I still enjoy racing in LFS.

However it has always been difficult for me to find time for racing, as anybody with commitments surely experiences (jobs - long hours + travel, eventually family, even some sort of social life for some of us around here) so it may have saved the interest - kept if fresh, as with anything you can get but not as much / as long as you would wish to (that sounds a bit weird now).

It seems to me that many around here are burnt, have spent too many hours sim racing.
LFS is not the reason of their boredom, and I'm ready to bet that a change of sim will only fire interest for a few more months before feeling the same (except for iracing - the system keeps your interest alive by frustrating you - the series you like never last, or get rescheduled so you can not find a race - this way you never get too much of it ).

Quote from Bigboosta :

Hi, just started playing LFS again after a few years, very rusty! Got a wheel but lost the power lead so no force feedback and its currently perched on my lap! Forgot how much I love this game, hope you won't mind me being one of the back markers.

If in a race online and I'm in a slow car should I pull over to the left or the right to let people past?

Welcome back!
Whatever you do, try to be predictable - better than running off the track, spinning and consequences

Online racing is greatly dependant on servers and time.

The main difference with iracing and NKpro is that the community itselfs handles the online racing (pay for servers, organize and admin them) while LFS and addons provide all the tools to do it (kick / ban, set entry requirements on certain servers like experience and laptimes...)

Try to find live admined servers, as they usually offer the cleanest racing. You may not have a lot of choice considering your timezone (European evenings are the active moments) but make sure you try out what is available - I'm sure there is something that suits your needs out there.

Welcome! And I see that you did not consider for a long time

I use more or less the same configuration (Laptop + G25) and I have found the following setup saves me from calibrating / changing profiler values:

Profiler set to 720
First time in LFS, calibrate and lock wheel settings.
Wheel turn compensation in LFS set to 1

Unplug wheel after each session, before shutting down the laptop.
1) Plug wheel after laptop boots - it calibrates in Windoze.
2) Start LFS


All cars in LFS now have a wheel rotation value as designed. Drawback: G25 now uses the FFB stops for cars <720°, that can* be overcome (FFB goes dead past that point)

*Usually not when racing, only in pits or getting back in the right direction... like after a spin

Taking the opportunity to inform you that the current weekly combo is...
LX6 on south city long!

It convinced me to take 3-4 months worth of dust off my G25, and that resulted in a big grin. And a few dents in the car... tough walls
Apparently I was less rusty than ThreeJump... but manny left us all in the dust.

See you on track!

Last edited by Mille Sabords, Sat, 16 Oct 2010 11:55. Reason : Apologies for shameless advertising. I could not resist

Spankmeyer. Zeug can't do it properly

PS: Could someone tell me where Doorman is gone???

Quote from dadge :

using that logic, we could rename murder to blade tag just so it doesn't sound so bad.

it's called demo for a reason. because that's what it is. it's a demonstration of what you could get if you buy the full product. the problem is not that it's called demo, it's that demo users feel they are entitled to more content when they could buy the game and increase their content 10 fold.
now, here's a good test. go onto a demo server and say that you've found a working crack for LFS. see how many people ask you for this crack. so there will be your proof that some/most demo users want the full game but are not willing to pay for it.
how long would you stand at a free sample table at your local super market?

Agreed.
But LFS demo is also the only active advertisement for the game.
It must be able to attract people, and create a need - therefore it has to offer better or more than the competition.

The NKP demo is similar, for example. Rfactor has more public so they do not need the generous demo, and iRacing neither because they do spend money in real advertisement.

As LFS devs spend no money in advertisement, they can be generous with the demo - bringing less income but spreading the game faster as it offers a good deal for free.

Maybe that will change when the devs consider the game is ready for advertisement and wide distribution - if ever.

License: Some months negociation with the other half.
Wheel: Sneaked it in, but that cost me about 2x price of the wheel in leather (shaped as handbags and shoes) - no fair trade.

Quote from gabriel.i :

Hello!

I was wondering between witch values is the XFG Power Band and @what revs is a good start??

Have a look in here:
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=1250513#post1250513

All LFS cars dynocharts available extracted by Bogey Jammer.
That should help you getting the best out of gear changes.
Good luck!

This forum is unfortunately cluttered with inane posts, making it incredibly difficult to find and read the interesting contributions.

The number of interesting contributions has always fluctuated according to (un)released content, but the spam ratio has been increasing in the past years.

Is there a way to reduce spam and locate easily the nice posts in here? I think it depends on us all... optimistic or pessimistic thought?

Hi Gnomie!
I think your guess is wrong...
Let me try to explain:

1) Updates to core service = satisfied existing customer, renewed subscritions. No change in new customers arrival rate.

2) No updates to core, but new cars / tracks = More new customers, new subscriptions. Existing customers have the choice to buy the new cars / tracks if they want to find races, so more income generated.

At the point iRacing has reached, they do not fear competition any more (if they ever did, they are americans after all ) - so all subscribers will renew unless they are burnt (eventually will stop sim racing for a while) out or out of cash. LFS is no threat (confidential sim, no advertisement or marketing), RF2 may be but... when???, NKP is confidential as well. So why invest massively to rush core updates that do not increase income?

In pure iracing marketing strategy, they will probably release core updates only when needed (LFS update, RF2 out or other threat). On the other hand they will continue to force cars / tracks down the throat of subscribers, because apparently they make a good profit (development vs income, marketing).

An interesting marketing option would be a full rental option, for a series (base + series content rented for the series duration only, expires at the end of a series but updated for the next selected series) along with the current pricing system.

Only my guess here... I'm open to counter argumentation

Disclaimer: I am not speaking for DMR, but my opinion might be slightly biased

There was no mention of IHR offering the best racing of LFS in the OP (although you have to agree this would be quite a bold statement from a IHR member) - it was "we (IHR) still offer the cleanest racing on LFS".

From what I have tried, IHR is far off regarding clean racing only. This is quite unavoidable, coins have 2 sides - you attract a lot of people by being a popular server, and in proportion more newbies who have not yet a range of favourite servers to chose from, than a less popular and more "niche" server.

You are perfectly right in stating the two can not be compared, I would not say one is better than the other but I can assure you I never had to fight off T1 wreckers or drivers with no spatial awareness at all in the Dead Men Racing server, while I can not in all honesty say the same thing about the IHR server.
IHR may get cleaner in time (I hope you will succeed) but at the expense of popularity...

For those not in the mood for reading, it is obvious that:
High popularity <> high quality
crowded <> clean

We'll probably discuss this idea again, when Scawen is done with a more realistic damage model.
However, if running short race (10-15 minutes): Damage repair + hopping to pits in a damaged car should be enough of a penalty do deny podium slots.
For longer races, we are talking about leagues or similar events. Running with people you can trust, why not agree on a non repair rule? No need to enforce / check if you trust each other and know cheating would ruin everybody's fun.

It is (was) possible to do something like that in Z, I remember Troy and the Concept Racing guys setting up a weekly meeting with a tweaked LX6 (slicks, some more power) - driveable but quite a handful...
All the information and links are buried in the forums somewhere, one only needs a good spade

I think Ctrl+C may clip the cursor to the center screen... It keeps it inside the window in windowed mode anyways, worth a try?

Don't forget that this does not apply to solid objects on track...

SO walls, even softs ones, never seem to send you flying.

You can get a launch from the wall surrounding the track areas, but only when you manage to get one car wheel inside the wall (massive crash involved, from what I know you have to approch the wall from above to do that).

I remember an interesting hypothesis from AndroidXP some time ago, explaining that the bug was probably caused by the thickness (lack of) of the barriers - allowing the car to penetrate the barrier in between collision calculations. You only get a launch when the wheel and the barrier intersect, the car body seems to react "normally" to collisions.

I am willing to pay what the devs think is the right price for S3, within resonable limits.
I am also willing to pay for extra content if there are fees involved to produce it (laser scanning is not free apparently ).
As stated by Tristan I do not think more money would affect how the devs work on LFS.

I am not willing to rent LFS.

Complicated (very), addicitve, graphics free game (ascii, you were warned).
Freeware (technically potcardware )

Fantastic if you have patience, logical mind, a few neurones, and do not fear multiple horrible deaths.
www.adom.de

Playing it feels like playing a gigantic chess game with varying rules. Steep learning curve.

Quote from [DUcK] :

...
Try instead of fully backing off, or trailing off the throttle when you start to slide, just quickly back off then get straight back on it - like within a split second. If you trail the throttle the car becomes unbalanced. This method (sorta like a quite throttle cut, I guess) is great because your car stays on edge, and you get rid of some unnecesary wheel spin (you always gotta have some).
...

You mean like stabbing the throttle? I would have expected that to unsettle the car a lot more...
I'll try then

I did not imply ABS+TC would make me faster over 1 or 5 laps, but the assists make it easier to be consistent over a longer race - and low rotations at the wheel help correting the slides, saving tyres.
Point may be valid only for slowpokes / casual racers, not for the fast guys - but I am not so sure.

A bit more fuel in there...
Our server weekly combo is set to FZ5 / SO4, tough one.
1 hour race tonight, sounds like a good workout and throttle control challenge.

However I've found out that most of the drivers will use ABS + TC. It makes this combo so tame that it is possible to mash the loud pedal exiting turns, no risks, tyres in perfect condition while late braking downhill for the hairpin before the straight... even under the bridge it brings stability.

If I pick the "hairy" option and get rid of the assits as I usually do, I am sure I will not be competitive and may not even finish the race. I will also be more unpredictable on track, less close racing.

What would you do?

Lazy way:
Setup your wheel to 720 in the controller / profiler / logitech whatever
In LFS leave the casrs on default and setthe "wheel turn compensation" to 1.
You will get the designed rotations for each car, without further tweaking.
Drawback: You rely on the FFB for hardstops.

Correct way: Setup the wheel rotations in the profiler similar to what the car offers.

I use the lazy way with G25, so far still good.

I only use the amount of lock specified for each car, and the clutch when available.

I am sure it does not make me faster, but I did not buy this G25 to use it as if it were an improved mouse!

The question is: what do you expect from this game (or simracing)?
How do you enjoy it the best?
If you like it when you are the fast one around, reduce FFB and rotations, use auto or buttonclutch (or use a macro).
If you like it to feel a bit closer to a real car, use it as it should and suck it up - you will be slower this way but might enjoy it more. You may not win but you will find good fights as well.

Not much of a programmer myself, but...

It seems like a very interesting idea, thank you for it.
However I see a conflict of interests in your plan:
If you want to group racers per laptime / yellow flag ratio / hours racing per week or whatever, it will look like the iracing structure - only not as evolved. So not as good for sorting racers out, but yet as blind regarding affinities - the community that makes LFS different.

Also a question:
How to attract enough racers to make it work? For the system to work you must be able to offer decent races (min 5-7 cars) per "level" of whatever you call it. It will be near impossible to do that without a "launch" with advertising and planification... again think about the way iracing did that, not so easy...

I like it as an idea but it needs more thinking / planning, and then maybe you could attact the interest of a skilled programmer looking for a challenge within this forum

Sorry to interrupt, but all around here asking about power curves and when to shift could take a look at this post / excellent work by Bogey Jammer:

http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=1250513#post1250513

Everything you wish for in the excel spreadsheet! It should have been provided by the devs in my opinion, but it is here and done - use it!

It is unlikely that iracing provides a direct comparison means unless they can prove they are on top
At this point they will advertise it...

So using the above described comparison tool, I assume that the number of active players for a given time is still higher in LFS.

Note: As there is no offline mode in iracing, only these 3 figures could give us a comparison basis:
2739 Qual
4064 Race
1152 Hosted Race
Maybe compare it to the finished races in LFS for 1 week? That could be an available figure from LFS world.