But I was pretty much the only Sim Racer in my Lan circle. So far, I had a hard time starting some races in the group. And LFS was the most accessible to my team. GTR & GTL were very difficult to master than the demo vehicles from LFS.
I was a big fan of this game. I was the one who hosted the Freaxx servers with my own created mods that forces the players to drive correctly: you weren't allowed to leave the pit if a racer was approaching, you were sent to the pits if you stood still on the track (but it was no problem if you were on the side), etc... etc... I had great fun creating those mods and lots and lots of people enjoyed my servers.
But then I lost interest and now I'm a full Linux user and the game doesn't work on Linux, which is sad because I really believe that shouldn't be a very hard port to create. Also, I became too lazy and can't bring myself to sit at a desk behind my Logitech G27 steering wheel anymore. I only game with my laptop on my lap, so games that need the mouse are a no go too.
What I remember most is that I did some of those very very long race tracks and did them for 50 laps or more, trying to drive every lap perfectly, trying to use the pits optimally. For me that was an enormously RELAXING experience and I am still looking for games that give me that same relaxing feel. Kingdom: New Lands has the same relaxing experience for me. I hoped that Ultimate Driving 2D (top down racer) would have the same effect but the game really can't compare to LFS at all.
I learned a great deal from chatting with many people (like your good self, Tristan, Todd, Anton, Colcob, etc), either here, on RSC, or all the contacts I once built up on MSN. I miss having these sorts of discussions in my life. The people I meet in real life have a far too diverse set of interests.
.:
I started as a little boy because I was looking for analog physics control - MOUSE -: D
Later, I bought a steering wheel. I dare say here that LFS is why I live when I fly in Germany at 200KM / h
(concentration, strength in hands, no sweat in the palms, heartbeat, and I see the future in milliseconds - when the asphalt is swaying and not the car )
Today, I'm an old peasant, and a miracle has happened and I have a girlfriend: D ... in reality I already drive safely. I go to work across the road 2/266
( https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silnice_II/266
)
Every tree here has a candle and a bouquet. I often remember my childhood friends.
Cheers man, yeah I still think about the days the community was really active, good times and I actually bought an S4 from one of the people I met on LFS who lives in my city, and we still chat sometimes. Funny how my dream car came across my path because I played LFS.
I remember my classmate was drifting in the game, and he also showed me you could hit the barrier at a specific place on Blackwood and it would send the car flying. That was back in 2007. We were poor back then, so we played the pirated version
I also remember I won a computer with a steering wheel, which made me buy LFS S2 to do things like, drift around layouts and drive around on Cruise servers. I made a few good friends from that game. Good times.
Man I wish I still had clips from my demo fbm days doing similar things on the chicane's white and red barriers, driving in to them at 50ish kmh and accelerating just before hitting them, you could fly spinning like a beyblade for the whole of the long straight.
Pretty sure you can download an older version of LFS and do exactly as you described. Scawen must've fixed barriers around 0.5Y or so, should be easy to find out the exact release.
Thats how my first contact was Computer Totaal (magazine) had a copy of LFS believe also in 2002.
I played like 2 weeks and remembered the game in 2005. In 2007 I needed to register for buying S2. Believe before demo there was no registration.
I remember it very well, the very first time I played. I got the game recommended to me by an australian guy back in 2008. Can't remember his name. But I remember spawning in the pitlane with XRG, just reving the engine without knowing how to put it in gear at first. I just loved the feel initially without even driving. The engine sound was smoother and felt more real than anything else at the time.
'Twas a sad day when they patched up that fence. Those red/white barriers too, both such crowd-pleasers.
I still dream about creating a follow up video, showing practical application of the jump during a live race. Those were the times!
* * *
Anyway, my first LFS memory comes from a 2007 mention in a local PC magazine. They worded it something like "three crazy dudes making the most accurate racing simulation". People who wrote for the mag at the time were all serious old skoolers rarely resorting to goofiness so when they did you knew it was good sheit. The rest of the article didn't shy away from making sure to let everyone aware it was a game for select few. As MJ would say: that's all I needed.
As my first real online game I reluctantly started with the fastest demo car available at the time (XRT) like probably everyone else did when they first started, only to come to sobering realization those mag people weren't joking around. By using keyboard of course because in case you were not aware I was pretty gangsta in GTA Vice City and San Andreas. To make matters worse I wasn't (and will never be) a fan of racing games so it took a lot of effort to come to grips with even the basic setup options (I basically only knew fuel capacity and brake balance). What made me stuck around was the most far-out community I couldn't even imagine existing, which took me under their wings after accidental meet in their private server a month after starting, and superb LFS chat system to interact with those mtfs. Besides physics I still claim chat is the best part of the game. Oh and around that time I realized XFG was the best car in the Universe and the rest is history.
after work day like I have done for the past decade almost daily 
