rec.autos.simulators

A few years ago some of us used to get some kicks driving ovals in GPL.
It could be a bit hit & miss, but when it was good it was great. And
This morning I rediscovered that thrill in S2. In fact it took me right
back to IndyCar2 by modem with a mate. Only with rather more pixels :-)

Anyway. Oval, fast car, minimal wing. Much grinning. 'Nuff said ;-)

Andrew McP

PS Actually not 'nuff said. Watch out for drafting situation. You can
get sucked up the car in front's exhaust very easily, and while you're
in the danger zone your back end is looser than a busload of drunk
***s (not that I'd know anything about busloads of drunk
***s, sadly).

Oh, and I wouldn't bother going online until you can get into the low
38's. The low 37 guys will eat you for breakfast... though there are
plenty of muppets crashing to add spice to the equation and bump you up
the results page. Sometimes the tortoise can still beat the hare.

Yeah, it is fun, but the draft model's a bit uh, severe.  Very little effect
until you get right up on someone, and then it grabs you like a giant
slingshot.  Hmmm, maybe that's why they call it that... ;-)  But you're
right, you have to be ready to go around in a flash, or stay out of the aero
hole until you are; else you're going around when all your rear end grip
suddenly vanishes.  Not very conducive to cooperative drafting, but it does
make for some active pass/repass slingshot battles.  NSR's turbo draft has
nothing on LFS!  May just be a function of the F08 open wheelers' high drag
& downforce though; I'll have to see how it works in the slower, less
downforce dependent cars.

Definitely right on the last point, and even in the low 38's you're gonna
have trouble running at the front.  Finally figured the setup out and can
just hit 37-***s in clean air when the tires come in and the fuel load's
low.  I'm not really up on the nuances of LFS Multi, but it's a shame there
don't seem to be any practice/qual/race arrangements like you see in say,
NR2K3 - join in practice, go qual and then get gridded accordingly for the
races.  LFS races seem like constant chaos in comparison, with people
joining and leaving all the time (w/o lag on a good server, mind you), and
then having them run around pointlessly trying to get a vote on going to the
next race while one's going on.

Even at alpha stage, it's ***y well worth 12GBP though - nice job!

SB

Andrew McP

If the lead car isn't benefiting from the draft at all then this helps
maximise the "oops, I appear to be sitting on your engine" effect.

That's why I stopped pretty quickly with S1. No doubt the same will happen
again. As ever, league racing is probably the only reliable way to race
online.

Andrew McP

The biggest improvement this time is damage. Hopefully that'll force some
of the audience to grow up a little :-)

Andrew McP

Still good fun though, and I clocked up 100 points or so merely from
finishing consistently. I get as much of a kick out of being a safe
competitor as I do out of winning... whatever that is ;-)

Andrew McP

But if you're a DIY-guy, remember to take a hint from the Plate setups for
NR2003 and blow all the tires up to max pressure - I farted around trying to
nail the temp balance in the F08 and couldn't get under 38 to save me.
Finally punted on a hunch and voila!  If memory serves, that's something
that generally produces speed in LFS without ill effect in the length races
you typically see online.  Not intimate with LFS options, so I don't know if
there's an accelerated wear option for race hosting that would negate that
or not.  The more I mess with S2(still alpha, to be fair), the more I see it
as a bit "sim-lite", and still shy of the likes of Papy/GTR/RBR fare.  Back
to back turns in the F08 and Netkar's F3000 is pretty illuminating in that
regard.  But regardless, it's a lot of fun and a very well-done effort.
Still a lot I'd like to see in there that's not, but I'm glad to have given
them a few bucks along the way.  Good value.

SB

 > But if you're a DIY-guy

Thanks for the tips. I usually struggle with other people's setups. I'm
often better off tweaking a nice, safe setup slowly until I find my own
limit rather than starting with a fast setup and working backwards.
Otherwise I end up being a danger on the track, and I'd much rather be
slow & predictable than another pain in the *rse. There are enough of
those already.

DICKHEAD HAS VOTED TO RESTART
***HEAD HAS VOTED TO RESTART
***HEAD HAS VOTED TO RESTART
WHY WON'T YOU GUYS RESTART? I CRASHED. IT'S NOT FAIR!
FUKKIN RESTART!

:-)

 > The more I mess with S2(still alpha, to be fair), the more I
 > see it as a bit "sim-lite"

LFS has always been a bit of a strange beast. *** in some ways,
soft in others. For instance I'm less impressed now than I was before by
the damage modelling. You can treat the hardware very badly a lot of the
time and still carry on. A slight clip on the track can do limited
damage though, and perhaps it's not a bad balance for maximising
entertainment without alienating the bulk of longterm users.

The project's progressing well though, especially considering the team's
so small. Plenty of potential, and -- as you say -- good value for
money. I've had my money's worth already, and I haven't even visited all
the tracks yet.

Speaking of tracks, there are some really nice new additions, with quite
a few *really* satisfying corners and sequences. Ok, they're fictional
tracks, but that kind of thing's never bothered me at all.

Andrew McP

Right on that last count for sure!   Had to laugh yesterday in some oval
races when guys would crash out of 10th place 12 laps into a 20 lapper and
immediately start whining and hitting the "vote to restart" button.  And
every race took about 5-6 tries to get the first lap in without half the
field being taken out.  Not quite as funny was once when I backed off to
avoid a couple of cars crashing in front on a start and some bozo rear ends
me at full throttle, then starts screaming and voting to ban me.  And damned
near enough voted to do it, even though they weren't anywhere around and had
no idea what the kid was wailing about.  Vote didn't go through, and I ended
up winning from about 10th on the grid.  Screamer didn't finish.  Go
figure... ;-)

I've always been a bit off-put by the incivility of NR2003 races relative to
the good old days in GPL, but with LFS it comes across more as just kiddies
throwing tantrums than ill-mannered ***s.  Somehow that seems a bit more
tolerable...

Ditto; they've taken a realism approach in a fantasy world, other than some
who would have you racing over Mt. Everest or such.  Did some roadie action
at Aston Historic over the weekend and highly enjoyed it.

SB

 > with LFS it comes across more as just kiddies throwing tantrums
 > than ill-mannered ***s. Somehow that seems a bit more tolerable

Agreed. For some reason LFS has always sucked in the ***age "***my
ride" and car park racing crowd. They're usually too funny to take
seriously though, even when repeatedly whining.

 > Did some roadie action at Aston Historic over the weekend
 > and highly enjoyed it.

That track is excellent. A great excuse to break out the Mini :-)

Andrew McP