LFS Replay Analyser 1.1

[wsinda]

The latest version of LRA is available from this post, further up in the thread.
Screenshots can be seen here.

Introduction
LFS Replay Analyser (LRA) is a tool for analysing telemetry files from the Live For Speed racing simulator. It can help you to analyse your driving and your setup, and to compare your own laps with those of others. LRA can display all kinds of telemetry data, in several types of graph.

LRA is open source software, distributed under the GNU GPL.

Three graph types, multiple graphs
You can open multiple graphs, to view several kinds of telemetry data in parallel. There are three types of graph:

• Normal graphs plot their data against the car's distance in the lap. These graphs can not only plot the absolute values for each lap, but also the difference with some other lap. This is especially useful when you select "time" as data type: the time difference graph shows where you lose or gain time, compared to other laps.
• XY plots allow you to select data types for both the X and the Y dimension. A well-known example of an XY plot is the traction circle, with the lateral G force in the X dimension and the longitudinal G in the Y dimension.
• Histograms are the classical bar charts, with the range of data values in the X dimension. The graph also contains an indicator of the average value.

Track map
The track map is the "radar" for the graphs. It shows which section of the lap is displayed in the graphs. A moving cursor reflects the position of the mouse, when it is above one of the graphs. This also works in the other direction: scrolling and zooming of the graphs can be changed by clicking or dragging the mouse inside the track map.

Driving line display
A zoomable top-down map of the track shows the driving line for each loaded lap.

Get hotlaps from LFS World
You can download RAF files from the hotlaps that are on LFS World, to compare them with your own. You can also download the replays; LRA will start up LFS to view them.

Synchronised selection of track section
The graphs, the track map and the driving lines show data for a certain part of the track, which you can select by zooming the graphs. This selection is synchronised: the graphs and panes always show the same part of the track.

Custom "Open file" window
The window presents a list of all your RAF files, and shows the main properties of each file: car, track, laptime, etc. You can also filter the list, so it shows only the files for a specific car and/or track.

Dashboard
The "legend" pane not only shows the names of the laps you opened, it also contains the "dashboard": a set of gauges that show steer, pedals, gear and speed, for the point in the lap that is indicated by the track cursor.

Setup data retrieval
Telemetry files contain several kinds of setup data, such as the settings for springs and dampers, and the gear ratios. LRA reads these settings, and displays them in the Properties pane.

Customisable panes
The various panes - Legend, Track map, Driving line, and Properties - can be resized. You can also move them to another position inside the main window, by dragging its caption. You can even "float" them, i.e. detach them and place them in a separate window outside the main window.

Presets
When you have positioned the graphs and panes to your liking, you can store them in a preset. Hotkeys and a toolbar enable you to switch quickly between the presets that you made.

[wsinda]

.. and some screen shots.

[amp88]

I don't think I ever used the first version of this, but this new version looks really interesting. It's very easy to use with no previous knowledge (as in my case), seems very powerful and appears very well-coded. I have one question and one suggestion though...First my question: How do you zoom on the "Driving line" and "Track map" panes? Now my suggestion: How about renaming the "Suspension travel left" parameter to "Suspension travel remaining"? I was a bit confused at first whether "Suspension travel left" meant on the left hand side (and thus, where was the right hand side) or how close you are to running out of suspension travel.

Anyway, thanks for the program

[Davo]

Nice tool. Add this one to the collection of setup making help tools. You can zoom on the driving line pane by using the scroll wheel on your mouse. Is there any more info you can get from the setup such as tyre, camber and diff settings?

[amp88]

Originally Posted by Davo

You can zoom on the driving line pane by using the scroll wheel on your mouse.

Ah, thanks, dunno why I didn't try that.

[wsinda]

Originally Posted by amp88

First my question: How do you zoom on the "Driving line" and "Track map" panes?

Zooming in on the driving line is done with the mouse scroll-wheel. (Hm, I think I need to add an alternative for users who don't have one.) The track map itself is not zoomable: it always shows the whole track. But if you make its window larger, the map is enlarged, too.

Now my suggestion: How about renaming the "Suspension travel left" parameter to "Suspension travel remaining"? I was a bit confused at first whether "Suspension travel left" meant on the left hand side (and thus, where was the right hand side) or how close you are to running out of suspension travel.

The name was copied from another analyser, F1PerfView. I can understand it's confusing. Would "Ride height remaining" be better?

Originally Posted by Davo

Is there any more info you can get from the setup such as tyre, camber and diff settings?

No, tyre pressure, toe-in or diff settings aren't in the RAF files. Camber-adjust isn't either, but live camber is. Read it from a graph when the car goes on a straight, flat stretch of track. The LFS Garage displays live camber, so you can tweak the camber-adjust setting until you have the same value.

[amp88]

Originally Posted by wsinda

The name was copied from another analyser, F1PerfView. I can understand it's confusing. Would "Ride height remaining" be better?

Thanks for the quick reply. Yeah, either "ride height remaining" or "suspension travel remaining" would be better, IMO. Just something to clear up the confusion.

I've spent the last 10 minutes comparing traces from the few hotlaps I've uploaded and I'm amazed just how much detail is viewable through your program. The effect of exit speed on terminal velocity down the next straight, in particular, is plain to see. I can see this tool being a great help for novice and experienced drivers alike.

If only the process of getting RAF files from SPRs wasn't so laborious, it's enough to put some people off I think. I understand there's currently no other way to get the data, but perhaps in a future release of LFS something could be done about it.

[DC2]

i like the tool,and it will help me to improve my laptimes =)

[Bob Smith]

Originally Posted by amp88

Yeah, either "ride height remaining" or "suspension travel remaining" would be better, IMO.

Suspension travel gets the thumb up from me. Ride height is still a bit ambiguous IMO as you may expect that value to be some else (ground clearance for instance).

[wsinda]

Originally Posted by amp88

If only the process of getting RAF files from SPRs wasn't so laborious, it's enough to put some people off I think. I understand there's currently no other way to get the data, but perhaps in a future release of LFS something could be done about it.

Some time ago there was a suggested improvement for an auto-save feature for RAF files, much like you have for replays. During hotlapping, LFS could automatically write RAF output. Then, at the end of a good hotlap session you'd only have to press "Save" to get a RAF file for each lap. The files can be named in a standard way, like SPR replays are.

[mikey_G]

Nice work dude, I like it

[JTbo]

This is very handy util to look how you drive, very nice and what is best it comes out same day I need one, lol.

Would it be possible to make tabs so that I would have one page with brake and throttle and another with suspension data etc. kind of customizable layout presets stored to tabs, then it would be even better to use as I could jump to see what suspension did and what I did in certain situation without needing to add and remove graps, of course I could have all there at same time, but that makes them so tiny small that is harder to see those graphs.


Oh indeed autosaving rafs would be really good feature in LFS, in other game I just need to start analyzer and I can choose any run I have driven as it has autosave on. Would be very nice to have such option, maybe at some point that will be added to LFS.

[wsinda]

Originally Posted by JTbo

Would it be possible to make tabs so that I would have one page with brake and throttle and another with suspension data etc. kind of customizable layout presets stored to tabs, then it would be even better to use as I could jump to see what suspension did and what I did in certain situation without needing to add and remove graps

Yes, It's in the plans. (With a higher priority now that you've asked for it.) You'll be able to save the current graph settings to a "preset", and to switch (with a hotkey) between the presets that you made. The presets will be saved with the configuration data.

[KMSpeed]

Very nice tool

I like that the mouse movement controls the position of the car on track, so it is very easy to assign the graph values to the track corners.

Congratulations, fantastic job

[traxxion]

Originally Posted by wsinda

Setup data retrieval
Telemetry files contain several kinds of setup data, such as the settings for springs and dampers, and the gear ratios. LRA reads these settings, and displays them in the Properties pane.

Seems like a nice tool, but this ^ is wrong in many ways....
In fact, I think it's against the rules in the license agreement... I will have a look if I can find it.


Edit: I can't find it at the moment, but I can recall a rule that implied the retrieval of setup information is illegal.
I would like to stress that I definitely respect your programming skills, but I strongly suggest you remove the above feature... for league races where setups are an important part of the preparations... this can nullify hard testing work for finding a decent (long run) setup.

Edit2: If I misunderstood, and this can only be used for spr, then the above doesn't really count (regarding the long run setup). But then it's still an unfair thing to do. If someone wants to share his setup he can upload it. If he doesn't want to, he should not be forced to in any way!

[wsinda]

Originally Posted by traxxion

Seems like a nice tool, but this ^ is wrong in many ways....
In fact, I think it's against the rules in the license agreement... I will have a look if I can find it.

If you look here, you can see that it was Scavier's own decision to put them in the RAF file. The setup data is there in the file, plainly, and available to anyone with basic programming skills. My program doesn't reverse-engineer the setup in any way.

And BTW, it's not the entire setup, and RAF files can only be generated from SPR replays.

[traxxion]

I see... ok then you've done nothing wrong and I will take my words back
I still don't agree with making this available though, but those words are adressed to Scawen now

BTW Just tried the app and it's just like real-life data-analysis software... very neat!

[Peptis]

This looks very similar to F1PerfView. Apart from showing setup data, does it offer any functionality that F1PerfView does not?

[wsinda]

Originally Posted by Peptis

This looks very similar to F1PerfView. Apart from showing setup data, does it offer any functionality that F1PerfView does not?

Ease of use.

F1PerfView offers a stunning amount of stats, but when I use it I spend most of the time moving, resizing and zooming windows, instead of studying the graphs.

[JTbo]

Originally Posted by wsinda

Ease of use.

F1PerfView offers a stunning amount of stats, but when I use it I spend most of the time moving, resizing and zooming windows, instead of studying the graphs.

This is true, with this app user interface is truly genious, so natural to use that did not need to even bother with instructions, very easy to operate and also presentation of data is so clear that even I can understand something from it

Even f1perfview is great for some, I have been put away from it mostly because of lack of user interface and that graphs are much harder to get. Ok, it has user interface, but it is from Sirius, design of that has done traditional way, this however seem to be designed with much more modern way, clearly here has been spent bit time to think about what user would need and UI has been build, clever part is background as it should.

[danowat]

Very nice, sorta like an F1Prefview lite, good job, I'll probably use it

[Peptis]

Originally Posted by wsinda

Ease of use.

F1PerfView offers a stunning amount of stats, but when I use it I spend most of the time moving, resizing and zooming windows, instead of studying the graphs.

I was skeptical to begin with, but it's very nicely done. It improves on many of the things that I don't like about F1PerfView and has a much nicer "workflow".

One thing, are the panes resizable vertically? That is, I can drag the divider between the graphs and the track map left and right, but I can't seem to drag the divider between the graphs up and down.

[wsinda]

Originally Posted by Peptis

One thing, are the panes resizable vertically? That is, I can drag the divider between the graphs and the track map left and right, but I can't seem to drag the divider between the graphs up and down.

No, unfortunately not. The library I'm using for managing the panes does not allow this, it seems. (Even though the mouse pointer changes when placed over the divider.) I'll look into it again.

[Nick A]

Looks great! I've never tried F1PerfView after I read it was not very user friendly. It actually looks quite good though, but this looks even better. Could someone please post a raf file so I can try it again, I don't have LFS with me at the moment? Thanks.

[danowat]

Here you go, not particularly good or anything.

It's easy to make your own RAF from your own replays though

[Davo]

1 raf isn't really much fun. 2 or 3 is where it's really happening

[Nick A]

Thanks! Probably a stupiud question but what is the "slip ratio"?

[Bob Smith]

The ratio between the speed to the tyre is moving at along the ground, and the rotational velocity it is spinning at. Positive values are essentially wheelspin but two accelerate you need a forward force, which is created by a slip ratio. So there's always a few percent of slip ratio even when the are coping.

[wsinda]

Originally Posted by Nick A

Thanks! Probably a stupiud question but what is the "slip ratio"?

It's the relative difference between a wheel's speed and the car speed. ( wheel_speed / car_speed - 1 )

On straights, the slip ratio is close to zero, meaning that wheel and car are moving at the same speed. In corners, the inner and outer tyres turn with a different radius, so there will be more variation.

When the wheel is blocked (e.g. under heavy braking), the ratio goes towards -1. If this occurs several times in a lap, or with more than one wheel, you should lower the brake force, or tweak the brake balance.

A slip ratio of > 0 means that the wheel is spinning. If you see it at corner exit, you're pressing the throttle too early. It might be solved by adapting the setup for more grip (tyre pressure, diff settings, or downforce).

EDIT: Bob beat me to it.

[Nick A]

Thanks for the replies. From what you said I take it that the comparison is made between the rotational wheel speed and the C of G of the car, rather than the speed calculated at the location of the wheels (to take into account the extra/reduced speed the wheels travel in relation to the ground due to the cornering radius)?