I had the chance to drive the real RaceAbout (again) couple weeks ago. So much fun. This time I drove a lot more than previously. Also the car is much better than it was last time (couple of years ago). I had a whole day to play with it. I did some driving on the track and also cone slalom. I can do the same slalom in LFS and compare the feeling and telemetry data...

Some facts about the car... It has a new engine which puts out 260-270hp and bit over 400 Nm. Car weights just under 800kg empty. Currently it has an open diff but it'll have some kind locked diff in the future. Rear suspension geometry has been redesigned and it is better than the one used in LFS.

It sure was fun to drive the car. I don't have much experience on track as you can probably see on the vid. I imagined that it would be bad to drive with open diff but it wasn't. You only noticed it missing when pushing hard. Inside back wheel would spin when coming out of corner and it's bit unstable at braking. Also it's ovesteery when coming to turn in with too much speed. In LFS the car is (on setup close to real) surprisingly similar to drive on most situations. The biggest difference is that in real life it's much more stable to drive.

About the vid... quality isn't too good, sorry. On the vid you can see car passing the camera on the main straight. Cone slalom shot from behind and front. You probably notice that there isn't actually any cones. We used tape markings on the tarmac as the cones so we wouldn't damage the car when hitting a cone. Last there is one lap around the Alastaro track shot with inside cam.

Here is the vid.

Amazing! Thats more than enought proof that LFS's engine is very realistic.
I'm still downloading the video.

Quote from Tege :

The biggest difference is that in real life it's much more stable to drive.

Maybe that's because you were driving with the open diff? Correct me if not.

"surprisingly similar to drive on most situations"... glad to hear that because lately i'm getting friendly with this car
downloading vid....

I guess its because u feel the car more then in a game i gues..

Bound to be wicked with an LSD

Quote from Calvinaquino :

Maybe that's because you were driving with the open diff? Correct me if not.

Using open diff on both. It's not just the diff that makes the difference.

Nice vid.
thx for sharing.
Interesting to see that the real car is much much smaller than it is displayed in LFS (with the driver in it).

can't wait to see it-long down load here

Nice video! How come you got to drive it?

I have zero experience with real life racing, but I've always thought that the RAC is one of the most realistically modelled cars in LFS. By that I mean how it is very "snappy" and responsive. The way it understeers on corner exit if you give too much gas, and all that, feels very realistic. The FZ5 feels a lot less real, because even when you race it properly (the WRs and such) the back end will be sliding around on the road as if it were made of gelly. I don't think you'd see that in real life.

The RAC has always been my favourite car in LFS.

I think the FZ5 has too much power. It is like an old 911. It is stupidly tail happy. Glad there are no rounderbouts with tree's in the middle in lfs

Thanks for the report on the RAC

Quote from Luke.S :

I think the FZ5 has too much power. It is like an old 911. It is stupidly tail happy. Glad there are no rounderbouts with tree's in the middle in lfs

Well it has a similar amount of power to a 996 GT3... I think it's so tail happy because people use setups that cure the understeer problems so it'll turn in nicely. By the time you get rid of understeer you are going to be suffering with a lot of oversteer in this kind of car I have autocrossed a 996 GT3 with about the same power as the FZ5, and you really are managing understeer most of the time. Yes it'll power oversteer, but more often than not you're worrying about keeping the front end going where you want. If you set the FZ5 up similarly I'm sure it would feel a lot less twitchy.

Cool video... Surprisely fast acceleration (thought LFS's version was faster)

Quote from Rascar13 :

Cool video... Surprisely fast acceleration (thought LFS's version was faster)

Different gearing, maybe?

Anyways, the gear indicator lags a bit.

Nice vid, love the engine sound to it. Kinder one i made for my RAC

The back end loves to go out doesn't it :P

Nice drive man wish it was me driving that car

Quote from Huru-aito :

Different gearing, maybe?

Anyways, the gear indicator lags a bit.

DANG IT!! I hate your avatar!:weeping:

I almost fell for it! =D

Quote from Michael Denham :

Thanks for the report on the RAC


Well it has a similar amount of power to a 996 GT3... I think it's so tail happy because people use setups that cure the understeer problems so it'll turn in nicely. By the time you get rid of understeer you are going to be suffering with a lot of oversteer in this kind of car I have autocrossed a 996 GT3 with about the same power as the FZ5, and you really are managing understeer most of the time. Yes it'll power oversteer, but more often than not you're worrying about keeping the front end going where you want. If you set the FZ5 up similarly I'm sure it would feel a lot less twitchy.

I just had a TVR style experience. First i got a little understeer then all of a sudden it was holy shit when I got a huge amount of snap over steer.

Well, we can all hope this new improved RA will be gracing an LFS release patch in the 'near' future

seems very stable i think you'd find an LSD would make a big difference tho, its a very light car to have that much power, especially as MR's need throttle for stable corner exit @ speed. Be awesome to have the old + new RAC in LFS for comparison

Looks like great fun - thanks for the video.

As previously mentioned though, the real Raceabout looks tiny - a real compact, nimble car. Whereas the LFS version looks enormous in comparison. What gives?

Interresting, i want to try it. In the beginning i thought that motorcycle engine sound belongs to the car, but after few seconds it was clear.

Quote from STROBE :

As previously mentioned though, the real Raceabout looks tiny - a real compact, nimble car. Whereas the LFS version looks enormous in comparison. What gives?

Yeah, it's pretty small, like LX6 or even smaller. Maybe some driver height or helmet size revision would help.

Thanks for the video.
RAC really looks like smaller than LFS version.
But its nice to hear its similar driving.
Once again, LFS engine is confirmed.

Quote from Luke.S :

I just had a TVR style experience. First i got a little understeer then all of a sudden it was holy shit when I got a huge amount of snap over steer.

Well although the FZ5 has the looks of a more recent 911, perhaps you're right and it's handling is just that bit closer to the earlier ones

Quote from STROBE :

Looks like great fun - thanks for the video.

As previously mentioned though, the real Raceabout looks tiny - a real compact, nimble car. Whereas the LFS version looks enormous in comparison. What gives?

Aspect ratio illusion? Watch the video in 16:9.

Great video, thanks for uploading . I've been wanting to see just that kind of video of the RAC for ages