Hello, I've never raced much with wind on so I never had any troubles with "it".
"It" being the fact than once you start the race, after that milisecond where the server puts the wind speed information on screen, you just don't know how strong the wind is.

It happens that lately I've running at races with some wind on a league.

Ok, of course you can "feel" the wind, and that's key if you're to adapt and race to the best of your capacity, but specially on crowded servers... something should done to deliver that information to the driver in a better fashion.

On a crowded server (say 30 people), there's usually some lag before the last car (or the admin gives the go anyway) clicks on ready and all cars are on grid and ready to race.
Then the laps (race length) show up and the wind speed beneath it, on a smaller font.

Problems is, it last for only 2 seconds or so and you could (as I did) EASILY miss it if you're focused on something else.

If we had the wind speed information on the F12 screen it would be really useful. We have the race length information there already...

Something I proposed in this post (not in improvement suggestions, I know) is to add indications of wind speed and direction to the minimap. Having wind speed in the F12 menu could be handy too though.

Or more flags around the track?

Or just use feel. Ya know, like in real life? Would you like the computer to do the driving for you too, as that's quite complicated?

It's not like we can feel the wind on our face when behind the virtual wheel, Tristan.

Although I agree with what you are getting at (that even if you know the wind direction and speed precisely, you still won't know how you need to change your braking points until you've got them wrong a couple of times).

I can't feel the wind on my face either! I wear a helmet on track

If wind is enabled you have to drive in such a way as to take account of it.

Quote from Meanie :

Problems is, it last for only 2 seconds or so and you could (as I did) EASILY miss it if you're focused on something else.

If we had the wind speed information on the F12 screen it would be really useful. We have the race length information there already...

Not to mention, Marlon, that it's what happened to me and maybe also happened to you on that race, I was really focused on checking if everything was fine (on F12 menu) and missed the wind, then that mess happened, and I simply couldn't avoid it because I didn't know how strong the wind was so I could change my braking point or something. People might tell me to slow down, but hey, none wants to lose even a single position.

You'd wonder how people cope in real life!!!! They don't even get a huge message telling them the wind, and the last time they knew what it was (when they got in the car 20 minutes beforehand) won't be much help.

I really really don't see the point. If you crash because you didn't take into account the wind then it justs shows a lack of talent and a lack of respect for your fellow competitors.

How many places did you lose Renvon by crashing? 5? 10? How many would you have lost if you'd have been cautious? 1? 2? Sounds like you chose the wrong option.

Quote from Bob Smith :

It's not like we can feel the wind on our face when behind the virtual wheel, Tristan.

You can tell by your straight line speed though.

If you had chaos because of wind and none was willing to slow down it might take another race or two but eventually the mob will realise to take it slightly easier the first few laps till then know how the wind is effecting them.

Depending on how well you know a track it is pretty easy to work out how wind is effecting you, simply make metal notes before hand in practise what your top speeds are at the end of each straight that in combination with wind direction from observing a flag or two and your set

I actually find it more engaging when you have to think about such things Imagine for a moment what it would be like if grip levels on the track changed throughout the race or even from lap to lap...

Quote from Glenn67 :

Imagine for a moment what it would be like if grip levels on the track changed throughout the race or even from lap to lap...

People would start threads asking for an option to colour the track according to grip, so they know how fast to go. Nobody wants to put any thought into their driving.

Maybe we should go back to S1 - non-wearing tyres, and non-changing cars, and then we can just use a macro to drive us around...

Quote from tristancliffe :

Maybe we should go back to S1 - non-wearing tyres, and non-changing cars, and then we can just use a macro to drive us around...

I know some that do want that and I'm not totally against it either for short quick races. But I prefer and always have prefered longer races and in such races the more variables that can come into play the more challenging and interesting such races will be and therefore for me at least the more fun they will be

And rainbowed coloured tracks uugh!

I've never had the wind affect my race that much. Sure, maybe your braking points move a bit or your line changes slightly, but it's never resulted in the "chaos" described above. The worst I can imagine is that you've got a tail wind that pushes you wide on a corner. If you've overshot it so much that the a strong tail wind puts you in the dirt then you were going wide whether the wind was there or not.

But the trackside flags are affected by the wind, right? So a few more of them visible at the end of a straight to remind you of the change should be more than enough.

If it's this bad now, imagine how bad it'll be if they ever properly model the whirlwind alleys that would result in the South City streets.

Quote from carey :

That’s what Vettel claimed caused him to run wide and loose the lead of this years Turkish GP.

There you go then. Clearly he needs a display in his cockpit that tells him how quick and in what direction the wind is blowing - all the time. I guess all of the other drivers, and him in every other windy race, must be using witchcraft

Quote from JJ72 :

You can tell by your straight line speed though.

That doesn't tell you the full story unless you're moving parallel to the wind direction. It's not going to tell you an awful lot about side wind (although you should be able to feel the push from that).

Quote from carey :

I want a wind sock on the end of my (cars) nose

That'll be useful once you start moving.

Jesus Christ.

Yesterday, when I posted this thread I've read it once again after it had been published and thought: "Maybe I was a little bit too much on the defensive side", as in I should've just asked for it instead of giving a reasonably (as I tought, of course I must've been wrong it seems) reason for the request.

I ran two races on the day of that "incident" (not being able to see wind info onscreen before the start), didn't get mixed up on any incidents, got on the podium on both races and adapted myself well to the wind, obviously. It's not like not knowing the wind as you're going to race with is the end of the world.

I'm not asking for an "aid", ot for an "arcadish modification".
It's just that IF the wind is displayed onscreen, then MAYBE it could be displayed elsewhere. Instead of only being shown for 2 seconds or so.

If the wind being show on the start of the race is useless*, then get rid of it being displayed at all. Why not?

ONCE it's displayed, I *THINK* that it wouldn't be a stretch of realism to have it displayed elsewhere too. Just as laps are displayed on the F12 screen. Sometimes you just miss it on the start of a race (and lag from a big field make it even easier to miss it), am I asking too much or being stupid about it?

I really don't see why that's apparently such a bad idea.


* I STRONGLY disagree with that, a 3km/h wind differs a LOT from a 24km/h wind. Both being a "light wind" possibilities, for instance. With a 3km/h wind you pretty much can go as if there was no wind at all and slighty correct your lines and braking points as needed. On a 24km/h wind you should pay CLOSE attention to the speedometer (since we don't get that "feel" of speed so well from a 2D screen) cause it WILL demand some drastic changes in your driving. So, KNOWING THE WIND SPEED, I'm not talking about direction or anything, IS PRETTY IMPORTANT.
If it could be displayed better, cool! That's ALL I'm asking for.

By displaying it "better" I'm talking about the very same information that IS given out at the start of the race before the lights go up. Nothing else.

If even that's stupid, we should remove it then.
But I don't think it's stupid and am strongly against it.

Maybe I made my point a little bit easier to understand this time?
I sure hope so.

Good idea. +1 from me!

Quote from tristancliffe :

You'd wonder how people cope in real life!!!! They don't even get a huge message telling them the wind, and the last time they knew what it was (when they got in the car 20 minutes beforehand) won't be much help.

I really really don't see the point. If you crash because you didn't take into account the wind then it justs shows a lack of talent and a lack of respect for your fellow competitors.

How many places did you lose Renvon by crashing? 5? 10? How many would you have lost if you'd have been cautious? 1? 2? Sounds like you chose the wrong option.

it was not really 5 or 10 positions, but 20 lol, I started in 5th and spun, then got back on the track in 25th :P

it was FOX @ BL1R, I had a spin in the corner before the long straight... wind was so strong that even slowing down, my outside wheels touched the grass and my race was 'lost'.

oh well, Meanie explained it all. :P

I thought drivers had a Team Radio where they asked and got answered the wind information...

Maybe in F1 or GP2, or endurance races. But surprising few race cars have pit to car radio.

And even then, wind speed info is almost certainly rarely given. The drivers sort that out for themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsdzrKL6v6M