Quote from th84 :

Go have a look around the CTRA section. Just read a couple of those closed threads. You may want to have a barf bag handy.

That is really disappointing and will no doubt have an effect on public racing.

I'm just wondering, could it have worked if CTRA and the whole web structure with statistics and whatnot was turned into service that could be offered to server hosts for a small fee? From those posts I got the feeling that hosting and administrating something that massive like CTRA is not really an easy task, so this would basically let Sam to focus on developing the software while server hosts who are buying the service will be handling the day-to-day server management such as getting through reports. Probably some host could use the system with all it's statistic tracking to set up an open-league like in iRacing where anyone can join in and compete for season championship and have all that easily trackable through web-UI.


But... I don't know a jack shit about coding or running servers, I just like to release some brainfarts once in a while.

Quote from Riders Motion :

I see a lot of LFSers with 300$ steering wheels and 2000$ PC. Why wouldnt they be able to pay 200$ for a year of gaming?

because steering and pc are long term investments, it's a one off purchase that after they pay, they can garuntee to enjoy it for several years, that provide people motive to save up.

but fishing out 20 dollar a month, although isn't a very big amount, is quite a problem especially for those without a stable income, since so many things in life gets in higher priority then a game.

I'm glad that I'm not addicted to sim-racing anymore because I'm pretty disappointed at the state of everything at the moment. Yes, it's as good as it has ever been, but I was hoping there would be more progress overall.

Three years ago it was LFS, and LFS alone. It set the bar and there was no doubt about it. Now... now we have iRacing and NKP and GT5 (yes that would be Gran Turismo 5!!!) exposing all sorts of weaknesses about eachother. Each are really good at something, but none good at everything.

They've all ruined it for me:
- LFS has ruined everything else when it comes to multiplayerability and community.
- iRacing has ruined everything else when it comes to environment accuracy.
- NKP has ruined everything else when it comes to feel.
- GT5 has/will ruin everyhing else when it comes to the pure sexyness of beautifully rendered real cars.

Since I'll never be happy playing any one game, I'll take the coward's way out and just play none of them.

Quote from mrodgers :

Whoa! Wait a minute! CTRA is no longer around? I had no idea. When did that happen?

That blows.

Those servers really did a good job of gathering up the racers on a consistent basis.

Quote from Mattesa :

Since I'll never be happy playing any one game, I'll take the coward's way out and just play none of them.

i agree

Name just one game you guys have played as long as LFS before getting bored to death with it.

Do you really think that a new car or track will change anything for more than a month before becomming bored again?
Seriously, I doubt it. Sure, LFS development speed is slow compared to other games, and sure, the grass is always greener on the other side. But I get the feeling that all this talk about the "death" of LFS comes from people bored from a game they played longer than anything else and desperatly trying to get the feeling back of what LFS was once for them (if that makes any sense to you).

And to the actual question: No, it's not dead.

Quote from three_jump :

Name just one game you guys have played as long as LFS before getting bored to death with it.

4d sports driving

Quote from Shotglass :

4d sports driving

You have to add a Wikipedia link for such games older than 20% (rough guess) of the community...

nevertheless... damn you!

Nice question. My thoughts.

There is a lack of on-line racing in LFS at the moment; I don't think that anyone can deny that. Check the most populated servers at the moment and they will be cruise servers/drift servers/ demo servers. There will be a few servers offering racing on SS or GTR's (Redline and Conedodgers), but out with those combo's very little variety on offer. Sure we have the current TBO's being raced on the RSR server, but how long will it last? With the demise of CTRA (which had good points and bad points), there is no organised on line pickup and go racing.

However, organised league racing is still as popular as ever. We have more leagues been run, with a high standard of admin and organisation in the top leagues, (and high ambitions also)

What iRacing offers is a regulated on line racing. Sure it’s not as easy getting races going as it is in LFS but the standard of racing is high, especially if you get into the high ratings the standard is extremely high (I’m not saying there’s no idiots there, but generally the standard of racing is higher than it is on a regular LFS server)

The LFS members who want good racing now have a couple of choices to make

1) Troll through the servers in LFS till you find a decent server, offering good close racing and with admins who fairly regulate the racing.
2) Join an organised LFS League, which only offers a race every 2/3 weeks/months and may not enter due to a large number of entries.
3) Join iRacing where although the racing is on a strict schedule, there’s an exact time of starting where there is likely to be a decent size grid (and if the numbers pick up then there is more of a chance of getting a full grid race)
4) Get another game that offers online play (rFactor, netKar Pro, GTR etc) however I have had little success on line with netKar Pro apart from the few weeks after the patch; rFactor is hit or miss when it comes to finding servers. I can’t comment on the online play of GTR as it’s one of the sims/games that I don’t have.

To sum up, iRacing is not the main reason to the lack of online racing in LFS, but it plays a significant part in its gradual demise. I’m not saying that LFS will die out, but it’s in danger of becoming the lesser played sim.

Quote from three_jump :

You have to add a Wikipedia link for such games older than 20% (rough guess) of the community...

nevertheless... damn you!

as far as im concerned anyone who hasnt played stunts can go to hell and isnt allowed to have an oppinions about racing games anyway
plus i think its a rather nice way to subtly make a point about variety

oh and while were at it: monkey island

Quote from three_jump :

Name just one game you guys have played as long as LFS before getting bored to death with it..

burnout, gran turismo, Rigs of Rods

Quote from three_jump :

Name just one game you guys have played as long as LFS before getting bored to death with it.

NR2003


And I agree with the rest of what you said.

i don't think iRacing has much to do with the decline of active players in LFS. but rather the lack of development of LFS itself. People got bored of the same cars and tracks.

Quote from Mackie The Staggie :

Sure we have the current TBO's being raced on the RSR server, but how long will it last? With the demise of CTRA (which had good points and bad points), there is no organised on line pickup and go racing.

Good points, the new servers are missing the organization bit: they're clean as long as an admin is on AND watching, and as long it's not the admin who hit you.

Nice but CTRA was a different story. After it went out my interest in iRacing has grown; it doesn't hurt they've finally decided to hand out free trials, and I guess in time they might tone down the pricing and turn iR more into an alternative to LFS than it is now.

Quote from three_jump :

Name just one game you guys have played as long as LFS before getting bored to death with it.

Indycar Racing 2. I bought my first computer in 1995 and got ICR2. Bought my first wheel in 1996 and I played that computer and ICR2 up until I finally got a new computer in 2005 and was able to run NR2003 until I found LFS. It was very heavily modded for single player against the AI. Sucks at today's standards, but was fine for me back then.

ICR2 for 10 years, NR2003 for a year, and LFS for 3 years (haven't played for about a year).

been in iracing, payed for it, don't regret it, not going to pay it anymore, returned back to lfs...

lack of development did mess up a it, why cant victor mage a log of what he's been doin?

Quote from Riders Motion :

I see a lot of LFSers with 300$ steering wheels and 2000$ PC. Why wouldnt they be able to pay 200$ for a year of gaming?

200 quid ??


even if it was the Greatest game ever made i wouldn't pay that cause with lfs you get a half decent game with a half decent community...


you get what you pay for and it just so happens to be what i want.

i understand the maturity level of i-racing, but, were can you find crashers, cruisers, drifters, draggers, and racers?!?

The fact of the matter is, Did iR (or anything else kill LFS), the answer is a resounding NO.

I did a little research a few weeks back, simply because I hadn't played LFS online much, and because the general feeling in the forum is one of distain for LFS, and I was frankly suprised at what I found.

LFS numbers have remained fairly constant for online play, when I had expected to see a decline.

I think the moral to this is, don't take the forum as read when it comes to what the WHOLE LFS populus are doing.

Quote from danowat :

I did a little research a few weeks back, simply because I hadn't played LFS online much, and because the general feeling in the forum is one of distain for LFS, and I was frankly suprised at what I found.

LFS numbers have remained fairly constant for online play, when I had expected to see a decline.

Another fine example of how scientific research is never co-ordinated properly and how we're wasting resources.

If only I knew fellow researcher danowat was on the exact same path as I, I wouldn't have of wasted precious time compiling statistical data by clicking the "statistics" button in LFSW.

And indeed, after such laborious and intensive research one can only be dishearthened when he comes face-to-face once more with that which forms the basis of yet another one of these threads. That is to say, it is nothing else but the product of the dramatic nature of a spineless individual very fittingly bending his way into controrted images of hysteria and quite obviously unable to face the truth standing.

Fellow forum members, I call upon you to join me in a collective sigh and shaking of the head in the direction of thisnameistaken.

Quote from Shotglass :

as far as im concerned anyone who hasnt played stunts can go to hell and isnt allowed to have an oppinions about racing games anyway
plus i think its a rather nice way to subtly make a point about variety

oh and while were at it: monkey island

I played stunts myself
But even longer Formula One Grand Prix.

Do you still play it?

There's one reason and one reason only that I don't play LFS any more - no wheel. If I had a wheel I'd be back on it regularly.
I'd play it with my joypad, but the controls aren't optimised for it and it's way too twitchy for me to risk going online. I still do the odd bit of racing on prvite servers with my little brother, and sometimes offline.

I have no interest in iRacing, purely because of the price tag. I know that $200/year might not sound like a huge amount, but it's a damn sight more than I can afford.

Quote from xaotik :

Fellow forum members, I call upon you to join me in a collective sigh and shaking of the head in the direction of thisnameistaken.

Adding to that, Can we also include the /facepalm also before the shaking ?
Current trends seem to indicate this is the most prefered expression of dissent exhibited recently.

^i dont suscribe to things... so lfs is a very nice sim with no exaggerated physics.

I stopped racing in LFS long before I subscribed to iRacing. I had gotten bored with LFS, because even the occasional race on CTRA servers felt pretty much pointless (no pun intended). The races seemed meaningless and I didn't have the time for leagues. It all seemed so random. Add the slow progress on top of that, and, as I only recently came to realize, the fact that all cars and/or tracks seemed to feel generically the same to me and lacked character, and there you have why LFS was dead for me.

iRacing re-ignited my passion for sim racing and hence didn't kill LFS. But it will keep me from coming back to LFS.