Check out Unreal Tournament's map editor. It works very well with 3D representations without the user needing to know how to model in 3D. It's basically a WYSIWYG editor. Pretty cool.
as for well.. the whole topic; besides the fact this has come up billions of times i love how there is always a different opinion which has never come up; so here are mine:
1. as seperation has already been mentioned; this would create a HUGE seperation in the whole community; then the homepage of the forum would be as following: Are you a: A: Drifter, B: Racer, C: Ovaler, D: Rally..er
and that wouldn't be good in any true way
2. unless it was done appropriately and in an organized and official type way i can see it happening; meaning.. no side projects, all things made must go to 1 area only, no multiple websites can host files etc; or it would end up like every other modable [racing] game out there
2A. to note that i put racing in brackets ^ right there, i have come across games which do have a good way of handling mods and updates etc. Specifically Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (and i guess castle of wolfenstein too and the upcomming doom days thing); just join a server, and it will update your files automatically, and it works EXTREMELY well
but the best thing to mention is the low filesize; i dont want to land up with a game such as rFactor where people are using 5+ gigs on 1 game
Have you checked your LFS folder lately?
Just don't change anything in the default settings, and play for 6 months on a nightly basis (say an hour 2 a night)... My folder was 4.2GB just from replays and downloaded carskins...
I would love to make a track for LFS. I've been dreaming up Greg Moore Memorial Motorsports Park for years now. I would love to make a version of it for LFS; but alas, It seems that if I ever want to drive it, I'll have to learn 3DS MAX and make it for rFactor.
Modability expands the life of games; if it is done properly. Anyways, modding should not happen until S3 is finished. That way you don't have to keep updating ever 2 weeks to make your car/track work with the latest version of LFS. Also, only the best mods should be made available for online. Essentially becoming part of the game and having stats on LFSW.
And, modding should only be available to those who are holding S3 licenses. Otherwise there would be no insentive to buy the game for many people.
That usually what happens with mods also. If there really good and people like it people will put up servers etc. But if they suck then people just ignor it and keep playing normaly.
Heh, here wo go again, this question has been asked quite a few times and its now getting silly. If people would only use the search button to scan for previous mods for LFS discussions.
Of course personally i would like to see at some point when the game is complete LFS to be opened up for modding. I model myself and would like to create a few things for personal use for lfs too and maybe if they are done well for public release but untill the game is finished i dont want any modding. Looking at rfactor and the mess modding has created i dont want to see in lfs. I do agree few of the mods for rfactor have been of good quality but i still dont want lfs subjected to be modded. Lets wait untill lfs is finished, then can we please have the rally pack and then we can have a look at the modding uption and some way of controlling it. Untill then i want lfs kept as it is...
How can you stop non paying costumers to use the mods, would it require a special version or something, that always bugged me. Other thing that i didnt see metion anywhere is how the s1/s2 (saying thats mods will only be allowed when s3 is out) will deal with the mods, should they have access to it?