Cheers for the replies.

I don't mind mixed classes, it was great when you had to gain a certain amount of points to drive a more powerful car, solved so many problems!

Not meaning to dig up the "good old days", I'm sure there is still good and close racing to be had here!

I've not been on LFS for some time now due to not having the time through work etc. The thing I enjoyed the most was you could just arrive and drive.

I mostly used servers like CTRA before it went belly up and a couple of others that I cannot remember.

I'd like to get back on when I get time now, but can't seem to find any servers with rotating tracks and a choice of cars, maybe even a points system? The only populated servers I see is AS National with the FZR etc.

Does anything like the above exist anymore!?

I didn't have the patch cable, but I did find the issue.

The Belkin usb adapter I was using was showing a full signal on the desktop. Speed tests were fine, just what I can expect for my location. The ping on ping test was pretty bad.

The PCI netgear card had a code 10 (device wont start). Updated drivers and it seems to have cured it.

When that started up, in a last ditch I plugged the voyager router back in, hey presto! Think it just needed a vacation after 6 years constant service. Download speed test was slower, but not by a great deal, still above 4mbps. Latency was much more what I was used to.

Morale of the story is: Don't buy crappy Belkin!!!!

effing networking, I hate it!

I've not raced on lfs for about 3 months, I had to get a new router recently as my trusty faithful BT voyager died!

I've joined 3 servers today (2 near full, 1 with 3 connections) and been kicked for lagging on the Airio powered ones. There was blatent +5 second lag on each one. Here are some of the facts:

*I have done speed tests immediately after the lag issues and had download speed of 5104kbps and upload of 353kbps

*I do not have any lag issues when playing on xbox live

*I've disabled Kapersky completely, which made no difference

*The PC I use LFS for is the only device on the network at present, so there is no issue with multiple users

*I upgraded to LFS version Z28 this morning

*My broadband provider is BT and they have been the entire time I've played LFS

*Im now using a Belkin N Wireless Router

*I have tried using the wireless card in the PCI slot and a belkin usb dongle.

I can't remember fully, but I swear a few years ago I did port forwarding on my old router for a similar problem. The only thing is I cannot for the life of me remember which port I opened. I've been searching the forum for about an hour now and searching for "lag" and "port forwarding" on here just brings up a bewildering amount of endless threads.

Can anyone give me some definitive pointers on what I should be checking on my system to cure this issue?

Cheers

I like the arrive and drive servers. I prefer the points system ones though.

Offline, everyone did it when they purchased S2. Go straight for the FZR or BF1 and yell "ohhhhhhh f*&^"and spun before they'd even left the pits.

Some numpties, on the other hand, thrive on the carneage. I was on a popular server the other night and this guy was online saying "Hi I'm new", which was fair enough. Needless to say he took me out in the first heavy braking zone, fair enough, these things happen. For the rest of the race all you could see on the messages was him saying sorry countless times, he left the pits about 4 times with no regards for the leaders too. He was having a whale of a time judging by his messages, but at the expense of everyone else.

You have to welcome newcomers, but ffs, let them straight into something like an FZR and you know what's gonna happen. If the guy I was talking about above was racing the XFR he would have had half a chance of staying on the track.

I raced for ages in cars like the FXR which are fairly easy. It wasn't until I joined the now defunked CTRA that I actually tried the XFG and it improved my whole driving style in game incredibly. I actually enjoy racing it now too! The only thing that made me take a step back and do this was a points system.

Perhaps the turn up and have fun ethos has gone, but these restrictions have happened for a reason.

I've found as well being kicked for a bad setup probably means you were trying to join the track in car that had a mandatory restriction to level out the playing field.

The thing that wins it for me with this sim is the fact that the guys running the servers put a whole lot of effort in to keeping it clean and fun. I tried GTR evolution recently for a day and every server I raced on there was a muppet parked somewhere on the track deliberately ruining everyone elses race.


Only takes a couple of weeks to start advancing through the classes on some of the servers, stick around and show us how it's done, the fun racing is still around :-)

have you got the gear shift mode on the control options right? It should be set to "shifter" and not "sequential"

I started off with a Saitek wheel with no force feedback or anything, just got me used to driving with a wheel.

About 18 months ago now I got a G25 and after a couple of hours messing around my laptimes on the combinations I had been driving typically improved by 0.5 ~ 1 second a lap!

The other thing I'll say is that I went straight into S2 and this has turned out to be one of my all time value for money purchases! I've tried other sims, mostly out of curiousity to drive "real" mods, but the experience here is second to none in my opinion. What this sim lacks in driving your favourite cars is eclipsed by the community and the "arrive and drive" ethos on many of the servers.

So even if you include the cost of my G25 (£150), and take the hours of enjoyment, compared to stuff like Call of Duty, there's no contest for overall satisfaction (not taking boobies into account!)

Quote from sinbad :

A lot of people are unaware than if you're following someone closely into a heavy braking area then you will hit them if you both use the same braking point.
For example, a tenth of a second might be 2 car lengths at 150mph, but it might be less than 1 at 35mph, so as a following car you have to brake earlier (in terms of distance from the corner) than the car in front does if you wish to simply follow them.

Good point here. It's totally pointless being right on someones backside going into a corner entry if you are not attempting a pass. You will chew your tyres more, you run the risk of getting it marginally wrong (= game over) and also you can only exit as fast as the car infront.

It's a whole lot harder to keep a car behind you than it is to overtake. If you're not going to pass on that turn, don't waste the opportunity in the next turns.

I learnt about the perception on distance on here by watching replays after a race where I thought it was close. You can think you are miles away, but watching from the tv camera angles you will see you're at optimal distance. Also watch the replay from the car infronts perspective.

Quote from BenjiMC :

as i said, thats cus ur shifting way to early still I'd shift that early if i was saving fuel lol

It's the same for me in real life as well, still not getting used to having an Allstar card :-D
Thanks again for the pointers, will post back here if I remember when I've tried it! (bit late for the drone of a G25 at this time of night in a shared house!)

Thanks for the input! I'll concentrate on turning a tad shaper initially when the power is off. I was aiming for smooth, but as you no doubt saw, was causing me problems, especially after a few laps.

Still burnt that clutch out though when I was flat out through up-shifts :-)

I found blipping on downshifts threw the car all over the place. I'm doing my best to stick to brake, turn then power. As you will see in the replay I'm probably not doing this as often as I think I am when driving.

Bear in mind I was spinning this car every lap without fail on a corner exit not so long ago!

Ok attached are 2 x 5 lap runs at AS3 (Track I know best with this car)

One with lifting during upshifts
One flat out during upshifts (aiming for 8k rpm)

Neither replay is what you would call elegant driving, it's where I am with this car at present. No point me uploading my best runs as I doubt I will learn much from them!

I just had an idea.

Why not let guys beta test this car that are within 10% of every WR?

It will slow the debate down somewhat :-)

Will also get people driving every car. To me, there are at least 9 "new" cars on S2 at present!

Thanks, just watched them, the fzr a few times.

I'm starting to think now it's got more to do with my driving. Wheelspin out of corners, revving the nuts off the car on slow corner exits and sliding. Would that contribute to wear? (I think the answer is yes!)

cheers Ben. I see what you're saying, that's how I started driving the FXR before I decided to switch to a mans car ()!

The only thing I noticed in the FXR was that I was loosing about 2mph on the straights after 6 laps or so. Shifting just before the limiter cured this.

The FZR seems a lot more exposed to the problem though, but will happily give it a bash

Sorry if I added some confusion with my mentally challenged vocab! I'm turning into my dad I swear!

I use the paddle shift on my wheel (can't keep shifter stuck to desk with this car!). I have been using auto-clutch for the time being and lift off during up-shifts.

I've only really just started racing FZR on a regular basis online and contemplating a clutch at turn 1 isn't the best idea at the moment!

I was suprised the other day to see a lot of the guys I was racing against online with the pedal to the metal all the way through gear changes and when you pressed F9, you could see thier clutch wear was minimal.

Am I missing a trick here? If I drive like that I would be lucky to get 3 laps in before the clutch starts to go.

Anyone got any ideas?

I have been using the paddle shift on my G25 for this car if this is any help.

Thanks

When I bought LFS I was playing it on a laptop with onboard graphics and it ran perfectly well, infact I was really pleased with the way it looked! I think the system requirements for this sim have helped make it so popular.

I'd try reducing the screen resolution the game runs at. The PC I have now has more than double the processing speed, 4 times more RAM and a dedicated graphics card and I cant see a huge difference in gameplay.

Yeah I did try the throttle blipping thing offline in the FZR, does work, but I'm not hardcore enough to spend hours and hours practising! I believe thier is also an auto blip in the game settings?

Switching to the stick had immediate results!

Still get bemused at how some people are so stupidly quick though :-)

I was using the paddles until recently. I found that in the GTRs, downshifting too quickly makes the car un stable. Using the sequential stick on the G25 really smoothed my downshifting. It removes the temptation to flick through like you see them do on the telly!

As a result, my laptimes improved and my clutch lasted longer :-)

Just to add,

Concentrate on finishing races without being lapped, learn to back off when there are 4 cars going into a corner and you will start racking up the points in no time! It should be easier to score points in the early stages of building up your license.

Driving as smooth as possible seems to work for me, even though I don't always manage it!

PSmith, the whole concept behind CTRA is you attain points in the lower formulae and work your way up. When you acheive a benchmark of points, you upgrade your CTRA license.

Anyone with the full version of LFS can compete in CTRA race 1 and Single Seater 1 servers, but you must earn points on these servers to progress to the other servers.

When you have registered on the CTRA website, you can see your license progress along with some other usefull stats like, yellow flag ratio, races competed, fastest laps ect.

All this talk of playstation 'sims' annoy me. Since films like fast and furious and magazines like max power, every Fred Perry jumper wearing mongrel out there thinks a bodykit, NOS and handbrake turns are the requirements of driving fast.

While Gran Turismo was at it's peak, my playstation was collecting dust because I spent all of my time on Geof Crammonds GP series. I like simulation, not playing games where you tune the car up so much you end up with the millenium falcon!!!

I wouldn't even bother going to the makers of NFS, or thier forums whinging about the features.

If you want to 'pimp' up your car, try your hand at skinning. As mentioned in earlier posts, what's the point of tuning a car when everyone else is doing the same? It's not going to make the racing any closer. The drivers with the most skill who find optimal setups win on this game, and thats the way it should be! (I'm not one of those guys yet!!!)

Quote from birder :

I have done Cadwell Park 1000's of times in many many different cars in real life (Its my local track).

For Sims i use a Frex motion system http://conedodgers.com/conedod ... iew&id=4&Itemid=1

The rFactor version has a few parts that are not quite right but its no way that bad. Use the Caterham R500 or the 6R4 and they are close to the real thing.

Going over the mountain sidwards still has the same feel its just that in a sim you dont actually crap yourself.

LFS is very good but you have to admit that having real tracks is an advantage, and look as hard as i can i just cannot find Aston on the UK map so maybe its not real .

I'd love to know what happens when you press the big red button on your simulator!!! Got to get me one of those

Quote from master_lfs.5101 :

whats a good place to set the force feedback strength at? i have mine at 40.

depends on what car your driving