Help for a beginner

[Old Crow]

I've been working with this sim for a couple of days now and have yet to even come close to keeping up with the AI racers. Not a chance of beating one. I (believe) I have the cars set up to be exactly the same, but from the 1st turn it rapidly turns into a one car race until about the 7th lap when the leader laps me.

Any ideas on what I may be doing wrong?

[al heeley]

you're just driving too slowly.

Have you set the ai on pro mode? try them on beginner
Are your controls set up properly for full acceleration and proper use of gears?
Have you reduced fuel level to 20%?
Are you racing a UF1000 against an FZR?

[Bob Smith]

Lol, you were doing well until you mentioned fuel. You realise that makes such a tiny difference to laptimes?

I see so many people when they join a server ask "how much fuel do I need" or, half way through a race "sh**, I've run out of fuel". Just set it at 50% and forget about it, better to lose a fraction of a second per lap and finish the damn race IMO.

Old Crow: try saving a replay of a race against the AIs and we can give you tips.

[Huru-aito]

Try the training lessons to learn basic car control and achieve reasonable speed. Then try racing the slower AI, gradually raising their skill level.


Are you racing a UF1000 against an FZR?
He's a demo racer :scratchch

[Resound]

Post a replay (spr file) that we can take a look at. We'll be able to offer much better advice if we can see what you're doing. Also, what controller are you using?

[farcar]

Hi there Crow,
I'm also a LFS n00b, but am starting to get the hang of it slowly and can usually beat the AI on Pro difficuly (although, that's not saying much really).

By far the best thing I ever did was to customise the driving view. Change it from cockpit to the view where you can just see the front wheels.
It makes it 10 times easier to hit apexes and use all of the road on corner exits, mainly because the view is central, not on the driver's side of the car, and there's no dashboad and bonnet getting in the way of your view of the road.

Apart from that, download some hot laps and watch the pros at work. learn their lines and braking points.

Lastly, there's no substitute for practice. Set up some practice sessions with a few AI cars, so you can learn the track and learn a few racing manouvers too.

Hope this helps.

[gunja]

Yes, as Bob say, any "what am i doing wrong" should come with replay for good answer to it.

[Zoltuger]

are you using a wheel and pedals, or the keyboard?

[isamu]

I'm in the same boat...cars are very hard to turn. Maybe it'd be better if all us n00bs were using an FF wheel. I do much better with a wheel than a controller anyways, but the wheel I;m getting isn't out yet :(

I also notice the sense of speed leaves a lot to be desired(maybe cuz Im using the Gti?). Any way to increase the sense of speed?

[Bob Smith]

The sense of speed is totally down to the width of the track. I've driven down a runway IRL and even 120mph feels like you're not really moving. Unlike half that speed on a B-road.

Obviously the GTi, being one of the slowest cars, is going to suffer more-so than the Formula V8 (for example).

[Blackvault]

Hello all

I'm new to LFS as well and I am a frustrating time with braking at the moment. Yes. I aceppt that I won't be that quick however its when I come to brake that is causing me grieft. Nearly every car (S2 licensed) swaps ends several times when I brake. The controller I am using is a wheel and pedals

Anything you guys suggest that could be the problem?

Thanks

Blackvault

PS Sorry for bad spelling - its 12:30 and Im tired.

[operator0]

Really, there's not a whole lot any of us can do to help you guys without viewing a replay. To save a replay, press 2 on your keyboard after a couple of laps. To retrieve your replay, browse to \LFS\DATA\SPR and you will see the replay you've just saved. Post it up on here and you'll get much better responces.

[Doorman]

Tip: Don't race AI. If any one of them turned up at a server they would be banned for life in 2 minutes! Complete thingies, every one of them. Bob, eventually your fuel mantra will get through. :D

[Doorman]

I just thought of something else. Most beginners simply try to go too fast. Trundle round and gradually get quicker. Trust me, I'm mediocre.

[B2B@300]

Bob what u say about fuel load i would agree but it depends on the car, the fox for example definately dosnt get impacted as much as the gti for example.. But in the gti the diference between a heavy fuel load and a light fuel load is noticable in lap times :)

[Bob Smith]

Actually I would disagree with that. The differences between an empty fuel tank and a full one are:

XFG: ~3% increase
FOX: 5% increase

So infact the Formula XR should show more of a laptime difference. However, fuel is added to the CoG in this car, whereas it's very rearward in the GTi. So the GTi's handling will be more affected than the Formula XR. I would suspect that this makes more of a difference to laptimes than the weight of the fuel itself, but then only if you don't drive around the difference.

[MarkMBT]

Hello all

I'm new to LFS as well and I am a frustrating time with braking at the moment. Yes. I aceppt that I won't be that quick however its when I come to brake that is causing me grieft. Nearly every car (S2 licensed) swaps ends several times when I brake. The controller I am using is a wheel and pedals

Anything you guys suggest that could be the problem?

Thanks

Blackvault

PS Sorry for bad spelling - its 12:30 and Im tired.
I'm still far fom expert, but I'd have said you're either braking too hard, or your brake balance is too far rearward. Try putting it more towards the front (i.e. higher number in the setup field). In a UF1000 I find 75% works well, with max brake force set around 315, for instance.

[SlamDunk]

This many replys and not a single replay files posted :p Come on guys, don't be shy! Post 'em .spr's :D

By the way... hello isamu ;) (if you are the same isamu from trackmania forums)

[chin chaw]

http://files.filefront.com/Chinchaws_lap/;4044280;;/fileinfo.html

heres mine.

[BlueSkunk]

hi,

i just started s2 but so far don't have the possibility to race online. the ai is ok to beat in pro-setting but when i'm looking at the record laps i'm getting all quiet and pale. that's a totally different ball game, it seems.

in order to outrule the advantages of some super setups, are there any records recorded with default setups? then it would simply be a matter of the driver and his/her practise/experience. i prefer the fxo-gtr, so i'd be interested to know for that car.

any infos on that??

cheers,

roland

[ayrton senna 87]

hey m8
there arent any WRs (world records) set with default settings as far as i know, your best bet is to just get online and start practising, u are sure to find someone of a similar level to you, not everyone is as fast as the WRs.

get online and u will learn alot very fast!

[Hallen]

hi,

i just started s2 but so far don't have the possibility to race online. the ai is ok to beat in pro-setting but when i'm looking at the record laps i'm getting all quiet and pale. that's a totally different ball game, it seems.

in order to outrule the advantages of some super setups, are there any records recorded with default setups? then it would simply be a matter of the driver and his/her practise/experience. i prefer the fxo-gtr, so i'd be interested to know for that car.

any infos on that??

cheers,

roland


Don't let the alien hotlaps get you flustered (well, OK, maybe just a little), you can race online and have good competitive races whilst being a lot slower than the hotlap pace. Most of the really good hotlappers are also really good racers, but I guarantee you they are not running hotlap speeds during a 40 lap race. Get consistent, watch the hotlaps for tips, but don't get frustrated if you can't get anywhere near those times. If I am within 3 or 4 seconds on a long track and a second or maybe two on the shorter laps, then I know I can race competitively online.

[BlueSkunk]

thanks for the support, guys. much appreciated. lots of supportive posts all over the place, i like that.

no, i'm not too worried about my current driving and since i'm quite motivated i'll keep practising.
one interesting thing i found out yesterday was that my pedals needed recalibrating and now i get better acceleration and topspeed :)) so i will see how much closer i get to the wr laps. hehe.

roland

ps: i watched the replay of westhill endurance race and one thing i was really impressed with was the fact that those guys tires rarely scream in corners (unlike mine) plus their cornering speed is often 10km/h higher. is that just throttle/wheel/brake cotrol??

[Nard]

Mmmm, that might be the downforce. Sometimes I use setups like that, where I have excessive downforce. It makes me slower on straights and I use more fuel, but I can corner at a higher speed since I get more gripping power from the downforce.

[ayrton senna 87]

blueskunk, the reason some people are faster than others is the fact that they are taking the correct racing lines, and can balance the car using the throttle and brake far better than newer guys, and are smoother with the wheel :).

fast peeps also 'control' the car rather than react to it. for example a fast guy would know the car was going to oversteer, and take lines that dont stress the tyres so much at that certain point, or correct a slide before it happens by balancing the car.

New guys would take the same line lap after lap, get the same sideways moment, crank on the opposite lock, and blame the setup, saying it oversteers, rather than automatically driving around the problem.

i hope i make sense lol

[Nard]

Haha, I guess that's a better explanation than mine. I read the rest of the thread and now I think my comment was pretty useless. I answered as if you had some experience.

Yeah, same thing happened for me when I wasn't following good lines. You can't go as fast and can't control your car as good.

It's all a combination of knowing the cars and knowing the tracks (but I think knowing the cars is more important), so just drive A LOT and watch others drive. You'll get better as you learn the cars' handling and how to take curves.

[Resound]

http://files.filefront.com/Chinchaws_lap/;4044280;;/fileinfo.html

heres mine.

29mb? That could be a video file like an mpg or avi but it's not a replay file. What we're looking for is an mpr file, it'll be <1mb and in your data\mpr folder. Drive for a bit and press "2" or just view the replay and it'll save automatically.

[AndroidXP]

By far the best thing I ever did was to customise the driving view. Change it from cockpit to the view where you can just see the front wheels.
It makes it 10 times easier to hit apexes and use all of the road on corner exits, mainly because the view is central, not on the driver's side of the car, and there's no dashboad and bonnet getting in the way of your view of the road.That's a good first thing to do, but after a while when you get better and hit a "time barrier" you'll want to switch the view again because you'll notice that all you do is watching the tyres and not the road. Personally I use a custom view still inside the cockpit but very close to the bonnet. The realism of this is debateable but it doesn't block your view like the standard cockpit view and prevents you from watching your tyres spin all the time.

Hello all

I'm new to LFS as well and I am a frustrating time with braking at the moment. Yes. I accept that I won't be that quick however its when I come to brake that is causing me grieft. Nearly every car (S2 licensed) swaps ends several times when I brake. The controller I am using is a wheel and pedals

Anything you guys suggest that could be the problem?If "every" car does this than it's the brake balance set too much to the rear, if only RWD cars do this than it's a bit of the brake balance and you downshifting too early. FWD drivers often have the habit of instantly downshifting when they start to brake so they use the maximum of braking force. But if you do that in a RWD car your unloaded rear tyres will lock faster than you can say "sandtrap" and that is where you'll end then too.

So, if you drive RWD, downshift late, or only into gears you know that won't stress your rear tyres too much (like on AS National in T1 in the XRR I can go straight to 4th when I start braking, but on T3 - the slow left turn - I have to slowly change gears or I'll cook my tyres and say hello to the wall).