Are you thinking of setting up IL tables for the individual tracks? I used to run this game 7 years ago and picked it back up seeing as it's here, and to learn the tracks I'm doing time attacks. It would be fun to submit those times as well. The game has a good time attack mode, allowing for both FLAP and 3LAP times.

Yes! Its my bad, I forgot to add them... Give me about 10 minutes. Glad interest was shown really quickly :D cant wait, buddy!

Thank you! I noticed you added difficulty levels, but it appears that in time attack it doesn't matter: even though it will save three different sets of records, depending on the difficulty selected, you will always drive as if you were playing on hard. For example, this is my FLAP on Beltane: It was played on easy but you can clearly see I am hitting speeds that would not be possible on that difficulty level. As such, I believe that the only way to time single laps for easy and normal would be on race mode, which isn't the best, but still possible. Could you also add the 3LAP category? I find it much more challenging, therefore interesting, because you need to pull three consistent laps in a row. I find single lap records more like something that eventually happens when trying for good 3-laps. For now I'm submitting only Veitland because I'm not that happy anymore with my previous times, since I achieved those a few days ago and I feel my skill has improved in the meantime. Edit: nevermind, I tried submitting but I can only input integer values for the seconds. There might be an extra setting in the configuration to enable decimal places. There's not much point in rounding up laptimes.

I also have a rule clarification to ask: by default cars do you mean only the base 8 initially loaded in the game, or any of the 16 that are installed in the game? Apparently the engine can only load 8 cars at the same time, so if you want more you need to swap them out. I consider all of them as "default" but I'm not sure if you do. It's not like it matters much anyway since they're just cosmetic, and what matters is the manual setup.

Excellent! Thank you for all your info, man! Indeed, I meant the base 8 since I never tested any other addon vehicles, because none of them pleased me... And that's also why I wrote "at least for now", because I wasn't sure if the other cars were also only cosmetic. I was worried about the truck, for example. Thank you once again for your feedback, buddy! Looking forward to your submissions :)

-Removed difficulties from IL -Added "Time Attack" & "3 Laps" categories -Enabled "Time in MS" -Updated all rules

Thank you again, I started submitting some times.

I figured out that the reason some of my records hadn't been saved by the game was not because I played time attack on different difficulties, but because there's a small oversight in the game's programming: times and ghosts are saved only when you press "OK" on the screen at the end of a 3-lap run. If you instead choose "CONTINUE" to have another go, they aren't discarded, but neither saved. However, if after that you choose to restart an attempt by pressing Esc and going back to the menu, they do get discarded. It's not a huge problem for me as I had recorded everything, but I did end up with some discrepancies in the records between videos and what the game had saved. I'm glad I found out this early so I know not to repeat that mistake.

As for the cars, they are indeed only cosmetic, but I realised I don't know if the AI, which is forced to used the cars loaded, is independent of their default settings. If it weren't, it would affect the run. In my championship attempts I had one of the AI cars as a Jaero (which I believe has the fastest default settings: 100/0/80/20/100) and didn't notice it being generally the fastest, but I was also playing on Easy so the relevance may have been negligible. I am almost ready to do a proper full run on Easy so for that difficulty I will restore the 8 default ones; after that I will work on Normal and Hard difficulty trying to mix them up a bit in my early attempts, and maybe figure this out.

Don't mention it :D

Thank you for looking into that. I (and future runners, I'm sure) truly appreciate it.

About the AI, if you watch my "Hard" run, you'll notice that they're a tiny bit faster anyway. They got "fastest lap" a few times, and caught up to me frequently... Rubber banding, maybe?

Now, about your runs, I have accepted them, BUT, for future reference, could you please do "Time Attack" in "FREE RUN" mode and "3 Laps" in the "3 LAPS" mode, just so it is easier to differentiate between them and doesn't confuse future viewers/runners?

Also, I've realized that showing the vehicle chosen and it's stats on video, while time attacking, might be really annoying, therefore, next time, while time attacking, could you please put, on your run's description, the name of your vehicle and what are it's stats? I have no idea if I could replicate your runs reliably (judging by your "3 Laps" run, I'm assuming you used Saber with 100/0/80/20/100. Could you please confirm it?). I will update the rules on "Time Attack" to reinforce this.

I hope you understand, but if you have a different idea, I'm all ears :D

Cheers!

Now, about your runs, I have accepted them, BUT, for future reference, could you please do "Time Attack" in "FREE RUN" mode and "3 Laps" in the "3 LAPS" mode, just so it is easier to differentiate between them and doesn't confuse future viewers/runners?

I understand what you're saying and generally I do try to get fastest laps when going for free runs, but the thing is that sometimes fastest laps just happen when going for 3LAP runs, beating the time I had previously set, unintentionally. That is why some of my single lap records are like that. I didn't think there would be a problem seeing as that's often how it's done in games like this anyway, for example in MK64. If you check their single lap records (https://mkwrs.com/mk64/) you'll see they're all the second lap of 3LAP runs. Of course, for MK64 runners there's the technical difference that they NEED to do them that way, for the 3-mushroom strategies; I just didn't expect it to be an issue. I completely agree that getting records in free run mode would be the best way to showcase them, especially since they also contain sector time information, but how should we deal with laps that are actually faster, however still fully legitimate, but scored in a different mode? Additionally, I know that your fastest lap in Roc beats mine, but you set it in your Hard difficulty championship run. To me, that is still a legitimate record that could be trimmed from the full run and submitted.

Also, I've realized that showing the vehicle chosen and it's stats on video, while time attacking, might be really annoying, therefore, next time, while time attacking, could you please put, on your run's description, the name of your vehicle and what are it's stats? I have no idea if I could replicate your runs reliably (judging by your "3 Laps" run, I'm assuming you used Saber with 100/0/80/20/100. Could you please confirm it?). I will update the rules on "Time Attack" to reinforce this.

I'm sorry, when I was submitting I knew I had to add some additional information, but I had a brainfart and couldn't figure out what that was. Yes, I play everything with 100/0/80/20/100. I will remember to add that in the next submissions.

It's my intention to post another thread with strategies, ideas and info about things like best lines to avoid the bumps that slow you most etc., including discussion about what would be the best settings. I've seen you preferred a 50/50 split between grip and handling, but after trying it I found out I prefer having stiffer steering (Handling 20) but less oversteer (Grip 80). It might be a matter or preference, or one of the two might just be overall faster, but we don't have enough data to draw definite conclusions.

Hey, man, no need to be so apologetic! I'm learning about the game as much as you are! I didn't mean to come across as passive-aggressive, though it may seem that way when writing, unfortunately.

It wasn't really an issue, more like to be clear as to what you're running... My logic was that, once your fastest lap finished, I saw the 3 Laps and it confused me for a second... You know what I mean? Since we have both options, might as well use it. Let's try this way, at least for now. Especially because of the sectors. I also agree about championship laps being valid, but I don't think it would be fair, you know? For example, my Midtown Madness speedrun broke tons of individual levels' records, but I wasn't trying to, so I didn't think it was fair to beat others' records that way since they're different categories... I don't know, maybe I'm being too strict here, but it feels wrong. Moreover, it seems that there wouldn't be any different strategies anyway, and it's just you and me that are running this, thus far, sooo... Tell me your thoughts!

And about my setup, I just felt like 50/50 (on "Hard". On "Normal" I used 45/55 and "Easy" 40/60) would be pretty good for most races, since you can't change your setup mid-championship (Edit: actually, you can. Just forgot about it, since I didn't.)... For Individual Levels, different setups would definitely be ideal... I'm sure you would agree.

And don't worry about forgetting to add the setup, I've edited them in for you.

Cheers, buddy! :D

I didn't think you were passive-aggressive, that's just how I type! I'm not great at conveying emotions via text and I have an unhealthy love for punctuation :D

I don't agree with your idea of what is a fast lap, but as long as the rules are clear and equal for everyone that's perfectly fine. I will make my first objective, then, to beat my irregular times so they can be replaced with proper versions.

There's one thing that I have been doing on 3LAP that I didn't explicitly say: I always start with the accelerator pressed. The timer starts when you cross the S/F line the first time, but you have free control before that. If a track starts uphill you could let yourself roll a bit backwards to get more speed, and as far as I can tell, even though I haven't actually tried, you could just turn around, drive going the wrong way for a while and then turn back, making it so even the first lap is a full flying lap. I never did it because it would mean having to setup every new run instead of restarting it instantly, but it would definitely be the way to get the fastest times possible. I was completely against it, but as I was typing this paragraph I started realising a good case for it being acceptable can be made. What do you think?

Since the game allows it, I don't see the problem. Will update the rules to make it clear that it is allowed.

Hey! I was thinking about uploading some IL times. The rules state that "extra vehicles" are allowed, does this include the ones you need to patch in (BTH expansion stuff) or only the 8+8 in the GOG version? Asking this because I'm pretty sure there are some cars that are definitely faster or have different handling. Even the base 16 have some minor differences, mostly acceleration, top speed and turn radius. Cya on Io :)

Hey, Splaysh! Yup, its fine, since the game allows you to change the vehicles' stats either way... have fun! Will be waiting for your submissions :D Cheers!

Alright, submitted 3 IL runs on the first few levels. By the way I found the old, or more like "ancient" leaderboards for this game: http://web.archive.org/web/20010922182550/http://qball.simplenet.com/pod/ghostsio/top5.html

Unfortunately you can't download the ghosts. Most of these times are completely insane! I don't think we'll beat them anytime soon :D I'll submit a few more ILs over the next weeks, slowly learning all the tracks again. Cya!

Wow, I guess that proves that cars aren't just cosmetic. I tried out the Shark and it's levels above the stock ones. I only had played around with the ones in the main game, I didn't even remember there were these extra from the expansion. I knew that site with all the records existed, but I couldn't find it. I'm glad to see it's on archive.org. It's a great resource to find out the best setups for each track.

Oh well, I guess all of my records are instantly obsolete now.

Dang, then I dont know what we should do... Should we only allow the base 8? It would be really boring to see everyone using the same vehicle, but thats just an opinion, which is subjective...

No, I don't think that's necessary at all. Evidently the differences were there even on the other cars, just more subtle, while it does appear that the BTH cars are a bit overpowered. Besides, now that we have the times from the old leaderboards it wouldn't make sense to restrict ourselves to cars that have no hope of beating them.

Maybe for the full game runs it would be a good idea to separate POD Gold and BTH categories, but for ILs I'd happily leave them open as they are.

That sounds like a good idea, actually! Now should it be the base 8 cars; 16? And it really means nothing that we have the old times, since we dont even know how they were set. You cant just presume they were valid.

Sorry, but what is "BTH"?

Also, I dont agree with your "evidently" statement, since it is evidently not evident. :P

Now should it be the base 8 cars; 16? The cars that Splaysh found are from some of the extras that Ubisoft released. For some reason not all of them are included in the GOG version of POD Gold, but some are, like the Jaero. So I would say make a category for only the base 8, and one for any officially released car? Also, I dont agree with your "evidently" statement, since it is evidently not evident Yeah well, it became evident when I beat by 1.5s on the first flying lap a record I had spent 50+ laps getting.

That said, Splaysh's lap on Bank is fantastic, I can't find the last 5 tenths that I need to match it and it's driving me mad.

Question is, are we playing "POD Gold (GOG)" which has 16 official cars, or "POD: Planet of Death" which has 30+ cars? You could argue that most of the extra cars aren't officially in POD Gold, and are more like mods (even if they were released by the developer). But if someone still has all the old CDs and extra content, is he playing the same game as someone buying it on GOG? Having 2 categories: "16 cars (POD Gold)" / "All cars" kind of makes sense, but I'm not really sure.

@RocketToMars, are you playing with automatic or manual transmission? Automatic makes you lose some time at the start of Bank because it goes back into 5th gear. Also check out this guy's vids: https://www.youtube.com/user/Podrob/videos Unfortunately he only made runs on the first 10 tracks, but he was one of the top guys in the leaderboard!

Yeah, I was using manual gears. It helped me shave off a couple of tenths. I think I just need to get better. Unless, I was wondering, are you by chance using analog controls? I always assumed the game only had digital inputs, but it's not like I have an analog stick to try. The config doesn't specify if joystick or wheel are actually analog.