Say you're on a straight, tight up against the grass on your left, and heading towards what will eventually be the natural turn in point for the next right-hander. A car slightly ahead and in the middle of the road moves across to take the same line, but because you're slightly faster, by the time it gets there, its rear will clip your front; are you expected to back off, or should he leave room on the outside?

Another one: If you're side-by-side with someone whose on your left through the BL chicane, heading to the last of the 3 apexes, where is the edge of the track?! i.e. does he only need to leave your left wheels within/on(?) the green curb part, or are you entitled to have your right wheels within/on(?) it too?

http://en.lfsmanual.net/wiki/Basic_driving_guides

I've read it, but still need clarification on my examples.

Quote from DaveJ :

because you're slightly faster, by the time it gets there, its rear will clip your front; are you expected to back off, or should he leave room on the outside?

In my opinion of course. If the car in the middle is taking the inside line, they cannot force onto your line, they have to be clear of your car before trying to go wide and get the better line. They choose the inside line and have to find the safest way through on it. However you cannot just turn into them on your line.

I find the best way to win an inside dive is to take a position that blocks the outside car from taking their preferred line, place my car in the way. This means I have to take a slower line through the corner but because i'm blocking the other car, he also has to slow down. So we make the corner slower, but if I defended my inside line correctly, then I get to accelerate faster at the exit and therefore make the pass.

Quote from DaveJ :

Another one: If you're side-by-side with someone whose on your left through the BL chicane, heading to the last of the 3 apexes, where is the edge of the track?! i.e. does he only need to leave your left wheels within/on(?) the green curb part, or are you entitled to have your right wheels within/on(?) it too?

All curbs are valid parts of the racing surface

Quote from DaveJ :

Say you're on a straight, tight up against the grass on your left, and heading towards what will eventually be the natural turn in point for the next right-hander. A car slightly ahead and in the middle of the road moves across to take the same line, but because you're slightly faster, by the time it gets there, its rear will clip your front; are you expected to back off, or should he leave room on the outside?

If it looks like you're going to get hit, back off so you don't get hit. The other guy is pulling a serious dick move, but sometimes you have to sacrifice in order to keep from getting run off the road. A lot of people don't seem to get this... just because you have the right to a particular line doesn't mean you should defend it into a collision. Take the high road and be safe.

Quote from DaveJ :

Another one: If you're side-by-side with someone whose on your left through the BL chicane, heading to the last of the 3 apexes, where is the edge of the track?! i.e. does he only need to leave your left wheels within/on(?) the green curb part, or are you entitled to have your right wheels within/on(?) it too?

He needs to leave you room for your right-side wheels to be on the blue/white curb. The green part isn't a curb, it's an obstacle meant to keep you from going over the curb. That's why it's such a monstrous bump. It just so happens that edges of the racing surface in LFS are almost universally absurd and let you drive over them without ill effect.

Example one: if you're stuck behind a car and you've got a run, but you will catch them before they "open up", just rub the brake a tiny little bit. Lifting will kill your engine momentum. Even if you half-lift, you'll lose your run. So rub the brake and stay full throttle. You'll maintain your closeness without sacrificing your run.

Example two: leave enough room for him to stay on the asphalt. He's gonna need to come back on there eventually, and pinching that exit doesn't seem to bind the car up in most cases. Even so, coming out of a corner, the outside car is going to win down the next straight. Radius = speed. If he doesn't leave you enough room at the apex there's nothing you can really do.

Quote from DaveJ :

Say you're on a straight, tight up against the grass on your left, and heading towards what will eventually be the natural turn in point for the next right-hander. A car slightly ahead and in the middle of the road moves across to take the same line, but because you're slightly faster, by the time it gets there, its rear will clip your front; are you expected to back off, or should he leave room on the outside?
In an ideal world, both. its always better to leave room and find a better position next turn/lap but some people don't look and expect you to lift


Another one: If you're side-by-side with someone whose on your left through the BL chicane, heading to the last of the 3 apexes, where is the edge of the track?! i.e. does he only need to leave your left wheels within/on(?) the green curb part, or are you entitled to have your right wheels within/on(?) it too?
Difficult one as alot of people cut this apex and leave the track completely even when not side by side but again he should leave you enough room so you can have all wheels on the track & kerb in order for him to leave enough room he must sacrifice some exit speed.

In summary, if at all possible, try never to place your car on a piece of track that is occupied by another car and always be aware of where cars in your vacinity are or are going to be.
There is a very fine line between defending and blocking, and some people fail to realise that if a car gets along side (inside) you before normal turn in point, you should consider that a made pass and either try for the crossover apex retake or try to repass next turn/lap.
real racing is zero contact racing, it takes 2 to tango etc etc

SD.

Thanks for the replies.

The way I'm interpretting this then, is that in theory, the only place a car has a right to take a racing line unimpeded is from the natural turn in (umm, wherever that is) to the apex *assuming no other car has an overlap before the turn-in*. So any other time, if changing lanes (including exiting), you shouldn't ever squeeze someone off the edge of the track. But, in reality, people will do this to you, and you're going to have to back off if you don't want contact or to be squeezed off the track.

As for the "green obstacles" (lol) in the chicane, I agree and can't imagine anyone driving fast over something that big in RL, but they are the natural habitat of all the hot-lappers I've seen.

Quote from DaveJ :

Thanks for the replies.

The way I'm interpretting this then, is that in theory, the only place a car has a right to take a racing line unimpeded is from the natural turn in (umm, wherever that is) to the apex *assuming no other car has an overlap before the turn-in*. So any other time, if changing lanes (including exiting), you shouldn't ever squeeze someone off the edge of the track. But, in reality, people will do this to you, and you're going to have to back off if you don't want contact or to be squeezed off the track.

Exactly right. There's nothing wrong with being reasonably aggressive and defending your track position (don't get carried away and drive all over the road ), but sometimes you have to be willing to give way to an overly aggressive driver. To finish first, first you must finish, as they say.

Quote from DaveJ :

As for the "green obstacles" (lol) in the chicane, I agree and can't imagine anyone driving fast over something that big in RL, but they are the natural habitat of all the hot-lappers I've seen.

True, but hot-lapping isn't racing (unless you're in IGTC ). That, and I think updated physics will (hopefully) make the really big curbs more treacherous anyway.