Please contribute to your community. I'm especially looking for information that you can't just google, i.e. personal experience, pros and cons, opinions...

LFS - free content-limited demo / S1 license (more cars/tracks) £12 / S2 license (even more cars/tracks) £24
+ development in progress - working on new tyre physics and game content
+ fully compatible with G25 and most other peripherals
+ low system requirements, basic but very functional graphics and sound, fery flexible gfx/audio engine and controls
+ good multiplayer but racing sometimes ruined by idiots and trolls on free demo servers, also most servers are located around EU (high pings from overseas *)
+ quick and easy pickup races
- outdated graphical engine

rFactor 2
+ lots of mods to choose from
- need to have correct mod(s) for different servers

simraceway

Project CARS

Assetto Corsa

iRacing
- difficult quickly pick-up a race *
+ good global multiplayer performance *

"great multiplayer code"
no the net code for LFS is horrible.

Interesting topic. I hoped there would be more sims described by now. I'm quite interested on our forum's take on rF2, simraceway, project CARS, Assetto Corsa etc. Which one would be the best to invest in (other than rF2)?

Quote from NSX_FReeDoM :

the net code for LFS is horrible.

Compared to...?

Quote from NSX_FReeDoM :

"great multiplayer code"
no the net code for LFS is horrible.

lol...

And what's better? iRacing certainly isn't...

(Though I do think that should be one of the top-3 improvements on Scawen's to-do list.)

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

lol...

And what's better? iRacing certainly isn't...

(Though I do think that should be one of the top-3 improvements on Scawen's to-do list.)

I think iracing is definitely ahead. You need to keep the comparison meaningful though. With LFS you are most likely racing on server that is on the same continent as you. With iracing most europeans race on american servers for example. Try to do that with lfs. Or nkpro...

As to the OP I don't think progress is one of the LFS positives. In fact LFS is the slowest developed racing sim. Nkpro, iracing, rf all beat it hands down. Even nkpro has totally beaten lfs in development speed. Both on quality and quantity. Tbh anyone who says the development of lfs is one of its strongpoints is delusional.

Lfs definitely has many strong points.

The strengths of lfs is that it just works, it is bulletproof and doesn't crash. No bugs, is simple to use and probably has the best support for 3rd party server mods. Lfs is also cheap, there are still tons of users and it also has active userbase and at least on european hours good amounts of racers online.

Other nice details also include skin downloading, stats tracking and forums that work and are moderated. Autocross editor definitely serves a mention. Tire physics has some advanced features like flatspots and visual tire deformation and does fairly good job. Plus physics look really good in motion even if lfs isn't the best screenshot or video tool.

The cons are really simple as well. The tracks available are very poor in terms of quality andalmost offensively bad in terms of quantity. While every other sim has trakcs available for them in hundreds and thousand in better quality lfs offers just few unimaginative tracks and configs.

And the car selection in lfs is not very good either. Most of the cars are totally different what one might expect to find in a racing sim. Also some parts of the physics model are extremely basic. The aerodynamic model is extremely basic and basically every other sim does it far better.

Biggest con for LFS is the lack of development imho. LFS is just dying for lack of content imho. It is for me just downright bizarre how the sim still has the same boring tracks and no new ones since 2005...

Anyways, that's how I see it.

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

lol...And what's better? iRacing certainly isn't...

Really? iRacing has the best netcode I've ever experienced.

If you have so much free time, why not knock out a couple arcade classics.
Need For Speed Porsche Unleashed?

NFS Porsche is completely different to other NFS titles, dated but well worth trying. Same for Grand Prix Legends, looks old even with the community mods but the physics are comparable to anything released since.

There was a really neat simracing comparison on wikipedia, but sadly they didn't think it was informative to the general public so it got deleted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_racing_simulators

you can still check a version (from 2010 though) on archive.org

http://web.archive.org/web/201 ... ison_of_racing_simulators

edit: it moved to a gaming wiki apparently

http://gaming.wikia.com/wiki/Comparison_of_racing_simulators

Thanks Troy, nice link.

from that comparsion looks like RBR and nascar 2003 is the competitor of lfs

By far LFS's strongest point is how easy it is to just pick up and get into a server without problems with

1: All the populated servers being passworded (rFactor)
2: All the populated servers running mods you don't have or don't like (aaarghMeganes..) rFactor
3: Having to ridiculously make and keep appointments just to race against other people (iRacing)

Quote from The Moose :

Really? iRacing has the best netcode I've ever experienced.

I agreed. I am in Australia and most LFS servers are in Europe. This gives me a 300+ ping (sometimes even 400+ ping) most of the time, and it means all the cars are jumping across the track pretty intensely.

But when in iRacing, I can be on my phone's internet (3G teetering through iPhone 4, ping of 150+ even in local servers) AND on an European/American server with absolutely no visible lag whatsoever. I can have REALLY close racing comfortably. It is certainly something I can't do on LFS even with my fast internet.

http://speedtest.net/result/1856087368.png

Thank you guys so far, I updated the original post.
Still have to go through pricing though.

Please give more feedback especialy on your experience with various peripherals (KB/mouse driving, steering wheels compatibility), driving "feel" etc.

All racing sims are compatible with G25, so adding it as a plus for LFS is bit pointless. Instead, you could point out that it has best support for mouse and keyboard players.

Pricing is also something that should be mentioned, LFS is very cheap but rFactor 2 will offer most amount of content for your money once the mods start to roll out. iRacing is by far the most expensive but all of the content is high quality and you don't have to mess around with different versions of tracks and cars to find the one people are racing online.

I have Simbin simulations installed in case I don't play LFS (like now). It's more like a good arcade simulator and I really like it's supporting mods same as rFactor and such. A little bit better in content and relatively cheap. If someone's a WTCC fan same as me, this is the right choice. Great feeling from cars, great sound, but not saying it's proper simulation when you played LFS. It also has outdated graphics, but car models looks really great when maxed out. It's just track detail level struggling.

Race07 and such is Simbin's old ISI engine (kinda same as rF) - this year they're gonna do a new engine for their upcoming game GTR 3, I'd wait for that and judge afterwards. So far I know it's not going to be another rFactor 2 nor have this anything similar with rFactor 2 in general. It's totally new project.

Why is the "development in progress" a plus for lfs?

If you really want to get an honest list then try not to focus too much on making lfs look good...

Quote from breadfan :

+ fully compatible with G25 and most other peripherals

Should be replaced with this:
+ Compatible with all wheels and other USB controllers, including Guitar Hero instruments.

My problem with iRacing's netcode is the "squishiness" that it has to have to allow those high pings. With LFS when you're racing fender to fender with someone, you hit them and it feels like a hit between two solid objects. You can rub on each other (assuming you're close enough in ping) and it feels real. In iR, you kind of melt into each other like sponges.

Granted, the upside with iR is you rarely get the kind of lag explosion crashes you get in LFS (though iR's collision model is another story...)

Hmmm.... I haven't really played LFS in years. In fact i was kinda shocked that they haven't made S3 yet.
One thing that I like about LFS over the other video games (oops "sims"... LOL get a life kid) is that they have rally tracks and a drag strip. I don't know why they don't develop cars for those tracks. Especially the drag strip. Is it that much harder to code a car that only goes in a straight line versus some dinky little econobox or a formula car that's so squirrely no one in their right mind makes a server dedicated to racing it?
One thing I noticed is that most of the other games listed by the poster were out when I left. You'd think there'd be more decent racing games by now.
I guess consoles zapped most of the developers into their arcady style of games.

Something that bothers me from this post and others is people complaining about ping issues. When I played, I went to servers all over the planet without hardly any lag issues. Did everyone go back to dial up or something?
I dunno. the racing part of LFS wasn't so high up on my list. I liked making skins and just hanging out. When everyone started getting hyperrealist and political, I bailed. They really weren't much better than the wreckers on the demo servers.
If anything that's what LFS needs to work on. Not being allowed on a server cause my skin looks like a street rod instead of a race car? People more concerned with what the other guy uses as a controller or what view they use instead of just shutting up and racing?
Nah. I don't need that.
Oh well. I have a bike that needs washing (1997 Honda Valkyrie F6 standard) and a wife that wants a ride. Y'all have fun.

Quote from stan.distortion :

NFS Porsche is completely different to other NFS titles, dated but well worth trying. Same for Grand Prix Legends, looks old even with the community mods but the physics are comparable to anything released since.

nfs porsche is being redone privately afaik...


i loved that game... pitty it all went downhill after it !

Quote from Sobis :

Should be replaced with this:
+ Compatible with all wheels and other USB controllers, including Guitar Hero instruments.

and mobile phones

Btw even though pCARS is in pre alpha you already could make a "+" for some stuf like graphics (day and night cycles, acurate star positions, acurate moon data, VERY detailed cars)

Since physics are heavy vip I wouldn't make any points there jet.

http://www.netkar-pro.com/main/

Also has a topic here; http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=5462