I have been playing the demo a few nights. Took a while to get it all working the way I expect. But it's a good racing experience now that I have the MOMO gear setup right and the graphics cranked up.

Decent graphics, physics, controller setup and sound. All check!

But since I already have Richard Burns Rally, GT Legends and soon GTR, I will have all the racing I really need from them albeit solo vs. A.I. not to meantion I have not even tried Flat Out or rFactor.

So the only real attraction for me to LFS is the online community RPG element of having tracked stats and some minor recognition and some relationship to people of like mind. That being people who can't get enough racing. That's the "cool" feature to me.

So I grabbed latest version of the demo. Here I have been joining servers to try on line and of the 15 or so different games I connected to, what do I find???? A bunch of loosers playing smashup derby or tag and talking smack to eachother. Or a race starts finnally and some dork ruins it by doing headons in the wrong direction and laughs.

Not fun. In fact the opposite of fun in every way. I want to race with other racing fans and not a bunch of 10 year olds.

Is the REAL online environment of LFS better if you own the full game? And I mean ALOT better?

Please describe!

Because if it's not much different. Playing against AI in GTL and GTR is more than enough for me already. And my Rally fix already comes in the form of RBR.

C.

The full game is a lot (LOT) better with the extra cars & tracks and the Servers which are usually full of good clean drivers. But of course you will meet the arrogant ones who think they own the game and its thiers, but you get that anywhere.

The Demo servers, are getting better, but yes, buy S2, its a lot more fun with organised racers.

In a single hour in demo, i'd bet you could find about 50 "wreckers", in my 5 months of racing in S2, i've come across 2 people doing this.

Yes, it's different.

I have my S2 license over half a year and any saw exactly one wrecker. You're missing a lot. F1 is boring, LFS is here.

Vain

Unfortunally the demo servers is nothing like the s2 servers, is way better at s2. IN demo there are some good servers too, but unfortunally on demo there are those who only wants to ruin others people race.
You will see the dramastic change in between the behaviour.

Btw Welcome to LFS, that shall be your new Home

Before S2 was out everyone had the demo. Wreckers and punks were everyone's worst nightmare and you'd be lucky not to encounter some idiot (or whole team of iDiots) spamming, talking sh1t or out to wreck everyone. Plus there were only 3 cars and one track, so it was only a little taste of S2's physics/graphics/damage model and not really representative of the whole experience. Since S2's release there have been a couple of patches so the demo is even less representative of S2. It's not surprising to hear that not much has changed in demo-land. I guess that's what happens when people are too cheap to upgrade to a license - they get bored quickly and resort to insults and crashing.

On an S2 server you'll mostly find rev-heads who are into racing. The racing is, for the most part, clean and friendly. Wreckers/abusers etc aren't tolerated and get kicked/banned pretty quickly if it's clear they're not driving respectfully. Most people aren't stupid enough to spend 24 quid to just cruise around and wreck people. Also, there are loads of teams and leagues to get involved in if you have the time, so you'll be able to race in safety on a private server. It's all worth it. buy a license, leave the gits/wreckers to their free servers and kiss your social life goodbye

I can only add to the comments above and advise very definitely that the demo is noting as compared to the licence experience.

Like rod said above – there are some good guys out there on the demo, but if you want the real thing get a licence.
:eclipsee_ :eclipsee_ :eclipsee_

Can demo people watch S2 replays?

- if yes, then look at some league or cup replays, to see HOW good S2 is.

Quote from bo-kristiansen :

Can demo people watch S2 replays?

- if yes, then look at some league or cup replays, to see HOW good S2 is.

They can only see the replays if the cars and tracks used in the replay are the same as the cars/tracks in the demo... afaik.

Anyway, have a look at this movie that displays some nice online racing.

No person who enjoys racing Sims with a Force feedback steering wheel should be without LFS, it would be a crime not to own this piece of software as it is possibly the best driving experience I've possibly had outside of a real car. Richard burns comes a very close second as that is also a masterpiece but it's a completely different animal.

Indeed these men speak the truth. I can only report one actual "wrecker", who was banned rapidly after trying to take me out...

Find a group of fellow demo'ers you get along with and are similar paced to, open a server and set it to private and have some nice races.

I havnt been as much now as previously but the last few weeks I had been on the likes of SKH server and Fluid (which is now private) there wasn't that much wrecking and those who did were immediatly banned.

Off topic: Very nice vid there Traxxion, the best vid i've seen anyway.

Not only are licensed racers more serious on the track, they are more dedicated to sim racing in general than your average ten year old wrecking tosser.
Furthermore, the LFS community seems to be getting even more in tune with pure sim racing as time goes on and the sim evolves. I'm not saying that everything is in LFS is a sim racing nirvana, but for sure the underlying movement in this community is towards clean and realistic racing. I can't see how any other existing software is going to satisfy in the long run. Hope to see you licensed (and in my mirrors) very soon. Leave the demo behind, it's a different world.

cvearl, I see you are in Canada. Is it eastern or western timezone? If it is eastern, then jump on the CRC Demo server if you want a semi-taste of how a licensed server would be. I am there eastern times almost nightly lately as well as some other licensed users. We try to keep the idiots out and those who frequent the server nightly are a pretty good bunch. You will get some good racing with some good racers. This is what licensed servers are like too. Except, 99.99% of the time, there is no need for admins on the licensed servers to handle the wreckers. There simply isn't any wreckers licensed. (maybe a few, but as others have said, you only encounter maybe 1 or 2 in the course of 6-8 months, as I have as well).

You ask the question, "Is the REAL online environment of LFS better if you own the full game? And I mean ALOT better?" I think everyone has answered this question with a BIG YES! It is ALOT better than the demo.

Wow.

The fact that I got 14 responses in an afternoon to an important question was almost enough to convince. But the fact that the repsonses were obviously from the mouths of mature drivers then that pretty much seals the deal.

You had me at hello. Hahahaha

C.

Good to hear! What part of this country are you in?

Quote from Bawbag :

I havnt been as much now as previously but the last few weeks I had been on the likes of SKH server and Fluid (which is now private) there wasn't that

Fusion you mean? Yes, we're private for the time being thanks to all the wreckers and nick stealers causing all kinds of trouble.

Praise the gods of LFS we have a convert.

Welcome my Canadian Brother. Confessional is open for all your racing sins and worship will begin as soon as you click Go!

Feel free to leave a donation in the FZR racing interior fund. We're looking to raise enough for some carbon fibre to replace the cherrywood fascia.

Praise Be. Ahmen.

I agree with what everyone has said... LFS is the best game.... SIM i have ever bought, had it about a year and still having loads of fun, especially in the UF1's IMO the best £24 i have ever spent

welcome to S2

I am new a few weeks old and am loving every second of racing on LFS.

By the sound you are an experienced driver you shall have no problems being kicked or banned.

Happy clean racing!!!!

Welcome to LFS