Hi all

I've been playing LFS for a few months now and although I've got myself an S2 licence I'm still loving XFG/Blackwood racing.

Hotlapping aside, I just wondered what "experienced" racers considered a respectable time for this combo? I see quite a few pulling 1.33's/1.34's but what's the benchmark time window for being considered a "decent but non-alien" racer amongst the regular crowd?

I'd say something around 1.34.5. But that depends anyway on what you call "non-alien".

I suppose by non-alien I mean - outside the 1.33's

I hope 1.33's are alien anyway as I've no chance of being that quick lol.

my best appears to be 1:38.9 but i'm sure there's room for improvement there.

1:33.- seems to be the WR though.

Quote from ignission :

I see quite a few pulling 1.33's/1.34's but what's the benchmark time window for being considered a "decent but non-alien"
racer amongst the regular crowd?

Depends what 'decent' means to you. IMO a decent time is low 35s, but since you added "non-alien", then you should aim for the high 33s/low 34s - of course using the totally unrealistic sets that are common for the XFG especially on BL1.

My best is 1:39.180, although i am a very rubbish driver!

Ive done 34.1 and i hate FWD and the XFG with a passion, its not hard really, just hit apex's, brake where the WR guy brakes and try to get on the power at a similar time, its not rocket science.

1:33.8x with automatic gearbox
You should do times between 1:33.8 and 1:34.2 every lap of the race (5 or 10 laps race), but most of the laps should be 1:33.9 and 1:34.0
This is non alien pace, it's pace of an experienced and a bit talented driver.

Alien pace would be 1:33.3-1:33.6 with automatic gearbox

But for start I think you would be very happy and competitive with something around 1:34.35 as your pb time :P

Quote from ignission :

Hi all

I've been playing LFS for a few months now and although I've got myself an S2 licence I'm still loving XFG/Blackwood racing.

Hotlapping aside, I just wondered what "experienced" racers considered a respectable time for this combo? I see quite a few pulling 1.33's/1.34's but what's the benchmark time window for being considered a "decent but non-alien" racer amongst the regular crowd?

just finishing is a feat in its own.

Quote from mrodgers :

I've run 1:31.x in the past. Of course, that was many moons ago, and many updates and changes ago. WR back then I think was high 1:28 to low 1:29, IIRC.

When was that? :o

I can't remember the WR being below 1:32.

I remember 13180 as WR at one time but don't remember less than that - maybe before my time

I remember going on a server after being absent for a long time and someone checking my current pb and seeing it 1326x when WR was about 13330 and declaring that I must be a cheat I had a hard time explaining to him it was from an old patch that was before they were reset.

Quote from SilverArrows77 :

If you can do in the range of 1:35's you will find yourself in some good races with respectable drivers. The more you race with others around this speed the more you will also find your times gradually improve.

No-one needs to have near WR pace to have great racing though, so i wouldnt worry too much at all what your times are, so long as your keeping with the main pack in a race. Thats where the fun is.

That certainly rings true for me now I'm hitting the mid 1.35's. I've found myself enjoying some very close racing in comparison to when I first started out (pulling 1.40's and struggling at the back of the pack).

It's quite interesting to see how you "find" the extra time when you think you aren't capable of going any faster. I do get a buzz out of getting a new PB during races.

Quote from ignission :

I've found myself enjoying some very close racing

Truth is you don't need to be lightning fast to enjoy racing, it's just a matter of finding a bunch of fair drivers that are also as fast (slow) as you are

I remember when i could keep up with XRTs , with my XFG... That was back in 2005 maybe patch Q It was hella fun. Don't actually remember, maybe times were around 1.28-1.29.

Quote from NightShift :

Truth is you don't need to be lightning fast to enjoy racing, it's just a matter of finding a bunch of fair drivers that are also as fast (slow) as you are

I totally agree. I've always enjoyed racing in LFS no matter what times I was putting in.

And there are always plenty of people who are a slow as me to race with

Quote from ignission :

I totally agree. I've always enjoyed racing in LFS no matter what times I was putting in.

And there are always plenty of people who are a slow as me to race with

It's the same with me, im "fast" on open wheelers and have good races there too, but better races on "normal" cars , whenever im way slower than usual drivers...

Quote from ignission :

Hi all

I've been playing LFS for a few months now and although I've got myself an S2 licence I'm still loving XFG/Blackwood racing.

Hotlapping aside, I just wondered what "experienced" racers considered a respectable time for this combo? I see quite a few pulling 1.33's/1.34's but what's the benchmark time window for being considered a "decent but non-alien" racer amongst the regular crowd?

Those alien-hotlappers appear very often in DEMOland, where a good time is around 1:35:mid to low. (times i can't catch, no matter how much I try...)

Quote from mrodgers :

Perhaps it wasn't world record. May have been on server racing times seeing the aliens doing 1:25/1:29.

Around 2006 I think, in fact, after the big April 06 update. I was running mostly on CRC's demo server because I was sick of seeing GTRs at Aston National. It was the only places you could race, Aston or demo. All else would be lapping by yourself no matter how long you sat on a server hoping someone will join.

Wasn't on a slickmod server was it? I recall they were around abit in that time frame and were abit of fun

As for being alien fast - I don't think it's all it's cracked up to be I have seen many strive to get that fast only to become very bored once they get there because public pickup racing becomes too easy Think about it, if you are within 0.5% of WR pace you have far less people of similar ability to race against than if you are a mid pack racer. So having times that are between 2-3% away from WR pace are more than sufficient for public pickup racing making you sufficiently competitive and also giving you the broadest amount of fellow racers that are at a similar level to you.

Respectable time is anything under 1.34.50...

thanks for your helpful input once again s14!

Quote from Kristi :

It's the same with me, im "fast" on open wheelers and have good races there too, but better races on "normal" cars , whenever im way slower than usual drivers...

I'd like to try the open wheel category and some GTR racing however as I'm still using keys I struggle getting the power down on these more powerful cars without the back end getting away from me.

Am I right in thinking you really need a wheel with these cars or are there things you can change in set up to make it easier to control the throttle with keys?

Change the "Button control rate" value for RWD cars with a lot of power (much lower! around 2-3, play with it).
This will force a ramp into your inputs, making all of them progressive.
Setups can also help - open the differential a bit more to get stability out of corners.
Both will cost you speed but also make your driving more consistent and reliable.

A wheel would of course make it better

Quote from N I K I :

1:33.8x with automatic gearbox
You should do times between 1:33.8 and 1:34.2 every lap of the race (5 or 10 laps race), but most of the laps should be 1:33.9 and 1:34.0
This is non alien pace, it's pace of an experienced and a bit talented driver.

Alien pace would be 1:33.3-1:33.6 with automatic gearbox

But for start I think you would be very happy and competitive with something around 1:34.35 as your pb time :P

Why the automatic gearbox NIKI? Is that some new exploit or something thad i haven't heard of?

My PB is on low 37's I think.
But I think I would do better if I didn't have off/full brakes

Quote from Mille Sabords :

Change the "Button control rate" value for RWD cars with a lot of power (much lower! around 2-3, play with it).
This will force a ramp into your inputs, making all of them progressive.
Setups can also help - open the differential a bit more to get stability out of corners.
Both will cost you speed but also make your driving more consistent and reliable.

A wheel would of course make it better

Thanks for the tips, I'll give them a try