The online racing simulator
Damage Modelling! - Really good so far...
Okay, this is my second post here. Please don't any forum nazi inform me to do a search! I hate that. Everyone has the right to express their opinion, even if it has been expressed before! In fact, it's probably a good way for the developers to assess the most popular and most talked about features & requests.

The damage modelling:

1 - I really like what I see so far! I think it's so annoying in other games when whole panels just fly off the car. When do you ever see that in real life, barring the very rare case where a car does multiple high-speed flips? Almost never. It looks so stupid and unrealistic. So glad that LFS is not doing that.

2 - So far, my primary criticism is that it's just not severe enough. It's good, but more of the same aesthetics-wise, and much more physics wise. Needless to say, it's unrealistic to be able to ram a car at 100+km/ph straight into a wall and still drive it around with little trouble. And the aesthetic damage (as cool and realistic as it does look) resembles a 30km/ph fender-bender.

3 - Suggestions: i) Most importantly make it much easier for the car's physics to be damaged, as well as making the aesthetic damage more severe; ii) Chipped paint; iii) paint scratched off where graphic vectors are bent/distorted, iv) bent axles, wheels, tyres coming off the rims, v) more smoke & debris vi) shattered glass (would be ultra cool).

4 - I also understand that LFS is about racing, not crashing. Some will say there's much more important things to worry about... and to be honest, there probably is! It's just the first thing that popped into my head. But anyway, the damage model I think really adds to the immersion and realism of a driving game. Even if you rarely actually crash, knowing the potential of what your car could end up looking like just makes the game that much more cool and immersive. And be honest, who doesn't like seeing a big smash every now and then?


My 2c. Thanks for reading.
YES, OK EVERYONE. WE ALL KNOW THAT THERE ARE A GAZILLION POSTS ON THIS TOPIC ALREADY! NO NEED TO BERATE HIM WITH FOUL LANGUAGE AND PROVIDE THE LINKS TO THE LIKE 1,000,000+ OTHER POSTS ALREADY ON THIS TOPIC!

Everyone will agree with most of what you suggested, but like you said, these are things that do need improvement, and are planned to be improved, but there are a lot of other things they are working on at the moment that are more important.
That's why we have this: http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=2626

by the way, the damage model isn't even close to being completed (but I'm sure you knew that anyways).

Remember LFS is still in alpha stage, and is only about halfway into the completed product, there is many issues with LFS that will be fixed by the finalization of S3.
Actually depending on the crash i.e. hitting a barrier i think you'll find that bumpers will fly off but thats about it, to get LFS like a real crash model will be as hard as making the game itself so its never going to happen but it could be improved. Were on the right path YAY!
actually... fenders do come off...

and are you forgetting about clutch fades, tire wear, and suspension damage? those are good too
Firstly, let's get the forum Nazi part out of the way. This has been talked about almost weekly since the limited damage model was introduced. So there we go

The thing about the current damage model is that there's no stress limits of the parts. The buckle infinitely where normal metal or carbon fibre would snap. It might be fairly rare for parts to fly off, but ripping a panel off isn't all that uncommon.
The downside of introducing parts which can be broken off like that is that it means the cars would have to be made up of multiple body panels, each with specific damage settings. That means more taxing on CPU and graphics cards.

The current aero model in LFS is a bit limited. I'm pretty sure this will be worked on in time. But the aero model would really need to come AFTER the damage model because it relies on the car shape.

Don't worry, there's a lot of people keen to see the damage improved, me included. It would be a nice way of discouraging people from ploughing their way to the front if the aero damage and rubbing bodywork killed them a little down the line.
#7 - Ian.H
Quote from Ikaponthus :Okay, this is my second post here. Please don't any forum nazi inform me to do a search! I hate that. Everyone has the right to express their opinion, even if it has been expressed before! In fact, it's probably a good way for the developers to assess the most popular and most talked about features & requests.

[ snip repetitive stuff ]


Of course I've been told to stick to a certain speed occifer, but I'm entitled to drive how I like.. never know, the gov. might even increase the speed limit by 50mph if everyone else does the same!



Regards,

Ian
it would be fun if bits of someone's bumper went into your intake vent and choked your engine... lolz
The onlt thing i really want from the damage model is wheels on the single seaters actually coming off under alot of impact, bumpers etc.
And some oil spill would make it more intresting btw mentioned lots of times before.
Quote from atlantian :it would be fun if bits of someone's bumper went into your intake vent and choked your engine... lolz

and even more fun would be if rear bumper would fly trough ur winshield and smash your head to 2 parts and then your can would sart spinning and make a massive crash so many cars would be crashed...is it fun? oh hell yeah
Quote from pearcy_2k7 :The onlt thing i really want from the damage model is wheels on the single seaters actually coming off under alot of impact, bumpers etc.
And some oil spill would make it more intresting btw mentioned lots of times before.

actually... if there where stuff littering the track, you will need to have the ability to clean it up...

there are crashers now... imagine if they left a mess of oil leaks around every apex... THEN left... the track would be non-drivable... unless you drive poorly and never hit the apex

Quote from batteryy :and even more fun would be if rear bumper would fly trough ur winshield and smash your head to 2 parts and then your can would sart spinning and make a massive crash so many cars would be crashed...is it fun? oh hell yeah

actually, that would be more realistic... so yes, it would be more challenging and thus, more fun
In real life you wouldn't be able to clean oil up as it needs someting to put on it so the race would continue. But if a car part was on the track a yellow flag would come out with a safety car whilst it was cleared up say 1 lap? Thats alot of work to do aswell, i think its good just as it is and im happy with steady prgression.
I wouldn't even be that fussed about it staying on track, although it'd be a cool feature. It happens in Forza 2 and the parts just stay there for the rest of the race

A couple of extra physics objects shouldn't be that big a deal really. It's not like we'd need every single piece of shrapnel kicking aout, just the bigger parts. Hood, bumpers, spoilers and doors would probably be enough, maybe a couple of side panels if you really like. So maybe 10 parts per car? Not a huge drain compared to the 512 objects that could be bouncing around in AutoX

But it would mean that objects would need to stay in the world longer than they do now. The 5 seconds or whatever it is would make the yellow flagging pointless.
Quote from Dajmin :I wouldn't even be that fussed about it staying on track, although it'd be a cool feature. It happens in Forza 2 and the parts just stay there for the rest of the race

A couple of extra physics objects shouldn't be that big a deal really. It's not like we'd need every single piece of shrapnel kicking aout, just the bigger parts. Hood, bumpers, spoilers and doors would probably be enough, maybe a couple of side panels if you really like. So maybe 10 parts per car? Not a huge drain compared to the 512 objects that could be bouncing around in AutoX

But it would mean that objects would need to stay in the world longer than they do now. The 5 seconds or whatever it is would make the yellow flagging pointless.

the ~10 objects would be good...if they are in the middle of the track or u just crash into the part and the part would hit ur tire in high speeds --> your tire would maybe blow
Quote from atlantian :there are crashers now... imagine if they left a mess of oil leaks around every apex... THEN left... the track would be non-drivable... unless you drive poorly and never hit the apex

I haven't seen a crasher in 3 years I think. Maybe you should buy S2 if they bother you, cheapskate
Quote from Ikaponthus :[...] And the aesthetic damage (as cool and realistic as it does look) resembles a 30km/ph fender-bender.

30 km/h fender-bender? then the other car drove with 28 km/h in the same direction. at 30 km/h there's already more force going on than you would need for a fender-bender.

by the way: I've seen km/h and I've seen kph, and maybe there's kmph... but km/ph just doesn't make any sense as it would be "kilometers per per hour". am I picky? probably. but considering the fact that it's written in so many places...

Quote from Ian.H :Of course I've been told to stick to a certain speed occifer, but I'm entitled to drive how I like.. never know, the gov. might even increase the speed limit by 50mph if everyone else does the same!

Ian, as much as I like your sarcastic comments: this might even work. I mean, what would a government do, if almost everybody drove at 90 mph instead of 70 mph? ticket them all? 10 times a day, 365 days a year? or send them to jail? the queen would have to find a new australia (although there's still a lot of space...). or maybe shut down the motorways? good night, economy.


and please have the wheels fall off.. i can dent the front bumper till kingdom comes, but it's annoying to see the wheels hovering in thin air, and is still capable of holding the car...
I know that severeness is compromised for playability, and Im not a purist for realism. But it looks kind of stupid when you have your panels smashed and no damage to tyres (punctures is what we are missing - it could affect driving style a lot) or some minor suspension bends. I mean - first they should correspond, severeness is latter.
what about the rims ripping in 2 when u hit a curb? i seen it happen at track events...
Im going off topic a bit...

Ian...your example is right...and its the core of most civilized socieities...

Civil Disobedience has brought more change than most other methods... stop being a prick and let people enjoy the forum...
Quote from Bandit77 :
by the way: I've seen km/h and I've seen kph, and maybe there's kmph... but km/ph just doesn't make any sense as it would be "kilometers per per hour". am I picky? probably. but considering the fact that it's written in so many places...

I see. Meh. Shrug.
Quote from Ikaponthus :4 - I also understand that LFS is about racing, not crashing. Some will say there's much more important things to worry about...

I think a proper damage model is also very important part of a racing simulator. Now with the very forgiving damage model, many people go with no brains into T1. They hit a few people and usually they get away with it. Should the damage model be better. Do this and your race is over. Many people would then drive much more carefully than they do now... The same with damage to the suspension... Now it is ok to cut the curbs on some FernBay tracks... IRL you could maybe do this once or twice before your suspension says goodbye...
Quote from Chaos :I think a proper damage model is also very important part of a racing simulator. Now with the very forgiving damage model, many people go with no brains into T1. They hit a few people and usually they get away with it. Should the damage model be better. Do this and your race is over. Many people would then drive much more carefully than they do now... The same with damage to the suspension... Now it is ok to cut the curbs on some FernBay tracks... IRL you could maybe do this once or twice before your suspension says goodbye...

Very good points.
Quote from atlantian :and please have the wheels fall off.. i can dent the front bumper till kingdom comes, but it's annoying to see the wheels hovering in thin air, and is still capable of holding the car...

wheels falling off would be awesome, also I dislike it when a car is shortened to the point the wheels are sticking through the rear bumper (xfg is an example). Only other thing I can think of is the chassis bending if it's hit hard enough

Windows smashing would instantly make me happy
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