The online racing simulator
Rfactor vs LFS
(1872 posts, started )
Quote from S14 DRIFT :Thing is, only about 10 of those 232 cars actually handle somewhat realistically!

I'd rather take 15 decently modelled cars with good physics, then 200+ cars with average ones!

In your mind maybe but that clearly isn't the truth.
Quote from Pain-less :In your mind maybe but that clearly isn't the truth.

Yeah, the GP79 mod alone have a lot of cars with specific characteristics. It's great
Quote from Pain-less :In your mind maybe but that clearly isn't the truth.

You know what I mean. For a start, the cars that come as standard with rFactor are utterly TERRIBLE. Now, for a simulation to be considered serious, surely, the cars that are made by the developers should be at a certain standard, no? Which they, clearly, aren't.

The quality of rFactor depends on what mod you are playing, and the number of poor to mediocre mods far exceeds that of the number of excellent mods.
In my installation, I'd say there are 3-4 mods that i think are really good physics-wise [DRM, F1 2008, F1 79, Fun Cup], quite alot that are pretty good, but not perfect [Champ Car, F1 88, F1 07, F1 06, ETCC, LMS, BMW E91, V8, Osella] and a couple that I really hate [GP2, F3, Karts].

Tracks also vary, my favourites are Varano, Trois-Rivieres, Cadwell and the Norisring

I only play rFactor when I'm bored of LFS. The MP is just annoying, but crashing/pwnting the AI is fun
There are a lot of good cars, including some original cars (the formulas).

It counts tens.

People doesn't know, or just does poor prejudgement about.

rFactor, the game, does deserve respect as much as LFS.

rFactor, the development team, does deserve respect as much as LFS.

rFactor, the community, does deserve respect as much as LFS.

Who thinks any statment above is not true, doesn't.
To avoid downloading poor mods for rFactor, just download cars and tracks from the rFactor hall of fame on rfactorcentral. These are mods that are reviewed and rated by the community, so you are pretty much guaranteed atleast a decent racing experience with them. I have yet to try a poor mod that feels horrible from the rF hall of fame. I do like this feature and if LFS were to become open for modding in the future then I think a similar hall of fame would be very good so that we can separate the good from the bad easily. It does work with rfactor, but the problem is the community will still insist on hosting servers of mods which individuals only like because it has a certain car that they like from real life, even if it feels terrible in rfactor. If rfactor only allowed hosting servers with vehicles and tracks from the hall of fame then I think rfactor would be rated much higher than it is currently.
One day I pray that their powers will be combined, to form an uber awesome sim.
Thing is Chris, I don't like the idea of having to download a mod to play online. That's why LFS is so good, no faffing about, it's truely a 1 click join, no hassle. No "mod not found" BS.
LFS got more carfeel and trackfeel (when you play LFS on a G25 those bends just feel awesome...skipping heartbeats when you hit a bump followed by steering lightness and you FEEL the backend skid slightly more than it should on the catchup because you ripped the throttle for 3 rounds trying to regain 17th from mr. bumpit so your tires are shot....now that's simulating).

Personally I think RFactor feels detached...no real feel through the bends, so you only get feel from better graphics and sampled sound...but that doesn't cut it for me. Modding is cool but you always end up downloading some 911 turbo model that is half-assed and not very good anyway.

If there is a simbin engine game I like then it is GT Legends. Not really because it is a great simulation...but in that game things are made up for by the best selection of cars in any game (Lotus Cortina and Alfa Romeo GTA...c'mon...that's racing pornography!) and very good sampled sound (seriously...pumping the gas on the corvette bigblock in that game is outstanding value for money alone). I also like the latest Race game. Hammering a BMW E30 M3 around the Nurbugring....yummie.

But in terms of feel...then it is LFS hands down. The only game that can even come remotely close is Grand Prix Legends. Though as some of you might have guessed I'm a GT fan and not really that much into F1.
Quote from S14 DRIFT :Thing is Chris, I don't like the idea of having to download a mod to play online. That's why LFS is so good, no faffing about, it's truely a 1 click join, no hassle. No "mod not found" BS.

Yeah I totally agree that LFS is brilliant because it offers so much fun and realism together with such simplicity. I mean, heck, even you are able to download and play it without blowing up your PC or throwing your system out of the window in frustration. That's some achievement and I take my hat off to the devs for their great work!
Quote from S14 DRIFT :You know what I mean. For a start, the cars that come as standard with rFactor are utterly TERRIBLE. Now, for a simulation to be considered serious, surely, the cars that are made by the developers should be at a certain standard, no? Which they, clearly, aren't.

Yes, I know what you mean but that's not what you said.

I will agree with you there to a point. The cars released with rFactor were, well I'll just say "not great". Although the Lienz cars and the accompanying track are a lot of fun, both of which were released by ISI.

Quote from S14 DRIFT :
The quality of rFactor depends on what mod you are playing, and the number of poor to mediocre mods far exceeds that of the number of excellent mods.

Yes you are correct. The number of poor to mediocre mods for rFactor far do exceed the number of excellent mods, but with that said, the number of excellent mods and tracks available for rFactor far exceeds the total content of LFS.
Everybody agree that LFS is the best handling, the best feeling, the more easy one-click-to-race, and so on, but nobody is playing it.

I think there is a huge difference between what is fantastic and what is good enough, and sometimes rF is good enough.

LFS has great feeling, but the car not always behaves like a real car.

Simbin games has not the same feel, has not the same tire physics, but their car behaves more as expected than the cars in LFS.

One thing that you will think that has nothing with this conversation, but it has, pay attention: people have found an american base in Paquistan using Google. Maybe people have found Atlantida too. Google deny, but the images are there.

Google is a fantastic tool, the best, but what would if Google was in the hand of just 3 people?

Google just become so fantastic after the entire world participation.

Ok, Im not saying that LFS is something for millions or billions, but it is for thousands.

People make fantastic modification with the little possibilities that the game permits. Look that car from Kegetys. Look our mod session!

People make fantastic movies, fantastic skins.

Imagine what could happen, with the passion that move the LFS community if it was released for mods?

I can image just good things, with the bad things fading naturally.

I can't understand why Scawen with this "my precious" thing for so long time.

rFactor is so less than LFS and has much more material to deliver, cause it is on the community hand.

I have a company, a little one. I know that I must to keep my eyes on the work, but if I have not employes, my company would not exist anymore from long time ago.

rFactor can not be better than LFS, but at least it has much more content.
^lol!
Quote from CYA LTR :LFS got more carfeel and trackfeel (when you play LFS on a G25 those bends just feel awesome...skipping heartbeats when you hit a bump followed by steering lightness and you FEEL the backend skid slightly more than it should on the catchup because you ripped the throttle for 3 rounds trying to regain 17th from mr. bumpit so your tires are shot....now that's simulating).

Personally I think RFactor feels detached...no real feel through the bends, so you only get feel from better graphics and sampled sound...but that doesn't cut it for me. Modding is cool but you always end up downloading some 911 turbo model that is half-assed and not very good anyway.

If there is a simbin engine game I like then it is GT Legends. Not really because it is a great simulation...but in that game things are made up for by the best selection of cars in any game (Lotus Cortina and Alfa Romeo GTA...c'mon...that's racing pornography!) and very good sampled sound (seriously...pumping the gas on the corvette bigblock in that game is outstanding value for money alone). I also like the latest Race game. Hammering a BMW E30 M3 around the Nurbugring....yummie.

But in terms of feel...then it is LFS hands down. The only game that can even come remotely close is Grand Prix Legends. Though as some of you might have guessed I'm a GT fan and not really that much into F1.

Have you tried M3 challenge? It's like.. a free gamee, handles ok, and you can import any of the GTR/GTL tracks into it, although only ever one at a time.
Quote from speed soro :please, try to extract drift and cruise from that data, and come back here with new numbers.

+1
Anyone tried caterham mod for rFactor?

For me this mod is very different from others in rFactor, and gives a very similar way of controlling the car than LFS. With this mod there is no more this typical rFactor grip going on/off and causing unrecoverable spin.
FFB still needs to be tweaked, but at least cars behave as expected.

This mod and the laser scanned track -> very enjoyable.
Quote from S14 DRIFT :Have you tried M3 challenge? It's like.. a free gamee, handles ok, and you can import any of the GTR/GTL tracks into it, although only ever one at a time.

I haven't tried but I will now. Thanks for the tip!
Quote :this typical rFactor grip going on/off and causing unrecoverable spin.

Answer is in your realfeel.ini steer grip weight...

Realfeel is infinitely adjustable, just need to spend time on it & understand it for your chosen mod.
Quote from Mazar :Answer is in your realfeel.ini steer grip weight...

Realfeel is infinitely adjustable, just need to spend time on it & understand it for your chosen mod.

I do not talk about the FFB problem. On/off grip is a tyre modelling problem.

In most mods tyre grip on the track is falling too quickly after the grip limit->unrecoverable spin. This is not realistic, far more unforgiving than IRL.
In the caterham mod, the tyre grip curves are different...almost flat after grip limit. And this gives for me something which counters ISI tyre model flaws.
Don't know how to explain. It feels good, like real tyres. Small mistakes make you slower, and do not send you in the grass. It goes in the right direction more-forgiving-but-deeper where all recent sims are going (LFS was first exploring this path).
Quote from Juls :Anyone tried caterham mod for rFactor?

For me this mod is very different from others in rFactor, and gives a very similar way of controlling the car than LFS. With this mod there is no more this typical rFactor grip going on/off and causing unrecoverable spin.
FFB still needs to be tweaked, but at least cars behave as expected.

This mod and the laser scanned track -> very enjoyable.

i agree here. Caterham mod is prolly the best mod on rF or the Megane mod (which you are near enough forced to play because all the other mods online are crap).

Physics

rF feels fairly unconnected and very understeery. If you try to get around the understeer with oversteer it's then just near enough undrivable. Thats probably why most people that play rF and then try LFS tend to lean towards understeer in their LFS setups (Mr 3id R.Hut lolz). Unless your getting over 100 FPS in rF, your steering input is delayed by a few hours (i believe you can check FPS using ctrl-D or ctrl-F) and i challenge anyone to generally feel the difference between two cars in the same class in rF. I have however played rF on a good system at a motorshow and it did feel, really, not so bad. It still had that annoying understeer but the tyres didn't feel as 'rigid' as usual. LFS on the otherhand, well theres a reason we are all on this forum and playing this game i'm sure...

Sounds

I think the sounds in rF are a lot nicer, but useless compared to the LFS sounds from the engine. The problem with rF sounds is that they're not progressive like in LFS. They are usually in blocks of 8 +-2 so you get a sample in the rev range from 0-1500 rpm then 1500-2500 and so on. whereas LFS is just a beep that repeats at different frequencies. So you don't get any repeats, it's always a constant progressive sound, like real life. The one thing i will say though, is that the cockpits in rF are a LOT more emersive. The sounds of things like stones hitting the bodywork and brake squeel are undoubtedly soemthing LFS needs desperatly. That alone would imo make lfs at least x5 better.

Graphically

I honestly belive that unless you have an 8800 GT gfx card or above(where rF looks stunning), rF will look like poop compared to LFS. The textures are usually ten times better in LFS than rF and the reflections are just not good enough to compensate in rF compared LFS. The roads in rF are usually just a matte grey/black whereas in LFS there are changes in tarmac types and surfaces all over the track and the racing line breaks up and is not just one consistant line all around the circuit.

Mods/cars/tracks

Theres 2 ways of looking at it. In rF there are probably 3/4 mods going at any time. Usually the megane mod and whatever F1 mod is the latest + some GT mods you probably dont have. In LFS there are usually servers with most car/track combos going or at least TBO/GTR/STD/FBM and you have all of these tracks and all of these cars. Even though rF has an unlimited number of mods available to it's users, how many of those mods are actually being used online? If your favourite mod isn't online your stuck in single play against the rF AI on it's rail system or you have to go looking for the latest cack mod to come out and wait 30 mins - 1+ hour(s) while you download 1.xx GB of mod that you will 9 times out of 10 only use once.

Online play

IMO online play between the two is fairly equal. Both have completly opposite ways of going at it and give different results, but what one lacks the other has in abundance. Firstly, online with rF LOOKS crap. The cars dont drive like cars, they float like spaceships or hovercrafts, in LFS you see the car roll, you see the car loose grip or see it flip. However the reason rF looks like that is partly because it's constantly updating the lag crisis and hiding it from you, a bit like a mac when it's about to crash (yes they do crash, it's all a lie), it tries to trick you with some pretty cover up and fails misserably at it. BUT this does however mean that you dont get the lag hits like in LFS which have 1 too many times ruined most of our races. Car selection is a pain in rF but tbh how many times do you drive the FZR then the XRR then the FXR in one online session on LFS unless your new to the game.

To sum it all up nice 'n' simple. The way i see it, i can play both for fun for a day, but i can play LFS for fun for years and rF for a week or 2.

If all else fails, play rbr (just not on tarmac stages)
I haven't encountered the "LFS car warping into you" for quite a while now, would that be possibly down to playing on a poor server combined with an in-use connection?

Other than that, pretty solid mini review.
Quote from BenjiMC :
Sounds

I think the sounds in rF are a lot nicer, but useless compared to the LFS sounds from the engine. The problem with rF sounds is that they're not progressive like in LFS. They are usually in blocks of 8 +-2 so you get a sample in the rev range from 0-1500 rpm then 1500-2500 and so on. whereas LFS is just a beep that repeats at different frequencies. So you don't get any repeats, it's always a constant progressive sound, like real life.

Concerning sounds, it seems at first glance LFS and rFactor have very different sound systems but in fact they are quite similar. They both use samples modulated with engine frequency to recreate the sound. But rFactor uses long samples (few seconds) while LFS uses very short samples repeated more often.
Instead of using one sample modulated over the entire frequency range like LFS, rFactor uses several samples, and each one modulated on a frequency range...like one for 1000-2000 RPM, another for 2000-4000 RPM...etc.
They both read samples at different frequencies. Not so different.
Quote from S14 DRIFT :I haven't encountered the "LFS car warping into you" for quite a while now, would that be possibly down to playing on a poor server combined with an in-use connection?

Other than that, pretty solid mini review.

looks to me that the reviewer hasn't raced the right mods and tracks. i mostly race the historic gt and the bmw e21-mod and i have none of the physics issues. most of the hall of fame tracks have beautiful pavement textures and lots of tarmac types.

the megane mod being the only not crappy mod raced online sounds a little biased/ignorant.

Rfactor vs LFS
(1872 posts, started )
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