lol bored of drifting already?

I don't think anyone can "teach" you how to race, you just have to learn by yourself. If you don't wanna drift around corners use a fwd car, like the fxo to learn grip driving, and practice a lot. You can also race on the CTRA server, they're good for learning. Even the demo servers have some good races, in fact that's where I practiced a lot before racing on S2 servers.

Try starting out in the same way that real life instructors teach performance driving. Separate your inputs. Brake in a straight line, turn wheel smoothly, feed in throttle, wide open at apex, unwind wheel as you approach apex.

Being smooth with your inputs is very important. As you get comfortable, you can start merging your inputs. You will even begin the concept of trail braking without conciously doing it.

Ultimately, your speed is governed by the way that you exit corners. If you dive into a hairpin turn and blow the entrance, your exit will suffer, and thus your straightaway speed falls. Enter slow, exit fast.

Just for kicks, try the UF1 at Aston Historic. That will teach you how to be smooth and the idea of slow in/fast out.

Only problem with that theory is that the UF1 is slow and slow out

My Advice is Learn one car, one set at time on one track, once you know that like the back of your hand , youll be able to feel the differences in the set chage much more imo.

Just... drive.

You don't need a race "teacher" and you have car control, just get laps in and it should all fall into place.

go buy GPL and read its manual 'Car Guide' its based on GPL but gives alot of information that you can apply everywhere.

Quote from Gener_AL (UK) :

Only problem with that theory is that the UF1 is slow and slow out

Get sideways in a turn and that piece will stop dead in its tracks. I used to love those STCC races last year. Sometimes you just wanted to jump out of the car and run to the finish line.

Riders,

My best advice is this. Don't try and be fast, don't try to set up the car to be fast. You should strive for smooth consistency lapping. Once you can consistently make smooth laps you will find that your are getting faster.

After that start to lean how to drive through the corners off the ideal line, because you never know when you will find yourself having to drive there. Also don't be afraid of trying different lines and speeds in corners. Slow in fast out is not always the best way through a corner, what precedes it and what follows it all have a implications on what is the best line and there is never a single best line.

Could some of the more experienced drivers tell me something?

Is it stupid to use one general set for all the tracks?

I know that I wont be chasing WRs and that the gears are not ideal, far from it on some tracks. But as a general starting point is it not a good idea to keep the variables to a minimum?

As I mostly race on CTRA and the track changes are quite frequent. I don't like to play "hunt the set". Another positive side effect is that I don't need to familiarise myself with a different set every time the track changes. Keeps my pit view uncluttered too.

In the future I might start to deviate my sets a bit more. But untill then I'll concentrate in learning the tracks and racing.

Quote from Jakg :

Just... drive.

You don't need a race "teacher" and you have car control, just get laps in and it should all fall into place.

yeah just get out there and get ur ass handed too you untill you finally pick up some of the skills and techniques to win and fight with the bigboys.


march, its best to just ask someone for a set since a set. What's great for 1 track can be horrible for another.

Quote from March Hare :

Is it stupid to use one general set for all the tracks?

No it's not stupid at all, for all the reasons you stated

I tend to do the same, find a set I feel gives me great confidence to do consistent laps then use it on all tracks. The only thing I do is adjust brake balance/max pressure and camber angles for each location (i.e. a version of the same set for WE, FE BL, SO and AS tracks.

I just adjust brake balance/ max pressure to ensure the car is stable on the selected track under braking, and the camber angle I adjust to get my desired temp profile accross the tyre after 5 or so laps.

If you are under 1 sec from WR pace then a specific setup for that track will help, but for most of us having a car that handles well is more important and that can be achieved with one setup and minor variations having said that I mostly race the road cars, throw aero into the equation and it probably is abit more complicated.

The best teacher are WR time replay,

watch them, use analizer program and study more, download ppl setup from setupfield and try to do same things,

If can't check some other replay, maybe they use something that you can do and it's still fast

For me I really feel that although a setup might handle oddly (ie FXO / WE1 sets oversteer like a bitch under braking, which is fun at T1 when you don't know)

Without sounding arrogant or anything, I do have a bit more skill than the average LFS'er (or else I wouldn't beat the average LFS'er most of the time), and after about 25,000 miles (for me at least) I was experienced enough at LFS so that I could turn up at any track in any car with a setup i've never driven before (but a decent one) and still set fairly decent laps - i think it's probably that way for most people.

If your always in the back of midfeild with an ultra-stable set with dodgy gears, you'll never learn a thing!

Quote from Jakg :

I was experienced enough at LFS so that I could turn up at any track in any car with a setup i've never driven before (but a decent one) and still set fairly decent laps

Conversaly an experienced LFSer can drive almost any half decsent set to close to WR lap times also so I guess it's personal choice

Quote from March Hare :

Could some of the more experienced drivers tell me something?

Is it stupid to use one general set for all the tracks?

I've been here with LFS for nearly 3 years now. I have probably 30 sets in the list for each car. All sets are track specific, and mainly from folks on the servers up to around April of 2006 (when patch P/Q was released). Since then, the set lists expanded from copying over sets for tweaks here and there, but not deleting the sets after confirming the tweak worked.

Since the CTRA went with CTRA-X, I found that I really liked my XFG set for FE Green nearly everywhere. Seems, if I had a setup for FE Green in any of the cars, I started trying it at other tracks, and it translated very nicely. So, now I mostly use the same set, except for the need to change gearing and wing angles for the race cars for the longer tracks (AS GP, KY GP Long, etc).

I am no expert but altering gearing and ride height as a bare minimum for different tracks I would suggest. I think more height for some fern bay (nasty kerbs) and South city (nasty dips) tracks is needed as a bare minimum.

I think it is a good idea to get a single set you are comfortable with and have a play around with it for the differnt tracks.

Good Luck....!

Good to know I'm not totally lost. Thanks for the advise.

A while ago, someone posted a package of sets that were designed to be easy to drive. Perhaps they still show up here on the forum.

Quote from PAracer :

A while ago, someone posted a package of sets that were designed to be easy to drive. Perhaps they still show up here on the forum.

Yes, Mr Bob Smith. Here they are:

Setup packs: Road Going ... Easy Race ... Drag Racing

Quote from N I K I :

The best teacher are WR time replay,

watch them, use analizer program and study more, download ppl setup from setupfield and try to do same things,

If can't check some other replay, maybe they use something that you can do and it's still fast

+1

or do hotlap and watch ur own replay and see where u can gain better time and where u make mistakes.

Personally most of my sets are nearly the same and are all based on the same base set. I do make small changes to tailor it to a specific track but its not unnecessary until you start to chase 1/10th of a second improvements in lap times.

I use one base set for each car and copy it into track specific setups so I basically get the same package everytime with some some little tweaks that improve the handling per track without changing it completely.
Edit: Just like Gimpster here

Quote from J@tko :

Yes, Mr Bob Smith. Here they are:

Setup packs: Road Going ... Easy Race ... Drag Racing

I've understood that those setups are quite outdated.

Drugs?

It would appear so, as your giant red writing is a dead giveaway!