I currenty use right hand drive as thats what I'm used to (Being English and all). Has anyone experimented and tried both, to see if one is quicker than the other, I assume it affects left to right weight distribution as you can add driver and passengers in the setup screen.

I had a quick play, and I had to take a different line through the last chicane at AS Club in the XFR to avoid flipping. In the right hand drive i could take more kerb on the right but not left, and visa versa for LHD.

Stu

I suppose its what you get used to really. If you're fast with the left, you may have a few problems switching to right, but you should be able to go just as fast with a bit of practice.

It's a much debated subject, but anyone that's been playing LFS for a while and is even half-quick will tell you that at certain circuits there is a small but significant advantage to being sat on a particular side, because you have the driver's weight over the inside wheels for the majority of the turns. For example AS Club favours RHD, whilst AS Cadet favours LHD.

Nearly all tracks run clockwise, so have more right hand bends, favouring RHD. Most sports cars will be RHD, some even retain the gearchange on the right as that is what most drivers are used to.

Quote from ajp71 :

Nearly all tracks run clockwise, so have more right hand bends, favouring RHD. Most sports cars will be RHD, some even retain the gearchange on the right as that is what most drivers are used to.

WTF? Except UK cars, no sports car is RHD... And when I take a look at rallye, and most TCC's, they aren't RHD either... So, which cars are you speaking of?

I drive lefthand drive cause I'm used to it... There is no advantage to any side, so it's just a matter of taste which side you prefer...

Well, there is a difference, but this only really matters when you drive at a pace where normal improvement is already very hard to archive and the setup options are pretty much at optimum. Then such little things like on which side the 70kg sit do indeed make a difference.

I started driving LHD with LFS, then trained myself to drive RHD. I now swap sides regularly, although most tracks are clockwise, so i usually drive RHS. I can't say that i feel that the car handles better, but i CAN say that you can approach turns better because your POV is closer to the kerb you're using.

It's been really difficult at first to change side, but now it's fun to be able to change side and feel right at home and if not for the racing, at least for the flexibility of the mind

Quote from bbman :

take a look at rallye

They have two seats? and rally stages don't run mostly rights?

Quote :

So, which cars are you speaking of?

Just a few:

Porsche 956/962 < the most sccessful sports racing car of all time and the last time I checked it was German
Porsche 917
Ferrari P4
Lola T70
Large number of LMP/GT1 (Cadilac, MG Lola, Porsche, Toyota, BMW)

I could keep going forever if I needed to

All this being true, one should note that the Kyoto Ring, the track where left-right weight distribution is likely to have the largest effect, is counter-clockwise.

They are rather old, arent they? And weren't they run in british series? So, there you go...

Well the way I understand this is.

Clockwise is faster to have RHD
Anti Clockwise is LHD

Also add to this is:

Most corners left hand then LHD is better
Most corners right hand, then RHD is better

Its all about weight distribution. This opinion is only what i have heard and not quoting from anybody. It maybe the wrong way around, but as far i know its correct

Fordie

Quote from ajp71 :

Nearly all tracks run clockwise, so have more right hand bends, favouring RHD

Every track can be run in the reverse config ! so theres exactly the same amount of clock as anticlockwise tracks .

IMO LHD v RHD makes an easyer to feel difference in the smaller cars , and when driving close to the grip limit some turns can be taken at a few mph/kph more with the driver over the inside wheels especially on the last turn before the straight thus giving in most cases a better top speed also . a fine example of this is the last turn at fern bay green in say the UFR.

sometimes Ill do some hotlapping I will do a few laps and then realise I am on the outside side (wheels view ) swap sides do a few more and find 10ths of seconds sometimes more theres defanatly a small advantage but it is very small .

SD.

i just use left hand drive all of the time. i'm not that desperate to shave of milliseconds.

I drive on the RHS I tried to drive LHS but it looked like I was falling out the car.

I switch sides and am proficient with both sides. I can tell you that sometimes i drive a track..say AS Nat..that's CW for a few hours or days, then go to say, WE Nat and run that track for a few races and wonder why my times are so slow, then realize that I haven't switched sides. It's usualy good for .5 to a full second on WE Nat. Not only that, but I can deffinately tell a huge difference in handeling.

Quote from SparkyDave :

Every track can be run in the reverse config ! so theres exactly the same amount of clock as anticlockwise tracks .

I was trying to explain why real sportscars are often RHD, most real tracks are run clockwise, out of the 19 rounds of this years F1 championship 13 were clockwise tracks, 5 anti-clockwise and 1 with a crossover (Suzuka).

Quote :

They are rather old, arent they? And weren't they run in british series? So, there you go...

Are you taking the piss? The Porsche 917/956/962 were built for Le Mans and WSC.

I only used some historic examples because I really have no clue what prototypes race at Le Mans atm. You'll find they will be mostly RHD (I know the Audi R8 isn't but seeing as they are so dominant they can afford the tiny fraction of a second that could be gained from using RHD, seeing as most road cars are LHD it creates a good PR image).

Quote from ajp71 :

I was trying to explain why real sportscars are often RHD, most real tracks are run clockwise, out of the 19 rounds of this years F1 championship 13 were clockwise tracks, 5 anti-clockwise and 1 with a crossover (Suzuka).

Except that F1 cars, being single-seaters with the seat in the middle, don't alter their left-right balance when someone sits in them. Of course, most famous tracks run touring cars and the like too.

Personally, construction costs aside, I think all tracks should have crossovers. But I can't really justify it other than saying I think tracks should have roughly equal amounts of left and right turns.

Quote from 5th Earth :

Except that F1 cars, being single-seaters with the seat in the middle, don't alter their left-right balance when someone sits in them. Of course, most famous tracks run touring cars and the like too.

I was using that list to illustrate that most tracks are clockwise, therefore they have more rights.

Quote from SparkyDave :

Every track can be run in the reverse config ! so theres exactly the same amount of clock as anticlockwise tracks .

Oh yeah? what about the drag strip? And as far as most tracks being
clockwise, what about WE international?

Now depending on how good you are, I guess, CHanging driver's sides CAN
be an advantage. But for the rest of us, it's a flat out nightmare. I tried
switching to the right hand side for BLackwood once..... Trust me, I didn't shave ANY seconds off my lap time. In fact, my driving was soooo pathetic, I almost voted to ban myself.

sitting on the inside has a signifigant benefit, some cars more signifigant than others. the xfr is potentially the one that benefits most, what with it's huge rollover tendency and all.

I think you are all taking it faaaaaaar too seriously

And for this glorious comment you decided to bump an over a year old thread?

Hey now, it's because he used the search function... Forum ettiquette can go too far.

Anyway, there is a significant advantage to putting the driver on the inside. To the point where next season in the STCC drivers are going to be locked to which side they chose, the tracks will be balanced for left/right by using reverse configs and my hope is that mixes things up a bit for the results each race. From my own experimentation there are some tracks i'm half a second faster by pretending i'm Spanish and driving on the left...

Yes, I change the side I sit on depending on the track. It was hard to get used to at first but now I can switch sides and get used to clipping the kerbs in the right places quite quickly. Generally on a clockwise layout I will sit on the right (unless there is a really important left hander) and on the left for anti-clock.

unless you are the sort of person that runs asymetric setups to get the last few 10th out of the track by tuning the car for the difference in left and right corners dont worry about what side you sit on.