It all depends on the team i guess, since not all the teams have the same motivation and/or basis.

Schemes like the GVRteam, which are a community first (tag [GVRc]) and then a racing team (tag: [GVR]), meaning they consist of hundreds of members and feature huge amounts of simming/LFS content in their online services, besides the actual racing team itself, are well worth to join.

Mostly because you can also fullfill any of your simming needs locally (from simple hardware questions to practising on populated servers of fellow countrymen every night) along with your -if you choose- independent quests internationally.

Well, the pluses of a team very depend on what you expect the team you'll join to be. It is just a matter of goals, ambitions and expectations.
You might enjoy having a "social tag", which means that your team is just a place to hang out and have fun with the other drivers. It is good if you don't want to acheive impressive goals. This might be a good place to start on if you want to slowly learn things (setups, strategies, lines, special stuff) while having fun.
Then you might be looking forward a "professional tag", a team which goals are to set up as much World Records as possible (like Team Inferno), or to win as many prestigious leagues as possible, or to leave as much smoke on the track as they can (Saiko D for instance). In that case, you'll need to have some serious skills, and mostly those teams will be invite only.

If you want an example, I've bought LFS a year ago, but because of RL issues, I hadn't the time to play since November. My implcite goal back there was to join a good team. I realized though that, at my level, joining a team was too restrictive and wouldn't give me the time to train at my own pace, of doing what I want. So I started joining LFS servers, race or drift, as a freelance and started having a lot of fun like this. I guess I won't join a team right now, maybe if some looks like what i want (but then, i'm not even sure of what i want ).

Also, people can remember you better if you are NOT in a team. You can impress them better, for because when they see you on the startgrid, they unconsciously think : Oh that guy's not in a team, so he must be slow! Then you can show your real skills, and people will remember you for your name, not for being just one more driver in the Slide FX or the GWR crew

Quote from blackbird04217 :

Oh gosh, Astra, I don't know where to begin! The fact that your comparing making love to a beautiful woman to joining the team - ugh, ok? NO! Not okay there astra, please go get your head checked!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=67Mqz3NaQKw

More: http://uk.youtube.com/results?search_query=swiss+toni


Teams are for people who for whatever reason can't make real-life friends. They are also favoured by weak-minded people to give them the reassurance of strength in numbers should they find themselves embroiled in a controversy. Bear in mind that in order for this to work you have to be thick enough to believe that shouting loudest and/or longest makes you more right than the people who have long since given up trying to explain how wrong you are, having become distracted by your atrocious spelling.

Quote from HVS5b :

Are you serious? Surely this is a masterpiece of sarcasm that has sailed way over my head? Forget online without a team, it sucks? :slap:

Never heard such p!sh in my life.........Are you suggesting the AI are more fun to race, lol.

Some of us have a fine time racing with randoms from all over the globe. Some of those randoms become recognised names, and if yer good enough, invites to join teams will be forthcoming.

Whilst also meeting up with friends once a week or so for some fun down at the Skunkhut 2 server All clean drivers welcome!

Sarcasm? No thanks.

Of course sometimes you find a nice server and enjoy it, but normally is very difficult to find what you are searching for. Racing against AI is better? Unfortunately not, I don´t know what is worse, the kind of racers you usally find in public servers or the AI...

I have had beautiful moments in LFS, online and offline, and you guess what? The best of those moments has been in demo servers.

That´s the reason I said that, because unless you have a team or some friends who play with, online is a waste of time (According to my experience of course, maybe I am very unlucky) :weeping:

No team, no friends who wanna play, no decent AI... no reason for playing LFS

Quote from NitroNitrous :

unless you have a team or some friends who play with, online is a waste of time (According to my experience of course, maybe I am very unlucky)

I've never been in a team but there are plenty of people who I enjoy racing against. I don't think racing against them would be any different if I had joined a team, would it?

You'd get slightly more group sex.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

I've never been in a team but there are plenty of people who I enjoy racing against. I don't think racing against them would be any different if I had joined a team, would it?

True, +1

Quote from thisnameistaken :

I've never been in a team but there are plenty of people who I enjoy racing against. I don't think racing against them would be any different if I had joined a team, would it?

If you have a team you usually have private servers for training with your team mates, races in a league, etc

I think joining a team will get you better faster. It is a lot easier to learn from someone with experience to help you find what your mistakes are then you trying to do it on your own. Being on a team doesn't mean you have to race for them right off the bat

To explain how I feel about this I'll use a real life scenario about people and football (soccer for north americans), afterall I'm brazilian. Wish me luck.

1) You love football and to play football. You got some friends you like to play with but for whatever reasons you can't find them all the time. So you go to places where people play and play with them. You don't know most of them, so if you're bad and screw things up you'll probably get shouted at and forbidden to play (or you'll be a goalkeeper ), so you'll need to practice with your dog before trying again. You have no obligations, you play when you want, for as long as you want and with who you want. If you're good and friendly people will like to play with you often and have you around, and after some time possibly ask you to join their team.

2) You love football and to play football. You live in a place where most of your friends share the same love and you're always playing together for fun or as a team at the neighbourhood cup. Everytime you're in the mood you can ask them to join you in a match (even against people you don't know), and it's quite possible at least one of your friends will be happy to do so. If you're bad they will try to help you improve so you can help them in that cup (goalkeeper status not discarted ). It's your duty to help your team mates and make things work when you play together. If you're good and friendly you'll get the chance to lead your team to its goal.

Bare in mind though that in some places people like other sports, so it just won't work to be with them.

I guess this sums up my experience about teams, I hope it wasn't that bad of a description (at least it's better than Astra's metaphor about marriage).

Quote from de Souza :

(at least it's better than Astra's metaphor about marriage).

I had no idea what you were talking about in most of that post!

having sex with the queen has nothing to do with marriage

I'd say it depends on the team.

The right team can help you to evolve into a better racer.
The wrong one can be like a millstone around your neck and slow your progress.

Quote from March Hare :

I'd say it depends on the team.

The right team can help you to evolve into a better racer.
The wrong one can be like a millstone around your neck and slow your progress.

thats what i gained joining Greek Virtual Racing team-->GVRt.

Tons of advices and help(setups strategies racing lines racing behaviour and everything about sim racing in general) everytime i screwed.

Not to mention the friends i met!(with some of them met-will meet- in real life too!)

Quote from mickyc30 :

having sex with the queen has nothing to do with marriage

luckily more and more countries allow you to get married if sex with queens is what youre into... certain finns might disagree though

If you're not racing in leagues and organized events who generally likes pick-up racing at public servers, then i'd say no.
On the other side, if you're into the above mentioned i think a good team could add a lot more to your experience with lfs. It also gives you access to great leagues like MoE and BOTT, where you can drive against the best of the best out there..

Before i joined a team i was generally bored about lfs - it was the same thing all the time, just driving around with peaople i got to know through public racing. I enjoyed it but it was boring over a long term.. When i then finally was lucky enough to join up with a good team i was introduced to a whole new level of simracing. Suddenly you got to know heaps of fast guys through leagues and such, and i immediately felt like my interest and motivation went up a lot!

Also, lots of teams communicates through teamspeak while racing, which adds some more excitement into the race itself. Before events it's often useful to create special teamsetups for that little extra speed, making tactics and discuss the set with other teammembers.. A team will probably give you lots of new elements to handle, and much of it is probably just like a real life team would operate.

However, it depends on both the team's/your motivation and what you want to do

Quote from Chriskart :

If you're not racing in leagues and organized events who generally likes pick-up racing at public servers, then i'd say no.
On the other side, if you're into the above mentioned i think a good team could add a lot more to your experience with lfs. It also gives you access to great leagues like MoE and BOTT, where you can drive against the best of the best out there..

Before i joined a team i was generally bored about lfs - it was the same thing all the time, just driving around with peaople i got to know through public racing. I enjoyed it but it was boring over a long term.. When i then finally was lucky enough to join up with a good team i was introduced to a whole new level of simracing. Suddenly you got to know heaps of fast guys through leagues and such, and i immediately felt like my interest and motivation went up a lot!

Also, lots of teams communicates through teamspeak while racing, which adds some more excitement into the race itself. Before events it's often useful to create special teamsetups for that little extra speed, making tactics and discuss the set with other teammembers.. A team will probably give you lots of new elements to handle, and much of it is probably just like a real life team would operate.

However, it depends on both the team's/your motivation and what you want to do

I'm definitely look for more of a real world team feel where you work together to help each other learn and get faster and race in league events. However based on the comments in this thread it seems like I need to spend a lot of time just working on my racing alone before any team would consider letting me participate.

Quote from jarmenia :

What are the advantages of joining a team? Especially for someone as inexperienced as I am? Are they helpful in learning the sim or is it more just a group of people to race with? Being in the US, it seems most teams are in Europe, are there any US teams?

I'm trying to learn and get the most out of LFS and am basically wondering if joining a team would help me in that quest.

All i can say is Go for a team wat has got many members and that are reliable.. i must of picked atleast 5 teams which havent done any good

Quote from Jordan2007 :

All i can say is Go for a team wat has got many members and that are reliable.. i must of picked atleast 5 teams which havent done any good

bad advice. Go for the team you like, don't jump at every chance you have to join a team, take time, get to know people and if you like, then you know your onto a good one.

Yeh thats what i meant xD

i Picked really good and fun Cruise servers until They Renewed the team or closed down the server

Look around at leagues you might be interested in participating in and look into the teams that race them. Get to know the members of the team of your choice. Decide whether you think they would be a good match for you and you for them. Ask if they have a Teamspeak/Ventrilo server. They may also have an IRC channel.

Add the team's members to your friends in LFSWorld so you can see when and where they are online using Live Alert.

Quote from Shotglass :

luckily more and more countries allow you to get married if sex with queens is what youre into... certain finns might disagree though

i think ill pass with the queen sex thanks i dont like dead possums

Quote from jarmenia :

What are the advantages of joining a team?

Dispite all that some say there can be great advantages being in a race team. Sets, training, skins, private servers, leagues, team races, team website, team forum Etc. ConeDodgers is the biggest team on the LFS listings and we have some great drivers (and some average ones).

We have team members who only use LFS every few months but others that on on every day. Our youngest driver is 16 and the oldest is 57 (you are only as old as the women you feel........).

Being in a team can be great fun and is certainly worth it.

Before you ask:

Membership of CD is by invite only but all i can say is put in some miles online and once you start winning races someone from a team will notice and will ask you.

We only have two team rules

#1 "Let birder win"
#2 "Refer to rule #1"

but if i threw people out for breaking it there would no members left.

Tip:

Make sure that you can leave the team if you want to or it can get rather nasty.

We allow that but have never had a member want to leave yet.

Teams form like clans or book clubs.. common interests and shared personal goals etc.

Humans congeal into groups. Religious people converge on churches, and atheists converge on Youtube. There are exceptions, but most people, in some way, have a toe in something extracurricular.. they join a band, a cycling club, or just always sit with the same people at the same table in the same pub, time after time.

All of the aspects of fellowship that exist, and people pursue, in real life can exist in an LFS team in equal measure. Team servers, Teamspeak/Ventrilo, team forums.. these are all just net-based versions of real-life connectors, and no less valid for that.

Joining a team is normal. It's natural. If it feels right, go for it.

Quote from SamH :

Teams form like clans or book clubs.. common interests and shared personal goals etc.

Humans congeal into groups. Religious people converge on churches, and atheists converge on Youtube. There are exceptions, but most people, in some way, have a toe in something extracurricular.. they join a band, a cycling club, or just always sit with the same people at the same table in the same pub, time after time.

All of the aspects of fellowship that exist, and people pursue, in real life can exist in an LFS team in equal measure. Team servers, Teamspeak/Ventrilo, team forums.. these are all just net-based versions of real-life connectors, and no less valid for that.

Joining a team is normal. It's natural. If it feels right, go for it.

Thats a great response Sam