Quote from Toddshooter :

Also a drift filter like we have a cruise filter would be nice. Maybe a race filter for the cruisers and drifters.

I was thinking about that a couple days ago, the problem is how to teach LFS tell the drift servers from the others.

Drift servers rely on no specific options AFAICT, so they could only be filtered through a keyword match in the description

Quote from J@tko :

All I'm going to say is watch the forums.

More posts are coming with all the details about your MSN chats I guess

Quote from DarkTimes :

I love the internet, it's the only place where people can spend two weeks straight talking about some guy they've never met moving house.

You guys have to watch even less TV than me People will gladly spend weeks and months watching a bunch of unknown blokes messing around in a house or something equally silly.

Demo licenses have been introduced roughly around late June 2008 so 12 mln laps would be an even more outstanding result.

Look at the stats on LFS world, the XRG is in the bottom half of the list despite having been available for years already. Anyway we're going OT now

Quote from Vain :

The BF1, FBM and likely VWS just don't fit into the game-enviroment and the increased quality binds resources that are needed elsewhere.

If you connect the points, it's clear LFS will get better looking over time, or at least that's the underlying intended direction. Even if LFS looks good enough most of the time, it can't just sit still.

Quote from Vain :

I find one mediocre looking car per month a much more interesting thought than one good looking car every 6 months.

Each new one would raise balancing and usage issues. I.e. it will either kill interest for another car or class, or get forgotten quite quickly. And if fits in a class, they need to balance it against the others.

Looking at the current cars, it's clear there are still question marks in the balancing of GTR and TBO, no matter how long they've been available.

This account was created in June 2008, but I started 02/11/2008, my first 'LFS birthday' has already gone by but yep my first patch was Y. The FBM still has a long way before it catches up with the FOX, but 12 mln laps in little more than a year is nothing short of amazing!

Quote from danowat :

there is a very good change it would be removed on a trackday car for weight purposes.

(...)but at a push I would say make it personally selectable

But that would also affect weight distribution and handling a bit

Quote from gezmoor :

Funny because just the other day I was showing LFS to some freinds (all adult non game players) and they were pretty impressed by the graphics. I think there is obviously a difference in expectation between people that are die hard gamers and the general public.

Definitely! I've noticed this too. LFS has a very 'natural' or real-life like look unlike most games, including iRacing. It has its share of graphic shortcomings but most of them don't bother me as much as the flaws in the physics.

As for the OP's suggestion, I think some cars definitely need and will get updated bodies sooner or later.

I'd really like improvements to the viewpoint stuff, too. Maybe it will also increase the number of users who actually keep it enabled.

Have you tried to re-initialize controllers? Shift-C IIRC.

Also remember the only recommended way to switch to windowed mode is Shift-F4.

Well isn't it amazing that now the second most popular car in LFS has no more licensed servers than the 4 least used cars ?

Though I wonder how the FOX still is the most popular: I'm not much into single seaters but basically I've never noticed a FOX server in the top spots

I'm not taking into account league racing.

The lack of LRF servers is a well known issue which often resurfaces on the boards.

Quote from zeugnimod :

That's true there aren't many XFG servers, most pickup racers drive the GTR cars.

I corrected this for you. TBO and FZ5 are drifters' stuff, the LXs and RAC are no man's land.

Well I can only hope something comes in to fill the big gaping hole CTRA has left behind. Race 1 was one of the top three servers in LFS, after all.

It's unbelievable that the most popular cars in the whole game can only be driven online on BL1. Or an empty server.

Quote from robybobey :

Sorry if this has been mentioned previously, but how can I downgrade back to Z? I didn't make a backup of it when I installed Z10

Probably not the right place to ask, but anyway, rename your current LFS.exe to say LFS-Z10.exe. Then download the LFS archive and decompress only LFS.exe to the folder where the game is installed into.

Voilà, you can choose whether to race with Z10 or plain Z.

Quote from MonkOnHotTinRoof :

Demo players at least appreciated it and used it also for racing.

In fact, racers were the bulk of the vocal minority who has complained the most, and is still doing it now, about XRT dropping out from the demo.

Today bold and courageous racers are still sticking to patch X in a daring act of disobedience against the System, and to let the Evil Devs know they're not going to buy LFS until the XRT goes back in the demo!

The moment the XRT gets added back to demo, will be precisely the same instant when ranks of cheapass drift0rz, I'm sorry for the interference, disobedient racers will buy their licenses. Never.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Just out of curiosity, whist is the "Scavier work at their own pace" line funny?

It's not funny by itself, but it happens to be one of those LFS truisms that always gets its share of nods. As such it got so worn down, at least as much as the question it's often used to reply to.

It all reminds me of the "are we there yet" sequence in Shrek 2.

Quote from MijnWraak :

Anyone else get this?

LFS has always been that way AFAICT. Shift-F4 is the recommended way to switch between windowed and FS mode, anything else is not guaranteed to work properly (though sometimes it does).

Quote from spacedskunk :

as he explained if you wear them all the time, your eyes become adjusted to the lenses and in turn become much shortsighted than they are now.

I've worn glasses since I was kid and actually when I started getting older my sight has improved ATM I'm around -0.5/-1.25 - my ophthalmologist tells me this is quite common, anyway.

Some years ago he also advised that I try out contact lenses (something I was not very fond of) and I had to recognize he was right.

Typically I wear contact when I go outside, they are better for driving (but tend to get dry at night, at least for some people), and in general offer better farsight than glasses. At home, when I read books or stay in front of the PC glasses feel more comfortable for me.

As a bonus, wearing contact lenses means I can use whatever sunglasses without the need to have them made to specification.

That's a great wheel, be sure to check out this comparison:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW-lXxaGUN0&fmt=18

But it comes with no wheel, no pedals, and no shifter, and for the price of the SimWheel alone you could build an X-Sim motion sim with a G25 and three monitors

Quote from kingfag :

Average performance, dull looks, dull handling, etc.

Actually, at least 75% of the cars out there are more or less average

But it's funny cos the very same description fits perfectly to many generations of one of the most popular cars ever, the VW Golf - But the latter has an image, and it works regardless of whatever car VW releases under that badge. OTOH Opel has never been quite clever in creating a brand image to carry along, to the point I wonder if they do that on purpose

(VW actually is an interesting case, despite wide success of some of their models, without massive funding from the German government, it would have ended up exactly as Fiat: broke. And they also managed to steal ideas from Opel through industrial espionage. But don't dare mention this to the VW fanboys)

As a company, Opel is a bit of a mixed bag. They regularly come up with smart moves and popular models: after they reintroduced Coupes into the European market long after they were completely gone, they came up with the Tigra Mk1, which basically outsold by far every other similar car on the market. The Zafira has been one of the most popular car in its segment, despite being a relatively late comer.

Some Opels featured top-of-class aerodynamics, e.g. the Kadett/Astra E, the Calibra and the Tigra. And the Astra F GSi was regarded as one of the best handling hot hatches from the C segment in the 90s - the C20 engine in its various incarnation has a respected racing history that still goes on.

But in the end the majority of buyers tend to make decisions based on what they feel the image of the car OR the brand will project upon themselves, so basically when a manufacturer has that, it can basically manufacture whatever crap and it will be ok

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

I don't really care, the car looks good.

The front IMO doesn't really fit with the rest of the car, which is quite classic and very reminiscing of the Calibra. I don't generally have a problem with Opels but most people seem to find em lacking for a reason or another (though there are much worse cars around, some of which also happen to be insanely overrated). The bit about Clarkson was sarcastic indeed

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

Is it wrong that I'd be more than happy to own that car?

It's an Opel and you know Jeremy Clarkson hates them...

Quote :

(...) In terms of fuel economy, being able to advance the spark at full load certainly gives better economy, since the engine is making more efficient use of the energy in the fuel.

(...) However, knock isn't an issue at part load, where the engine spends most of its time. In terms of overall "real world" fuel economy benefit due to increased octane rating, the effect is likely to be small unless you drive much of the time at high load - either because you have an "enthusiastic" driving style, or because you have a relatively large, heavy car with a relatively small but powerful (typically turbocharged) engine. (...)

Quote :

(...)An additional advantage is that, due to their different composition, "premium" fuels are typically two or three percent more dense than "normal" fuel, which means that each litre contains two or three percent more mass of fuel, and hence two or three percent more energy. (...)

Problem is, their price is much more than 2-3% higher than standard. Conclusions:

Quote :

• if your manual specifically recommends use of high octane fuel, and particularly if you have a small turbo engine in a large vehicle, "premium" petrol should be used whenever possible
  
• if your manual recommends "ordinary" fuel but your engine has knock sensors, use of "premium" petrol on occasion may be worthwhile
  
• otherwise, it is hard to justify unless you particularly feel your engine needs additional cleaning (though in the US, I would be very tempted to stick to "Top Tier" gasoline to be on the safe side
  

Not sure it was really underrated but indeed was great fun, Transport Tycoon Deluxe, and it lives on:

http://www.openttd.org/en/

@ OP take a look at this site:

http://www.fuelsaving.info/fuels.htm

If you google a bit you will find at least a couple videos on the 'tube with RL tests for standard vs premium fuel. The bottom line is that only turbo engines will be able to make use of the extra octane.

I can't talk for other countries but in mine the only difference is some gas stations do better maintenance and thus the fuel has less junk in it. It can be hard to find out which ones though as long as I don't have to change my fuel filter every other day I tend to assume the fuel is clean enough

Depending on the car you're driving, technique might make a difference on the mpg you're getting.

http://metrompg.com/

offers a handy guide detailing what works, what doesn't, and how much difference there is. I've put pulse and glide and drafting to good use.