So, when I'm racing, regardless of car or track, I always seem to be 5 seconds off the pace of the front runner (except for Aston Club, where I'm only about 2-3 seconds off the pace). Major plateau. Any hints as to a good way to shave a second or two. Braking, corner entry, whatever. What is something key to concentrate on while driving that seems to do the most good?

slow in, fast out

take straightest line possible through turns

and be as smooth as possible, if you jerk the car around and try to fix every little mistake, then you will be slower

Watch some replays. :munching_

Under options/ audio turn "skid volume boost" upto 3.0 then be as fast as you can without execissive skiding...

Check ur pedals - turn on pedalbars to see if they reach max values

Errr.... ummm.... hm.... wear Speedos while racing?


(all the good suggestions were taken)

And no offense, but some people just are 5 seconds off the pace. If everybody would be driving the same fast laptimes something is wrong... there's always more talented people out there. Unfortunately I'm not one of them myself, with a lot of hard work and hours of practise I should be able to get within and about 1 second of the fastest guys out there, but do not have the time for that... so I'm happy if I can be 2 or 3 seconds off-pace.

Quote from Dimitry Gerards :

And no offense, but some people just are 5 seconds off the pace. If everybody would be driving the same fast laptimes something is wrong... there's always more talented people out there. Unfortunately I'm not one of them myself, with a lot of hard work and hours of practise I should be able to get within and about 1 second of the fastest guys out there, but do not have the time for that... so I'm happy if I can be 2 or 3 seconds off-pace.

Agreed. But I'm only really satisfied if I get a little better each time out. I seemed to have plateaued. And like any other skill, there needs to be something that 'clicks' to move beyond the plateau.

Stick a couple of replays up and perhaps we could give some advice based on those. But XCNuse's advice of slow in fast out is definitely the key once you're finding the limit of grip in corners and still not getting much quicker. Try and get the best speed onto straights you can. What setups are you using by the way? Race_S is pretty quick right away I find.

Quote from XCNuse :

and be as smooth as possible, if you jerk the car around and try to fix every little mistake, then you will be slower

so, would it be faster then to let the car take the 'wrong line' if I've set up a turn improperly (assuming that line doesn't take me off track) then to try to correct and bring the car back to where I originally wanted it to be?

Quote from Michael Denham :

Stick a couple of replays up and perhaps we could give some advice based on those. But XCNuse's advice of slow in fast out is definitely the key once you're finding the limit of grip in corners and still not getting much quicker. Try and get the best speed onto straights you can. What setups are you using by the way? Race_S is pretty quick right away I find.

I'm actually using the WR AC Long set, a good AC Club set, and a good Blackwood set for most every track. Mostly because I haven't built up my setup library yet. Last night I used the AC Long set on Blackwood and picked up 1 second, but the car was squirrelly and unforgiving.

I'm not familiar with the Race_S set. Is that one of Bob's generic setups?

I'm definitely at the grip limits through most corners. There are some combination corners on some tracks that I could probably take a bit faster given proper entry. The chicane on Blackwood being a good example. My fastest sector on Blackwood is the second sector.

I try slow in fast out but then get frustrated when my 'slow in' results easily getting passed without the subsequent 'fast out' tthat should make up time.

As for replay's, one thing I do is the Spectate the faster drivers to see what line they are taking and what speeds the are carrying through the corners. Again, at Blackwood last night I found that I was faster through the 90 degree turn at the end of the long straight but slower coming out of the subsequent left-right combo. ANd then I wasn't carrying as much speed though the left-right combo that leads onto the front straight. How do you record an entire race?


P.S. The reason I keep bringing up Blackwood is because that is what I drove last night.

You can still claim, that you are/were faster than one dev on an Autocross track.


To contribute sth to this thread: the race_s set is a default set, its in your settings list from the start.

Quote :

I'm definitely at the grip limits through most corners.

Being 5s behind, you definitely aren't.

But that is besides the point. As is all this longing for WR setups when you are not even close to being a WR driver.

The race_s setups come with the game right out of the box. They are very good setups that are on a rather drivable side and yet fast. Work with those setups and try to learn how to the car behaves in different situations. Try to learn not to overdrive the car but getting a smooth line and smooth weight transfers. Only when you significantly improve your times using the race_s sets, you should look at other sets again.

WR sets are just that: a setup that some dude drove a WR with. They are by no means the best setups there are and even less good setups for beginners. Quite often they are very specially built for the driver who drove the WR with it but not for John Doe average driver. race_s sets are for that group of drivers.

Avoid WR sets and never use a Race_S set. As a general rule setups dont make a damn of difference to the average driver, they are for finding up to about half a second but if you are 5 seconds off then you need something driveable. Find one setup that handles the way you like it then just adjust the gear ratios and downforce to each track - this will server you better than the edgy - to the limit - WR sets.

As for finding 5 seconds, without knowing what you are doing wrong it is hard to say.

As a general rule most LFS racers turn in too early and get on the power too late, take wide slow entries and be on the power by the time you reach the apex and you should be fine.

Also extreme and unrealistically heavy engine braking helps a lot, but shhhh, dont tell anyone I told you.

BTW: Always practice turning in early at all tracks too, the slower way round the corner will often help you keep a position. The 'correct' line frequently leaves you vulnerable.

I have to agree with Becky here. Like in real life, you are going to be much faster with a setup you are comfortable with than one that provides the most possible grip with minimal stability.

Quote from Becky Rose :

Avoid WR sets and never use a Race_S set. As a general rule setups dont make a damn of difference to the average driver, they are for finding up to about half a second but if you are 5 seconds off then you need something driveable. Find one setup that handles the way you like it then just adjust the gear ratios and downforce to each track - this will server you better than the edgy - to the limit - WR sets.

Can you please explain what you think is wrong with the Race_S setups please? I am not questioning you, I would just like you to expand on the topic instead of just saying don't use them! Thanks.

Quote from Becky Rose :

Avoid WR sets and never use a Race_S set. As a general rule setups dont make a damn of difference to the average driver, they are for finding up to about half a second but if you are 5 seconds off then you need something driveable. Find one setup that handles the way you like it then just adjust the gear ratios and downforce to each track - this will server you better than the edgy - to the limit - WR sets.

As for finding 5 seconds, without knowing what you are doing wrong it is hard to say.

As a general rule most LFS racers turn in too early and get on the power too late, take wide slow entries and be on the power by the time you reach the apex and you should be fine.

Also extreme and unrealistically heavy engine braking helps a lot, but shhhh, dont tell anyone I told you.

BTW: Always practice turning in early at all tracks too, the slower way round the corner will often help you keep a position. The 'correct' line frequently leaves you vulnerable.

I agree with all this except the "Never use Race_S" part. I find the Race_S setups to be very drivable and pretty quick, if I don't have a specific setup that I like for a particular combo, I'll use Race_S for a few races, than tune it a bit if I need to.

By the way, to record a full race, press "2" when you're finished, and type in a name to save. Then go into your LFS directory>data>then spr if you were offline, or mpr if you were online, find your replay, and upload it here for more tips

The Race_S sets where devised by the devs to put people off the game who where not prepared to give it more than 5 minutes, either that or the Scavier crew are sadists. They dont handle and are difficult to drive causing unecessary accidents and do not perform competetively at any track. I hate them. When I start using a new car I grab a set from another player until I find one I like, tinker it a little to my style (more understeer) then I just adjust the same set for each track. I then loose the set because of LFS' poor setup management, delete them all, and start again... Then a patch comes along and voids them all useless, so I start again...

Are you sure you're not thinking of the default setups??? I like the Race_S setups quite a bit, I find them very drivable, and I can be pretty competitive with them.

That's because you've got rabbies and drive like a rabbid lunatic.

riiiiiiight illepall

You're actually the first person I've ever talked to that hated the Race_S setups, but to each his (or in this case, her) own

ok seriously, they just dont suite my driving style. In fact I thought everybody just ignored race_s setups, but I guess not.

Spinjack: I've scanned this thread and one thing is left open afaik: what controls do you use? Have you got a steering wheel?

Hehe, okay, that makes a little more sense. I've found they suit me fairly well, and that they're very easy to drive. They do seem to be better in the tin tops though, I can't say I like the FOX Race_S very much, it's stable, but slow.

As for driving style... the most impact on laptime is the speed with which you come out of a corner. Many people seem to think that braking late for a corner will gain them more time, but it actually doesn't.
If you think about this, it makes sense... if you come quicker out of a corner, you'll reach higher speeds all over the straight and thus gaining seconds, while braking for a corner is only over a very small distance of the track. I discovered with previous racing simulator experience that I was braking way to late and that I actually improved my laptimes by braking earlier and steering into corners more smoothly, both my corner speed and exiting corner speed improved a lot which in turn helped me to shave off seconds from my laptimes.