Hi

This week I've started a couple of new races because I couldn't find one with car/circuit that I wanted to join. So far they've been great with about three or four people joining in. What I'm unsure about is the protocol/ettiquette I should be observing as a host. For instance each time one of the racers has voted to restart the race and both times (because I'm nice) I've re-started the race straight away. But it just occured to me - might I have pissed the other racers off? i.e - Should I have waited for them all to vote and then gone with the majority? Also (and I'm sure this is a really dumb question) how do you vote and send messages? Any general tips on setting up a race as a host and policing it proprly would be greatly appreciated

You can pre-order the G25 on Amazon.co.uk for £199

Correction - I've just checked the Amazon site and it is no longer available from them

Just check eBay when the G25 comes out Cyco - there will be plenty of cheap Momo wheels going!

OK, the obvious answer to my own question is yes - the more the better! One of the most appealing reasons to hand over the £24 is to get access to a garage full of different cars and it's great fun trying them all out but my question really concerns online racing.

I've only been playing LFS for about a month and until last night had not raced online, preferring to hone my skill (if you can call it that) against computer cars. My car of choice has been the FOX and i'll admit I chose that because it has a fairly sweet nature and neutral handling. As I'm now reasonably confident at being able to stay on the track and post a decent time around the Aston Grand Prix circuit I thought I'd see if there was a game I could join. There wasn't as it happens (I'm guessing the Aston Grand Prix track is not too popular - lots of people seem to like the cadet track), so I thought I'd start my own race. I didn't want to restrict it to just FOX racers because I thought I'd probably never get a challenger so I opened it up to all single seaters and sure enough a couple of Saubers joined after about a lap. I had good fun for about a lap and a half trying to stay ahead of them but inevitably they reeled me in and although the first guy (Becu?) passed me on the straight when I was flying in sixth gear with foot to the floor he shot past me as If I was standing still. I had a bit of fun trying to keep up with them and found I could get closer approaching slow chicanes because of their need for greater braking distance but to be honest it was fairly hopeless and I parked my car on the side of the track after another couple of laps, fairly dispirited.

So, back to the question (I get there in the end - like my laps of Aston ) - Is there any point in continuing with the FOX or should I just jump in a Sauber? Do the majority of racers just choose the fastest cars in the class, in which case we probably just need the Sauber for single seaters and the FZ50 for tin tops?

Hopefully you guys will tell me there is plenty of support for all cars but if that's the case can someone tell me where all the FOX racers are?

Understand now - Thanks guys

Phew! What can I say to you all but thanks for your input - Its been really interesting reading all your thoughts. For the record I think my opening question, as in how 'realistic' is LFS was a bit misleading. I didn't for a second imagine that sitting at a desk in front of a computer screen holding (in my case) a crappy Microsoft Sidewinder wheel could kid anyone that they were in a real race car, but many of you picked up on what I really meant as in, is LFS realistic enough to give real help in car set-up, racing lines, throttle control, race craft etc? I'm still too new to LFS to know the answer but its encouraging that a lot of you think it is.

From my limited experience of real circuit driving/racing I have to agree that LFS is never going to be able to replicate the heat, discomfort and G-Forces of a real racing car but either more importantly it will never be able to match the pure adrenalin hit. It surprises me that no-one has mentioned the vibration in a real racing car - It was so bad when I did formula ford that you sometimes couldn't see the road ahead clearly (and please don't tell me force feedback wheels replicate that!). If you have loose filling six laps in a single seater will normally dislodge them for you!

The person who said its easier to keep a formula ford on the track than an LFS FOX is damn right. Of course you don't push so hard in a real formula car - it doesn't hurt when you go off in LFS (except to your pride if someone is watching)!

Anyway - A couple of things I've noticed about LFS that beat the pants off real racing.

1. Since paying my £24 I haven't even had to pay for a single replacement tyre!

2. I can drink a bottle of wine whilst racing in LFS - Far more civilised!

Thanks guys - Once I learn how to beat those computer AI guys I'll see you on a track

Last edited by mandalman, Thu 7 Sep 2006, 22:19.

The absence of a proper manual is still confusing the hell out of me. What is 'hot lapping', or more specifically what is the purpose of it? Can't see any difference between hot lapping and sinlge player mode other than if you go off in hot lapping it tells you your lap is invalid. Am I missing something or is that just a really dumb question?

Just out of curiosity - Are there any LFS players who have experience of real club racing or track days? If so, have you found that skills such as race craft and car control learnt in LFS have improved your driving on real circuits?

My only experience is a day at Mallory Park driving a VW Golf GTi and a Formula Ford SS and that was several years ago although from memory the Formula Ford was easier to keep on the track than the LFS Formula XR

I think to be realistic we need an USB aural device to make the computer smell of hot oil and burnt rubber and there needs to be a dodgy burger van for sustenance in the pit lane - Any chance of these in the next upgrade please?

What'd the best strategy to adopt when starting out - To stick with one circuit and learn it thoroughly or switch around to get broad experience of them all?

My preferred car is the Formula XR at the moment because I'd like to get good enough to be confident driving the Sauber (wouldn't we all?). I'm mainly practising the South City long circuit but is there a better circuit to learn single seater racing on?

Quote :

so wots stopping ne one from get a crack generator for that?

What's stopping the devs getting pissed off with everyone ripping them off and just jacking it in? I assume you're asking out of idle curiosity and its not something you'd actually do. If it is the later Dave I'd vote to have you banned EVEN if you did pay your £24. You're asking the wrong people anyway - You could try asking the scumbags on warez forums but I'm guessing pretty much everyone on this forum is hugely indebted to the devs for brininging us this game and I feel sure many would be happy to pay the £24 many times over.

Arrrgh Gawd Jakg - Tell me that's not a puppy in a burger bun :gromit:

Thanks for the help though guys, I'll try again!

After having a frustrating time racing against the computer AI cars I thought I'd take someones advice and join an online game. Stupid question probably but how do I do it? I've tried searching for available games and it came up with a list of 20 out of 450 games that I could join. Mostly as it was searching I was getting a 'wrong version' message but I'm running the latest! The information screen of games that you can join is also very non-intuitive and fairly incomprehensible.For instance in the info colum games are designated codes such as 'VQMP' or 'QMP' - beats me! what does that mean?

I was hoping to find someone running a Formula V8 race on the South city Long circuit and I did find one game but when I tried to join that it asked me for a host password. How do I get that, or does it mean 'sod off, this games private'

Also is there anyway of finding out what the status of a game is - I don't want to crash into a race with experienced racers and would prefer to join a race of similarly inexperienced newbies like me!

Sorry if this is coming across as a bit frustrated but that's what I am - LFS is a brilliant game but it does leave you in the dark about how to do a lot of things

Copied the file across and it appears in my list of replays but when it loads up it plays for about 1 second and then I get an OOS error. Am I doing smething wrong?

Thanks Guys - Guess i'll keep practising and join the odd server! Just wanted to practise a bit against AI cars before I unleash mayhem on the track amongst the community

BTW - How do I play sil3ntwar's movie? I presume I have to drop the file in an LFS directory somewhere?

Another thought - Would I be better advised to start on one of the open race circuits rather than South City?

Hi,

I'm completely new to LFS and enjoying it tremendously. I used to play Microprose Formula 1 Grand Prix quite a bit years ago but nothing for a few years until now. I'm currently racing a Formulla XR on the South City (long) track amd felt fairly confident lapping at about 1m:49 secs. I've just tried a race session against 11 computer cars and they are all qualifying at about 1 Min: 41/42 secs!! Now I know what it must feel like to tug around at the back in a Minardi! I feel my racing line and gearing is pretty good but I'm racing with the car on default setting 'out of the box'. Can anyone give me some tips on car set up to scrub off those 8 or 9 seconds a lap?