I think that one thing LFS needs, is more tracks. The game itself is still undergoing development which is good, but the tracks are still the same for a loooong time already. I'm with LFS for over 3 years and I know all the tracks inside out and there is nothing that can surprise me. The thrill of new tracks when S2 came out was great, but that has already passed away...

Some of you may argue that I (and almost everyone) haven't driven all the combos, but name me a combo and in 2-3 hours of practice I'm within 1 sec of the WR and even past the WR on the not so used combos, because when you know a track, getting used to another car is easy, driving the reversed config, you also know (or at least have a very good guess) where the next turn will be...

Totally new tracks would be the "cure" for this.

It would be nice if Eric would only work on LFS and make new tracks, but i think that this is not possible, because he does not work only for LFS. So how to work around this?

I thought of several ways>
1. Open LFS for track modding
+ Many new tracks each day(week)
- a lot of low quality ones
- for online racing you would have to find/download the exact track the server uses, time-consuming, frustrating if you can't find the right version

2. Keep LFS closed for modding, do a track contest each month and get the best 5 into LFS
+ only hiquality models would make it into LFS
+ track update files in one place, easy to find
- organisators and rules of the contest would be needed
the devs would only need to say the format in which to submit new tracks

3. Keep LFS closed for modding, hire track modelers
+ only hiquality models would make it into LFS
+ track update files in one place, easy to find
- LFS devs would need to pay those modelers

If you ask me, I'm for the 2nd option...

I'm happy with the development the way things are now. Don't you think we would be getting more tracks anyway?

i'd like a new track or two, but no way i'd want 5 a month or even 1 a day!! thats mental!
we could end up with hundreds of tracks which would be a bit sh1t.
2 new tracks a year would be nice though.

But to answer the poll question... yes it is about time we got a new one. maybe for xmas!?

I'm for option 1. I come from a game called quake3 cpma. We don't have very many mappers, but when a new "good" map gets made it is added to the offical map pool for cpma; and given a new name (cpm21, cpm22, etc). I think this would be a good idea because many lfsers I see around on this forum have different ideas and suggestions on what they want out of the game, and forcing the community in one direction (what the developers want) isn't exactly the best way to go. I see that many people would like initial D style mountain passes, and some want larger city free roam tracks ala midtown madness. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing some stupid stunt tracks with ramps, etc. But this would all have to be accompanied by a download system from the server; eg. you automatically download the track when connecting. And when new well made tracks get introduced, they should be put into the "official" game.

Quote from flu1d :

I'm for option 1. I come from a game called quake3 cpma. We don't have very many mappers, but when a new "good" map gets made it is added to the offical map pool for cpma; and given a new name (cpm21, cpm22, etc). I think this would be a good idea because many lfsers I see around on this forum have different ideas and suggestions on what they want out of the game, and forcing the community in one direction (what the developers want) isn't exactly the best way to go. I see that many people would like initial D style mountain passes, and some want larger city free roam tracks ala midtown madness. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing some stupid stunt tracks with ramps, etc. But this would all have to be accompanied by a download system from the server; eg. you automatically download the track when connecting. And when new well made tracks get introduced, they should be put into the "official" game.

Opening the game to modding would solve the track problem forever and inject new life into the game.

Making a track is a huge task (if starting from scratch anyway), the generic sim racer is not going to be up to the task IMO.

If I had to pick, I'd go with something similar to option 2.

What's this about Eric not being full time then? Never read anything to support that.

This is just hearsay so don't jump me if I got it wrong It was Scawen and Victor who quit their jobs to do LFS. Eric actually never solely dedicated his efforts to LFS (albeit whatever he has done, is of quality).

Quote from silver bullet :

Opening the game to modding would solve the track problem forever and inject new life into the game.

Quote from flu1d :

I'm for option 1.... <snip>

As said hundreds of times, LFS is still in development. Any track made would need to be updated when the game is, causing several versions to be floating around the net, causing nothing but confusion for the average LFSer.

It says right on the LFS website that the tools may be released near or after the release of S3 full. If you can't wait that long, then tough.

Quote from NotAnIllusion :

This is just hearsay so don't jump me if I got it wrong It was Scawen and Victor who quit their jobs to do LFS. Eric actually never solely dedicated his efforts to LFS (albeit whatever he has done, is of quality).

Where do you have these informations from and on what games did Eric work on beside LFS? Any credits screen to prove it?

Scawen and Eric both worked on Black and White, I believe they're both in the credits. I also think they both quit thier jobs, but not 100% sure about Eric

I remembered there being a bit more info scattered around but here's for a start. I only did one search though.

http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=20333
http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=70028

There is no need for new tracks. People are hardly playing all the combos we have now.

I would not mind if new tracks were added, but I just think it is not very high on priority list.

Have you driven the car/track combos? We don't need more tracks, their are roughly 1000 combos(if my math is correct, and the main site is put to date) to drive in LFS. We don't need more tracks until S3, because i garuantee people haven't riven all the combos.

-1

i believe 985 combos to be exact.

I just thought of a way for LFS to easily have new tracks.

Patch U21.

Aston National is removed.

Blackwood is removed for S2 and stays in Demo

There you go, plenty of new tracks .

This goes along with what I've posted earlier in another thread about these two tracks being the only ones used to race at US times.

I don't think we need any more tracks or combinations for now.

What we need is more people willing to try some of the current non-standard combos. We're all sick of AS Club TBO, AS National GTR and BL GP FOX

yea, i tryed things like So sprint 1 wit FOX, the turbos on all the STCC courses, and LX6 at KY oval. They're probably the most fun i've had in a while.

I'm all for less polls and less asking for stuff
Seriously, new tracks would be great (there are 500+ for GPL and that hasn't been a bad thing at all ) but, as mentioned, there are quite a few combos in LFS that noone races (racing against actual people as opposed to hotlapping and chasing WRs, which I find less than stimulating), and maybe half a dozen that get thrashed to death regularly. IMHO it wouldn't hurt to explore a bunch of new stuff in a racing situation before suggesting new content or mentioning modding (which would be pointless while LFS is still an alpha). Not everyone has the time or inclination to hotlap until they're bored with everything.

Quote from mrodgers :

I just thought of a way for LFS to easily have new tracks...

Lol -- nice one Mike.

I think lets wait until the games finished, and then have a few modding tools. No point stuffing around until then. I would love to see Bathurst, but only if it's stable and of good quality. Dev's keep up the good work.

theres gonna be new tracks, these arnt 2 min jobs.. they take time!! stop suggesting them , we will see them..

Thats like asking.. Are 10GHz processors needed? Of course they are, when they are. And that time isn't now, in neither of the cases.

I'd have new tracks. Defenately. And if tracks like Kyoto are getting new paint I'd hope that some corners are fixed as well. But NO new combos. Please

EDIT: but needed is a bit strong word. I'd say that we should get new tracks before new configs, if we are to get something.

^^ 100% agreed!

Quote from jtr99 :

Lol -- nice one Mike.

Yea, and I just now found out we are up to patch U22. Sheesh, I can't keep up with them.

I was going to post a test and list the server list last night. To my surprise, there were something like 19 servers with 5 or more racing on each when I logged on. A big surprise.