do people race properly in LFS S2 fullversion ?

[CONEBEAST]

hi all

just downloaded the demo today an ive been thrashing it with my g25 for a few hours

i come from console racing (forza 2 , gt5p , f1 , grid etc) but after growing tired of the usual console crap of people not racing properly smashing u off the track in the 1st corner , slamming on the breaks when ur in a slip steam or swerving offline to block your pass (gt5p ps3 ) etc etc

ive started looking to pc racing sims for my fix , 1st stop LFS

ive been enjoying the demo but found the same immature smash derby racing im looking to escape , now i know its a demo an most of the people playing are new or kids who cant purchuse the full version

but PLEASE tell me it gets better in the full version :D

are there servers with full racing rules , peneltys for reckless driving etc when ive purchused a full licence ? after some good fun clean racing is all

cheers
Conebeast

[obsolum]

There's very high quality racing to be had in S2 servers, but unfortunately you also get the occasional "wreckers" sometimes, depending on which servers you play on. That being said, there are some demo servers that offer good quality racing as well. You just have to find them, I guess ;)

If you're looking for good online racing then you won't regret buying an S2 license. There are some very nice servers out there with their own points and licensing system, there are a lot of different leagues you can enter where you're almost always guaranteed that the racing is as clean as it can get, etc...

[M.vdBroek]

Yes, as far as my experience goes you never get bumped off the track on purpose! It surely happens sometimes you get bumped off but thats the sport. Also happens in real life so.

I would say if you enjoyed the demo buy S2 its only getting better! :thumb:

[Shadowww]

CTRA are VERY good servers.

[G!NhO]

Yes, as far as my experience goes you never get bumped off the track on purpose! It surely happens sometimes you get bumped off but thats the sport. Also happens in real life so.

I would say if you enjoyed the demo buy S2 its only getting better! :thumb:

Absolute-beginners.nl ^^

[M.vdBroek]

Absolute-beginners.nl ^^

Very true! We are still looking for beginners! :thumb:

[AndroidXP]

Yes and no. I'd say on average the quality of racing is better by a margin, but that doesn't mean there aren't idiots, bad drivers or outright wreckers. S1/S2 was pretty awesome when it started out and not many people had a license, but with the rise of popularity and relative anonymity racing standards pummelled and people started behaving more like they tend to do (like pricks) when the potential reputation loss gets offset by just being one out of many that is quickly forgotten about.

Nowadays it's mostly about finding a well adminned server, or working your way up to the higher levels of the CTRA license system. The racing there can be very good, but entry level servers can be a bit harsh at times. :tilt:

[Michael Denham]

Yeah, I've had some rough races in the lower CTRA servers, but in some of the higher ones I've had some of the cleanest and closest races I've ever had in LFS. :)

[StableX]

Yeah, I've had some rough races in the lower CTRA servers, but in some of the higher ones I've had some of the cleanest and closest races I've ever had in LFS. :)

you must need some practice on the FM starter oval then ;) kidding :) - good fun last night...

[Reini68]

Absolute-beginners.nl ^^

When is this server online? I found it once and raced a bit, but I couldn't find it the last three days. IMO there is a big need for a server for beginners. My typical lap-time on BL-GP with the FBM is about 1:20 (and my fastest are about 1:18), so I'm always at the back of the field on "normal" servers ... at least until half the field drops out and has to pit :D

But I think it would be a nice thing to race with people at the same skill-level.

[G!NhO]

When is this server online? I found it once and raced a bit, but I couldn't find it the last three days. IMO there is a big need for a server for beginners. My typical lap-time on BL-GP with the FBM is about 1:20 (and my fastest are about 1:18), so I'm always at the back of the field on "normal" servers ... at least until half the field drops out and has to pit :D

But I think it would be a nice thing to race with people at the same skill-level.
just go to the site and sign up.

the "absolute-beginners.nl[endu]" server is always online, you can find the server password at the right side of the site.
every sunday at 20.15 +1 GMT is a race, next race is South city town course with TBO cars. :)

so sign up and go practise... :D

[jervinz]

Thanks for the link...will register on AB site.

[R3DMAN]

Thanks for the link...will register on AB site.

im not what you would call a beginner as such, but i race now in cockpit, with manual everything, clutch gears the lot, and i also have the vibrations in the cockpit quite high so for me to go on a normal server i find myself too slow..

so i signed up for some fun racing in a view/situation like a real car. :)

[G!NhO]

im not what you would call a beginner as such, but i race now in cockpit, with manual everything, clutch gears the lot, and i also have the vibrations in the cockpit quite high so for me to go on a normal server i find myself too slow..

so i signed up for some fun racing in a view/situation like a real car. :)
you registered on AB too?

cool :)

[Reini68]

just go to the site and sign up.

O.K. just did that. If everything works out as planned I'll be there this evening. cu there ;)

[R3DMAN]

you registered on AB too?

cool :)

just registered about 2 hours ago.

[brandons48]

now i know its a demo an most of the people playing are new or kids who cant purchuse the full version


I'm 13 years old, my driving isnt bad, and i'm S2 licenced... :(

But i also experienced the same problems on GRID and GT5.. GRID was especially irritating because of the damage.. ah well. :shrug:

ON TOPIC, The racing in S2 is an awful lot cleaner... But i would find the racing experience alot better if i could get a decent wheel, no way i'll be gtting a G25 though.. :weeping:

[Eneko]

Very true! We are still looking for beginners! :thumb:

Looks good. I'm gonna sign up!!

In general, I think even in some demo servers the racing is relatively clean. I've seen people being kicked for misbehaving, even on demo servers.

[Reini68]

I've been there for two days now. Most of the time on the BL-FBM-server, but it wasn't as I expected.

First thing I noticed on day one, doing my personal best of 1:17:26 was the worst time by far in this race. Everyone else was driving under 1:16.

Second day wasn't satisfactory either. Doing two races, the first was running normal - except that it seems people don't stay for 10 laps. Second race was like hell. In lap 3 or 4 a guy came onto the track, forced me off the facing line, finished one lap in 1:13 did another extremly fast intermediate and left. Then, when on lap 6 or so, a guy crashed me out of the race - intentionally, as I was overtaking on the long straight and suddenly he turned the car right - throwing my car into the rally-course. So pit and restart. Then someone with the nick :>D (or something very close to that) appeared tried to start a game (while the race was still in progress) and then started to crash into all the cars he found, when I wrote "you should be banned" he claimed to be the admin himself (no need to tell me he wasn't I understand that). But as there was no way to ban these ... (insert whatever you like here) all the others including me left.

So my experiences were pretty bad so far. As long as there is no admin to help in such situations, and there is no way to vote to ban people like these, there is nothing that's going to draw me back to these servers.

To be fair, I have to state that there was a pretty nice and friendly community and race on the absolute-beginners [endu] server on tuesday, so it might be more correct to say the demoserver seems to suffer from these problems.

[AndroidXP]

Bummer on your bad experience, but this has to be expected on a not administrated demo server. :shrug:

[G!NhO]

To be fair, I have to state that there was a pretty nice and friendly community and race on the absolute-beginners [endu] server on tuesday, so it might be more correct to say the demoserver seems to suffer from these problems.

good, so are you gonna do the race on sunday? :)

[Reini68]

good, so are you gonna do the race on sunday? :)
Not sure now, depends a lot on the family.

Why do you ask? Want to see a mammoth defeat? :D

To be serious again: It might be interesting to join a race, never done this before. As it is FBM and BL it would be a good idea, as this is the combination that I feel most comfortable with so far. A real newbie, you see? :smileypul

[G!NhO]

Not sure now, depends a lot on the family.

Why do you ask? Want to see a mammoth defeat? :D

To be serious again: It might be interesting to join a race, never done this before. As it is FBM and BL it would be a good idea, as this is the combination that I feel most comfortable with so far. A real newbie, you see? :smileypul

well its good to have some new people in a race :)

In the S2 leugue the race is at South City town course with the TBO cars. :)
i think you mean the demo league, thats BL1 FBM. :scratchch

[Reini68]

well its good to have some new people in a race :)

In the S2 leugue the race is at South City town course with the TBO cars. :)
i think you mean the demo league, thats BL1 FBM. :scratchch
Ooops so I have a lot of trainings hours coming up 'til then. Couldn't manage to be within 15 seconds to the fastest, last time I was there. :x

[G!NhO]

Ooops so I have a lot of trainings hours coming up 'til then. Couldn't manage to be within 15 seconds to the fastest, last time I was there. :x
:tilt: just try and see where you end, next time practise more and you'll get faster laps. :)

[Jordan2007]

Yeh, I Try to race properly but im Useless :D, But if ur in the feeling to wreck theres always a LFS Banger Server up which is fun.

[niels1]

It is a lot cleaner in S2 servers. Still like many already stated there are several servers wich arent really well managed. If you want a clean race go to CTRA, with a system for yellow flags, admins etcetra.
DMR server gives you also good clean racing.

2 kinda of servers were you really can have a good battle and clean races with friendly people. Respect is keyword I guess in S2. I played many years the demo. But when I switched i noticed a great difference in respect and crashing. You cant expect to find a server which you like in a instant. There a zillion servers in S2 out there. Just need to find youre kinda of server.

[obsolum]

Oh hey Niels! I didn't know it was you who congratulated me yesterday on the dMr server :) I didn't know you changed your nick to Cueball, so I thought "do I know this guy? http://www.easysmileys.com/img/scratchhead.gif" ;) Good to see you're in a respectable team such as RSR :thumb: I remember you from my early days in LFS (only last year, lol) on the CTRA A server, before the X-system was introduced :)

See ya on track!

[Funnybear]

My experiance of S2 is that there is always a good race to be had. You do of course get the idiots, the young'uns and the numpty's but you get them anywhere. What you do have in S2 servers are well attended admin run servers that are well maintained. It doesn't take long for a known or new crasher to get the boot and banned.

Toleration of bad driving is far less lenient on the higher ranked servers. I race the GT's mostly, and the CTRA system is a great way to get your racing up to code and progress through the cars. Redline racing are another good server system and is Conedodgers. There is some great clean racing to be had out there, even if the occasional Nooblet ruins your day every once in a while.

[The Chickenman]

hi all

just downloaded the demo today an ive been thrashing it with my g25 for a few hours

i come from console racing (forza 2 , gt5p , f1 , grid etc) but after growing tired of the usual console crap of people not racing properly smashing u off the track in the 1st corner , slamming on the breaks when ur in a slip steam or swerving offline to block your pass (gt5p ps3 ) etc etc

ive started looking to pc racing sims for my fix , 1st stop LFS

ive been enjoying the demo but found the same immature smash derby racing im looking to escape , now i know its a demo an most of the people playing are new or kids who cant purchuse the full version

but PLEASE tell me it gets better in the full version :D

are there servers with full racing rules , peneltys for reckless driving etc when ive purchused a full licence ? after some good fun clean racing is all

cheers
Conebeast

Mate check out the Aussie servers, you will find league racing at www.ozbee-racing.com (http://www.ozbee-racing.com) we cater for all levels, and will start handicapping soon. Get your s2 you wont regret it, we race nearly every Monday night.

[hazaky]

People in demo or S2 who are not driving properly are going down to the banworld:trampolin

[spenceris]

yeah right... it pisses me off... im racing normally with bunch of a fast drivers over BL and still there are a few crashers who rams of you the road on purpose... if that is happening on S2 im not buying the game...

[NotAnIllusion]

Buy the game and you'll see :p Nah, it's not bad on S2 servers. It's very rare to see someone who's truly malicious by intent, and they're usually squashed within moments. Crap and ignorant drivers of course do exist, but that's why you can race on servers that have admins on them.

[spenceris]

Was watching CTRA servers on LFS Remote and i see their pretty good no big coalisions and no stupid drivers there.

[Furiously-Fast]

The race geeks go on those sorta CTRA servers and stuff like that. All the crashers go to DD's and Banger races. There are also a few more drift servers and cruise servers (not many crashers there...:))

[spenceris]

What do you mean by race geeks?

[J@tko]

What do you mean by race geeks?
http://www.raceauthority.com/stats/?licence=Beppo

and

http://www.raceauthority.com/stats/?licence=the+moose :D:D

Nah just kidding guys :tilt:
He means like the 'hardcore racers'.

But you'll also find lots of casual racers on there too :)

[The Moose]

http://www.raceauthority.com/stats/?licence=the+moose :D:D

Nah just kidding guys :tilt:
He means like the 'hardcore racers'.



:razz:

I've never been called a "Race Geek" before. It's probably an apt title, I think i like it. :D

[spenceris]

Yeah i thought so :) well im entering my first league today my first serious race actually
and well see how it will go on... how drivers will act

[DevilDare]

those who say that people in S2 race properly should get a gun out and shoot themselves now...... i was told the same "omg s2 races are clean, no wreckers everything is cool" got the game joined the server, and guess what. got rammed at full speed in T1.....

same story yerterday, went on some CTRA, nothing to do, thought do some laps, this dude called Milan (yes i am going to shame him) is just going around ramming into everyone, ask S14 Drift, the kid took him out when he was in the lead..... and he says "i am just trying to race" :shrug:

S2 is crap for pick up races, but its amazing for proper leagues, where wreckers are not allowed in.

[zeugnimod]

S2 is crap for pick up races

It's not. Just go to the right servers.

[The Moose]

those who say that people in S2 race properly should get a gun out and shoot themselves now...... i was told the same "omg s2 races are clean, no wreckers everything is cool" got the game joined the server, and guess what. got rammed at full speed in T1.....

same story yerterday, went on some CTRA, nothing to do, thought do some laps, this dude called Milan (yes i am going to shame him) is just going around ramming into everyone, ask S14 Drift, the kid took him out when he was in the lead..... and he says "i am just trying to race" :shrug:

S2 is crap for pick up races, but its amazing for proper leagues, where wreckers are not allowed in.

Utter rubbish.

If there are shitty drivers on CTRA then get them reported and banned. Idiots don't last long in CTRA. Of course it happens occasionally, but it's the exception rather than the rule.

I also race on the Dead Men Racing server, which is always a great standard. Idiots are always swiftly disposed of. :)

RSR runs a great clean server as well.

CD have a good reputation as well, and Redline Racing get rid of bad drivers pretty quickly from what i hear. They also get rid of ..... ahh, i wont go there :razz:

Don't go making out that is some sort of wreckfest on S2 public servers, that a gross distortion of the truth. Find the right places to race and it can be cleaner than any public servers from any other sims that I've ever tried.

I've done thouasands of races in S2 and only encountered genuine wreckers on three occasions that i can recall.

[VoiD]

Wreckers aren´t allowed in CTRA too. Any proof of his actions? Where´s the report you should have filled? I can´t see any races for you on CTRA yesterday...don´t post nonsens. :really:

http://www.raceauthority.com/stats/?licence=bulino+cz :banned
http://www.raceauthority.com/stats/?licence=Ivan+ST :banned
http://www.raceauthority.com/stats/?licence=Big+Daddy :banned
http://www.raceauthority.com/stats/?licence=Rudy+van+Buren :banned

Click on these infraction-quadrats to see more.

...just to give a few examples of reckless/wrecking driving style and the results. Driving on CTRA or established team-servers is proper racing.

[bbman]

:razz:

I've never been called a "Race Geek" before. It's probably an apt title, I think i like it. :D

Be sure to include that in your sig! :D

[The Moose]

Be sure to include that in your sig! :D

Done :p

[VoiD]

Hehe :D

[DevilDare]

Wreckers aren´t allowed in CTRA too. Any proof of his actions? Where´s the report you should have filled? I can´t see any races for you on CTRA yesterday...don´t post nonsens. :really:

http://www.raceauthority.com/stats/?licence=bulino+cz :banned
http://www.raceauthority.com/stats/?licence=Ivan+ST :banned
http://www.raceauthority.com/stats/?licence=Big+Daddy :banned
http://www.raceauthority.com/stats/?licence=Rudy+van+Buren :banned

Click on these infraction-quadrats to see more.

...just to give a few examples of reckless/wrecking driving style and the results. Driving on CTRA or established team-servers is proper racing.

yes i joined the server but never raced cos i saw no point with that kid ramming everyone..... ask S14 Drift he saw me yesterday.......

[VoiD]

Well, so stop moaning about bad driving in CTRA.

The $rep-thingie is there for a good reason. I´m pretty sure that "milan"-dude would be banned shortly if you filled a proper report.
I hope S14 Drift and other drivers reported him...

[DevilDare]

Well, so stop moaning about bad driving in CTRA.

The $rep-thingie is there for a good reason. I´m pretty sure that "milan"-dude would be banned shortly if you filled a proper report.
I hope S14 Drift and other drivers reported him...

yes they did, but why shouldnt i be allowed to moan? am i not allowed to be dissapointed with those kind of people unless they ram me? never said CTRA is a bad server, its the best one around s2, but even they get idiots. Never said thats S2 its full of em, but every now and then you cant race properly because of them...

[The Moose]

. Never said thats S2 its full of em

S2 is crap for pick up races

:scratchch

[DevilDare]

:scratchch

yeah ok maybe that xD

but it doesnt really connect to S2 being full of crashers. Anyway, yes S2 is milion times better than demo in every way you can think of. But its not perfect. end of :D

[The Moose]

Anyway, yes S2 is milion times better than demo in every way you can think of. But its not perfect. end of :D

That's more like it :p

I'll drop it now, you're from the town i was born so I'll let you off :)

[dan12s]

Anyway he has s2 now anyway :nod: good luck aswell, ctra rules! :D

[SamH]

yes i joined the server but never raced cos i saw no point with that kid ramming everyone..... ask S14 Drift he saw me yesterday.......
FTR, this (http://www.raceauthority.com/report_lookup.asp?ReportID=20850) happens when you file a report. I believe this is the character you're referring to. :)

[boothy]

http://www.raceauthority.com/stats/?licence=Rudy+van+Buren :banned

LOL, surprised to see he was allowed back on after a banning when I reported him, ID 18409. :scratchch

But yes S2 isn't a noob detector, it just means you're more serious than demoer, so most servers treat it that way - like in real life you find idiots you also find them in S2 servers - the difference being stupidity isn't tolerated.

[spenceris]

i mean why do people buy a game and ruin it for others who try to race seriously?

[VoiD]

Just two words: Social incompetence!

[Gentlefoot]

S2 servers are generally better than demo servers in terms of quality of racing. Some S2 servers are better than others. You need to get to know racers who you know you can trust and race fairly with and add them to your mates list in LFS world and join them when you see they are on.

However, there will always be idiots in LFS and any online racing game because there are no licence requirements, no global system for penalising poor driving, no age limits and no risk of personal injury.

So anyone who expects to race against exclusively clean racers in public servers is fooling themselves.

The best way to ensure clean racing is to join a league with clear rules and a system for penalising bad driving.

If you are rammed off by someone at T1 in a race don't let it get to you. Often you don't really know the full circumstances of the incident so it's best not to say anything to the driver either. He may have been rammed himself before he hit you. Unless you watch a replay and can see someone has actually rammed you intentionaly it's probably best not to say anything.

[modelmotorracing]

Often you don't really know the full circumstances of the incident so it's best not to say anything to the driver either. He may have been rammed himself before he hit you. Unless you watch a replay and can see someone has actually rammed you intentionaly it's probably best not to say anything.

Hear hear, I was effed at yesterday on CTRA by a guy who chose to blame the person that took him out rather than the instigator of the crash. In the heat of the moment some people rush to judgment. Best to stay cool, select first gear and rejoin, assuming your car is still driveable. You'll probably find the other guy in the hedge round the next corner. :) Also you can see when you arrive on a server, if there are lots of accusations flying around in the chat, that relationships between some drivers are "somewhat strained" (to put it mildly) and hence stress levels are likely to be high, which can in turn lead to more shunts as the red mist descends, so take extra care and give everyone lots of space.

[BlueMile]

I'll find out when I get my full licence but I suspect that it has more to do with people's personalities than whether or not they have a licence. One tends to believe that those that have paid for the game will behave better in general but of course one should expect exceptions. But it's their loss. Nothing beats a tight race with fair drivers. But of course "courses for horses" so I suppose it's a matter of finding the right group of people to race with.

[bandaid]

<snip>it has more to do with people's personalities than whether or not they have a licence. One tends to believe that those that have paid for the game will behave better in general but of course one should expect exceptions. <snip>

QFT! :thumb:

[VoiD]

QFT (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QFT) or QFT (http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/forumsandlists/f/whatisQFT.htm)...? :scratchch

Both seems to match. :D

[boothy]

"courses for horses"

You mean horses for courses :tilt:

[BlueMile]

You mean horses for courses :tilt:

I do. Oops! :shy:

[bandaid]

QFT (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QFT) or QFT (http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/forumsandlists/f/whatisQFT.htm)...? :scratchch

Both seems to match. :D

QFT (http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/forumsandlists/f/whatisQFT.htm) :thumb:

[K. Tsuchiya]

I suppose I am in the same boat as some, and not so much as others here. I don't want to sound like a whiny little girl here, but, I will anyway...

I tend to spend most of my time behind the wheel in a REAL car and don't find alot of time to race on LFS all that much and at the beginning (early S1) I was thrilled with TBO class racing, it was AWSOME!! But as time went on and LFS gained popularity, licences got bought up by alot of people, and overall, the more serious racers I used to enjoy a good battle around Fern Bay with dissapeared (moved to CTRA and such).

I'm not trying to knock CTRA here, but, it's useless for ME (not saying anyone else here) to get any further than 6th or at best 5th place in the "race1" server, hence making it pretty much impossible to get anywhere near racing my beloved TBO class cars (with clean fun drivers) as I enjoyed so much years ago.

Sure I can join a quick server for some TBO action(and it's nearly impossible to find one!), but, it's just not the same as 20 something cars rubbing panels leaving turns, trying to control the wild (to me) turbocharged power of the XRT and giving it my all to keep with the turbo shod FXO's and RB4's. Nobody is doing this outside a sanctioning body within' the community of LFS like they used to.

If you have time to dedicate to this type of thing (sim racing) of course the S2 purchase is totally worth every penny, but, if your just a "here and there" racer as I am, it gets more and more dissapointing to see all the "good" racers move further and further away from you. I have lost alot of interest in LFS aside from the Tweak mods, and the fact the AI have become alot better than most pick up server racers are.

I'm not saying it's not worth a purchase, just understand you need to be serious to get anything near prefect out of this. I try my hardest, but, obviously I am not that good of a driver, and more so not that dedicated to being part of a team/community like DMR or CTRA.

When the TBO class was open to entry with CTRA, it was the best racing I had ever found. And go ahead and look up my stats on CTRA, you will notice my level of frustration with the race1 servers as I have quit all but 1 or 2 races (since X-system) because of the fact I stand no chance at gaining a single point. I suck, big deal.:shrug:


Sorry this is such a long rant here, but, just figured being around since near the beginning and loosing touch with LFS all together due to the formation of really dedicated racing community's within' LFS that have taken away the good racers or the ones that made TBO class racing fun, I would add my two pennies. It probably don't matter a thing, but, if you have something you can suggest to get me back into the TBO class races that are worth it, I am all ears!

I never cared if I finished last in the TBO events, it was about the good fun clean racing you could have and the nearly uncontrollable power of turbo cars on street tires pushed to their physical limits. The improved physics and the bigger community would only make pick up server TBO races more fun than ever had the same racers stayed. Am I missing something here? Probably, and plenty of people will let me have it for this.

Considering a new hobby,


Ben

[obsolum]

There was a pretty good TBO server a while ago, called BTCC 2008 or something along those lines. It was very popular for a short while, but it seems to have died. I haven't bothered to search for it recently, but maybe you can find it using the filters and join (if it's still online). I'm sure it'll fill up once there's a few people on.

Of course, seeing as you're american you're kind of in the "wrong" timezone, I think. Not much you can do about that, aside from playing LFS in the middle of the night or whatever, depending on what timezone you're in.

As for you not being able to gain points on CTRA Race 1, I am 100% sure that that is solely due to you not persisting. You do earn points for finishing 5th or 6th or 7th. But if you don't have the motivation to finish races in the first place, well.... then you'll never get anywhere. That being said, CTRA Race 2 (the TBO server) has been pretty much dead for quite a while now if I'm not mistaken, so even if you did get your Silver license you probably wouldn't find much good TBO racing on CTRA either.

I think your best bet is to find that BTCC server and join it, do some laps on your own. From my experience I remember that it never took long before enough people joined to have some fun races. However, it seems to me that you're almost only interested in racing the TBO's. Nothing wrong with that in itself, there's plenty of people who only ever race one particular car. It's just that the TBO class isn't hugely popular at the moment. Or so it seems if you look at the server list. There seem to be plenty of people wanting to race the TBO's on this forum. Maybe there just needs to be some organized way for all the TBO fans to get together :shrug:

[Mille Sabords]

...That being said, CTRA Race 2 (the TBO server) has been pretty much dead for quite a while now if I'm not mistaken, so even if you did get your Silver license you probably wouldn't find much good TBO racing on CTRA either...

I agree with the rest of your post, however I do not think that Race 2 is dead at all...
Attendance is variable but once a few are in it magically fills up.
I had a few races there last night (endurance day, 14-19 laps on BL1) and apart from finishing my races 30 seconds later than the leaders (G25 effect! still 1.5 seconds off my mouse pb for BL1/XRT :)) it was as good and clean as usual, with above 50% drivers finishing the races.
Stick to it and the silver license will come by itself. Seeing how (not)fast I am, I'm pretty sure a majority of racers can reach silver easily.

CTRA grants points for speed but also cleanliness granted you finish high enough in the grid, better concentrate on this first! Speed (or some of it) will come eventually. Just race on race 1 and try to fight (fair) each race, even if out of points.

[K. Tsuchiya]

Thanks! It helps to know I am not just terrible at driving in general, I'm just not persistent enough to see it through. My issue, not LFS's of course. I crashed my motorcycle a few months back and just lately have been getting back into re-learning LFS with a wheel, online, and it's latest and greatest physics developments (raced off and on for the last year) and just re-discovered how great the XRT used to be.

Some time ago I was waaay into a server when the FBM came out, for the life of me can't remember which, that was running at an SO course and had ALOT of fun with that and getting back into LFS once again rediscoverd the TBO class to be alot of fun but was dissapointed to see that there were not alot of TBO races around.

Sorry to thread jack, but, I can't justify starting a whole new thread just to say what I said. Seems 50 new threads pop up every day here in the forums!

Again, thanks for letting me know the TBO class is still getting some lovin' from the community and I just need to keep at it to get there! You guys here at the LFS Forums are some cool guys!:nod: :thumb::thumb::thumb::nod:

[VoiD]

...I had a few races there last night (endurance day, 14-19 laps on BL1)

Argh :chairs: Missed that!

[ColeusRattus]

Also, if you have a Bronze License, the CTRA Baby UFR server is great fun, if you manage to catch it with a few racers on.

[Guy]

I would Reccomend you CTRA servers which are well controlled by mods , and there is always few crashers on server :shrug:

I reccomend you to get used to it and don't get nerved...


Or..you better pwn them in first turn,how about that :scratchch?

[DrBen]

YES, there are proper races with clean and sound racers to be found in S2.

No, not nessecarily at all times on CTRA anymore, I'm afraid.
I think it's got something to do with the points-measurement & reward-scale and, of course, with the jumped-up popularity this X-systen has seen in the last couple of months.
I started racing on there when still named "STCC" ...public something. And it was a huge difference to what you see "nowadays".

Reason? I see it as this:
when solely run with touring cars (i.e. near-stock-standard cars with road-tires) and the prospect of eventually qualify for that STCC racing-league - which unfortunately didn't live long enough to take off and lead the way to a strong following outside the reach of S2 - license holders, this was the best way to have fun in the standard-cars provided in lfs. There were virtually no servers on permanently running STD and TBO class anymore. Worse still, the beautiful lrf-class cars didn't seem to drag any attention to them outside the drift scene.
->Everybody was power-hungry, going straight to the GTR-class of cars and messing around mostly on the beginner-friendly and comparatively short-and-wide high-speed tracks such as Aston National
(as3). My team used to host such a server when S2 came out. Until encountering some tech-related problems that one was like bursting from within - with near 20+ racers being constantly on in the evenings. Yes, we are a fun-team and not into any form of professional server-hosting. Thus we had a few wreckers and -when one of us was on- so we gave out warnings and kicks time and again - making a fun environment for clean racing possible. And the overall popularity of that specific track grew by a huge margin - with new servers appearing out of nowhere.

THAT you see is the problem today:
As soon as with the x-system those new CTRA-servers got introduced and the licensing system was enlarged to the higher car classes, everyone and everything started to go rank-crazy. Thus relieving the CTRA-2 with it's TBO-class cars of the majority of its racers -> they are competing with the higher-ranked on CTRA3, now.

That's because there they get to race all the already-proven-to-be-fast competitors and -hopefully- some cleaner racing than on the newbie-grade CTRA-1. AND only on the higer servers they can effectively collect points to move up in the ranks, since holding e.g. a platinum license means _significant_ shortage of the received points when scoring some good positions racing in a beginner-grade car.

And there you have it: As soon as the license allows one will strive for getting points even faster -> thus moving to a higher car-class and joining most-likely the Racing-3 - given the almost-empty state of the tbo-class server.

Interestingly, some higher-ranked CTRA-users seem to join even the Racing1 for some pedal-to-the-metal fun here and there - so am I. I't simply because racing the road-cars is fun. And it's most fun with a large number of competitors. Only there is one catch: The Racing1 is beginner-grade. And today this doesn't mean you can expect clean racing all the time. Not even half the time, to be honest 'cause minor mistakes happen much too frequent and mostly all over the place on that one. Then there is the misconception of a lot of new ones how to behave plus the somewhat "nosy" atmosphere when things get chaotic...
...resulting in me leaving that place after a couple of sprints.

That said, the races sometimes are and still CAN BE MUCH FUN. It's simply a matter of WHEN to join a server and meeting the right people.

PLUS - simple but true:
most casual racers - who make up a large proportion of the CTRA "heavy-users" - just go by the 'not-empty' filter in the built-in server list. And there most of the time the Racing2 just doesn't sho up, due to a lack of racers. I have been joining it and started a race a few days back and it took about half an hour until some of the "lost sheep" that appeared on there (and some of them leaving straight-away again) settled for some good racing action. But, yeah, that takes some dedication and some time to come by.

Happy Racing
Heiko aka [D-R-T] Dr.Ben


PS.: shame the CTRA ditched the lrf server.

And here another tip: sometimes when not over-loaded with ppl the Jump'n'bump can be fun, too. Just try to stay out of it when the "cracks" go for time-attacs in the middle of the race. To be honest: that can confuse an acutal race as much as some newbies crashing on the first 2 corners ;)

[anttt69]

If you want proof that S2 gives some of the best (if not the best) online racing there is, then just watch this replay of the first round of the RSWC.

Absolutely awesome :nod:. IMO this is LFS at its best. Proper racing.

[P V L]

Also, if you have a Bronze License, the CTRA Baby UFR server is great fun, if you manage to catch it with a few racers on.
This was looong ago, since at least 4-5 month its free for copper as I told on

different places a couple of times before.:nod: So instead of spectating

a full grid in race 1 just join Baby-UFR and have lots of fun.