http://www.gamesradar.com/f/pc ... ms/a-20081104115343449034

Hmmm.......no mention of LFS....

I know it's some guys opinion, but.......discuss.....

I think if that list was compiled before iRental came out, LFS would have been in there. As much as I'm a LFS fanboy, iRacing does pretty much everything LFS does, and has the budget to show it off to the masses.

The article is talking about sims that have effected the way the mass market percieves racing sims. No one can honestly say that LFS is even aimed at the mass market at this point in time.

At some future point LFS could still factor on a list like that, but imo would have to bring a lot more to the table than it currently has to knock iracing off the perch. As it stands LFS would probably only get an honerable mention on a list of sims that have influenced sim development.

iRacing is aimed at the mass market? Besides, what is the mass market and what's a niche in a professional racing sim genre :\

I can agree with all but iRacing. It's not that iRacing isn't really, really good (actually, I don't know first hand having never played it), it's just that it's too young to be among the most infuential racing sims. What legacy has iRacing left as of yet? What was so good about iRacing that its influence shaped the genre?

iRacing is subscription based, imo its influence can't really be measured until it's matured a bit.

Also, Papy's IndyCar Racing fits nicely in between F1GP and GPL

Depends what you deem "influential" I guess, I didn't read it as influence on the mass market, just the genre as a whole.

These sorts of things are the reason why LFS needs to get into the mass market, regardless of it's current status, iR isn't finished, but it's still mass marketed.

LFS is only a small blip on the radar, always has been, always will be. And if you really think about it, what is so influential about it that it deserves a spot in this article?

This article is more about the progression of simulations. LFS was right in the middle of an era that has already passed, and is hard to recognize with the famous modding debacles that got loads more attention and return on producing new sims for the market (e.g. GTR). iRacing is starting a new era --- it's like GPL with a cherry on top.

Quote from NotAnIllusion :

iRacing is aimed at the mass market?

Your right it's not mass market in the traditional sense but they are aiming to a bigger market than LFS is currently. And your right about it being abit premeture for iracing to be tacking claim to the latest spot as well, only time will tell.

Quote from Tweaker :

This article is more about the progression of simulations. LFS was right in the middle of an era that has already passed, and is hard to recognize with the famous modding debacles that got loads more attention and return on producing new sims for the market (e.g. GTR). iRacing is starting a new era --- it's like GPL with a cherry on top.

omg tweak is still browsing these forums once an lfsforumer always an lfsforumer

As much as I am an LFS fan I do tend to agree with the article as it stands at the moment...

Quote from Tweaker :

LFS is only a small blip on the radar, always has been, always will be. And if you really think about it, what is so influential about it that it deserves a spot in this article?

This article is more about the progression of simulations. LFS was right in the middle of an era that has already passed, and is hard to recognize with the famous modding debacles that got loads more attention and return on producing new sims for the market (e.g. GTR). iRacing is starting a new era --- it's like GPL with a cherry on top.

Well, it may be a small blip marketingwise, but from the number of its current members, it's a bit bigger than "a small blip"... But yes, LfS never made a big fuss about its features and additions, it literally "stayed under the radar"...

It might seem far-fetched, but with professional marketing, LfS' accessability and availability could make it a CS of racing sims... Whether that's a good thing or not is for yourself to decide...

I can see it now.. T1: "Boom headshot!!!!!1111" -.-

Quote from NotAnIllusion :

iRacing is subscription based, imo its influence can't really be measured until it's matured a bit.

But the fact that it is subscription based means it is a revolution in sim-racing. Not to mention the safety rating, ladder system, race classes etc.

If iRacing all goes horribly wrong and its only legacy is that nobody else will try that route, then it has still influenced the sim-racing world one way or another.

I basically agree with the list. LFS never really revolutionised the genre. It arrived offering a lot of promise, but always seemed to be missing that leap forward required to grab the majority of the established sim-community. It has evolved into a decent sim, but even today I can't think of anything it does that would influence other sim-developers.

What LFS did better than anyone else was the communication between the devs and the community, which has been nothing short of amazing, but that doesn't really impact on the sim-racing genre in particular. You could apply that to any software development.

Quote from durbster :

But the fact that it is subscription based means it is a revolution in sim-racing. Not to mention the safety rating, ladder system, race classes etc.

Not yet. Currently some parts of the iRacing model are innovative, but not revolutionary. These innovations will become revolutionary if they influence the genre to move in the same direction. Until iRacing has a significant effect on the future of the genre, it is merely innovative, not revolutionary or overtly influential. This is what I meant that iRacing is too young as a subscription based model to draw any long-term conclusions.

Imo

Quote from durbster :

I basically agree with the list. LFS never really revolutionised the genre. It arrived offering a lot of promise, but always seemed to be missing that leap forward required to grab the majority of the established sim-community. It has evolved into a decent sim, but even today I can't think of anything it does that would influence other sim-developers.

LfSWorld... Something more unofficially copied, but copied nonetheless...

Rfactor doesn't really deserve to be there, because it's just F1 challenge with a few extra features added.

GTR deserves it because it has a few smaller details that othjers miss out, such as very grip on different parts of the track, and night and rain racing, something ehich a remarkable number of Sims don't have *cough cough*.

As for iRacing, it seems to be based on N2003, which is a good thing, (I love the way they've just nicked a lot of the sounds straight fom N2003 ), but its all done delibreately to shut the every day person out methinks, its more about the rich/ serious.

If they didn't have the stupid rental idea, I might even buy.

Price: $156.00 for Iracing... one year? WOW and you don't get many cars, that to me is complete rip off.

thats .42 USD for a game you probably wont play everyday and it completely goes away after one year ...

theres a cracked version of iracing out, all cars all tracks just no online play.

Quote from major_syphillis :

theres a cracked version of iracing out, all cars all tracks just no online play.

..and its and old version, so not only do you not get to race anyone, you have all the dodgy physics bugs from earlier releases. So its not even useful as a 'try before you buy' and you DONT have all the cars and tracks.

Don't waste your time.

That list is spot on as far as influence goes! I don't expect that behind a URL is something that I agree with these days..

Rcraptor on that list? :|

Imo that should be changed with NR2003 .
I canot think of a other game at it's time that had that good physics.
If there are anything that is on the same hight as LFS, or better, it would be NR2003 in my opinion.

And about Iracing, I think it's more aimed for the fanatics, not the big mass.

Quote from 5haz :

As for iRacing, it seems to be based on N2003, which is a good thing

You could be on to something there

http://img235.imageshack.us/my.php?image=iracingmodlo6.jpg

I always thought LFS had the biggest playerbase and most active races held during a day? I don't know about you but to me that seems like a very large part of the market. About a year ago I did a search through Rf's and GTR's online racing server list. Between the two of them they couldn't match the number of races and racers using LFS at the same time. Jeez CTRA alone runs 400-500 races a day alone and see's something like 2k people a day...

It's not marketed but then it's not a finished product. The reason Iracing cna get away with marketing is that it's subscription based and one of the reasons for the subscription is having the ability to have 'free' updates regularly.

Was LFS influiencial in Sim Racing, I think it shows that quality wins over quantity, but IMO it hasn't really changed the market a ton, afterall it's hard to influince something when your not marketing.

Quote from The Very End :

Rcraptor on that list? :|

Yes, because it was the first completely moddable sim. The list is about influence, not realism, and rFactor introduce an entirely new angle to the genre.

But does Rfactor have _THAT_ big memberbase?
Actually I belived LFS memberbase was bigger than Rfactor, tho I probally were wrong..

I can't understand either how iRacing is supposed to have had any influence when it just got released some months ago.

I can see it being on that list in 2 years but not at this time.

How can iRacing be influential with a player base barely above 6,000 "renters"?