Also dont forget to think about the Oldy drifters they will have their own fraction with the old school drifters in it. Dont ask me why i just said that but it will happen if that war comes to be.
I feel the same way. I paid for the beta thinking there would be some sort of development.. It's not even worth looking at the home page for update details anymore.. the last patch was released Jun 8th, 2007 (Patch X).
I only care for more track content and you'd never hear a peep out of me.. The ability to draft would make things a bit more fun for long circuit races. Also introducing brake temp would be good with the added clutch heat.
Also I HOPE to see a "RBR" to compete with the UFR and XFR and have hybrid/dirt tires so we could have more of a deticaited rally car (only type of car I think they are lacking). Also hopefully they would fix the weight to chassis ratio, they are too balanced from where the motor weight is in each car. I hope they have updated sounds and make the cockpit view not in sync with the car
Two years from now. I'm expecting a few bug fixes, possibly a few more language pack updates inbetween the time and the GTR cockpits (that I dont look at while I'm racing). I am never expecting S3. The LFS engine is there and great, I just wish they could do more with it (MORE TRACK CONTENT) or sell the rights to someone that will. I dont expect anything out of the Dev team in two years.. I lost faith for a big content update
I've been cheating on LFS with GTR2 and I don't feel guilty
I'd like to think that S2 will be finished sometime late in the year (perhaps around Xmas) - I hope that seems reasonable. Without touching on graphics (apart from some new interiors, maybe 1 or two updated tracks) sound or any more UI stuff, and just focusing on mechanical things, AI and hopefully fixing up the barrier collision bug and a few other bits and pieces, that seems like a good place to slap on the S2 tag to me. Don't know what else Scawen has in mind for S2 final but then maybe he doesn't either.
Anyway, that would leave a great starting point for S3, which in earlier interviews with the devs suggested a bigger emphasis on graphics (perhaps leading to higher-fidelity track modelling), dynamic weather (gfx/physics) and some other nice things which we've all been praying for for awhile. With more sophisticated mechanical systems in place, updated visual/aural damage cues should soon follow suit (maybe already begun towards s2 final).
A track/car editor would be the icing on the cake, perhaps finalising s3. That would allow the devs a back seat as the community pulls LFS along with ever new content, securing interest in the sim for years to come.
we are currently on Y. That is when X was released... Whats the question?
Edit: I know they are working on the next patch right now, but it's just fixed bugs from the Y patch I'm assuming.
When I said "The Last patch update" I ment, aside from what we are currently on.
I kind of thought they had some sort of drafting. I guess I haven't noticed much wind noise change. Or it pulling your car ever so slightly if you are starting to leave the path at higher speeds.
In two years...hm dunno but i don't think there will be much changes.... Am still hoping for a big update with probably 2 new tracks and a new car and that damn barrir collison crap... but i think before xmas there won't be any big updates. And who the hell is interested to have the game in 100 diffrent languages? ^^
And perhaps an oval with very shallow banking, Rockingham style so that you can't take the corners flat out.
And perhaps a dedicated oval car, such as an IRL style chassis.
Inanimate objects such as barriers will no longer be filled with Nitroglycerin.
We might have a large, airport style area within which we can add proper armco/concrete barriers, catch fencing and kerbs to make our own airport track.
Also building objects in autocross editor, such as pits and grandstands.
Ofcourse ill just get dung thrown at me for saying such things! :P
Two years from now and many fanboys will be older, and concius, and we will be able to come here and complain about the turtle's development steps without fear to be smashed.
Two years from now and it will be in alpha stage yet, maybe with new menus and colours, one or two cars and a new rally layout in blackwood.
Have the devs ever mentioned going over to DX9? Would that even be technically possible (that is, keeping today's content but just making it look nicer) Do you reckon DX8 would allow the features you mention in a satisfactory manner, such as dynamic weather and that?
I'm asking because I don't know the limitations of DX8 vs DX9/10.
That's probably a question better directed to someone like Kegety's, but in my own experience DX9 games tend to be a bit more shader rich than the same game in DX8 mode. That may have to do with the way in which the shader programming language was updated for DX9 to be more C like (HLSL), making it more familiar territory for developers to work with.
I played Stalker though in DX8 mode, and now I'm replaying it again in DX9. I've noticed that the time of day transitions are more gradual under DX9, and nights are also much darker. In DX8, it never really got dark, which suggests that it may be easier to create those larger global changes to lighting under DX9.
Anyway, I think there's still a lot you could do to improve LFS under DX8, but maybe it's a case of too little too late. There's better backwards compatability in the pixel shaders from pixel shader 2.0 onwards, and working in DX8 doesn't seem to be the most efficient way for the programmer these days.