You've probably heard of the upcoming game iRacing.com… most beta testers of the game are loving it and the physics should be 'spot on'.
I’m very curious how LFS will stand out against this sim.
Both have their cons and pro’s.

iRacing:
+ Real cars with great physics (maybe the best around!)
+ Laser-scanned real tracks
+ Great looking!
- Expensive
- The game is still missing a lot of features…
- uhm… did I mention expensive? ;-)

LFS:
+ Great physics
+ Very smooth online game play
+ Great stats and stuff on LFS World
- No much real cars (still are great fun to drive)
- No real tracks

How do you think LFS will do in future?

I’m definitely gonna check out iRacing when it’s available… but the game must be VERY good in order for me to pay this much.

I would really love for LFS to stay on top physics-wise, as i don't like the prospect of iRacing. It's too hardcore for me, like, i can't organize races when i want, creating a game and letting anyone join me anytime we want, instead i have to play by their rules and schedule, and everything is "saved" in your virtual racing career... Don't like that at all...

for many people, LFS is not really on top.

for a while.

Quote from JJ72 :

for many people, LFS is not really on top.

for a while.

Well, what game is on top?...

for me the top is changing.... when i get bored of LFS I play CoD4 or GTA, maybe F1C.
Since LFS is in a "secret" because is not well spreaded i think, iRacing will be on top...

Where have you been, there are PLENTY of posts comparing the two, I was a beta tester for iR, and while it is a VERY good sim, it is a VERY different sim to LFS.

Theres no "better" sim, if you want real life tracks & cars, play GTR2, if you want shit loads of mods play rFactor2, and if you want support for eastern tamagotchi and an awesome tyre model, play LFS.

@chanoman315: I mean on top of the race sims...

@BurnOut69: Played them all... LFS = on top, physic-wise.

The only problem i see with LFS is the development speed. Sooner or later there will be a serious simulator that takes advantage of having more people making it that will surpass LFS. It's just a matter of time, if LFS continues evolving at this speed.

The more I play LFS, the more I like to prospect of iRacing. Here's why;

- T1 wrecks every.god.damn.time.

- people constantly rear-ending me; I don't know the tracks, so i'm about 2-4 seconds slower, yet given the practice some of these people must of had, surely they'd know how to make a pass?

- very short races,

- inconsistent drivers ( I start out 10th and I finish 3rd because the people in front, although fast, can't keep their cars on the track)

- lag, this one is probably my fault, I'm located in North America while the server hosts are mostly located in Europe.

I've only been playing for a week or so, but so far I'm not impressed with the racers on the public servers at all. I can't seem to get immersed because it feels as though I'm driving against psychopaths with ADD. With iRacing, I'm hoping that the subscription fees and the steering wheel requirement will weed out some of the less serious (and less mature) sim racers. The races are hosted in-house and are probably more local to where I live, so that should take care of the lag. The fact that the races are longer and your account has a safety rating should make people think twice before crashing into you.

I'm going to continue playing lfs for now, but once iracing goes live I will most likely be making the switch.

It's not really LFS that is at fault for poor driving. It's often a mixed bag when I race as well. I think it has alot to do with LFS being accessible to such a wide range of people - some not as serious as others and many who have never been behind the wheel of a car. For the LFS devs to attempt to make up for the lack of dedication of the LFS community, they'd have to enforce some sort of structure into the game.

What's funny about iRacing is that everyone makes such a big deal about it having "real cars" yet everyone raves about the skip barber racing school car because it's fun to drive. Most people really dislike the Solstice (the only real road car in the game) and don't really care much about the Formula Mazda. The skip barber car is about as real to me as an ice cream truck. Yes they exist - just like LFS's MRT. But when I think of driving real cars, it's not the first thing that comes to mind. It isn't really any more real, to me, than the fake formula cars in LFS.

The idea of "real" cars and "real" tracks in a game is a fallacy.

"Closer to reality," however, is not.

Quote from BurnOut69 :

Theres no "better" sim, if you want real life tracks & cars, play GTR2, if you want shit loads of mods play rFactor2, and if you want support for eastern tamagotchi and an awesome tyre model, play LFS.

WHERE???
xD

I think that iRacing is going to be the new "king" of sim racing, but that doesn't mean that there's no room left for LFS. While I want the most lifelike and realistic sim experience, iRacing has some shortcomings for my particular situation that will cause me to stick with LFS. iRacing is not designed to let you hop on your computer for a quick race and there are no AI players. Given my location and the rare times that I am free to race, that's a big drawback. Also, while I love sim racing I don't have enough free time to feel like I would be getting my moneys worth from a pay-per-month title. So, LFS is a better value to me in this regard.

Other people won't care about these things, and many people will gladly part with the $15-20 per month to play iRacing. These people will probably abandon whatever they are currently playing and will choose iRacing instead. The most unfortunate part of it is that most of the people who will likely leave LFS/rFactor/GTR for iRacing are people in North America. Those are the people that are already in short supply in LFS as it is.

LFS will be the best simracing game for me just because it contains road cars that we can race with awsome phsyics, period.

The sad fact is, that Scawen doesn't see LFS as we do... We want it to be as real as it can get and we really support it through all these years, yet, LFS in his eyes is still that litlle car game that you can play in your office with the mouse during the launch brake... He still want's it to be like a part time job, no alarm clocks, etc That's all fine, but there is a huge potential here and huge and loyal comunity, you can't take those things for granted.. Then there is that stupid rule of having rare physics patches cause of the Hotlaps, when they delete them, kids cry... That's ok maybe, but we didn't have major physics patches since April 2006... that's two years people, two years.. i don't count the Engine inertia thing as it is questionable was that actually an improvement, mostly cause of the anoying sound of rev limiter...
Eric, well... since 2005 we got, aaaa.. As north and GP, BMW F1 and FBM, who drives BF1? FBM is great, that i admit.. but, he modelled the FBM in like a month? or less?
Since LFS is not modable (and i guess, thank god for that) we should then atleast have more dev created material.. In 3 years, he could of made a Nordschleife, Monza, Monte Carlo etc Kiddin', that's not possible, but what the hell is the deal with devs rejecting real tracks blueprints and everything, for FREE? I bet we could of have 4, 5 real life UK tracks by now, perfectly made by Eric's godly hands... but it seems that's not the way LFS wants to go... and i'm really sad about that..

1. iracing (for now)
2. lfs
3. arca sim racing (for the nascar guys )

Quote from mutt107 :

1. iracing (for now)
2. lfs
3. arca sim racing (for the nascar guys )

Arca sim racing is and will always be a failure (I bought it, liked it for a while, but the devs aren't too friendly, and it has a lower amount of people online than pretty much any sim (except for Race07) which equals total boredom).

From what I've seen iracing isn't any more "hardcore" than LFS, at least in their current forms. What I consider hardcore is the simulation of realism that goes as far as simulating the times required to fix the car after crash or taking a head-on with a wall will most probably end the race. There is very little that kind of realism in LFS and not even as much in iracing.

Iracing may be heading towards that direction, however the sim to beat on this aspect, in hc realism, is the nkpro. LFS is a far second and iracing is 3rd. And I think that LFS doesn't even want to be a realistic sim, it's more of a strange mix of realism and easyness. Just like with the iracing's race system. It's very odd system of scheduled pick up racing that isn't any further away from real races than the current system of leagues and pick up racing as two different entities. Iracing has lots of "hc" features missing so their present and futures is still a bit shady, no matter what they are claiming to be one day.

As to wether LFS will stay on top depends a lot if there is anything else on the market than iracing and LFS plus the random ISI incarnations. As I see it, most people going into iracing are from the ISI side of fence, even if there is a noticeable group of interested people thinking about switching from LFS. Not to mention the people who were expecting nkpro to get something done some day. Maybe iracing is a sim that everyone can play, no matter where you are coming from...

What is the main catch for iracing is better physics. For LFS this is something totally new as iracing is really challenging LFS on its own territory, physics and online gameplay. At this point I should mention nkpro again but the whole situation is so awful that... ...Iracing is doing things differently but not necessarily that differently. LFS can (or could) compete with iracing if the devs are willing to take the challenge and improve LFS' tire code and add content the major aspects of LFS. But tbh. there is no sign of that. In fact there are lot of people who are getting tired of LFS.

And imho it is worth mentioning that one reason why LFS is so "good" is because the others have been so bad (not that LFS is that bad, it's just that I'd have expected to have something better in 2008). LFS has used its chance well and has done its thing. Keeping in touch with the community, providing bug-free experience and being the best where it matters to its audience, in physics and gameplay. LFS has used its spot well but personally I've been waiting the next generation of racing sims since GPL. The revolution has not yet come and LFS hasn't been it. Neither is iracing but at least it is something new. Which is all that matters, to be honest.

Simple answer to the question of this thread title....

No.

I refuse to pay a monthly fee for a racing sim, and im sure other people will not want to have to sell their house to afford a racing sim, and so I think LFS will always be more popular than i-Racing, especially in the home enthusiast community.

I wonder of I-racing attempts to buy out all other racing sims and then uses legal action to force people to use their sim and not others (the've already killed off the N2003 modding community).

Quote from 5haz :

I refuse to pay a monthly fee for a racing sim, and im sure other people will not want to have to sell their house to afford a racing sim, and so I think LFS will always be more popular than i-Racing, especially in the home enthusiast community.

I wonder of I-racing attempts to buy out all other racing sims and then uses legal action to force people to use their sim and not others (the've already killed off the N2003 modding community).

Can you give me more info about these homes you speak of? They sound rather cheap.

Quote from PMD9409 :

Can you give me more info about these homes you speak of? They sound rather cheap.

Ok its an exaggeration, but compared to LFS i-Racing is stupidly expensive.