I tried the LFS demo a little while ago and enjoyed it but returned to GT Legends and RBR.

I tried the new demo and thought it just felt better so I bought an S2 licence.

I have tried most of the cars and I`m impressed how differently they feel.

I enjoy the XF GTI and LX4 / LX6 (thinking of buying a Caterham / Westfield !) - also enjoy the Formula XR (Formula Ford ?).

I am used to sim racing and can keep it on track, keep out of the way of the speed demons but still race consistently with those around my speed.

I have tried a few online races but it was all a bit hit and miss - a couple of really quick people and others coming and going - chaotic.

I don`t know where to go with this now. GT legends forced me to work through car & track combinations which was fun and good practice for online racing.

Do I need to join a league for good racing or should I persevere with pickup races ?

Is there a recognised career path for a newbie ?

Thanks

I would just keep at it online. As long as you find the right places to race with people who are close to your speed you will improve and have fun. Try and avoid the servers that are too messy

You can join leagues, you just need to find the right one for yourself. Have look in the leagues section :P There should be a few open events you can hop into.

Career path.....hmmm........just race and practice, rinse and repeat For me, practicing offline on my own is no fun, so in order to progress just keep racing online and that way you can gauge your progress too. Hot-lapping helps some people, but it isnt my cup of tea.

Yep - reckon that is good advise Just keep at it and you will see that it is the best few bob you ever spend
Maybe I will see you on the track sometime

Most of those 'really quick' people will have 3000+ laps in that car / track combonation. .

Just to give you an idea on the amount of practice that goes on.

Quote from SuperSportBilly :

I tried the LFS demo a little while ago and enjoyed it but returned to GT Legends and RBR.

I tried the new demo and thought it just felt better so I bought an S2 licence.

I have tried most of the cars and I`m impressed how differently they feel.

I enjoy the XF GTI and LX4 / LX6 (thinking of buying a Caterham / Westfield !) - also enjoy the Formula XR (Formula Ford ?).

I am used to sim racing and can keep it on track, keep out of the way of the speed demons but still race consistently with those around my speed.

I have tried a few online races but it was all a bit hit and miss - a couple of really quick people and others coming and going - chaotic.

I don`t know where to go with this now. GT legends forced me to work through car & track combinations which was fun and good practice for online racing.

Do I need to join a league for good racing or should I persevere with pickup races ?

Is there a recognised career path for a newbie ?

Thanks

Very nice analysis/observation you made, I have exactly the same feeling. After some actions both online and offline you just feel that little bit of emptyness...yeah it's good, but what next?

There may be some leagues running, but I haven't seen any championship going on.

For the first days, just join any server with a combo you like. Then realize, which drivers you drive with often and are as fast as you, go to LFSW and add them to your buddy list. Everytime, you want to to go on LFS, check your Live Alert first and see, if anybody of them is racing and join the server they are on.

Thats the way, I do it, and Im having fun.

Keep at it Bobby boy.

If you are a fan of racing then LFS will really come into it's own if you give it some time and learn about the cars/tracks/setups. The racing is second to none, which is what most of us are here for. Don't worry about times and the like, it's the racing that counts.

Even if you are a bit new, if you are courteous online and are willing to learn then many of us will have a lot of time for you.

Avoid the crash fests of teh moew popular Combo's and try something a bit different. Spend some time getting to know a car/track combo and developing a setup system and you'll soon be getting the most from LFS.

We are (mostly) all here to help you. So please don't run away yet. The learning curve maybe a bit steeper than most online racing games, LFS makes no bones about being a simulator and not a racing game, but the community is great and the racing better . . . .

Quote from zeugnimod :

For the first days, just join any server with a combo you like. Then realize, which drivers you drive with often and are as fast as you, go to LFSW and add them to your buddy list. Everytime, you want to to go on LFS, check your Live Alert first and see, if anybody of them is racing and join the server they are on.

Thats the way, I do it, and Im having fun.

Seems a good idea. I`ll practice a little more on car / track combos I like. Then look out for those with similar pace and add them as buddies.

On a separate note do you need to extract hotlaps from replays to submit to LFSW ? I want to build up some PB`s to beat.

Thanks

Get involved in a league. It's the best thing you can do after you picked up a bit of pace.
(Actually the only thing you need is enough feel to complete the race and enough consistancy to not mess up the other people's race.)
For me personally LFS lives through it's leagues and events. I usually only join public races as a preperation for league-races to take a look at other people's setups, to learn the combo and to learn good overtaking-spots.
You may feel different and enjoy the "jump in and race"-character of LFS, so please not that this is just my opinion.

Vain

Quote from SuperSportBilly :

On a separate note do you need to extract hotlaps from replays to submit to LFSW ? I want to build up some PB`s to beat.

If you mean from an online race, no. You cant upload laps from an online race to LFSW. But you can type "/w pb" in a server to see the fastest time, you drove online.

To upload a lap to LFSW, you have to be in hotlap mode, which you can choose from the main menu. When you are happy with your time, press "1" and it gets automatically saved in the spr folder of your LFS directory. From there, you can upload it to LFSW.