Does the engine rev too high in the BMW-Sauber? An F1PerfView graph of RPM over time for a lap around AS Grand Touring shows that I'm frequently hitting peak revs of about 21,600 RPM. This seems to me to be about 1000-2000 RPM too high given that current F1 V8s struggle to run at 20,000 RPM even in test conditions.

nicolson10, just download the full version and install that instead.

Based on this comparison shot (http://www.lfsforum.net/attach ... id=7994&d=1145031156), it looks like the car model has been reworked. Especially the rear and front. The rear seems to have been stretched, the rear bumper enlarged and the light cluster reworked while the front seems to have been shortened. The viewing angle is slightly different in the two shots but I think there are real differences in the model itself.

axus, I think TJones1 would like to see a real-time fluid dynamics implementation for the aerodynamics model.

Quote from Hyperactive :

It is just unplayable online. First it seems okay but the other cars give a major hit on fps. Cars appear suddenly from nowhere... And low fps = steering lag.

I agree completely. I've tweaked my settings to get about 30-40fps offline and it feels pretty smooth and easy to control. When I join an online race the framerate drops to 10-20fps and I start getting controller lag. The other cars are hopping all over the place even though their pings are in the 100-200ms range. Close racing is impossible. You can't get within 50 yards of another car without worrying whether it will suddenly teleport right into you.

Quote from ajp71 :

What track (and layout) is in the demo?

Crema, which has just one layout.

I managed to connect to a server but there was no one else online. Started in the pits, exited pitlane keeping below the speed limit and was told that I had made a false start. Uh, what? Still, ran the complete race length for practice, no one else joined the server and when the race was over and I exited the session, none of my online stats had been updated with the race/laps I had just run. Hmm.

Spent another couple of hours with the demo, tweaking for performance and putting in laps and started to enjoy myself enough to buy a full license. Despite my initial disappointment, it does grow on you. Activation went without a hitch and I spent an hour trying out the various cars and tracks in the full version before going online to see how it fares in multiplayer. Gad! The server list took over a minute to refresh and when it finally came up, 11 of the 12 servers listed had pings of over 5000, with fully half of them in the 15000 range. Only one was under 1000, at 500 odd. Tried to connect to that server and was rewarded with the text "Server is not responding" emblazoned across the screen in bright red letters several inches high. Alrighty then!

I hope these are just teething problems.

Last edited by BuddhaBing, Tue, 11 Apr 2006 04:43.

netKar PRO seems to hate FSAA and AF, on my system at least. With FSAA and AF disabled in the display driver, I get framerates in the 60-80 range at 1280x960x32@75Hz. Very playable, the car handling is far more responsive and the controller lag is gone but the graphics are painful to look at with distracting aliasing and swimming textures. With 4xFSAA and 4xAF, the framerate drops to 20-25, the graphics are much better but the controller lag is noticeable and car handling suffers.

Hmm, I'm caught on the horns of a dilemma!

Athlon64 3500+
2GB DDR RAM
Radeon 9800Pro

I read over at RSC that the LCD is not operational in the demo. Don't know if that's true but I haven't found a way of turning on the LCD display.

I'm getting used to the sound now. Like LFS, it's informative rather than immersive.

The car handling feels pretty good. This is greatly enhanced by the force feedback which is excellent.

There are a few really nice touches, such as the visor and mirrors becoming grimy over time. Not sure if there is a way to clean the visor though.

Overall, my impressions are improving with every lap I run but I'm not yet convinced that it's worth buying. My main concerns are still performance, controller lag and the awful TrackIR support.

It also desperately needs a manual!

Okay, got the car moving. I thought the game had detected my pedals properly but it turns out it hadn't. Went to the controller configuration and assigned the throttle and brake aces to my pedals and now I can actually drive the car. Now, I'm having problems getting a decent framerate. I've turned down graphics options from their defaults but the game is still very laggy. Have run a handful of laps -- the force feedback feels very good so far and the graphics look like they could be very nice if I were able to crank up the settings. Sounds are pretty poor, on par with LFS I would say. The main problem I'm having is the poor framerate and the accompanying controller lag. If I can't get those resolved, those will be game-killers for me.

I can get the engine started (click on the switches on the left side of the cockpit) and can change gears but can't turn the LCD display on and can't get the car to actually, you know, move.

The online manual comes back with a 'Page not found' error and the offline manual appears to be missing.

I'm also a bit concerned that there seems to be some bad controller lag ... when I turn my wheel the wheel onscreen takes a fraction of a second to respond ... and the TrackIR head tracking is very laggy.

</scratches head>

Quote from Madman_CZ :

The problem is though many people will see games like gtr, rfactor, gtr2 and say lfs should be like them, have a massive team ...

I hear this a lot. I believe that ISI, the development house behind rFactor, is made up of just 7 people. Sure, that's more than the 3 that comprise the LFS team but not by much. Blimey! Games, the team behind GTR, GTL and GTR2, on the other hand, is large. Here's a list of their team members: http://www.blimeygames.com/about.php

Bear in mind also that the braking points and racing lines that you use aren't necessarily the same as those used by other people; some people like to brake early and gently while others like to be brake late and hard. So if you're following someone into a corner, you should be prepared for them to brake and turn-in earlier than you might. This is especially important when you're racing against complete strangers and haven't yet had a chance to get to know their driving style.

I happily used a joystick in racing games for years until picking up a DFP a few weeks ago. My laptimes and consistency suffered quite a bit initially and it took a couple of weeks to get used to the wheel and the force-feedback effects. Now, I'm enjoying the games even more than before and my laptimes and consistency are better than ever.

edit: I still find the LX6 to be easier to control using a joystick than a wheel. I think that's because it's easier to quickly countersteer against snap oversteer with a joystick due to the smaller amount of travel. I find all of the other cars easier to control with a wheel.

Last edited by BuddhaBing, Fri, 31 Mar 2006 00:50.

It's often difficult to find a race online during the times I usually play LFS (west coast of Canada, GMT-8), so I use the AI a lot.

As much as I am looking forward to netKar PRO, I'm still undecided about whether to pick it up largely due to its lack of AI.

I notice your eyepoint is quite far back. Move your eyepoint forward using the Zoom In command and I bet the problem disappears. Unfortunately, I don't think there's a way for the user to properly resolve the problem; it has to be done by the devs adjusting the thresholds at which various LOD levels are activated.

Last edited by BuddhaBing, Sat, 25 Mar 2006 19:17.

Quote from Rob76 :

As for finding online games, rF is usually worse than LFS for finding a well populated race online.

Very true. Here's a snapshot of the rFactor server list at around midnight Pacific coast time (GMT-8).



There are a grand total of 12 players on 8 servers and 2 of those servers are private. Further, most of the servers that are available are running mods I either don't have or am not interested in installing.

Last edited by BuddhaBing, Fri, 24 Mar 2006 08:55.

I just read a thread over at RSC (http://forum.rscnet.org/showthread.php?t=247848&page=2) discussing SimBin's recent acquisition of the FIA WTCC license in which someone mentioned that SimBin/Blimey! Games wanted to use the LFS engine. See post #39 in that thread: "And I just learned that Simbin/Blimey tried to get the engine from the LFS-team, but they wanted to create their own game before selling the engine..."

Anyone know if there's any truth to that?

I'm pretty sure the windmills turn into the prevailing wind also.

Yes, I already use Bob Smith's Easy Race setups for all the cars. Even so, the LX6 has me scratching my head wondering why it's so much more difficult to drive than the other cars. In order to keep it under control, I find I have to be extremely gentle on the throttle to prevent throttle-on oversteer and generally take corners one gear higher than I would otherwise which also helps prevent oversteer. As a consequence though, my laptimes suffer.

What causes the LX6 to be such a bear to drive? I find it to be the single-most difficult car to drive in LFS S2 -- including the open wheel MRT and formula cars -- yet surprisingly I don't have any difficulty driving the, on the face of it, very similar LX4.

Villeneuve used to do Honda ads -- here in Canada, at least -- when he was with BAR-Honda.

Nope, save your money for netKar PRO.

If you crash hard enough, LFS should permanently disable your user account and irreversibly uninstall itself from your system. Since they already have your credit card information, they should clear out your credit card account. And hire someone to go around and kick your dog.