Finally, it's official and posted on the main page of Race2Play! Official support for Live for Speed is a fact. Take a look at this link for more info:
http://www.race2play.com/forum/list_posts/10653

Great news huh?

What was it, 2 years after he was asking around to get it done for him for free?

Sounded ok... until I read:

Quote :

All of the exhibition events will feature only the Demo cars.

Then I realised it's pretty pointless (for me).

@ PMD I was to post the same thing but then I noticed it also says an official league is going to start 'soon' or sth along those lines.

If it brings more drivers to LFS then it's great, OTOH we're not forced to use it...

Can anyone explain to me what the point of Race2Play is and why I should be happy?

Oh, looking at it, a league? Shouldn't this be in "Leagues and Events" then?

Everything you need to know about R2P can be found in this thread - http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=16494

In short - Tim is a whiny little bitch that wants all the work done for him, and his Pay2Race system is pretty much already built into LFS with LFSW and CTRA (or whatever will replace it).

Jakg, I don't know what you're problem is, and it's not my business to stick my nose in it, so I wont. But Race2Play offers good, clean racing, monitored in real time by admins, on very stable servers. Stats are kept, rankings and scoring are properly done and the site is stable. There's nothing to complain about, what so ever. Most series, regardless of sim, is free to participate in and doesn't cost you a dime. What is there to complain about?

Quote from X-Ter :

Jakg, I don't know what you're problem is, and it's not my business to stick my nose in it, so I wont. But Race2Play offers good, clean racing, monitored in real time by admins, on very stable servers. Stats are kept, rankings and scoring are properly done and the site is stable. There's nothing to complain about, what so ever. Most series, regardless of sim, is free to participate in and doesn't cost you a dime. What is there to complain about?

The fact they only use the demo cars? Which leaves a pretty boring league in the same old same old cars.

I was hoping for some better racing in things like RAC, LX6, RB4, FO8.

Have a read of the thread I linked to and the guys general attitude and you'll see what i mean.

I am delighted to see that, despite various issues, Race2Play has finally got Live for Speed in a position to be used within the service.

LFS has been one of those "on the shelf" sims that I have not really touched because there is so much else about.

However LFS (and Netkar Pro) appearing is great news, and the tester series being provided will give us a great idea of what we can expect as and when the series are expanded. I really look forward to getting stuck into LFS now.

I have read the thread linked to, I did 2 years ago when it was more relevant and the opinions in there a little more raw, I would hope that would be left and the future allowed to develop.

Quote from mcintyrej :

The fact they only use the demo cars? Which leaves a pretty boring league in the same old same old cars.

I was hoping for some better racing in things like RAC, LX6, RB4, FO8.

The demo cars are only for getting the system up to speed. Two series are planned, one for the TBO class cars and one for the GTR class cars, starting in April. The exhibition events does not count towards rankings or stats, but series do.

A lot of water under the bridge in the last 2 years. With the advent of iRacing, I'd imagine that R2P is having to extend its appeal and scope of services, including sims, to remain in the market. Anything that increases exposure to LFS is a good thing, and anything that bridges the gap between LFS and other popular sims can only bring good things as far as I'm concerned.

I hope the venture is a success and the new sims are welcomed by the R2P community

I'm not going to be as nice as the above comments I took a serious look at the race2play website for the first time tonight since I just got back into simracing after a long hiatus. To be perfectly honest, I simply don't understand why anyone would ever sign up. I don't know what the history is between LFS and r2p and I don't really care. All I know is that I find the membership options are almost insulting. Their $125 year plan and $170 year plans include the following:

Sign up for races 21/28 days in advance
Custom cars and paint schemes
Additional screenshots/Maximum screenshots
Form a race team/Form unlimited race teams
Join unlimited race teams
Private setup storage and postrace notes
Enhanced personal stats
Merit badges
Create your own Group forum
Customize homepages
Exclusive prerelease mods and addons

Come on lets get real - these aren't features. To use r2p you need a computer with an internet connection. A computer has a hard drive - a device capable of storing billions of LFS setups, millions of screenshots (and even better - replays!). Via this crazy technology called the internet, you can easily meet other racers and form an unlimited number of race teams. Windows comes with this very simple program called "Paint" which enables you to create an unlimited amount of merit badges. Another classic program is Notepad, which allows you write billions of postrace notes. If I wasn't so turned off by the marketing, I think I'd give it a shot since I like the fact that it caters to americans and they have an association with NASA. Maybe I'll still give their free trial a shot, and post my thoughts here...

But at $170/year, I'm sorry, you have to be compared to iRacing which offers a similar service. I would not pay $170 a year for the iRacing service alone. My interest is in the simulation - iRacing is the best simulator available and it arguably justifies the cost. In fact, the main thing I don't like about iRacing is the seriousness of it all (and the lack of freedom) which is what r2p's main goal is.

This is going to sound like I'm on the payroll at R2P or something, but I'm not. That out of the way, I'd like to say that there is no need to pay for anything on R2P. You can join the community and race there for free. The most important thing (as I see it) is the sign up feature. Paying members will always have dibs on the slots available, come race day. If the series has room for 20 drivers, and all those slots are taken in advance by non paying members, a paying member will push one of the non paying members off the list, simple as that.

The rest of the features, like teams and more detailed stats are perhaps not as important, and lets face it, we all have our setups saved on the harddrive and so on, and screenshots are mostly posted on the teams own site etc. But still, the price to be a supporting member is as low as $8 per month, and if you ask me, it's a small fee for such an extensive service. I race not only LFS, but also rFactor, GTR Evolution, STCC - The Game and Race 07, and I will very soon be the proud owner of Turismo Carretera. Race2Play offers fast and reliable servers for all these Sims. They offer online stewards that is there, online, in real time to overlook the event and maintain a VERY high standard of racing. That means no more first turn mayhem like on (some of) the CTRA servers and all of the public servers. And all the stats, results and rankings are saved, updated kept forever, in real time. That's got to be worth something.

iRacing is crap in comparison. iRacing charge a monthly fee as well as for add on material like tracks and cars. If you're involved and successful in iRacing, you will by now have payed enough money to equal several years of a R2P membership, just to cover the cost of add on tracks and cars and not even counting the monthly fee for the series itself. Just not worth it. And... Given the history about how iRacing treats members if the sim racing community http://forum.tmcarthur.net/viewtopic.php?t=52 I wouldn't install that sim out of pure principal reasons, regardless of cost. But that's just me.

Just to clarify - iRacing doesn't charge a monthly fee for extra content. You only have to pay for extra content once - when you purchase it.

>> there is no need to pay for anything on R2P.

So does my R2P membership include LFS, rFactor, GTR Evolution, STCC - The Game, Race 07, and Turismo Carretera or do I have to pay for this extra content?

I personally would rather shell out $25 for the highest quality track available in any sim than buy yet another racing game with unnatural physics

One fee, one site, same service for all sims included, and you still do not have to pay for a single thing if you do not want to (but you got to own the sim you intend to race). The only risk you take is to being bumped off the list of signed up drivers.

Quote from X-Ter :

One fee, one site, same service for all sims included

X-Ter.. R2P includes the sims to race on?? With iRacing, you don't have to purchase an additional sim. The iRacing simulator comes with the iRacing subscription. That's an upside or a downside, depending on how you feel about the iRacing simulator I guess

Just really want to get that clarified.. I wouldn't want anyone running off to buy an R2P subscription only to find it doesn't come with GTR Evolution or whichever sim interests them. They could feel a bit burned by that.

Thanks SamH. Yes, you're right, I could have frased that one better. You still have to own the sim yo intend to race

And what exactly is the point? Jesus there must be some gullible people out there to fork over real money for in the most part totally free content.

Good luck to R2P but yer my money wont be heading over there anytime soon.

I wont ever pay 2 race in LFS its simply not good.

if it way like RF does with event like Rouen race nights or the now going spa shizler(crappy names) it would be cool thow.

Like pay 3 to 5 euros for a champiochip

There is no need to pay!

Please guys lets not battle about this, yes you can pay to race at R2P if you wish, but there is no need to.

Again I say I am delighted to see LFS now included, please let us all enjoy LFS however we wish to.

Each to their own would be great.

Quote from Nick Phillips :

There is no need to pay!

Please guys lets not battle about this, yes you can pay to race at R2P if you wish, but there is no need to.

Again I say I am delighted to see LFS now included, please let us all enjoy LFS however we wish to.

Each to their own would be great.

yeah I enyoy free racing better thats why i bought lfs for the sheer bang for the buck it is

LFSers don't like spending extra money, even for optional extras. I remember the outrage when LFS devs introduced the hi-res skin download option in LFS. You'd have thought the world had ended, reading the nonsense people were posting on the forum.

The plus side of R2P taking on LFS is that, even if not a single existing LFSer enters a single R2P server, LFS will gain exposure among people who have a proven record of paying for things they like. The worst that could possibly happen is that LFS gets a bunch of new racers online, some of whom might even take the plunge and buy an S2 licence and provide cannon fodder in servers for you to thrash their nooby butts.

WHAT is there to complain about? Come on guys, get with the program.

Since I'm posting anyway, I'm going to make a point..

Quote from X-Ter :

That means no more first turn mayhem like on (some of) the CTRA servers[..]

A couple of things.. firstly, never undertake to guarantee the online behaviour of ANYONE but yourself. It will only bite you in the backside if you do. Secondly, please remember that one of the principle reasons for CTRA's inception and operation was to provide an educational platform for new drivers. Complaining about T1 accidents on entry level CTRA servers is like complaining that some kindergarten kids can't write their own name. Defensive much? Mebbe!

Quote from SamH :

LFSers don't like spending extra money, even for optional extras. I remember the outrage when LFS devs introduced the hi-res skin download option in LFS. You'd have thought the world had ended, reading the nonsense people were posting on the forum.

The plus side of R2P taking on LFS is that, even if not a single existing LFSer enters a single R2P server, LFS will gain exposure among people who have a proven record of paying for things they like. The worst that could possibly happen is that LFS gets a bunch of new racers online, some of whom might even take the plunge and buy an S2 licence and provide cannon fodder in servers for you to thrash their nooby butts.

WHAT is there to complain about? Come on guys, get with the program.

Since I'm posting anyway, I'm going to make a point..

A couple of things.. firstly, never undertake to guarantee the online behaviour of ANYONE but yourself. It will only bite you in the backside if you do. Secondly, please remember that one of the principle reasons for CTRA's inception and operation was to provide an educational platform for new drivers. Complaining about T1 accidents on entry level CTRA servers is like complaining that some kindergarten kids can't write their own name. Defensive much? Mebbe!

Good post and I have high res skins BTW and a LFS mug.
Hi res ksin becaus I hate skins al blocky edges and ugly.

Ist just useles to expect nothing to happend in t1 on pickup race servers ive gotten used to ait and just dribve into t1 knowing it could be taken out any second

As for T1 on a CTRA server - I never had this issue even when mid-field - a lot of others around me did, but I could usually anticipate the accident before it happened - when others can't.

Perhaps if you ALWAYS got taken out (which is drivers not the servers), then maybe part of the issue lies with you?