I just unlocked this game Saturday after about 2 months of Demo racing and I'm hooked!

I am curious about how each of you LFS veterans approched the overwhelming task of learning the tracks & cars...

I know BW like the back of my hand (from the demo obviously) but when I go to join a MP server noone runs that track with the XRT.

I don't have any decent Setups for any of the new cars (other than easy race sets) and it's difficult to stay out of peoples way when I dont know the tracks.
I mean I see theres a turn coming up in 100M but I dont know if I can take it foot on the floor, or if I have to drop to 2nd gear... so I get rammed ALOT.

I hate playing single player, and I will never be offered any decent setups by AI1, 2 or 3.

Please give me some suggestions on how to start with the massive learning curve that is LFS.

Um, pick a server with some ppl in it (not the oval, please! ). Have a look at their lines, braking points etc before you join the race. Having the pedal bars showing might help too. Drive a couple of laps on the track just making sure you know what it looks like and then try to emulate what you saw the faster ppl do. Try to drive until you can establish a steady rhythm to your driving (even if it's slow), from then on it's merely a question of lots of practice and tweaking lines and brake points.

Setups I usually get from the Team Inferno site (http://setupfield.teaminferno.hu/). If they're too unstable for me I make the brakes a bit easier and rear less oversteery. Having said that, pick a car you can drive. There's no point starting with FO8 at South City. Since you know the XRT.. try driving that just to learn the tracks and then change to more demanding cars. Fern Bay tracks could be a good place to start.

http://setupfield.teaminferno.hu/ is a good place for good setups. And download hotlaps from LFS World to see how tracks go and what speeds you can reasonably expect to go at.

The inferno sets are good for hotlapping, but they eat tyres and aren't the most stable things, so you might need to tone them down for learning, but it's a good source once you get used to it.

And practice. Online or offline. You'll soon get an idea of how fast each car can be driven around each corner, and to make estimates when approaching a new corner. You'll get there...

Best of luck, and welcome to the licenced side :up:

My approach was as follows:
1st stage:
Play around with all cars that look interesting offline (obviously I did a lot of accidental donuts with FO8 and FZR...).
2nd stage:
Get to know the car that feels best to you and a track you find easy but yet challenging (for me this was FZ5 on Aston National).
(Small advice: Don't try to go with too fast cars here. Slower cars will be easier to learn and you will achive success earlier.)
3rd stage:
Take a glance online how people drive that combination online (I was shocked how fast they are and how often I wreck other people). Practice online.
4th stage:
Spread your wings to other combinations. Now you have a slight knowledge of the physics and can keep about any car on the road for some laps. Try out other tracks.
(XFG on SO Town f.e. is a blast online, easy to drive, challenging and very good for close racing - best combination ever )

Perhaps you want to choose a similar approach, or want to alter it.
Anyway, welcome to LFS and see you on the track! .

Vain

One thing that I'd like to add is that the big GTRs may seem to be impossible to drive in the beginning and therefore you shouldn't really try to drive with them in the beginning.

I think good beginner cars are FXR, XRT and FOX. FXR has lots of power but awd makes it pretty stable to drive and it's much more enjoyable to drive in the beginning than the other 2 GTRs. XRT has good and forgiving handling and teaches you how to treat the road going rwd cars in LFS. FOX is the RWD car that can take many corners without braking. It also teaches how to handle the throttle at slow speeds. Losing grip at slow speeds can be frustrating in the beginning but trying some faster tracks will cure this

For XRT good combos are blackwood (normal and reverse) and the shorter aston tracks. For FXR try Aston national (always lots of people there, and learning this track helps a lot in learning the other aston configurations. Just don't stay there too long ). For F08 try the blackwood and westhill. Be gentle with the gas and it's fun . For FOX blackwood, aston short configs and kyoto tracks.

I'd say that try all the cars on every track you wish but after that try to learn one combo well and you can then advance to other tracks or combos. F08 at blackwood isn't that bad for a newbie because the track is familiar, though it's painful to learn the right throttle technique... But the F08 really isn't the first car to try.

Have fun!

EDIT: oh, you seem to have already done some laps on F08@Blackwood

Quote from Vain :

Take a glance online how people drive that combination online ... Practice online.

I get the feeling you mean practice offline?

Atleast that's what i did first days of being licensed, went in to watch some popular combo's then went offline and tried to get a reasonable racing pace.

See above. At the phase where I say "practice online" the offline practice has already taken place.

Vain

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

And noone called me a stupid noob!

The really long courses are going to be a real challenge to learn, but for now I'm having a blast with South City track in the MRT. <--- great car for beginners IMO.

I only drive the cars and tracks that I like. There is so much variety anyway that I never run out of options. I don't drive the FWD cars at all and I still have plenty of things to achieve and learn on the tracks that I do like. Great sim, get out of it what you want.

Quote from Jethro! :

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

And noone called me a stupid noob!

The really long courses are going to be a real challenge to learn, but for now I'm having a blast with South City track in the MRT. <--- great car for beginners IMO.

I found the exact opposite when I was starting, the MRT was too unstable for me. Are you on keys, mouse, wheel? It was unstable before when I was on keys.