When did you feel yourself start to be "locked in"?

[greenymac]

Just curiousat the replies. I'm not sure what happened, but sometime between Friday and Saturday night all of a sudden a different level of comfort in-game came upon me. By "locked in" I mean when you finally started breaking through the beginner stage and started being a real nuisance ad a threat to your online opponents. I'm sure most of you may not even remember or were never really the rookie on the track, but try. All the varying responses should be interesting. Me personally, earlier today when I started racing, something just felt, well, different. I was losing by 5-6 seconds to 4-5 guys that were way higher ranked than me, but it was just me falling off or getting knocked off the track in screwed up ways. But then, i had a race where I made no major mistakes, made the podium. Then another with no major mistakes and its the last lap sebenco climo. I notice that me and 1st have broke away and I'm breathing down his back. I make a pickup and its a quake. I notice him do a rollbetween the second and third turns and again betweeen the 3rd and 4th. I knew that his energy had to be somewhat depleted so i use the quake just before i go over another pickup. next pickup was rockets. Fawk yeh! The quake smacked him before he could get airborne over the hump b4 the speed pads and the tunnel. I barrel roll land, fire and destroy him as i cruise to a 4 sec victory... Man, after all the speed laps and practice to try and get better, it was so satisfying! Sorry, for the rant, but the Grey Goose is actually speaking in clairvoyance through me at this point.

[Kyonshi]

What i see here is that you used a major process to win in WOHD: efficient pick-up usage and management. Its not only grabbing the opportunity; its efficiently reading the game. Its anticipating what the opponent will do and measuring the effect it will have on him. Consequently, you can have a clear idea of what to do with the pick-up you get, whatever it is. You got it right and you won.

Most rookies think that speed is the only thing that matters in WOHD, but they're wrong big time. The more often you play, the more you realize that this game actually requires that you use your brain cells to win and not only your reflexes, although they are critically necessary. Seems you seized how to win in this game buddy! :)

There's those moments when you feel to be "connected" to the game and that everything responds accordingly to what you want to do. After multiple wins, people will leave the room, seeing they are no match for you, whatever they do. It happened to me quite often, so i think i know what you mean.

[Colonel]

I'll let you know when it happens mate :lol

[blackwiggle]

From your description it sounds that you finally feel really comfortable with your knowledge of the tracks, and instead of the need for a high proportion of your concentration being used on not hitting the side walls, which is what rookies need to do to survive, you have now learned the tracks so well that you can leave that portion of game-play to your subconscious to do automatically, and are now free to start concentrating more on tactics and what the other pilots are doing around you.

That's why all old timers say the most important thing anybody can do to be a great pilot is to learn the tracks.
It takes countless hours doing SL & TT to get there, but then suddenly you find everything just clicks.

Unfortunately if you don't keep the practice up you can lose that ability to some degree :redface:, and it can take a fair while to get back to a good level, and longer to get back to equal to when you were piloting at your best.

[Sausehuhn]

I actually have that moment every time I play the game.

Most of the time I need a few races to get back to my normal racing abilities. Often I also need the first lap of a race to „feel“ how the track works. When I race a track two times in a row, the second race turns out to be better in almost every case. It’s not like I need a reminder of how the track works or where the pads are, it’s more like I need a whole lap to feel at home on the track.

That’s why I have more Eliminator and Zone Battle races online, as they are more forgiving when you don’t have a perfect first lap ;)

And then, and that’s the highest high I can get from the game, I feel totally „locked in“ when I have the feeling that I’m flying with auto pilot, as I really have exactly the feeling I do not steer the craft when going around cornerns. Sadly, that ends most of the time when I realize there is indeed no auto pilot active ;)

[UB3R~JKP]

I'll let you know when it happens mate :lol

:+ Laughed out loud there!

[Aeralys]

I know what you mean. When starting out online I was getting consistent losses ending up in 5th and 6th, but I could feel a gradual sense of improvment every time. It's strange to now be giving good competition to people I remember, seeing the names of when starting a few months ago, that would be 7+ seconds ahead of me in every race.
Playing online teaches you the hard way, and it pays off.

It's also nice to see your win ratio in the statistics slowly ironing out all the losses. Mine's getting close to 50:50! xD

[IndoorSnowStorm]

Personally, I don't like the "locked in" feeling. I get the podium most of the time, and occasionally get first. So I'm almost there. There are some moments where no one can beat me, but I don't like it. I want someone to beat me. I want the challenge. For me that is what makes the game awesome: that there are a bunch of people out there who are always better than you to give you a fun challenge.

[Aeroracer]

i was locked in the minute i turned on the game.i wouldnt know when i started to beat seasoned online players as i have never lost a game online yet....well the draw with chuck norris didnt count.:p

[Nutcase:259]

I get the feeling occasionally. like if im side by side with someone i can just focus on them and shadow all their moves, its like autopilot almost, i cant even hit the walls.
also sometimes when im in the lead its as if sideshifts are automatic

[slimjim]

i can honestly say i dont think i have locked in im always at the beginner stage

[Aeroracer]

no one is ever truely locked in as no one wins forever..your only locked in whilst no one better than you is online and your winning.
im always locked in when i play my brother its cos he is crap at the game..

locked in is just an illusion that can come and go like the rain or sun..but maybe im just talking poop..who knows

[Oryx Crake]

I'd say locked in is just a state of being when you just get the game and you can say all the errors you're making... I got locked in to wipeout a long time ago HD though dont have an answer for that maybe my first top 100 time on the leaderboards... honestly though I just love to play with great pilots the challenge is exhillerating like I'm sure I've said before I'd rather be a close second to one of the greats than a secure winner to newbies. thats my sentiment anyways

[Aeroracer]

i agree.the struggle is best part..when your at the top you can only go down whilst your there its boring..i like to climb best of all:)

[Oryx Crake]

yeah my last casual 1v1 against DP made me feel absolutely great sure he beat me 5-2 but damnit 2 wins against the DP I blew a gasket cause of the excitement!

[greenymac]

I think you guys are missing what I mean by being locked in... I mean when did you start to have that base familiarity...maybe when things started happening on instinct... When you started to read the races better and play your role... When your item management started becoming better. Generally I'm saying when did you start to become noticably more adept with your piloting... Oryx Crake I think has the right idea about what I'm thinking.

[ion harvest]

When I have had a few beers. That's when I don't think and I just go for it. It all makes sense but too many beer and it all goes wrong.

[MegaGeeza22]

I got locked in when yeldar taught me to sideshift properly and i managed to beat Zico!
But online i can only play 3 to 5 races a day because it just bores me...
my Wipeout average now is 2 hours a week. maybe less.
Maybe im getting locked out lol.