Normally in LFS, results table is shown in these two situations:
1) When at least one driver has driven a timed lap in qualifying or
2) When a race winner has finished a race
In both cases, results table will be shown at the top right side. In qualifying, it shows the best driven time for that driver name. In race, it shows fastest lap from each finished driver, total time, stops done etc.
However, I noticed one oddity about this. If race length is 0 laps, session will be an unlimited practice mode. And this got me wondering, why there is not a results table shown in practice mode at all? My suggestion is that practice session would also have its own results table. I think this would be a good idea from the racing perspective.
This results table would show when at least one driver has driven at least one lap. If I had to think what a practice session result table would look like. Well, the results table would have five columns:
- Position
- Driver name
- Car
- Best lap
- Amount of laps driver has driven
Now I understand, that this is really not useful, and maybe even distracting, in cruising, where practice mode is in constant use and lap times/driven laps are not important.
That's why I would have 2 different solutions for this:
1) There would be a separate server option: "Show results table in practice mode" - Options for this would be "On / Off / User/Free choice". The last option would show or hide that results table depending on user settings in the game.
OR
2) There would be a conditional check, which would mean that if cruising was allowed, results table would be automatically hidden by default for everyone. Probably user could manually make it show to themselves by using Ctrl+TAB, but that's really about it.
And of course, practice session lap times would not set the grid. So server/game option "Non-qualifying race restart" would still be used for everything else, except if qualifying was used.
This may really not be the most important feature, but as in racing perspective, practice mode in LFS is right now relatively useless, because your best lap and amount of driven laps in total are not constantly shown. I know that amount of driven laps is shown at first, but as soon as you go to garage or spectate, it will reset.
One scenario where this lack of results table can be a problem is in single player with AIs. Because results table is not shown, you really cannot have AIs practice race stints properly. And in qualifying, AIs will only do one out lap, two hot laps and one in lap in qualifying. (I know there are various ways to make them have multiple qualifying laps during qualifying, but it's not very clear to everybody.)
I understand 4 hour qualifying session can act as a practice session as well (or you can have multiple shorter qualifying sessions, where some of them act as a practice sessions). But still, it would be nice to have option to show that results table in practice mode as well.
1) When at least one driver has driven a timed lap in qualifying or
2) When a race winner has finished a race
In both cases, results table will be shown at the top right side. In qualifying, it shows the best driven time for that driver name. In race, it shows fastest lap from each finished driver, total time, stops done etc.
However, I noticed one oddity about this. If race length is 0 laps, session will be an unlimited practice mode. And this got me wondering, why there is not a results table shown in practice mode at all? My suggestion is that practice session would also have its own results table. I think this would be a good idea from the racing perspective.
This results table would show when at least one driver has driven at least one lap. If I had to think what a practice session result table would look like. Well, the results table would have five columns:
- Position
- Driver name
- Car
- Best lap
- Amount of laps driver has driven
Now I understand, that this is really not useful, and maybe even distracting, in cruising, where practice mode is in constant use and lap times/driven laps are not important.
That's why I would have 2 different solutions for this:
1) There would be a separate server option: "Show results table in practice mode" - Options for this would be "On / Off / User/Free choice". The last option would show or hide that results table depending on user settings in the game.
OR
2) There would be a conditional check, which would mean that if cruising was allowed, results table would be automatically hidden by default for everyone. Probably user could manually make it show to themselves by using Ctrl+TAB, but that's really about it.
And of course, practice session lap times would not set the grid. So server/game option "Non-qualifying race restart" would still be used for everything else, except if qualifying was used.
This may really not be the most important feature, but as in racing perspective, practice mode in LFS is right now relatively useless, because your best lap and amount of driven laps in total are not constantly shown. I know that amount of driven laps is shown at first, but as soon as you go to garage or spectate, it will reset.
One scenario where this lack of results table can be a problem is in single player with AIs. Because results table is not shown, you really cannot have AIs practice race stints properly. And in qualifying, AIs will only do one out lap, two hot laps and one in lap in qualifying. (I know there are various ways to make them have multiple qualifying laps during qualifying, but it's not very clear to everybody.)
I understand 4 hour qualifying session can act as a practice session as well (or you can have multiple shorter qualifying sessions, where some of them act as a practice sessions). But still, it would be nice to have option to show that results table in practice mode as well.