Hi,

I'm new to this whole "Sim Racing Idea". I want to use LFS as an aid for my driving. I currently race in British Karting Championships but limited track time and experience is really affecting me, especially with our limited budget. As we are getting new sponsors onboard, and we are looking to Junior Single-Seater motorsport in the next few years we thought this would be good. Racing online as well as in real life is something sponsors have taken an interest in and practicing race craft and driving techniques are something that is possible in LFS.

So, Where do I start? I'm looking to compete in some racing that is not at Ace standard. Whether this be a Novice/Amateur league or just a couple of odd races (I'm still getting to grips with it).

Thanks

Welcome! I'd say start with whatever car you're comfortable with, but the FBM provides close racing and isn't too difficult to get into. It also makes a lot of sense if you're aiming to race entry level single seaters in the future...

I'd start off practicing offline, get used to the car and just take your time building up your speed in LFS (I'm assuming you don't have a lot of practice currently). Once you're comfortable lapping consistently just go online and find a server. The standard of driving is often quite low in demo servers, so if you really want some good racing you might find a good demo server, or you might end up buying S2.

As long as you understand the limitations of a racing sim (no g-forces, lack of peripheral vision, limitations regarding physics etc etc) you can certainly learn quite a bit about race craft and driving technique.

If you are looking for a nice beginners-league check our site: www.absolute-beginners.nl

We have drivers from very slow to very fast and a very nice atmosphere.
Hope you join us!!

I've just got myself a cheapish steering wheel and am getting to grips with it and am about to buy a S2 license. What sort of times round the Blackwood GP track in an FBMW should I be doing before I start heading online?

Quote from TJLRacing :

I've just got myself a cheapish steering wheel and am getting to grips with it and am about to buy a S2 license. What sort of times round the Blackwood GP track in an FBMW should I be doing before I start heading online?

About 1 min 17 sec - 1 min 18 sec

Quote from TJLRacing :

I've just got myself a cheapish steering wheel and am getting to grips with it and am about to buy a S2 license. What sort of times round the Blackwood GP track in an FBMW should I be doing before I start heading online?

There isn't really a limit on how fast you have to be to get online... As long as you can keep it on the grey bits and facing the right way consistently, and are aware of the fact that some people about to lap you would want you to jump out of the way or disintegrate, you should be fine...

I've pretty much got that time sorted, I'm doing 1.18.5's and I think of got at least a second or two just pushing through the corners. The only place I'm struggling is through the chicane after T1. No matter what I do I can't get through there anywhere near full power. I'm having to lift of and even brake so that I don't spin. I don't know a lot about set-up so I've just downloaded some but can't edit them because I'll probably just make them worse.

Its annoying because the chicane is right before the massive straight so its costing me loads of time!

It's ok, that chicane is one of the most difficult parts of the track! One thing to be careful of is when you make any input, make sure you do it smoothly. If you need to lift off the throttle and then reapply the throttle in that first chicane, doing so abruptly could actually make it more difficult to make it through there without any problems. So just smoooothly lift off the throttle and then smoothly reapply it when you can. You shouldn't need to brake there, so just experiment with adjusting the throttle and see if you can pick up some speed. Also, if you're at very high revs and the throttle is very sensitive, try the next gear up to see if it feels any easier to modulate.

I've got the chicane sorted and have started doing some racing online which is really good fun. My fastest lap so far is a 1:16.5 and in most races I'm in the top half of the field which is good.

Unfortunately I can't find a good setup. The one I use isn't great as i get a lot of understeer and the ones I download I get insane oversteer in every corner!

Can someone point me towards a good setup for the FBMW at Blackwood GP please?

Thanks

Quote from TJLRacing :

I've got the chicane sorted and have started doing some racing online which is really good fun. My fastest lap so far is a 1:16.5 and in most races I'm in the top half of the field which is good.

Unfortunately I can't find a good setup. The one I use isn't great as i get a lot of understeer and the ones I download I get insane oversteer in every corner!

Can someone point me towards a good setup for the FBMW at Blackwood GP please?

Thanks

http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=882045#post882045

Hey -

When you do get your s2 licence, check out the 'Beginners cup',

-Forum under 'Leagues and events' and 'New Dimension Racing events' http://www.lfsforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=178

-Homepage at http://newdimensionracing.synt ... com/LFS_Beginners_Cup.php

Thanks everyone!

I'm even getting in to the 1.15's now and considering I've only been playing 3 days I thinks pretty good.

Unfortunately I'm a bit stuck... I've been having a look at RFactor aswell.

I haven't downloaded it yet but am going to tonight. I've only got £30 to spend so it's one or the other.

I like the fact that Rfactor has a lot of flexibility with what you can drive and where. I find it really cool how you can race in pretty much anything anywhere and am especially interested in the Karting mod.

LFS is really good but I haven't got a great PC and whilst practicing on my own is absolutely fine, racing with others slows down a bit and sometimes this can catch you out when in corners!


So, I need you guy's thoughts. I'm sure some of you play both.

Which one is better?

I got the impression that RFactor may be a bit more "arcadey".

Is this true? Also is the online play good? On my PC on LFS it's not very smooth.

THANKS!

rfactor is indeed more arcadey, its also harder to play online, due to the modifications.

Quote from TJLRacing :

Which one is better?

Rfactor in my opinion doesn't "feel" as realistic as LFS not to mention the "canned" effects in rfactor drive me nuts (The kerb sounds, high speed shake, etc..). It has been my experience that LFS has better framrates than rfactor which may be a consideration..

Quote from TJLRacing :

LFS is really good but I haven't got a great PC and whilst practicing on my own is absolutely fine, racing with others slows down a bit and sometimes this can catch you out when in corners!

:wtf2: err... excusemoi?

Quote :

So, I need you guy's thoughts. I'm sure some of you play both.

Which one is better?

Oh dear, you've proabably just opened Pandora's box. This is called LFS-forum, includes a lot of LFS fanboys...

Well TBH, the answer to your question might be "the other one". There isn't a perfect diving sim. And the comparison between LFS and RTractor isn't really meaningful because it depends entirely (well, almost) on the mod you're using. (Meaning that rTractor itself is pure shite)

Well, here I am, a registered S2 user and loving every second of it!!

I would say some more but I need to go play online!!

Thanks everyone who replied!

[shameless plugging] http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=46611 [/shameless]

I haven't tried rFactor yet. I see people in this forum calling it arcade-like. But it's interesting that Sean Edwards:

http://www.seanedwards.eu/index.php?p=Getcontent&catid=3

is much involved with rFactor and says: "rFactor is the best out there by far". He's described LFS as just "OK"?