Part of the fun of GPL was going to the GPL track database and adding on those amazing, high-quality tracks. I remember thrashing around the Isle of Man - and while I never fully mastered it in the same way as you had to with the tracks that came with GPL itself, it was a great experience, and best of all just a good cracking drive along interesting roads with real history, character and atmosphere.
Wouldn't it be even better if LFS could accommodate an arbitrary track length? I recall that they compressed many of the straights but left the cornering sections intact to fit into a hard limit of track length imposed by the GPL engine.
In my opinion LFS will have the real tracks because someone will build LFS tracks in a real world They are so good.
Seriously, I'd like to drive a real track with a great physics that LFS has. This is my dream.
I lot of people are concerned that the longer tracks are not as fun to play online. I can certainly concur with that. However, many of us are hot-lappers and I for one would be thrilled to hot-lap a track all day long that took 8-10+ minutes to complete a lap. I'll wear out G-25's left and right with a big smile on my face.
I love the Ring, but I'll race anything similar so long as it's fun and challenging. Something similar to the Ring would be a tremendous benefit to this already great game.
Really. I think its a pointless debate. There's no way the ring is going to be added. Its just too much work. However I'd love a really good fantasy one as a variation around an existing track such as bathurst. I'd kill for bathurst. Its such a technical track, specially up on the mount.
My other wish would be an open sweeper style open road over varying heights, with the odd tight corner, enclosed into a track of about 4-5k. I think thats possibly doable. To expect any longer, I think is dreaming.
I'd love to drive the ring, sure. But I'd only want to do it once. After that there's no point. Can't race there; can't do anything, and as has been stated before; its impossible to get all the details right so silence all the critics. Best avoid the whole problem, n do something seriously cool. Open road circuit.
I have tried several games with nurburgring, GT4, Forza, GTR, rFactor, Racer, but I am disaffected with the called games. I wish the great track in LFS, and I would pay for it like for a additional stage of LFS. The largest challenge would be to setting up the cars for driving the 25km long track .
I agree with this if you append "for the devs" on the end. Much as this isn't the answer I would like, I think it is probably true. It just seems desperately unlikely that Scavier will be able to bring us a real, accurately modelled Nordschleife at the current rate of progress, within the next ... oooh ... long enough for it to not really matter. 10+ years?
If, however, we managed to unlock the enthusiasm, creativity and energy of our community to work on it as a community project then I think we could knock out a workman-like effort within a few months and the perfectionists amongst us would progressively refine it until after about 18 months we'd have the best Nordschleife going out of any racing game or simulator.
So - by the devs? I agree it realistically isn't going to ever happen. If we get a chance to have a shot? You betcha!
Sorry to harp on about GPL, it's my only Nordschleife point of reference. When I first drove it in GPL simply completing a lap was an achievement. Next barrier was to do a lap within 20 minutes. I.e. maybe not crash every single corner. With this rate of flinging yourself off the track, naturally any race quickly became a hotlap attempt. Or perhaps "distinctly cold lap". The AI cars, possessed with an unholy genius driving ability so that they didn't wipe out every bend, rocketed off into the distance straight away, leaving you in your Lotus wedged in the ditch cursing loudly at yourself.
The next milestone was to do a lap under 10 minutes - this meant that you were basically "driving" around the whole lap with the odd off here or there. The measure by which you charted your progress at this point was counting the number of offs per lap - trying to keep that as low as possible.
Finally, once you knew the track well enough you could start to really try and put a decent racing line on it, carry more speed, exit the corners harder, explore where you had more or less grip allowing for the significant gradients and compressions in the suspension at the bottom of dips etc. I remember one estimate put this milestone at being within reach after about 100 laps or so. What? Only 100? Yeah, but you have to remember that a five lap session at the 'ring would absolutely finish you off and was a bit of a marathon stint. Not necessarily in terms of time at the wheel (which might only be getting on for an hour) but due to the saturating intensity of memorising the track and concentrating so hard.
If you made it this far, the focus switched to beating the hotlap benchmark that came with the game, which from memory I think was 8 minutes 29. The real hotlappers of course were aiming to beat 8 minutes flat, but I never quite made it. I got down to 8:22 or so, I think, and was just buzzing with elation when I crossed the line. It felt like a heroic achievement, such a massive victory. Even though it was a hotlap, it was a badge of honour, like graduating at the 'ring to show that I demonstrated at least a minimum basic competence there, even though I was a lifetime away from any conceot of 'mastering' it (as if anyone ever could anyway).
So ... could you race on the Nordschleife? Well I tried it a few times, but only ever against the AI. More often than not you were your own worst enemy as you would try to hard and stuff the car into the scenery when trying to take on an AI car. What I remember is that it wasn't too hard to keep up with the other cars, but because the track was so narrow, overtaking was so very, very hard. But even though all the odds were stacked against you (track so long, so narrow, any error so punishing ) it was an intense rush, and such an immense challenge. I remember my heart nearly ripping itself out of my chest with adrenaline as I finally managed to wrestle the car onto the long straight, still on a hotlap, knowing there was just that final sequence of corners to navigate ... would I bottle it? Would I chicken out and ruin 7+ minutes of fast driving just to make the lap safe? Or would I try too hard in the final part of the lap and throw away the entire effort, only being forced to start all over again?
Anyway when all is said and done, the Nordschleife is legendary, we all know that. A simulator of LFS's pedigree demands a track of this stature, nobility, and status. We owe it to LFS to build it even if the devs can't, I just fear we have a long wait before we get a chance to do it for them.
Has there ever been a poll asking if people want real tracks??
There's so many threads of people stating they want real tracks like the Ring, and much less saying they're happy with the tracks we have.
I think to settle this argument, a simple poll would suffice in this forum.
You forget that it isn't your or mine or even our game, it is the dev's game and nothing will ever change that. We as forumvisitors can't deside what the dev's should do with their game or not, a "simple poll" won't change that fact.
Well that's the worst attempt of twisting words and putting them to someone's mouth.
I know I get flamed being an angry fanboi for saying this, but go play rFactor Mike. We all know how much you love it, but for some odd reason still actually play LFS.
Haven't read the 6 pages, but would be nice for improving driving i guess + endurance race. Though if you crash in middle of course you would pretty much be dead. :\
They are so good.
The AI cars, possessed with an unholy genius driving ability so that they didn't wipe out every bend, rocketed off into the distance straight away, leaving you in your Lotus wedged in the ditch cursing loudly at yourself.
