I would say that the sounds are now in a "neutral" area... or at least not far from that. Before last March's sound patch it was definitely a downside, and always had been. You've been licensend since May so I don't know have you ever even heard pre-W patch sounds. For example I've noticed many new players are not immediately complaining about the sounds, in a "I can't play it because of the sounds" way which was usual before...
Now it ain`t. Rcraptor and many other racing games just pump up the growl and deep sounds in the engine, so it`s like a monster driving. I`m not fan of that, and as people above say, informative sound first, not the fancy - fancy EA racing sounds.
It's not THAT bad in rF to be honest. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3AkULYBkMo
If you have been lucky enough to hear a real F1 car, you know it does sound like a freaking monster. The sound shakes the earth, rips your head off and uses it as ashtray.
exactly. and in that youtube video, i heard an r/c toy. a plastic boat. anything BUT an f1 car. i watch f1 once in a while on tv, and while not the same, its definately there.
But those are just samples, you can just use CarSoundRemixer for LFS to get those type of sounds. You can let it sound exactly like GTR so your wish is already fulfilled, for quite some time already.
The best approach to get somewhere real is to generate sounds on synthizised basis like LFS does now. It can only get better by adding more complex algorithems to it. And i really like this approach. The main downside to LFS is that progression goes so damn slow it almost got down to a standstill. My solution to this problem is making my own samples for CarSoundRemixer in a way they blend in with the sounds from LFS. Not blasting away all the informative sound LFS gives you, but to give you some little extra sounds like the brake squeel, rattling, low-fuel alarm etc. The main engine power/release samples I changed to more lower rumble and higher frequencies to add some range to the default sound.
So in the end LFS is not so bad really, it's the only game where i can fiddle around with samples and sliders/buttons to get exactly what I want. It's GREAT to be able to create something unique for yourself specially made for my audio setup. I even use special surround enhancers to generate surround effects from stereo material. Often this is due to polarisation of sound, when left is exactly the opposite of right the sounds get merged to one signal and transferred to the back. This way extremely cool effects can be created and it's like the car you're driving surrounds you.
But in the end all this stuff is just some workaround to the lack of LFS. And it also shows how much i like the game and want to improve upon it. It's really a shame the devs never seek ways to improve developing this game any faster. They are just so damn arogant in that way, they want to do everything themselves and killing the progress in the end by doing so. And all this effort the whole community put into this 'game' by showing ideas and making stuff, improving stuff etc, all go to waste. It's the only thing i HATE about LFS. Not that we need to do anything for this game, or that we need modding, no we don't need that at all, the team behind LFS just needs to grow, get some more people to work for you, it's nothing to be ashamed about to be recognized one day and become a real company who created the best racing sim ever. It's not that once getting commercial we think of you as being EA or something. Why not have a box on the shelves that says 'Live For Speed'? Be a real company for gods sake. And if the heart behind this game is not seeking for great amounts of money but to just enjoy creating a game for a small community, this attitude will show and we all respect that very much. But still, a game that can't make it one day because of this naive bahaviour would probably make me cry. Do something please. Or at least let me know if there are plans to grow?
A totally different request like what's going to happen in the next patch release, or what is S3 about... I just want to know if it's all worth the wait or am I wasting my time.
I hated to pick a game from the shelf, pay a few days wage of it, install it and notice that it's missing something, needs patching or is clearly unfinished even though it's been on sale for a long time. Actually most games used to be like this at least when I used to play something else than LFS. That's because of the bad, actually evil publishers who decide when they need the money. Software projects do rarely work like they're planned to. That's why LFS isn't following a plan, or even if it did, only 3 guys in the world would know that.
I wouldn't be surprised if you could buy LFS from your local supermarket one day, but it definitely won't happen until it's finished. And remember that it's about halfway of being finished.