Quote from Cue-Ball :

I run the Seattle server and generally have those cars disabled on the server. Last night we have between 3-8 people on the server all night running MRTs, FZ 50s, GTs, etc. We ran the cadet track at Aston, but spent most of our time on less used tracks like Westhill (and Westhill in the FZ 50 is a blast!).

I think I found a new home.

A fellow Puget Sounder.

If you have installed the 0.5p patch you get advanced filter options in the server menue. Among Others you can choose a preseted filter combo called "TBO". Then you get a list about 15 servers. Most servers are empty, but if we want some racing with the demo cars, UF1, FXO, LX4 and the RB4 cars, we should start pouplating these servers. Or look at S1 servers if DasKlee is running his S1 server.

You might have to download and install the 0.5p patch in order to get these filter options, even if you installed the S2 a few days ago.

Hi peops, I feel the same so have done something about it
I've rented a server (US based) and have set it for road car racing.. Its currently set for XFG and XRG with tracks selectable by guests, its only a 10 slot server at the moment but should give lag free play for most countries around the world..
Its called RoadCarRacing .. hope to see you there sometime

i was looking for a server running AS Cadet tonight with UF1 or GTI as i prefer the closeness of the racing on that track with the cars (and its usually the only combination i win in, but thats another story ) to my complete suprise there was no servers running AS Cadet at all!

I just hope people will turn up. I was running my server earlier today (not something I do often - MRNL #3 btw), with TBO cars around Westhill, not a single joiner in an hour, after which I got bored and went out (yes, outdoors).

Quote from Bob Smith :

not a single joiner in an hour, after which I got bored and went out (yes, outdoors).

LOL yes I go outdoors every now and again also :P
Have had it up for about 36 hrs so far and have only been able to be on it myself for about 3hrs on 2 occassions.. both times it was empty when i joined but within 5 - 10 minutes some others joined and we had some good times.. seems people are reluctent to join a server when theres only 1 other in there, but as soon as theres 2 or 3 everyone starts to join, anyway hopefully as more people notice its there it will be made use of..

As long as nobody or only 1 driver is playing on a certain server, it takes ages until someone else joins in. But as soon as their are 4-6 players, many others step in. Yesterday in the morning (CET) many people jumped on the same server until it crashed. But after the server was down, the 12-16 players didn't come together on another server again.

When I'm joining a server as 1st player I'm able to select a certain track and add up to 2 AI drivers as pace maker if possible. (I hate it to drive alone.) But after the 3-4 drivers join in they start complaining about the AI. How can you remove AI as soon as there are enough human players?

There might be a quicker way but you can just end the race and then remove them from the racelist.

Can't you votekick them?

Quote from ColeusRattus :

Can't you votekick them?

LOL. If there were ever a driver cleanliness rating based on number of kicks, the AI might get their licensed removed .

No, unfortunatly you cant vote AI to kick. If there are more than 1 player on a server you also can't go back to the race menue in order to remove the AI from the race list, at least if you have no server rights.

I would like to search the forum about "AI" also in other questions, but it isn't accepted, because the term is with 2 letters too short.

Quote from Sunday Driver :

I would like to search the forum about "AI" also in other questions, but it isn't accepted, because the term is with 2 letters too short.

Try more refined searches, such as "AI driver" or "AI car" inverted commas included when you search

Here's my observations. Back when S1 first came out, everyone was racing the TBO4 cars almost exclusively. Then the Christmas Developers Gift came out (about 6 months after the S1 release) with the release of the MRT. Nearly all the servers switched to the MRT. The MRT was then raced for six to nine months, almost exclusively. Then it switched back to the TBO cars for awhile. Then the GT/GTI cars and so on and so forth.

People will get tired of racing the open wheeled/GTR cars eventualy and you will see more servers switch to "other" cars. What we are seeing today is nothing new. As time passes you will see a better mix of populated servers if history is any indicator. Just be patient.

I'm one of the guys that prefers the road cars to the full-out race cars. The races are a lot closer, there seem to be fewer wrecks, and the cars are more "fun" to drive, instead of just being demanding.

I run a server during some weeknights and most weekends (USA - Seattle). This past weekend I setup my server with all road cars and some of the lesser used courses. I set it up to automatically change tracks/cars after 5 races had been completed.

The first track/car combo was Blackwood with the GT Turbo. Nobody joined. I raced 5 races against the AI (plus a bunch of extra laps, and some laps with ramps enabled) and nobody joined.

The second track/car combo I tried was the MRT on Aston. Again, I drove 5 races against 2 AI cars and nobody else joined.

The third track/car combo I tried was the FZ 50 on Westhill. I had about three people join. Of those three, one stuck around for about 4 races or so until I finally decided to go to bed. The other two stayed for a few races, then complained that the car was too heavy, it didn't stop quick enough, etc., etc.

So, despite posts like this it appears that people who want to drive road cars like me are in the minority. While I was racing alone all night, there were drift and F08 servers that were packed with people. <shrug>

Anyway, I plan to keep my server running mostly road cars with a few FOX and GTR races sprinkled throughout (no F08 though). Hopefully those races will attract some people who will be willing to stick around for the "slow car" races.

Maybe the fact that your changing tracks all the time is hurting??
I'd guess most people don't know every track in the came well enogh to race competitively there.
If I see a server with a track I don't know, I'll have a good 20 min offline practice before I join.
So, if the tracks were changing all the time, some people might be put off.

I also elive in the theory someone mentioned earlier about the 'snowball effect' with people joining a server. i.e. No-one will join if there are only 1 or 2 people racing, but if you can get 5 or 6 on it, the masses will arrive very quickly.

Good luck with your server and I hope more people join soon!

Hi Cu-Ball Im on nightshift here in Aus at the moment so if I see you in your server I'll join as I probably am online around the same time as your evening at the moment ...

P.s. I had a blast yesterday doing a 40 lap race, and found that you dont have to be that familar with a track in a 40 lapper cause most drive a little more cautiously at the start so you can ease into it there was only 4 of us that started the race (with no mid race join) but I still found it much more enjoyable than many shorter races :P there's nothing like the feeling of pitting your wit against other human drivers in longer battles - fuel and tyre wear become much more important factors and even if you drop behind at time you have ample opportunity to fight your way back - whish there was more of these longer adhoc races about too :P

Quote from farcar :

Maybe the fact that your changing tracks all the time is hurting??

Well, the only way someone would know the server was changing tracks would be for them to constantly watch the server's listing. There's no way to know that the server is changing tracks without monitoring it fairly closely. Plus, it's not like the tracks were switching every 5 minutes. I run each track for 5 races of 5 laps each (more for the shorter tracks). Figure 1:30 per lap on blackwood. Multiply by 5 laps. Multiply by 5 races. Then add 5 minutes for restarting time (1 minute between races) and you've got about 45 minutes on that track, minimum. That's assuming no big crashes, no restarts, etc. Every other time I've been on a server people run for about an hour and then beg for the track to be changed. I thought this would be a good pre-emptive maneuver.

Quote :

I'd guess most people don't know every track in the came well enogh to race competitively there.

I'd agree with you there, but I was running Blackwood and Aston. The first is the track that comes with the demo so EVERYONE knows it. The second is one of the most popular tracks. The only time people joined was on Westhill, which seems to be not popular at all compared to the others.

Quote :

I also elive in the theory someone mentioned earlier about the 'snowball effect' with people joining a server. i.e. No-one will join if there are only 1 or 2 people racing, but if you can get 5 or 6 on it, the masses will arrive very quickly.

Yeah, I know how it is. I was hoping that having two AI in there would show 3 drivers on the track and would get people to join. But, that apparently doesn't work. Even when I had 6 people on Westhill (including two AI) the server never filled up.

Maybe the problem is that my server is in the US and there aren't that many non-oval drivers in the US? I dunno.

Quote from B2B@300 :

I had a blast yesterday doing a 40 lap race, and found that you dont have to be that familar with a track in a 40 lapper cause most drive a little more cautiously at the start so you can ease into it there was only 4 of us that started the race (with no mid race join) but I still found it much more enjoyable than many shorter races :P

Maybe I'll throw a couple of longer races into the mix as well. I would prefer to leave mid-race join turned on though. I think I saw you guys on last night but didn't want to wait half an hour for the race to end before I could join in. Even if I were 12 laps behind, I'd rather get in some practice and do something rather than sit and spectate until the current race is over.

Hope to see you online.

Oh yeah, we're in the minority, and to make matters worse, we're probably all playing at different times. Add to that, that I find racing on my own gets boring quite quickly, so unless I'm prepared to wait I'll tend to not join empty servers. If there's a couple of people in though that's usually enough to tempt me.

Quote from Cue-Ball :

Well, the only way someone would know the server was changing tracks would be for them to constantly watch the server's listing. There's no way to know that the server is changing tracks without monitoring it fairly closely.

Can't you call your server during setting up "Cue-Ball's Track Rotation" or something like that?

I think the track rotation is a good feature. Perhaps 3 races with 10 laps with 1 pit stop would be a good idea too + about 20-30 minutes qualifying by entering a new track. So if somone stumbels into a race, even if it's at lap 4-6 he is already well prepared for the next race if he roughly knows a track.

But there should be no car rotation. Only TBOs as group and no switching to complete different cars like FOX, MRT or GTs. If you're comming to a unknown track and you have also to change the car to one you can't handle, that's too much.

Yeah the servers allowing all cars are begining to grate on me.

I've been lapping the SO Town course offline in the GTI (yes, the GTI!) and found it to be a bucket of fun.
I found a server online using this course and allowing all cars. I joined, closing my eyes in hope that overyone one using road cars.

Everone was in a FOX or an FO8. Sigh.

If anyone runs a GTI server on SO Town when I'm online, I'll be there in a flash. The racing would be awesome.

Perhaps we should all arrange a time to have a mass take over of one of the all cars server, the racing would be so close the FO8s would never be able to squeeze past.

Quote from Bob Smith :

Perhaps we should all arrange a time to have a mass take over of one of the all cars server, the racing would be so close the FO8s would never be able to squeeze past.

How many side-by-side UF1s does it take to completely block the banking at Kyoto?

I am willing to host a server for the slower cars. I like driving the XF GT1 car since it is similar to my daily driver/real world track car. I have a decent second computer and a good broadband connection, and if the server didn't have to draw the graphics I think it would work fine. However, I am new to LFS and would need some help getting it set up. I would also like to participate in, or maybe host, a league that races these street cars for the North American time zones (I am in Colorado.) I believe there will always be a need for a server/league for the slower cars in order to attract new drivers. One of the things I noticed immediately when going online was that I had no place to race online against other beginners.