There's a video in the OP in this thread... That's how. :P
They (as in formula series and chassis builders in general, not just FIA) are making the cars safer. FIA just takes the most effective methods and mandates those. Which is fine... I have no problem with the FIA trying to create as safe a car as possible. I do however have a problem with the FIA banning things which make the cars go faster and when that fails start mandating track changes to stop serious shunts from ever happening.
Most of the electronics that directly influence the handling characteristics of the car are allowed because they make driving safer. The semi-auto boxes are a bad example by the way, because A1 has them, and that is cool and exciting racing. There are many more reasons why F1 is boring, safety isn't the only issue (in fact, it is one of the minor issues). My point was that if F1 is going to continue it's current course of overboard safety measures, the masses won't watch it even if there is massive amounts of overtaking.
MTBF... Oval Racing is much bigger in the US, and road racing is much bigger in Europe... Then how come there's only 1 european road course series on there? The others are american series, oval series, or completely different types of racing.
The numbers here, no matter how you look at them, are biased.
If you want to have good numbers you'd have to look at each fatality seperately, and wonder if they could've happened at other tracks than the one they happened on. And take all fatalities into account. Not just the ones in bigger series. I can give you an example that could show that ovals are safer... Jeff Krosnoff died in a freak accident when his car was lifted into the air and hit a lamppost next to the track in Toronto. Kenny Brack had a very similar accident at an oval traveling much much faster, and lived. I can't remember who or where it was, but it was a very similar crash to Jeff's and the driver suffered only minor injuries.
Greg Moore's fatal accident was a freak incident where he jumped up on the grass and flipped his car right with the rollbar into a concrete wall...
Paul Dana's fatality would've happened had he driven on Spa and encountered a spinner at the top of eau rouge because he was just being insanely (and suicidally) stupid.
That's fine. But if your stats are not 'complete', they shouldn't be presented as fact. They are not a fact (well, the stats themselves are a fact, but they prove nothing).
No problem
EDIT: By the way, can we count someone being killed while painting the start line as a racing fatality? Because if we count that, we can add some fatalities to F1 (marshals in Monza 2000 and Melbourne 2001).
Yes, and instead of trying to move from "little" to "no" chance of getting killed, they should leave it at that. Basically it all comes down to the risk factor... Take the risk away and you lose viewers. What are the most exciting tracks to watch? The ones that are somewhat dangerous because of their layout.
Well, the poor F1 teams haven't been exactly going out of their way to deny the fact they hired someone with almost no experience because he could bring $5 million more to the team. Nor has the FIA gone out of their way to maintain a certain amount of profesional driving in their top series.
Which is exactly my point. Tracks like Road America, or even the old Hockenheim layout aren't really 'unsafe' in essence. However, there's a higher risk factor involved, which makes them just that bit more exciting to watch. No, people don't need to be killed, but a good wreck every now and then keeps people interested, how deranged that may sound.
(and F1 still is plenty dangerous enough, and there is the occasional big wreck, but they're reaching the break even point)
Don't twist my words around...
I never said drivers SHOULD get killed... But the danger that a driver COULD get killed should never be completely taken away. If there's no danger, there's no excitement. Sato would never have been in F1 a decade earlier because Sato never would've gotten his super license.
No, but they want to see drivers being in danger of getting killed... There's a fine line between being as safe as possible and boring.
Riiiight... They can design cars to be safe when crashing... That's what they're doing right now, nothing wrong with that. But you can go overboard and design racing so that it is not dangerous at all, which is what the FIA seems to be doing.
Right... So Chinese are the least healthy people on the planet? Of all the people dying the majority are chinese.
You're telling me these numbers are not biased? Only counting either fatalities in major series, or well known drivers... Would you mind adding all the national and amateur series and doing a recount? Or better yet... Add the number of races in the list above and calculate the MTBF (mean time between fatalities), and you'll see a different number.
By the way, that list has 13 oval fatalities and 5 normal track fatalities... Grand-am races the infield track at Homestead Miami, and he wrecked in turn 1 which is not the oval part.
Oh wow... They installed a high speed barrier a week ago...
Well, that puts an end to literally miles of 'unsafe' tire barriers at tracks like Spa (at raidillon and stavelot), yes... One right doesn't undo millions of wrongs... They're still lucky nobody got killed in a few years.
Ah... Under exceptional circumstances Appendix L also allows the FIA to award a Super Licence to a driver who does not meet the normal criteria if a vote reveals unanimous agreement by the members, and provided that the driver has completed 300 kilometres of testing at racing speeds in a current car.
In other words... Yes, EVERYONE can get a super license. There are plenty of examples. As long as you have the money, you can buy a license.
Half the F1 field was admitted using these 'exceptional circumstances', including Kimi Raikkonen.
Actually they haven't... Nor are they going to... They're just going to make sure stuff like that can't happen by adding crazy slow chicanes to any dangerous turns, like on Imola, Nurburgring, Hockenheim, Spa (new busstop), etc, etc. In other words, they're replacing exciting and cool tracks with dumbed down mickey mouse tracks to make the sport safer... Unfortunately also a lot more boring.
Whoever said skinning in PSP is not realistic should be shot on sight.
The only difference between PSP and RL is that instead of sticking the skin on a real car, we stick it onto a 3d model (I wonder if they used the NR2003 skin templates for this).
Yeah, maybe, but she had a point Seriously though, if I disliked a race driver because he/she made a bad comment on something I'd be rooting for Robert Doornbos... Oh wait... I AM rooting for him
Luckily she isn't the only one who does that in the USA formula series... I present to you: Paul Tracy... Now there's a guy that has NO talent, a mouth the size of mount st Helens, and an attitude that would make Schumacher cower.
Yes, she made some dumb moves. But she's shown that she learned from that as well. Remember that even though she's been racing for a while, that was her first year as a professional race driver. Sometimes she still looks like a complete rookie, but that's part of her charm, and her determined spirit. I like her for that, just like I like Montoya for his "no guts no glory" attitude.
hehe... No problem... She's a woman, and she never denied that fact (rather the opposite). She would just like to be seen as a racer on the track, like most LFS women do.
Danica is where she should be... Oval racing is her thing. She wasn't half bad on road courses, but ovals just fit her better.
Legge is better at road courses, and she's doing just fine there. She's still improving as well. I think if we give her another year, maybe two, and nothing bad happens to her we'll see her fighting for the championship and/or in F1. She's the only woman I can see having a fighting chance there. Much better chance than I would give either Sarah Fisher or Danica Patrick (maybe tinyk has a bit better chance ).
Then recognizing both Patrick's and Legge's talent would be a good start...
Let's forget the whole incident, and cheer for both ladies (and hope someone will show them the way to Live For Speed heaven).
Yes it does... It's the constant threat of lives being lost that attracts so many people to racing. It also is the only reason why online racing will never ever be a huge spectator sport. It's just not dangerous. What fun is it to watch drivers battle it out on the track when there's no danger involved? The only thing it does is cause more extremely stupid moves and dirty driving.
The fact that most accidents caused by technical failures happen at high speed is because at high speeds stuff breaks easier... Simple rules of physics tell us that the higher the speed, the more force is applied to the car, the sooner stuff simply stops working, the harder the impact is, the more bits and pieces fall off the car to take away energy from the driver, the worse an accident looks.
And ovals are most definitely NOT the most dangerous place to race... Putting the wall back 20 yards from the track would in fact cause for worse wrecks because the angle at which cars impact will be higher causing more abrupt deceleration (which is what causes most major injuries in racing).
The dutch commentator (actually belgian) for the Champcar race last sunday was wondering why there weren't any tirestacks at that part of the guardrail... The reason is equally simple as effective and is the reason why there's a concrete wall around ovals... If there had been tires there, the car would've impacted and stopped so suddenly that the amount of G's would've instantly killed Katherine (in the range of 250+g's)... By NOT having these tires there, the car was allowed to change direction but keep a lot of momentum, massively reducing the amount of G's her body had to endure. Yes, it caused her crash to look much worse but it also saved her life. (in sharp contrast to the FIA's 'tire' happy safety measures, which eventually will kill a driver)
In F1, it has come to a point where indeed the safety rules are so mindbogglingly strict that designers are indeed very much capable of driving (and winning) races if they took a standard racing class. Just how safe it has become is proven by the amount of completely rubbish drivers that are granted a super license these days... Every other idiot can obtain one if they have enough money to buy themselves a 309km test in a recent F1 car. The main question is: "How long will it take the FIA to recognise their mistake and take it away again?"...
And before you bring up Ralf Schumi's crash at Indy as proof ovals are not safe... No, it proofs F1 cars are unsafe to back into a concrete wall. Most major accidents in Formula cars happen because cars back into something, which is the one place that does not properly absorb energy. Strangely enough, most high speed spins cause formula cars to back into something (they never keep on turning around). That would be a good place to improve safety further.
Oh, you mean like Alonso saying he's much better than Schumacher?
An ego is something that you need to have if you want to win races. Besides... She's right about that. Although Legge can be extremely girly off track, which is cute.
They're in different types of racing... Circuit racing versus Oval racing. Each of them is better at their own thing.
She mentioned the bruise in a jest. Just to stress the fact that she was absolutely fine after that horrific crash. Since she's a woman, her looks are an easy way to turn something serious into a joke. I thought that was a sweet and smart comment.
Right... Danica finished 4th in the IRL season in 2005... That shows her ability... She came in 4th in last year's Indy 500, 8th this year...
Katherine Legge won 3 Formula Atlantic races last season (and reached 2 more podiums), becoming the first woman ever to win a major US Open Wheel racing event (and repeated that feat twice). She came in 3rd in the season that year... She's won numerous pole positions and races in the lower classes, both in the US and the UK (and wrote off an F3 in a freak accident at Rockingham Speedway that reminds me of some 'hopping' setups in LFS).
They both have the ability to be where they are, and they didn't only get there because they are female. You just think they're not good enough because they are women.
Seriously though... There's nothing wrong with our girls... It's just that the ones I seem to like are like that... Quite possibly tells you more about the kind of guy I am than about our girls.
I'm one of those that's just unlucky in his choice of women. So I'll probably end up marrying the most beautiful LFS girl you've ever seen...
I gave up on women for now... I seem to attract the ones with serious issues... Either they end up being complete and utter b*tches, or they're just plain insane (but manage to hide that fact until after you sleep with them).
There's a few I'd want to try having a relationship with, but I'll make sure they're nothing like my ex-gfs in any way but looks.
This is the worst thing that could've happened for us...
What happens when he gets bored at night after a GP? He'll get in LFS and think he's as dominant as he was in F1... He'll be banned for wrecking in no-time.
I never liked the guy, but what he did in his first 5 seasons demands respect.
I've raced Annabelle a lot a year orso ago... Not even on the oval... Funny thing, I could never pass her although I was always the faster driver... Something about her made it impossible for me to get by.
You think I was flaming you for that storyline?
You completely misread that...
I'm not saying you're blatantly copying those books... In fact, I told you I even doubted you'd read those books. From the first 2 parts you just posted it just seemed that the ideas for the two seperate stories were very similar.
I like how you write, and what you write... I just wouldn't want you to write something that would later on cause you problems.
I don't know how your story continues, but I would like to find out. I was just alerting you to a story that might be similar to yours, so you could rethink your strategy if you deemed it necessary. You don't seem to think it's necessary, and you're free to continue writing whatever it is that you're writing. If you write something similar to Otherland, it just proves you've got talent, because that story is absolutely perfect. Unfortunately for a story similar to that story it means that you'll be competing with perfection, which is hard for a first time novelist. Hence my alert.
But please, do continue your story.
EDIT:
Every author takes his ideas from somewhere... Take an idea, change a few things here and there, and you've got a new idea. Nothing wrong with that. By trying not to copy it I merely meant writing a story that uses the same devices for telling the story. If you haven't read it, you're not going to be able to copy it. So no worries there, then. Just trying to give you a heads up, m8.
EDIT2: For those that wonder what perfection is: Take 'The Matrix', add about 15000 different matrices to the system, and imagine a perfect Matrix 2 and 3 and even a 4 movie... That's perfection.
So, what exactly is the problem? She's starting out in LFS, in a car that most people can't handle properly first time, and she's only 4 seconds slower than regular drivers... Sounds to me like she's going to improve all by her onesies without help.
There will come a time when she goes "Oh! NOW I get it!", and starts to be 2 seconds faster than you on every combo. I'd worry about that
If anything serious comes up then I'd prefer if they used real names instead of nicknames...
Nothing really serious has presented itself in LFS yet. So for now I don't see the need.
I have raced in serious leagues (but not in LFS) and have used my real name. If you're really that set on using a nick, you can always just create a team that is made up of "yournickgoeshere"-Racing.
When LFS presents something this serious, I'd want them to use real names.
PS. I wrote that article, so you know my real name
I frequent a forum and website that has been involved in a rather cool scandal concerning a cartoon contest. It was a contest for beginning cartoonists, and the first price was a cartoon published in a major newspaper in Holland (Algemeen Dagblad)... Well, when he needed a little bit of help, the site put up a small cartoon he does for them on a weekly basis asking for a little bit of help getting him through to the next round... Little did he know that that would raise his vote total by over 5000%. The site got e-mails from the newspaper to please not ever do that again or he'd be excluded from the rest of the competition. Most dutch peeps probably know the site... It's a very popular news site (Fok!).
I voted, and I would've voted for it anyway because it's the only state in the US I've visited.
Just a helpful tip for you, Funny...
Be careful with this story. What you wrote so far seems a little too familiar.
Read *this* (if you haven't already), and try not to copy it.
You're a real talent, and I'd hate for you to work hard on something that's already been done.
As soon as LFS gets some more ovals and a late model stockcar I'll challenge all of you ovalhaters to a 250 lap race on a shorttrack... I promise you, you'll love it, even if you don't believe so now.
In the manual it lists all display modes it is capable of... All of those are default.
Default refreshrates are for videocards, not monitors. All monitors should be able to display 800x600@60Hz, which is the XVGA default (and what you get when booting in Safe Mode).
One thing about changing the resolution in Safe Mode... You need to actually CHANGE it for it to work. Just opening the tab and clicking ok won't do, because that is the XVGA default (svga on pre-2000) for safe mode. It needs a trigger to update the Windows settings.
Right... Then we'll just add a new definition for gravitational force: requires more than 1.5 m/s to escape its gravitational field. I'd like to see you try and sit on an meteoroid: Don't fart, or you'll take off like the spaceshuttle on steroids (<-- Maybe we can call planets the size of the sun that?)
BTW, I propose defining the entire asteroid belt as one planet. We should call it Tiamat. After all, it's pretty obvious that it used to be a planet, and that it fell apart due to some collision with a very large celestial body (Marduk if you're a religion freak) and created the asteroid belt (heaven) and the earth and moon.
Just nice to know beforehand so replacements may be entered by the organisation.
I won't make todays race because I just learned that my uncle of 52 has suffered a stroke and cardiac arrest last night. Seeing as this is SO Town we're driving I doubt I'd make it through turn 2 with my head screwed on backwards as it is, now.
My condolences and sympathy to all that knew him.
May he live forever in your hearts and memories, and may those that have gone before him comfort him and make him welcome among them, so that he may find peace and happiness, and so that he may do the same for those that come after him.
Like I said before, network demand (bandwidth) for live coverage is not an issue... Just look at the amount of data you are able to download per hour right now, and compare it to what you could download 3 to 5 years ago. Now step forward another 3 to 5 years (S3 should be finished sometime in the next 5 years, right?). Add to that the fact that internet TV is popping up allowing you to watch digital TV in full frames using the current available bandwidth and you'll understand why streaming an LFS video will not be a problem at all for most, if not all, potential viewers. Remember, you're mostly watching the race live, and as such won't even notice the amount of data you're sucking in. It will even allow you to do other stuff on your PC (while slowing down the internet connection a bit more), while LFSTV will seriously tax your PC demanding it be dedicated to viewing to a large degree, while leaving your internet connection running at near max speed.
As for downloading. Downloads have always been and will always be done using videostreams rather than in-game data, simply because video editing software gives you more artistic freedom than any LFS based application will ever be able to provide.
At the moment (and at the state LFS currently is in) that scenario is very wishful thinking. However, it is a scenario we ultimately should be looking for. It won't ever be BTCC or WTC size, but big official leagues with a lot of money have been done before, and internet broadcast coverage has been huge (well over 50000 viewers per race for a $300000 NR2003S league). In fact, when you check on the iRacing business plans, that's exactly the kind of scenario they're building their simulator for. If LFS is ready when iRacing launches a less than perfect product then LFS could take over that niche of the market and become the ultimate simulator used for really big things...
Yes, that was the whole intention of multicast back in the day they feared their big 2 inch thick copper cables would get stuffed with (2 inch thick) bits and bytes that got sent to multiple PCs using unicast.
The one problem with multicast now is that it will not work on local endpoints at customers... ie. your ISP still won't route multicast packets to the internet. Most of the rest is set to go when needed, but you'd still need an internet endpoint capable of broadcasting multicast streams (aka a streamserver). It was decided that, with the introduction of IPv6 and ever increasing bandwidth demands, multicast be phased back into general use on the internet. It may be a few years, but then, so will LFS be a few years until it's finished.
Yeah, I think that was way back on RSC that he posted something about a proxy system. I remember Scawen posting something about that subject as well.
Oh yes, I've considered those points, and I'm all for this application. Having one doesn't mean we can't have the other though. In fact... LFS-TV could be used to create a multicast videostream, so they can operate at the same time too.
Download sizes, however, are becoming less of a factor with the increasing bandwidth regular internet usage requires. Certainly the amount of time it takes to download a movie versus downloading a replay is hands down a win for the replay. That doesn't keep people from creating videos right this moment and hosting them somewhere for us to download. Ranging in size from 10 second examples of 1MB to full league races edited to have graphics (TV graphics) in them that are up to CD size, and we download them. Unless LFSTV becomes not only a proxy for the actual LFS stream of in-game data but also a fully working video-editing suite which allows you to create all of the fancy stuff Adobe Premiere and After Effects is able to create, regular video will always be in some kind of demand.
Which brings us to the other use... Live coverage. Needed bandwidth wise LFSTV will win that one easy. It has better graphics, uses the actual in-game data, etc. There is still one slight downside to it. You need the LFSTV player to watch, and you need to download all the textures used in the game (and possibly add-on textures, extra tracks if ever) to use it. Auto download will work but it will increase bandwidth slightly. Using videostreaming, one only has to input the url into Media Player and it starts playing. Using WMV streams reaches people not currently familliar with LFS, while LFSTV I fear will always be reserved for people who already know LFS. The amount of time it takes to watch the live coverage doesn't change between LFSTV and videostreams. An hour's worth of racing will take an hour to download in LFSTV and in Mediaplayer it will take just as long. The only difference will be in the amount of data you transferred in that time. For most people this will no longer be a major concern by the time either tool will be finished.
I just realised we agree... Could've saved me a lot of typing by just saying yes