Probably thief-safe, but depending on what plants you put in there, maybe not police-safe

That said, it made me think it could be an idea to have a "close roof" F12 option for next pitstop on cars like LX4/6.

Nonsense???
You don't want a better helmet model? Your choice really, but last I checked, devs wanted to improve it too. I just suggest that when this will happen the visor be open in tin tops.
Then I do agree that everyone painting their faces would be stupid, but I also think that having untextured faces as it is now (or any untextured polys that can be seen) in a game that aims to be a quality product like LFS, is nonsense. Hence the reason why the faces should be textured. I don't care if all the marshalls and drivers have the same face, as long as it's not left untextured.
What I suggest with visors is basically paintable visors, without the need to paint more than the sunstrip (because in case you don't know, we can already paint the sunstrip on the helmets).
Why is that? Well...because if you put the visor texture on the same bitmap as the helmet itself, you loose real estate, and therefore resolution for the helmet, which is already low res enough if you ask me (unless you want to make it 1024x1024, but that's pointless). Then if you map the visor on a new skin for itself, you waste bandwidth.
What I suggest is to have 2 types of visors selectable in the player driver suit/helmet selection screen. 1 is iridium (which is just eye candy to look cool because it exists in reality and many race drivers have such visors), the other one is a normal/black visor of which you can select the transparency/tint.

So you just end up with a new helmet model and the possibility to choose from 2 types of visors. Is that nonsense?
No. Should Eric concentrate on more important things like updating the GTR cars and their dashboards? Yes of course.

What I'd personally like to see on that matter is:
- a skinnable face (or preset textured faces, see Tweak's point above (would also save some bandwidth))
- a choice of helmets: 1 rally-style, 1 full-face, then if full face is chosen, in closed cockpit cars have the visor open and in open cockpits cars the visor closed, both helmets using the same skin to save bandwidth.
- a choice of visors for the full-face helmet: tinted semi transparent (with a way to choose transparency level), flat reflective, iridium reflective; all with color sliders.

Any FWD car with 250+ bhp can do burnouts without even trying!

If I remember correctly, FWD was invented by a french engineer, and it is used because it is safer, because for most drivers on the road, understeer is easier to control than oversteer (because for one thing the average driver sucks).

RWD is seen as more "logical" because it allows for a better, more even weight distribution. That is better, in particular for racecars as it allows for a more even tire wear. Now that doesn't say FWD is no fun to drive at all, but I do believe RWD is more fun personally.

Dammit you people are not very selective!
I only drive LX6, FOX, FO8, XRR and very rarely XRT, BF1 and FZR.

Quote from MoonForce :

me and loads of other dudes wont switch to Vista even if we buy a totally new pc that comes with vista
(ever heard FORMAT C: ? ) and XP is cool enuff for my taste to rest on my hdd for minimum next 4 years...

Hrrm.....but now the question, what is unclear is wheter or not, with a computer that came with Vista, you will be able to format the system hdd at all. Remember, you will be the untrusted entity there. Then the next question that comes to mind would be: if DX10 communicates with the graphics hardware in a different manner than DX9 and down, will that gfx hardware be able to run at all under DX9-, and therefore if DX10 only works with Vista, would you be able to install another OS and still have a working graphics card?

If the motherboard itself (and/or cpu) is not DRM enabled, that would mean swapping for an older gfx card and a brand new hdd, or formatting it with another machine. You can guess a good 80% of pc users will never want such "complications" and will prefer to stay safe and touch nothing, and as pc's will most definitely be sold with Vista, that also means a good 80% of pc users will stay with Vista.
Then on the matter of using slightly older gfx card, it could work for a moment -as long as all you play can still use DX9- but eventually it will get outdated and no matter what you do, you'll end up needing a new gfx card, and unless Microsoft's market share gets much much much lower by then, which doesn't seem likely, then it will be DX10 and you'll end up needing Vista.
The only workaround I see would be a complete open source OS that can actually support games without emulating anything, but for that you'd need the support of the gaming industry 1st, and if things were starting to look that way, I think the RIAA would pay game studios to stick with the Microsoft OS (so that a potential majority of customers stick with the OS that is "safe" for them).

Next workaround I can see: playing on a workstation. Why? Because I simply cannot believe MS would list professionnal developpers or content creators or musicians as "untrusted" users.

Last edited by Nick_ll, Wed, 16 Aug 2006 06:27.

You do remember correctly, I avoided that information on purpose. We had decided the car(s) to use for the season before the patch and it happens that it is not something we intend to change now.

If need be to remind you guys, WE wanted to do a FO8 season and everyone started to say "no no please it's too hard I suck I'm a poor little guy who doesn't know how to drive!".
So, GTR it is, next season FOX.

I believe that LFS doesn't look bad at the moment, and that's using DX8. On the other hand, I also believe there are some "simple" features of DX8 that could/should be used to improve the appearance of LFS. Using cube maps for reflections on cars for example.
For the moment, and probably until S3 is released, DX8 is enough I think as it allows for more potential users, which is what LFS needs.
Appart from the cube maps or some other features, I'd much rather see an improvement in sounds than graphics honestly. LFS needs better sounds much more than graphics.

I'd say it depends of the track mostly and then on the turn. On Blackwood with FOX for example, I brake somewhere between 75 and 50 at 1st turn and somewhere between start of curb and 50 at end of the back straight. For the rest of the track I go by feel. Like I couldn't tell you where I lift off for the esses and where I brake for the turn after 2nd split.
Same applies for tracks like Kyoto or Westhill where I find the markers are too far off the track, so I don't bother looking at all and just brake when I think applies. I'd say after 3 to 5 laps I'm good to get it pretty much the same each lap.
On some tracks and turns I use some brake points that are not actual braking markers. A change in the color of tarmac or a spot in grass or a wall, sometimes a curb if it's well placed, but somehow I'd say I tend to use the curbs more as "lift off points" rather than braking points.

Just got an idea from another thread.
If you want a very simple way to even out the TBO class, I believe the transmission is the place to look.
We do agree that in real life, such vehicles do not have adjustable ratios transmissions, right? Well then, why should we be able to adjust our own gear ratios in that in LFS?
I believe they could be fixed ratios and adjusted so the 3 cars are more equal in terms of performance.

Lol. And the worst thing is I have to agree. Since Newey left Williams, they look like they are always like 2 years back in terms of chassis, aero. In fact this year is the 1st time in a while they look only 1 year back.

Quote from der_jackal :

There is no spare Renault seat guys...the only spare seat is the test seat.

Heikki Kovalainen will be #2 driver a Renault unless Kimi jumps to Renault. (Btw, buh-bye Kimi...your brain fart this weekend pretty much sealed your McLaren fate).

HAHAHAHA!!! He can't get #2. That's already filled with Fisi! It's the #1 seat at Renault that is left empty.

I hope we see him in the Peugeot at LeMans next year!

Quote from Funnybear :

Liuzzi was doing what he thought was right, he moved off the line and slowed.

AFAIK, he did not move off the line, he slowed down on the line. The only reason Kimi can't blame him for that accident is because he was looking at his mirrors to let Pedro pass. Liuzzi was on the left side of the track and I believe since the following turn is a right hander, the line is there and he should of been on the far right to slow down, not the far left.

Rofl @ Becky

Edit: Better yet! Let's make use of that TV card! There. See the picture? Good. The next turn is a right hander: it's the tight chicane, so it's right-left. See where Massa is? THAT is the line. To put his car at a "convenient" place to pass on that side of the track, Liuzzi would of needed 2 wheels on the grass. Anything less and he is partly on the racing line. The truth is that he should of braked about where Massa is on the picture and on the other side of the track. That would of been safe.

Last edited by Nick_ll, Mon, 7 Aug 2006 09:35.

Or: show time to drivers in front and back, even when showing tire display.

Awesome for Button!

Sucks again for Raikkonen. Taken out by a Torro Rosso 2nd time this season.
Now on that topic, what do you guys think about Liuzzi? You just don't brake or slow down that much right out of a turn when the track is slippery to let someone pass. That doesn't make any friggin sense. IMO he should be suspended for 1 race, if not more. At least be given some sort of penalty. That's dangerous driving IMO.

Something I remember is that 2-3 years ago, Alonso's turning technique was completely different. Remember back when the Renault was supposedly the best chassis, but underpowered, and therefore better on twisty tracks?

http://video.google.ca/videopl ... 861448027505&q=Alonso

There we go. Watch this.
I still think Kimi and Michael are on par the best drivers on the grid, far above anyone else.

+1
Would help enforce league rules

Quote from atledreier :

Here's one from a stock and tuned 2.0T from the new Golf GTI:
http://www.bsrab.se/bilder/_/ev_862_1_l.png/

Here's one for my car (1.8T):
http://www.bsrab.se/bilder/_/ev_616_1%2B_l.png/

Volvo 2.0T:
http://www.bsrab.se/bilder/_/ev_808_1_l.png/

The Golf GTI torque curve is a particularly good example because the stage 1 thing they have on it has its top end power right over 240bhp. Close enough to LFS TBO class IMO

That said, don't expect any turbo modeling changes in the near future. I don't even expect to see that before S2 final, even tho I hope I'm wrong.

For the record, at a point in LFS's developpement you could hear the cars from further away but I believe it had been decided that the sounds would cut off on cars a certain distance from you because you wouldn't hear them while racing anyways, and the sounds being generated on the fly, it cuts on CPU load.

+1 for the suggestion of exhaust sounds tho.

Quote from Shotglass :

thats a bit harsh ... it deserves the lable sim ... what it doesnt deserve though is being called a 21st century sim everything from its effect driven ffb to its apparently largely non real time math driven physics is very 20th century and built for cpus that couldnt take the load sims like lfs put on them

That a good description. That said, GTR2 seems to be very GPU-heavy. So much in fact that it creates a little lag which is annoying and makes things harder to control. And I know it's not CPU-related because LFS is CPU-heavy and runs perfectly fine here. Poor poor GTR2 thing, I'm not gonna buy a gfx card upgrade just for it sorry.
Appart from that, the rain effect is awesome and I don't think I can find words to say how much I hate the FFB. Not like it tells me what the car is doing at all.

Quote from Tailspin :

All the major sancioning bodies. The SCCA rule book, for example says, "The responsibility for the decision to pass another car rests with the overtaking driver."

And "overtaking driver" implies that 2 drivers are on the same lap racing for positions. The blue flag because it is shown in the situation of being lapped, puts the responsibility on the driver being lapped. He is meant to keep his racing line so the driver lapping him can pass safely.
The rules are not the same as those of racing for positions.

The problem we have in LFS is that backmarkers being shown the blue flag often try to race with you, as if they race for a position, and this is not allowed.

I believe the explanation of the blue flag in the first post is just plain wrong.

The blue flag has absolutely nothing to do with passing when on the same lap and therefore the normal racing rules do no apply.
Normally, the leading car is allowed 1 blocking move on a straight and if overtaking someone you need to get enough overlap before the corner.

Now since the blue flag means that you are being lapped, you are not allowed any blocking moves at all on a straight and you should ideally (if it's possible of course) make way BEFORE a turn. And yes, I do believe the car blue flagged must make way.

The blue flagged driver is NOT allowed to actually race with the cars behind him, in the sense of making passing attempts and blocking moves or putting pressure on the drivers on other laps than him, because it interferes.
It would not be fair in the event that, for example, a friend of the blue flagged driver is running in 2nd place and the blue flagged driver "helps" him by slowing the 1st placed car down. That would not make sense, and that is why the blue flagged driver cannot make a move.

Now that said, since we are racing in a virtual world, some common sense must be put in there. For example, if you join mid-race and it happens that out of the pits there is a guy behind you who is 3 laps further and you get blue flagged, but you are actually faster than him, just continue driving in front of him since being faster you should not interfere with the racing.

In the real world, being faster or slower is the cause of the blue flag. Everyone starts the race at the same time and the slower cars eventually get lapped and get blue flags to show them they have to let the cars lapping them pass them.