a corner a bit slower and leave space for your opponent, than to risk and take out yourself and others (of course, except the last corner of the race when fighting for 1st place )

Quote from starry :

Unless you're in a fast car, in which case you'll smash into the back of the pack and cause a huge mess.

Steve

[sarcasm]Er, I can start from the back of a field of UF1's taking the BF1 myself and run around all day behind them if I wanted. My throttle spring pulls the throttle closed, not open.[/sarcasm]

Yea, you have to a bit of brains if you want to do this and follow everyone staying in the back of the crowd. I know enough not to hammer the throttle down nor select a faster car than everyone else is using when doing this to familiarize myself to a new track.

Perhaps maybe I should say the first thing you need to do before ever going online is to be capable of being smart and think a little bit.

Thanks for all the helpful and encouraging posts!

I was looking for a nice online game today, and figured out that there really are no servers that have blackwood with XFG/XRG. AS National seems to be a pretty popular track, so I might look into that. There are plenty of all-cars servers with blackwood, but they all seem to be BF1's.

Quote :

find a car thats somewhat similar to the one you drive everyday irl and learn racing on that one online

I drive a 1989 mitsubishi galant with a broken gearbox, trashed engine (it just couldn't handle 7800 rpm :shrug, f*cked up brakes and junkyard tires. Even if there was something like it in LFS, I wouldn't even touch it. I'm pretty fluent with my car on ice, tho. I just love powerslides, sideways 90's and fishtail slides (too bad that summer's coming).

I don't want to stick with FWD's either. I wanna go RWD and single seaters. But it's a long way there.

Thanks for all the advice!
-Riku

you learn the track in a FWD and when you take the RWD to that same track configuration you take that knowledge with you, you then just need to adjust to the car because you know the track.

Quote from sikakoira666 :

I was looking for a nice online game today, and figured out that there really are no servers that have blackwood with XFG/XRG.

If you enjoy the XFG/BLGP combo, I would recommend the Fusion demo servers. Don't let the "demo" bit scare you off. Most of the regulars there are actually licensed and very clean racers. It's not a bad idea to learn close racing in a car you already know.