i just want to add in something: oval racing is NOT only BF1 on the oval. i think every car is different to drive there. to speak for myself i prefere the FO8 and the gtrs to the bf1 on the oval. besides that tbo class can also be challanging.
driving fast on the oval is not that important, its more important during a race to make the right move at the right time.
when driving alone there is THE line. end of story.
but when you are with other drivers and probably one of those other guys IS ON THAT line or he is next to you, so nobody of you both is ON that line you have to think. the outcome of this is both of you have to make the best out of the situation. and that is where it starts to be interesting. which is the best line OFF of the ideal line.
for example T3 with gtr/tbo the ideal line is pretty tight to the inside sloping to the outside at the exit. when there are 3 cars next to each other, the inner cars can't slope outside because there is another car there (and lots of crashes happen exactly at this point). so the outer lane becomes the faster lane all of a sudden on the straight because the car has the highest speed compared to the other two. and this kind of behavior can last for several laps.
so oval racing is not thinking from turn to turn. it needs much more confidence to the other drivers next to you. which probably is the biggest problem. lots of drivers in lfs give a damn shit about other drivers when they join an oval. just because they don't look or they think "this track is broad enough and you don't have to turn anyway".
so the interesting thing on the oval is not: sticking to the ideal line as best as possible. its more the interaction between all drivers.
and thats the next thing: drafting and bumpdrafting. however we do not have air-push (i hope we will have that soon) the drafting behavior of lfs is different to e.g. NASCAR. on superspeedways a group of 5 cars driving behind each other is faster then a group of 2 just because of the air-push each car gives. but that is not reality on lfs because of the lack of the aero-model. so we do swing-by drafting which needs some sort of working together from both cars the overtaken and the overtaking. if they work together well they can gain on the cars in front. if they fight for position they will lose and maybe crash as well.
in longer races its sometimes better to slow down for half a lap to get a drafting partner instead of driving the next 50 laps alone.
so again: its making the right move at the right time and not "how can i pass the car in front in lap 5 in T2" in a 120 laps race.
driving fast on the oval is not that important, its more important during a race to make the right move at the right time.
when driving alone there is THE line. end of story.
but when you are with other drivers and probably one of those other guys IS ON THAT line or he is next to you, so nobody of you both is ON that line you have to think. the outcome of this is both of you have to make the best out of the situation. and that is where it starts to be interesting. which is the best line OFF of the ideal line.
for example T3 with gtr/tbo the ideal line is pretty tight to the inside sloping to the outside at the exit. when there are 3 cars next to each other, the inner cars can't slope outside because there is another car there (and lots of crashes happen exactly at this point). so the outer lane becomes the faster lane all of a sudden on the straight because the car has the highest speed compared to the other two. and this kind of behavior can last for several laps.
so oval racing is not thinking from turn to turn. it needs much more confidence to the other drivers next to you. which probably is the biggest problem. lots of drivers in lfs give a damn shit about other drivers when they join an oval. just because they don't look or they think "this track is broad enough and you don't have to turn anyway".
so the interesting thing on the oval is not: sticking to the ideal line as best as possible. its more the interaction between all drivers.
and thats the next thing: drafting and bumpdrafting. however we do not have air-push (i hope we will have that soon) the drafting behavior of lfs is different to e.g. NASCAR. on superspeedways a group of 5 cars driving behind each other is faster then a group of 2 just because of the air-push each car gives. but that is not reality on lfs because of the lack of the aero-model. so we do swing-by drafting which needs some sort of working together from both cars the overtaken and the overtaking. if they work together well they can gain on the cars in front. if they fight for position they will lose and maybe crash as well.
in longer races its sometimes better to slow down for half a lap to get a drafting partner instead of driving the next 50 laps alone.
so again: its making the right move at the right time and not "how can i pass the car in front in lap 5 in T2" in a 120 laps race.
