I don't know why you say that, it just eliminates all that tyre heating business, which is not really the point of hotlapping. I can only see that as a good thing.
SHIFT+U... edit... S
You can now add a start point wherever you want. Just don't invalidate your HLVC between that point and the finish line (where the lap starts).
They can be uploaded. You just can't hit any objects or touch them with your tyres.
While I'm at it, does anyone know of any walls that you can hit hard without triggering HLVC?
Meaning, they have the wrong surface type and can be used to slow you down - if so, it might be possible for me to detect that wall and change its surface type.
Not a wall, but I have recently missed my turn in at the chicane at We1 in a BF1, realising I wouldn't make it, steered to the right of the tyre stack to avoid damage and I was very surprised to find hitting the kerb launched the car clear of the gravel trap, and did not trigger HVLC. In fact I binned it at the next complex looking up to see if I really had gotten away with it. Sadly I omitted to save the replay, and haven't been able to reproduce the exact same line.
It was this incident that prompted my ramp comment earlier, and I'm sorry I don't have proof yet, but your question compelled me to report it nonetheless.
Just my 2 cents about starting tire temperatures: I agree that for road cars (especially STD class), the tire temperatures should be closer to 45-50°C, but on the other hand, if you are starting a hotlap on AS5 with a GTR class car, even the current 65°C (which is 20 below optimum of 85) for R2 tires is kind of high as tires will reach melting temperatures by the end of the lap.
Also, hotlap setups are generally made with very high cambers which means if you start the tire warming procedure (which isn't really a problem in the mentioned GTR class) on your outlap, you will be entering the hotlap with inside layer of tire already several degrees warmer than middle and outside. But I'm guessing the new system would warm up all of the compound and the air inside the tire to the selected temperature.
This coupled with the choice of starting position could be a solution to the GTR/R2 tires melting, but I'm still off the opinion some wider choice of starting temperature should be given. In fact, I can imagine scenarios where one would actually want to start a hotlap with tire temperatures above the optimum (situations like FBM where R1 and R2 compounds are a bit missmatched, or GT2 style setups where you have R3 tires on the rear and R2 tires on front etc).
Maybe give us a week in the test patch to try +-30° around the optimum, but I don't see how it'd hurt to have more choice over less..
P.S. In the spirit of cooperation I really don't want to be a nag, but before the tyre physics patch comes out you should re-think the tire compounds a bit (in a sense that R3 shouldn't be the same for BF1, FZR and UFR.. It should have the same optimal temperature, but it should be compounded differently and acquire/lose heat in a slightly different way from car to car).
scipe, I do not think need week for testing. Theoretically, we know how to reacts tire when heated. Just need change the temperature of the front and rear wheels separately, but better for the 4 wheels separately.
Having all 4 tyres at a known temp doesn't prevent a driver from selectively warming pairs I suppose. Also the different compounds will react differently, so gives some more scope for refining I would guess.
I've searched, but not found a definitive answer. Does tyre temp affect pressures? I know it works the other way round, but have always assumed that a hotter tyre is at a higher pressure. for some irrational reason I'm doubting it now.
Agree with scipy on the "slick" cars aspects and testing.
Also, this is more of a question of how hotlapping should be defined. Should drivers be allowed to drive and wear down the tires and then do a hotlap? With the tires wore down the car is lighter etc which allows for faster laptimes.
Define hard! The question should be written without the word 'hard' in it, but one can dream..
I watched 6 South City hotlaps, 3 should be invalid IMHO. I remember being told that the physics calculations in LFS run only 100 Hz or smth and therefore such cheating in hotlapping is generally accepted.
One of the wall contacts shows visible bodywork damage, so I think it qualifies as 'hard'.
It's been awhile since my last hotlapping session, but I remember being quite disappointed with the fact that LFSWorld allows uploading replays with wall contact while I tried to keep my hotlaps clean as possible. It's midnight here, somewhere in a forest, with little or now internet and you really can't ask for players to go every hotlap out there!? Or you were expecting the WR holders to show their own hotlaps where they cheated (IMHO)?
Yes.
It went something like this.
Almost crashed, skipped the trap, still on track, OMG!, double check, out brake myself, Damn!, Shift+R, Facepalm - I should have saved that.
I noticed on some SO layouts where i've grinded against the wall and it hasn't triggered a invalid lap, but if anything i rather see for HL'ing is the implementation of the secondary classes such as GT2 and etc. It would make it easier for leagues to follow "you must be this percent of WR to enter".
As for the Hotlap layouts, i don't see how that will work. The Charts may get real messy.
A lot of South City wall collisions got past HLVC but they won't any more because I've included the wheel hub contact point in the count. The problem was where the kerbs were high, the lower bodywork was hitting the kerb rather than the wall, so not enough body was touching the wall. With the wheel centre contacts included, it triggers HLVC reliably.
It's the same charts, only you might see the person started from a different position than default, because they placed a start position, or maybe they would put some cones in a few places.