I don't think people are trying to get rid of it, I just hope that when people first read this (or continue reading this), they don't immediately agree that because of one technical glitch it cannot be possible. That is easily noticeable with many suggestions and people's comments. Then, what could be a worthy suggestion, it would be totally trashed or stowed away for later. I don't want that to happen, because this might turn out to be something. And we all are talking about it in a positive way that looks to be getting this suggestion flowing, analyzing its issues and ideas, so we are on the right track
What exactly makes a difference with controller & car? Steering, and Throttle/Brake inputs are the only source of control they give to the car. You don't feel G-Forces, you don't feel the differential, you don't feel -- the gear ratios? lol.... so your point about changing your car's setup to suit your controller is just absurd. How the car acts is how the acts, I don't see how changing the rollbar, the differential, etc will all make you and your controller that much more specific to your preference, it will only make your car different from someone elses (which further expands on having a larger advantage of even having different controllers and different setups). Yes it will accelerate how you want it, it will handle how you want it, but this is just jumping back to the beginning of the thread Gunn. You take a stock car from the shop and take it racing against other people in the exact same car... what else can you do to that car to make it feel like YOU want it to??? You cannot change the antiroll, you cannot change the differential settings, and so on. You are left with a stock car, with only minor changes possible like tire pressures, fuel loads, etc.
With the game, having the stock car is possible for people with various controllers, and having the car itself drive like you want it defeats the purpose of even having an un-editable car!!! Again, you can't ask for racing suspension in a car right from the econo-car dealer to make it handle better.
With a video game, the controllers having more range of motion or ability over another is not something you can restrict, so there has to be room (as always) to change settings on the hardware side. But this is not a huge advantage as much as having THE CAR fully editable against your opponents.
Just eliminating a few sources of advantages over another without affecting how the game feels to everyone, makes this work out just fine. I'm having a really hard time describing this in the best possible way, because I believe this can work.
I like the idea for hotlapping at least. Racing online with everyone on a server using stock setups could be cool but i don't think the lfs community is big enough yet to accomodate servers using stock setups and race setups.
i haven't read all the posts cuz i dont have time and there are alot of essay answers (*cough* Tweak!).
I dont think that a 'non-editable' setup would be a good idea but what about restricting setup options, like only make tyre-pressures, toe-in and toe-out by 3 degrees and about 3 degrees movenment of camber.
no ride height changes, suspension stiff/soft settings, bound, rebound.... any of that. Could be good if someone was to start a "Stock" league.
This would mean that we had 2 hotlap lists. Having more isn't just always better.
Good luck with you setting up everything to suit your hardware. Tell me the differences between setups (diff settings, roll bars, gear ratios...) if the player has red momo or guillemot ferrari wheel.
We need to add new section to Bob's setup guide: If you have red momo, low front tire pressure gives better turn-in feel. Other wheels, except dfp, need much higher front tire pressures. But if you have your wheel in gameport instead of usb port you need to make the 6th gear taller
Just couple things to look at:
* which setup to use as stock car setup?
* setups don't make people faster
* setting up the car is hard, but there are a lot of godd setups on many sites.
* if you set up your own car and the setup is good, you have earned the benefit it gives you.
I realized I spent all the rest of my Sunday Evening typing that stuff to try and get to my point, but my head exploded soon after my post above [etals:] (closest I could get to an explosion smiley, spare me)
I have to agree with Tweak here (not that my opinion matters, except to Tweak right about when he reads it).
Gunn, you say you change all those settings to make the handling of the car suit your wheel and pedals, while in fact you're changing them to suit your driving style. Effect is the same, really... You can take your setup, get a new wheel, and learn how to drive it just as fast simply by changing the steering input setting. Would it take practice? Yes... A lot. When I went from my Logitech Wingman Formula Force to my DFP it took me a while. I never changed anything in the setups except lock-to-lock. After a while I found I was running close to my PB times, and a few days later I was breaking my PBs.
Sure driving with a new wheel feels different... But so does driving a new car... After a while you get used to it.
Interesting how this thread has grown. Thanks for taking the time to think about this idea everyone.
Anyway, I believe that having one setup is not too unfair to anyone either. For instance, a keyboarder has chimed in on the previous page with one point I'd like to discuss. He said his brakes are on/off, which is expected when using the keyboard, right? So what is the solution to eliminating wheel lock? Lower the braking power. What does lowering the braking power do? It increases your stop distance at full brake. Because there is no way to accurately modulate the brake, you have to go below the max braking capability to accomodate for elevation change and/or threshold braking.
This means that there are control problems inherent to LFS already which are just part of the game and MOST games for that matter. What about other driving games where there AREN'T any (or barely any) setup changes? Does that automatically mean the game is crap just because there are so many different control configurations that there is too much disparity between participants? No. Like has been said, you must adapt to your control style. It's unfortunate, but it's true in this game and many others. It just comes with the territory.
etals:] (closest I could get to an explosion smiley, spare me) 