I have just spent a fair amount of time searching on this topic, and while I have read a number of interesting discussions I didn't really find a straightforward answer to this question:

When you are looking at the list of servers, what is the maximum ping time above which you should not even consider joining out of consideration for others racing there?

I have not really raced online much at all yet, primarily because I can never seem to find a combo that matches the couple I have become relatively consistent with so far. That would really just be Blackwood/RB4 and Blackwood/FXR at this point. In the rare cases where I find a non-empty server allowing one of these, invariably the listed ping time is >100ms, and often >150ms. This just seems huge.

I am on a 3Mbit/768Kbit DSL connection, and at the moment provisioned with interleaved data path. I know this is seriously eating into my RTT, and I will shortly start working on getting myslef switched to fast path. (Dealing with Verizon. Oh, joy.)

With luck, that will improve things significantly. In the meantime, can I join a server with these latencies without just pissing everyone off?

Thanks.

lyd

I'm running on 56k dialup (usually connected at 46.6k). A really good ping for me is 200-210, normal is 250-300. There are 1-2 servers at the bottom of the list in the low 400's that I can't race on, or I lag. I very rarely have problems with lagging at anything below 350 ms and I ask often in the servers.

I race every night. I just loaded up the server list now. Best ping now is 219 ms for a drift server, worst few are 2 @ 328, a 344, and 3 servers at 406. These are the ones I wouldn't join. All others are good for me, lots at 250, mid 260's, and 280. 49 servers listed with folks on them.

There must be many more factors than just the ping listing because I can race all night on my dialup, while others stating they have these huge bandwidth connections lag all kinds. If I see someone lagging or jumping around, I'll let them know and usually also state it could be me due to dialup. Someone always pipes in that they see the person lagging as well. Then I know it is them and not me.

Well, for me anything < 100 goes, but I have it easier as I'm living in Europe - most servers on the top list range from 20-60 which is pretty much ideal. Though for you, I'd say even something lower than 250 should be quite okay, as ping time is not as crucial in LFS as it would be in first person shooters for example.

Well, cool. That makes me feel better. Thanks guys.

I guess I will start practicing with the FOX, as that seems to be a pretty popular car, so I have some races to join. ;-)

lyd

Well the default packet rate is 4 packets per second, so in theory anything under 250ms should be perfect.

and, a higher ping, but a steady ping might be better than a low ping but not steady.
What I mean by that is, that if you have cable, but are p2p'ing (just an example of heavy traffic) like mad in the background, then you will probably show jerky movement online, because the p2p is causing your LFS traffic to become irregular. Packets would not arrive at regular intervals and the prediction of LFS can cope less well with that than packets that are a bit more delayed, but with a constant delay.

Quote from Bob Smith :

Well the default packet rate is 4 packets per second, so in theory anything under 250ms should be perfect.

Now lyd is sorted, can I just ask a follow on question.

Bob/Victor. If the speed/bandwidth is available, what, in practical terms, is the advantage of 6 packets per second over 4?

it's like a a lower FPS vs a higher FPS. More packets per second means smoother visuals because cars get updated more frequently. And in the case of racing, smoother movements could also mean allow for closer racing.

Quote from Victor :

it's like a a lower FPS vs a higher FPS. More packets per second means smoother visuals because cars get updated more frequently. And in the case of racing, smoother movements could also mean allow for closer racing.

I see. Thanks.

So other cars (assuming you or they don't suffer from low/inconsistant ping of course) are less likely to 'skip' around the track with more packets per second?

Yep, that's the theory
Every packet is like a correction of a car's movement. The more packets, the more corrections.

Cheers