Horray!

Damn (pardon my french), am I pleased to be back on the tarmac at Blackwood, Fern Bay and South City - not to mention Aston and West Hill! LFS is an old game - yes. But its a damn (again) good one.

Back in 2003-2005, we had a blast on those tracks. Then I turned my attention to Simbins, rFactors, TDU's, netCar's and others. Enjoyed them a lot. Coming back to Blackwood was a nostalgic trip... for a start, then: no word. Hell, this game still dwarf those titles I mentioned.

How can that be! Community, Online GUI/robustness, and of course: CAR PHYSICS!! While I was unfaithful with Simbin and those other rubber-eating curves, I invested in a G25. When I came back home to LFS and tried to explain my absence and wrong doings... LFS took me on a trip back to the days... with new (and old) LFS racers and, believe it or not - LFS embraced me and delivered once again unprecedented fabulous exitment!

I've seen the trend on the forum, all the whining, all the expectations for new patches and graphix enhancements... Yes, we all hope for updates and a continuity of this unique sim. Of course we want day/night cycles, weather changes, volumetric this and that, bloom this and that, and 400 000 000 more polygon counts... But do we really?

What I really want is an improved tyre physics patch that takes this sim one step further ahead. That is the science I'm interested in. And that is (hopefully) exactly what Scavier is spending time on at the moment.

I'm so grateful for the Scavier team who have given me so many hours/weeks/years of quality entertainment in the virtual world of racing. Thank You! And with that comes all the racers in the community that makes this sim alive and so great! Thank you all - noobs, pro's, and tutors! Without you all, this game is Dead for Speed... so please help keep it aLive for Speed!

LFS still need community support in terms of voices appreciating the work Scavier is carrying out. Everybody works more efficiently - and more important - gets motivated by large backup support, right!

The devs might no longer read the forum posts, but if word come around they may pick up the rumor that we still love the game and look forward to whatever improvements they hope to achive in the near future. Let this thread serve as a booster/motivator for the devs if you support my thoughts. If not, motivy why not!

My opinion! Now, flame or game!

Cheers!

I'll drink to that mate! Nicely said

I completely agree with you. I am currently having a break from LFS since I am really busy studying for my final tests.

At first I didn't really miss it. You know, Blackwood, South City, Fern Bay, Aston, KY and Westhill.. All driven a thousand times.

But as the weeks pass and my final exam gets closer I am more and more excited to get back into the seat and on the track.

Quick sidenote: I tried Gran Turismo 5 Prologue on the PS3 with a G25 recently at a friends house, and while it looks pretty stunning (Full HD), it drives (pardon my french as well ) shitty and toy'ish.. And the races I tried (about 15 of them) were fairly easy compared to LFS. (Example: You have 15 Opponents, 3 Laps on a 50 sec easy track, try to overtake all of them.. Well, after one Lap I was first and cruising my way to the finish.. :yawn: )

Back to topic: I can't wait for my days to get less study-intense and thus more race-intense again. I can literally smell the tarmac going down the Straight at Blackwood, underneath the bridge (and hear the echo-sound..).

I miss it, and am desperate to drive again. Physics Patch or not, LFS still is the best Sim out there for me.

So, from my end, Heads-up to the devs (do you really say that.. well, who cares really :P ), keep up the good work. LFS still rocks.

/me is possibly a Fanboy.. well, so be it..

Best Regards,

Torben

EDIT: Damn you Sponge! For once I wanted to be first to reply...

Missed this post when it first rolled by. Nicely said indeed +1 :up:

i say chap i agree and that is true it is an amazing game am i agree a whole lot of it (pardon my australian)

Well said mate! Haven't been able to put down LFS since I've started 2 years ago (not a lot, I know).

But having tried quite a number of racing titles, found out this is the one for me.

Keep up the good work devs, I'll be around for a few more years.

Same story here.
Except it's really disappointing to see so few servers. And of those servers that are active, something like 1/3 of them are cruise/drift, while the actual race servers are mostly FMB/XRG class servers. In the last 2-3 days I saw 1 LRF server, and it had just 3 players on at its most. Even the old Aston III GTR combo was on only a couple of servers, and they weren't packed anywhere near like they used to be a few years ago.

Quote from Ingolf :

But do we really?

Yes we do.

News sites write about LFS, attracts new players.

Don't care about the update as long as it is a goddamn update!

Hey, thanks for replying to such an old post
Glad to hear some still get the full out of LFS without demanding graphic glitter and gold edges on the shifter stick.

This was a good post just as i would have sad it my self..

Have now had a unfair break from lfs and i miss the tracks and the fun driving with other drivers. tried some Grid on ps3 just to play some driving game but its not the same as driving lfs.

Even to i "miss" some update we must not forget as Ingolf says its we the community how keep the game alive

and sorry for Bad English..

Quote from cargame.nl :

Yes we do.

News sites write about LFS, attracts new players.

Don't care about the update as long as it is a goddamn update!

Goddamn, no. There are still so many leagues around, and public servers filled with racing, and the game is still a freaking blast.

Let the devs do their work on what they want to do, and we won't be disappointed. But if you keep whining, who knows, Scawen and all may stop on working on the important things, or even stop developing the sim at all (that is most probably not the case, but still).

So, don't wait for an update, just get your ass (pardon my french as well) out on the track and have some goddamn fun.

Public servers filled with racing?

Yes, I have not played LFS in a while since I have been waiting for the new tire physics, but the wait is getting longer and longer.

I am actually excited about Gran Turismo 5 though. I pre-ordered the collector's edition coming out on 11/2/2010. I have always loved the GT series, but the physics were too simple to me. I think the physics of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue are pretty good when you set it to professional mode for the physics. The problem is that the AI drivers use the standard physics so in order to beat them for the last S class races, I had to use the easier standard physics. Hopefully for GT5 the final version, they change that.

I'd not played LFS since 2008, and recently got in to it again, and had a little "LAN" session in the house with some friends and 4 Logitech wheels.

It's just amazing.

It's actually hard to get a race going sometimes because it's so easy to get lost just lapping and playing around aimlessly lapping in something a bit lairy.

I'm REALLY looking forward to the new patch, with how Scawen described the new physics taking it that bit further, and gave him a sweaty bum or something because it was tense and fun.

But, the game is very complete as it is already.

Before I got back in to LFS, I played some GTR2 on Bedford Autodrome to learn the track. That has weather, day night cycles, real cars etc etc

But what's the point of having ALL of that, if the physics and handling and driving itself isn't as good.

LFS doesn't need these things to be good. It's already awesome.

If during S3 or any kind of finalisation we do get such things, it'll no doubt be penis creasingly awesome. No doubt. The game will be better. But it's great now too.

And this isn't a mod brown nosing post. Or an anti-whiner post. Or a high horse/bandwagon post or anything like that. It's something me and a friend were discussing just the other day (we even both moaned that Rockingham was announced ages ago and we still don't have it).

cough V8 road car cough

For almost two years I've been driving iRacing exclusively.

Due to a glitch in my banking system I have accidentally removed myself from iRacing for a few weeks.

Back at Blackwood. Aston. Fern Bay. ...

In the FO8. FOX. ....

Uh....

This sim stomps all over iRacing. The physics, specifically the tires, are sooooo much more realistic. The only time you get understeer in iRacing is when you lock the tires. The new LFS patch is going to blow away all comers.

Also, for whatever reason, it is a lot easier to race in LFS. We can really get in close and dice. I just know where all the other cars are. In iRacing I always have doubt whether my fellow drivers and I will get away with being anywhere near each other. In this sim you really know where you are on the track. I feel I can drive inch perfect here. Or... at least know which inch I am driving on. In iRacing it's more like "2 foot perfect".

Anyway. Yeah. LFS kicks fanny.

I stick with iRacing for three reasons only. Championship goals. Enforced clean driving. And it does have some amount of immediacy, excitement that LFS does not...

That being said, it's refreshing to be back at Blackwood. This sim is simply better. The best I've played.

I can see the appeal of iRacing over LFS in its current form, for actually racing.

I like how organised is appears. I'm tempted to try it until the LFS patch arrives

iRacing is exceptional. Right now it's 12 bucks month to month. 99 bucks for a year. You get a few cars and tracks with your subscription, but they're nothing to write home about. Cars are 15 bucks a piece and some suck. The corvette and dallara stink outright. Tracks are 15 - 25 bucks a piece depending on how hard they were to build.

Except for a few cars that I wish I could return, I am quite happy with the considerable amount of money I've spent on iRacing. The tracks are where it really shines. The tracks are simply amazing.

That being said. The physics are wonky. It just doesn't feel right. But they are fairly easy to get used to, and in the end it's all about racing. Since we are all driving the same wonky physics it's fair racing. And racing is racing.

You will notice some other differences right away:

• Races are on a schedule. You have to wait for the race. I had a lot of fun in LFS last night running race after race after race. Wow... you DO NOT get that in iRacing.
  
• The lap validity checker is on at all times. In order to advance, not only do you have to race and score points, but you have to be clean. Putting wheels off and getting in incidents with other cars will cost you your license level if they are excessive.
  
• The perspective is weird. Like driving through a fish eye lens or something. This makes it so you can't tell where you are on the track. Racing in traffic is not like LFS or real life. But, once again, everybody is in the same boat and you get used to it.
  
• You can only play it online. If your internet goes out you can't even practice.
  

12 bucks for one month and you can only race the stuff you get for free anyway. At least until you build up your license level. Check it out. It's worth the look.

Quote from Slartibartfast :

Also, for whatever reason, it is a lot easier to race in LFS. We can really get in close and dice. I just know where all the other cars are. In iRacing I always have doubt whether my fellow drivers and I will get away with being anywhere near each other. In this sim you really know where you are on the track. I feel I can drive inch perfect here. Or... at least know which inch I am driving on. In iRacing it's more like "2 foot perfect".

This is precisely why LFS is so convincing and fun. It provides more control to the gamer than any other game I know - allowing for those close intense, but clean moments. The post being old and all, I still think this underlines the essence and core of what LFS delivers. My hopes are that with any further physics development, this existing capacity will be even more refined to improve the combat part as well as the strategic and tactical elements of the game.