OK I am understanding better now. Thanks. Also, do consider public servers to be any unlocked server or only _public servers. Reason for asking is that I'm not sure if there is a dintinction regarding where people get help, teamspeak, etc. Also, I know some leagues only lock servers during events. Do you consider this public or still league? Reason for asking is that I can see people getting support on both unlocked league servers (a la SR4l) and also on public server (a la DD rookies or Fanatics). I guess a follow up would be how to know who is welcoming noobs and offering advice and who is not. Is there some established norm for this?
It would help if rf2 showed us where we are (if you are on the server it should say on top of the screen where the track name is, which server you are on) Or allow us to bookmark a server. so when one finally finds a server with friendly/helpful peeps or setup in a way one likes, they can return and become a regular. League racing improves people's skills very fast but becoming a regular on a server also does the job. its just hard to find those again atm. Leagues always want to recruit so if they are running public servers it is very likely they will first try to help someone before they get fed up and boot. There have been only a few times we have booted people from our servers and it was almost always because they just did not respond to us at all, whilst they[insert something that disrupts] One thing I always do, on any server, is share my setup to all, even when they don't ask for it. and on our own server we normally ask how we can help. its often just the small things. (and for us a good way to recruit 'normally' as people will want to return) But, when in public servers I see allot people whom are struggling that are not responding, as if they are not aware people are talking to them. So one thing for sure: make sure you pay attention to chat every once in a while. don't just leave when things don't work out. there are helpful people out there! Or just ask. And if you mess up for others by mistake, a simple sorry will go a long way and much easier for others (and admins) to accept and move on. because stuff just happens anyways. no biggie. Have to say Galaga, in your quest to help people, the term noobs is somewhat negative. Also I doubt many will see themselves as noobs so they might even ignore help-threads like these, because, you know, they not noobs so why check it out
Irrelevant I think. As a certified lifetime noob, I assure you that no advice offered can effectively make you better. Only way to get better is with constand practice and an occasional jumb into a fast guys cockpit. Also trying to follow him around (without overdriving yourself) is a good tutorial. Sure, being offered a nice setup is a good thing, but this is the most help you can get (endless discussions about General Caster and Camper didnt help me ever) and if you dont already know your way around the track, a setup will not help you a thing. Most importand is people in a server being friendly and dont scare off newcomers. Anyway, its been long since Ive seen a lunatic at the loose hitting and throwing people out of track. I think the quality of newcomers is steadily rising. I strongly believe the best way to learn (for some quickly, for others like me sloooowly), is to go online and race with real people so you understand what is the real pace in a track. There were a lot of discussions about this, many fulfill their racing needs with AI, a lot dont give a damn about them, you cannot talk to them and you cannot really race with them, they are so predictable, a human never is. All I ever learned in 10 years of offline racing was how to restart a race quick when AI beat me
Well firstly... not to call them "noobs". Secondly... to not tell them what to do, no one really likes to be told what to do or how to be.
@Tim Wheatley, if possible would you please replace 'noobs' with 'new users' in the title of this thread? Also, FYI, I have made a second revision to OP regarding online particiption by noobs...er.... candidates for future sim racing glory
I've never seen that video before... cool stuff! It also makes a good point why Lime Rock, small as is, presents a perfect learner track.
Best advice ever. I used to run with a group called Clean Wheel Racers on Forza. Great bunch of guys and running with them helped me tremendously. I went from getting lapped to actually being "in the race" with those guys just with the tips and so forth and just putting in laps. They had even complimented on me on how well and fast I progressed. Some positive feedback is always nice to get while you're learning. I even made a video way back then for the few of us who were just getting dusted ,lol. Something to give us some hope some day to be better. I've been running with other guys in rfactor 1/2 and I know I would suck bad if it wasn't for the early experience. Just race is the best advice when beginning.
This is my advice also- you can learn better from real people in a live situation and there is no substitute for the real thing.....the sim racers i have encountered have been mostly friendly and forgiving. There are certainly people racing the historic cars that would do laps with a noob at their pace and offer tips so noobs can make friends pretty easy just by showing up, most of us are happy to bring new blood along for friendly competition that builds the ranks of rf2 simracers. Live racing with real people is dynamic and there is no substitute for that kind of experience if you want to learn.... I have seen comments directed at noobs to 'get offline and practice' but i dont think it is the norm to see those comments. As i say, go to one of the servers with people running historics and you won't be likely to hear that... have fun.....do laps and do some more, try to be smooth not fast ....
If you're talking about Formula 1 2014 season, then you are absolutely correct, no doubt. If I would give advice to any newcomers to rF2 who are new to sim-racing (I'm new myself, but new-er people I suppose) is to NOT give up on a car just because it is hard to get the hang of. I've seen so often (and said myself once or twice) that 'this car is impossible! Noone could possibly drive this thing, it's soooo unrealistic!' just to realize later that I hadn't given it enough time and effort. Especially the Skip Barber...every newcomer should start with this car, and drive it to perfection...then you can drive ANYTHING else this sim throws at you, no problems at all. It takes time and dedication, but the payoff when you finally hit that sub-1:00 lap in the Skippy at Lime Rock is like nothing else in gaming. You'll thank yourself for sticking with it through the seemingly impossible learning curve.
Curious. Is this sub-1 minute club for national or regional. I'd like to try myself. I like benchmarks like this. Reminds me of my first century bicycle ride.
Sub 1 minute with the national on LRP no chicanes using the default garage setup, would be what I thought they meant as it refers to newer drivers. Seems hard at first but really isn't. If you aren't getting it within an hour I would be thinking bad control settings, input lag, or something else holding you back. Assuming you can drive in real life. Not sure if you can do it with the regional I rarely use it, might have to go try. Edit: just tried maybe they do mean Regional, I was able to get sub 1 minute after a few laps getting the tyres up to temp. Preset light rubber on track.
The national Skippy at Limerock No chicanes, can lap around 57 seconds, a bit easier if you tweak the car a little to make it a little more understeery and gain some traction (soften rear bar and lower rear ride height). But You can do it with standard setup too, it's just a bit harder.
+1 Also agree - best concise advice I've seen in this thread. I would only add that if you truly want to make yourself a better ONLINE racer quickly, and feel a little intimidated going online right away, run every practice lap as though it was real. What I mean by that is treat your on track time with respect. Make your goal to NEVER need to hit ESC because you've plowed through a corner at mach5 and ended your session in a glorious fireball! Seriously, your goal should be no off track incidents - period. Once you can do that, just get laps in. Then put more laps in. Then do it again. It's actually not bad advice to limit the number of tracks you practice on too. Pick one or two you like and just run a stupid number of clean laps. By the time you can manage to run 30-40+ laps with no off track incidents, and feel as though you are pushing yourself [safely], you will have learned a multitude of lessons; tire management, fuel load relief, mental endurance and more.