The online racing simulator
Is the S3 license truly worth the money?
I'm debating whether to purchase an S2 license or an S3 license. I don't think S3 really offers anything good other than mods for 6 more euros. I'm not sure if mods work in the server if they do, that would be fantastic.
With S3 you also get the Rockingham race track and Layout Square - large area for making layouts.

The mod system is well integrated within LFS and they work both offline and online. If a server is configured to enable mods, you just go to Garage - Mods, pick your mod and you're good to go.
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it's like the price of three good beers. Take all three
Haha, I will surely take all three beers.
If the mods work on the server, that's fantastic,I think I'll go with an S3 license.
Also supporting directly the developers. Smile
Support the Devs, they deserve it for working on this for 20 years! Yes, I'm demo at the moment, but I was s2 licensed under the account Blaeza until me and the Mrs split in '08 and she changed all the passwords to all my accounts! Missed this sim a lot, but going to be a pad player as no room for a wheel.
Quote from VicaNo :it's like the price of three good beers. Take all three

Yes, much more fun than 3 beers. I'd recommend.

(I would pay a lot more if old Westhill was accessible) Big grin
In future, whenever anyone asks this question, I'm going to refer them to this timestamp: https://youtu.be/guW3LH-4e6E?t=3632 (1:00:32)

If you're not convinced after watching that, then LFS isn't for you! Thumbs up

I mean if you want to race electric go karts that look kinda ugleh then yes, S3 is for you.
There are way better S3 mods, mostly drift ones. The race ones, mehhh. It's ok
Quote from MousemanLV :I mean if you want to race electric go karts that look kinda ugleh then yes, S3 is for you.
There are way better S3 mods, mostly drift ones. The race ones, mehhh. It's ok

You become very drifter

Also 99% of the mods are bad and ripped
Quote from MousemanLV :I mean if you want to race electric go karts that look kinda ugleh then yes, S3 is for you.

Face -> palm That's more than a little bit unfair, let alone narrow-minded.

Sure there's more on offer in S3 than what E-Challenge can showcase, but there are so many novel features showcased in a single race broadcast of E-Challenge than are possible in basically any other sim right now, demonstrating the current versatility of LFS. Maybe I should have been more verbose originally.
Hard to make a proper mod when you can't even name the car as intended, but are forced to work around it. No OE brands, symbols.

Obviously seeing car mod support is great, but it still lacks the quality that other mods offer, for example Assetto.
The OP question is quite interesting one.

On the face of it, two new environments and various car mods make it a bargain. Even looking at last year, Argentina Turismo employed mods in a brilliant fashion with LMP2 on showcase, but next to that having amazing aston martin safety car, giant Michelin clock and awesome rescue cars... that's only possible in LFS S3.


But...if you want to race...with lfs s2 you will be able to race in most of RTFR races, 90% of FM fox and Fm gti races, and 90% of mrc fbm races. Along with others, but only these 4 will give you something to race FOUR times a week. Getting S3 there wont change much. Hell, most of servers are still on LFS 0.7A, so you can even use lazy addon.

If you wanna check and drive new cars, beware that 95% of mods are crap. Some are good, but none are better than original lfs cars.

And if you want to drive new tracks from s3... Rockingham is buggy mas and worst track in LFS. Layout square is just big flat piece of asphalt and concrete... layouts can be made on it, but layout editor is so basic that they are not good, definitely not better than lfs s2 tracks.

So yeah, it depends on your wishes and abilities. If all you want is big field racing few times per week and are content with training on other days s2 is ok. On the face of it, lfs s3 gives a lot, but when you dig deeper, there's not much good in it.
Quote from NumberTwo :
And if you want to drive new tracks from s3... Rockingham is buggy mas and worst track in LFS.

What exactly is buggy about it to make it the worst track in LFS?
Quote from Flame CZE :What exactly is buggy about it to make it the worst track in LFS?

Maybe the fact that it is a real laser scanned track? I love LFS because of it's fictive tracks. Imo Aston is much better than Spa, for instance. More variations. And you can drive Spa everywhere else.

Still for me, Ro10 is my favourite of them all.

I was doing some ssd cleaning stuff and went to drive old Westhill. Oh man, it is still the most perfect track in the world. And the graphics are just not so bad. What if devs just did something like they did to Fern Bay, and just released it as "Easthill" or something. I really miss that track as it was, and want to have proper races there.
I had an S2 a long time ago. I used it very little. Since I replay I bought an S3. And that has absolutely nothing to do with it.

With the S3 you have Rockingham, which is one of my favorite tracks (and on which in GTR with adapted tires I no longer notice any noticeable bugs).
But above all, with the S3 and its mod system, you have complete freedom. As with the old generation games, but with added practicality and quality.

For example, the main problem of LFS is indeed its too slow AI. With the S3 and its mod system, you can in a few clicks create modified cars (in mod test) that correspond exactly to your level for training.
Since discovering this, I've been racing exhilaratingly against an AI that's competitive and aggressive, but also makes mistakes. It's wonderful and very realistic. For that alone, the S3 is worth it. Thumbs up
The slow Ai represents the average lfs racer speed though, so it's accurate.
Quote from MousemanLV :The slow Ai represents the average lfs racer speed though, so it's accurate.

I don't know how the AI calibrates itself. But it's not "accurate" enough. I'm not an exceptional driver (I never train, I only race with AI, I use a setup very close to the default setup) and before modifying the AI cars, I drove 2 seconds faster in the race. In two or three laps, I was in first position, starting last out of thirty-two...Shrug
LFS has 20 standard cars.
There are at least just as many mod cars of comparable quality. (I have 27 saved as favories and there are several I forgot to add or did not try yet.)
Also some are types that did not exist before. (Buggies, Karts, etc)

Layout Square is probably useful when creating mods or perhaps setup tweaking.
(to test handling/speed etc without worrying about crashing)
I think it not a full track and is more for experimenting. The custom tracks look a bit too abstract for my taste, it can be nice when you have grown tired of all other options.
There are nicer areals for custom tracks even if the buildable area is smaller.

Rockingham is another good track that uses the "newer" graphics.
If one likes the layout is a matter of taste.
Quote from Gutholz :LFS has 20 standard cars.
There are at least just as many mod cars of comparable quality. (I have 27 saved as favories and there are several I forgot to add or did not try yet.)
Also some are types that did not exist before. (Buggies, Karts, etc)

Layout Square is probably useful when creating mods or perhaps setup tweaking.
(to test handling/speed etc without worrying about crashing)
I think it not a full track and is more for experimenting. The custom tracks look a bit too abstract for my taste, it can be nice when you have grown tired of all other options.
There are nicer areals for custom tracks even if the buildable area is smaller.

Rockingham is another good track that uses the "newer" graphics.
If one likes the layout is a matter of taste.

atm there are 697 mods. Good way to prove me right with your 27 claim. Its less than 5%!
Quote from NumberTwo :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3HlxKZiucU

and its not only 1 kerb, you know that i guess, just playing a bit?

You’re right about these kerbs, they are annoying. I thought you meant some Rockingham-specific bugs. Hopefully it will be fixed with the new tyre physics and make all tracks safer to drive.
Quote from NumberTwo :atm there are 697 mods. Good way to prove me right with your 27 claim. Its less than 5%!

Does it make sense to use percentages like that or are absolute numbers more relevant?
27 is the number of mod cars that I already tried and found good enough quality and meet my personal taste to add to favorites. It is just a very rough ballpark number, not science.
I did not try all cars. Some mods were good but maybe not the type of car that I like.
With the filter set to "approved" it is not hard to find good content.
Most bike mods feels better than car mods.
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