I've had a quick look in the forum and cannot see any previous reference to my suggestion, so here goes.

It would be great to see an additional LCD type information screen in the cockpit, showing tyre temps, pressures, brake temps, split times & all that stuff

ATM, some this information is provided via "over-lays" or by additional on-screen tables & the like (such as the position & lap-times etc.). If this detail could be integrated into a cab screen, it would make the players POV even more realistic. Realism is where we are at with LFS and I belive the immersion factor is an important point. I know you can turn menus and the like off but the information is very useful; if it were presented in a more realistic manner (i.e. LCD in car screen) that would be "bo"

i hate those little pretend LCD's that some games use, i always end up using the 'over-lays' as you call them.
all that information on a little LCD might look a little more realistic but it's not practical. It's fine the way it is i think.

I think it is practical, GTR and rFactor use them quite well. It might not be ultra realistic, but it's got to be closer to the real thing than having a menu floating round in space. I've never driven a car with a floating menu/table, but I have driven one with displays and such. I'm just thinking about the immersion element I suppose.

Using a wheel mounted button to flick through the menus I personally like very much. I can understand there could be difficulties given the way LFS draws the dash though.

Well, I surely won't use this feature, because a HUD-info-screen looks far better than a tiny LCD with small letters on it in a car where there is no place for such a thing. But, if you really need it to be happy, I don't mind.
Just leave the current way as an option.

Vain

Quote from Vain :

Well, I surely won't use this feature, because a HUD-info-screen looks far better than a tiny LCD with small letters on it in a car where there is no place for such a thing. But, if you really need it to be happy, I don't mind.
Just leave the current way as an option.

:iagree: I think the same as Vain on this one, even would like to see the HUD even more configurable by the user

It might look better to use floating HUDs IYO but it's not as realistic, which is what I thought LFS was *all* about.

Dash LCD would be more realistic, but totally unusable for me. I use 90 FOV, and would be too hard to read.

In rFactor and GTR I used a seat position and FOV that meant the LCD in most cars was about 30 pixels wide, not nearly enough to display enough text to be worthwhile.

When I've got a monitor that is 100" wide, 50" tall, and has a billion pixels, with a refresh rate of 0.1ms and brilliant contrast and blacks, all for less than £200 then I don't think realistic dashboards are the way to go.

Sure realism is important. But what is the point the the result is useless. I can't chat to people in real life whilst driving, or adjust my castor angle in 1 second, but I don't hear people complaining about that (although Netkar has a good solution to that, allowing only certain things to be changed during a session, and more in between sessions).

No-one is "complaining", it was simply a suggestion for improvement, being an improvement suggestion forum. It looks like no-one else is in favour of the idea, which is fine, it is only a suggestion for discussion, I'm not making unreasoned demands or anything. IMO it would be an improvement to have such a display, but that is only IMO and others are of course quite welcome to their own opinions.

It works for me in GTR & rFactor so thought it would also suit LFS, given the way LFS displays data on the fly at present, which I personally do not favour.

the incar dash could be updated to include some of this overlay info with some LED style lights , and maybe some other bits n bobs could be fitted into a sunvisor type dropdown incar display but personally I like it the way it is (except for the fact i havnt worked out how to get tyre temps and position list visible simultainiously ) cockpits should be uncluttered , however everyone is different and more info/display options are always welcome as long as they can be switched off too .

SD.

Quote from wes.brook :

It might look better to use floating HUDs IYO but it's not as realistic, which is what I thought LFS was *all* about.

While your suggestion would make the cockpit view look "real", there is just no way that it will be realistic limitations of technology
For a start we have a relitively small rectangle (monitor) which is our view of the virtual world, this is extremly limited to what we would have in RL even with a helmet on, so there is limited screen realestate which means the images of the LCD display would be smaller than RL so harder to read with a quick glance, etc...

I personally don't think it's the aim of a sim to recreate exact replication of everything, but rather create a virtual world where the same skills that would enable you to win in real life also apply to winning in the sim but thats just my opinion.

I'm not against the idea of imersion into a sim, but just feel that is better acomplished by other means other than acurately rendered cockpit detail. What I would love to do one day is build a sim racing cockpit with real working dials and a and a large screen or monitor with forenzal lens I've read a thread about a guy attempting to get real dials working through an outsim program at the moment

Oh one other thought I'd like your idea if we could say put the dash and LCD screen in its own window so we could then place it on another monitor (like MS Flight Sim but Scawen has already said thats too dificult) but I don't like it for the same window (monitor) as the main screen, thats just me though and like Vain said if they did implement your idea it wouldn't worry me as long as they had options as the do now for different views

And the reason I like the HUD even more configurable by the user is because in a sim we have to rely on some things more than real life because of the lack of sensory input. Biggest one for me is sense of speed, in a real car I can judge it to 3-5 km especially on corners I know well, in the game I need to look at the speedo as I can't judge it anywhere near as accurately as real life. The other "help" I rely on much more in the sim than real life is skid sound volume, this again is because of the lack of seat of pants feel. You can say this is unrealistic, but I say it makes up for the shortcommings of the technology we currently have

Quote from wes.brook :

It might look better to use floating HUDs IYO but it's not as realistic, which is what I thought LFS was *all* about.

If you really want the game to be totally realistic we'd have to get rid of the tire and suspension overlays all together. Not to mention forces view, wheels view, etc.

While I wouldn't mind having an LCD like GTR for the open wheelers and GTR cars, I wouldn't want that available in the street cars. And I'd like to see a server side option to disable clients from using the overlays (tire and suspension condition) at all during a race.

Quote from Cue-Ball :

If you really want the game to be totally realistic we'd have to get rid of the tire and suspension overlays all together. Not to mention forces view, wheels view, etc.

While I wouldn't mind having an LCD like GTR for the open wheelers and GTR cars, I wouldn't want that available in the street cars. And I'd like to see a server side option to disable clients from using the overlays (tire and suspension condition) at all during a race.

I would agree with getting rid of information you normally don't have in a race. I've heard of a driver for example that on a straight uses tab and shift tab with F9 to check out his oponents tyre condition

Quote from B2B@300 :

I would agree with getting rid of information you normally don't have in a race. I've heard of a driver for example that on a straight uses tab and shift tab with F9 to check out his oponents tyre condition

Heh, guess what happens when he "loses" his own car.

I think you shouldn't be able to do that, I can't see why would it be necessary to see someone else's in-car cam while racing with him or his tire consumption illepall

If there is a way to make the LCD usable, I'm all for it, but the fact is that those things need too much concentration to be usable and generally the text is too tiny and unreadable on lower resolutions and higher fovs...

The devs could make a BMW iDrive "update" and see how many quits LFS

Quote from Hyperactive :

I think you shouldn't be able to do that, I can't see why would it be necessary to see someone else's in-car cam while racing with him or his tire consumption

Well I agree it shouldn't be possible, as to why someone would do it think enduro, you have a 3-4 sec lead over the next guy on the last 10 laps but he is catching you a quick check of his tyre condition can tell you if you need to be too worried or not and enable you to decide to start pushing harder, or keep your tyres in good nick for a few more laps and just drive consistently fast

Quote from B2B@300 :

I would agree with getting rid of information you normally don't have in a race. I've heard of a driver for example that on a straight uses tab and shift tab with F9 to check out his oponents tyre condition

I've done that before... but you know... it doesn't help much. Maybe your motivation and worry that he might catch you would lessen..... but I usually just have the tire info present for myself and pay attention to driving. Although, sometimes I type while driving :doh:

Still I agree, viewing your opponents information shouldn't be able to be seen IF you are racing on the track too. If you are a spectator, it should be viewable.

(sorry the bold is to give my one and only point =) )

I think this idea is sort of on the right track. For instance some race cars allow the driver to change brake bias or some suspension or other settings with a quick push of wheel button or turn of a dial. If brake bias control could be mapped to a single-key operation (e.g. push "T" to add more front bias, "Y" to add more rear bias - or map them to your own wheel buttons) it would add a bit of realism to a race. This may only have application on the FO or GTR cars but would be appreciated I'm sure. A simpler way to request more or less fuel and select different tyres at the next pitstop would be great too..
Perhaps functions like this could find their way onto a small patch at the bottom of the screen instead of on the wheel or in the cockpit. I race in widescreen view (without driver arms or wheel visible - I have my own) and the black parts at the top and bottom would be great places to display any F9/F12/whatever menus or driver-adjustable settings. I realise not everyone drives in widescreen though, so if drivers had the option of positioning or customising such information menus (sizes, colours, amount of info) they could check on their settings without too much distraction from the track. The F12 menu, as it is now, has been my undoing more than once

Short version: I'm wondering how feasible would a completely customisable HUD (location, size, colour, level of info) be..

I agree with the above as well: I don't think you should be able to spy on your opponents' settings (unless you're in spectate mode).

Quote from Hankstar :

I agree with the above as well: I don't think you should be able to spy on your opponents' settings (unless you're in spectate mode).

I think you shouldn't be able to see them at all, except replays. Like the fuel indicator currently. And if we get real into this, the shifting light should go too. Except for the race cars (and some real cars like the Honda integra or what was it...). And having analogue gauges in big GTRs and formulas is so before 1990's. And the direction indicators (right words...?) could look more like the real ones, like arrows and maybe a red triangle in the center console like in real world. That is for the "emergency lights" or how do people call it... And now I'm really getting inside: When we get stalling engines I want those ignition lights, engine lights and some other small details... Just for immersion. Actually I'm not joking because these things would most certainly add to the immersion because it would look exactly like it looks when you sit in real car. It would at least look like sitting inside real XRT/RA/UF1...

I need to learn some new english traffic related words. The only ones I know are horn and traffic lights

Modernised guages! Good one

Instead of the analogue tachometer in the GTRs and Formula cars, I'd like to see some more authentic touches, like a row of LED lights going through green, yellow, red up to the redline.

Perhaps the fuel guage could give you a bit more warning as well (although I know this has come up before). In all the road cars I've ever seen, once your fuel light goes on you can drive for quite a few km's, and your car may jerk a bit when you're really low. With care you can limp to your next service station. As you'd all know now, in LFS your fuel runs out completely, all at once without warning, and then you're stuffed. Some kind of "low fuel" warning would be ideal, even just as simple as a normal boring old orange LED like in my Subaru. Then you could back off the throttle and make it into the pits before your engine dies.
I know F12 is right there next to me, but when I drive IRL my fuel light is right there in my field of vision and I don't have to risk crashing by looking elsewhere.
I know race cars may well behave differently but to have this in the road cars at least would be nice

Yea, fuel light would be a good idea. Have it come on when theres only like 2% fuel left or something.

Maybe 5% - that's more than enough to get you around most tracks

Or perhaps you could set your own warning threshold, to suit the track you're on ...

yea maybe 5%, but then they'd have to turn it off or make it lower for hotlapping