You have to keep in mind how the cars balance is affected by throttle and brake inputs. The really fast guys use throttle and brake inputs to control the balance between over- and understeer through a corner to keep it right at the limit the whole time, which is also why they have to countersteer sometimes.
Coasting or braking promotes understeer, so in some cases staying on the throttle and controlling the speed of the car with the steering can be faster. The S at Blackwood is a good example for this. If you use full throttle and just the right amount of steering, you'd be too fast for the left-hander and would have to slow down for the exit.
If you use part throttle, you get more understeer, so you would have to enter slower and since it's uphill, you wouldn't be able to build enough speed for a fast exit.
So what you do is use full throttle and scrub some speed with the steering to avoid getting too fast in the right hander.
Being too smooth isn't always good either. In some corners where you have to fight with initial understeer, like the last one at Blackwood, a very short lift or a dab of the brakes will help rotate the car, cause you're destabilizing it a bit.
Timing is important for this though. Too much rotation and you'll slide(losing speed), too little rotation and you'll run wide.
Upload/download rates and pings are not related. You can have 30ms pings with a 56k modem and you can have 400ms pings with a 100mbit line. Depends on the quality of the ISP's network.
It's probably your best bet to ask around among your friends or other people in your area. The usual causes for poor pings are ISP's overselling their capacity (like putting 10,000 DSL customers in a certain area on one shared 100mbit line and hoping they don't get online at the same time), poor network quality in general or if their peering is bad. If you want to play on servers hosted in the US and Europe for example, you would need an ISP that has good connections to the rest of the world.
It's probably your best bet to ask around among your friends or other people in your area. The usual causes for poor pings are ISP's overselling their capacity (like putting 10,000 DSL customers in a certain area on one shared 100mbit line and hoping they don't get online at the same time), poor network quality in general or if their peering is bad. If you want to play on servers hosted in the US and Europe for example, you would need an ISP that has good connections to the rest of the world.
That's some very good advice. The WR brake points only work with perfectly warmed up tires, hard downshifting and if you have enough car control to balance the car with the throttle and brake.
Braking a little earlier doesn't cost much time, but getting sideways or running wide because you braked too late does.
Braking a little earlier doesn't cost much time, but getting sideways or running wide because you braked too late does.
I think the XFG is great to learn the basics in. It doesn't bite your head of when you get it wrong like the RWD cars, it doesn't roast the front tires like the more powerful FWD cars, but it's not pure understeer like the UF either.
As for different tracks, I would suggest one of the shorter tracks like FE Gold or one of the South City sprint configurations.
I remember racing you on the Mercury server. From what I can tell your braking and lines are pretty good. What you should look into is car control. You sometimes lose a lot of speed in corners because you get sideways. That's the downside of WR sets. They're fast, but not really the most stable to drive.
I figure you could pick up a second or more if you learn to catch slides earlier. You might wanna use one of the empty Autocross tracks (parking lot or skidpad) to practice. Just throw the car into a drift and try catching it. Once you're familiar with this, it'll also become easier to avoid or correct slides on the track. And try to listen to your tires. You don't want to hear any squeal.
As for different tracks, I would suggest one of the shorter tracks like FE Gold or one of the South City sprint configurations.
I remember racing you on the Mercury server. From what I can tell your braking and lines are pretty good. What you should look into is car control. You sometimes lose a lot of speed in corners because you get sideways. That's the downside of WR sets. They're fast, but not really the most stable to drive.
I figure you could pick up a second or more if you learn to catch slides earlier. You might wanna use one of the empty Autocross tracks (parking lot or skidpad) to practice. Just throw the car into a drift and try catching it. Once you're familiar with this, it'll also become easier to avoid or correct slides on the track. And try to listen to your tires. You don't want to hear any squeal.
As far as I know, you're unbanned.
Concerning the crash itself, you probably just didn't see the pile-up that ensued because you spun.
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/4473/earcol6cq.jpg
But even if it had been only one car, always check the track map before you reenter.
Concerning the crash itself, you probably just didn't see the pile-up that ensued because you spun.
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/4473/earcol6cq.jpg
But even if it had been only one car, always check the track map before you reenter.
Oh yeah, I know that problem. You pick a car you haven't driven in a while and bam...30 setups and none of the names sound familiar. When I tinker with sets I usually make a new one in order to not mess up an already good one, so I end up with sets named hotlap1 through hotlap13.
Highlighting setups wouldn't really help, I think, because if you don't name them properly (track + lap time for example), you probably won't remember to highlight them either.
What I would find useful is a small info box along with each set containing maybe how many laps you've done at which track and possibly the best lap times. Probably hard to implement, but keeping track of good sets is really difficult right now, unless you actually write down the names somewhere.
Highlighting setups wouldn't really help, I think, because if you don't name them properly (track + lap time for example), you probably won't remember to highlight them either.
What I would find useful is a small info box along with each set containing maybe how many laps you've done at which track and possibly the best lap times. Probably hard to implement, but keeping track of good sets is really difficult right now, unless you actually write down the names somewhere.
Well, first, thanks NAI, Duck, Chris and Tukko for the kind words.
Second, Ear Collector, since this discussion doesn't really belong here I don't want to drag it out any longer than necessary, but it should be noted that you didn't only hit Bawbag, you actually drove straight into a 4-car train.
You will have to discuss the ban with Bawbag, but you should be aware that joining a race late and crashing into a number of other cars within your first 2 minutes on the track will not earn you a medal anywhere, especially if it could be avoided with a single glance at the track map.
I hope to race with you again in the future, but please do familiarize yourself with the etiquette of driving online. Before reentering the track, check the track map and mirrors for other cars and choose an appropriate spot/speed/angle to reenter. Don't just shoot onto the track perpendicular to the road in a tight corner without looking.
Second, Ear Collector, since this discussion doesn't really belong here I don't want to drag it out any longer than necessary, but it should be noted that you didn't only hit Bawbag, you actually drove straight into a 4-car train.
You will have to discuss the ban with Bawbag, but you should be aware that joining a race late and crashing into a number of other cars within your first 2 minutes on the track will not earn you a medal anywhere, especially if it could be avoided with a single glance at the track map.
I hope to race with you again in the future, but please do familiarize yourself with the etiquette of driving online. Before reentering the track, check the track map and mirrors for other cars and choose an appropriate spot/speed/angle to reenter. Don't just shoot onto the track perpendicular to the road in a tight corner without looking.
32's weren't difficult before patch S/T/U. With the current physics it's borderline impossible.
Try to use about -3.5° live camber on both axles. If they get too hot, it can be either the tire pressure (should be a tad over 2 bar) or your driving style. Too much steering input or locking up under braking usually overheats the tires quickly.
Seriously, 1:34.x is a great time for new player. Realistically ~1:33.3 is the fastest you'll see in a race without bumpdrafting or other trickery and there's only a handful of players that can pull it off, provided they get a perfect lap.
Having said that, I would suggest to look into two things:
-Make sure throttle cut on upshift is turned off (options/player)
-Exit speeds. Since the XFG has so little power, it's very important to carry a lot of speed onto the straights, especially in the uphill sections. Exit the S 2-3mph too slow and you lose half a second. Do the same in the last corner and you're at a full second already, plus it'll hurt the first sector of the next lap.
If you want to compare different lines through a corner or turn-in techniques, I would suggest checking your speedo at certain points on the straights after the corner. At Blackwood you can use the sector marks and the finish line for example.
Just for reference, on a very good lap I usually see 140km/h at the finish line, 165 just before braking for turn 1, 155-156 at the first sector mark, 178 just before the bridge, 125 across the second sector mark and 112-113 through the last turn.
If you really wanna get technical it might be a good idea to use AnalyzeForSpeed (http://www.ctd-racing.com/AFS/) to compare your lines/speeds to others.
Having said that, I would suggest to look into two things:
-Make sure throttle cut on upshift is turned off (options/player)
-Exit speeds. Since the XFG has so little power, it's very important to carry a lot of speed onto the straights, especially in the uphill sections. Exit the S 2-3mph too slow and you lose half a second. Do the same in the last corner and you're at a full second already, plus it'll hurt the first sector of the next lap.
If you want to compare different lines through a corner or turn-in techniques, I would suggest checking your speedo at certain points on the straights after the corner. At Blackwood you can use the sector marks and the finish line for example.
Just for reference, on a very good lap I usually see 140km/h at the finish line, 165 just before braking for turn 1, 155-156 at the first sector mark, 178 just before the bridge, 125 across the second sector mark and 112-113 through the last turn.
If you really wanna get technical it might be a good idea to use AnalyzeForSpeed (http://www.ctd-racing.com/AFS/) to compare your lines/speeds to others.
In the hotlap charts window there should be text field on the right. Click the button next to it, locate the replay file on your HD (it'll be in the "spr" folder), click ok and hit upload.
Cockpit view. When you're in the middle of the car, it's pretty easy to tell what both axles are doing cause you can see the rotation of the car relative to the road.
The problem with the "between the tires" view is that it can be difficult to feel small slides, because your eyes are very close to the rotation axis. In cockpit view you can see the rotation and the sideways movement of the back of the car. Between the tires you can only see the rotation.
Chase view offers a good overview, but you don't really know what the car is doing and where it's headed. It's difficult to get a good exit with chase view because you can't really tell if the car is just sliding a little bit or if it's actually going into the direction the nose is pointing at.
The problem with the "between the tires" view is that it can be difficult to feel small slides, because your eyes are very close to the rotation axis. In cockpit view you can see the rotation and the sideways movement of the back of the car. Between the tires you can only see the rotation.
Chase view offers a good overview, but you don't really know what the car is doing and where it's headed. It's difficult to get a good exit with chase view because you can't really tell if the car is just sliding a little bit or if it's actually going into the direction the nose is pointing at.
What about a shared Windows server? Some place here in Germany is offering these accounts including 5gb space and 600gb bandwidth for like 10 € a month.
I'd make 2nd longer then, too. You want to shift from 2nd to 3rd just before or while entering the chicane after the first corner.
I would change the following:
-More rear camber. You want front and rear (live) camber to be roughly the same when cornering, otherwise the axle with too little camber (in your case the rear) will have less grip than the other one.
-Less brake force and a little more rear bias. Otherwise the car will understeer when braking into a corner. Try 580N/72% or so.
-Gearing. I think that's the main problem with your set. Most of the corners at Blackwood are taken at 105-120km/h, so you need a 3rd gear that works in that speed range. Your 3rd gear is too short, which means you would have to change gears right in the middle of the corners. Try extending 3rd up to like 122km/h at least.
-More rear camber. You want front and rear (live) camber to be roughly the same when cornering, otherwise the axle with too little camber (in your case the rear) will have less grip than the other one.
-Less brake force and a little more rear bias. Otherwise the car will understeer when braking into a corner. Try 580N/72% or so.
-Gearing. I think that's the main problem with your set. Most of the corners at Blackwood are taken at 105-120km/h, so you need a 3rd gear that works in that speed range. Your 3rd gear is too short, which means you would have to change gears right in the middle of the corners. Try extending 3rd up to like 122km/h at least.
What Blowtus said. Gear change blip helps you not to lock up the tires when braking and downshifting. I guess you mean "throttle cut on upshift". If you turn that off, the engine will rev up while the clutch is pushed in (during an upshift). It's totally ok to have it turned off on any server or in any race. You don't really wanna turn it off in the really fast cars (FO8, BF1 etc.) though, cause it's very easy to spin the wheels a little on upshifts if you shift without lifting the throttle.
Yeah, locking up. Also looks like your outside rear wheel is bottoming out a lot.
If anything, the people that do stick around on the demo servers for longer are usually the drivers who keep demo racing clean. Plus, it's not like people only race there because they don't have a license. Many license-holders simply enjoy the demo track/car combos and since these aren't too popular in S2, you use a demo server.
There are the occasional newbies that sit on the track or try going the wrong way, but in my experience they don't last very long. The real problem are the 5-10 retards who use the demo servers exclusively to wreak havoc. Text floods, impersonation, vote banning, wrecking...you name it.
Wildcard/hostmask bans would go a looong towards improving the online experience on the demo servers. Right now it really is needlessly frustrating. After all it's not like server admins don't know what it would take to get rid of these people, the problem is simply that they don't have the tools to do it.
There are the occasional newbies that sit on the track or try going the wrong way, but in my experience they don't last very long. The real problem are the 5-10 retards who use the demo servers exclusively to wreak havoc. Text floods, impersonation, vote banning, wrecking...you name it.
Wildcard/hostmask bans would go a looong towards improving the online experience on the demo servers. Right now it really is needlessly frustrating. After all it's not like server admins don't know what it would take to get rid of these people, the problem is simply that they don't have the tools to do it.
I guess this would have to be turned off in hotllapping mode, though. Otherwise you'd probably see people spending like half an hour to remodel the whole thing.
That's Windows' connection sharing, not LFS.
LFS should just take some hints from IRC and let server admins ban hostmasks instead of single IP's. Hell, it would be enough to have access to the users IP's through InSim and people could easily write their own ban tools, but the way it is now, there's nothing you can do against wreckers getting a new IP and coming back with a different nick.
It would also be great for admins to have a /whois command to display a users host, so you can easily tell if the user who just joined is the same guy you banned 20 secs ago.
This whole issue would be so easy to resolve, but instead we're forced to spend half an hour banning the same guy over and over or even making the whole server private just because of one guy.
Oh...another things that really bugs me about the demo hosts is that admins do not have an option to limit the number of clients per IP. You have wreckers clearing whole servers via vote banning cause they have 6 clients connected at the same time. Seen it first hand...
It would also be great for admins to have a /whois command to display a users host, so you can easily tell if the user who just joined is the same guy you banned 20 secs ago.
This whole issue would be so easy to resolve, but instead we're forced to spend half an hour banning the same guy over and over or even making the whole server private just because of one guy.
Oh...another things that really bugs me about the demo hosts is that admins do not have an option to limit the number of clients per IP. You have wreckers clearing whole servers via vote banning cause they have 6 clients connected at the same time. Seen it first hand...
Well, you want to even out the temps across the tires for a race, but how much camber or roll stiffness you need for that depends on the track. Braking and accelerating heats up the inside, fast cornering heats up the outside. When you use a one-size-fits-all set on a slow track, you'll cook the insides, if you use it on a track with lots of fast sweepers like Aston, you'll cook the outsides.
Plus, the FXO suffers from bad dynamic camber curves due to the MacPherson/trailing arm suspension. If the body rolls 4° and the tire rolls 1° in a corner, you need 5° of static camber in the rear to make up for that, because trailing arms do not at any negative camber when being compressed.
The MacPherson setup in the front adds some neg. camber during compression, but not a whole lot, so you still need lots of static camber.
Plus, the FXO suffers from bad dynamic camber curves due to the MacPherson/trailing arm suspension. If the body rolls 4° and the tire rolls 1° in a corner, you need 5° of static camber in the rear to make up for that, because trailing arms do not at any negative camber when being compressed.
The MacPherson setup in the front adds some neg. camber during compression, but not a whole lot, so you still need lots of static camber.
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