Thanks everyone for chipping in so quickly with advice and support. I really appreciate your helpfulness and what you're doing. I haven't felt the feeling of belonging to a community like this in a long time.
As to how I'm doing, I've just been spending the past day getting used to a couple of the other cars, and mainly still hanging out on Blackwood.
My progress so far is that I've got a decent idea of how to handle the XFG, and I'm starting to memorise the racing line of Blackwood (I mostly drive with the racing line off, switching it on at points where I'm still not quite sure of the recommended line to take.)
I'm trying to take things slowly (but not too slowly), making sure I understand the car, and the road thoroughly. I understand that everything depends as much on mental control and knowledge as it does on physical control and knowledge.
I've taken the Training Testdrives for the BMW Sauber (BF1) and the Rallyx (XRG). The BF1 handles easier than I thought it would (and the speed is ridiculous), but I had problems driving on dirt in the Rallyx drive. It just proves how little driving experience I have (in the real world and in LFS) when I say that I honestly thought driving on mud and driving on the road would have little difference in the handling of a car. How wrong I was. (For those who are theorists or who know how things affect cars, why is this the case? I always want to know how different things affect cars, because I can then try to change my approach while taking into account what is physically happening with the car.)
Last night I did hop onto a server, but unfortunately nobody was around. Either that, or they all saw me coming and jumped ship!
Anyway, I did stay for a bit in the hopes that someone would jump on the server, but nobody did. The server was using the Kyoto Ring track, so I did get some practice with the racing line and the XRT on that track.
Just now, I took the UF1 and UFR for a spin on Blackwood offline. The UF1 really struggled to get around - especially on the incline near the starting grid (just before you complete a lap)! I thought I was the fastest thing on earth, tearing down that straight at 60 mph!
The UFR on the other hand, is a completely different beast. I love how zippy it is, but even though I only hit a top speed of about 120 mph in it, the sheer sense of speed I felt meant that at no point did I actually feel I had control over the car! It felt faster to drive than the XFG, even though my top speed was probably slower! So many things in LFS never cease to amaze me.
I also love how you can stall the car if you put it in gear without enough gas to move off, and you have to switch the car off and back on again! The realism blew me away, but now that I know I can stall the car, I'll try not to do it in future!
I'm actually gobsmacked that each car I've tried feels completely and utterly different. All my years playing Sega Rally and Daytona have kinda conditioned me into thinking that most cars would feel the same. I guess I'd better stay away from arcade racers from now on, heh. I find LFS much more fun and satisfying, anyway.
Where I'm going to go from here: continue to get used to cars offline, and probably try out a couple more of the tracks (with the racing line on). At the same time as offline practice, I will start to get online and maybe just spectate (rather than join in) for a while. I may have one or two races online, but I am never going to expect myself to be able to compete.
The most I hope to do is stay somewhere near the back and at least try and keep up. Overtaking will have to wait until I grow in confidence a bit more. At this stage, if I can keep up with the other cars, while staying at the back, I'm doing better than I thought.
As to how I'm doing, I've just been spending the past day getting used to a couple of the other cars, and mainly still hanging out on Blackwood.
My progress so far is that I've got a decent idea of how to handle the XFG, and I'm starting to memorise the racing line of Blackwood (I mostly drive with the racing line off, switching it on at points where I'm still not quite sure of the recommended line to take.)
I'm trying to take things slowly (but not too slowly), making sure I understand the car, and the road thoroughly. I understand that everything depends as much on mental control and knowledge as it does on physical control and knowledge.
I've taken the Training Testdrives for the BMW Sauber (BF1) and the Rallyx (XRG). The BF1 handles easier than I thought it would (and the speed is ridiculous), but I had problems driving on dirt in the Rallyx drive. It just proves how little driving experience I have (in the real world and in LFS) when I say that I honestly thought driving on mud and driving on the road would have little difference in the handling of a car. How wrong I was. (For those who are theorists or who know how things affect cars, why is this the case? I always want to know how different things affect cars, because I can then try to change my approach while taking into account what is physically happening with the car.)
Last night I did hop onto a server, but unfortunately nobody was around. Either that, or they all saw me coming and jumped ship!
Anyway, I did stay for a bit in the hopes that someone would jump on the server, but nobody did. The server was using the Kyoto Ring track, so I did get some practice with the racing line and the XRT on that track.Just now, I took the UF1 and UFR for a spin on Blackwood offline. The UF1 really struggled to get around - especially on the incline near the starting grid (just before you complete a lap)! I thought I was the fastest thing on earth, tearing down that straight at 60 mph!
The UFR on the other hand, is a completely different beast. I love how zippy it is, but even though I only hit a top speed of about 120 mph in it, the sheer sense of speed I felt meant that at no point did I actually feel I had control over the car! It felt faster to drive than the XFG, even though my top speed was probably slower! So many things in LFS never cease to amaze me.
I also love how you can stall the car if you put it in gear without enough gas to move off, and you have to switch the car off and back on again! The realism blew me away, but now that I know I can stall the car, I'll try not to do it in future!
I'm actually gobsmacked that each car I've tried feels completely and utterly different. All my years playing Sega Rally and Daytona have kinda conditioned me into thinking that most cars would feel the same. I guess I'd better stay away from arcade racers from now on, heh. I find LFS much more fun and satisfying, anyway.
Where I'm going to go from here: continue to get used to cars offline, and probably try out a couple more of the tracks (with the racing line on). At the same time as offline practice, I will start to get online and maybe just spectate (rather than join in) for a while. I may have one or two races online, but I am never going to expect myself to be able to compete.
The most I hope to do is stay somewhere near the back and at least try and keep up. Overtaking will have to wait until I grow in confidence a bit more. At this stage, if I can keep up with the other cars, while staying at the back, I'm doing better than I thought.
Last edited by Ash196, .
It's so difficult! *cries*
OK, OK. Perhaps I'm over-reacting a little. But I know that I'm going to be learning for a looooong time...
Hi everyone. I'm totally new here and have no idea what I'm doing. I've only been an LFS player for a few days (three or four), and I loved the demo enough to pay for an S2 licence, which I did about five minutes ago. (I bought a licence even though the demo content alone would have kept me going for a good few months yet. That's how much I think I have to learn here.)
In my first few days I've been tearing around Blackwood in the first Training Testdrive (I forgot the name of the car) in second gear, and trying not to crash into stuff. Unfortunately, I'm not doing too well at the "not crashing" part.
Today, I even had a shot at going faster than second gear. I'm even starting to get the point of braking and downshifting!
Through one corner, I actually managed to accelerate and upshift on the way out, flinging myself to the outside of the road as I crossed the apex of the corner. I managed to follow the racing line all the way around the corner, and if you were with me, you would have seen my jaw hit the floor in a look of utter disbelief that I actually did that, considering that I'm finding controlling the car using mouse steering difficult enough right now.
In the demo, I've gotten as far as the Overtaking Training, but I haven't passed that yet. I keep colliding with other cars, and I also keep wanting to go back to the Testdrive, over and over until I actually learn how to drive.
I'm learning to drive in the real world too, and I'm drawing certain parallels with the way my instructor is teaching me to drive, and the way you're meant to drive in LFS. My instructor, for instance, taught me to go slow into and accelerate out of corners, and it actually works as much in LFS as it does in the real world, despite the fact that you're only limited to 30 mph where I am.
I'm only managing laps of between 1:50 and 2:00 in Blackwood though, so I'm going to be at this for a while, I think...
Due to being made redundant in the crappy economic situation, I don't have the money to get a steering wheel yet, but it's on my wish-list. (I had a hard enough time trying to convince myself to get LFS S2, but I managed to, so I'll have lots of content to practice crashing, er... driving with.)
It's nice to be here. I hope that once I get better at LFS, I'll get into competitive play, but right now, I don't feel at all ready. I'll get there, though.
Hi everyone. I'm totally new here and have no idea what I'm doing. I've only been an LFS player for a few days (three or four), and I loved the demo enough to pay for an S2 licence, which I did about five minutes ago. (I bought a licence even though the demo content alone would have kept me going for a good few months yet. That's how much I think I have to learn here.)
In my first few days I've been tearing around Blackwood in the first Training Testdrive (I forgot the name of the car) in second gear, and trying not to crash into stuff. Unfortunately, I'm not doing too well at the "not crashing" part.
Today, I even had a shot at going faster than second gear. I'm even starting to get the point of braking and downshifting!
Through one corner, I actually managed to accelerate and upshift on the way out, flinging myself to the outside of the road as I crossed the apex of the corner. I managed to follow the racing line all the way around the corner, and if you were with me, you would have seen my jaw hit the floor in a look of utter disbelief that I actually did that, considering that I'm finding controlling the car using mouse steering difficult enough right now.In the demo, I've gotten as far as the Overtaking Training, but I haven't passed that yet. I keep colliding with other cars, and I also keep wanting to go back to the Testdrive, over and over until I actually learn how to drive.
I'm learning to drive in the real world too, and I'm drawing certain parallels with the way my instructor is teaching me to drive, and the way you're meant to drive in LFS. My instructor, for instance, taught me to go slow into and accelerate out of corners, and it actually works as much in LFS as it does in the real world, despite the fact that you're only limited to 30 mph where I am.
I'm only managing laps of between 1:50 and 2:00 in Blackwood though, so I'm going to be at this for a while, I think...
Due to being made redundant in the crappy economic situation, I don't have the money to get a steering wheel yet, but it's on my wish-list. (I had a hard enough time trying to convince myself to get LFS S2, but I managed to, so I'll have lots of content to practice crashing, er... driving with.)
It's nice to be here. I hope that once I get better at LFS, I'll get into competitive play, but right now, I don't feel at all ready. I'll get there, though.
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG