Quote from jasonmatthews :

1. Wreckers - Safety Rating - Fixed, doesn't happen after you have raced a few races as you will never have the displeasure of meeting these muppets online again....EVER

2. Physics - The best thing about LFS is the physics are better than any other sim out there.....until now! Iracing feels a whole different ball game to LFS IMHO in the right direction. The FFB is out of this world and the whole experience feels "right".

6. Real Tracks & Cars - How many of you have asked a million times how good it would be to have real tracks and cars? People have even offered to give the DEVS laser scanned tracks for free, but have been turned down. I personally think this is THE biggest difference in iracing. The tracks are simply out of this world. Why? Because they were designed by the best track designers in the world and tested again and again by real life drivers and had a HUGE budget and plenty of time to make them. Even if Eric was the best track designer on the whole planet are you telling me he makes better tracks than the professional track designers who get paid millions can do? Laguna Sec is an experience I have never got close to in LFS. Then I was wondering where I was losing time, so I watched a REAL race to pick up lines, braking points from the best out there. LFS simply cannot offer that atm. If the devs allowed us to submit tracks (for approval or whatever) we could have this, but atm this isn't an option. We are stuck with tracks from 5 years ago. Maybe S3 will offer this, great, I will buy S3 anyway, so will play iracing until then....

I had a first real look and play with iracing at he weekend on a mate's machine and I have to say I fell in love with it.

The points you've highlighted are indeed the biggies.

The safety rating system is so simple yet genius and means you'll get much more careful driving at all times.

The physics are streets ahead of LFS - no more to be said really.

Real Tracks & Cars - I think the LFS cars are great so for me it would just be having the real tracks that would make all the difference - this is something the LFS devs could do relatively painlessly as well.

The serious downside however for some users will be the cost. However for anyone earning a good wage it's pretty cheap still.

I won't be subscribing just yet as I'm not expecting to have much spare time over the next couple of years but when I am ready to get back into sims in a big way as it stands currently I'd be signing up to Iracing. I hope LFS improves in the meantime.

Quote from jasonmatthews :

2. Physics - The best thing about LFS is the physics are better than any other sim out there.....until now! Iracing feels a whole different ball game to LFS IMHO in the right direction. The FFB is out of this world and the whole experience feels "right".

Quote from nigelpm :

The physics are streets ahead of LFS - no more to be said really.

When you guys mention physics - what exactly do you mean? The way the car reacts to the track? The FFB implementation (more lively? more vibrations? smoother? jaggier?) ? Something else?

Another thing that narked me, completely unrelated to the driving, was the fact that it AUTOMATICALLY CHARGED ME FOR A SECOND MONTH!!!!!

I didn't want a second month. It didn't ask me. If I want auto-billing I'll damn well turn it on, rather than have it assumed I want it on in the first place.

I tried it, and with my current lack of free time, my current dis-interest in spending money on fake racing, and the complete lack of racing on the one time I was ready to go online, I didn't enjoy my time all that much. You can find my initial opinion after my first drive somewhere in this forum - I liked the overall feel. But I don't get pleasure from hotlapping road cars or the other thing, and I can't afford a race car in it yet.

That's my opinion. I'm not attacking anyone for liking it because I'm sure it's very likeable. But not if your me, and prefer driving real racing cars. I assure you it's a lot more satisfying.

Quote from xaotik :

When you guys mention physics - what exactly do you mean? The way the car reacts to the track? The FFB implementation (more lively? more vibrations? smoother? jaggier?) ? Something else?

There are more vibrations through the car and FFB, mainly due to the high resolution of the lazer scanned tracks. It's apprently more noticeable in the Skip Barber than in the Solstice.

I wouldn't say it's more lively, not the Solstice anyway but the Legends car is pretty twitchy. You do feel the car rolling more than in LFS though, which feels quite rigid in comparison. Partly this is because you get some head movement which I think is turned off by default in LFS but cannot be turned off in iracing.

But for me the main factor is sense of weight of the car. You can really feel the momentum as you try and turn it into a corner, and this means a lot of the work is done setting up the car on entry to the corners (always true of coarse, but more so than in LFS).

Basically, to me anyway, it feels more like driving a real car, and is more immersive as a result.

Yes, the auto-renew should be off by default. That's a horrible trick which is becoming all too common these days.

Quote from xaotik :

When you guys mention physics - what exactly do you mean? The way the car reacts to the track? The FFB implementation (more lively? more vibrations? smoother? jaggier?) ? Something else?

For me it was the whole feel of driving the car round the track - everything about it!

I found the oval racing quite incredible - very harsh FFB and just felt "right" or as close to real driving as could be possible sitting in front of a computer screen in your own home.

Bumps, the way the car moves via suspension, road surface, excellent FFB (more like driving a real car) - basically more realistic in every way.

As I said streets ahead of LFS.

All that said there are plenty of pitfalls elsewhere - I'm just highlighting the racing feel which is probably most important for me.

Quote from tristancliffe :

That's my opinion. I'm not attacking anyone for liking it because I'm sure it's very likeable. But not if your me, and prefer driving real racing cars. I assure you it's a lot more satisfying.

Surely, this isn't about driving real cars on a real track though it's about getting as close as you can to that whilst sitting in comfort in your own home.

Currently IMHO, iRacing is the best you can get for racing feel.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Another thing that narked me, completely unrelated to the driving, was the fact that it AUTOMATICALLY CHARGED ME FOR A SECOND MONTH!!!!!

I didn't want a second month. It didn't ask me. If I want auto-billing I'll damn well turn it on, rather than have it assumed I want it on in the first place.

Ha, yes I agree.


Not just an iRacing thing though.

Going OT a bit but this happens quite often with insurance as well - you pay once on your cars and the cheeky beggars assume you want to renew automatically - I bet most people don't even realise.

Quote from tristancliffe :

But not if your me, and prefer driving real racing cars. I assure you it's a lot more satisfying.

As long as the above isn't posed as an argument - because then it can be taken that "only real racing is better than iRacing". :P

@nigelpm and Nick A:
Thanks - makes sense I guess - from the sounds of it perhaps it's just the track surfaces that don't challenge the LFS engine into having more detail.

Quote from SamH :

Absolutely (except for rF, obviously.. you just threw that in as a red herring, we know )

TO a degree you are right, but I put it in there for the fact you get real tracks, cars and with some of the mods, amazing feeling.

Driving the V8's around Bathurst is fantastic or driving the old Chapman Lotus around Brands is also cool. The work that went in to the Gallardo too is just impressive. So I had to include it!

Still, nothing to me for an online experience over all like LFS. It just urks me that it's called Alpha!

Quote from SamH :

I'm a massive LFS fanbwoi, but I think I'd try it if iR took my credit card.

Hint: do a few practice laps on baby_r instead

Quote from tristancliffe :

Another thing that narked me, completely unrelated to the driving, was the fact that it AUTOMATICALLY CHARGED ME FOR A SECOND MONTH!!!!!

That does suck. I cancelled my subscription as soon as I renewed for the year - I had the same crap in WoW where it renewed automatically, so I decided to do some pre-emptive cancelling since I wouldn't be too happy if I quite racing after about 9 months and then get renewed for a year 3 months after that

Well, I guess they are capitalist pigs in the end, even if they do provide.

As for the real-world racing thing... I wish, but something tells me $156 is a drop in the ocean when you do real-life racing. I'm just a student

Quote from StableX :

TO a degree you are right, but I put it in there for the fact you get real tracks, cars and with some of the mods, amazing feeling.

Driving the V8's around Bathurst is fantastic or driving the old Chapman Lotus around Brands is also cool. The work that went in to the Gallardo too is just impressive. So I had to include it!

Still, nothing to me for an online experience over all like LFS. It just urks me that it's called Alpha!

In further rF modder defence I must say that the HGTTC mod is superb and very good fun.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Another thing that narked me, completely unrelated to the driving, was the fact that it AUTOMATICALLY CHARGED ME FOR A SECOND MONTH!!!!!

That's why I signed up with a disposable credit card.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Another thing that narked me, completely unrelated to the driving, was the fact that it AUTOMATICALLY CHARGED ME FOR A SECOND MONTH!!!!!
.

I got a receipt where it was clearly stated about the billing:


1
10051:iRacing Sneak Preview Package
A special one-month sneak preview of the iRacing.com Simulation Service, including basic content, for $20.
1
10000:Monthly
A one month subscription to the service. Subscription will automatically renew unless cancelled in the My Account section of the website. Includes the cars and the tracks used by the Rookie Oval series and the Rookie Road Racing series. Includes a US$2.50 iRacing credit which can be used at your next subscription renewal, or towards the purchase of additional cars and tracks.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Another thing that narked me, completely unrelated to the driving, was the fact that it AUTOMATICALLY CHARGED ME FOR A SECOND MONTH!!!!!

I didn't want a second month. It didn't ask me. If I want auto-billing I'll damn well turn it on, rather than have it assumed I want it on in the first place.

Maybe I'm a bit special but I always read the faqs and check the subscription options when I buy (rent) something. It's not like it is hidden on some dark corner on the ir site. I agree though with the concept that it shouldn't automatically charge any money or renew the subscription but then again it's not hidden anywhere.

---
Btw. I made this schedule list for the events to show what and how many races you can have and how they are arranged in the schedule. The schedule contains the solstices, the legends and the skippie.

(The red lines mean that you need to be able to enter the server at that time of before or you will miss the entire event. Also notice that the oval qualis are far shorter than the road qualis)
(image updated, check post 2988)

It doesn't really look good imho. Lot's of spare time between "events" and the qualis are badly placed. The different series still overlap just enough to prevent some people runnning multiple races one after another.

that image is only a thumbnail

Until you click on it!

hyper on how which cars does steering further into the slide work?

Quote from Hyperactive :

Btw. I made this schedule list for the events to show what and how many races you can have and how they are arranged in the schedule. The schedule contains the solstices, the legends and the skippie.

Thanks for that, that really helps out I usually race in LFS in between the iraces. Why not get the best of both worlds

Swapping bewteen LFS & iracing does make you realise they are completely different and also very similar in many ways. They really seem to have pinched alot of the LFS ideas. One thing I need to mention about the pricing though. With LFS I pay for 3 servers and a vent server, which actually costs alot more than iracing does per month, which they provide as part of the service, just something worth mentioning

i clicked on it, i had to change the url to http://s155.photobucket.com/al ... 292/tstsr/timetables1.jpg to get the no thumbnail, nice table

Quote from jasonmatthews :

Thanks for that, that really helps out I usually race in LFS in between the iraces. Why not get the best of both worlds

Swapping bewteen LFS & iracing does make you realise they are completely different and also very similar in many ways. They really seem to have pinched alot of the LFS ideas. One thing I need to mention about the pricing though. With LFS I pay for 3 servers and a vent server, which actually costs alot more than iracing does per month, which they provide as part of the service, just something worth mentioning

very good point indeed!

Quote from jasonmatthews :

One thing I need to mention about the pricing though. With LFS I pay for 3 servers and a vent server, which actually costs alot more than iracing does per month, which they provide as part of the service, just something worth mentioning

Yes, good point. We are lucky in LFS that we have some generous people who run servers and race series with their own time and money. It's an area where I think LFS could do a bit more to help though (funding wise at least). The quality race servers and leagues really help LFS to gain and maintain customers. I for one would probably have stopped playing LFS a year ago if it wasn't for the leagues, and I know of 2/3 friends who probably wouldn't have bought a licence if it wasn't for them.

As you say it's clear that some of the good points of LFS have been carried into iRacing, and I expect the opposite to happen over time too. An LFS SR system would be great.

Quote from Nick A :

As you say it's clear that some of the good points of LFS have been carried into iRacing, and I expect the opposite to happen over time too. An LFS SR system would be great.

Absolutely.

LFS can really grow from having iRacing knocking on its door and taking custom away.

Competition is extremely healthy in what up to now was probably an LFS monopoly for realistic online Driving Sim gaming.

I have iRacing but it's certainly not taking me away from LFS. Infact, it's brought me back!

In all honesty I thought hiPricing's cars (as much as I didn't like the cars) felt more "real" than those in LFS. Just the relationship between the tyre and the road felt more natural to me. But like I said it's just not a suitable sim for me.