Well call me crazy, but I feel this is another one of my whacky ideas.... but somehow I think it could do wonders for the LFS online play. Here we go...
Mileage:
Mileage on your engine... What if we had a mileage gauge on our dash? Well so far we have our distance recorded (not sure if it is 'per car') but it could be nice to see mileage measured, which affects your engines performance. So, fix the rev limiter so we get engine damage back again, and pretty much force people to lift on upshifts and be careful on downshifts. (Would be dependant on the type of car too of course).
Engine Damage:
If people drive aggresively, their engines will goto dust (they would still be driveable, but the power output would be terrible). If you are a fairly good driver, the engine would last quite a long time, but over time (distance/mileage) it would get worse. But how would we be able to get a fresh car?
Credits system could have a purpose:
Well... we have credits don't we? Put them to good use!!! Oil changes and engine replacements. Gah! Now hold on before you give me the whole "OMG ricer/upgrades speech", hear me out. This may sound like what other racing games do, but this feature focuses on one of the most important and common 'tune-up' you do to a car, especially a racecar. So, I'd say if you were able to finish in the top 3 of a race, you'd have enough credits for an oil change. If you finish first maybe... 20 times, you have enough credits to get a new engine (maybe even dependant on the type of engine for whatever car you need to fix -- road/race). That is just a brainstorm for the credits system, and to put it to good use.
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This all ties into the engine damage aspect of the game (which we really need back from the rev limiter being so easy on us), and the fact that people flatshift. I prefer lifting and shifting like I would in a real car. These tune-up options would be accumulated of course, so you have some spare ones if you need them, and it would be a quick click while in the garage offline for any given car. (If you did it online, Endurance races wouldn't be the way they should be -- or maybe not)
And how does this tie in with making the online play better? Well, I was thinking that you have online credits instead, and can get these credit unlocks only by racing online. Or, you also have the option of doing it all in Singleplayer, but it would take longer. I don't think it would be hard for anyone to get credits anyways, and we'd probably end up with plenty of credits to maintain our cars... but it would teach everyone that the engine damage is a very sensitive aspect of your car, and you'd have to drive properly to be faster in the long run.
I haven't quite thought ALL of this out, but it is just an idea. The fact that it sounds like an arcade game feature and that fact that you 'unlock' something still scares me, and I know some will reply with that usual quote... because these kind of suggestions never get any other positive thoughts put into them from the public. But seeing how we could use the credits for something such as a performance/laptime factor, the credits could become very valuable, unlike ever before
These isn't like upgrading your car with 'NOS', or faster turbos, or any other silly stuff like that, this is primarily something for your engine which would tie into having a well maintained car on the track, while using your credits so you can be a mechanic yourself .
Or just forget about it and disable the credits system. I'm trying to find a use for it... since we don't have anything at the moment.
Some may say it singles out slow drivers, but something could be done to make easy on anyone that is starting to play the game or a beginner. Possibly the rate at which you can do the tune-ups would be very fast, so you can learn that taking care of your engine while racing is essential. Overtime, the tune-ups would require more credits, so every driver will have learned that it is important to have a healthy car.
Mileage:
Mileage on your engine... What if we had a mileage gauge on our dash? Well so far we have our distance recorded (not sure if it is 'per car') but it could be nice to see mileage measured, which affects your engines performance. So, fix the rev limiter so we get engine damage back again, and pretty much force people to lift on upshifts and be careful on downshifts. (Would be dependant on the type of car too of course).
Engine Damage:
If people drive aggresively, their engines will goto dust (they would still be driveable, but the power output would be terrible). If you are a fairly good driver, the engine would last quite a long time, but over time (distance/mileage) it would get worse. But how would we be able to get a fresh car?
Credits system could have a purpose:
Well... we have credits don't we? Put them to good use!!! Oil changes and engine replacements. Gah! Now hold on before you give me the whole "OMG ricer/upgrades speech", hear me out. This may sound like what other racing games do, but this feature focuses on one of the most important and common 'tune-up' you do to a car, especially a racecar. So, I'd say if you were able to finish in the top 3 of a race, you'd have enough credits for an oil change. If you finish first maybe... 20 times, you have enough credits to get a new engine (maybe even dependant on the type of engine for whatever car you need to fix -- road/race). That is just a brainstorm for the credits system, and to put it to good use.
___________________
This all ties into the engine damage aspect of the game (which we really need back from the rev limiter being so easy on us), and the fact that people flatshift. I prefer lifting and shifting like I would in a real car. These tune-up options would be accumulated of course, so you have some spare ones if you need them, and it would be a quick click while in the garage offline for any given car. (If you did it online, Endurance races wouldn't be the way they should be -- or maybe not)
And how does this tie in with making the online play better? Well, I was thinking that you have online credits instead, and can get these credit unlocks only by racing online. Or, you also have the option of doing it all in Singleplayer, but it would take longer. I don't think it would be hard for anyone to get credits anyways, and we'd probably end up with plenty of credits to maintain our cars... but it would teach everyone that the engine damage is a very sensitive aspect of your car, and you'd have to drive properly to be faster in the long run.
I haven't quite thought ALL of this out, but it is just an idea. The fact that it sounds like an arcade game feature and that fact that you 'unlock' something still scares me, and I know some will reply with that usual quote... because these kind of suggestions never get any other positive thoughts put into them from the public. But seeing how we could use the credits for something such as a performance/laptime factor, the credits could become very valuable, unlike ever before
These isn't like upgrading your car with 'NOS', or faster turbos, or any other silly stuff like that, this is primarily something for your engine which would tie into having a well maintained car on the track, while using your credits so you can be a mechanic yourself .
Or just forget about it and disable the credits system. I'm trying to find a use for it... since we don't have anything at the moment.
Some may say it singles out slow drivers, but something could be done to make easy on anyone that is starting to play the game or a beginner. Possibly the rate at which you can do the tune-ups would be very fast, so you can learn that taking care of your engine while racing is essential. Overtime, the tune-ups would require more credits, so every driver will have learned that it is important to have a healthy car.