The online racing simulator
I really hope to update the LFS as it is..... I like the cars they are uniq like GTA..... You know all games have real life parts and stuff.... I prefer the unreal ones......Cars from LFS have their own history....
Quote from obsolum :So how do you feel nKp's physics compare to those of LFS then? I know nKp is generally regarded as the sim for openwheelers. Obviously since I've never driven one in real life I can't really pass judgement but I do feel nKp comes a lot closer to what I would think an openwheeler would feel like than LFS does.

It got so close. Sure, there were a few bugs, and sometimes the cars bounced around if you used mismatched setting, but nKP got damn close. The general feel is very similar to LFS, but nKP got the over-the-limit feeling a bit more accurately in the latest patches. If only Kunos would continue with it...

Quote from BoneCrusher :At least tell us why it hasn't been released yet.

Because it isn't finished. The test team presumably found more faults/bugs/problems than could be resolved in those 4 months, or it could be a myriad of other reasons. Chill.
Some word from devs during holidays would be very nice to read. People (students) have more time now to moan and so on.. and crowds demand fresh information!

Scawen, Victor? Eric? Are our money still safe?
Happy holidays!
Quote from JeffR :I assume this is an indirect comment on the slow pace of development with a 3 person team. I recall back in late 2005 or early 2006 making what seemed like a pessimistic prediction that S3 would be released in 2009, in a post at RSC, and later in 2007 here at LFS forum:

http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=586307#post586307

One of the issues I mentioned back then is if a flaw was discovered in some core part of the physics model, it would take a very long time to rewrite that part of the code with just 3 people, and this is essentially what has happened now with the tire physics. My guesstimate is this will end up being about a 10 month hit on LFS's progress.

In the meantime, S2 has ended up with more content than what was expected back in 2005, at least in terms of cars, so what we have now is more like S2.7 than S2.0. I'm not sure what the original planned differences between S2 and S3 were supposed to be.

Regarding the "10 years", a more appropriate time period would be 10 years after the July 2003 release date of LFS S1, and I'm sure that the final version of LFS will be released before July 2013. The main issue is that it will seem outdated compared to other racing games that will be released by 2013, in terms of physics as well as graphics. I still think there will be a fan base that likes the "feel" of LFS.

LFS has always been unique. There haven't been many cross-overs from the Papy/ISI community (most of these moved on to rFactor and the GTR series, a small number are iRenters now). Instead LFS has developed its own unique base of players, which has evolved somewhat over the years, but still draws a relatively large number of online players compared to other games.

To put this into perspective, how many 10 year old games are still being played? For the NFS series that would be High Stakes, with less than 50 'active' players in the community (iplounge, hsscoring). Grand Prix Legends is 11 years old, with a surprising amount of effort put into mods and visual updates for a game that was never that popular, although most of that work is completed now (JR Pearson is still doing a solo project working on the Isle of Mann track for GPL). I'm not sure how big that community is. EA F1 series players and modding community moved onto rFactor, so it's essentially gone. NR2003 activity is way down since the server was shut down years ago, and it was released about the same time as LFS started.

On a related note, how will the current players interests change over the next 3 to 10 years, and how will this affect the fan base of the current or future racing games?

I count myself in the fanbase, but lately I notice I drive less and less in LFS. And that is because of change of interests indeed. I hope the Scirocco will come soon, not that I think that will be the greatest car LFS has to offer but it will lead to some cup-leagues in a not to difficult car and that is something I would like now. Maybe I should try some other game for a while, but I still like the feel of LFS (i tried and bought race07, but never played it much)

I still hope LFS will get more then one real track. Because now games get better you can use lines and techniques you learn in one game in an other so everything you learn won't become useless when LFS reaches the end of the product-line.
Even if an update with peerless physics were released tomorrow, there'd still be the flat, featureless tracks, that for many who've tried iRacing, they won't want to go back to.

If you know you won't, in the end, pay for iRacing, then I'd seriously suggest staying well away from the free demos - it will likely ruin everything else for you. I dislike almost everything about iRacing (still) and tried it just to compare the physics, but the on-track experience of feeling connected to the road, bumps and undulations means I can't see the point of any other sim.

Scavier's decision to keep their precious little hobby to themselves and not use the goodwill and assistance available in the community to spread the workload means it hasn't, and can never keep up, and will get further behind. I wish they'd contract out some tasks. Surely it must be possible to do so without compromising control and ownership of the result?
Maybe I'm bonkers, but there's something so irritating about Scavier's stance, that I refused to pay, yet now I've subscribed to bloody iRacing! It's such a wasted opportunity, LFS. I wish they'd get their arses in gear so I could tell iRacing to f-off. But can't see it happening.
Quote from Postman Pat :Even if an update with peerless physics were released tomorrow, there'd still be the flat, featureless tracks, that for many who've tried iRacing, they won't want to go back to.

If you know you won't, in the end, pay for iRacing, then I'd seriously suggest staying well away from the free demos - it will likely ruin everything else for you. I dislike almost everything about iRacing (still) and tried it just to compare the physics, but the on-track experience of feeling connected to the road, bumps and undulations means I can't see the point of any other sim.

Not just iRacing. nKp and quality rFactor mods & tracks pretty much ruined LFS for me in the same way. Coming back to LFS from any of those sims it just feels so appallingly bland it's hard to really enjoy it anymore.
Subscribed to IRacing for a month as well - but didn't like it... Won't do it again...

Imho I think it wouldn't ruin Scawen's dignity if he'd tell the community at least something about the patch that should have come well over a year ago...

I bet he's so pissed off about all those people's opinions...
Its very 11th hour , but we could still see a release this year,
There are still a couple of days left this year, give them a chance

SD.
Quote from rediske :I bet he's so pissed off about all those people's opinions...

I wouldn't be surprised, however I don't think the general dissatisfaction around here is that big of a surprise for the devs after this long delay.
Quote from Matrixi :I wouldn't be surprised, however I don't think the general dissatisfaction around here is that big of a surprise for the devs after this long delay.

I honestly don't think they really care much about the moaning
Quote from obsolum :I honestly don't think they really care much about the moaning

Eric apparently does.


And it looks like the circle has arrived at the point of asking for a "progress report" once again.
Quote from obsolum :So how do you feel nKp's physics compare to those of LFS then? I know nKp is generally regarded as the sim for openwheelers. Obviously since I've never driven one in real life I can't really pass judgement but I do feel nKp comes a lot closer to what I would think an openwheeler would feel like than LFS does.

Quote from tristancliffe :It got so close. Sure, there were a few bugs, and sometimes the cars bounced around if you used mismatched setting, but nKP got damn close. The general feel is very similar to LFS, but nKP got the over-the-limit feeling a bit more accurately in the latest patches. If only Kunos would continue with it...

Because it isn't finished. The test team presumably found more faults/bugs/problems than could be resolved in those 4 months, or it could be a myriad of other reasons. Chill.

well, I found nKP very accurate but very rough. As forces in LFS feel too springy, in nkP they are just on the edge but with no rubbery, non-digital feel.

Quote from rediske :Subscribed to IRacing for a month as well - but didn't like it... Won't do it again...

Imho I think it wouldn't ruin Scawen's dignity if he'd tell the community at least something about the patch that should have come well over a year ago...

Heck, there was development progress report, I dont expect anything soon because of new moaning tidal wave.

How would you react to annually/monthly paid license for LFS? a new thread maybe?
Quote from tristancliffe :

Because it isn't finished. The test team presumably found more faults/bugs/problems than could be resolved in those 4 months, or it could be a myriad of other reasons. Chill.

Ok, but why isn't it finished?
I don't think (as a programmer myself) when you spent several months on a tyre model algorithm, you bump into such major bugs that it takes months after releasing the alpha version, to correct them.
And again, letting the community know would not harm anyone.
Quote from BoneCrusher :And again, letting the community know would not harm anyone.

This:

Quote from Scawen :We hope this progress report gives some insight into what has been going on. As you can see there are still important things to be completed. It's hard to know how long the tyre heat and suspension updates will take, so we are still not able to estimate a release date.

was posted one month ago. I don't think that that much has changed since then.
It isn't finished because there is more work to be done. It IS that simple. You haven't programmed that algorithm, or encountered the bugs. Maybe it WOULD take you several months to fix. You don't know.

Letting people know won't change anything. If anything, keeping silent about the whole Rockingham/Scirocco thing would have been more in their interests.
I can see LFS die off in 10 years time if the development process keeps going this slow.
http://www.lfs.net/?page=report_dec2009

Quote :
Most of the remaining development is in the following sections :

- Tyre heating and cooling
- AI driver improvements
- Limited setup system
- Suspension updates
- VW stability control


That was in early December. What do you expect in 30 days ?
Magic.
get Rigs of Rods
Quote from iFastLT :Finally we'll have scirocco and new tyre physics and maybe some other minor improvements, for example updated interiors

lol!!

What will LFS be in 10 years?
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