Hi All

I'm hoping one of you can answer a few of my questions

- How is the AI at higher power levels (F1 car). Current AI seems to bash into me a little when overtaking takes place.
- Is the AI on a par with rF2?
- Will the AI continue to challenge me?
- demo track seems a little lifeless - all have this feel?
- Textures in the demo track a little low res (trees) any updates for this?
- Is there a dynamic track (grip different on and off the racing line) - does it build during a race?
- Is this product really still being developed - really!???

Thanks in advance

You dont need to care about AI.
When you buy your S2 license, you can join some good events and race with... real racers

Well, LFS isnt at its best about racing and full servers but there are still some good events to keep you racing everyday.

The development is slow. Very slow. But they work from time to time and give some patches (without new content).

Quote from jajp999 :

Hi All

I'm hoping one of you can answer a few of my questions

- How is the AI at higher power levels (F1 car). Current AI seems to bash into me a little when overtaking takes place.
- Is the AI on a par with rF2?
- Will the AI continue to challenge me?
- demo track seems a little lifeless - all have this feel?
- Textures in the demo track a little low res (trees) any updates for this?
- Is there a dynamic track (grip different on and off the racing line) - does it build during a race?
- Is this product really still being developed - really!???

Thanks in advance

- AI isn't great with any car at any track at the moment. If I recall right, there are plans to improve on this in the future (think years). If you're racing the AI in S2, you're doing it wrong.
-
-
- You'd need to be more specific, but the answer is probably yes. If find yourself spending a lot of time admiring the scenery, find a busier server. Some other track environments, South City especially, are more bumpy and feel less clinical.
- Check out the unofficial mods section. There are official car texture updates to come, track ones haven't been mentioned but I would guess eventually (think many years).
- No varying grip, but it's an essential so again, perhaps eventually.
- Yes, really!!!1!1!!!1!!1!111!!1!1!!11!1!11111onenoneoneoneoeneleven.

What ^he said.

Quote from jajp999 :

I'm hoping one of you can answer a few of my questions [...]

Q: How is the AI at higher power levels (F1 car). Current AI seems to bash into me a little when overtaking takes place.

A: Its pretty much same at every car/track, if you're really fast then AI may be at very low level to you but as people are saying here - this game is not build to be a single player game.

Q: Is the AI on a par with rF2?

A: cant compare them. I never played rF2 but as i said in previous answer, its not designed as a single player game. Multiplayer is main force here.

Q: Will the AI continue to challenge me?

A: If you're fast then you will left it far far behind even at highest AI difficiulity.

Q: demo track seems a little lifeless - all have this feel?

A: Hard to say, very often servers are more full around evening hours, there is some good demo servers i think. Zion race demo was one of the best in past times for xfg/xrg races... dunno how it is now. there also are AA Blackwood GTI or AA Blackwood FBM or something like that. There you may find some really fast and clean racers.

Q: Textures in the demo track a little low res (trees) any updates for this?

A: this game was made in 2002 and it have graphics from that time, also tis game its not NFS, rF2, iRacing or any big production for adverting ultra high preformance graphic cards and dunno how much cores cpu's.
This game is designed for enjoying a simulation physics for everyone even not too rich people with 1 core 1,5ghz with 256-512ram and with old GeForce 4 or 5 and this kind of pc is enough for demo, so many people can try and enjoy physics and racing sim.

Q: Is there a dynamic track (grip different on and off the racing line) - does it build during a race?

A: there is no dynamic track grip at the moment but in really big races your grip is changing because of tyre wear(temperature or wear) and downforce is changing when you're driving some really fast car behind someone and trying to go behing him you may have no grip as it is in real life.

Q: Is this product really still being developed - really!???

A: Its still being developed yes, but its very slow and new Tyre physics are still in development and finishing date is not known even for devs.
Anyway I think there is no other sim than LFS where you can just go online and play some multiplay racing after 2-3 clicks and time from starting the game to beeing on server lasts around 10-20seconds so you noo need to wait for loong loadings and reading adverts or dumb tips (if you know them all) during that 2-3min track loading.

And this sim is really worth buying if you check all servers etc. what it have to offer to you
I was demo race fo like 2-3 years and now I know 2/3 of my demo carrer time was waste of time (ive should buy it earlier)

Thanks for then answers guys

I'm more of a single player (AI) person - I played iRacing for about 2 years and the people on there just put me off joining another MP experience

Quote from jajp999 :

- Is there a dynamic track (grip different on and off the racing line) - does it build during a race?

Tyres have a life cycle. In longer races (~45 min or more) you will notice that as the tyres wear down, they get grippier and cooler, so you can push the car harder without loosing the grip or overheating the tyres.

Yeah, people suck.

But don't write off MP just because of that. When you do run in to the right crowd of people the LFS' MP experience is pretty damn fun.

Probably why you still see people coming back for a taste of LFS after half a dozen years.

LFS MP on public servers is pretty bad, but it can be rewarding once you learn to avoid, dodge, anticipate and laugh off all the idiots!

Get online (after you get a feel for the cars/tracks) and enjoy.

Hope to run in to you on track!

Quote from jajp999 :

Thanks for then answers guys

I'm more of a single player (AI) person - I played iRacing for about 2 years and the people on there just put me off joining another MP experience

Too bad man... from my experience only on 2-3 LFS demo servers (maybe some more) you can meet really cool people very often and race with same people day by day and learn from them but this situation is changing when you go to S2 (nubs or immature players wont buy something and spend their money for trolling etc. or chance for it's much less chance to see that than in demo servers).

Anyway good luck man and i hope you will have fun from this sim
ps. if you want to try some better setups for your cars
you may check those sites:
www.setupgrid.net or http://setupfield.teaminferno.hu/

Quote from jajp999 :

Hi All

I'm hoping one of you can answer a few of my questions

- How is the AI at higher power levels (F1 car). Current AI seems to bash into me a little when overtaking takes place.
- Is the AI on a par with rF2?
- Will the AI continue to challenge me?
- demo track seems a little lifeless - all have this feel?
- Textures in the demo track a little low res (trees) any updates for this?
- Is there a dynamic track (grip different on and off the racing line) - does it build during a race?
- Is this product really still being developed - really!???

Thanks in advance

-Shit
-No
-No
-Yes
-No, except community mods
-No
-No...

Don't buy.. Seriously, listen to me. Other guys here are fanbois.

Quote from Tomba(FIN) :

-Shit
-No
-No
-Yes
-No, except community mods
-No
-No...

Don't buy.. Seriously, listen to me. Other guys here are fanbois.

Seriosly, don't listen Tomba. He is the most bored guy in LFS.

If you like offline playing, buy S2 and try hotlapping :thumb3d:

But of sure online expirience in LFS is really cool. Demo servers not interesting, because only 5 of 940 possible combos there Buy S2 and try it.

If you have money for iRacing, 40$ willn't be big money ( unlimited time, all cars/tracks )

If only s2 had any decent servers... online experience my ass... you get more out of demo

@japj, go on lfsworld and see for yourself what's the status of lfs..

+1 Tomba. Don't buy it. 90% of the servers are demo servers. Online racing in S1 S2 you can find only on CG servers + 1-2 others. The rest is cruise and drift. bullsh!t. Don't buy it. The speed of developement is maybe the slowest one in the wolrd. Just check the lfsworld.net to see some S2 infos. But if you ask me, it's becoming more and more a dead game.

But LFS still feels the best physics vise

Trayed rF2 newest build + 75'ring, renewed my iRacing subscription, and none of those games feels right to me

Yes but if the developement will be continued with that speed, well after1-2 years the tyre physics will be not enought to stay alive . A lot of others sims are appearing and appearing and appearing. And this....(I mean LFS).. nothing new, maybe a bit of update stuffs, and antihacker protection, but nothing serious since 4yrs. And this is more important that the fact that lfs have the best tyre physics
EDIT: sorry for my bad english.

LFS is still by far the best value for money than any other race sim.

Still...but this top place becoming more and more instable. And in the close future will be a sad moment (as a forum member wrote) the last server admin will say goodbye to the devs. Sad but true: LFS is still a good game with lots of potential, but until when...? Check the forums, check the community. Closed threads, lots of good lfs teams says goodbye to this game.Why they did if it's still the best one?

Quote from jajp999 :

I'm more of a single player (AI) person - I played iRacing for about 2 years and the people on there just put me off joining another MP experience

If that's the case LFS is nothing for you. The AIs are more a gimmik then a serious competitor.

Quote from ASR Sanchez :

Closed threads, lots of good lfs teams says goodbye to this game.Why they did if it's still the best one?

Propably because they were bored? A lot of us have been in that same spot, but still returned after taking a few year break.

OP has barely scratched the surface of LFS with the available demo content. If some old guys decide to leave (I suspect they will come back when/if new content patches are released) then so be it, but they don't relate in any way to the OP who has only had one track and a couple cars to enjoy.

I think I remember some forum member saying some years back that the kübler-ross five stages of grief work very well with LFS too. Denial -> anger -> bargaining -> depression -> acceptance. The road to acceptance is long, but once you get there, things will be better and you simply take LFS how it is, because things aren't going to change no matter how much you bash it or the devs. You accept it how it is, and enjoy what there is to enjoy.

Quote from Matrixi :

Propably because they were bored? A lot of us have been in that same spot, but still returned after taking a few year break.

OP has barely scratched the surface of LFS with the available demo content. If some old guys decide to leave (I suspect they will come back when/if new content patches are released) then so be it, but they don't relate in any way to the OP who has only had one track and a couple cars to enjoy.

I think I remember some forum member saying some years back that the kübler-ross five stages of grief work very well with LFS too. Denial -> anger -> bargaining -> depression -> acceptance. The road to acceptance is long, but once you get there, things will be better and you simply take LFS how it is, because things aren't going to change no matter how much you bash it or the devs. You accept it how it is, and enjoy what there is to enjoy.

LFS isn't that special, I was a bit fanboyish for a while, but it just isn't worth the hype. There are better sims out there, maybe they don't have the same extremely detailed tyre model, but that isn't enough to make LFS the besteva! If you buy a licence knowing that how it is now will quite probably be how it always will be, then fair enough. But online play is pointless unless you setup your own private server with friends/a league so it doesn't become cruise/drift/destruction derby or you spend all of your time hot lapping offline. You can't race in public servers.

So to OP, if you don't go in with huge expectations, then you won't get your heart broken. It isn't a perfect sim, there are better options out there, you'll never get to have a clean race using public servers in any game, that is just how the public are. But for 24 wingwangs, you can help keep the devs in supply of coffee for an extra month. Although I still doubt we'll ever see new content in LFS unless the devs say "we've given up, here is what we have, enjoy."

As it has been previously said, if you prefer your racing single player, I would give LFS a miss for now, the AI has never been that great.

Where LFS shines is the multiplayer. I must admit I very rarely play now, tend to stick to iRacing (or hiPricing as I think some of us LFS'ers coin it). You can still find some great racing on public servers. I do like a good cruise server however, despite previously hating it, helps me relax.

What impresses me still about this game is the community, I am amazed at the activity of the forums, compared with the lack of development, and this is definitely a testament to the original product. LFS may not look all that snazzy anymore, but the driving 'feeling' still has many of us coming back for more.

I would not decide too much based on those questions: they do not tell that much about the game or why people play it.

But I want to say something about multiplayer:
For multiplayer you get as much back as you put in.
In some games you can click into a random server, play for an hour, log off. For LFS that is not very exciting.
Sure, sometimes they are some nice races but generally LFS has not enough players for that multiplayer style. I think that style is difficult for racegames anyway since you might need an hour to get used to car & track. And then the server changes track.
Compared to other games pick-up-racing in LFS is the best technically possible I guess, but not where it shines.

What is more fun is to race in some league or events, even if it is just a small one for beginners.
The step from public servers to organized events is like from keyboard to wheel.
The stats on lfsworld or serverlist are not representive, even if some people think that is all there is.

For me I found 3 leagues that are slow and "casual" enough for me; absolute-beginners.nl, Torsdagsrace,
Tuesday's Fun Race. There are many more but they seem too fast or professional for me.
So I could have a race 3 times a week. Maybe that seems little for some people but it is not comparable to the public 5 laps races. Quality over quantity.
Two evenings practice per race + race evening itself = already more time than I can allocate to LFS at the moment. (So I only drive in one league atm)
Sometimes I check the profile of people who claimed they have tried all and are bored with the content, and many have less miles driven than me. I wonder how that can be?

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

-Snip-

To be honest, nothing is worth hyping. The only thing that hype does, is make you disappointed sooner or later.

I disagree on your views of public racing, it can be very fun and clean, as long as you find the right place that has an active admin and a good insim system. From what I've seen and heard, cargames servers are very good in this regard. Then again, I might not be the most qualified person to talk about racing, as I spend 95% of my time in LFS sideways, and the remaining 5% racing or hotlapping.

You don't mention any of these better sim options, but I'll hazard a guess that you're talking about iRental? Which is a very good sim indeed, but it fails completely when it comes to street car tire physics (nonexistent, only slicks) and quick multiplayer racing (YOU have to work around THEIR schedule). Not to mention, having to pay cash to have a private race with your friends is plainly retarded and greedy.

Those are the areas where LFS excels. If you want to race, you'll be doing it within minutes, rather than within an hour. I also consider LFS street tire physics to be second-to-none, even in their currently flawed form. All things considered, LFS is the best compromise there is, including its faults and missing features.

Is LFS "special"? Short answer is yes and no.

Opinions are just opinions. Here's mine:

Online:
Since LFS is a multiplayer game, this is where you need to be - online, among other real people. As with all games interacting with humans, the game can only be as fun as the company allows. If you find likeminded people (and you will), LFS is a total blast. Why? Because it provides all the virtual racing tools necessary for a succesful online experience. It's got an extremely fast on/off button, swift and elegant means of communication and data-sharing, flexible in-car camera controls, great statistics tool, custom paints, numerous car and track configurations, complex and gorgeous physics model, and - last but not least - a dedicated group of developers that do not give in to mainstream popgaming.

Offline:
The AI can however be used to practice situation awareness. Put yourself last on the grid and 6 AI in front. Make a 5 lap race with the goal to finish first without causing mayhem. The fact that AI will run you over (following racing line) adds a bit of challenge to how you position your car. Hence a great tool to plan and perform your overtakings safely (location/brakezones/acceleration and laneswitching etc). Something that obviously come in handy when going online.

I like what was already said above (Gutholz): The difference of driving with people you know, is like using a proper wheel/H-shifter/axis-clutch instead of keyboard. Huge difference.

Good luck with whatever choice you make (also, £24 is not the end of the world - it can be the beginning...).