Hello,

I am "ready" to start beginner racing. I will probably start with the CTRA RACE 1 (beginners I hope).

1. When are the courses selected?
I race from the USA - EDT right now
I would like to try some laps on my Single Race practice setup for the car to get familiar with the track. Maybe that will keep me from becomming a nuisance in the beginning. I seem to need about 5 laps at medium speed to "remember" the turns.

2, How long are the courses racing before they are changed to new ones?

Thanks in advance for all of the help you have given to get me started.

Cheers,

Ron Sagel
rjsagel

It tends to change tracks every six or seven races or so, there doesn't seem to be any predictable order as to which tracks are used. It can be anything really, standard or reversed, plus the weather and wind is randomised.

Best bet is probably just to have a look at which track its on and then put in a couple of practice laps before you join. But really so long as you don't get in anybody's way there's no reason you can't practice online, just go real easy at the start and get out of the way when the leaders lap you.

Quote from DarkTimes :

It tends to change tracks every six or seven races or so

It's a lot more than 6 or 7 races. More like 10 or 11 races, if not more. I think it also depends on the length of the track; shorter tracks = more races, longer tracks = fewer races.

It's easier to see the track changes in time rather than number of races. I think the track changes every 2 hours. But in US times, all I usually see on CTRA Race1 is South City Classic or Fern Bay Club, a shame because that's my 2 least favorites. FE Gold being my favorite XFG track, I never see it. Occasionally I will see Blackwood Reverse evenings US, but mostly the 2 I mentioned up there.

As for practice, some people feel you should practice offline before going online, but many don't. As long as you have a basic understanding of control of your car, and know how to allow leaders to pass under the blue flag situation, you are fine. You learn much more by racing online, spectating the faster drivers, and trying to keep up with the guy in front of you than you do running around by yourself offline, or <gasp> with the AI.

One trick that helps a bit if you are uncomfortable racing with others is to wait in spectate until you see the starting grid set. You can mess around after the race, but as soon as you see "Restart in xx", hit Shift-S (go to spectate), wait for the grid to be set, then Shift-J (join) and you will be put last on the grid behind everyone. This will allow you to practice quite some time before anyone will come up behind you, and allows your practice progression to move slowly that you can start racing the backmarkers when comfortable.

Thank you all for your help here,

Cheers,

Ron Sagel
rjsagel

Yes track changes are about every two hours. The tracks used are the shorter S1 road tracks. (i.e BL1, BL1R, FE2, FE2R, SO1, SO1R are the ones I see most often - I believe also SO1, SO3, SO5, FE1, and FE3 with their Rev configs are used but I rarely or never see them, must be wieghted I suspect)

Also The grid is set by your previous lap times (so you will not be placed in front of the faster guys)

I'd recommend you download the WR laps (www.lfsworld.net under S2 Hotlaps then the WR tab) for each of the tracks listed above and the cars XFG, XRG, to get an idea of racing lines and also corner speeds (start off about 6-8mph slower on corner speeds until your confident of your lines though)

Also visit the CTRA website for the rules of the server and helpful ingame commands that work on their servers. (Like $track - which gives helpful information on when next track rotation will happen etc)

What I do normally is have a look ingame (list of games) at what is the currently selected track and if Im not familiar with the track, go back to single player and watch the WR replay then do 5 - 10 laps in single player mode to get upto speed before going online to race.

Just remember that the CTRA tracks have additional barriers to prevent cutting so you cant take some curbs quite as agressively as they do in WR replays.
Also there is random wind set, so watch the wind speed that is displayed as the grid is set. You will have to adjust your driving for the conditions, this can be abit tricky even for more experienced drivers.
The main things are that if the wind is behind you you need to brake for the next corner earlier and if your turning a corner that then heads into the wind you may have to take the corner 3-6mph slower otherwise you will go too wide on the exit.

Best of luck and cya on the track sometime.