I was driving around Kyoto GP in the F08 today where there is a right hander that you need to take almost flat out at 240kph. In the game tackling the corner seemed terrifying, which got me thinking, 'would I have the balls to go anything like that fast in real life?'

As far as I see it, having the skill to drive fast can be demonstrated in the sim, but the courage to do so can't.

How fast do you think you go in LFS compared to if you were driving the combo in real life? Also, to any real life racers on the forum, is your driving style significantly different in real life compared to the relative safety of the sim?

Quote from Origamiboy :

I was driving around Kyoto GP in the F08 today where there is a right hander that you need to take almost flat out at 240kph. In the game tackling the corner seemed terrifying, which got me thinking, 'would I have the balls to go anything like that fast in real life?'

As far as I see it, having the skill to drive fast can be demonstrated in the sim, but the courage to do so can't.

How fast do you think you go in LFS compared to if you were driving the combo in real life? Also, to any real life racers on the forum, is your driving style significantly different in real life compared to the relative safety of the sim?

I doubt very few people could EVER drive at the speeds they do in LFS, fear and risk of death is too great.

Your question got me thinking about my speed and lines in the SO tracks. I am able to push at mad speeds through the corners because I have mashed into the walls enough during my time with LFS to know what I can and cant get away with.

The lack of fear also allows people to explore the limits of grip in a safe environment, something far harder to do IRL without massive repair bills or hospital time IRL.

For those that disagree I am willing to bet that if you were hooked up to a feedback device that that inflicted REAL pain with intensity linked to LFS impact force you would not drive as fast.

Quote from Woz :

The lack of fear also allows people to explore the limits of grip in a safe environment, something far harder to do IRL without massive repair bills or hospital time IRL.

In my opinion this is the biggest downside in sim racing. Bigger than the absence of g-forces and "butt-sensation" . As fun as league racing can be, doing 1000 practise laps trying to routinize the perfect lines and entry/exit speeds just doesn't feel right. This may sound stupid, but I have got much more out of it with less practise

Quote from Woz :

For those that disagree I am willing to bet that if you were hooked up to a feedback device that that inflicted REAL pain with intensity linked to LFS impact force you would not drive as fast.

So now we need an insim app that links one of those electric chock games to LFS via the USB port? Not a bad idea really Would be even better if you could force such a device onto any and all known wreckers, hehe

I've decided to stick to one car for the time being (the FOX) and not jump around to other car types/different classes. Because I used to hate South City, I never drove it much. It seemed like I was hanging on for dear life if I did it right or I had the pavement scraping along the top of my helmet if I did it wrong. Now that I have put more and more laps on it, I am able to take many dangerous corners at respectably fast speeds. It has become much more enjoyable. In real life, there are some very talented drivers who can probably emulate those speeds, but it is highly unlikely that that would because of the risk factors involved.

Real racers get to feel the g's under acceleration, deceleration, laterally, etc. They feel every imperfection in the road. They even get to use their sense of smell. "I smell coolant...Dang!"

Sim racers get safety. We also don't have an operational budget. We don't have to dish out thousands of dollars on fuel, brake pads/rotors, tires, pit crew, mechanics...I could go on forever here. When we tap a wall or scrape with another car, we have the luxury of hitting F10 and saying, "Wow! That's really orange".

...And even though we can see the visual cues that clearly show us that our car's alignment is shot, our steering wheels jerk to one side during acceleration and jerk violently to the other side during braking...we still might just make a crack at taking that corner at or near full speed. If we make it...SWEET!!!...if we don't...we can always SPECTATE. Real life racers would show more caution or simply retire from the race.

Real life racers don't have these luxuries. In my opinion, there is no way they can take "dangerous" corners at the same speeds that sim racers do. To their benefit, they are feeling the speed. We are merely seeing it.

I've thought of this before too, I always used to wonder how it would be if, instead of pain, there was some other ill-effect, (I can't think of any off the top of my head that wouldn't ruin the whole game though) I remember not long ago I would take the turns at maximum speed and about 50% of the time I might make it, (finishing the race was a rarity) and I was thinking, what if instead of starting fast and getting slower, you started slow and had to increase speed with experience?

I had just gotten finished racing in the Core server on aston and i had the funniest feeling when leading the pack due to a strong start on National. when it came to braking at that sharp hairpin at the end of the cadet straight i thought "man i really had a good reaction time on the light and fast entry into the past turns but i'll never post 1:44s and 1:43s like the other 3 guys behind me. what if they ram me"

of course its a Sim but damn was i scared. im sure someone else has had that strange moment before during situtaions like this

Quote from Origamiboy :

I was driving around Kyoto GP in the F08 today where there is a right hander that you need to take almost flat out at 240kph. In the game tackling the corner seemed terrifying, which got me thinking, 'would I have the balls to go anything like that fast in real life?'

No you wouldn't, but it's not that simple. You also go that fast through the corner because you know you have control. The reason behind it, the risk, might be that you might die, or simply that you might go off and damage the car/lose positions........but regardless, you only slow down because you feel as though you are not in control (unless you just don't care about crashing). If you had reason to take the risk in real life (fun, a race, anything) and you had the feeling that you are in control, then yes you would be able to go as fast.
I believe fear of speed is fairly easily overcome with time, I mean, we're all fine with tearing along motorways at 80 or 90mph all day, even in the passenger seat, and if you'd never seen a car before in your life, that would (I think) seem bloody fast!

It's not really relevant maybe, but I had this today.
I drove a few races with the GTI today. After that I jumped in the FOX and I was amazed how fast it went, and felt! Next time I'm going to drive the GTI first and then the BF1, that's gonna be fun... :P

Was the same feeling I had when I first drove the FO8. Just awesome!

Quote from Pain-less :

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JN0wMiAT4gQ

Yeah, but comparing gt4's 'simulation' to real life is complete apples and oranges. Not saying fear isn't involved, but they really could've used a better game.

Just for perspective here is a few video's of race drivers (from long ago ) they are both on bathurst which is quite a demanding track and it was from a time when safty wasn't a high priority in track design

I find it particularly interesting how they have a total lack of fear, and that is what made them top runners in their day. As opposed to many of us who would back off the throttle at the critical moments IRL

I personally think the difference between the game and real life is more to do with budgets and team boses than fear of death that causes them to stay within the cars limits more than we do in a sim

Dick Johnson 1983 crash - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2OoFqnhNljU&NR=1

Brock chatting - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2T7uZpIRfk8

Brock chatting is simply amazing.
It just proves that in order to be a good driver in RL, one needs to be a complete psycho without any regard to danger, death or pain (or the teams money).

I was never that relaxed racing in the SCCA. (and I was going MUCH slower in the S2000)

Quote from frokki :

In my opinion this is the biggest downside in sim racing. Bigger than the absence of g-forces and "butt-sensation" . As fun as league racing can be, doing 1000 practise laps trying to routinize the perfect lines and entry/exit speeds just doesn't feel right. This may sound stupid, but I have got much more out of it with less practise

This, IMO, is the single biggest reason why people don't think that the road surface in LFS is realistic, saying it's too slippery.
Simply because they are taking corners much, MUCH faster than they would ever dare IRL.
It's the fear factor that we are missing.
As for fear of speed, it's something you become accustomed to, I have no qualm's about riding down the Revitt Straight at 150mph, feels normal to me, but to non-riders its very scary.

All good points...

One thing I've noticed both IRL and in simracing is how much my mental state affects my sensation of speed. I'm speaking mostly of fatigue I suppose.

If I roll out of bed and into the car or fire up LFS, I notice that it "feels" a lot faster than after my brain really gets going. If I play some hockey, then driving feels really slow as well both IRL or simracing - probably as my brain is used to processing 80-90mph pucks over relatively short distances etc.

Quote from Ball Bearing Turbo :

If I roll out of bed and into the car or fire up LFS, I notice that it "feels" a lot faster than after my brain really gets going. If I play some hockey, then driving feels really slow as well both IRL or simracing - probably as my brain is used to processing 80-90mph pucks over relatively short distances etc.

You should try not driving for real for a month and do nothing but sim race. I was laid off from work temporarily for a month back in 1996 and I did nothing but race ICR2. I jumped in the car after that month and found myself running 100 mph down the road without even realizing it, hehehe.

Since I`m not racing in real life I canot compare it to LFS.
But I`m fairly convinced that the grip/speed in LFS are correct. The car that you drive has a lot of grip, and a lot of power, so it shouldn`t be a problem. And in real life I don`t belive you could, or wanted/dared to drive as fast as you do in LFS.


Edit : Belive I missreaded a little

I think LFS, with the right FOV and such, displays a pretty normal sence of speed. but I guess it all depends on veiws, FOV`s, angels and such.

I do think the cars in LFS are underpowered or lied

I Mean RB4 has more power then a Ford Focus ST yet can't hit 150mph? 140mph is max on oval same ith FXO with it's 1.9 litre turbo charged engine... more power yet top speed?

I'm pretty sure the RB4 would crack 150mph with ease if we had a 2 mile runway in LFS. Ovals are not the place to get cars to top speed.