Quote from Gabkicks :

i noticed a few very very fast drivers are very bad at passing people. :P

There's a difference between the concepts of race craft, consitancy and line. The super fast hotlappers are very, very good at running the best possible line, but it doesn't help them when racing with other cars. That being said, it stands to reason that the majority of very fast hotlappers also have excelent consitancy just by the virtue of them having such good control over their cars, which in turn can help with race craft. Allas, a few of the very fast hotlappers do quite a bit of online racing as well, so they have three things going for them. They run a perfect line, have excelent control over their car, and can anticipate the crowd. This makes a few of these racers practically unbeatable.

There are many fast hotlappers who are only good at one or two of those things, which makes them very beatable.

Even the REALLY quick guys with a LOT of practice still have room for improvment, so it's not like they've mastered it either. We ALL have a long way to go.

And then they change the physics and we start over again :P

Quote from thisnameistaken :

I've found there's no substitute for practise. I just found out the other day that two cars I couldn't drive a few months ago now seem easy. And after a few hours in the LX6 I'm now starting to get at least a smidge of confidence with it (although those 4th-gear tank-slappers are still usually fatal...).

It's always a surprise to me though exactly *how much* practise is required to be any good at LfS. But that's why I love it, and what gives it its longevity.

Or frustration...

I would consider me as consistent baaaaaaaaad driver... I am just too slow to keep up... Now if someone isn't as bullheaded as me, he would turn away from this great game because of the frustration not to be able to keep up to the pack...

Quote from bbman :

Or frustration...

I would consider me as consistent baaaaaaaaad driver... I am just too slow to keep up... Now if someone isn't as bullheaded as me, he would turn away from this great game because of the frustration not to be able to keep up to the pack...

Had heard an interesting theory rom a German teammate about us austrians being slow: it's because we only can go 130 kph at our autobahns

The best thing to improve laptimes and consistancy is not only practise. If you drive alone, you are very likely to learn a "wrong" racing line. So it is quite important to download the hotlap world records and watch them from cockpit view, or even better, get an experienced driver to drive in front of you, teaching you the racing line and break points.

Quote from ColeusRattus :

Had heard an interesting theory rom a German teammate about us austrians being slow: it's because we only can go 130 kph at our autobahns

But we know how to drive up and down a mountain!

Quote from ColeusRattus :

The best thing to improve laptimes and consistancy is not only practise. If you drive alone, you are very likely to learn a "wrong" racing line. So it is quite important to download the hotlap world records and watch them from cockpit view, or even better, get an experienced driver to drive in front of you, teaching you the racing line and break points.

Being on a new track or a new car (or both) you should play offline till you are able to drive an average laptime at least 10 times in a row. Then you go online and find out where the other are faster than you. And after a few 100 laps you should be able to drive really good laptimes.
Thats the way I do it.

Quote :

Being on a new track or a new car (or both) you should play offline till you are able to drive an average laptime at least 10 times in a row. Then you go online and find out where the other are faster than you. And after a few 100 laps you should be able to drive really good laptimes.
Thats the way I do it.

I agree with this except for one exception.. Leet (pun intended) me give you an example:
Yesterday at one time the Motodrom server hosting GTRs @ As3 was closed for private practice for a few hours and I was left stranded w/ no GTR races on. For the first time ever, I decided to drive Kyoto GP Long when I stopped there were 4 (or was it 5) ppl connected.

So I pulled out my trusty FXR w/ my As3 setup and set-off for my first drive w/ the car and track combo against a couple of other ppl. I ended up improving my lap times from the initial 2:30.xx to finally around 2:21.xx. I had great fun and was able to keep up in the 3rd race (6-lap races) while not being a hazard.

Morale? If you know you can make your car do what you want it to do (and I'm nowhere near perfect so I'm not really boasting either), I don't see a problem driving on a car&track combo online for the first time ever if common sense is exercised.

Best thing to do is (safely) drop back behind the others and try to keep up with the tail-runners learning the braking points and lines & adapting them to your driving style.

BUT

I fully agree w/ you when it comes to anoybody who hasn't a decent grasp of the LFS physics (e.g. people new to LFS altogether). These people need to go offline and learn to handle the cars on different tracks

Yeah, I'll often jump in a try a car I know on a track I dont. The most fun thing is trying to race in a car you know, on a track you know, but have never driven the two together.

if you're a decent driver who understands safety precautions and the dynamics of racing, than of course you can jump on a race course for the 1st time in a new car without crashing into someone. But the thing is alot of people arent.

I raced Aston Historic for the first time on Ocrana's Server and I didn't know shit about it... The 3-4 first laps in qualifying were pretty bad, as you can imagine, but then I got my line (even if it was slow) and I drove it consistently... In the 15 laps-race I got beaten by Hyperactive, but still managed to get second with one lap behind... Why? Because all but Hyperactive and me got to wreck their cars somehow...

Quote from bbman :

... Why? Because all but Hyperactive and me got to wreck their cars somehow...

Ok. Back to my first post!

Quote from bbman :

Or frustration...

I would consider me as consistent baaaaaaaaad driver... I am just too slow to keep up... Now if someone isn't as bullheaded as me, he would turn away from this great game because of the frustration not to be able to keep up to the pack...

Wouldn't it be true as in real life that even with the same oportunities and knowledge we all wont be the same as we dont all have the same mental and physical atributes so we can only hope to be the best we can be

I dont compare myself to wr holders, sure i study their hotlaps in great detail to improve myself but the difference is im happy when i can see progress ie new pb's or better consistency there's always enough racers around to find some at your level and have a good battle or two..

Quote from bbman :

I raced Aston Historic for the first time on Ocrana's Server and I didn't know shit about it... The 3-4 first laps in qualifying were pretty bad, as you can imagine, but then I got my line (even if it was slow) and I drove it consistently... In the 15 laps-race I got beaten by Hyperactive, but still managed to get second with one lap behind... Why? Because all but Hyperactive and me got to wreck their cars somehow...

Mmmm. Don't mention any player by name Just joking.

I would say that before you can expect any good laps from yourself you need to go through these steps, my method:
1) Just drive the track and learn the line you feel best
2) make sure you're braking as close to the turn as possible and get a good acceleration out of it. Also try different lines, take notes how it effects your times. Also take note about the sector times. And don't go to pits if your tires are little red. Just drive slower and they'll probably cool down. Go to pits when you run out of fuel, not when you think your tires finished. Try to drive longer stints (AS HIS in FZR for example, at least 7 laps at time)
3) check wrs and play the track online.
4) change the line accordingly.

Takes time though...

Edit. I can't write...much...

Don't just assume braking as late as possible is quickest...

Sometimes it's quicker to brake a bit earlier, and perhaps a bit less, so you can carry more speed through the corner, or balance the car, or get good traction earlier on the exit.

It's surprisingly hard to train yourself, initially, to brake earlier than you're used to, and it doesn't work on every corner (or perhaps when racing for position, but then, it might help too), but once mastered (when and how) you'll be quicker.
Probably.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Don't just assume braking as late as possible is quickest...

What I meant (with my bad english ) was that the most common error is that people brake too early and the cruise slowly into the corner... Of course the most important thing is to get the best acceleration out from the corner, and sometimes that requires you to brake earlier than you would think

what most new people seem to do is brake too early, and slow down too much, and then accelerate and understeer off into the wall

...perhaps this topic would be of better use as a sticky, since it tends to disappear if no new tips are posted for a while... Mods?