Time Trials from my view are a very important asset to racing.
On many occasions you would still mimic what you do in a public server to what you do in a LAN server.. tunnels, ramps, bridge jump etc. Much of the direction used is actually time trials, taking the fastest path.
On many occasions whilst in public servers in my 2.5years+ racing (and im sure others have) have i gotten the great laptimes that are possible on every map. Its harder to get, but still quite possible.
Many racers in the racing community can get these breathtaking lap times. Practice makes perfect. Now if i make the mistake of what would seem to make it slower but is faster, I try to remember and mimic it so i can do it on many occasions-sometimes successful, but rarely.
One thing i have noticed is you know who the good racers are, regardless of their position on the scoreboard. The scoreboard can be quite right, but you can never know all the details. Sure you might no for a fact that you won it from doing a great defensive manouvre and got in and your gunner scored and not you but you must also give them some credit. You might of picked them up so they DID get in your hog, they DID attempt to race. So they are just us worthy as that lap as you may be. Then people can join late etc. So many things change the outcomes on that scoreboard however if someone got that last lap and not you, they put themselves in that position, you helped them but they are just as deserving. Like you said also doesn't matter who wins or loses. Nor do i mind where i end up on the score board if i know that i've done my best. If i end up last, ill try harder for my team next time.
Also, if we see in a server that there may be 6 new racers on 1 team and 6 experienced on the other. We are going go attempt to even those teams. We arent going to let 1 team hang out to dry. It does happen, however we try to avoid it.
Last point. Time trials is the basic route, the obvious/standard path to take as it IS NORMALLY the safest. If i was in a hog with someone that could do a 60second laptime on Bloodgulch, id feel much more confident in there hog than someone who did a 100 with no interuptions. That faster driver knows the map, they know how to drive it. Whether from it setting the gunner up or from jumping of the cliff that has the 2nd last nav straight to avoice incomin rockets instead of turning round. They would normally be much more aware. If we did not have time trials, that could also mean the difference between a win and a loss (very important in captain scrims. If you cant catch an enemy rocket hog on deathisland say for e.g. because you can only get a 60 second lap time.. that could mean a loss. infinity normal nav.. cant get a 98 second laptime.. another loss.. getting to the centre of danger canyon before they get in a hog at blue and get to score or before they jump down.. another loss. On the contrary, time trials driving is an enormous part of the game.
just my
.
