I'm just stoked to finally see an LX car with a steering column!

Quote from Victor :

liveforspeed.net is actually pointing to cloudflare, hence the low ping.
You can try lfs.net instead

Thanks, yes I noticed it redirected after I posted.
lfs.net gives a much more realistic 282ms

Ping statistics for 188.122.74.149:
Packets: Sent = 10, Received = 10, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 280ms, Maximum = 285ms, Average = 282ms

Quote from Scawen :

Maybe the ping to Australia is somehow slowing the bandwidth. Though I don't know why that would be or what settings I could change. LFS doesn't really manage that, it just asks for a file and keeps trying to receive it. It's really "windows sockets" and the web server that are doing this, when instructed by LFS. But I don't know how to change that instruction or any relevant socket settings.

For the record, mod downloads take between virtually instant, and about 3 seconds for me.
In in Sydney with a 50Mbps link.

I seem to be getting pretty low latency to liveforspeed.net as well, which is surprising.

Ping statistics for 172.67.203.131:
Packets: Sent = 10, Received = 10, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 9ms, Maximum = 15ms, Average = 11ms

Super excited in anticipation of some high poly car models made by very talented people.
Following this with interest!

I'm not sure if this is the right place to praise mods, but this one is immensely awesome.

Hotlapping this around SO Town last night was the most refreshing LFS experience I've had in years.
Thanks to the author, and to the devs for making it possible!

Link to mod: https://www.lfs.net/files/vehmods/3DF8EC

Quote from Gutholz :

When old cars are raced today, there are often not 100% original anyway.
For example there exists some series for historic cars, like "Historic Formula One Championship" but as far as I looked, they seem to use modern tire compounds.

The Touring Car Masters category in Australia is a good example of this.
Cars from the 60s and 70s running on modern rubber and other components to make the cars more reliable for racing.



Produces some good raging too.
https://youtu.be/AwXWdjiJMOY?t=93

Quote from Draggo :

you need manually change (copy/paste/rename) knw file

Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere, but will mods come with knw files eventually?
Or will we always need to manually create them?

Quote from VladM :

vws was just a promotional piece that fell off. for reasons that only scawen knows, i doubt we'll ever see it.

If I remember correctly, the VWS lead Scawen down the tyre physics rabbit hole all those years ago.
He didn't think the VWS would be up to standard on the current physics and decided not release it until the new tyres were ready.

Fast forward 12 years, and there has been progress, but the new physics are still not released yet. And I can understand why things like VR support and Mod support would delay them.

But when the new tyre physics are released, I'd be expecting the VWS to be released as well.

Quote from ViniciusPrey :

it will now be possible to remake the original cars in the game with a better quality

This really just about Scavier crowdsourcing the car interior improvements

I'm really optimistic about mod support, and looking forward to how it turns out.
Even just playing around in the vehicle editor will be awesome!

I hope tires and graphics aren't too far behind though...

New RB4 interior!
(too far?)

I'll stop now.

It's going to be announcing a console release for sure.

That Scawen is referring to this as a 'project' rather than merely an 'update', is interesting.

Quote from Scawen :

It's not just a progress report this time - we have something usable too.

Quote from Scawen :

But this update, which may well not be what you expect, really will be "soon".

From previous correspondence, I was expecting tire physics and graphics updates to be part of the next update.
I guess I'm no longer expecting this.

Geez, ease up with the frequent posting Anton!
You're pushing towards averaging a post every 3000 days now.

Just kidding of course.
It's fantastic to still see old fans of the game still interested, and looking forward to the next announcement - whatever it will be.

Quote from Anton :

Came to say hello to everyone!
Intrigued by the news)

Hi Anton!
I noticed you saved your first forum post for more than 18 years.
No pressure on Scawen to make the announcement befitting

Quote from Evolution_R :

- New graphics and physics system
- Mods support

looking forward to this

Me too.
Really hoping it's to finally announce an update for public testing ahead of a release before Xmas.
If it is, then from what Scawen said back in May I'd be hopeful of new physics, lighting and track updates (except for Fern Bay).
Would be surprised if mod support was included, but that would be a huge bonus if it was.

Of course, maybe it's going to another progress report, but I'm getting a certain tingle this time.

Quote from Sobis :

I just like to note that Scawen has pointed out several times (last time was approx 1 yr ago?) that LFS is not a passion or free-time project for him and Eric, this is still their main job. Unless I missed something.

Yeah I remember Scawen saying LFS development was still his main job as well.
What I meant was, he may not be financially reliant on income from it.

I can't really speak for him, but he seems a pretty salt of the earth guy, and not someone who needs huge wads of cash to live his life.

Normally, when a software developer is reliant on an income from revenue they will push to release updates and content.

Given that work on the graphical updates started more than 3 years ago and physics overhaul started 12(?) years ago, it's seems clear not to be the case here.

Quote from Ped7g :

Usually in game-biz it works best to build the hype before release (not sure exactly how much before, but we are talking weeks/months units, not years). What Scawen started with those track revamp posts for new gfx engine was perfect as building hype for next patch... if it would come out like a month or two after last post (and if those posts would continue in monthly/two period).

It turned out they were actually documenting real progress, and the reality is that the game did need few more years and patch-detours (first reports were like Aug 2018 IIRC .. it's September 2021 ... hyping next release over 3 years intentionally is a bit stretch, so I assume this was not intended ).

So... if they are almost ready to launch test patch, it would make sense to start similar hype-build again, if they know there's still those remaining 20% of dev work (Which takes 80% of time) to do, then lack of news is ok too.

But from the recent posts it sounds like there will be some good news this year about something I can't even guess what it will be (I don't think the graphics patch is ready enough to make it this year, judging by these public posts/news ... so unless they are hiding it well and almost ready to release, I think the news will be about something else, maybe something about modding?).

But I'm looking forward for the hype-rebuild, but this time hopefully the release will come. (I like this project a lot)

Scavier seem to go out of their way not to generate hype. It's become clear to me over the past decade or so that LFS must now be more a passion project than a financial one (which is fine!).

I'm sure the physics and graphics updates will come eventually but after years of waiting, I don't take any news or progress updates as an indicator that something is imminent.

The guys clearly work at their own pace, and not under duress of the community's demands or expectations.

To be clear, this is not a criticism! I've been following LFS for more than 16 years and also like this project a lot. I just don't have any expectations any more.

And add to the post above, a single player custom championship.
Just something to add some purpose for players who aren't in leagues, and play predominately offline.
https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/94123-Offline-Single-Player-Championship

Quote from Gunn :

I like most of the cars in LFS, though the RB4 could use a few more polygons IMO

Some could do with a few more cylinders too I think 15 / 20 are 4 cylinder.
As an Aussie, I'd always hoped for a V8 tin-top.

In addition, surfaces are affected by things like rubbering in, and temperature.

Some of the modern sims are starting to simulate this quite well. I've been playing a lot of Automobilista 2 lately, and it's really challenging and fun to manage the changing conditions during a race.
Puddles form after heavy rain, and if the rain stops a dry line will slowly appear but some sections of the track might retain puddles for longer. Emerging features, but very cool.

BeamNG is great for what it does, but I agree with your opinion.

I'm no tire physics expert (at all!) but feel BeamNG does standard road cars very well - which translates to slower speeds, more noticeable suspension movement and weight transfer.
It's obviously best in class for its damage model.

Track and race cars show the limitations of it's tire model though, and even though 0.21 was a great improvement, its still a way behind specialist racing sims.

But, I accept that.

BeamNG will never do racing like LFS, and LFS will never do damage like BeamNG.

Edit - this is an interesting video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jexzs0F_wIc

Last edited by farcar, Fri, 4 Jun 2021 03:14.

"We want the community to have the new version so we are trying to get to that point as quickly as possible. To do that, some things we want to do can wait until after the release. For the first version, Eric plans to focus on finishing South City and Kyoto while Scawen works on the tyre physics. Fern Bay and further graphical improvements can be done after the big update."

Great to know that tyre physics will be part of the first update!

I would love to know what state they're in at the moment, and if we should be hopeful of the first update this year?

Thanks for the post, and SO at night is looking spiffy!

Quote from Marino108 :

I assumed that they can't or won't afford themself to do costly projects, such as 3D laser scans of real racing circuits or racing vehicles.

I thought Rockingham (the only real life circuit in LFS) is laser scanned.

Quote from Scawen :

There is only one way I can think of that this could be done, and that would be to watch a live replay, slightly behind time.

Could you theoretically use this principle to introduce a gear change animation for replays?