Has this ever been mentioned on RSC? Probably, right?

Anyhoo, people already use artificial rolling starts in for example the endurance league, so why not have support standard in LFS?

Quote from bobvanvliet :

Has this ever been mentioned on RSC? Probably, right?

Anyhoo, people already use artificial rolling starts in for example the endurance league, so why not have support standard in LFS?

I'm thinking the effort outweighs the bennefit... for now anyway.
I think most people would agree that it would be a cool and much appreciated improvement.
Oh, yeah, it has been mentioned on RSC

... seeeeeveral times :S

hoping for S2

The way I see it it would be very difficult to get a decent rolling start going on public servers and in leagues you can already do manual rolling starts.

Mentioned and flogged like mad on RSC .. though a computer-controlled rolling start as a host option would be nice.

I think it could be very useful - mostly for FO8 oval races on public servers, as most of those races end up being restarted 5 times due to someone not being able to start without spinning on the spot and messing everyone up. As mentioned, leagues can sort themselves out manually. But try getting the field on a public server to do a slow lap and bunch up safely - good luck

Quote from Hankstar :

But try getting the field on a public server to do a slow lap and bunch up safely - good luck

Very true, but good support would be nice even if the option was only used in certain leagues, it would also make statistics for those races more meaningful (although that's not really the biggest reason for implementing it... )

Yeah the only thing I can think of is similar to Hank, if all the cars were under the control of LFS for most of the rolling lap. Another idea is say upon restart your placed in your moving car about 3 seconds from the line under computer control (time to get ready, get throttle in right position etc.), the timer counts down 3, 2, 1 and then your off.
I generally race lead the top division in the AAL so it's my responsibility to make sure everyone is in correct formation and to call the green flag. Like Hank says even in an organised league it's not always easy to get everyone formed up properly.
Some sort of automation like I've suggested would be necessary for public servers to have any hope I reckon.

If computer-controlled rolling starts (CCRS's ) get into LFS, I'd like to see an option to have the race start from the beginning of the last sector, rather than have to sit there for a whole lap doing nothing (unless you like a bit of trash-talk beforehand). I'm sure this would ease frustration a bit, especially on a public server where you're likely to have a couple of restarts, even if you do have a rolling start.

In real life, rolling starts are only used for USA style racing, champ cars, IRL, and Nascar. The European forumla type races use standing starts.

NR2003 (Nascar Racing Season 2003) uses a pace car and the game handles it pretty well. Pole position gets black flagged (has to pit, costing about a lap) if it passes the pace car before green. 2nd place car has to stay behind pole position car until green. Passing inside a car in front of you on the same row before start / finish line also results in black flag.

It seems to work well, other than super speedway races where the draft keeps 30+ cars bunched up together until there's a wreck, you don't have the typical 1st corner crash fest so often seen with LFS. Probably because the races are a longer in NR2003, the drivers a bit more patient.

Regarding the cars spinning out, part of the issue is that the default setups have 1st gear set too low, resulting in a lot of tire spin. For example the FO8's first gear ratio is 2.5, when it should be about 1.5. In Lefty's setup for Blackwood in the FO8, he never drops below 3rd gear which is set at 1.35. 1.35 might be a bit too tall for a good launch, but 1.5 is low enough to allow some tire spin yet be controllable. I modified his setup so 1st gear was 1.5, and my 2nd gear was the same as his 3rd, and so on. I didn't use 6th gear (at Blackwood in LFS FO8, using just 4 gears is faster than trying to use all 6, with closer spaced ratios, an issue with the shift time and maybe the powerband of the engine).

I was thinking that a CCRS would really only be used for public servers, especially oval racing, and especially with the FO8 which can be a missle of do0m in the wrong hands. Of course most competent racers can handle starting one of those, but there's always a percentage on a pubserv who haven't worked out how to get one off the line without doing a whirling dervish impression A roll-start could help eliminate some pick-up race grid chaos.
With leagues etc. you pretty much assume the guys you race against know what they're doing.
I'd just like to see the option there. It would be a nice addition to LFS imho.

Quote from Hankstar :

I was thinking that a CCRS would really only be used for public servers, especially oval racing, and especially with the FO8 which can be a missle of do0m in the wrong hands. Of course most competent racers can handle starting one of those, but there's always a percentage on a pubserv who haven't worked out how to get one off the line without doing a whirling dervish impression A roll-start could help eliminate some pick-up race grid chaos.
With leagues etc. you pretty much assume the guys you race against know what they're doing.
I'd just like to see the option there. It would be a nice addition to LFS imho.

After a day of racing, I still can't get the FO8 off the grid every time. I agree, this would be an awsome option for public servers. Might also eliminate those 'afk' drivers from wiping out half the grid when the ydon't move.

Quote from BlackSpider :

After a day of racing, I still can't get the FO8 off the grid every time. I agree, this would be an awsome option for public servers. Might also eliminate those 'afk' drivers from wiping out half the grid when the ydon't move.

Try setting first gear ratio to around 1.5 (default is 2.5). You can still get some wheelspin, but it's tall enough to be controllable.

Maybe a launch control would also solve this problem.
The automatic start could be like 70-80% of a perfect start so that gifted racers can still take an advantage, but less gifted racers wouldn't have to apologize everytime they cause a restart.

Wouldn't it be possible to do this already with an InSim app on the server? Give a speed limit to the leader and if he/she goes faster than that then give a penalty (Display a race control message to let the driver know about it, "Keep your speed under 100km/h" or something.) and when the leader passes a certain point in the race show a "green flag" message to everyone. If at this point someone has passed another car then give him/her a penalty. For the non-leader cars there could be a "Stay behind driver X" message constantly displayed before the flag goes green.

Obviously it would need some other checks too, ie. if someone stops during the lap then throw him to spectating so others can pass him/her.

It would be quite easily done - especially now that InSim can deliver penalties...

Is it also possible to give InSim commands from ingame? That way the race leader could give the green flag himself as is usually the case.

An InSim app would be a great intermediate solution, especially for leagues where it is easy to make sure everybody has the app.

You could program it in such a way that the InSim app looks for a specific command/msg from a specific user - although I'm not sure thats a good idea.

Quote from bobvanvliet :

An InSim app would be a great intermediate solution, especially for leagues where it is easy to make sure everybody has the app.

Having it in the server should be enough, I dont think the clients would need to have any specific functionality for it to work.

Not unless you wanted some way to crash their instance of LFS, if they started to speed before the green flag

I downloaded a tool for LFS the other day called Race Manager which allows for rolling starts. It was made for S1, but the features seem to work fine for S2. I use it on my server for chat logging and welcome message. I haven't tested rolling starts since I prefer standing starts, but it's an option for those of you who want it.

Race Manager:
http://silk.lfsnal.org/RaceManager.html

Quote from Hankstar :

Mentioned and flogged like mad on RSC .. though a computer-controlled rolling start as a host option would be nice.

I think it could be very useful - mostly for FO8 oval races on public servers, as most of those races end up being restarted 5 times due to someone not being able to start without spinning on the spot and messing everyone up. As mentioned, leagues can sort themselves out manually. But try getting the field on a public server to do a slow lap and bunch up safely - good luck

I agree - especially on the oval