It's no secret that many veteran members of LFS have been dormant in terms of actually driving the sim, and I have not been an exception. After many many many months of really not trying the sim for any length of time, I decided to have a go at it last night for about an hour with the hopes of rediscovering LFS at least just a little bit. LFS has always occupied a reserved place in my affections due to it's innovation in the past, and the motivation of basically one developer creating something so impressive. I've always had a passion for cars and LFS is something that caters to that passion on a very basic, direct, and primal level because of their approach. Varied car types that I have a chance of ever driving, and an intense focus on raw physics.

Despite all of the bubbling negativity (though nobody can deny that the development pace has been agonizing for fans), I really want to remind Scawen (& co) that they've created a fantastic and impressive product, which is already very good despite it's shortcomings, and despite the timeline. I sincerely hope the project doesn't lose anymore steam, because the potential in LFS is absolutely through the roof. The tire model itself and the approach is still the most advanced out there, even if the on-track driving results are a little behind iRacing for now.

The sound in some cars is actually still engaging even if they're not the scintillating masterpiece of iRacing's C6.R howling down a straight. They provide great feedback, and at least there is some attempt at turbocharger modelling... something other sims seem to purposely avoid, or manage to do even more poorly. LFS also works brilliantly with nVidia's 3D Vision system (as does iRacing), with only one very minor flaw.
The cockpits look great in 3D and everything in the rendered world is where it should be.

I just figured a little bit of encouragement might go a long way after literally years of constant negativity around here!

I'm really looking forward to trying Scawen's updated tire model when it arrives - and hopefully seeing many finishing touches come along after that hurdle is out of the way. Hopefully Eric's got some irons in the fire as well with cars & tracks!

Maybe many, but not all...

I also fired up LFS yesterday for the first time in a couple of years. However, I found that nothing has changed as the only servers with more than 2 people were cruise servers. :sleep2:

Quote from th84 :

I also fired up LFS yesterday for the first time in a couple of years. However, I found that nothing has changed as the only servers with more than 2 people were cruise servers. :sleep2:

rly? for me, I can see a lot of new things (and im not talking the Z30 - Z31 but official patch)

Quote from th84 :

I also fired up LFS yesterday for the first time in a couple of years. However, I found that nothing has changed as the only servers with more than 2 people were cruise servers. :sleep2:

Tip : update your game.

Quote from th84 :

I also fired up LFS yesterday for the first time in a couple of years. However, I found that nothing has changed as the only servers with more than 2 people were cruise servers. :sleep2:

Tis the same I find every time I've fired up the old LFS icon about once or twice a year in the last 3 years or so.

I don't race because I'm poor. The graphics card blew out on me and the old onboard GFX just doesn't cut it for frame rate. If I had the money to waste on a computer I would, there's just no money to waste.

Feeding the kids is more important than buying a computer to play a video game...

Well, you could probably pimp yourself out for a few nights and have the money for a decent system?

On the other hand I know what you guys are saying about the servers, I just played offline for a while because there was nothing going on server-wise. I was just speaking about the sim itself not that state of the ... "community".

Obviously iR is thriving there. It's a great atmosphere to log into a server with 25 or 30 running practice, hearing the roar of the prototype mixed with the Mustang, traffic everywhere and guys discussing setups over voice... very lively place over there.

Getting the demo this weekend when my wheel arrives, was going to get a license

Quote from BowHunt3r :

Getting the demo this weekend when my wheel arrives, was going to get a license

not to be bad for business or anything... but its going to be a while before this is worth playing again...

id invest this money into wang computers or something, im sure they could use all the moneys they can get.

Quote from theirishnoob :

...but its going to be a while before this is worth playing again...

I'm one of those... I have my G25 back home, since I'm studying abroad, therefore I haven't played at all the last 3 years. But recently I decided to download the game for some purposes (not playing) and I'm now adicted to the FOX with the mouse
I hate single seaters and I miss my G25 but man, the experience with the mouse and this car is awesome.
Looking forward to the new changes, hopefull I can play it properly next summer

I had a go the other day - haven't done any more than a 5 minute autox race since I bought the ZT.

I set the G25 up (even brought out a spare ZT seat to make things feel more "real").. and it just felt rediculous. The dynamics were brilliant as ever, but the interface (as in beween me and the sim, not the actual UI itself) is terrible.

For a start, the wheel is just too small... my G25 is one "hand" diameter, my ZT is 2 "hands". That alone makes the whole thing feel stupid... The same could be said for the gearchange (which just feels wierd) and the fact no "ordinary" desk is remotely comparable to where bits of a car should sit.

Figured I'd load up the newest version to take a look. I have no idea what happened to my pings, but they are worse than back in 2005 when I use to race on dialup (BBT will remember those days :razz

503ms (non-empty server) is my lowest ping I've never had pings remotely close to 500ms even back when I was on dialup. Most of these servers are those that I had always seen before in Z28 at under 250ms.

Edit: Well, I guess never mind. I have no idea when my antivirus updates, it seems to do it at random times. Perhaps that was it. It was just a bit shocking to see 500+ pings, but seems to be back to normal at sub250.

I was always more on the modding side than a racer, since I am stupidly slow (fair, but slow), and could do better working on providing better looking bits than taking part in the races.

I still did plough a long time into LFS tho, before it started stagnating, and very much liked what I was experiencing at the time. I still try out new versions as I would like to see what is happening.

The amount of work put into the mechanical side is great. I can`t imagine how much work goes into that coding (tried many times, and failed on so many levels on even the simplest stuff), and there is no reason to knock the man for lack of code update.

For me anyway, I had run through all the combos and cars so many times that there was just no fun in it anymore. The limited content killed it. I looked around for other sims to play with, and found a mod group that was making exactly what I wanted in another sim, where there is a never endng release of tracks, addons, etc, and just can`t look back now.

For the first time in a while, I haven`t even tried the latest LFS test patch. I downloaded it, but there`s just no interest there to even click on the installer anymore. I`m still hoping there will be something soon that will give me the desire to actually click on the next one, since there has been such a great amount of work put into it so far, there`s no denying that. The guys have done a great job, as much as any 3 guys possibly could.

Right now tho, I just feel it`s been left far behind, and it`s a crying shame.

Quote from Ball Bearing Turbo :

Obviously iR is thriving there. It's a great atmosphere to log into a server with 25 or 30 running practice, hearing the roar of the prototype mixed with the Mustang, traffic everywhere and guys discussing setups over voice... very lively place over there.

+1

I've been there since 2008. 100% club. And the corvette does sound amazing.

I keep coming back here to check every now and then.

Quote from unseen :

For me anyway, I had run through all the combos and cars so many times that there was just no fun in it anymore. The limited content killed it.

Have you read about the new test patch? All possible combos/routes around the existing circuits have been unlocked, so we now have about twice as many combos to race on.

S3 is in the making, we'll just have to be patient. If you cant wait, there are lots of other sims out there.

Quote :

For the first time in a while, I haven`t even tried the latest LFS test patch. I downloaded it, but there`s just no interest there to even click on the installer anymore. I`m still hoping there will be something soon that will give me the desire to actually click on the next one

You'll need z31 to watch this replay with me, fooling about in Aston-"AutoX" (open world with no barriers between stages) with the FZ50 (road car) using my fresh new WIP long-distance set-up (still with open diff)

That's what lfs is still great in, today. Simply to drive. Drive hard, drive slowly, drive poorly, drive well, drive the hell out of the ordinary!

--and have big-time fun doing so.

That said, I too had the pleasure of finally giving in to the need for "more stuff". Found that the Supra Mk-IV (one of those shiny red cars that I admired in the half-original nfs-1-SE) felt like a real car, as well. With plenty of grunt (Turbo'ed or not) and the engine in the front

Greets

Heiko

edit:
added download link for "tail-happy" replay
https://rapidshare.com/files/460914461/tail-happy_fz50_q.spr

I set my gas and brakes to my paddle shifters and went racing. back to my alien ways from late 2009 and had lots of fun. Can't wait to get in a decent filled server later.

Nice post.

Quote from th84 :

... the only servers with more than 2 people were cruise servers. :sleep2:

It is the same online for pretty much every good racing simulator. Try joining a server around 19:00 GMT ± 1 hour. Of course that can be difficult to do if you are not a single college student.

Quote from anttt69 :

Have you read about the new test patch? All possible combos/routes around the existing circuits have been unlocked, so we now have about twice as many combos to race on.

S3 is in the making, we'll just have to be patient. If you cant wait, there are lots of other sims out there.

I had seen the new test patch, and picked up on the general vibe about it. Probably the main problem with retexturing these tracks is that not only do you view the entire area on all the combos, but (in my case) you run round them over and over again so many times you know every single inch of them in minute detail, which means open layouts don`t really appeal at all.

Patience is fine for me I`ve found other things to do (and in a related way, I`ve recently had the pleasure of finding out just how good Eric`s track modelling actually is. His base track modelling technique is actually very nicely done with plenty of detail. It`s only the current LFS DX level and certain texture mappings that let the overall look of what he`s acheived down).

Quote from DrBen :

You'll need z31 to watch this replay with me, fooling about in Aston-"AutoX" (open world with no barriers between stages) with the FZ50 (road car) using my fresh new WIP long-distance set-up (still with open diff)

That's what lfs is still great in, today. Simply to drive. Drive hard, drive slowly, drive poorly, drive well, drive the hell out of the ordinary!

--and have big-time fun doing so.

That said, I too had the pleasure of finally giving in to the need for "more stuff". Found that the Supra Mk-IV (one of those shiny red cars that I admired in the half-original nfs-1-SE) felt like a real car, as well. With plenty of grunt (Turbo'ed or not) and the engine in the front


Greets

Heiko

edit:
added download link for "tail-happy" replay
https://rapidshare.com/files/460914461/tail-happy_fz50_q.spr

Still not installed the latest test patch, and no desire to do so (as well as being busy on other things). Thrashing the hell out of sim cars is all we want to be doing tho, however we choose to do it. I just got very jaded with the same old content, compared to other sims.

Scavier most definitely do fine work, there is no denying that. It`s just simply the slow progress from the 3 man team that killed the enjoyment for me. It`s not something I normally would post about, since it just points out the obvious, but it is a factor in my own loss of interest. I do so wish (like most other people) that things would change, more people working on it, quality community work accepted to fill in holes where official work is better spent elsewhere, or whatever, but since it`s not going to happen soon, then I`ve got plenty other things to keep me occupied right now.

So many good memories, so long ago, of side by side, lap after lap online rallycross fun at FB, TBO`s on AS club, and so many others, but since nothing has really progressed since, there just ain`t any interest in the same old.

I`ll be waiting and looking in now and again. The guys aren`t sitting around picking their arse. I`ve no doubt good things will come sometime. I`ll see how it goes when the main new content arrives, although I still rue what could have been in the time taken so far.

I think the truth about LFS (...and the constant delaying of announced content, S3 and blah blah) is a tactical thing...

They are delaying it until the 10th anniversary of LFS (2012)

Did anyone ever think of that...?

That makes sens in 2011, but it doesn't in 2008/2009...I don't think it is the reason. Though it would be cool to have a big surprise then...Crap! You make me feel nervous with almost a year of waiting

Quote from Ball Bearing Turbo :

Obviously iR is thriving there.

But it's a relatively small community that's been stuck at around 10,000 "active" members for well over a year. There have been complaints about sparse fields in some class / track combinations.

I rarely hear much about iRacing anymore, or for that matter for any sim oriented racing game in general. The only new thing in the works is rFactor 2, and who knows how long that will take?

Autosimsport, the sim-oriented racing game online magazine, hasn't published an issue since December 2009. Seems that PC based racing games reached a peak around 2006, and popularity has been declining since then.

LFS is also caught up in this decline, and with no significant update in over 2 years, a lot of the older players have simply moved on to other things.

Hey guys. I finally started this game up and went online after what could have been years. I've found that there is barely a screen-full of servers now, and a large percent of them are actually demo servers. My game says "Live for Speed 0.5Z28", is this the latest version? I feel like it's a ghost town online, and I'm curious to know what happened to the place..