:scared: Yikes, I think we've got a baby :alien2: on our hands. :hide:
:scared: Yikes, I think we've got a baby :alien2: on our hands. :hide:
Been hitting the 1:34.xx also since last thursday and seem to be able to make them more consistent (mostly 1 time/5 laps) and stay in 1:35.xx for most of the race. I've been mostly getting more consistent then really faster. I know I have some room left to improve though, so I'll get better some day (using autoclutch 
).
Looking at some laptimes when spectating I'm amazed how 'wrong' aliens sometimes seem to drive and still go very fast, while I'm reasonably smooth most of the time and e.g. hardly have to countersteer. I see people take corners going off the throttle and braking by steering that is impossible for me. I must brake or lose the corner completely. So I think I'm still missing some aspect of how to drive the XFG 'really' fast, but I'm fine for now.
The fun for me now though is actually close racing. It's fun being reasonably quick and keeping faster drivers behind you while still keeping it fair and fun for all parties. Or what the Mercury server had saturday is the reversed starting grid which is a joy to try and get back to front.
I'm not really quick to go to the pits, so if I get in an accident in T1 I'll just start picking it up from there. I do not really care where I drive on the grid
Btw Pete, you are a nice guy to drive with. I've been on the same server a couple of times with you and it was fun.
).Looking at some laptimes when spectating I'm amazed how 'wrong' aliens sometimes seem to drive and still go very fast, while I'm reasonably smooth most of the time and e.g. hardly have to countersteer. I see people take corners going off the throttle and braking by steering that is impossible for me. I must brake or lose the corner completely. So I think I'm still missing some aspect of how to drive the XFG 'really' fast, but I'm fine for now.
The fun for me now though is actually close racing. It's fun being reasonably quick and keeping faster drivers behind you while still keeping it fair and fun for all parties. Or what the Mercury server had saturday is the reversed starting grid which is a joy to try and get back to front.
I'm not really quick to go to the pits, so if I get in an accident in T1 I'll just start picking it up from there. I do not really care where I drive on the grid
Btw Pete, you are a nice guy to drive with. I've been on the same server a couple of times with you and it was fun.
You have to keep in mind how the cars balance is affected by throttle and brake inputs. The really fast guys use throttle and brake inputs to control the balance between over- and understeer through a corner to keep it right at the limit the whole time, which is also why they have to countersteer sometimes.
Coasting or braking promotes understeer, so in some cases staying on the throttle and controlling the speed of the car with the steering can be faster. The S at Blackwood is a good example for this. If you use full throttle and just the right amount of steering, you'd be too fast for the left-hander and would have to slow down for the exit.
If you use part throttle, you get more understeer, so you would have to enter slower and since it's uphill, you wouldn't be able to build enough speed for a fast exit.
So what you do is use full throttle and scrub some speed with the steering to avoid getting too fast in the right hander.
Being too smooth isn't always good either. In some corners where you have to fight with initial understeer, like the last one at Blackwood, a very short lift or a dab of the brakes will help rotate the car, cause you're destabilizing it a bit.
Timing is important for this though. Too much rotation and you'll slide(losing speed), too little rotation and you'll run wide.
Aeolus: talking of corners that fast drivers take in ways you wouldn't expect to work, one that really threw me for a long time is the second to last corner. I think what happens there is the rumble strip helps you a lot to turn in, because you really can slam the brakes on full and turn in at exactly the same time and, instead of failing to turn and making you look like a clown as you'd _expect_ to happen, the car will glide happily to the apex at just the right speed. The problem is that if you try this _without_ having the whole car on the rumble strip when you start to turn in, it won't work, and you will look like a clown 
. I only really got the hang of that one yesterday.
. I only really got the hang of that one yesterday.a baby what?
LOLAeoInus: It's always a pleasure to race against a tough but fair opponent. I enjoy a good, clean but close race.
AdamW: I've had a few first places, but only when the 1:33 guys aren't around.
pete: a baby alien. alien seems to be a term used by 'normal' LFS drivers to describe 'crazy fast' LFS drivers. maybe we newbies should get together and make an LFS vocab thread for each others' benefit
ahh okay, didn't know that
A newbies vocab thread might be a good idea LOL
A newbies vocab thread might be a good idea LOL
AdamW and bal00, thanks for the advice both of you
I think looking at my driving style I never brake/lift and start turning at the exact same moment.
I always brake a bit and then gently start steering. Maybe I should put up an SPR for review some day, but since I never play offline that might be a problem
I'll see what I can do with this advice and start crashing a few times more
I think looking at my driving style I never brake/lift and start turning at the exact same moment.
I always brake a bit and then gently start steering. Maybe I should put up an SPR for review some day, but since I never play offline that might be a problem
I'll see what I can do with this advice and start crashing a few times more
I too use an old MS Sidewinder stick but I can only manage 1:36's at Blackwood in the GTi. I know that the main reason I am slow is that the centre position on the stick is loose and rattly, so I always have some degree of steering input even if I have my hands off the stick. This makes it impossible for me to brake in a straight line so I end up half way across the track when I want to be right on the outside ready to turn into the corner. What I need is a way to increase the deadzone on the stick... or a new stick :banana:
nothing better than a good bit of touchy feely in a uf1000 race though
... closest racing ive ever had in my life. definatly =) I find that I get my best laps when I react to everything the slowest, slow transitions from throttle to brake, slow steering inputs, slow transitions from brake to throttle again. This will improve tire wear also =) (doing things slower gives you less of a chance of overloading the tires, causing them to lose maximum grip, and will allow you to load the tires closer to maximum grip capacity of the tires) this does not mean start turning when your 1/2 way down the front strait, only a little bit slower than what alot of people do =P
I've actually just found that my stick isn't going fully forward, this is what is causing my slow acceleration. I found this out by recalibrating when I got back from work and noticed that the stick is stopping just befor full forward deflection. if I force it it will go to full forward, but I;m scared that it will eventually snap or something.
aeolus: that's definitely the 'classic' way to do things and the best way (or close to the best way) for most corners. Just that second to last turn at blackwood in the GTi, though, you can slam the brakes on at the 50, and at the same time turn the wheel as much as you need to for the entire turn, and the car will react perfectly, so long as you're over the rumble strip when you turn in. Try it a few times (overbrake down to 58 or so the first couple of times, to be safe in case you mess it up, but I can take the whole corner above 63 this way when it works right, and the aliens can do it 65 or so). It'll probably work. (Er, note that I use the WR setup which has the braking power reduced quite a bit, so if you use a different set you may not want to use quite full brakes). Definitely not the right thing to do on the rest of the course, though
edit: forgot to mention - it's usually correct not to brake and turn at the same time, because braking, accelerating and turning all work by using the tyres' traction, of which there's a limited amount; trying to do two at the same time, unless you're very careful, is usually going to break traction and leave you sideways. there's some fancy name for this theory but I can't remember it. anyways. The point is, you _don't_ have to wait to turn the wheel if it's just a lift-off corner, because slowing down by lifting off the accelerator (as opposed to braking) isn't using any tyre traction. In fact by not accelerating you're releasing all the available traction, so you can use it all for turning. So if it's a lift off corner (on Blackwood, like the esses or the final corner) you may as well lift off and turn at the same time, unless that wouldn't leave you going slow enough to make the corner.
pete: yikes, you're driving 1:34s without having full accelerator travel? I think mazz was right with the baby alien comment! *runs away*
edit: forgot to mention - it's usually correct not to brake and turn at the same time, because braking, accelerating and turning all work by using the tyres' traction, of which there's a limited amount; trying to do two at the same time, unless you're very careful, is usually going to break traction and leave you sideways. there's some fancy name for this theory but I can't remember it. anyways. The point is, you _don't_ have to wait to turn the wheel if it's just a lift-off corner, because slowing down by lifting off the accelerator (as opposed to braking) isn't using any tyre traction. In fact by not accelerating you're releasing all the available traction, so you can use it all for turning. So if it's a lift off corner (on Blackwood, like the esses or the final corner) you may as well lift off and turn at the same time, unless that wouldn't leave you going slow enough to make the corner.
pete: yikes, you're driving 1:34s without having full accelerator travel? I think mazz was right with the baby alien comment! *runs away*
Don't worry, I've been having a terrible night so far... I've been driving erratically and can't seem to get any higher than mid pack. I'm still doing 1:35's got a 1:34 earlier, but most of my races have been wrecked by someone diving for a gap that isn't there and then driving into the back of me or just plain pushing me off the track
pete: what server have you been driving on? it'd be fun to get in a race at the same time sometime. I'm on mercury racing team, mostly.
Just recalibrate the stick and do not move it all the way forward while calibrating. That way the game will see 100% throttle even though you have a few millimeters to go still. Also make sure you move the stick slooowly when calibrating. Quick movements will cause the pots to spike.
That's where I am most of the time as well.
really? with the same name? I don't remember seeing you...
Yep same name... My car is light blue with UPLINK RACING written on the side of it
yep, don't remember seeing you at all. so either we were at opposite ends of the grid or just didn't run at the same time! oh well, i'll keep an eye out
I guess we've just been missing each other... no matter, I'm sure I'll see you on there sometime
Hello !
I am a newbie too, bought the license a week ago. Thanks all for the advice, and for the alien driving techniques. Now I know why I am 3 seconds slower.
And thanks to the Mercury team, nice server, very nice drivers
I am a newbie too, bought the license a week ago. Thanks all for the advice, and for the alien driving techniques. Now I know why I am 3 seconds slower.
And thanks to the Mercury team, nice server, very nice drivers
well it's definately my joystick that's slowing me down, cos I just played GP4 and couldn't get anywhere near my personal best. My joystick isn't going full forward so I can't acclerate as fast as a should. And since I can't afford a new joystrick for a while I wont be racing on LFS for at least 2 weeks
hi swell, it's been fun racing you the times we've been online together
pete: why not try mouse / keyboard combo? I guess it'd feel weird, but many fast drivers use it...
pete: why not try mouse / keyboard combo? I guess it'd feel weird, but many fast drivers use it...
Just don't move it all the way forward while calibrating. That way it'll give you 100% throttle even though there's still a bit of travel.
a question of speed, or controllers?
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