Hi guys

I should have posted this about a week ago but I've been tied up with other things, I need to submit these sets to the race centre next Monday so you've got a week to give feedback to get anything changed.

I won't pretend to be the best setup maker (especially for the FWD cars) but these should at least be a good starting point.
Remember, as we are all using fixed setups, speed is essentially irrelevant, the setup must be easy to drive, stable, and recover well when over the limit.

These sets are basically my race sets but with added understeer (I like my cars quite loose), please let me know if you're struggling to drive and why and I can adjust as necessary. All sets are free of exploits/LFS quirks, they are setup more naturally.

If you are used to driving the FXR it's quite likely this set will feel quite different, but it's very nice on the tyres. Don't try and drive it like a FWD car like most other sets, this is setup like an AWD "should be".

Test away...

Edit: Updated all the sets over this weekend with Madman_CZ, only minor changes but we're much happier with them now.

I managed to sprain an ankle playing football yesterday, so don't think I'll be much good testing these sets in the next few days. Hopefully I'll have a bit less pain towards this weekend, and I'll give the sets a good run.

Would test but as a mouse user its seems a bit pointless . . . I don't drive any of these cars typically so I think I might lay my uber-competitiveness to one side for this weekend and just enjoy the jaunt. .


I have also noticed that there are a few of us Oxford peeps knocking around. I can drive but would like to drink, wasn't planning on staying overly long afterwards (But you never know, depends on how I get with the drinking.) and am more than happy to contribute to petrol/drivers perks along the way. But like I said, can and will drive if needed. So you oxford/A34 corridor lot shout out so we can get organized.

And if that Norwedish LFSNoob can make it all the way from the north pole or where ever then it puts some of us to shame dunnit . . .

Yes . . Findick. thats what I said It's all one big happy Scandy-thingy-naval isn't it? (Says he, tongue firmly in cheek).

I put a few laps in with the sets. The FXO I could use more practice on before I say much with that =)

The XRG was plesent. The gearing was off for me but I can live with that, in RL unless you have a ton of cash you have to live with the gearing you have anyways =) I did have issues with lockup and diff unloads, but I am happy with the set and I don't think it really needs changing. The set reflects more of something you would really see in a road prep track car I feel.

XFG felt good aswell no complaints there.

I'm listening on suggestions for gearing on the XRG set, I admit I haven't customised them for the track but the general spacing should be reasonable.
What about diff issues? Most importantly, is the car stable? I need a set that doesn't punish errors too hard so that we can have the closest racing possible. However I don't want pig understeer, it should still be a pleasant drive.

I've had a suggestion from Madman that the XFG understeers a bit too much, what do people make of that? I'm inclined to agree but to we need to cater for the least able racers as well (who will obviously be picking the XFG over the XRG ).

I suspect the FXR would take some getting used to.

Quote from Bob Smith :

I'm listening on suggestions for gearing on the XRG set,

I didn't have a problem with the gearing, but then I'm only just getting into the quicker half of a 1.46 at the moment (don't drive SO very much). I was happy with the set generally - yes, I prefer the car a bit looser usually, but certainly didn't find myself cursing this set up.

The FXO I liked too - felt a bit more 'alive' than some of the 'point and shoot' set ups that I've tried from Inferno. But again, not much experience with the car, si I don't really know what it should be doing anyway... Quite happy with it.

Oh... new FXO set... didn't see that...

The XFG I haven't tried yet, but I'm betting I'll find it weird. But that's because I find FWD weird in LFS anyway. Nothing to do with anything you've done....

Bob,

I don't have a problem with the gearing, it's not perfect but it will work. In RL you don't get the option of a bazillion different gearsets anyways =) Having fun is all I am worried about and the set will definatly provide that.

I have problems with the inside rear lighting up on exit but it's not a major issue and I will live with it. Keeping the Diff where it's at now will prevent anyone from really upsetting the car when they throttle on IMO.

Ah super, all pretty much positive feedback so far.

I'd agree minor tinkering with the gearing is well beyond the aims for these sets, I just like to get things as good as possible.

I spent some time last night testing the XF GTI and FXO GTI sets. I tested the XF GTI set over 11 laps and I easily managed to finish in less than 20 minites (well it was over by 4 seconds, but I had Windows Updates popping up twice asking me if I wanted to restart!! Took my small brain ages to realise it was better to just leave the message up and not click "Restart Later" ). Anyway, in summary this set is fine for me.

I attempted to test the FXO GTI set over 16 laps, but I am not really used to this car and ended up crashing a bit and then my testing time was cut short. Like I say, I am not used to this car, but I did find it a bit over-steery. Having said that, it was easy enough to recover, so I can live with it (with a bit more practice). In summary, this set is fine for me too.

Tim

That could well be down to experience given the amount of oversteer I took out of that set compared to my race set. I will admit I struggled a bit to keep the car behaving through the near-flat turns leading from the middle straight to the final chicane, not sure why they cause so much trouble.

Quote from Bob Smith :

That could well be down to experience

I agree. Hopefully, I will get some more time this week to practice.

Quote from Bob Smith :

I will admit I struggled a bit to keep the car behaving through the near-flat turns leading from the middle straight to the final chicane, not sure why they cause so much trouble.

Yup, to begin with, but not so much now, I was sliding left and right all the way through this complex. Anywho...

One thing I did notice: my fastest so far is a 1.20.55 and even 16 x 1.20 dead laps would take me 21minutes and 20 seconds! Is this going to be a problem? Do we need less laps? Am I just snail slow? What are all you managing? I know the WR is 1.14:56 but I can't get near that - can any of those who are going? Actually, hang on..back in a minute

/beavers away on LFS World feaverishly for about 10 minutes!

OK from all your online statistics I can see that:

Bob Smith has a PB of: 1.18:89 Total:21minutes 04seconds
Viper93: 1.20:84 Total:21minutes 20seconds
need: 1:22.08 Total 21minutes 36seconds

All the other confirmed people do not have online PB's for this track.

Discuss (or not)...?

Tim

While 20 minutes is the allocated figure, it's not too difficult to cut a minute out of the qualifying session. It's near enough. I'm hoping to get my time down a bit yet. Also from finishing you can only do an extra lap at most. Those who have finished can start swapping seats already to let others in for the next race, so it should all work OK. Basically Adrian has said if it over-runs, it's down to their management, and he won't kick us on at 6pm on the dot if things are over-running by 5 mins.

Myself and Madman have just spent a couple of hours going over the SO Town sets and I'm about to upload the improved versions now. Both cars understeer less but we're hoping nobody will struggle to drive them due to oversteer or stability issues either (I don't think either car is particularly loose, but then I know I like quite loose sets, so....). Overall not that much has changed but I'm able to set pbs within 0.3 seconds of each other, so the sets are reasonably competitive, which is key. We're both happy anyway.

We'll both give the FXR a go over tomorrow evening at some point, probably late-ish, look out for us being online and drop in if you can.

The problem I have with the FXO GTR is power unloading through the diffs making the car funny to drive. I didn't get many laps in with the the set (7 at the most) and I will test it more today. I will check out the updated XRG set aswell.

OK set is updated, I don't know if you'll get a chance to try them out before I send the sets to Adrian tomorrow but they should have cured or at least lessened the issues brought up in this thread. Thanks guys.

Yeah tweaking we did,

I drove the XF GTI and we managed to improve that set quite a bit, it had quite a bit of understeer in it but with a few changes it handles pretty well now and the first sector drives really good. But I guess it does depends on your driving style and ability

I didn't drive the XRG GTI as Bob's set for that is just way too loose for my liking but then he did say he improved it and that it sticks now.. so I believe him......

Tonight we raced ther FXR GTR, and man what a crap car! who picked it! grrr anyway...... Bob's set fix2 was just undrivable for me, very unstable and underbraking and downshifting i suffered with a loss of RPMS as wheels locked due to the diff setup. After moaning at him he did manage to change the set a bit see "set fix3" which is a lot more stable and more drivable where one can actually be quite consistent, still i manage to fry the tyres by lap 5 but Bob says he can drive 20 laps with the r2s so I guess i must have some serious defect in my driving..... either that or Bob's set sucks donkey balls but I'll let you decide...

looking forward to sat

mad

I had major stablity problems aswell. They go away though if you don't use a ton of brake and I was running 1:19's with a PB of 1:18.90. This set is tricky due to the diffs unloading all the time but it is fun to drive.

I will edit this post and put up about the XRG set soon.

XRG is nice, gearing is off still but much better. I am running 43's and 44's with it. I gave the set to Skylark and he was running 41's so my driving is crap....

Quote from Viper93 :

I had major stablity problems as well.

I found the set very easy to drive.... but maybe that's because I'm about two seconds slower

Quote from nihil :

I found the set very easy to drive.... but maybe that's because I'm about two seconds slower

It's very easy until you start using the brakes and then the lockups majorly upset the car to the point it's not drivable.

I should say though that all the sets are drivable and I am happy with them. They are just not setup for the pace I am used to, but I don't mind, they are still fun to drive and get difficult quickly when trying to lay down some nice laps.

Quote from Viper93 :

They are just not setup for the pace I am used to,

In agreement there, I struggle with the fxr set most of all.. Ben said dont brake as hard... lol..... but thats exactly my style.. brake late as possible and HARD!!! but i did get use to it a little after a while.. i still make it eat the fron tyres thought.... ahh well

mad

What can I say, I'm a strong believe in the slow-in, fast-out philsophy. Racing behind you, you'd gain some distance braking into the corner, but I'd be wearing you ass coming back out and could take you on the straights.

Quote from Madman_CZ :

but thats exactly my style.. brake late as possible and HARD!!!

I only brake hard twice in the whole lap - And only touch the brakes five times in total. So I'm not going to make anything up on you there!

I always use as much brake as I can. The fastest sets always use a ton of brake, thats what I am used to. I am having major issues with the XRG set and I can barely break into the 43's... I don't know what I am doing wrong

The sets have now been sent to the race centre, so keep getting your practise in.

Well I found out today that when I register my car tomorrow that it will take 5 days to get the reg number done. I am going to try to get it done in one day, it can be done but chances are that it won't happen in time.

I will try to work something out in terms of transport to southampton but its not looking good. I could keep the rental car over the weekend but thats another 70 pounds on top of the 2k my wife and I have already paid to get the car through SVA and registration.... I will try my hardest to figure something out though, I want to come... who knows I may be able to sweet talk the nice DVLA person into getting the paperwork through while I wait.