Hi All,

Relative newbie to LFS and I’m mainly into the single seater racing. I’m currently only a S1 licence holder but want to get some more practice to be competitive before I go S2. I use a keyboard and mouse combination for the Blackwood Formula BMW (FBM) racing but I’m really struggling to find a setup I am comfortable with. I want a base setup that I’m comfortable with then can tweak a bit, as I don’t want to spend hours starting from scratch.

I have plenty of real racing experience but not much sim racing experience. The main issue I am having at the moment is while I like the standard FBM_Blackwood setup; 1: It EATS front tyres to the point after 3 laps I’m cruising around on full lock turning into corners, the Titanic would probably steer better and 2. I cannot get below a 1:16 laptime with this setup.

So get a different setup you say? I have tried, from other threads on here, various setups.

https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/69600-Blackwood-FBM-setups

From here I have tried Trema, Jachna, Bawbag and Panic vaihd (which has done a laptime of 1:11.98) and my best lap now is about a 1:15.7 BUT the main issue with me is rear end stability. None of these setups give me any confidence in the rear even though they are faster than the FBM_Blackwood setup, every single one when under power the rear steps out (bear in mind I’m using a keyboard/mouse combo). It’s power traction related as opposed to aero grip because on the fast corners it’s fine, It’s only under power is spins out and being a game, you don’t get the feel you get in real life. So at turns 1, 4, 5 and the final turn at Blackwood, coming out of the corner I am always tentative on the throttle or if not, then correcting lots of oversteer which gives me no confidence to push. I feel I’m used to the game, car and track enough now know know that I won’t get any faster until this is sorted.

So, any tips for setup? Do I need to get a steering wheel?

Thanks in advance.

Okay, coming from the S2 Keyboard driver, you can also ask AirAttack drivers for setups. They wont give you their top, but 2nd or 3rds for asking. And if not, just keep looking around and asking. Plenty of online people understand your problem, so its not new. It also helps to do these things to be faster:
Wheel&pedal
Manual Gear Change

Finding a setup you like is hard. But, do you really want comfortable or fast? Trust me, the FBM is a breeze to work with setups, at least under my condition, as compared to the FOX & FO8 where the backend pops out every time I'm downshifting to 1st gear.

Thanks for the reply. Oh yes I know about the comfortable/fast argument, the truth is when I tried some of the setups mentioned I instantly gained noticeable improvements in laptime, but being consistent was the hard part.

Looking at some videos online, it seems that most fast BMW laps are loose on the rear, but their corner speed looks much faster than mine, so I think I'm lacking overall grip.

I will for a start, ask AirAtack, thanks for that. Do I get hold of them on this forum or in their servers?

Just go on any of the good clean demo servers (AA as mentioned are great) and ask on there if anyone can send you a setup to try. You may get a few idiots on demo servers but you also get plenty more who will help you.

Another thing you might want to try is if you upload a replay of a couple of laps of your driving on here you may get a lot more detailed advice as people can then see exactly what you are doing and point you in right direction on how to help correct things.

Good luck and the main thing keep practising, remember some of the guys you mention in your first post have over 10,000 laps on that combo. Speed and consistency will come

At which value did you set button control rate?(Option > Controls) If you say you are struggling to keep it straight on corner exit, maybe the value is a bit too high(ie: it goes from no throttle to full throttle too quickly). I'd suggest to set it to 2(minimum value), and see if you make any improvement from there.

Feel free to upload a replay in this thread. Maybe even upload an hotlap on LFSW and check the hotlap analyser(http://www.lfsworld.net/rafa/) to see on which points of the track you are losing time on the fastest guys.

Quote from Welshie :

I have plenty of real racing experience but not much sim racing experience. The main issue I am having at the moment is while I like the standard FBM_Blackwood setup; 1: It EATS front tyres to the point after 3 laps I’m cruising around on full lock turning into corners, the Titanic would probably steer better

Does the set use R1(softer) or R2(harder) tyres? R1 can be quite tricky on tyre management. LFS' tyre model is a bit broken on some aspect, one of which is tyre heat. You can check tyre temperature with F9. If the core of the tyre turns lime green/yellow-ish, they're probably over-heating.

Quote from Welshie :

Do I need to get a steering wheel?

You don't -need- one in the sense that some driver can be pretty competitive and find enjoyment without. But the game is so much more fun(and probably easier) with a good, reliable wheel.


Hope this helps.

Quote from Welshie :

Do I need to get a steering wheel?

Maybe, you wrote you have difficulty to "feel" the car. FFB wheel is not like real life but better than keyboard/mouse. One can learn how to drive with keyboard..but some things that KB drivers have to learn come just natural with wheel. Like feeling grip, catching a slide or driving a different line when you overtake...All maybe possible to learn with keyboard, but not as intuitive.
And you can do races longer than 10 minutes because it is possible to scratch your nose without crashing

And you can do races longer than 10 minutes because it is possible to scratch your nose without crashing

i agree, you simply wait for a straight.

Quote from GAVD999 :

Just go on any of the good clean demo servers (AA as mentioned are great) and ask on there if anyone can send you a setup to try. You may get a few idiots on demo servers but you also get plenty more who will help you.

Another thing you might want to try is if you upload a replay of a couple of laps of your driving on here you may get a lot more detailed advice as people can then see exactly what you are doing and point you in right direction on how to help correct things.

Good luck and the main thing keep practising, remember some of the guys you mention in your first post have over 10,000 laps on that combo. Speed and consistency will come

Thanks, I might just do that. I looked last night though and couldn't find an AA demo server for FBM, only rallycross. All that was on there was MrC and Animal. I'll look again tonight. I raced last night and improved 7/10s to do a 1:15.00 so I'm getting there. I think I need a pretty big setup change to make up 2 more seconds or so though so I'll work on that.

Quote from Gutholz :

Maybe, you wrote you have difficulty to "feel" the car. FFB wheel is not like real life but better than keyboard/mouse. One can learn how to drive with keyboard..but some things that KB drivers have to learn come just natural with wheel. Like feeling grip, catching a slide or driving a different line when you overtake...All maybe possible to learn with keyboard, but not as intuitive.

Agreed, It's just a casual thing for me while the weather is good but later in the year when we are stuck indoors all winter I intend on buying the S2 licence and getting a wheel, thanks for clarifying what I thought.

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

At which value did you set button control rate?(Option > Controls) If you say you are struggling to keep it straight on corner exit, maybe the value is a bit too high(ie: it goes from no throttle to full throttle too quickly). I'd suggest to set it to 2(minimum value), and see if you make any improvement from there.

Interesting, I never knew I could do that! I'll certainly try it next time I play, thanks!!

Quote :

Does the set use R1(softer) or R2(harder) tyres? R1 can be quite tricky on tyre management. LFS' tyre model is a bit broken on some aspect, one of which is tyre heat. You can check tyre temperature with F9. If the core of the tyre turns lime green/yellow-ish, they're probably over-heating.

That I'm not sure, I will check tonight. The setup I've downloaded and currently using is much better in terms of tyre life so I'd imagine thats using harder ones. But you've all given me something to ponder next time I get to my PC, thanks

Quote :

Hope this helps.

Helped a lot!