An interesting news from Austin: finally in X-Plane the engine power can drive not only propellers, but wheels as well.

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?showtopic=20355

X-Plane already simulates many systems and features of automobiles: oil temperature and level, radiators, braking power, custom suspension static and dynamic stiffness. Soon it will be possible to draw more precise pavement on the ground, so racing tracks will look smooth. A very strong point is aerodynamics. If you make an open-wheeller, it will be able to fly in the air if you rise the nose too high. As for the ground relief, it is possible to make it more precise than SRTM network and thus convert LFS SMX-es into X. It lacks many features of autosims, but has it's own cool things like variable incidence that can be controlled from the cockpit.

w0rd. Gonna check it out.

X-Auto? Long time ago.... Not happenin' I think..

Sure it would be fun to change aero in real time ! Fast in straight and fast in corner ! Or change anitroll bar to non symetric aero ! Or bounce with quick going from high aero to no charge !

Off topic I know.

I have a question about xplane:

I am interested in Flight Sims but it is long time ago that I played Microsoft Flight Simulator. Is Xplane any better? What is the best Flight Sim out there?

xplane is to msfs about what lfs is to gtr

jtw62074 it will be in 8.50. At least driven wheels. Other features will come later or already may be simulated with plugins.

Micha MSFS (FS9) is more popular, though X-Plane has many interesting features. Flight model is very detailed and can be very realistic. In FS9 it is very rough. If you like constructing planes, choose X for sure.

I read about this the other day. I don't think it'll make automotive simulation very viable, as the fine details of tyre behaviour won't have been done (it's taken several years for Scawen to do it on something focused on cars). So whilst you can drive around the roads, and it will be better for it now, X-Plane remains a plane simulator. Just because LFS has basic aero stuff doesn't mean it would be any good at simulating planes.

I'm more optimistic. X has more stuff related to cars than LFS has that of planes.

i heard they were making a seperate game for cars gunna have all the citys and everything

I heard they shoot men spot on if someone spreads information without indicating the resource of that information.

Vain

Thats harsh.
Well I have FS9, and I've also tried X-plane and I like FS9 for the simplicity and the community cranks out tons of addons. Also I think the eye candy is much better. Soon as FSX or w/e the new one that is coming out will blow it all away.

bah!
who cares about x-auto, i want LFS WINGS!

You already have that. Car + red/white barrier = takeoff!

Vain

First preview screenshot from X-Autoplane:

Quote from detail :

jtw62074 it will be in 8.50. At least driven wheels. Other features will come later or already may be simulated with plugins.

Quote from your link:

"Anyway, all of this is now simulated in X-Plane, and even though you
do not have the ability to actually DRIVE the wheels with engine-
torque, the physics are there,"

I didn't read the whole post on account of its length, but from what I did read it appears that they've included a new tire model and he used anecdotes relating to how they would work on cars. I.e., he showed some of his thinking about tires and gave a little insight into how the model works. I didn't see anything in there about actually including cars in 8.5 though. I could have missed it though, but if you can't drive the tires with engine torque I doubt there'd be much of an interesting "auto" aspect to X-Plane in this next release

The discussion on tires was a little disconcerting though. Lots of talk about static and dynamic friction coefficients, which don't pertain to tires at all. One quote:

"Then, as in reality, the tire shifts from static to kinetic
coefficient of friction as the total required force exceed the
available friction and you enter a skid."

And:

"Now here is where it gets
complicated... the direction of this bond is NOT simply equal to the
sliding direction of the tire!"

That's just flat out wrong in the case he described and violates Newton's laws. Lots of stuff like that in there...

Anyway, it's sure to make much better landing and ground handling behavior for the airplanes either way. I know Flight Sim 9 doesn't do a very good job of it...

The intention to develop X-Auto was announced by Austin at least as early as May, 2002. There was a buzz for a little while then it appeared to sort of fizzle out as he took on other projects. Given their very public way of discussing what they're working on it would suggest they haven't touched in years. Maybe I missed something though over the past few months.

It would be cool, but I'm not holding my breath about seeing it anytime remotely soon. From what I've read on their forums on discussions about cars they don't appear to have a very high level of knowledge in that area, unfortunately. That could very well change though of course.

Quote from Shotglass :

xplane is to msfs about what lfs is to gtr

This is the answer I wanted!
So no question what to fly! x-Plane....

it would make sense to develope an intergrated Aero-wheel package that could shift easily and competently between the two discaplines of aeronautics and autonautics (sic). The future of personal travel lies in that direction after all and some car/plane prototypes are already out there. Simulators could be one step ahead of the game if they could accuratly simulate the transition between flight and the mechanical grip of a tyre.

Imagine the rather funky side games you could have.

'Cause you could be this get away driver right, in the future yea. And the city you live in is like a huge three dimensional thingy where Banks and other places that your crew rob could be 600 storys up in the air as well as 40 floors below groundlevel and you gotta make your getaways by making the most of the underground, ground and air aspects of the city. The more money you earn you can upgrade your 'Aero-car' (TM. . . by me.) And 'cause the physics all rocks then it's uber realistic both in the air and on the road.

Coool.

Quote from Funnybear :

'Cause you could be this get away driver right, in the future yea. And the city you live in is like a huge three dimensional thingy where Banks and other places that your crew rob could be 600 storys up in the air as well as 40 floors below groundlevel and you gotta make your getaways by making the most of the underground, ground and air aspects of the city. The more money you earn you can upgrade your 'Aero-car' (TM. . . by me.) And 'cause the physics all rocks then it's uber realistic both in the air and on the road.

Coool.

All it would need would be sharks with frickin LASER BEAMS attached to their heads!1!!

Ah yea. Way cool. Sharks with laser beams. And. And. And. Stuff. Big stuff. With guns. And Cheese. Need cheese. Can't have a good game without cheese.

Quote from Micha :

This is the answer I wanted!
So no question what to fly! x-Plane....

Yes and No. Personally, I fly both for different reasons. I've logged many hundreds of hours in FS9, but far fewer in X-Plane. There's no great reason as such - I love X-Plane's attention to detail, but I love some of FS9's features. Simply put, if you're addicted to flightsim get them both. If you want to start with something simpler, get FS9 - but if you're willing to get on a bigger learning curve, grab X-Plane

Oh, and for crying out loud, make sure you have a good joystick You can pick up a Saitek X45 (with throttle control) for around £20 now, not much to part with for an awesome set of sticks.

jtw62074 I've re-read the text and it seems that you are right. I've read that too quickly at first.

Funnybear there are aerocars already in X There was a contest of small 2-seat planes.

Quote from JamesF1 :

Yes and No. Personally, I fly both for different reasons. I've logged many hundreds of hours in FS9, but far fewer in X-Plane. There's no great reason as such - I love X-Plane's attention to detail, but I love some of FS9's features. Simply put, if you're addicted to flightsim get them both. If you want to start with something simpler, get FS9 - but if you're willing to get on a bigger learning curve, grab X-Plane

Oh, and for crying out loud, make sure you have a good joystick You can pick up a Saitek X45 (with throttle control) for around £20 now, not much to part with for an awesome set of sticks.

I fly xP since yesterday with a Saitek EVO! I am loving it...So excuse me, I havr to catch my F-14 Tomcat and fly over to Scawen....