VW Scirocco postponed

[Scawen]

Hello Racers.

We are sorry to have to announce that the VW Scirocco will not be released this week as planned. Unfortunately we are unable to continue working into the following week, and it has turned out impossible to reach the required standard in the time available.

This is for two reasons :

1) The compatible test patches had more bugs than expected. Although the recent graphical improvements had worked very well in private testing, when released to the public and tested by hundreds of people, it turned out that there were problems on some graphics cards. One of these has been solved completely and another has been partially fixed. There is also an issue where LFS sometimes causes a crash - this has not yet been resolved and there are some other minor bugs to sort out before we can release an official version.

2) Refining and finalising the Scirocco is taking longer than expected. Although we have made good improvements recently, up to the date of the previous announcement, there were still outstanding issues that proved harder to fix than expected. This is on the mechanical side and the electronic side. We are trying to make a good simulation of the traction control systems and the stability control systems, well known to be a very good feature of VW cars.

Our aim is to make the Scirocco our first car with very limited setup options. The plan is to make it have only the setup options that are readily available on a real road going Scirocco, for example tyre pressures and toe settings. This will mean that the racing should be closer than usual and rely on driver skill, without the need to search for the best setups. Of course this means we need to get the setup as good as possible so it is comparable with the real car.

We are confident that we can fix all the issues and make the car a really good one to drive in the near future, but as various things that need to be done will take an unknown amount of time, we had to make the decision to postpone the release until next year, rather than release something in a rush that is really not as good as it can be.

We know this will disappoint many of you who have waited a long time for the Scirocco, and we are sorry about that. We plan to fix the bugs and continue developing the Scirocco suspension and electronic control systems, to give you a good patch early in 2009.

[Bose321]

Bad news Good to hear you're delaying it, and fixing it

[J@tko]

Originally Posted by Scawen

We are trying to make a good simulation of the traction control systems and the stability control systems, well known to be a very good feature of VW cars.

Our aim is to make the Scirocco our first car with very limited setup options. The plan is to make it have only the setup options that are readily available on a real road going Scirocco, for example tyre pressures and toe settings. This will mean that the racing should be closer than usual and rely on driver skill, without the need to search for the best setups. Of course this means we need to get the setup as good as possible so it is comparable with the real car.

We are confident that we can fix all the issues and make the car a really good one to drive in the near future, but as various things that need to be done will take an unknown amount of time, we had to make the decision to postpone the release until next year, rather than release something in a rush that is really not as good as it can be.

Yeah, its delayed, but all ^ sounds rather gd to me

[Gnomie]

I'm sure it will be worth the wait.

I love the idea of limited setups! That will be very interestin indeed.

[S14 DRIFT]

Ohh joy. Just as I thought something cool was going to happen. Knew it was too good to be true.

But the Scirocco setup thing sounds pretty lush.

[Bose321]

I hope it won't take any longer, because i really wanna try it before my holiday is over

[shurcooL]

Np, take your time and good luck.

That's the volatile nature of software development. It's not always easy to predict with high accuracy how long certain things will take.

[510N3D]

Good luck with everything you want to archive, fix, alter ect. Im sure most of us will appreciate the hard work even more of you guys once its finished.

[hda]

Not a problem for me, I've waited for so long I can wait a bit more.

We just need to keep helping Scawen testing the new builds as they are made available, making sure we get rid of all the bugs

[Heiko1]

Oh, bad news but would be cool if we can test it to to find faster the bugs (if its possible)

And the idea with limited Sets is VERY good

Regarts Marco (Heiko1)

[Bean0]

So what is the crack with regards to Test Patches ?

If Z is going to be 'current' for a whie yet, should we all revert back to the older .EXE ?

[pacesetter]

I dont mind, and GL anyway i still love LFS the way it is

[DevilDare]

Originally Posted by S14 DRIFT

Ohh joy. Just as I thought something cool was going to happen. Knew it was too good to be true.

But the Scirocco setup thing sounds pretty lush.

+1 just saw this coming all along... meh, 2009.... early can mean anywhere up to mid February, depends how you understand "early"

well, better to drive proper car than a bugged out one i guess

[scottmackie]

good luck team on making it better

it is a shame

but..we will have to wait

[S14 DRIFT]

It sounds like they're not releasing it because of the TC and ESP not working properly. I say "oh well to that". I'd much rather have a new car and then in a couple of months, when it's been fixed, an implemented TC and ESP system, but it probbably goes deeper than that.

No offense to the devs, "early 2009" is probbably going to be April/May kind of time. At least they're going to sort all the problems out before releasing it. Hopefully, they'll keep us informed as to what's happening. (Which they've done so far, very good, hopefully more of the same in the future)

[Amynue]

No christmas?

[alex_du_77]

I love the idea of limited setups, it's more realistic ! Tanks

[510N3D]

Originally Posted by Bean0

So what is the crack with regards to Test Patches ?

If Z is going to be 'current' for a whie yet, should we all revert back to the older .EXE ?

Originally Posted by Scawen

...Although the list of changes is short, there are a lot of internal changes and optimisations.
So you should probably keep a backup of your LFS.exe from version Z...

[RS1T]

I am annoyed. I spend 24 pounds on LFS (which is a good game) but it is NOT worth the money of an other game like GRID etc. The graphics are so much better, it is so much more detailed and there are hundreds of licenced cars. Where does all our money go? Thousands of people have S2 licences, and that means you have hundreds of thousands of pounds to spend on licensing. I want to see more cars and more improvements, less bad news and less delays

I was just about to make a skin and a new interior for the VWS, but when i read this i cant be arsed anymore

great job guys

[91mason91]

id rather have it late than early

[Bean0]

Originally Posted by S14 DRIFT

It sounds like they're not releasing it because of the TC and ESP not working properly. I say "oh well to that". I'd much rather have a new car and then in a couple of months, when it's been fixed, an implemented TC and ESP system, but it probbably goes deeper than that.

Then you'd just end up with a load of people driving it without by not upgrading to the current version, like demoers who still use the XRT.

[Gil07]

Even though we have to wait a bit longer now, this sounds good I like the limited setup options! Take your time

Originally Posted by Scawen

We know this will disappoint many of you who have waited a long time for the Scirocco, and we are sorry about that. We plan to fix the bugs and continue developing the Scirocco suspension and electronic control systems, to give you a good patch early in 2009.

Hmm, does this mean LFS will have the multilink rear suspension? Or am I reading too much into that ^?

[510N3D]

Originally Posted by Gil07

Even though we have to wait a bit longer now, this sounds good I like the limited setup options! Take your time



Hmm, does this mean LFS will have the multilink rear suspension? Or am I reading to much into that ^?

I guess so but i certainly dont hope so

[lovretta]

I'm very glad to hear that it would be "locked" setup-wise. Close racing guaranteed! + this is the only way it is going to be representation of real scirocco.

[fraghetti]

restricted setup, very good.

...now i just want fricken setup-folders for different tracks

[tonyonparas]

Well no Xmas pressies this time, but I hope it´s worth the waiting. Nevertheless the setup thingy sounds interesting.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by RS1T

Where does all our money go? Thousands of people have S2 licences, and that means you have hundreds of thousands of pounds to spend on licensing. I want to see more cars and more improvements, less bad news and less delays

Divide the income to three devs and minus taxes... they're not millionaires.

[TurboBlaster]

Oh bad news, but ok, what we can do?

[RS1T]

Originally Posted by lovretta

I'm very glad to hear that it would be "locked" setup-wise. Close racing guaranteed! + this is the only way it is going to be representation of real scirocco.

that is not good news, that is shit. If there was a scirocco cup in real life then of course all the drivers would be able to tune the suspension . This is bullshit

[Gills4life]

Take as much time as you want, I won't complain. I know you would not delay it without a very good reason. Good luck Scawen!