so that you can know when someone is next to you...it will decrease crashers....Like nascar..

I think there's an addon that already does that (I think it's called "pitspotter" as it happens - search the Addons sub-forum).

Of course, it's only really useful at the oval ... which demo users don't have access to

BTW, in my experience, the only thing that reduces crashes in LFS is people paying attention to what the hell they're doing, and the only thing that reduces crashers is a good old fashioned 999-day ban

Quote from greg_slideways :

so that you can know when someone is next to you...it will decrease crashers....Like nascar..

This is what the look left and right buttons on your steering wheel are for right?

Usage for pitspotter. As you can see, the other car you will not be able to see with LFS due to not having the proper mirror adjustability (discussed in another thread about mirrors) and the ability to look at your mirrors. You have to assume that the other car is there if he leaves your center mirror view or you have to assume that he will give way for the corner since he doesn't have overlap. Which do you do? Assume he's there and let him have a chance to pass possibly or assume he will give way according to the unofficial "overlap" rule and crash both of you out?

Pitspotter provides closer, better, and non-crashing racing since we have very limited view of what we can see in the sim.

^^ Do you use pitspotter? is it not annoying at times?

It`s god damn anoying, tho it`s very usefull, but very anoying.
Thinks you just have to get used to it, I couldn`t get used to it, so I don`t use it anymore, mainly because I was disturbed in close races with the damned voice screaming out all the time where there was a car close to me, specially anoying on long straights or on the oval with a slow car (uf1) with tight racing.

I use to use pitspotter. I haven't since the insim changes, and I can't get LFSRelax to work to use it in patch X. The default voice (Darell Waltrip) is extremely annoying. I come to LFS from NR2003, so I'm use to the spotter, but I had different voices from a download for NR2003. It is not as loud and not as annoying.

The question stands, do you leave room because the other car could be there, or do you assume he backs off? I care to finish the race and that my opponent finishes. The "closeness" of racing is not as good since I no longer use pitspotter because it is easier to get by me since I can't tell if you are there or not. When I did use pitspotter, I could leave room if you were there, or not because I was sure if you were there or not. I could also go in side by side without you having overlap because I knew you needed room and left it.

I never used it and never needed to. It's quite easy to know what's going on around you once you get used to using your "look" buttons.
You can develop an improved awareness with just a little practice. Of course if you race with morons nothing is going to help you when some tosser tries to put his car into an imaginary gap.



2c

Ya i think i will get this addon i like having the blindspots covered for me =0

It's not really useful IMO for circuit racing where you don't get a car just sitting in a blind spot unless you have no interesting corners (ie. an oval). Most of it is achieved through spatial awareness, the mirror will show you whose making a move, sounds give you some idea of where they are and if they aren't in a 90 degree look left/right (ie. up to door/cockpit level) you are perfectly entitled to turn in and take the corner under the widely accepted significant overlap rules in both RL and LFS.

I have never and will never need or want a spotter. For dumbass's who can't cope with mirrors inverting images.

Erhm, for us that use chase veiw?
Anyway, just be using anything like sound, changing camera angels and such you should orientate yourselfe pretty good in a race, no need to a spotter. Tho I understand that if you get used to it it could be pretty usefull.

Quote from The Very End :

Erhm, for us that use chase veiw?

You're already gifted with ridiculous FOV and the ability to see exactly where the wheels are. Thankfully the Devs have put in server options to get rid of chase view

Quote from ajp71 :

You're already gifted with ridiculous FOV and the ability to see exactly where the wheels are. Thankfully the Devs have put in server options to get rid of chase view

Aaaawwww, you say it so harsj, please forgive us arcade drivers

Quote from The Very End :

Erhm, for us that use chase veiw?

I use chase view and also don't need such a thing.

Quote from zeugnimod :

I use chase view and also don't need such a thing.

Then we are 2.
Good to hear it`s not just me that uses chase veiw

Quote from greg_slideways :

so that you can know when someone is next to you...it will decrease crashers....Like nascar..

You dont need a spotter in road course racing. On ovals spotters are a necessity. But considering that GOOD LFS oval racers can race without taking each other out (this includes me (LAWL BLATANT SELF PROMOTION :razz) and that there's only one oval. LFS doesn't need a spotter. Maybe once we get a track like Bristol, Martinsville or Daytona then we'll need a spotter.

Coming from NASCAR and Indy racing, I can say with confidence that LFS does not need a spotter.

Quote from tristancliffe :

I have never and will never need or want a spotter. For dumbass's who can't cope with mirrors inverting images.

Anyone who need a spotter on circuits seriously needs to improve their driving skills. But I'm willing to bet that you cant complete a single lap without causing a giant crash in Bristol with a FULL FIELD without a spotter. But right now LFS doesn't have tracks like Bristol so ATM LFS does not need a spotter.

Quote from lizardfolk :

Anyone who need a spotter on circuits seriously needs to improve their driving skills. But I'm willing to bet that you cant complete a single lap without causing a giant crash in Bristol with a FULL FIELD without a spotter. But right now LFS doesn't have tracks like Bristol so ATM LFS does not need a spotter.

Well if N2003 is anything to go by you don't need to use a spotter, I regularly didn't bother to turn it back on after racing RCs and TBH didn't find it that big a disadvantage. Don't dirt track racers do effectively the same thing without spotters on dirt?

Quote from ajp71 :

Well if N2003 is anything to go by you don't need to use a spotter, I regularly didn't bother to turn it back on after racing RCs and TBH didn't find it that big a disadvantage. Don't dirt track racers do effectively the same thing without spotters on dirt?

Dirt Track leagues (ovals) such as Sprint Car, Midgets, and Modified dont need a spotter because their car count is very low. I dont think ASCAR drivers need spotters because they only have 20 cars. but ASCAR drivers are crap to begin (except a few key drivers) with so I'll exclude them

With 43 cars online I kept finding myself being taken out at Bristol and Talladega just because some noob didn't listen to their spotter (they said they had it turned off because of some odd reason).

Sure, not every oval requires a spotter. But at a place like Bristol where rush hour traffic style racing is imminent, a spotter can be very useful. Besides, stock cars dont have side door mirrors, which makes it almost impossible to know if someone's trying to overtake you

Quote from lizardfolk :

Sure, not every oval requires a spotter. But at a place like Bristol where rush hour traffic style racing is imminent, a spotter can be very useful. Besides, stock cars dont have side door mirrors, which makes it almost impossible to know if someone's trying to overtake you

You look in your mirror, that tells you which side the car will be passing and gives a good idea of how quickly it will pass you, if a car is sitting in your blind spot (on an oval) you give a car and a bit of room to the inside of the corner, it's not rocket science and doing it yourself is easier and safe IMO.

Quote from ajp71 :

You look in your mirror, that tells you which side the car will be passing and gives a good idea of how quickly it will pass you, if a car is sitting in your blind spot (on an oval) you give a car and a bit of room to the inside of the corner, it's not rocket science and doing it yourself is easier and safe IMO.

Ya, but what happens if you're going 3-4 wide or when the car is stuck underneath you in your blindspot and you dont know whether or not you've cleared him or he has a nose under you (which happens daily on ovals)?

Part of being good on ovals is cutting it real close with your opponent and taking chances (for drafting purposes and to make your opponent loose momentum). If you're passing a car then you need to pinpoint exactly where you would come down on the car so you dont hit the car's nose (which would send you flying) but where there'll only be a few inches from your back bumper to the opponent's nose of the car. Mirrors does not accurately tell you this (and there's no side door mirrors with makes it worse) for stock car movements are sometimes very erratic. (especially a poor handling stock car)

Mirrors also dont tell you whether ur going 3-4 wide. But spotters do so you'll know how much room to give. I know countless of times (in LFS too) where the guy on top doesn't know he's going 3 wide and gives enough room for one car to pass but not enough for 3 or 4, then a big crash ensues

Spotters, circuit racing, and oval racing in computer games are much different than in real life. In real life, for NASCAR, the way the seats are designed for the safety of the drivers, the drivers can not look beside themselves. The headrest part of the seat wraps completely around to the sides of the helmet. They can only look up ahead and in their center mirror. There is also no side mirrors on a NASCAR racecar.

The big difference between circuit racing and oval racing is the side-by-side racing. In NASCAR, it is continuous side-by-side racing that can last the entire race. Cars side-by-side coupled with the fact that they can not turn their heads and look beside them is why they have spotters. There is no "overlap" and "my corner/your corner" rules in NASCAR. The spotter tells the driver when there is a car there so they don't run into each other. It is common for 2 cars to run lap after lap with inches worth of overlap at the front/rear bumpers. In circuit racing, that would necessitate someone to back off because of the "corner rights" and "overlap" rules (at least, talking LFS racing in that respect). In real life with circuit racing, it would be easier to be aware of cars around you because of the ability to see beside you and the use of the external side mirrors.

If I recall, with NR2003, you also could not look beside yourself. I think the view moved with animation to a 45 degree angle.

i used to use spotter but now i use mouselook, it has a few anoying habits like making it hard to click on menus when yous moving steering but it does allow you to adjust the angle you look sideways and give you 2 positions for each side when you use a button on your wheel. i have mine set so the first position is slightly forward of the default lfs view and the second is similar to how far i can turn my head in real life

Quote from lizardfolk :

Besides, stock cars dont have side door mirrors, which makes it almost impossible to know if someone's trying to overtake you

The simple solution would be to reduce the number of cars in the race and put the mirrors back on the cars.

Quote from Gunn :

The simple solution would be to reduce the number of cars in the race

umm....NOOOOOO cause that's what makes NASCAR exciting in the first place GIANT PACK RACING FTW!!! (seriously, that's the only reason why I like NASCAR or oval racing in general)