The online racing simulator
LFS: Is getting old?
(125 posts, started )
The only thing I think is getting old, is the limited selection of tracks available on populated servers, and that's down to the hosts rather than the game itself.

As for graphical updates? I don't think the graphics are all that bad as they are. With a couple of the high-res mods you can have it looking pretty sweet. I recently upgraded my graphics card and could finally run 8xAA and 16xAF, and the difference in LFS with just that was amazing.

I hope that in a few months we'll get a sneak preview of the kind of graphical updates we can expect from S3 so that people can stop speculating and start just waiting
Quote from nilo :If S3 comes 2007/2008 everything is just fine.

Well, I wouldn't get my hopes up for year 2007, S2 maybe but no way we are going to have S3. Seems very unlikely.


I think this is one of those pre-major-patch "omg omg simX is going to wipe floors with LFS"-threads. We've seen the doomsday threads including GTRs, nKp and rTractor, but here we are and online player peaks are higher than ever before with the good old LFS. Like said, LFS is like wine and if you don't like wines go drink something else
Quote from Blackout :Well, I wouldn't get my hopes up for year 2007, S2 maybe but no way we are going to have S3. Seems very unlikely.


I think this is one of those pre-major-patch "omg omg simX is going to wipe floors with LFS"-threads. We've seen the doomsday threads including GTRs, nKp and rTractor, but here we are and online player peaks are higher than ever before with the good old LFS. Like said, LFS is like wine and if you don't like wines go drink something else

Since lfs, I can't play any other sim, it kills them all!
LFS getting old? Well yes, six years is quite something for a software product. Yet LFS doesn't have a single competitor out on the market, because nothing compares to it.

There were several scares of "LFS-killers", but they all turned out to be over hyped and essentially crap. In the future, there will be several more of these scares, but I think LFS will easily survive them all. It's one thing to reach or surpass the physics quality of our favourite sim, but LFS is so much more than that. Sure physics and force feedback are the core features, but just these two don't make a game. I yet have to see any other software product that is as polished, fun and addictive, coupled with an awesome community as this and as awesome devs as those of LFS.

LFS is far from getting old. It`s a game that u would think have been made in 2012 but released a decade earlier. It`s generations ahead of the other "sim" titles out there and when you first have played LFS you will laugh alot of the other "sims" on the market. LFS IZ DA BEST
-1.




Lfs is getting better.Not older. The others are just "games". Shouldn't compare to lfs.
Please, guys, let's keep to the ground. LFS is not 'generations' ahead of all other sims. And stating that everything else is just a game is a little exaggerated, imho. There are a lot of things missing that other sims have in one way or the other (weather, changing track conditions like rubber build up or temperatures, false starts, night racing, to just name the most important features I feel are necessary for a complete sim). That said, LFS is still the one and only sim for me, as it simply gives me the best overall feeling when driving. But still, I can see where the OP is coming from. If I had been asked two years ago where LFS would be in the year 2007 I probably would have said that it will be well ahead of where it is now (sorry about that clumsy sentence, I hope you get what I mean). So in that respect LFS has gotten a little old to me. It has not gotten old to me in the sense that it is still a bunch of fun when racing online, which is of course the most important factor. So I can live with the short comings, as I know that LFS is work in progress, and I'm certain that the features mentioned above will be there some time in the future (I just wish they would be here sooner than they probably will be).
Quote from Hyperactive :...Same old requests are rewindable replays...

Oh yeah.
It would be nice to have one of this
#35 - col
Quote from Dajmin :...

Is that Starion by David M Webb in your avitar ?

Quote from JohnPenn :I've bought 2 racing games/simulations in the last 9 years the first was GPL , the pleasure and sheer addiction from GPL lasted 5 years and I will never forget those days.

Then I downloaded the LFS demo and it started all over again,and its still going strong, My biggest wish is for the sounds in LFS to reflect the Buzz I still get from driving the cars .

I vote long life.

I was going to write almost exactly what you did...
I guess we are just stereotypically "canny"

My view on LFS is that it IS getting old !
but its aging like a single malt not like a half finished packet of digestives.
It just gets better every year.
Quote from joen :Which games?
Scavier doesn't see other sims/games as something they have to compete with. The satisfaction of creating the game their way is what's most important to them. At least that's what I always got out of their statements.
[...]

Me too but I doubt it's true. If the Devs make/plan to make their living out of this* (which I assume they do, I might be wrong) they will have to do something about this slow progress. I mean yeah LFS is the best sim at the moment with only three people achieving this but who said nobody else can make something as good as LFS?

The only thing LFS will always be better at is its community and the Devs' quick responses/support.

*if this is not true and LFS stays a hobby then ignore my post
LFS is Scawen's sole job. Victor and Eric I believe may have other work, but LFS is (or at least was until recently) their official main job.

No one has said nobody else can do it - there are several billion people in the world, and we have ISI 'sims', NetKar, and a couple of (to all intents) vapourware sims in the pipeline. So, clearly, not that many people CAN do it.

Lets not turn this into a discussion about whether Scawen can work more than 14 hour days the majority of the time, or whether their progress is good or not. It's their choice, and we live with it. If they can't make a living out of it then they can change the ways it's developed or stop. It's THEIR problem. Leave them to it - it's very rare Scawen makes a wrong decision.
I wouldn't say the game is old but dated...

What makes a new game these days? Graphics and eye candy!!

All LFS needs is some work on the bugs and some phat eye candy n hippo hoppo beetz, and we be back in the new age baby!

Be thankful for what you got, and not what you don't have. We got a good game that looks a little ugly and sounds a bit iffy, but she drives!!! O DOES SHE EVER DRIVE!!
#39 - joen
Quote from K.David :Me too but I doubt it's true. If the Devs make/plan to make their living out of this* (which I assume they do, I might be wrong) they will have to do something about this slow progress. I mean yeah LFS is the best sim at the moment with only three people achieving this but who said nobody else can make something as good as LFS?

The only thing LFS will always be better at is its community and the Devs' quick responses/support.

*if this is not true and LFS stays a hobby then ignore my post

You're right, nobody said nobody else is able to make it. But hardly anyone IS doing it. And those that are doing it are doing worse IMO. Scawen previously stated that he really doesn't care much about what other developers do. He has his own thoughts about LFS and he makes use of the community to add to that vision.
IMO that's the right way to go. To have your own vision on how it's going to be and not let yourself be influenced by what others are doing. He left the "mainstream games market" to get rid of the downsides. Like having to rush things and leave it below your own standards just because some guy in a suit says the game has to be finished before a certain date.
I have not heard of starvation symptons in the Roberts family and he had a little boy (those cost a lot of money!) so I'm sure he is able to have a good life.
Unfortunately (and this is not aimed at you) more people who come aboard LFS fail to see it for what it is, an indie developed game by three people, and they expect them to develop more like the big guys and hiring a group of extra devs in order to finish it sooner. That's simply not the way they want to do this job, and that's just something people will have to except.

As long as LFS is in development we have things to look forward to.

Quote :

What makes a new game these days? Graphics and eye candy!!

I totally disagree. Unless you were being sarcastic.
lfs may be a bit old but!!!! just because its a bit old doesnt stop it being the best!!
LFS will only start getting old when the developers stop developing. For me the thing that keeps me playing LFS is the fact that I have total faith in the dev team to keep making LFS better. I have been around for 4 years on LFS now and am still amazed at how good this sim is.

You know when something is right, like Elite was or Geoff crammonds grand prix in the 'old' days. well for me, the only team I will be following till the end is the LFS team.

Nothing out there even comes close in my eyes, period.
Quote from bw_krupp :Its been well over a year (I think) since we last saw a preview clip for fog I think.

#43 - joen
MM, yeah I remember that just that it was not even a year ago and not fog-specific
It maybe old, but it's updated with new patch & it's still awesome..

Most functions in LFS s2, you dont get with other sim racer's .
Quote from Linsen :There are a lot of things missing that other sims have in one way or the other (weather, changing track conditions like rubber build up or temperatures, false starts, night racing, to just name the most important features I feel are necessary for a complete sim).

U forgot the most important feature - a TRACKEDITOR

But in the rest of ur post i agree with u
#47 - Gizz
ive been trying not to get drawn into this topic but i carnt hold back ....

The only real way you can tell if LFS is getting old is when the # of racers drops off and all im seing IMO is growth, so that shoots that idea in the foot, a game (or anything else for that matter) can only grow if the market for that product is there, as far as LFS goes i think its more than there.

as for the game technology itself LFS was never "CUTTING EDGE" but this is where SO MANY games go wrong, yea we all like eye candy and TBH i dont think LFS disapoints, but games produced by all these big companys(cough EA cough) seem to think that eye candy is the be all and end all of a computer game, but then again they are just interested in selling millions of copies and don't give a flying (sensored) what people think after 2 weeks...

there has been a growth of games being produced by smaller independent dev teams and they are doing a way better job of it than all these big companys and you know why???? becasue they know what makes a great game and that is NOT KILLER GFX, ya see when developing a game the devs have a given space to work in as regards (AVERAGE) PC specs they have so many credits to work with and produce a game, MOst of the big companys spend 80% of those credits in the grafix department, looks great on the box but once you get used to the grafix you find there is no content,
the LFS devs on the other hand and used there noodle a bit more and actualy given us somthing to play not just look at, and for that they deserve a medal....

last thing to note is reliability and ease of use....

ive been in the web development world for a good few years now and one thing if you have to realise is (and is a fact) that if a webpage doesnt load within a given time period the viewer will more than lighty go to another site, especialy these days people are very impatiant, now just take a look at the Technical Assistance section of this forum and then go and check out one of the big EA games, ok you have to take into account the playerbase size but you can see where im going here, the big companys use the most demanding gfx engines known to man to give you those great looking games, you need a top end rig overclocked to near meltdown to get playable frames, if you have a AVERAGE rig your screwed and your £50 just flew out the window becasue the company says its playable on a cirix 386 with 12 mb ram and a 4 mb 3d card illepall ....

but even if you do get it to run you have to fight your way through the many bugs (in a retail game) and do you think you can get help off the company when THERE product just doesnt work.... i let you answer that one...

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

so in short what do we have here with LFS??

Decent grafix that "WORK"
Content that continues to keep delivering
The best netcode ive ever seen in a race sim
a Dev team thats there for there customers and continues to privide regular quality updates..
a great comunity thats not moded by complete anals

and mutch more and all for 20 sheckles???

so is LFS getting old? i thinks its just starting, if this was a EA game i promise you it would be gathering dust on some top shelf with the rest of the money wasters... in years to come im positive that if the devs continue with this the way they are LFS will still be going strong -er) and will be a classic,..

i say lets enjoy being part of this becasue you dont get this happen very offten in this day and age....

long live LFS
Quote from Gizz :

so is LFS getting old? i thinks its just starting, if this was a EA game i promise you it would be gathering dust on some top shelf with the rest of the money wasters... in years to come im positive that if the devs continue with this the way they are LFS will still be going strong -er) and will be a classic,..

i say lets enjoy being part of this becasue you dont get this happen very offten in this day and age....

long live LFS

Agree 100% well said!
Good post Gizz
Very very nice Gizz. You just posted all of my thoughts about LFS and games/sims in general. The only thing I feel you missed on is when you said...

Decent grafix that "WORK"

In my opinion, not only do LFS's graphics "work", but they look far more natural and real than other racing sim's graphics. That is what I don't like about eye-candy, eye-candy doesn't look real. They look like effects. All that shineyness, shader stuff, and fancy stuff just looks too fake to me.

LFS has none of that "look how awesome I look" to it. That allows more people with lesser systems to play. Sure, you can say "if you can't handle it, upgrade your system or don't play", but the more access you give to everyone, even the lesser systems, the more people we have to race with.

LFS you can play with on dialup very very well, and with simple onboard graphics, very very well. I am both of them. And I have been racing on LFS nearly nightly without major problems for 2 years now. I put more than twice the miles on LFS as I do my real vehicle. All that on good ole 56k and an onboard ATI chip sharing the memory with the system.

Hey! My daughter races with me with our networked PC's. She gets around the same frame rate I do. How do the 2 systems compare? Mine is an Athalon 64 3500 with 1 gig and ATI onboard graphics sharing 2456 mb. Her screaming machine with the same frame rate?? A blazing fast (sarcasm) Celeron 667 mhz with 512 mb ram and an old pci (not express or AGP) ATI 9250 256mb card. Yes, I said she is running a Celeron 667 mhz. The differnce is that her's runs very small resolution at 640x480. It looks like crap, but still can see a solid 35 FPS. I run 1156x764 with full AA/AF on the onboard gfx and see the same solid 35 FPS. Online I limit myself on the AA/AF and run 1024x768 for a good 45-50 FPS. That is what makes LFS so fantastic in my book.

GTR/GTL for example? On my machine, 5 FPS running in dx6 mode at 640x480 with everything possible turned off or as far down as possible. What a fantastic sim that one is, especially since my specs are 3x what is recommended to be able to play GTL (1.3 ghz, half my ram, and 1/4th the gfx ram). What a wonderfully designed sim that one is illepall .

LFS: Is getting old?
(125 posts, started )
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