So this is an idea that was wandering in my head for quite a while, but until yesterday I didn't really feel the need to have it.

So the thing is, yesterday we were having quite a big endurance race. During the race I lost connection to the server and my run was terminated immediately as it happens when the connection is lost. However I was able to instantly reconnect to the server and rejoin to "continue" racing several laps down, where being last was the only thing I could fight for at that point.

My suggestion/request therefore is: would it be possible to rather than simply disconnecting player from the server, effectively destroying all his effort, make him instead continue driving uninterrupted "offline" for a moment while LFS automatically attempts to reconnect the server, and if successful, rejoin the race as nothing happened (in safe manner of course), and just in case of unsuccessful reconnection only then stop the run?

Such feature would have saved my day that night and I am sure many players can recall their own situations where this would have helped them...

I just don't see how "continue driving uninterrupted" work in a multiplayer race? Not sure if that is possible... you mean the race should transform to single player mode keeping your car position so you can continue driving and when the connection is restored to transform again to multiplayer mode presumable in last position?

It would work pretty much the same way it does now, but extended.

The way it works now is, when player temporarily loses connection (or let's say "has a long lag") his car disappears from the track on the server (with his nickname being shown in the last received position) while the player himself keeps driving, and if the connection is quickly restored, he reappears in the new position where he is supposed to be according to the player's run.

However when the connection is not restored within usually 30 seconds, he's "kicked" from the server and his run terminated. Usually the affected player is able to reconnect to the server immediately, but he's no longer in the race.

So my idea is to extend (or adjust) the period affected player is driving "alone", and rather than ending his run after 30 seconds of no connection, LFS would attempt to reconnect to the server (which is usually successful when done manually) and if the connection is reestablished, let player continue in the race the same way he would if he just had a big lag.

I allready hate disapearing cars. And think this is a bad idea

I think just restoring the lap automatically will be enough. It is already done in endurance races manually or via insim, but a native LFS feature that would automatically restore the last completed lap would be awesome.

In case of endurance races, it would be nice to be able to take that car from pits by his teammate (with the last completed lap) . But, this would require somehow specifying the drivers in one car before the the disconnection.

edit: Now that I think about it, getting the lap number reset immediately after reconnection may give some unfair advantage if they get a new car, by not doing pitstops and refuel. So the state of tyres, engine etc. needs to be restored. I'm guessing this would be possible in the future after the physics update.