BUT (this one is a big but)

Monday testing times...

Unofficial Times Sebring ALMS Test 3 + 4:
1 - #2 Audi Sport Team Joest - Audi R15 TDI - 1.43.595
2 - #1 Audi Sport North America - Audi R15 TDI - 1:44.159
3 - #08 Team Peugeot Total - Peugeot 908 HDi FAP - 1:45.002
4 - #07 Team Peugeot Total - Peugeot 908 HDi FAP - 1:45.095
5 - #66 de Ferran Motorsports - Acura ARX-02a - 1:45.105
6 - #9 Patrón Highcroft Racing - Acura ARX-02a - 1:45.871
7 - #16 Dyson Racing Team - Lola B09/86 - 1:50.864

Quote from MAGGOT :

I was just looking through some Sebring pics on Motorsport.com and came across the BMW. I'd forgotten all about it. I wonder why there hasn't been more of a fuss made about their return?

cus it's been failing prolly.

That audi has been owning in testing. I'm surprised by how the acura isn't so far off the pugs and how the pugs are so so far off the audi :o

i'm interested provided i get a wheel by then

Quote from Speed Soro :

You can find servers with not much difficult if you go fo rfactorcentral, and dl some the cars and traks from hall of fame.

thats the thing, the hall of fame cars are rarely hosted. like i said in my mini review, it's only the megane trophy cup that is used and half decent.

Afaik the cars weigh the same with/without kers. It's just that Kers means u have less ballast in the car, to bring it up to 600 kg, which can be used for setting up the car.

Quote from Falcon140 :

Since I already did, mine can stay the same right?

ye, added updated kit c

Quote from Kirill.D :

Estonian Endurance Racers #29

could you add a stroke around RaceSimServers logo please. I'll update skin kit now.

well transmission is usually used for a few races too isn't it?

Hey Victor

Can you change the IGTC banner to this please

http://www.lfsigtc.net/images/IGTCForumAdd.jpg

Same link address

Updated OP with new Skin kit (main sponsor change) and also new SC+PC skins

where does that stuff cum from?

You'd expect crap to get filtered out after so many yrs but this one clump keeps lingering around.

Quote from tonix :

I know Škoda cars, i just found it amusing it had something to do with Aston Martin.

@deggis: Thanks, that makes more sense. Tomas Enge is Czech after all, there's probably some connection.

Charouz is the connection i believe, Enge has always been connected with AMR afaik skoda hasn't. Charouz ran the AM LMP1 last year so they probably carried along parts of the crew. Also Charouz was driving last yr and has been brought forward this yr and probably carries the skoda sponsorship with him.

a bit like fiat yamaha

excellent video

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

Read the book?

If not, go get it.

Glad to hear the movie's good, though. I'm waiting on the gf to read it before we go. :P

just sneak along on ur own lol. It doesn't get boring tbh, but dont expect loads of action like the trailers show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05vLC_zjPpY

this is montoya at his best.

If you actually read it out loud, it reads as "United States F1". I'm thinking Bernie thought it sounded too much like a US version of F1.

hehe

finland, but loeb is prolly best of all time.. either that or everyone else is shit.

as for cars, thats really tough, but just for the way audi changed rallying, i'll say germany

didn't suzuki use motorbike engines in a few of their cars until recently?

Quote from Fetzo :

looks to me that the reviewer hasn't raced the right mods and tracks. i mostly race the historic gt and the bmw e21-mod and i have none of the physics issues. most of the hall of fame tracks have beautiful pavement textures and lots of tarmac types.

the megane mod being the only not crappy mod raced online sounds a little biased/ignorant.

i havent tried historic gt, i dont have gtl,. But i have tried the bmw mod and also the chev corvette mod by the guy from lfs community. they both seem to compensate for the rigid tyres by being very wollowy. I do also have the hall of fame tracks i.e. bathurst, nords, laguna and i agree they are some decent tracks, but still they lack the uniqueness of the lfs tracks imo. They still dont have that outstanding quality that Eric managed with the lfs tracks.

Quote from Juls :

Concerning sounds, it seems at first glance LFS and rFactor have very different sound systems but in fact they are quite similar. They both use samples modulated with engine frequency to recreate the sound. But rFactor uses long samples (few seconds) while LFS uses very short samples repeated more often.
Instead of using one sample modulated over the entire frequency range like LFS, rFactor uses several samples, and each one modulated on a frequency range...like one for 1000-2000 RPM, another for 2000-4000 RPM...etc.
They both read samples at different frequencies. Not so different.

i believe thats what i said? only that the lfs samples are just 1 or 2 beeps (can remember listening to the sample but cant remember where).

Quote from Speed Soro :

Fetso Yes, the mini-review seems to be from someone who has played rFactor in 2004 and never returned to it.

I do not have many mods installed, but some of the F1 series, GT history, Megane, Caterham, are big works, and many tracks are very well made from scratch.

Of course, the LFS also seems more natural both with respect to visual as with respect to driveability. But that does not mean rFactor is way bad.
It is complicated. Many people who are used to rFactor, can not accept LFS, and vice versa.

The discussion always tends to subjective conclusions, or a simple matter of personal taste.

I never said rF was bad, i infact said it was fun, just not as long lasting as lfs imo. Also i only had rF for about a yr now.

Quote from Vain :

Unfortunately it's difficult to judge on stagetimes unless you know how much practice was involved.
My mode of playing RBR typically is letting it rest for half a year, returning to do an hour of practice and then starting a championship.

The championships really do it for me. There're few gaming moments as intense as barely maintaining a lead during the french rally until the last stage and then having rain set in without the possibility of a tyre change. Blowing through the narrow french stages on dry tires in the rain without the slightest hint of vehicle control really is a lot of fun - if you make it.

Vain

how about getting to the last stage with a busted radiator and having ur engine fail half way through when u had a 5 minute lead earlier in the rally and blew it when slowing down and hitting the stage timers barrier at the end of the stage

Quote from Juls :

Anyone tried caterham mod for rFactor?

For me this mod is very different from others in rFactor, and gives a very similar way of controlling the car than LFS. With this mod there is no more this typical rFactor grip going on/off and causing unrecoverable spin.
FFB still needs to be tweaked, but at least cars behave as expected.

This mod and the laser scanned track -> very enjoyable.

i agree here. Caterham mod is prolly the best mod on rF or the Megane mod (which you are near enough forced to play because all the other mods online are crap).

Physics

rF feels fairly unconnected and very understeery. If you try to get around the understeer with oversteer it's then just near enough undrivable. Thats probably why most people that play rF and then try LFS tend to lean towards understeer in their LFS setups (Mr 3id R.Hut lolz). Unless your getting over 100 FPS in rF, your steering input is delayed by a few hours (i believe you can check FPS using ctrl-D or ctrl-F) and i challenge anyone to generally feel the difference between two cars in the same class in rF. I have however played rF on a good system at a motorshow and it did feel, really, not so bad. It still had that annoying understeer but the tyres didn't feel as 'rigid' as usual. LFS on the otherhand, well theres a reason we are all on this forum and playing this game i'm sure...

Sounds

I think the sounds in rF are a lot nicer, but useless compared to the LFS sounds from the engine. The problem with rF sounds is that they're not progressive like in LFS. They are usually in blocks of 8 +-2 so you get a sample in the rev range from 0-1500 rpm then 1500-2500 and so on. whereas LFS is just a beep that repeats at different frequencies. So you don't get any repeats, it's always a constant progressive sound, like real life. The one thing i will say though, is that the cockpits in rF are a LOT more emersive. The sounds of things like stones hitting the bodywork and brake squeel are undoubtedly soemthing LFS needs desperatly. That alone would imo make lfs at least x5 better.

Graphically

I honestly belive that unless you have an 8800 GT gfx card or above(where rF looks stunning), rF will look like poop compared to LFS. The textures are usually ten times better in LFS than rF and the reflections are just not good enough to compensate in rF compared LFS. The roads in rF are usually just a matte grey/black whereas in LFS there are changes in tarmac types and surfaces all over the track and the racing line breaks up and is not just one consistant line all around the circuit.

Mods/cars/tracks

Theres 2 ways of looking at it. In rF there are probably 3/4 mods going at any time. Usually the megane mod and whatever F1 mod is the latest + some GT mods you probably dont have. In LFS there are usually servers with most car/track combos going or at least TBO/GTR/STD/FBM and you have all of these tracks and all of these cars. Even though rF has an unlimited number of mods available to it's users, how many of those mods are actually being used online? If your favourite mod isn't online your stuck in single play against the rF AI on it's rail system or you have to go looking for the latest cack mod to come out and wait 30 mins - 1+ hour(s) while you download 1.xx GB of mod that you will 9 times out of 10 only use once.

Online play

IMO online play between the two is fairly equal. Both have completly opposite ways of going at it and give different results, but what one lacks the other has in abundance. Firstly, online with rF LOOKS crap. The cars dont drive like cars, they float like spaceships or hovercrafts, in LFS you see the car roll, you see the car loose grip or see it flip. However the reason rF looks like that is partly because it's constantly updating the lag crisis and hiding it from you, a bit like a mac when it's about to crash (yes they do crash, it's all a lie), it tries to trick you with some pretty cover up and fails misserably at it. BUT this does however mean that you dont get the lag hits like in LFS which have 1 too many times ruined most of our races. Car selection is a pain in rF but tbh how many times do you drive the FZR then the XRR then the FXR in one online session on LFS unless your new to the game.

To sum it all up nice 'n' simple. The way i see it, i can play both for fun for a day, but i can play LFS for fun for years and rF for a week or 2.

If all else fails, play rbr (just not on tarmac stages)

Quote from UncleBenny :

Top fuel dragster launches:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGHZB5xLmCQ

i got some of those too from santa pod, you REALLY have to be there to experience the sound and the quite literal feeling.