First of all, I am very impressed with LFS and the quality and number of features that it has. The engine sounds are great and the first time I heard the echos coming off the buildings I was stunned. Dirt on the tires, localized heating are all great. However, it seems to me they are missing a bit on the tire sounds. They seem very simplistic and don't convey as much information as they could. It appears you get tire squeal when the tires start to slide that increases in volume the more you slide. But this all occurs after the slide begins. Tires make all kinds of sounds before they even reach the limit. They make a scrubbing sound that gradually gets louder as they are put under more stress. Then they start to squal which gets louder as they approach the limit and then transition into a screech as they go past their limit.

LFS appears to have primarily one frequency that only changes volume. (If there are other sounds I can't hear them and I have the car sounds down and the tire noise at max.) Coming over from iRacing this is one thing that is a big difference in the two sims. iRacing gives a much better indication of where the tire is on the slip angle curve using audio information. They use a variation of sound type, frequency, and volume to give the information that you would get physically if you could feel the inertial forces. And I think that LFS already has the code for doing this. The force view with its different colored vectors with varying lengths could be adapted for audio. Substitute sound/frequency for color and volume for vector length and you have a good start on a superb audio feedback system for the tires/inertia. And I don't think it would hurt to cheat on the level of sound because, after all, we don't have the realism of feeling the inertia forces.

A +1 from me.

The audio system is still under development, I think.

I fiddled around with the relative volumes of the different skidding sounds to make the scrubbing sounds more easy to hear. It's been over a year since I did this, so I can't even remember what the original LFS sounds are like, but I'm attaching my files if you want them. backup your old ones first, though!

NOTE: some of these sounds are most likely based on somebody's soundpack. I honestly can't remember. Anyway, full credits go to the makers!! (If there's a problem just tell me and I'll remove this upload!)

Thanks for the download. On further investigation it appears that what I was looking for is there ... but it isn't loud enough to be heard. I tried replacing the road noise files with the horn sound. The road noise starts at 20 km/hr. The second sound at 0.60 G (for the LX4). The third at 0.85 G. The fourth at 1.03 G and the last at 1.10 G. The problem is that I can't hear the first three at all even with the skid sounds at max. I wish the tire noise on my road car was that quiet! I have to turn the radio up when I get to 100 km/hr. (Of course, it is a Chevrolet. ) Maybe I'll just tape a recorder to my fender well and go do some parking lot driving to get those rubber grinding on pavement sounds I want.

Or just open the sound files in the sound recorder program which is included with Windows and simply increase the volume of each file manually.

Quote from Gnomie :

Or just open the sound files in the sound recorder program which is included with Windows and simply increase the volume of each file manually.

Your a genius mate , didn't know you could do that .Makes a huge difference

Just a note: some tyre scrub volumes are affected by the "car sound volume" slider, so you should have that at maximum for best results.

Quote from Turbo Dad :

Makes a huge difference

It certainly does! Now instead hearing the skid and thinking, "Darn, I've flat spotted my tires!", I can hear them getting ready to lock and ease up. It is brilliant the way they have implemented the sounds except it defeats the purpose when they are so quiet they can't be heard. A bit like painting a masterpiece and then hanging it with the picture facing the wall. I wonder how many people have tried the demo and have given up because of this?

Quote from codehound :

...The engine sounds are great...

What? I agree with you in every point but this one. Every sound in LFS is really bad IMO, especially the engines.

Quote from Keling :

The audio system is still under development, I think.

I hope so, is the weakest point of LFS by far.

I'll try that tweak, thanks Gnomie

Quote from NitroNitrous :

What? I agree with you in every point but this one. Every sound in LFS is really bad IMO, especially the engines.



I hope so, is the weakest point of LFS by far.

I'll try that tweak, thanks Gnomie

The sounds may not be recordings like in other sims. But they are simulating what the engine would sounds like. I like how the sounds are adapting to what the car and the environment does constantly. As opposed to other sims where there is a very "linear" feel to the sound progression.

If engine damage will be implemented one day (I pray for it to come), wouldn't it be awesome to be able to hear that you've lost a cilinder? Or that your exhaust is leaking?

That's LFS imho: It simulates, it doesn't imitate.

Quote from Ferrero Rocher :

...It simulates, it doesn't imitate.

That's why I love LFS :heartbeat
I must admit after raising the volume of the tires the overall feeliing has improved a lot. Maybe is not as bad as I thought, but still can be improved

When comparing to iRacing, you gotta keep in mind that tire sounds in that sim are exaggerated since there currently isn't a way to simulate G-forces and "feel the car".