One thing i use (learned from that driving school thingie), is putting white lines to limit the track, together with the cones, so their distance is pretty much the same. It also helps people new to the layout to see the track

That would be pretty good, i ran a little autox event for the brazilian league a while ago, and i restarted it for every single run to make sure all cones were in place. It would be even nicer if we could adjust the time it takes for the cones to respawn

Quote from axus :

How long was your test (ie. distance and time) - just wondering because if it was a few meters, you will find that it you will have a much better speed across the checkpoint using more wheelspin. When racing for checkpoint speed in drag racing one tends to spin the wheels as much as possible. I suppose the optimum start does depend on the distance between the start and the first braking point.

Sorry but that doesn't make any sense to me illepall

The distance doesn't matter, if there is a way of launching faster, it will be faster on any given distance. By the way the layout was completed in around 5 and a half seconds.

Doing some scientific testing with the XRT on the autox, i found out that you can indeed be faster on the start using the clutch. But it's not that simple.

First i tested more or less 10 times launching on the standard LFS method, full throttle and loads of spin. I recorded the time (custom autox layout just for testing launching), and they were always the same.

Then i went to test full clutch launch. The method was using full throttle and controlling the clutch to avoid wheelspin. Surprisingly, it was slower than spinning the wheels completely, almost every time......sometimes i managed the same time of spinning.

Looking at the replays, i found out the very launching itself was pretty slow using the clutch, it looked like it didn't engage quickly enough to give the car the initial burst of speed. Then i went testing using this new knowledge. I found out the best way to launch in LFS is to spin the wheels for some 3 metres or so, quite briefly indeed, and then putting more clutch on to stop the spin, controlling the grip afterwards until you fully disengage the clutch.

I have some replays in my computer, but i won't be home until jan 18, recommend you guys test it too.

obs: i only tested it on the XRT and using the throttle lever on a microsoft joystick i have to control the clutch

It's good to see everyone wants it, because i could kill to have it!!! Lol....

Now let's just hope the devs see this thread.....hey devs, you could at least post "we saw it", that's enough for me

Quote from JTbo :

But how large this ball would be or could it be better if there is 3 sizes?

5 cars per team, that could end up little paintwork damage ;D

The ball in the video was more or less as tall as the cars used, maybe a little smaller. Having adjustable size could be nice though

Quote from JTbo :

We could have several playmodes too, soccer anyone? We just would need goals

That would be also good to learn basics of handling, oversteer/understeer and so on.

Well i named it football, because as far as i know, it's only named soccer in the US. But you got the idea.....

The goals could be those barriers already, and you already can make your own autox layout, so there would be many possibilities.....

Hey guys, i looked into the "suggested improvements" thread and didn't find this there, so excuse me if this was already posted.

So.....i watched that video of those guys in top gear playing football with small toyotas, and man, that looked serious fun. Was wondering if the devs could simply add a movable ball in the autox screen, so we could actually play football in the autox

Crazy, yes, and absolutely not racing-related, but it's car related

And it would be relatively simple to add i believe, and c'mon, it wouldn't hurt racing in any way

Well, as of now, the XF and FXO are a lot lighter, have better power to weight ratios, better transmission efficiency (which makes sense), and in the case of the FXO, fatter tires.

So, in a track in LFS they are faster, probably because of those weird locked diff effects and such.......

But hey, you are an autoxer, in autox the RWDs are generally faster (in LFS)

I think graphic improvements are somewhat too complex to make in a small patch, the point of this thread is to propose easy-to-do fixes and improvements so we can get those small but annoying things sorted.

Graphics and physics aren't all that easy and quick to do i think.....

Nice point, i had that idea at some point but i forgot to post it hehehehe. I remeber when i played NFS Porsche that you could use the mouse to reposition the hud elements on the screen, that was cool.

But i dont know, that could be a little harder to implement, i wrote only the things that annoy me a little in the interface. Of course, if the devs can handle that....hehehe

Hi guys, there are 2 small things that i personally would like to have in the game, and i think they could be made for the next patch.....

First is the option to turn off HUD elements separately, sometimes i like to drive without knowing my speed for example, and i really wanted to deactivate that "steering arc" when using custom view.

Second, is that my wheel has the nasty tendency of shifting 2 gears in one button press, and that KILLS me when braking, you know .....so, i was playing GPL a little, and noticed it didnt happen there. Of course, there you cant shift quickly as you can in LFS because there is an "inactive" period after shifting once.

My wish is to have an adjustable option in LFS that wouldnt allow you to shift after X miliseconds from another shift. Of course, you could deactivate it if you wish hehehe.

Those are my ideas for things that annoy me a little and could be easily (i think) solved, post your ideas for small improvements too!

There are a lot of ways to make it balanced, you could just reduce hp in the FXO, make XRT and RB4 gain some hp, also making FXO heavier or XRT/RB4 lighter etc etc etc.

The biggest point i think, is that the FXO - besides being very easy to drive - is quite faster on most corners, ranging from 3 to 7 kmh faster than XRT or RB4 on cornering average speed, also rocketing out in corner exits. I already said the boxer engine, tire width and reduced weight contributes to this, but i think the easiest way to balance it - without changing it's handling drastically - would be to reduce the contact patch, maybe to the same level as the RB4 (215mm tires).

Good to know you guys liked. I think we will make other tests when the other championship races are closer, but there are so many advantages that a somewhat increased tire wear on the FXO wouldn't make much difference.

And tweak, AWD cars should really suffer with one problem - low transmission efficiency, after all they have 3 differentials, a lot of energy is dispersed there. The fact is that the differences in vehicles of the same class in LFS is just too big, the FXO GTR makes laps years slower than the other 2 GTRs, the FXO is 1 to 1.5 secs faster than XRT or RB4, and the list goes on.....

I think the time gap between the fastest and the slowest car on a class shouldn't go above half a second, because there are some cars which are easier to drive, like FXO or FXO GTR, and thus should be a LITTLE slower than their harder-to-drive counterparts.

But let's keep focused on the TBO class, i think that if this issue is solved on the TBO, they will probably get more attention to balancing the other classes.

Suggestions as to make it more balanced? Well, we tried both 1 and 2 passengers on the FXO, with one, it's still a little faster, but more balanced obviously, and with 2 it gets somewhat slower. So, i would say that making it a little heavier, reducing tire width and transmission efficiency could make it.

My view is that easier cars should be just a tiny bit slower, so that the lap time enhancement on harder cars could balance for a higher probability of making a mistake.

Just a little introduction: Today the brazilian league is starting it's first championship, based on the TBO class (XRT/RB4/FXO), with the first track being WE intl. The A class race is going to be held day 6 of this month. And i'm in the A class.

So, everyone is training for the championship those days, and me and a buddy of mine decided to make a test. That test was going to have 30 laps (same as in the race), i was going to race the XRT and he was going FXO.

We are precisely the same level in this track, we both have best lap times in the 1.57.1x range using the XRT, which is the car we are going to use for the championship. Before the test i thought the FXO would have to stop to change it's tires, but seems as i was wrong. We both finished the race without going into the pits, and our tires could still manage some 5 or 6 laps beyond the estipulated 30. Who finished in front?

FXO of course, with a 21 second advantage over my XRT. After the race we commented on the driving style we used. I had all my laps into the 1.57/1.58 range, without going into the grass once, and i remember only one braking mistake, with no major consequences. But he told me he was going totally relax, he went into the grass sometimes, missed some braking points, did some laps in the 2.00 range too.......and managed to win with a 21 second advantage over my XRT.

After that we reported our findings to the person in charge of the league, and the FXO's advantage was so proven that he decided to issue a passenger to all FXO drivers in the championship. But even then it is still faster, just with a slimmer margin.

Now let's get a technical view of the reasons for this advantage: Lighter weight - this one is the most obvious, the FXO weights almost 100 kg less than the XRT, and pretty much that compared to the RB4.
The second one, the FXO has a wider contact patch than the other 2, with 240 tires on all wheels, comparing to 245/225 on the XRT, and 215 on the RB4.
The third one, the FXO's transmission is the most efficient, with an 82% rating against 78% of the XRT, and 75% on the RB4.
The fourth one, is the boxer engine which gives it a better center of gravity.
And finally the fifth, as it's the car which uses the least fuel of those 3.

All of these would make sense if the car was hard to drive, but it's the easiest together with the RB4, and wears it's tires more or less the same as the other 2.

No need to say it had an advantage since S1 times isn't it? Just posting this so you guys know how it is, and hoping it will change in the next patches.