If I’m not mistaken, there are a couple of ways to do this but I’m not sure I quite have my head around it. Or maybe there’s a youtube video that explains it.
I’m guessing one way is to actually go into a race someone has set up at an appointed time and race real time with everyone else. Is that true and what do you call that?
And then isn’t there a way where you race people that have already raced that track and they stick you with them??? But I don’t really see how that could work. Because how can your car be interacting with cars that have already raced. Wouldn’t your involvement change the way a race goes? But regardless of if that works or not, is that an option and what do they call that?
And then I still don’t really have my head around some of the terms. I see people say “lb” referring to a car and I’m thinking POUNDS??? What does that mean. And then a lobby car… I understand a lobby car means it’s meant for a general tune but then I hear people say the go into a lobby and I’m like, what the heck are they talking about going into a lobby? A lobby is a room before you get into the heart of the building. Like a foyer. Sort of, right? So how do you race in a lobby? LOL.
I’m lost. I would like to kind of understand it before I set up xbox live so I know what I’m in for. The other problem is I don’t think I’ll be very competitive. I usually win my races in world tour mode, but I’m sure that’s not a good yardstick for skill level. Except I suck bad when they have you do autocross set ups. I really don’t like it. I fail usually.
The first way is normal online. It can be good or bad, depending on who you end up with. You could end up in a lobby full of the most hated kind of racers, ie cutters or griefers. Equally, you could end up in a lobby with nice people, or you could end up with both.
Then custom public lobbies (CPLs) where private rooms are set up to the host’s preference. These tend to be cleaner overall.
The other way is structured league racing on external sites. If you’ve ever seen the acronyms TORA, VM, FLMS, XPLR and the likes being thrown around, these are league races where there are virtual championships in certain cars and it’s all organised and ran by the community. I am quite active in these if you do so wish to look at them.
But at the end of the day, it’s what you want out of online racing. It depends if you’re casual and enjoy the odd race or you live for the race and the thrill of being the hunter/hunted.
So is a lobby a place that you choose once you’re online to race at?
A “Lobby” is just sort of a generic term for the group of people you are racing with.
For the most part, interchangeable with “Room” or “Race” or “Game” as in:
I was in a Game with 7 guys who were all faster than me…
I was in a Race with 7 guys who were all faster than me…
I was in a Room with 7 guys who were all faster than me…
I was in a Lobby with 7 guys who were all faster than me…
I always thought that the lobby was the screen or ‘room’ where all the players are, before the racing starts, to pick cars etc.
I.E. it’s called the lobby because it is the entranceway (lobby) to the actual races.
basically. when you join a lobby it will be the waiting room then you pick a car and wait for race to start. or in in a user created lobby you’ll have to ready up, you do this by selecting ready and pressing a. youll see it in the lobby. but conversation wise lobby = room = race as was mention above.
competitive wise if its your first time online racing ever, dont expect a podium lol. took me many months to just be able to finish a race and not get dnf [ did not finish ]. i guess a good measurement would be if you can beat the computer with the same exact car (no upgrades) on the hardest a.i. setting you’ll be ok.
also LB means leaderboard car. which means its the fastest, car for that class and track. normally it will be the top 10cars but it can be debated. more like a war…lol.
and as far as racing with someone elses car without them there. the way that works is in the rivals section of the online mode you race your friends/club members ghost. basically a replay starts wen you start and that way you are racing together. so in other words you are racing their replay just in real time.
a lobby car is an all around car. a hot lap car or time attack car would be a car setup for a specific track of similar types of tracks.
So when you do rivals the cars in the race are actually ghosts, like when you do a hotlap? So you can’t bump each other obviously. That would be good.
If you’re too slow in online, is that how you get DNF? Or do you mean because you wiped out and the car is caput? I would think if you try to play it safe and stay out of the way you might have a chance as a beginner. As long as you don’t get lapped. hehehhhehehe
When the first person crosses the line, a timer starts - if you don’t finish the race before the timer gets to zero, you get a DNF.
HTH
Toni
OK, that’s like when you race each other in a split screen. Got it. I forget how long it is there. 25 seconds or something.