I'd have to completely disagree with you on the drafting part, on 8 lap races this is true, but in endurance events where the majority of the time your on your own after a pit, an excellent racing line makes ALL the difference between second and first place. Also even just getting very good with it takes between 1 and 2 months, i've seen players who i have seen the server regulary for a couple of months still fairly slow drivers. driving 36.35's+.

Those who drive ovals generally are speed freaks and like the adrenaline rush with instant reactions, circuit racing is the more slow paced racing that does take a large amount of skill to do a fast lap, but a fast lap, is a fast lap and the same principle to a perfect racing line applies to every track.

Personally i really like circuit racing but it just doesn't have the fast paced rush that you get with the oval. Expecially when you are four cars abreast and wheel to wheel, the tiniest mistake could cause all 4 cars to crash out. It takes an extreme amount of observation to be able to pull off.

There is no "easy" to oval racing, it doesn't even come close to the word. Complications always arise, and driving a tight line physically and mentally tires me out expecially when one has someone tight on ones tail.

Its taken me the best past of almost 5 months to get to the point i am now with the oval, so saying it doesn't take much to master is absurd. It takes just as long to master the oval as any other track. And its only lately have i been able to hit the 36.23 WR, however we now know a 36.21 (someone did a .74 first split) is possible so i haven't even completely mastered it myself yet. Oval is insanely hard expecially when your 4 cars wide and it makes for an exhilarating experience.

I started on the oval and am now going onto other tracks, when i started other tracks i didn't have any problem with right turns and driving different cars. Only thing i had to get my head around was braking correctly and downshift engine braking. I personally would encourage new drivers to try out an oval to see how important racing lines really are. Ovals are boring only if you have a poor line and can't keep up with the competition, this is generally why most people sway away from the oval. But if you keep at it the better the races become.

Gabkicks, I can assure you a new driver to the oval wouldn't stand a chance against the best, even once an exceptional setup is given to a new driver, they perform around 36.60's and is so damn easy to lose them its quite frightening. Even drivers who have been at it 2-3 months are fairly easy to lose with evasion techniques.

I have put my setup in the LFS setups bit for anyone interested in grabbing it. I also suggest looking at the hotlaps and trying to imitate the racing line.

Last edited by sturje, Wed 7 Dec 2005, 10:06.

Well i'm always getting asked q's for my setup on the oval so i thought i'd post it here (Can't find where to upload on team infernos setup field, really bad interface with it).

I ran a 36.23 which is the WR time ran by Quietscheente about 3 weeks before me. I believe a .21 is possible as had someone do a .74 split!

First gear with this setup is fairly short compared to the majority of other setups, it WILL spin if you put your foot down to the floor, however if you can master the wheel spin control, a .54 start is in your reach, i haven't been able to get any faster.

Have fun.


EvenSiS^

Last edited by sturje, Thu 1 Dec 2005, 23:54.

A full from scratch reinstall did the trick, working perfectly now.

Just doesn't seem to work for me Load up 0.5P, it detects LFS is loaded but when i goto cars, i change a couple of the cars to see if it works and nothing :-/ I'm thinking it maybe something to do with all the crap i've got in my LFS folder so i'm going to download LFS again and do a scratch install and see if that helps. I'll get back to you with the details might be a fix for other people having issues xD

Interesting, really sounds like your pushing your car to the limits, personally id set the rears onto r2's if i was getting excessive heat. Once they have warmed up you get a nice amount of traction and they arn't like r4's and won't cool down quickly. Just stick on the r2's If you get wheel slippage, just add a bit of rear wing downforce.

Are you excessively drafting drivers around corners? thats the only time i can get my tires really hot. Even though you said you don't like R2's, you can always burnout to warm them up, what is your camber set at? Also another thing for hot tires is your breaks, are you locking them to slow down rather than progressive breaking ?

Last edited by sturje, Wed 16 Nov 2005, 17:28.

Thats quite interesting, generally you'll find a card with 256mb ram will run slower than its counterpart with 128mb.

I can run a 36.25 without draft on a hotlap, could of done 36.24 but buggered up slightly going through the final stretch, which is the 3rd fastest hotlap (in relation to time), or i'm just 4th in the rankings lol. The 6th gear generally isn't used, only in drafting situations where you need the extra boost while coming up behind, expecially when you get the double drafts ^_^, in which case you can make the 6th gear ratio slightly smaller than the 5th for that extra boost (i haven't done this as i think 212mph top speed is enough, so i stay in 5th) I forget the ratios as i'm at college at the moment. The fastest hotlap is a .23 run by quietschentte.I do however remember the final drive ratio on my setup which is an 4.162, and is generally respected by the oval v8 racers as one of the fastest setups about. At the moment i'm still figuring out just what quietschentte did for that time but he managed to get the left front tire heated up which i have never been able to do, i think it has something to do with the camber he has his setup on.

i'm also pondering on just what would be better on a oval situation whether or not viscous lsd or a clutch pack would be the better.

This week alone 2 players have managed to break into the 34.xx barrier, which is exhaustingly fast, setups are being constantly fiddled about with and i remember 5 or so months ago when the setups couldn't touch on the times we are doing now !

Last edited by sturje, Wed 19 Oct 2005, 13:13.

I'd advise the final drive ratio to be around 4.100 - 4.200 for an optimal performance around a oval track.