Yep, with manual gears, you can also work with the engine braking... Furthermore, you'll be in the right gear already when you apply the throttle, so you might be even quicker!
If you've actually only been playing LFS since March (as it says below your avatar) then continuing using auto gears is a bad habit to get into. When I started on LFS, most everything was on automatic as I felt that was the best way to learn without thinking about everything all at once. But after a few months, I dropped the auto gears- and after some slight frustrations I never looked back. For patch Y I've adapted to manual clutch as well, and again I'm thankful I've made the switch. Seriously, there shouldn't be too much to discuss here. Give manual gears a go and stick with it for a few days before posting again. It might not be easy to start with, but you'll have better skills in the long term which will help your racing enormously!
The default sets aren't very good and are designed to be driven with a wheel. A real F1 car has more than four digital inputs to control it. You firstly really need to get some kind of analog steering at least (a mouse?) I can't emphasise that enough. You also really need to use a manual, if you can't choose when to change gear you have no control. Why auto-shifting is in LFS in the first place is a mystery to me.
Just like IRL the BF1 has a fully automated clutch and throttle blip or cut on every gearchange, so it should be the easiest car to change gear in.
Ive always used auto gears in the BF1 i think that was one reason why i couldn't reach the WR for blackwood, but now its really bad, i tend to use manual in road cars and even in the FBM on CTRA servers but ive tried manual in the BF1 and i just ended up being slower as i couldn't concentrate on the thing that made me faster than people with wheels and thats my line thourhg corners, and the fact i might try to go flat where most people lift. But im just not able to do it anymore. i usually use to hands to steer on keyboard.
Right hand does throttle right steer and brake and left does left steer so using one hand to chnage gear doesn' give me as muh control.
^^You've done 5200 laps on BL1 BF1, that's 80 hours of driving. Since the patch you haven't done a proper lap. I think you'll need a bit of practice to accomate for the changes
As for the control method, use a mouse, with throttle and brake on the buttons and gear shifts on the keyboard you'll get far better control of the car, although you can't escape from the fact there's a reason why no one has changed the layout of the car since the turn of the last century...
I dont think the new patch was so good, becuase i use the Turbo very mutch. But i will buy LFS license tonight I got like 1.150$ (i got 6.300 NOK(norway)) for christmas, so i will buy LFS s2 license today
WTF why bring that up again Go have fun on the demo servers taunting them because im sick of that argument. This thread has nothing to do with it anymore so STFU ffs!
Thanks for the reply guys im really loving the FBM now and it may even replace my old favourite combo gear chnage is awesome and so driveable.
If i want to drive the BF1 again im going to either have to adapt with keyboard or get a wheel, im feeling option 2 though.
The new clutch sucks and is very un realistic. Take the easier cars, they can be pushed harder then the faster cars which in real life the faster cars can be pushed even harder due to them actualy racing.
The UF1 GTR can be broken in seconds. I was in 5th gear and down shifted to 4rd, 40% hard so not that hard and bang car is gone. How can that be?
I've driven some faster cars in my time and the clutch in those are better and they not even "race cars"
As others have said, a racing clutch is not as strong as a normal clutch. They are tools designed to be light that when used within their limits provide fast gear changes etc. They are not designed to be abused.
Post a replay of the fault you think exists so we can see if its a bad driving habit or an issue.
So I guess all those people that are not rich enough to buy a wheel that works well with the game have to choose another online racing game that is more compatible with other means of controllers....one thing I love about flight sims is that you can still have a blast without a flight stick, then again I rarely ever used one in the first place. Now don't get me wrong cause one of these days, or weeks or months I'm going to put forward some money and get the damn g25, that is when I get a desk to put it on and that whole setup.
I also have a momo force which I have been using for the past 5 years, but it's in another state so all I have right now is a mouse or keyboard to use. The game just doesn't seem to have that excitement that most games have no matter what form of controller you use. I see the point in using a wheel for a racing game, but as I said before and probably repeated myself a few times around I just feel bad for people that don't have a wheel or the money to buy one
Now the only time I really have a fun time with the good old mouse is with the slower cars, or the server that has the ufr at 45% restriction if im right.
PS...I just think it would have been nice to even out the playing field more by giving mouse/keyboard users some kinda of assistance, break or traction control on cars...i mean it's not like it's cheating but damn it would be nice if we were all on the same playing level don't you think?
And if this is a "sim" as the developers like to call it....then where the @^%# are the ladies with bikinis shielding the sun from my face before the race! come on people get with it!
PSS happy holidays my peeps
One more thing, im having a bitch of a time rev matching down gears with a mouse
This is my biggest gripe with the patch, because I use a joystick. It's very difficult to do any rev matching/blipping/lifting. I realize I should get a wheel, but that's not the reason I'm making this post.
Your average user who has downloaded the demo for the first time will probably have very little invested in hardware, and thus will probably be using the keyboard. The new patch makes it even harder and even less fun to drive on the keyboard. This in turn will lead to a higher number of first-time users giving up in frustration after five minutes because they didn't have fun.
Now, before you go and say that this is a simulator is for hardcore racing enthusiasts only, and that you don't want/need them in the game, consider this: there are many cruisers and drifters who have paid for an S2 license, and I would say they represent a sizeable amount of income. Without their involvement and their money, I would bet that we would all still be stuck on Patch Q.
If you want to dedicate this program to hardcore folks only, that's your choice. But you will never finish S2 because the cash flow won't be there. If you can't cater this simulation to at least some of the more casual participants then you're targeting too specific an audience and new license purchases will dramatically slow down.
After all, the whole point of the demo is to lure people into buying the full license, right? It worked for me, mostly because the demo was pretty playable for me without having to invest a dime in any new hardware.
I think if you started a poll, you would find the majority of users started playing the demo with something other than a wheel. If you want continued cash flow and continued development, that's who you need to cater to.
Though I agree with you in theory, people who are totally new to sim-racing (the sort that don't own a wheel) are probably going to start out using auto-shift. I've never tried it with anything but a wheel, but I imagine, freed of the burden of shifting (and hence cutting and blipping), it's not terribly difficult to drive to a reasonable standard with a keyboard, joystick or mouse- enough to enjoy it anyways and get an understanding of what it's all about. It would probably be pretty clear to them the degree to which a wheel would enhance their enjoyment.
I'd also bet that a good number of people who buy a wheel buy it without any particular software in mind- they just know they want to play driving games (this is why I bought my first wheel back when). There are also a lot more people playing Need For Speed, Test Drive, and other arcade games than there are playing sim-racers. These people are reasonably likely to own some kind of a wheel, and would make for a large pool of potential LFS customers.
On top of this, there are quite a few people who drive other racing-sims, most have probably already made up their minds about LFS, but as it progresses they will probably give it a second look from time to time and may buy it in the future (this is how I got here).
You might want to look into an XBox360 controller. Along with the analog sticks, it has analog shoulder triggers that work very well (as far as gamepads go) for the accelerator and brake (don't necessarily take my word on this though, they may not be separate axis or something like that, but I do own one and it worked well for arcade racers. I believe it should work fine). This is probably a relatively common gamepad for use on the computer.
Of course, understand that I agree with you to the extent that I think people using digital input methods should be able to enable auto-blip/lift. Though there are certainly some people out there with freakish finger dexterity who can lay down incredible lap times without a wheel, by and large, any advantage auto-blip/lift imparts is probably nullified by using buttons for the accelerator and brake.
More importantly, I'm sure the developers have a pretty clear understanding of what they want LFS to become and how to go about doing it. They've been very successful so far.
The casual players out there have plenty to of games to choose from aside from LFS.
The "hardcore" group has...? We have nothing definitive. LFS is probably the closest thing we do have. Finally, something for us niche realism guys, and people are trying to complain it all away. As if there aren't enough mass market diluted everything, out there already?
Well put, we had GPL, now LFS is closest to sim what gives satisfaction, after patch Y gap did go quite big to closest competitor, driving is now different.
But apart from those there is no really anything at all to enjoy, but for less demanding audience there is lot to choose.
Those that feel there should be aids like blip on downshift for mouse and keyboard users, I beg to differ
I've used an xbox controller in the past then a momo wheel and just now have got a G25
Which do I consider the easiest to use? They xbox controller by far as no setup time just jump online and play.
If you have a wheel and use sequential gear changes then I'd say you have an advantage over others in that it's easy to be consistently fast.
If you are using a clutch and H gated shifter then there is no advantage as you have to do heel toe to get equivelant lap times that opens you up to making alot more mistakes in the course of a race and imo requires alot more skill than without manual clutching or for that matter any other method of controlling cars in LFS. So much so I'd actually like to see servers for clutch and shifter users only
Would I go back to the momo or xbox controller? No way! Why because it is just so much more fun using a clutch and shifter, even though I serriously doubt I'll ever be able to match my pace compared to sequential shifting
Tried a G25 last night, had about 2-3 laps using it i have to say... i was pretty bad i think, usually on RR4 im getting 31 first splits but when i used the wheel i got 32:90.
Any other keyboarders or mouse or joypad users had the same experince as me? and did it turn out good when you bought one?
The car felt more planted, but i was quicker on keyboard in the technical parts.
My common sense is tingling and says you should just practice more.
Changing input methods requires your brain to rewire your hand-eye coordination skills and thus is fairly natural to suck for a while.
But it's rewarding. This comes from a dude who has gone from keyboard to mouse, mouse to MS wheel, MS wheel to DFP, DFP with a 3rd pedal for heel-toeing and finally settled to G25. And every single swap made me suck on the track more or less.
I have currently in process of learning G25 too, before I had DFP and now I have driven perhaps 20 hours with this at max, it starts to go better, at beginning I was easily 4 seconds of my previous PB (which was not too fast either) but now I start to be near same, however only at few tracks.
I have learned how to drive for few tracks but I have not learned it so that for example heel&toe would come by instinct.
That takes surely lot more time, but when learned it should be like riding with bicycle, you can have long brake and after that you can ride, even not perfectly right away, it will however be lot quicker process after brake then.
Surely it is great feeling when learned, also you will get bit of exercise as driving is very physical then.