Learning any new game is challenging but I guess most gamers have a knowledge of how games work and most people who drive cars will understand the working of a race simulator, ie, throttle pressure around bends etc..

I need advice..

My 14yr old daughter has been driving around AS Club using the fox getting times of 1min 6secs, which is quite good compared to most decent racers getting in the low 1min 2sec's.

No matter how many times I explain the game and how to use the wheel and pedals theres something she just isnt grasping and im not sure what that is.

What would you explain to the young for them to grasp the game easier.

Hmmm it really is hard telling a young driver what to do over the internet. Being beside her to train her what to do and what not to do is the only way someone could really effectively learn.

Showing a replay of her driving would be the best option, since we have no idea where she could improve.

There are some things in the car setup that could help, and make a more stable car for being consistent and safe in a race. LFS is challenging, but beginners can learn quickly if they put their mind to it and practice a lot. Doing that allows the driver to have a much better understanding of how LFS works, and how-to drive properly.

So, what exactly is the problem? She's starting out in LFS, in a car that most people can't handle properly first time, and she's only 4 seconds slower than regular drivers... Sounds to me like she's going to improve all by her onesies without help.

There will come a time when she goes "Oh! NOW I get it!", and starts to be 2 seconds faster than you on every combo. I'd worry about that

hmmm it was a difficult question to ask because im not even sure what im asking..

Its not the driving, because that comes with experience.

What ive found with LFS is that its the only racing sim on the planet where slower more controlled driving = faster lap times..

Its really difficult getting that into her young head..lol..

I was looking for some way of explaining that so she will understand...

Quote from TagForce :

There will come a time when she goes "Oh! NOW I get it!", and starts to be 2 seconds faster than you on every combo. I'd worry about that

You got that right, im dreading that moment

A 1:06 at Aston Cadet in a formula XR? I did a 53 on a try just now, and i suck. WTF? even a 1:02 is scaring me.

advice-practice,practice,practice,practice. Can drop much time just by staying at that combo for a week

sorry i meant Club.. (now edited original post)

Have you ever watched the show Top Gear? If so, remember when Sir Jackie taught James how to drive, and it really came down to one factor: being smooth with throttle, steering and brakes. In other words you cannot use the gas and brake pedal like an on / off switch, nor with the steering.

How about having her ride with you in the family car, and you can show what happens in the real world when you use the brakes, gas and steering wheel smoothly, and when you dont! Show her how much faster a car is in a corner when you find the straightest line possible, and the importance of finding a corners apex, its entrance point and its exit point.

I think that its great that she is finding interest in LFS; I firmly believe that this game is realistic enough that when she old enough to drive in a few years, it will help her substancially!

1:06 ? Is she even taking the ideal line? A replay would be helpful.

Download some replays off lfsw hotlaps and analyze the world record holders on such things like where they brake what gear they use for a corner and what speed do they brake too? also I have found setups off here are very usefull

http://setupfield.teaminferno.hu/

Hope that helps

Teach her how to steal a car and let her learn through the medium of high-speed police chases.

Imho you should not force her on learning how to drive a racing sim.
This is a genre of game that need a bit more of maturity then the others, and for maturity i mean that people enjoy it better when they are older then in the other games. There are exceptions too, but barely you will find player with less of 17 years online.

Imho if she does not want to hear your suggestions, simply let her do what her want within the game.
It's a game, if people are foced to play in a way they don't like it has no more fun

Maybe having her simply race with people might improve her, like even if it was just 1 on 1 racing, she would learn by following them, and it would help maybe if they were only slightly faster than her, so then she can see the line and then once she hits say 1:05, then the driver she's following bumps it up a bit, then once she hits 1:04, the driver she's following goes faster?

Also, maybe driving with people more her age might also give her more benefit becuase the older folks seem to have better control and knowledge of how the car reacts?

My PB is 1:04.45 for AS club with I think the default setup. I could prolly get it to the 1:02 range though. I'm 15yrs old, and your daughter is almost as fast as me.

I think viewing the world record laps would probably the best way to improve your time. You'll be able to see the exact lines to take, as well as when and how much throttle/brake to give it. Also download the team inferno setup, that can make a big difference. I personally like using a bit more downforce than the inferno setup for AS_Club, as it makes the car a bit more stable and consistent in the corners. The setups can be found here: http://setupfield.teaminferno.hu/

Check out this link also: http://www.driversdomainuk.com/motorsport/racing_line.php

It explains the 2 basic lines you can take through a corner. Here is a graphic illustrating what it's talking about as well:

I'm semi fast at AS club, I just have consistency problems, and get mad at myself for crashing, especially when I overcorrect in T1.

Quote :

There will come a time when she goes "Oh! NOW I get it!"

Maybe, depends on how analytical the person is when comparing lap times. A racing game with a ghost feature would help here. Instruction on basic cornering techniques, like when slow in, fast out is actually better (it isn't always), will help more than running dozens of laps never realizing there's a better line or better method. You need the person to be willing to experiment to learn what works well under specific circumstances.

Quote :

What ive found with LFS is that its the only racing sim on the planet where slower more controlled driving = faster lap times.

Beating the reference time for Kyalami in Grand Prix Legends (a very old game) requires a driver sacrifice corner apex speed for better exit speed at a few crucial corners. For any GPL player, because of the relatively quick reference time, going negative at Kyalami requires that the player learn this principal, but it only applies to a few key corners on the track. Just after this section is a kink that requires a player to setup the racing line to be able to take it flat out. Another example is the old Spa, there key to fast times is to setup your racing line so you can take some key corners and a chicane flat out, quite a bit different than the slow in - fast out philosphy that really only applies to specific situations.

Regarding LFS, how many tracks have corners where the player has to really lower corner apex speed in order to be competitive, and how many players learn this from just practice as opposed to learning about it from someone else or in an instructional guide? Likewise, how many LFS tracks teach players learn that fast in is the best method for certain corners (like the end of a straight followed by a low speed section), or corners / kinks that need to be taken flat out?

This is why in real life there are racing schools, and team coaches to assist even high end drivers get the most out of their cars.

Maybe this would work:
- Run LFS with the ghostcar mod.
- Let her drive a couple of laps, until she has run a lap near her PB. Watch as she's driving.
- Take the wheel, and drive a faster lap (with the same setup). Explain what you're doing differently.
- Let her drive again, to try to beat your time. The ghostcar will show where she is losing time.

I love AS Club in the Fox, basically it boils down to the last corner. Turn in late, be on the power all the way through, it's all about throttle control. Most 1m02s+ people turn in too early and "wait" for the corner to come to them, this is ok, but I turn in later and barely notice the left hander at all and it works for me.

The chicane is also hard to get right, i've not raced there in ages but I think most people brake too much for it which is why there's often a crash there. That's just about confidence.

didn't read all the posts, but I think you really should put her in a non-downforce car, most perferably with road tires, because it teaches the fundamentals relation of weight transfer and grip and is slow enough for her to focus in the details. FOX is bit too forgiving unless you really knows the real limit, downforce and slicks just ironed out so many minor driving errors. Give her a LX4 or even a RB4, she will soon learn to behave and control her aggressiveness.

I started playing LFS at the age of 14 - took me a while but I got there and now I can get within a second of the world record on most combinations with the required practice (probably about 1-5 hours depending on the combo). I did read many technical articles from turnfast about the ideal racing line (most specifically this, this and this) through a series of corners etc before I actually started getting properly fast and I also red some articles from the physics of racing series (the weight transfer article is particularly important). I also learned how to set up my car properly and understood what changes had what effect on the car's behaviour. This helped me a great deal in learning to predict what the car would do if I did something with the inputs, as well as the excperience that I had accumulated by that time. Combined with a knowledge of what the car should be doing, that's enough to go at a reasonably fast pace. Also, one must remember some of the golden principles of racing:

1. If you don't feel like you're about to loose control, you aren't pushing hard enough (especially true for cars with slicks - you tend to think that the limit is way lower than it actually is).
2. If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
3. Use the whole track.
4. The curbs don't bite if you use them correctly.

I say one should race different cars and tracks (even gravel). Then you are forced to learn different skills, which are very important to those tracks and not so important to your 1st track. When you come back you will be better at the not so important bits and voila... suddenly your lap time takes a dive

One question. is she interested in LFS at all? Because if one is interested in anything, he or she will try, try and try until he or she is good at that thing. I know i'm not interested in german at school and i'm doing poorly there

Quote from SpaceMarineITA :

There are exceptions too, but barely you will find player with less of 17 years online.

Hmm... I think there are many players younger than 17. Like myself... being 12 years old my average time is ~2-4 seconds from WR (on a normal length track)

In my opinion, the best way to get a new or younger driver to advance or even and old hat for that matter is to put them in a very loose and hard to control car. Turn off all the aids and allow them to learn the car. Once they figgure out how to control that beast, its become much easier to drive the more incontrol cars.

But the key as others have mentioned is being smooth. The exit of a corner is the most important part of a corner so entering slower and getting a better line for the exit is often times then fastest line through a corner. I still struggle with this myself.