Not quite. The 1080p dev kit (which anyone can buy) is due around Q3 2013-Q1 2014 according to the latest news. Final consumer version propably around Q4 2014, there's no official release date for it.
Also, the moaning above is unbelievable. We finally know for that there are atleast new tracks in the release pipeline and Scawen is semi-actively back at the forums too. Be happy for once?
actually, achieving something in the scope of a stalled project can be reinvigorating. even if that something isn't on the critical path.
@DrBen's thoughts: good point about evolution vs revolution. LFS can be moved forward although exactly how is very debatable. many people want fancy extras that i fear are not at the core of what LFS means. this sim is supposed to enable people who want to compete to get on a virtual track in a virtual car and go at it.
adding shaders.. meh. yes dynamic lighting would rock and i can see a challenge aspect where pilots can be better than each other based on how well they adapt to low light or sun glaring in the windshield, but is that really the best step to bring LFS closer to perfect?
someone mentioned improving collision detection. to be honest, except when a car is squeezed by two others or there is a lot of lag, the current collision system is very very good. most importantly, i really believe moving this system up one notch would be as huge a math puzzle as the tire model. can we all agree that the net code in LFS is top notch and that the internet is what needs to improve? and besides physics limits us very much in what is possible even in theory, with the speed of light imposing a minimum lag when competitors are far away from each other.
when we talk about the damage model, breaking off pieces, etc. it's true the current damage model is very light. but think about it, that is just common sense. it is so rare for people who want to race online to be in a race situation with someone about equal to their skill that you don't want to just end that too fast with a damage model that is too punishing. the current one does a good job: if someone is careless and hits things too hard or too often, they will fall behind in the race. but if something unpredictable happens, some lag spike or some idiot screwing up, the race is not necessarily over right away. also this model has depth, so toe damage front and rear does what you would expect, camber problems as well, and so on.
we must ask ourselves not what all the things are we dream of seeing in the future of LFS but what is the next thing that is stopping us from having this online competition we want so badly. or if not stopping us then slowing us down or making the competition less good in some way.
sorry, wall of text, but in that perspective, adding shaders to LFS does a tiny bit to make the competition have more depth, but at the same time stops many racers from even getting into the race due to their hardware. making the damage more severe cuts short a nice battle between two racers because some lap-down kid makes a mistake while being passed.
if we get a better tire model, we get a better platform to test our skill against each other. if we get more realistic setups, we get races where there is less space between the racers, another good thing.
if we got some way to level the playing field with the clutch hax, racing would get more competitive too. right now there are a few ways competitions is being degraded in LFS and that's where the development focus should be seeing what the sim's priorities are.
Breaking off pieces would increase net load as well, which can cause trouble.
But what we have now is basically a suspension bending system that only acts on a 2D plane. There's plenty room for improvement even without breaking off pieces.
I didn't mentioned dynamic lightning, just some additional shaders to vary the look of the objects. The cars have only two shaders, one full matte, and another with environment mapping reflecting a little on it. The tracks are full matte. If you apply some variations on this env map, add some specular shading here and there plus bump map, plus polygons to smooth the cars, you'll get a more immersive look for the game with the current engine. Potentially matching GTR2/GTL rendering for example. And a perfect companion for better car physics
I never thought of heavy lightning system with blur, glare or HDR. According to the rfactor2 screenshots, this looks like a huge farce because almost everything is badly tuned… albedo, colors, spec, contrast… This things must be setup in a scientific way or by a visual effects expert.
Don't worry about the old hardware. Graphic settings can usually be changed you know… and more-than-ten-years-old spec computers are not used by many people I hope. I think I would refuse to lock the visuals quality ad vitam eternam because a minority of users in the world are still playing with a windows 98 computer.
This limits things to DX9 but thats OK. Much eyecandy is not really needed. Its a race sim, things fly by with 200 km/h you are not going to stare at a flower for 35 minutes.
We need content, real cars, real tracks. Tire physics is blocking that for years already.
That will be skewed by a large number of business users who still use XP for application compatibility, the latest Steam hardware survey has XP at 7% and would be more representative of gamers
Dont call it schnitzel. It's no excuse, it's how it is. Unlike Doom, Farcry or [fill in random first person shooter] you look much longer at environment then when you are in a (racing) car.
LFS doesn't look 'like shit' to begin with, sure there can be updates here an there but Dirt2 levels don't have to be reached. Not going to be reached anyway. If you want that, simple go play Dirt2, with 30 FPS. Or, if you have too much e-penis, you probably reach more.
Have to agree to carfight.nl in this one - current LFS graphics aren't astonishing,but they do their job well enough for simulator. And I'm saying this even when I have a decent laptop,which could handle better graphics instead of the old laptop or the old pc I had back in Latvia (both with Intel in-built GPUs).
I would rather see more content (tracks,cars,different environments like real dirt tracks,maybe even snow/ice tracks) and changing weather (dry/rain and day/night) conditions instead of some pimped up graphics.
All of this require to be paired with a graphic update
And please stop with the argument «I am living in a supposed poor country, I'm too poor to buy a 100€ computer which can run LFS in 60fps and I don't give a shit about the 90% of the rest of LFS users who don't want to stick with a 2001 looking game»
LFS wouldn't even need much graphical changes to look fresh and modern again.
Environment mapped dynamic reflections for cars, lighting engine refresh (for day/night changes, cockpit shadows and road surface sun glare), motion blurred wheels and that would be pretty much it.
No dude, not just that. There are specular mapping, bump mapping, pixel shading, first class skins and textures, some blur for exhaust nozzles, volumetric fog, day-night transitions, weather effects… The only crappy things are the afterburner and jet plumes, smoke and trees. http://www.x-plane.com/desktop/multimedia/
Did I ever talked about aircraft tire physics only? The analogy was the simulation, not the tires…
"Modernisation" after tire physics (as Mr Roberts put it) is fine by me. The extra bling that can be achieved with dx9/11 would only make sense to implement if it comes with a day/night cycle, updated chassis and weather effects. I guess Becky had a point about tesselation (dx11) regarding the appearance of the tires. But who looks at the tires during a race (other than S.E.T.H.? ).
The question remains, is it ever going to happen. We hear the tyre physics story for the last five years now and every year there are some people raving about hearing the same story. The ones who not accept it, you don't hear anymore. They just leave silently, which is, understandable.
I really hope there finally can be made some concessions, racing is so much more then only tyres.
I visit this website so often, hoping to see some news about upcoming improvements...
This is/was a great game, very fresh, very rewarding, but it is getting outdated, honestly I don't have fun with this game any more, not as much as I used.
I didn't see that 2009 post where the dev calls his fans idiots, I regret purchasing a licence from such an a**hole but honestly I must say (I am also a game developer) he is right, no one can DEMAND them to release material on the coming update, sure they have been very unprofessional advertising an upcoming S3, the Vw Scirocco, the new tyre physics without even knowing IF they will be releasing anything (and I tell you, by experience, they will hardly release any update, especially after better games will be released).
I also agree with them for not wanting to dedicate all their time at work, though I believe they probably did the opposite and slacked it off, but it is their damn right!
The dev team should have thought twice about their objectives before "promising" new content, their mistake, but now for you it is time to move on...
Do not rage, just try other products, help testing Assetto Corsa for instance and talk to their devs, they are actively working so you will actually get some results talking with them.
I suggest you check out better products that have been or are being released: rFactor2, Assetto Corsa (which seems to be amazing) and netKar Pro.
I feel sorry thinking about all the great fun I had playing LFS but well, it's time to move on...
