I believe the theory is that the rough surface maintains a thinner boundary layer, meaning the moving airflow effectively sees a smaller surface to travel over, decreasing effective frontal area and decreasing any blockage effect, as well as allowing airflow to reattach quicker and earlier, with obvious benefits.

However, to me it just looks like less filler/paint/laquer on the removable sections of bodywork (which is likely to be replaced each race) compared to the higher quality sealing, preparation and painting of the monocoque that might last all season (or at least half of it!).

Various people have tried dimples - either like shark skin or like a golf ball, and found that on non-spinning items (i.e. not small balls) or in air (sharks tend to prefer high viscosity mediums like water) then dimples do not provide a benefit. I'm sure it won't stop people trying, and maybe one day (has this day already come?) dimpling will be better for aerodynamics on cars.

Quote from Squelch :

Shouldn't you have said nothing has changed?

I think that some clever shenanigans are going on. The changing of engine maps between qualifying and the race have been removed, but that doesn't prevent a team changing the map during the race.

I'll stick my neck out on this theory - Red Bull will do a short first stint, and change steering wheels on both cars during the pit stops.

Not so sure. The steering wheels don't contain the maps, and it takes about 2 minutes to change the maps in the SECU. We'll just have to wait and see...

And the chassis would rub on the ground.

It also sounds to me like you're just not very good at racing yet. Being passed is easy. Passing is much harder. Being overtaken requires no skill, only self control. Passing requires skill and an appreciation that the other person might not have self control.

The face you can't overtake whilst using rubbish controllers isn't really a fair reason to judge LFS quite so harshly.

You'll learn as you drive/race more, and then you'll find the appeal of racing simulators.

Probably because Renault wants "road relevance" even though it won't be. Mercedes and Cosworth presumably want the show as that's what keeps the punters happy. No F1 fan cares if the F1 cars are road relevant. They haven't been as yet, so I don't see why they should start trying.

Road relevance will only start when they have 110hp, airbags, central locking and a touchscreen 'entertainment centre'. And I don't think manufacturers need much help making them as they are, and ABS, Traction Control, Stability Control, Power Steering, Fuel Economy et al are all doing just fine (if not better) without F1 anyway (because F1 keeps the costs high, whereas road car production is about making it ultra reliable (not 200 mile reliable), cheap and user (or mechanic) friendly. F1 cannot and will never help in those regards.

Sure, some things filter down that have been used in F1. But stuff filters down from the Space Shuttle program and crazy stuff like that, but I don't hear NASA asking for more road car relevance to help their projects.

If we want to be economic, the last thing we ought to do is promote electric cars.

Slightly less shit than road car engines originally planned.

I think 8 should be the MINIMUM number of cylinders (no maximum). If F1 wants to save fuel to keep the blind treehuggers happy, then send one less cargo plane to each flyaway race. Just one. And it won't ruin the racing spectacle.

I just meant the black areas seem too black. I know the 3D model doesn't have the shapes that cause the black areas, but it they are holes, they would be dark grey, but not black, and probably not have such a harsh edge.

Hardly a biggie! A definite improvement on the original textures, especially without the splodge!

The black trapezoids at the base have a weird 'splodge' on them rather than a straight top, and one side is missing the #000000 colour fill.

I think it would look better with less opacity to your black overlays.

You should EASILY be able to record in Fraps at 1920x1080, assuming your monitor supports that resolution, although you may need to slow the replay down a bit.

I bet he enjoys Jackass anyway. He's just trying to give the impression he doesn't.

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

Shut up you PETA member.

I'm being serious, people die every day. Some people die from natural causes, some people die from being stupid and I don't have sympathy for people who take risks and kill themselves (AND ANOTHER PERSON...) because they're trying to impress a bunch of dumb American teenagers.

I assume you'll never be upset if people you know die either then? Or are people you don't know allowed to die without people being sad?

It's because of revised HLVC checks by the new patch. Hotlaps that aren't totally legal are being removed automatically. Hotlaps that weren't done via exploits (either on purpose or not) will remain.

They don't need to be stated really though. Patching a product nearly always reverts some stuff to 'standard' and, where a program requires unlocking, often requires it to be unlocked again.

Not what?

Did you expect to? Okay...

Warning: Applying an official LFS patch may undo any of your customisations. Much like with any other game or program update.

Stop whining.

It wasn't so much the clutch as the dual mass flywheel. They aren't cheap, even in Aus.

Indeed that's true. But nobody would, of course. Just like with torrents - people can claim all they like that you can get legitimate stuff through it, but everybody knows it's used for downloading commercial stuff for free.

But you're probably right about the revenue thing too, but it's quite easy to convert files to ringtones using Apple's own software so I don't buy that completely.

Who knows really.

Quote from Boris Lozac :

So you can't just import some mp3 and go "set as ringtone", why the app?

DRM, essentially. Using a commercial mp3 as a ringtone is *technically* agains the terms of use.

Single seaters have around 400-450 degrees of lock, although some have as little as 360°!

Quote from arco :

Really? You can't use your own ringtones on an iPhone without jailbreaking?:banghead:

Of course you can. Easily. But they won't let you use music mp3s for it, you have to convert the song you want to a ringtone, which takes seconds.

But music for a ringtone is so 1990s. Anyone who is anyone has a phone ringing sound. Or The Chain.

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

I have nearly 1000 songs on my iPod Touch but I want these on my iPhone as well....I've tried using iPhone Browser to move songs across but these don't show up on the iPhone, space taken shows up under "other" instead of music and yes I am using the right files etc.

Just sync them across from your iTunes library?

I don't think viruses are a real concern. I've only had one on my PC ever. I don't understand how people get so many...

Flash is out of date, and I hate websites that use it. Even before I got an iPhone (and since, whilst using a desktop) I tended to leave flash websites or choose an HTML alternative. Whether it's buggy, a memory hog or whatever doesn't matter to me, I just find it horrible to look at and use.

Homescreen Twitter and Facebook feeds are not nice to use. I much prefer a full screen view of the feed. Granted a widget view is good for quick updates, but not so good for catching up on the last 8 hours of developments whilst I was asleep.

Androids turn-by-turn navigation is quite good considering, so you are right to show off about that feature. But as I've bought the TomTom app, my iphone is at least as good as a dedicated device for a fraction of the price (the cost of the app). Sure, I paid more for turn-by-turn than you, but it's not a deal-breaker for me.

Hands free use (Voice Control) is pretty poor on my girlfriend's Desire S. I tried it for about an hour the other night, and even in a quiet environment it got most things wrong. So I don't think you can brag too much about that. My handsfree kit does more reliable voice control (for calls only admittedly), but as I don't text or email whilst driving it's not a biggie. Choosing which podcast to listen to or album to listen to isn't much of a chore with a finger.

Tethering can be useful. Depends on your lifestyle. I used it once in 2003 to unlock LFS behind a uni firewall. I've never needed it or wanted it since.

I still think the interface overall is better on the iPhone. It's more of an integrated feeling. Yes, we miss out on a few things. But the iPhone has things the androids don't (or, at least, don't do well). The choice is a personal one.

The more I use the HTC the less inclined I am to get one at the moment. I admit this is partly because my girlfriend has configured aspects of it in the stupidest way possible (but it's her phone, so who am I to argue).

By the looks of it, iOS5 will add a lot of the features you use below to make the Android seem better.

Quote from ColeusRattus :

Allright, then...

I guess you have a point there. Flash is evil and shouldn't be used at all, and my phone's constantly downloading viruses MADE BY GOOGLE INC. THEMSELVES...

I contemplate what you said while I read news, keep up to date on facebook and twitter and check my calendar all on my phone's homescreen, thanks to widgets. Perhaps I go out on a small journey with my free, preinstalled ready to use turn-by-turn navigation.

And even while driving, i can use all of my phones functions hands free, simply by talking to it. And should I use my laptop while out, I might simply tether my phone's 3g over wifi to it, so I can be online with a real PC should my phone not suffice.

But still, I suppose the iPhone is by far the superior product, that shitstomps all the features it shares, and that are not available on the android market (which has 200.000 apps atm, out of which 57% are free of charge, as opposed to the humungous amount of 300.000 apps on the iPhone appstore, out of which 28% are free...)

Quote from Squelch :

His overtaking ability has been called into question when the pressure is on. We haven't had too many opportunities to test that, but what about Spa last year? Button had gotten ahead, and Vettle tried an overtake into the bus stop chicane, lost it under braking and speared into the side of Button ending his race.

A fair point, but I wonder if the wobbly front wing made his attempt more prone to failure? Sure, he leaves pulling out late and tends to jerk the steering wheel to move alongside which isn't going to keep a car balanced, but if the aero balance is changing suddenly at the same time it isn't going to help.

Vettel definitely isn't a driver that is generally susceptible to pressure. He did this this, but one mistake doesn't a rule make. As Hyper says, Fisi is much worse with his stupidly early defending, and I'm sure there are others that are even worse.

What we haven't seen (that I recall at least) is Vettel having to fight through the field after a mistake/poor qualifying/puncture etc. Would he be a Button, Schumi, Webber or Hamilton (on a good day ), or would he tend to throw it off or do something silly (Sutil, Hamilton on a bad day etc)? We don't know that yet, but it's probably the only un-answered question over Vettel, isn't it?