About one month ago, there was some discussion in LFS Discord, that with mods being introduced, it is unlikely to see any new official cars in LFS, apart from VW Scirocco. (Unless devs gets bored and decide to add that LX8 GTR after all 
)
Disclaimer: of course nothing prevents devs adding new cars to LFS themselves, or if they get permission from car manufacturer to add their car to the game, they can add that.
It was thought, that it would be cool if devs organized a modding competition and either devs themselves or users would pick the best mod. That mod would then become official content in LFS. This would be very similar to LX skinning competitions back in 2007?, where users created skins for LX4/LX6 and best skins would be added as official content into LFS.
After all, Eric has told us that he wants to add those user created track configurations to new version of LFS and wants to give them credit for it. It wouldn't be first time an user created content would become official LFS content.
However, there should be some restrictions about this:
- Only mods that are Staff Picks would be eligible
Right now, there is not really any difference between Approved mods and Staff Picks mods, apart from that Staff Pick icon and those mods being in a different category. This restriction would be good, not only because it would add a clear difference between Approved and Staff Picks, but because there are so few mods that are actually Staff Picks.
If no modding competition would be held, devs/users could just vote their favorite mod from the already existing list. There are only 14 (or 16 if you want to include those 2 WIP ones) mods so users would not be overwhelmed by choices. An added plus is that users already know those mods are very well done, so minimal changes would be required for those mods.
And if there is a modding competition, where users would create a brand new mod and best one would be added, it would be easy for users to tell their mod needs to pass these stages:
1) Mod would need to become accepted (= unapproved)
2) Mod would then need to become approved
3) Mod would then need to become staff pick - only then it would become eligible to become the chosen one
4) Mod would then need to become the chosen one - only then it would be added to LFS as official content
Staff could easily clear the Staff Picks category for the competition, and add only those user-made mods made during the competition there. That way, they could tell devs and users that mods that get to Staff Pick category would be the finalists in this competition.
- Mod author does usually have a final say about it
Needless to say, but unless the mod author themselves say their mod can be added, it can't be added. Because mod author owns the copyrights for the mod, they would usually also have a final say about what updates will be added. Mod author could also decide the minimum license requirement.
How this could be done? It would probably be done in a way, that devs do have ability to make updates to that mod, but they must inform the mod author about it beforehand and the mod author does have a privilege of forbidding devs from doing that. However, if devs have tried to contact the mod author and haven't got any response, devs could do those changes to that mod (they don't need to wait for several weeks or months).
Now of course one rule could be that in order to become official LFS car, mod author understands and accepts that LFS devs can make any kind of updates to that mod at any time. (With the exception of those that would violate LFS rules)
Exception: if there is LFS update, that has a feature that requires update for the mod as well (updated tire physics would be good example), devs could make that required update for that mod without the approval from mod author. It would pretty much have to be something that the mod would become impossible or very difficult to use without it.
- Mod would only be updated when devs add a new test/official patch
Mod author should understand that they can't update their mod to the game just like that. Official LFS cars may be updated, when a new test/official patch gets added that, and that naturally would apply to that added mod.
And of course, mod author can't add any kind of updates. Updates that would lower the quality of the mod or break the rules would automatically be rejected.
- Mod must be able to do hotlaps
Now, I'm not saying mod should be do hotlaps on all tracks. After all, you can't do hotlaps on FO8 at RallyCross tracks and Karting tracks (it won't be accepted to LFSW). However, mod should be able to do hotlaps at least on some tracks. And for the same reason, there should be a rule that AI drivers must be able to drive with it. This means that object mods are automatically ineligible.
- Only mods that have required permissions can be added
This is common sense, but only mods that have required permission of becoming official car in LFS can be accepted. For example, this mod is SKODA FELICIA KIT CAR: https://www.lfs.net/files/vehmods/9E7FBA
It is in Staff Picks category right now, but if the official manufacturer has told the mod author, that this mod can only be a mod, not official LFS car, it would not be eligible for becoming official LFS car.
)Disclaimer: of course nothing prevents devs adding new cars to LFS themselves, or if they get permission from car manufacturer to add their car to the game, they can add that.
It was thought, that it would be cool if devs organized a modding competition and either devs themselves or users would pick the best mod. That mod would then become official content in LFS. This would be very similar to LX skinning competitions back in 2007?, where users created skins for LX4/LX6 and best skins would be added as official content into LFS.
After all, Eric has told us that he wants to add those user created track configurations to new version of LFS and wants to give them credit for it. It wouldn't be first time an user created content would become official LFS content.
However, there should be some restrictions about this:
- Only mods that are Staff Picks would be eligible
Right now, there is not really any difference between Approved mods and Staff Picks mods, apart from that Staff Pick icon and those mods being in a different category. This restriction would be good, not only because it would add a clear difference between Approved and Staff Picks, but because there are so few mods that are actually Staff Picks.
If no modding competition would be held, devs/users could just vote their favorite mod from the already existing list. There are only 14 (or 16 if you want to include those 2 WIP ones) mods so users would not be overwhelmed by choices. An added plus is that users already know those mods are very well done, so minimal changes would be required for those mods.
And if there is a modding competition, where users would create a brand new mod and best one would be added, it would be easy for users to tell their mod needs to pass these stages:
1) Mod would need to become accepted (= unapproved)
2) Mod would then need to become approved
3) Mod would then need to become staff pick - only then it would become eligible to become the chosen one
4) Mod would then need to become the chosen one - only then it would be added to LFS as official content
Staff could easily clear the Staff Picks category for the competition, and add only those user-made mods made during the competition there. That way, they could tell devs and users that mods that get to Staff Pick category would be the finalists in this competition.
- Mod author does usually have a final say about it
Needless to say, but unless the mod author themselves say their mod can be added, it can't be added. Because mod author owns the copyrights for the mod, they would usually also have a final say about what updates will be added. Mod author could also decide the minimum license requirement.
How this could be done? It would probably be done in a way, that devs do have ability to make updates to that mod, but they must inform the mod author about it beforehand and the mod author does have a privilege of forbidding devs from doing that. However, if devs have tried to contact the mod author and haven't got any response, devs could do those changes to that mod (they don't need to wait for several weeks or months).
Now of course one rule could be that in order to become official LFS car, mod author understands and accepts that LFS devs can make any kind of updates to that mod at any time. (With the exception of those that would violate LFS rules)
Exception: if there is LFS update, that has a feature that requires update for the mod as well (updated tire physics would be good example), devs could make that required update for that mod without the approval from mod author. It would pretty much have to be something that the mod would become impossible or very difficult to use without it.
- Mod would only be updated when devs add a new test/official patch
Mod author should understand that they can't update their mod to the game just like that. Official LFS cars may be updated, when a new test/official patch gets added that, and that naturally would apply to that added mod.
And of course, mod author can't add any kind of updates. Updates that would lower the quality of the mod or break the rules would automatically be rejected.
- Mod must be able to do hotlaps
Now, I'm not saying mod should be do hotlaps on all tracks. After all, you can't do hotlaps on FO8 at RallyCross tracks and Karting tracks (it won't be accepted to LFSW). However, mod should be able to do hotlaps at least on some tracks. And for the same reason, there should be a rule that AI drivers must be able to drive with it. This means that object mods are automatically ineligible.
- Only mods that have required permissions can be added
This is common sense, but only mods that have required permission of becoming official car in LFS can be accepted. For example, this mod is SKODA FELICIA KIT CAR: https://www.lfs.net/files/vehmods/9E7FBA
It is in Staff Picks category right now, but if the official manufacturer has told the mod author, that this mod can only be a mod, not official LFS car, it would not be eligible for becoming official LFS car.