Tonight I was trying to relax myself a bit playing some TrackMania, but something I'd read here got stuck in my ear and kept coming back to me.

Quote :

LFS need racers not servers there are enough

So I said to myself, TMN has a larger audience than LFS, what if we showed them another game they probably haven't heard of? The basic idea is to have more people check out LFS.

Some of us are certainly more or less regular players of TMN, so they could united in a team for the purpose of promoting LFS to that audience, whose members often like cars, driving, speed, etc. TMN also is similar to LFS in that the audience is spread across a wide range of ages, despite the bulk of it being in the 15-30 bracket.

The team would not be an official LFS thing, and would not look for endorsement from devs either, being entirely a 'grassroots' initiative.

Players would be recruited not for their raw speed but for their willingness to introduce other people to the world of LFS, being both polite and friendly.

Those people having a licensed TM account would be preferred as they would be able to use a specific avatar, an LFS car model and skin sporting the LFS logo and the URL. And more importantly, they couldn't be accused of taking something from what Nadeo created without giving anything back.

TMN licenses are quite cheap anyway since an account can be validated using an old key from the original TM which, last time I checked, retailed for something like 10 euros.

The team would be named accordingly to feature a [LFS] tag (e.g. LFS Federated Simmers or whatever you fancy) mimicing the colors of the LFS logo.

Ideally it also would run a public server, featuring LFS ads and boards and the tracklist would be made mainly of tech or speedtech tracks. Of course some graphic artists and admins would be needed besides regular drivers.

Of course for this thing to work, you have to be a TM player already so you aren't reallocating part of your LFS time to another game (which would not make any good to LFS)

Since I wouldn't be able to set this thing up myself, I'm releasing this idea in the wild without having anything ready beyond the basic concepts - so if you think this is a good one, go ahead, you have my blessing.

Of course the whole reasoning could also be applied to other driving games.

Comments, as long as they're constructive , are welcome.

we hate people spamming rfactor and nfs around... why should we spam lfs in the same fashion? doesn't seem right.

i think all racers are at Iracing. TM is far far away from realistic so guess they dont want something like this

Ps. if some should or would do advertisment it`d be the Devs. I for myself tell people who are interested about it.

I take it you've never seen my in-game rFactor username then? (LFS_FTW, or something similar, can't actually remember the last time I went online in rF)

TM is a bit cartoony to be attracting serious sim racers I think. rFactor or iRacing would be a "lesser waste of time", but then I'm sure 90% of those racers have heard of LFS already (Google "online racing simulator" and a little sim called LFS is hit no. 1 ) .

Quote from dougie-lampkin :

TM is a bit cartoony to be attracting serious sim racers I think. rFactor or iRacing would be a "lesser waste of time"

TM is a totally unrealistic arcade game, that's why there's a chance to attract new players IMO: it'll be like fishing for those people who don't know about simming yet.

It may sound like a crazy idea, but think about it: the average simmer likely knows about LFS already or will find out sooner or later.

Rather than try to win over the fans of another sim, the point is to create new simmers

On the gamespot forums I occansionally bump into people who played LFS back in the day... There was a topic about it on the RacePro forum the other day.

Quote :

LFS need racers not servers there are enough

I guess that's right, but you won't change that by gathering LFS users to play more Trackmania. If you want more players on the LFS servers, play LFS.

Quote from NightShift :

TM is a totally unrealistic arcade game, that's why there's a chance to attract new players IMO: it'll be like fishing for those people who don't know about simming yet.

It may sound like a crazy idea, but think about it: the average simmer likely knows about LFS already or will find out sooner or later.

Rather than try to win over the fans of another sim, the point is to create new simmers

Its true!

I was a 'arcader' lately. NFS, TR, and others. I tried GTR, and other sims, but I not liked them. I still not like most of the sim games, but LFS is different. Its far mor real like, than the other sims, and its can atract players.

who wants to drink stale water? not i nor many other people.

Give us a glass of fresh water, and we might drink it again and attract other thirsty gamers\simmers.

Quote from RMachucaA :

who wants to drink stale water? not i nor many other people.

He was talking about new drivers who haven't heard of LFS before, not people who are here since 6 years.

I was playing a lot of Trackmania before finding LFS. Was so nice to go from those outrageous arcade physics (great game though) to the realism LFS offered.

You might also be able to start an LFS thread at the official TM forum, but I'm not sure what the policy on other games is there.

I used to play 1nsane alot, and on their forum was someone that played LFS and i tried it out and got hooked.

Maybe i should make a thread there?

If you want racers for LFS, you need to talk to Scawen to release Scirocco and one or two new track.

Ask him for a final release for this game (or simulator, whatever).

Or forget...

i dont know maybye someone has mentioned that.But the best way to atract peoples who playing rF TMN and ect... is so contact with that game teams leaders and please them to try this game or advertise it. then maybye they will start LFS team or ect and that team memmbers will start playing LFS.

Quote from Speed Soro :

If you want racers for LFS, you need to talk to Scawen to release Scirocco and one or two new track.

Ask him for a final release for this game (or simulator, whatever).

Or forget...

Why would that car bring racers to lfs? Its not really a fast car. It will be fast like xfg or similar !?

It will be slower propably... but it will be "real" .

TM is a game tho which "brought" me into LFS, good game still.

Quote from JazzOn :

Why would that car bring racers to lfs? Its not really a fast car. It will be fast like xfg or similar !?

That shows perfectly why LFS is losting its crowd...

If you think a race needs fast cars to be fun, you are wrong.

And IF (I don't know your opinion about) you think Trackmania's crowd is the right place to pick up "racers" you are wrong again. Except if you think we need more Drift and Cruisers "drivers" here.

LFS is getting small each day, and that is a no way back while nothing really new happens.

I have trackmania the free version tho but i have talked to some people about LFS and when i say its a racing sim they said oooh don't like sims but that was only on a server with maybe 5 people Tho i would like the full version tho i don't have the money.

I will try to promote it on popular servers tho

I know i said "tho" to much.

Quote from swisscosmo :

I have trackmania the free version tho but i have talked to some people about LFS and when i say its a racing sim they said oooh don't like sims but that was only on a server with maybe 5 people Tho i would like the full version tho i don't have the money.

it costs in Latvia last time i was there it costed 5€ :P

Quote from Speed Soro :

That shows perfectly why LFS is losting its crowd...

If you think a race needs fast cars to be fun, you are wrong.

I dont.. im here am i ? check what i was driving lately, but most people are only up for fast cars.

Quote :

And IF (I don't know your opinion about) you think Trackmania's crowd is the right place to pick up "racers" you are wrong again. Except if you think we need more Drift and Cruisers "drivers" here.

LFS is getting small each day, and that is a no way back while nothing really new happens.

well check my post earlier this thread or shall i quote myself ?
E: linky

Quote from NightShift :

Tonight I was trying to relax myself a bit playing some TrackMania, but something I'd read here got stuck in my ear and kept coming back to me.

So I said to myself, TMN has a larger audience than LFS, what if we showed them another game they probably haven't heard of? The basic idea is to have more people check out LFS. ........

I think it could be perceived like this:

Like when one country evades another country with good intentions (not to mention any countries by name..).. But the country being invaded doesn't really like the invading country being there...but at the same time some of them appreciated their intentions, but are there already for other reasons.. Then fighting increases all in the name of what?? Promoting new ideas??? Think what would happen to the poor joe that showed up here promoting rFactors latest, greatest MOD.. he would go down in Flames.

See if they have a off topic or open discussion first.. nobody like outsiders running up on their door steps with an outside agenda.

jay

This has probably been mentioned several times before, but it seems to me that the most effective (perhaps ONLY) way to attract more serious racers to this sim is by promoting it to people who are interested in real life motorsports. Most 'gamers' wont really be intertested because as a game, LFS is behind the times. However, most people who have a real interest in motorsports will get hooked on LFS because of the feel and the physics.

I discovered LFS on the North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club forum in a post someone made about getting involved in wheel to wheel racing. People were commenting about how costly it can be just to get much needed seat time, and a few people brought up the idea of 'virtual' seat time via LFS or iRacing! This instantly appealed to me as I have an interest in one day getting involved in real life wheel to wheel racing, but I don't have the resources to get any real life seat time, but 'virtual' seat time could be a good, relatively inexpensive way to learn some of the concepts of racing until I can.

After I started using LFS, I talked to some of the people I play with on Midnight Club Los Angeles (xboxlive) about it, but most of them are gamers and not really motorsports enthusiasts, and were not interested.

In other words, this sim needs to be promoted on motorsports related forums and groups, not on other games.

I bring 4,534 new users and increasing from the Bulgarian forum for almost a year ( http://lfs-bg.net ) and all other official sites of they countries ( http://www.lfs.net/?page=links#local ) are doing that so

Quote from Deesiel :

This has probably been mentioned several times before, but it seems to me that the most effective (perhaps ONLY) way to attract more serious racers to this sim is by promoting it to people who are interested in real life motorsports.

Yep, this has been said many many times before, and that is supposed to be the real intention of this sim.

If you go to the LFS main page, the explanation what is LFS is there, a simulator, blablabla...

But why real racers and too many serious virtual drivers are not interested in LFS anymore?

Maybe because the feeling is not just all you need in a simulator.

One thing that attracts people to a sim is its real life pair. It is kind different to drive in SPA or Monza than Aston.

It is different to drive a Masserati or a Mini instead of a XFR or a UF1000.

Here in Brazil, the BRDEV team has launched 2 weeks ago a mod for EVO called Stock Car Light 2007.

And we've had races with this mod in Interlagos and Curitiba, 2 great local permanent tracks, and that is simply amazing.

Even considering the inferior FFB of Simbin simulators (and any other gmotor2 based games), the immersion is deep, cause we know that class, that track, the real pilots.

BTW, 4 real pilots of that season are colaborators of the development team and run together with us.

iRacing come out with a lot of perfect scanned tracks and perfect modeled cars, with amazing handling, amazing physics and ffb.

So, the point is, LFS has nothing new for years. And serious driver doesn't feel anymore the same appeal of 2 or 3 years ago.

Now what is the deal with LFS? Servers are fully of kids doing drift and cruise. What f*** is that? Is that the simulation the main page announce?

The graphics are out of date, the sound is out of date, and this game has been beta for too much time.

I don't see old people here. I don't see seniors, I don't see professional drivers, I don't see anything that promises this project is going the right way.

I think LFS need a good contract with a good distributor, and a shock of modernity. Need more detailed models (from real cars, like Scirocco), new tracks (real tracks), new graphics, new sounds, new everything, less the amazing force feedback and tires physics.

The comunity has not grown anymore cause this game is tired, the servers are full of kids.

I was one of the mainly brasilian adviser of LFS during 3 years. I carried on LFS for many foruns, and I was the man behind the best server we have for many times (UOL). But I give up, and as I did, I know many others that did the same.

And I know that critics are not wellcome here. I tried this before, without any success. The result is eay to see today: empty race servers, and a small community of childrens doing drift and cruise.