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Dark Elite
S2 licensed
Ah, but for that you must know the material.. Maybe it does make sense after all
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
The Very End's reply is excellent, and a very complete picture of the problem you're experiencing. There is nothing that the design of LFS can do about it, so I don't see why this is in Improvement Suggestions, but I can see why you'd want more local LFS servers to keep the community going over there. So.. Why not start one?

Sam
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
I know it's a whole four keystrokes more, but doesn't /cars XFG+XRG work just as well?

Sam
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
R500 is the way forward, see Post #80 for why

Though sometimes I wonder why I bother putting thought into posts when everyone else just reposts what other people have said.. :o

Quote :Well it may keep up with the GTR with the same Hp/weight ratio, only if it had slicks.

I'm not at all convinced, because remember those slicks are still going to be a lot smaller than the lawn-rollers on the other GTRs. It'd be interesting to see if the lower weight could make up for this in the corners, though. But as for the straights, you're just going to get killed - remember the GTRs only have 445bhp/ton, and the LX4 with 205bhp would make that much power per ton. I'd like to see that keep up with an FZR

A 350bhp 460kg LX4 is making some 760bhp/ton, which is.. Quite a bit more than the current GTRs!

Sam
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
With the same power/weight ratio, I don't think an LX8 GTR would ever keep up with the current GTR cars. It'd be bloody quick off the mark, but its smaller tyres and less aerodynamic shape would make it slower in the corners and slower on the straights too, so it would need a greater power to weight ratio - giving it a bigger kick out of the corners, and helping to make up for the aerodynamic defecit at higher speeds. Unless, of course, we go all single-seater with the downforce and really stick it to the track

It's a bit out of the LX style, though, isn't it? Wings and slicks? Isn't it supposed to be a fun, challenging waste of tyres? Might as well just cut the roof off an FZR otherwise...

Sam
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
Hmm, are you watching replays or actually running the simulation? Because sitting in the pits "live" with two windows set up one on top of the other, half the screen each, I get about a quarter of normal frame rate - maximise them both (not fullscreen, but maximised windowed) and we're looking at five or six FPS. Odd..

Sam
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
Perhaps I was doing something daft at the time, then, or maybe it was with the old Radeon X300

I'll try it again tomorrow morning and see. Cheers for the heads-up.

Sam
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
I was a very strong yes on this one, although I'm not sure whether or not I'm right - yes to a high-powered (excessive is a good word ) LX, but is the V8 the way to go? Would we rather have something like a Caterham R500, as opposed to a Westfield SEight? The type of car isn't really made for a big, heavy, lazy engine like a V8. Yes, you could go for a race-spec V8 in the Caparo T1 vein, but if we do that we're looking slicks and wings just to keep it under control at pitlane speeds, never mind trying to race it.

*considers*

I reckon a high-strung four-pot - or maybe a straight-six - is going to be much better for it, not least so it sounds spectacular and maintains the urgent, hard-pushing nature of the other two LX cars. I'm thinking high revs, high noise, and high spirits. Yes, Caterham and Ariel have just put out V8s (the same unit for both manufacturers) - but that's two bike engines knocked together, it's a little supercharged 2400cc motor that revs stratospherically, for God's sake, and if we do that we are going to be seriously pushing the envelope. More power (outright as well as per tonne) than the Formula V8?

I don't think we can really get a Levante / Atom 500-a-like in LFS, it's just not terribly reasonable. But three hundred-odd horsepower, pushing road tyres about as far as we can without having to feather the throttle everywhere, why not? Yeah, it's probably going to be hard to drive, but so it bloody should be

Like skstibi, I've been messing around with Tweak, but I made the LX6 up to Caterham R500 specification - 263bhp, 506kg, similar rev range, and the same old tyres - and it feels like it was meant to be like that. It's not snappy, it's not vicious, but it's sideways when you want it to be and evilly quick. Great fun. And the R500 would, by my reckoning, have more grip than the LX6 does anyway - so I think it's a manageable upgrade for LFS.

But hey, if I get overwhelmed by chants of "V8, V8, V8" then I'll sit down and roll with it. Just give us the excessive kit cars, that exist in reality, to play with in LFS

Talk to me

Sam
Last edited by Dark Elite, .
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
The other point is that LFS seems to annihilate its frame rates if you run it in two instances at once - as in, I think I remember seeing single-figure frame rates, and the sound got butchered in the process. Perhaps if you have a dual graphics card configuration, this would be helped, but I'm not so sure.

Anyone with hardware other than Q6600 / Asus P5K / nVidia 8600GT tried it?

Sam
Last edited by Dark Elite, .
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
Yes, but what I meant was that turbocharging a five-litre engine would be exceedingly unfair - bear in mind that, even with the same power output, a turbocharged engine is going to be totally effortless, compared to a naturally aspirated engine trying to match the power without any extra capacity. That would mean that the turbocharged engine would be far, far more reliable than its naturally aspirated competitors, and so everyone would use turbos - and 5.5+ litres would therefore be much too much for a 625bhp output.

What I shoulda said was, "Unless they plan to let you turbocharge a five-litre engine"

I deduced that turbocharging isn't allowed because, almost invariably when turbocharging is allowed alongside naturally aspirated cars, you have a much lower capacity restriction for the turbos. As I recall, LMP2 was (dunno about now) up to 5.0 litres for naturally aspirated, but only up to 2.0 litres for turbocharged cars.

Sam
Last edited by Dark Elite, .
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
A little bit of research seems to throw up that the GT1 and 2 classes are about to undergo a bit of a rejig by the FIA, with 2009 as a transition year, and that the regulations will include a common ECU - which will not have a traction control system of any sort.

This implies that traction control is currently allowed, although I did always seem to have this idea that GT1 didn't allow it..

Also, as far as the turbocharging goes, I guess that isn't allowed either:
Quote from FIAGT.com :The GT1 category will be reserved for models with engines above 5.5L. The manufacturers or tuners will be able to choose between homologation at 650bhp/1300kg or 600bhp/1250kg.
The GT2 category will be reserved for cars with engines under 5.0L. The manufacturers or tuners will be able to choose between homologation at 500bhp/1250kg or 450bhp/1200kg.

Unless they plan for you to turbocharge a five-litre engine..

Sam
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
An interesting idea. Though I don't know if you're allowed to turbocharge an engine as big as three litres in that class, and if you turbocharge the FZR a lot of people will be very unimpressed

I would say a definite no to traction control, though. It isn't even allowed in FIA GT1, is it?

Sam
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
His main suggestion was for the driver number to be entered in the Player menu, in the same place as the playername and number plate is entered, and for this number to appear on the minimap to represent your car - and to appear in the race rankings next to your name.

The thing about it going on the skin was secondary, and in my opinion, not quite the most useful way to spend the developers' time

Sam
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
The arrow on the map is chosen because it shows the direction in which the car is facing. Using numbers in this application would cause confusion and lack of clarity, as numbers overlap, spin, or are displayed at a low resolution.

Sam
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
Quote from only.one.RydeR :New car should be even with the FZ5 so they have a new class..

Man, this topic is making me feel smaller

As we said, the FZ50's already got a class - LRF, with the LX6 and the RaceAbout - so we came up with the idea of making the RXO even with the LX4, as that's the only classless road car out there.

Unless you want to make it equal to the UF1000, of course

Quote from e2mustang :well thats not really true. check lfs strobe,or chudy_2001 videos on youtube,working lights are possible.

He was talking about the fact that the lights don't actually do anything, they just change the texture of the surface in which the light is located - they don't actually cast light onto the track or other objects.

Sam
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
Quote from w4h :Because it's the kind of car that I drive. It's just as worthless of a suggestion as suggesting that the FXO have a RWD version called the RXO.

Thought so, that's why I decided against tearing it apart

I think Crashgate was talking more about the styling of the FZ50 when he mentioned its Ferrariness, by the way, just as we're on about how the "new" car should be designed. I'm all for moulding together new BMW/Audi/Mercedes parts, but it could be interesting to see what happens, given their diversifying designs these days

Sam
Last edited by Dark Elite, .
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
Can I ask why you've selected this pristigious model to be in LFS?

Does strike me as something rather pointless, it's just like an XRG, only lower-revving and probably a bit slower. The RXO would have to look different to the FXO anyway, if only so you could tell the difference between them, so I suppose the FXO "not looking RWD" (and I can sorta see your point there) isn't much of an issue.

If it's going to be paired with the LX4, it might as well be its exact opposite, to keep things interesting - ie, big, heavy and powerful - like the FZ50 and the LX6 are now.

Sam
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
Quote from james12s :about as useful as a handbrake on a canoe

Nice one! I'll have to remember that

Using Tweak only shows us how nice it'd be to have this in the game proper. The only problem is that it wouldn't fit into any classes, being naturally aspirated. Unless, of course, it was made more powerful in order to go into LRF? Then you'd have the rear-engined FZ50, mid-engined RaceAbout, front-engined RXO, and the LX6 - whilst also front-engined and naturally aspirated, like the RXO would be - is still pretty different, on account of weighing buggerall

Or maybe it could be made competitive with the LX4? That needs something to race against

Sam
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
Can you imagine Santa in speedos?

Sam
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
Hmm.. Interesting point, actually. I mean, you could count GT1-class cars as single seaters - after all, they only have one seat - but as for open-wheel, open-roof cars? I've never seen a driver change executed in one of those. I think it's probably because of the inherent nature of those cars to get destroyed more easily than closed-wheel racers, thus longer races aren't very common. I can't see anyone setting up an open-wheel endurance race, but I could just have missed a whole segment of racing

Sam
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
That, I think, depends on what car you're driving and where you're driving it

As for the suggestion - yes, a good one. Although I'd adjust it a bit, and say add time for driver changes in short pitstops. As has been mostly said in bits and pieces, yes, it takes time to change drivers, but if your crew are spending a minute bashing some bodywork off your front tyre then you might as well change over rather than sit there and watch them do it. So I reckon it should be set up such that LFS adds time to your pitstop, up to making it last twenty seconds, when you change drivers.

For most cars, twenty seconds is probably about right. Were you a quick-thinking driver, you'd probably already have your harness released by the time you've stopped (not sure if this is legal or not, actually, but there you go. Seems like a good idea. Anyone know the rules on that?), so you could bail out in less than five seconds. Allowing a couple of seconds for the next person to get their sizing cushion in, another couple for getting themselves in, you're left with ten seconds to adjust and lock the straps in. Sounds doable, especially with the amount of practice you'd have had, but I might be about to get shot down in flames by someone with more experience of this

Of course, if you're in a single-seater it's gonna take longer to get yourself in and out - even more so if you've got a HANS, I guess - so perhaps different timing for each car class would be good. Quick for road cars, a bit slower for GTRs because you've got a rollcage in the way, slower still for single seaters because of pedal box adjustment and steering wheel fitting?

I'm looking for feedback here, guys hehe

Sam
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
I wasn't around during this period, but I have to say I agree with the sentiment - Race 3 is a brilliant place to be nowadays, it's certainly fighting back after the quiet times not so long ago.

There's some truly great racing to be had, indeed, and long may it stay that way!

Huge credit has to be given to those who make it such a fantastic experience, and of course to you for making a thread just to appreciate it

Sam
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
Frankly, I'd be damn annoyed if my car's handbrake came off as soon as I let go after applying it, but maybe that's just me.

As soon as you select a gear and disengage the clutch, the handbrake comes off anyway. It never causes a problem when moving off, it's been designed not to.

Quote :Would be nice if you could just tap the handbrake button while your sitting still and it would turn off.

Although this would be a good idea, the best way of modelling a real handbrake.

Sam
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
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
Last edited by Dark Elite, .
Dark Elite
S2 licensed
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
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