First I would like to say hello I have just recently got back into s2. I believe i previously played in 2005 and never really got into it because of life. I have a couple of questions that I was hoping you could help me out with. I apologize if this should go in the beginners forum but I think it might belong here.

First. I can only see CTRA race 1 in my ingame browser. I have been playing now for about 3 weeks and I have never seen another ctra server. I have read through all of the server names but don't notice the others if they are there.

Second. I am not the fastest driver, but I do run within a few of seconds of the wr on most tracks. Because of this fact I try my best to not ruin anyone elses race. I think I may drive to unagressive though. Anyway my question is, sometimes a really agressive driver will "push" me out of their way. When I get lucky and they don't wreck me I can usually get back on speed fairly quickly, however the poeple following the person that "pushed" me seem to always push me out of the way as well even if I am only going 1 mph slower, which makes me hit my brakes or lay off the accelerator because I don't want to cause a wreck. Sometimes I lose 4 or 5 places because of this, also people almost always try to outbrake me in corners and use my car to slow themselves down. Is this just how it is?

Third. I would like some clarification on the passing rule as I must be doing it wrong. When I am in front of someone and they get the nose of their car to the back of my driver door and we are approaching a corner I either brake a little early or lay of the throttle just enough to give them the room to pass. However I almost never get the same kind of respect and people often cut me into the corner. Do I need to start "pushing" people of of the way, am I doing something wrong? Please clarify.

And as a new guy I would like to say that the ctra system seems like a really cool idea. I very much enjoy racing on your servers and overall have a good time minus these few frustrations. Thanks

Hi there

If you order the server listing by name (click on "Name" at the top of the server list, and they'll be sorted alphabetically) under C, you should find all eight public CTRA servers - Races 1, 2 and 3, Single Seaters 1, 2 and 3, UF-BabyR, and Bump & Jump.

Seeing as you are driving in the Race 1 server, you're in an entry-level race. This means that some people drive overly aggressively, making unnecessary contact and what have you, and this can easily have a negative impact on your own racing experience - no matter how cleanly you try to drive. The one thing to bear in mind is that, to avoid incidents, you must always act predictably. With skilled and experienced drivers, the only thing that causes contact is being unable to predict what the driver in front is going to do: for example, if you feel you need to slow down, apply the brakes very gently at first so that your brake lights come on, without you appearing to stop dead in front of whoever's following you. Basic things like this can be a great help in avoiding incidents; you just have to hope they're not wasted on careless other drivers.

Your method of letting a driver who has overlap pass you cleanly and smoothly is spot-on, and whilst it's quite subjective and circumstantial whether or not a driver has to ease off to let someone else take the inside line (the situation is everything here, but usually it's common sense), you shouldn't be having drivers cut across you and making contact. Despite that overlap is officially measured at "the normal turn-in point for the corner", I find it almost never works like that, and a basic safety rule to follow is that if you can't turn in without hitting the car on the inside, let them through - but if you're already turning in when the contact occurs, then they should have let you through. Obviously you'll want to avoid that contact in the first place, but that's how I figure out whose door the blame lands at.

I strongly recommend you take a look around raceauthority.com - click here - as the rules are explained in detail there. Also, when you've created a password ingame by typing "$ctra" in a CTRA server and filling out the form that appears, you can log in to "MyCTRA" on RA.com. This gives you access to all of the statistics the CTRA system collects about your driving, your licence grades, and so on. It also gives you access to the reporting feature, which is available in servers by typing "$rep". If someone's driving has affected your own race, through an aggressive driving style, negligence, or even malice, you can fill out a report against them. This will be reviewed by CTRA admins, and the appropriate action will then be taken.

Whilst we all hope that filling out reports stays unnecessary, it should be done when a driver is clearly not following the rules, to help keep the servers clean and stop future issues.

I hope I've been helpful here - all that remains for me to say is, welcome (back) to LFS, welcome to the CTRA, and enjoy your stay. Hope to see you on track sometime!

Oh, and kudos for a good first post

Sam

Thank you for the quick reply and for being such a great help. It turns out I had the xfg clicked and didnt realize it. that is whay I could only see ctra race 1.

Quote from Mech :

Thank you for the quick reply and for being such a great help. It turns out I had the xfg clicked and didnt realize it. that is whay I could only see ctra race 1.

If you are getting bored of CTRA 1's wreckers, you can also go to the second entry-level server, the UF-Baby-R. We haven't many drivers than on this server, but races are very clean here, and the UF-BR is quite easy to drive.

Most likely the reason you're not seeing any of the other CTRA servers is that you have Empty Servers filtered out of the race list. To see all of the CTRA servers, either turn the that filter off, or, what I usually do, is use the Servers page on the CTRA website to launch LFS.

While CTRA 1 is the only server that is consistently populated, if you join an empty server, more often the not other drivers will soon join you.

Thanks alot for all of the help, and explaining everything to me so well Dark Elite. I have read all of the rules before and check the ctra page alot . I am becomming addicted I just wanted to make sure I have the correct ideology of the rules because this seems to be overall a respectful community.

Thanks for the heads up johhnyfx I actually had the xfg clicked above the server list, so I was only seeing 50 or so available servers.

Thanks for the info GreyBull i will for sure check out that server now that I can see it

Thanks for the thanks it's just nice to see a switched-on and appreciative new racer! Certainly seems you're doing everything right.

Go far you will, say Yoda

Getting addicted, I find, really is quite easy! I nearly made the automatic comment when you mentioned that you never really got into LFS "because of life". Nah, once you're into the CTRA system, you're not gonna have one of those

Seriously, though - without wanting to sound like I'm making a speech - I've got to know a load of great people, and had some truly brilliant racing on the CTRA system. And it's always nice to watch my ranking get a little higher . So I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

EDIT - I just happened to have the perfect example today in Race 3.. Hehe. I'm sure Xandul won't mind me posting this, so long as I make it known that he is an excellent racer, and I'll share tarmac with him any day. Preferably tarmac that's only slightly wider than our cars, as seen here!
Download .mpr (1.5MB)

Sam

Mech, I would highly recommend driving on the Single Seater 1 server (SS1). It is also entry level and open to all, but I find in general the quality of racing is far far better than the Race 1 server. I've recently had some stunning races where the entire field pretty much makes the whole race with minimal incidents and often the top 10 cars are within 2/3 turns of each other.

Plus I find the FBM car much more of a racer than the tin tops in Race 1, I learnt how to go much quicker in SS1 than I ever did in Race 1.

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

If you are getting bored of CTRA 1's wreckers, you can also go to the second entry-level server, the UF-Baby-R. We haven't many drivers than on this server, but races are very clean here, and the UF-BR is quite easy to drive.

The Baby-R is easy to drive initially, but when you are in a pack of 15 drivers, all lapping within 0.2 seconds of each other, it's not so easy all of a sudden. You feel the circuit a lot more with these motors.

CTRA UF-BR is the server where it's at, in my opinion. We're all gents in there, who are all about tight racing, not driving as fast as possible

It's certainly tricky in the UF-BR server. Getting your laptime down and driving a clean, non-sliding lap is very rewarding though.