To the OP
Maybe if your a driving sim/game fan, as most of us here are, you will eventually own more than one game, so I don't see it as a choice of one or another, they all have their good and bad points, just keep collecting until you find one you enjoy.
If anyone is thinking of buying rfactor to try the much talked about "historicX" mod supposed to have nice FF and realistic cars/handling, as I did, its worth mentioning that you need to buy 2 games in order to load and play this mod (Rfactor & GTX) also you need a KB with a numpad to be able to adjust FF on the fly too
Rfactor out of the box combined with a logitech FF wheel needs alot of messing about with settings to get it to feel anywhere near realistic.
I own many racing games (except iracing) and find the only one I still play is LFS, it has IMO the best online code and the most realistic handling, especially in the road car class.
I have seen it grow and change, with many patches, and always there is a surge in online palyers after every major update, but it does seem to be at an all time low in terms of players right now, however good racing can still be found using the lfsworld buddy list and visiting the more populated servers especially in the peak (europe) times.
I think if the devs had abandoned the game (I don't think that) they would have announced it or at least not posted that they are still working on it, some people here are just negative and keep saying "it won't come" etc.
I believe an update will come, in time, and be worth the wait
SD.