hey guys !
before cranking up the flame blower, just read!
i am a great fan of LFS, but since im not racist, id like to have a few info about rFactor!
i watched a video of porsche 996 cup racing on the Ring; man that was awesome ! id like to be able to drive this car, and i know we cant mod cars in LFS (i dont have a pbm with that !) so the only way for me to drive the 996 cup is either to buy GTR or rFactor (Am I right?) i downloaded the GTR demo and this game just didnt seemed right to me,as far as physics and car reaction are concerned (maybe im just addicted to greatness because of LFS !!) so i forgot about GTR (too bad cause i love GTR cars and the FIA GTR championnship !)
so what about rFactor? i understood that i would have to download mods to be able to play with the 996 cup, 1st of, is the mod easy to install and run?
then what about physics and degree of realism in rFactor? while watching the video i noticed the guy had strange lines and was able to catch up with the other really easily (not very realistic imo)
what about collision and car deformation? is this any ok? or just crap, even worse no deformation at all?
what about the skinning part? is it as easy as in LFS?
Any comments on the rFactor community? (as friendly and helpful as here?)
please note that i am interested in Rfactor only thanks to the possibility to play with "real cars" and especially porsche! so is it worth it? im not very skilled computerswise so im a bit afraid of running mods, is it easy to do?
i know there should be a rFactor forum but i know folks here and i know i can trust them, thats why im asking on this forum.

thx for the info and Long live LFS !

umm i can tell you one time i tryed the RF demo and it just didnt seem to "feel" right. but that was last year so they may have added a new pach, so on idk. i never kep up with it.

I became rfactor licenced only reciently and it was totally because of the F3 Mod thats around, the feeling of having the wheels rip off in a colision did it for me. No rfactor isnt as realistic as some out there. But I dont see the point in saying one is better than the other, they both offer different advantages and disadvantages.

I hope to get into it more in the future, same with NKp and others. They are all good in thier own way in my opinion.

Mods are easy to run in rfactor. U just install them - usually just by extracting a zip to the root rfactor directory and then select them in rfactor itself to play them.

Collision and deformation isnt done in real time like LFS. bits just fall off. it looks ok but its not great.

The physics are quite different to LFS. You seem to have more grip, but when the car does start to slide your in trouble - i usually spin out I think LFS physics are better but its purely an opinion. Many will think Rfactors are better.

You really need to see for yourself. There is a demo of rfactor but its a pre gold version so some things (like the netcode) are a bit weak in it. But its shows you what the physics are like in one of the road going cars and its race variants.

This is just my opinion. But. When ive tried to play online in rfactor (not a huge amount I admit) there are never any full servers and if there are there are so many mods and tracks that you never have the right ones. The community is very fragmented as a result of the open nature of the platform.

Hope that helped.

Dave.

I purchased rfactor a while ago, i usually just play it when i feel like a slight bit of change. The physics arn't that bad in rfactor, but they ain't brilliant either!

Believe the reason that guy was catching up quickly in a dodgy line was probally due to the setup. With rfactors customisable gear ratios and etc, top speed can be changed quite drastically.

I spent the £25 quid on it to see what it was like, isn't that bad. But i prefer lfs by miles, but its just about personal preference really.

I would say purchase it, and see what its like.

thx for the answers !
ooo i forgot to mention that i use a crappy computer, does rFactor require a powerfull comp to run?
dave , does rF feel like GTR?

Three words about rFactor: "single player only"

If you aren't into organized leagues running at specific times (usually at North America time zone) then you are out of luck. Otherwise it's empty servers, wrong mod, outdated mod, no mods, driving aids engaged hell.

Quote from spankmeyer :

Three words about rFactor: "single player only"

If you aren't into organized leagues running at specific times (usually at North America time zone) then you are out of luck. Otherwise it's empty servers, wrong mod, outdated mod, no mods, driving aids engaged hell.

i mentione dthis in a thread elsewhere about making lfs modable (is there such a word?), cant remember where i read it (autosimsport ?) but it was being said that the abundance of mods is ruining the online part of the game as its almost got to the point where every player needs their own server as no ones install is compatable with anyone elses and a night on rfactor means a night downloading mods before you can join the race you want.

Stoney - I can confirm that the F3 mod is a pile of poo - nothing like an F3 car. Even the community (I had the 'pleasure' of being in a mass MSN conversation with a bunch of rF fanboys) hates it now. Apparently the only good mod is the Meganes. But they're awful too.

It's well known that I am not a fan of rF, something to do with a shoddy, unfinished retail product being propped up by shoddy, unfinished 3rd party mods, BUT, I recently downloaded the Megane mod and the 1.3 version of the eurospeedway, and its pretty damn good.

Dan,

I've been playing with rF the last few days. I like the new Megane mod, and a couple of the tracks released for it are very nice. Biggest problem for me is you can't feel the point of no return when the rear end steps out too far, making it very easy to spin. The cars also seem to spin too easy as you approach that limit. The default FF settings are complete rubbish as well, but it can be tweaked and the end result is quite nice.

I much prefer LFS for online racing, but rF gives me enough amusement in single player to be worth keeping on my HD. I've not really bothered with multiplayer because the amount of fragmentation. The AI seems to be much better than either LFS or GT4. The community doesn't seem very good on the whole - espically when you mention LFS But each to their own I guess. Now that mods are starting to become more refined for rF its more appealing than it used to be.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Stoney - I can confirm that the F3 mod is a pile of poo - nothing like an F3 car. Even the community (I had the 'pleasure' of being in a mass MSN conversation with a bunch of rF fanboys) hates it now. Apparently the only good mod is the Meganes. But they're awful too.

In your opinion of course.

I personally think its quite good, i enjoy it, although yes i will confirm, nothing like driving a real one was.

I also though to that it is great to have a fully mod friendly game like rfactor. But now after 6 months or so I think its totally wrong done. There are simple to many low/half quality mods. My idea of rfactor was to have some 5 or so top quality mods like F1, GTR, F3... whatever.
Now go online and check the server list. You will find 10 versions of F1, F1_Fullsim, F1 Champions, F1 rips. blabla. It cant really go any worse then this.
There is only 1 server with 10 people right now. All others are filled up with 2 max.
My only hope is still that when the real F1 mod gets released all this half done will get dropped and deleted.

Also I much more prefer the gfx of LFS then any ISI game ever done!

If you are providing a Mod driven game such as rFactor, it's my beleif you have to provide information to exactly what mod is being run and which version, as pointed out before, there is simply too much, and some very similar.

An auto-download would be a good idea so when you join a host to a mod where you have a older version or just don't have the mod, you are given the option to download in game, rather going on the net and guessing which version that server might be running....

as mentionned before by spankmeyer "single player only", so my next question was, how good is the Ai so thx Rtsbasic.
actually im only intersted by the porsche 996 cup mod, i dont really give a crap about anything else, oo yes maybe the GTR one. so is rF still worth it only for 1 mod?
im using a POS PC, it could barely handle GTR so will i have pbms running rF?

Quote from tristancliffe :

Apparently the only good mod is the Meganes. But they're awful too.

Yes...just look at them, awful

Quote from mkinnov8 :

In your opinion of course.

I personally think its quite good, i enjoy it, although yes i will confirm, nothing like driving a real one was.

I'm pretty sure that it's an F3 car which Tristan has kicking about at his house

Quote from Pain-less :

Yes...just look at them, aweful

Last time I checked you couldn't comment on how the physics drive from still shots

Personally I couldn't care less about the graphics as long as they look like what they should. Yes if some graphics improvements came along I'd be happy with them but graphics aren't that important for me, if they were I'd be playing GT4. Correct me if I'm wrong but don't you count the physical movement as part of the graphics ? rF cars look very much solid and don't really look as if they are moving as they should be.

My opinion on rF is that it's to plain and had no "WOW" factor which LFS gave on my very first lap. People keep saying, "oh you need to set this and that" and "open this .ini and do that" etc, that's a pretty rubbish first impression if your having to butcher a .ini to get the "right" feel. Everytime I tried the thing which would make rF feel great seemingly, I still felt very much disconnected from the car and having to guess what was going to happen rather than what was happening. I guess if you're used to it you can tell whats going to happen but I got far to annoyed with it and gave up.

Keiran

Having purchased RFactor I found that while it looks pretty it's NOT LFS and it just sits on my hard drive gatering dust.
For me LFS makes it on the help and co-operation one can get on the forum never mind the fact that it is better

LLLLLOOOOOOONNNNGGGG life LFS

Rwhat?

Quote from Pain-less :

Yes...just look at them, awful

If you really think he meant the graphics are awful, you're in a wrong forum mate. I haven't played LFS nearly 4 years because I like the graphics.....

I keep considering rF but there STILL isn't a demo that gives you at least a try in one car and one track. OK, I could just go and purchase and get a refund if I don't like it, but to be honest why go through all that hassle?

The thing that pulls me towards rF is the sounds (ok, I know they're canned), but this is what is making me consider it. But, really without a demo how can you evaluate a product?

Quote :

I also though to that it is great to have a fully mod friendly game like rfactor. But now after 6 months or so I think its totally wrong done.

Wrong done? That's interesting.

Quote :

There are simple to many low/half quality mods. My idea of rfactor was to have some 5 or so top quality mods like F1, GTR, F3... whatever.
Now go online and check the server list. You will find 10 versions of F1, F1_Fullsim, F1 Champions, F1 rips. blabla. It cant really go any worse then this.

There are at least six or so very good mods, and they dominate online play. You can't beat variety.

I think you exaggerate when you say "10" versions of F1. There are two, I believe. One is pretty decent, and the other I haven't tried.

Quote :

There is only 1 server with 10 people right now. All others are filled up with 2 max.
My only hope is still that when the real F1 mod gets released all this half done will get dropped and deleted.

Actually, the numbers online are pretty similar between LFS and rFactor. If you run version 1.070 and have the proper mod installed, you're in good shape. The PCC mod is very good.

Quote :

Also I much more prefer the gfx of LFS then any ISI game ever done!

I think you're crazy on this one, if graphics are what you look for in a racer.

I have LFS S2 and rFactor and enjoy both of them. I do play rFactor a lot more. But I'll agree, that if you want quick online competition, LFS is the way to go, simply because LFS is less fragmented. But to say that rFactor is a single-player only simulator (as someone here has said) is absurd.

Seeing that this is an LFS forum, it's natural that most would prefer LFS. Ask the same question over at the rFactor forum, and you'll get opposite responses.

In all, any such questions comparing racing simulators is a waste of time. You like what you like and go from there. If you like LFS, you bash rFactor; if you like rFactor, you bash LFS. If you like NetKar Pro, you bash rFactor and LFS; if you like flight simulators, you bash all racers. It's endless, and a waste of time.

But since I've already wasted everyone's time, I rank the top three current racing simulators as such:

rFactor
LFS
NetKar Pro (simply because it is unfinished and very limited-- best physics engine of them all)


Alanb

Quote from Alan_Bernardo :

...if you like flight simulators, you bash all racers...

I use to think this, but then I hit the pitwall at Aston and was like "WOW, this thing has better flight physics than MSFlight Sim!!!"

Quote from Krane :

If you really think he meant the graphics are awful, you're in a wrong forum mate. I haven't played LFS nearly 4 years because I like the graphics.....

No, I'm not in the wrong forum "mate". I know exactly where I'm at. He made a blanket statement that the Meganes were "awful". I am visually showing that they are not "awful" and they drive wonderful.

I am also not comparing the two sims, as that is pointless. I have both. I enjoy both, period.

My comments were nothing to do with looks. They were merely based on driving experience, and they felt nothing like I believe they should (and I've driven quite a few cars).

However, I do also think that rFactors graphics are utterly rubbish. LFS, RBR, nKP, Indy500, Nascar Racing etc all have more realistic graphics. Find ANY screenshot of rFactor with a car in it, and I can promise you it won't look like it's part of the scene, but as if it's been photoshopped in afterwards.

And of course it's my opinion. Based either on my preferences for graphics, or my driving experiences in real life. LFS looks great, and handles pretty well. Rfactor doesn't. No ISI sim has, does or will. I'll eat my hat if I change my mind. I'll even buy a really tough hat first.

Quote from Pain-less :

Yes...just look at them, awful

What track is that?.

Dan,