**PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS NOT A TEAM REQUEST THREAD, NOR IS IT THE PURPOSE OF THE THREAD!**

Hey everyone,

So im relatively new at LFS, loving it! i've been squizzing thru this teams section for quite a while now. and from what ive read, it seems best to join a team after a year or so, once youve kinda grounded yourself with a good foundation etc. however, it does appear that this is what everyone says, but not what actually goes on. I've been racing mainly on CTRA servers and find that just about everyone has a team tag...

So, im asking. Is it worthwhile joining a team? what are the benefit, other than the friends you make? Do teams race against each other on specific nights?

I race cars in SA for a living, and firmly believe, that you can keep your "eye in" using sims. Based on this, im sure being part of a team could be an additional benefit of sim racing. ( in addition to learning to set your car up without relying heavily on your race engineer.)

Anywayz, ive now forgotten what my question was originally... but id be keen to see the debate. I think it might be a more realistic discussion if posted here, because most people reading this section are pretty serious about their sims... i assume :-)

Mate, I've been playig LFS for some time now and was looking a some teams to join, after a few applications and no response i got fed up with asking! I'm currently looking to make my own and let people join in with me. I'm not the fastest but still very competitive... my advise is if your doing good on your own - keep it that way. I've noticed that team members are quite reserved and have to watch things that they say and i'm not with that - i'm all for freedom of speech lol which is probably gonna be the team name haha

Keep a look out for us

Peter

Quote from peterules :

Mate, I've been playig LFS for some time now and was looking a some teams to join, after a few applications and no response i got fed up with asking!

Lol... yeah, i have seen a bit of that too...

However, im not asking to be in a team (i dont think i have nearly enough time on hand that being in a team would require due to my own racing commitments).

I posted this thread more to understand how deep this sim racing thing can go.

LET ME STATE THIS... THIS IS NOT AN APPLICATION TO JOIN A TEAM!!!

Good luck with your team though! it sounds like its gonna be a fun one!

Benefits of team are that you can take part in team leagues and events. For example Masters of Endurance, The Battle of the Teams, International GT Championship and sometimes like it was last year 24hours of Kyoto GP rev.
So yup, it's all mainly about endurance when it comes to teams.
There comes setups too, because all drivers have to use same setup, so it has to be adjusted for everyone and that way you do learn stuff about setup.
But I'd say most important part of being in a team is reputation. Every team has it's reputation that presents their level of skills in driving, results or friendliness.
If you are new to LFS as you say you are and what I can see from your LFSW statistics it's true, take a look at some IGTC teams, hang out with them and when you get in team do good in races and some bigger team will spot you

well...I joined my first lfs team after almost 2 years of playing, i think (okay okay :first 1,5 years I spent in demo)
when i got s2 i started on oval and was paniced to join a team ASAP. That was not entirely right decision to think about it now...I were in few different teams in short time.
I fell in love with the team running like yellow thunder on track, yes it was halfords racing...i didn't get in, obviously. Then i settled with some few-weeks teams, all died . Then after some experience gathering I met these little yellow devils again on track. This time i got lucky...as from there i think that joining halfors was the best decision i could have ever made...
At first we were mostly CTRA based team...wich have changed by now...we are not fast on track (with few exeptions here and there perhaps), we just enjoy being on track...having chit-chat in ventrillo, help eachother out, give advice if needed and have a feeling that we are a great bunch whatever other people might think...we run in few leagues just to keep the spirit up, we don't sit in lfs 7 hours a day(at least most of us won't. boogy:razz we race here and there depending on mood.
That's the reason i love being in team...
I just had to write that story...couldn't resist

nice one Nightfly!

Quote from -NightFly- :

well...I joined my first lfs team after almost 2 years of playing, i think (okay okay :first 1,5 years I spent in demo)
when i got s2 i started on oval and was paniced to join a team ASAP. That was not entirely right decision to think about it now...I were in few different teams in short time.
I fell in love with the team running like yellow thunder on track, yes it was halfords racing...i didn't get in, obviously. Then i settled with some few-weeks teams, all died . Then after some experience gathering I met these little yellow devils again on track. This time i got lucky...as from there i think that joining halfors was the best decision i could have ever made...
At first we were mostly CTRA based team...wich have changed by now...we are not fast on track (with few exeptions here and there perhaps), we just enjoy being on track...having chit-chat in ventrillo, help eachother out, give advice if needed and have a feeling that we are a great bunch whatever other people might think...we run in few leagues just to keep the spirit up, we don't sit in lfs 7 hours a day(at least most of us won't. boogy:razz we race here and there depending on mood.
That's the reason i love being in team...
I just had to write that story...couldn't resist

You made me cry "Boyfriend"

Ohh and you forgot the friendly reminders about not using a Blackwood set on the oval

Quote from N I K I :

Benefits of team are that you can take part in team leagues and events. For example Masters of Endurance, The Battle of the Teams, International GT Championship and sometimes like it was last year 24hours of Kyoto GP rev.
So yup, it's all mainly about endurance when it comes to teams.
There comes setups too, because all drivers have to use same setup, so it has to be adjusted for everyone and that way you do learn stuff about setup.
But I'd say most important part of being in a team is reputation. Every team has it's reputation that presents their level of skills in driving, results or friendliness.
If you are new to LFS as you say you are and what I can see from your LFSW statistics it's true, take a look at some IGTC teams, hang out with them and when you get in team do good in races and some bigger team will spot you

A agree with alot of Niki's points so rather than re-write it i'll just agree.

The other 'benefits' from being in a team is communication and understanding. People can help with setups and team practice for league events - whether they be for just one team member, lots or an actual enduro event.

The old saying is true. 2 heads are better than 1, 3 heads are better than 2 etc etc.

Also being in a team means you have support from other guys. Not always will you be the quickest on the track, but with others they will help with your spirit and for you to ask - how do you take this - at what point do you decide not to push etc etc.

Do not under estimate the power and effect of being in a team. It really depends upon what team you join and not only what you want to get out of it - but also what you are prepared to put into it.

Regarding team applications, I see a few people have posted that they asked a few teams and got no response.

Well maybe, you've been asking the wrong teams. Realistically you should only be asking to join a team that you know and understand... ie have a relationship with. If you don't have a relationship with them first - how do you know what its going to be like??

Teams are a little bit like Marraiges. Whould you just ask someone to marry them? or would you get to know them first and make sure that they also like you before you 'pop' the question.

Dizzydarryn, im manager of DecalWareRacing, now we arnt the biggest team going, only 10 members, but we make our selfs seen on servers to get us out there! We have our own Vent, if you wish to join a team, then we would be more than happy to take an application as at this time we are recruiting for racers!, We have just recently applied for OLFSL (Original LFS Leauge), for our team to be enterd. We will also be hosting our own events for other teams and racers to join, but this take time and planning. We want to be seen as a pleasant team, and we want to keep up a good reputation to get good racers through the door. If you wish to know more about DecalWareRacing, then you can ... Find us on our 24/7 server "DecalWareRacing"... add me on [email protected] or you can visit our team website, www.team.decalware.co.uk.

We look foward to hearing from you !...

Aaron Hambleton
DecalWareRacing Manager

Out of interest, can you read?

Quote from Dizzydarryn :

**PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS NOT A TEAM REQUEST THREAD, NOR IS IT THE PURPOSE OF THE THREAD!**

Quote from Dizzydarryn :

LET ME STATE THIS... THIS IS NOT AN APPLICATION TO JOIN A TEAM!!!

Quote from Jakg :

Out of interest, can you read?

I do appologise mate !....


sorry

Hi guys, thanks for all the responses and pm's, much appreciated. i am currently away testing with my yeam for our upcoming race and will respond when i have regular email access again, probably only thursday.

thanks again

I defnitely do agree with the 2 heads being better than 1. so it seems as though joining a team has different benefits to different people. The idea of the team enduro's is pretty neat.

I recently had a debate with my team manager (this may change this subject a little). We were busy discussing what impact the sim racing will have on your real racing. It will obviously help the joe bloggs ordinary guy on the street. but, do you think you can develope bad habits from the sim which will carry through to your real racing?

Im pretty undecided at the moment...

Quote from AaronH :

I do appologise mate !....


sorry

No worries bud. I do appreciate the offer and will have a look out for you guys. I have had a few pm's regarding teams which was quite unexpected cause i had no intention initially to join a team due to my current racing programme (and work), maybe a hange in mind occuring... But it does seems as though the comaradery (SPELLING?!?!) of a team makes the game more enjoyable.

I've currently joined the begginers cup and depending on how things progress there... maybe ill start looking for a team to join.

Until then, im gonna carry on loving LFS

Untill then, i guess ill carry on enjoying my sim racing

Quote from Dizzydarryn :

No worries bud. I do appreciate the offer and will have a look out for you guys. I have had a few pm's regarding teams which was quite unexpected cause i had no intention initially to join a team due to my current racing programme (and work), maybe a hange in mind occuring... But it does seems as though the comaradery (SPELLING?!?!) of a team makes the game more enjoyable.

I've currently joined the begginers cup and depending on how things progress there... maybe ill start looking for a team to join.

Until then, im gonna carry on loving LFS

Untill then, i guess ill carry on enjoying my sim racing

Thats alright mate, no problem, keep an eye out for us we will be storming through very soon...good luck with your League buddy,and if you fancy a race, DecalWareRacing are hosting a GTR race night that can be found here http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=46544 SIGN UP IF YOUR INTERESTED...

Should be a good night, and if everything goes well, more events like this will be planned !!...

Take mate and Good Luck !

Aaron Hambleton

Quote from Dizzydarryn :

It will obviously help the joe bloggs ordinary guy on the street. but, do you think you can develope bad habits from the sim which will carry through to your real racing?

Im pretty undecided at the moment...

to answere your question there there are many racers that uses car racing sims to practice before the race (but they use sims whit real tracks to learn the tracks.)

but there will be both benefits and minor benefits there as you say for a average guy on the street there are much to learn but for a more experienced driver as you there aint so much to learn racing car sims like lfs you will get the basic of racing, but you have to go in real life to get more experience. but i tink racing sims like lfs can be used to maintain racing abillites and ec.

but joining a team you will get more leauge events and probalby meet more seriusly drivers than those how are on quick join in races like torsdagsrace. (i dont say that the racers dont are seriusly on the quick join in races but they are even more seriusly in the team events).

regards

Brusveen

Quote from Dizzydarryn :

I race cars in SA for a living, and firmly believe, that you can keep your "eye in" using sims.

I had a quick look on google and that's a nice car you drive\drove last year. Congrats with you success

Thanks very much... they were awesome cars to race. check out www.shelbycanam.co.za

This year i am racing in South African production cars (touring cars). My team page www.samracing.co.za

nice site and well done on the team with a good result at kyalami.

It's weird - with your comments about not sure of the benefits of being in a team in LFS I half expected you to be a single car outfit... so when I saw that you had 3 entred cars I was a bit set back.

Surely with 3 drivers you sohuld be sharing information, tips and setups in real life, just like we do in teams in LFS?

Regarding the points about picking up 'bad habits'.... maybe that would happen with running more 'real race laps too' It is surely all about your dedication and commitment. If you treat online racing as a simulator and a benefit for real life racing, then you should take it seriously and not allow yourself to pick up those bad habits

Quote from Dru :

nice site and well done on the team with a good result at kyalami.

It's weird - with your comments about not sure of the benefits of being in a team in LFS I half expected you to be a single car outfit... so when I saw that you had 3 entred cars I was a bit set back.

Surely with 3 drivers you sohuld be sharing information, tips and setups in real life, just like we do in teams in LFS?

Regarding the points about picking up 'bad habits'.... maybe that would happen with running more 'real race laps too' It is surely all about your dedication and commitment. If you treat online racing as a simulator and a benefit for real life racing, then you should take it seriously and not allow yourself to pick up those bad habits

I am indeed part of a team and have been for the past couple years. Last year and for the prior 3 years i was part of a 3 car team with 4 national championships between the drivers. This year im part of a 5 car team. 3 Nissan 350Z's in production cars (touring car) and 2 formula VW's. So i absolutely am understand the benefit of a team in real racing.

However, being new at the whole online sim thing, i was trying to figure out the similarities, hence my question bout teams. Teams in real motorsport cost money, LOTS of it, and therefore, teams arent just formed to have a "tag behind your name" as most cases in LFS. But based on the ppl that have contacted me privately, and in this thread, it is obvious that there are some SERIOUS!!! teams. which function in the same manner as RL racing teams. Question answered

With regards to bad habits... Lucky enough/unlucky enough, in real life, we are generally limited to one race car for a season. Or at least, if you serious enough about your racing, you generally not gonna be a car slut like you can in sims. So as much as i agree with your comment, the aspect i was trying to get at, is that, one night you can be driving a real wheel drive single seater, and the next, a front wheel drive tin top.

I guess that brings about another question: If you start taking your sim racing seriously and try to stick to, say single seaters, does this hurt your ability to drive for a team, who may compete in a wide variety of racing categories?

Teams are over reated in LFS...I go solo.

tbh though, it more down to the fact that I'm slow, rather than choice

Quote from Mackie The Staggie :

tbh though, it more down to the fact that I'm slow, rather than choice

Oh, come on. Thats just an excuse. Our whole damn team is slow. (no, really!!)

Quote from Dizzydarryn :

With regards to bad habits... Lucky enough/unlucky enough, in real life, we are generally limited to one race car for a season. Or at least, if you serious enough about your racing, you generally not gonna be a car slut like you can in sims. So as much as i agree with your comment, the aspect i was trying to get at, is that, one night you can be driving a real wheel drive single seater, and the next, a front wheel drive tin top.

I guess that brings about another question: If you start taking your sim racing seriously and try to stick to, say single seaters, does this hurt your ability to drive for a team, who may compete in a wide variety of racing categories?

Well, the answer to your question regarding types of cars is purely down to the team that you would be driving for..... are they a 'general team or are they specific in one type of catagory more so than others.. ie single seaters or enduro.

Also - it depends upon the reason why you did join a team in the first place.... for instance if you joined a team for purely a enduro ride/role and then spent most of your time single seatering and that affected your enduro racing - then someoen might have a case to get narked with you (so to speak)

There are a few 'hard core' or 'pro' teams in LFS which this might take place in, but generally these type of teams take them selves so seriously that they don't tend to be generally seen or posting on the LFS forums..

Most teams here on the LFS forums are a friendly bunch - there are teams of all levels and there will be ones which (if you wanted to be in a team) want you for several different reasons..... ie singles or enduro, pickup or league racing etc etc...

The world is your oyster... just don't pick a duff 'un

It also of course depends upon how much time you have to make your 'transition'

I can not just jump in a ss and be quick or rather hop from one car to another and be quick, i'm not in that 'alien class' but then if it only take a few laps than it is generally not much of a problem.

aweeeehhhh its dizzy d!!! heheheh south africans ftw!

ahem yeah anyway, im pretty much in the same boat actually. im new to lfs and currently just learning tracks with the fbm....which really involves just chilling on the ctra single seater 1 server and learning whatever track its on. stealing setups is awesome :P and im just in it for the fun right now, dont really want to feel obliged to anything........

which is what i wanted to ask. serious teams, serious racing. 95% of the drivers i see have team tags. is there that much of an obligation if u;re within a team to do whatever they're doing and whatnot? i dont have much time lately, and definitely will have much less in the coming months, but i am interested in the whole team-benefit thing, altho dont want to be committed really.

i currently find stealing setups from other quick drivers works well, so for now im just enjoying the lfs buzz (i usually race rfactor), so im unsure if i really DO want to be in a team.........plus having a team tag in ur name looks lame

edit: ooooo peterules? is this the same peterH that accused me of cheating in the rfc beetle championship??! i race as "thebarber".....sigh, south africans and their lag! actually that brings me to another point. being from this country, the lag isnt all that great, and in lfs i find that being on servers with large grids is highly unstable and i lose connection a number of times. this wouldnt be great at all in a team setting, i am sure :P does this rule us out of endurance races and stuff? :/

Quote from flyingripper :

a........plus having a team tag in ur name looks lame

yeh...