The online racing simulator
Quote from chanoman315 :not pure racing at all.... like 90ppl full 3 servers of cruise, and other 50 on drift servers... 140 ppl that would be worthable racers

How many of those 140 would be bothered to race properly, if they actually don't really want to be racing?
The large numbers of cruise/drift/CnR/lolcatz/otherwise non-racing servers are down to the choices of users and are mostly run using external 3rd-party apps (afaik). It doesn't really reflect a change in Scavier's vision or focus imho, just a change in the proportions of the community. Who knows? Perhaps future changes in LFS' physics or other areas may render such non-race activities more difficult or just make the racing better, which would change the dynamic again
sure it was designed for racing, but why can't it be a "renaissance car simulator?" (retorical question)
As I've said before, scavier seem to have absolutely no problem with cruise servers (idk about drift, that always seemed rather noob-ish to me...). If they did, features would be taken away, but instead new features are being added specifically FOR cruise servers, such as the new filter.

At the end of the day, the devs are here to make money...so they're not going to turn around and suddenly say "Oh wait, we don't want people who play on cruise servers to have LFS, go play NFS...", regardless of their persoanl opinions...that's the way I see it anyways...
Quote from dougie-lampkin :... new features are being added specifically FOR cruise servers, such as the new filter.

From another perspective, you could say with just as much authority that the filter was added in order for racers to just find race servers. Indeed (IIRC) the first requests for a server category filter came from racers who wanted to filter out cruise/drift servers

You'd think if Scavier wanted to LFS to be a general driving sim (as opposed to a dedicated race sim) and cater to everyone with an interest in driving cars, they would've widened their focus by now (nearly six years into the project) and included things like in-built drift comp and cops n robbers features, free-roam city maps, fewer dedicated race cars and perhaps even the dreaded 900 billion degress of dorfito steering lock that some people can't seem to help but ask for repeatedly.

I know the fact that they haven't added things like that yet doesn't necessarily mean they won't, but adding such features now would dilute the game far too much for most racers and delay overall progress to a level a lot of people would find unacceptable (and lots of people already think it's too). That would alienate what can logically be assumed (going by previous developer posts, interviews, press releases and patches) is the target market of LFS: racing fans. Of course, I could be wrong. But I aint :]
I dont think it has become any less of a racing sim, there are just less people "racing" because of these other types of gameplay. I have played LFS pretty much since day one, and even back where we only had the one track and 3 cars not all the servers were race servers, there were drift and drag servers as well. I think its good that we have a few choices of how we play out favorite GAME. I personally like to jump on cruise servers. Years ago all I did was race and I have been in teams n` all that jazz, but I have 2 kid now so its very rare for me to find time to enjoy an uninterrupted race so I cruise, its a little less disappointing when I have to pit or leave 5 mins into playing.
So is LFS any less of a sim because of ppl like me, I dont think so, atleast were all still playing and supporting LFS when we could just go on to the next game.
#32 - SamH
It's a realistic driving environment. Such an environment is kick-ass for racing, as we all know. Turns out not to be too bad if you like hanging your backside out on a corner or between some cones on a straight, AND it's also a nice place to go motoring and "simulating" driving in all respects.

Cruise server popularity (I'm sure I've said before) is testimony to the quality of the simulation. Not specifically the racing elements of the sim, but the car physics of it. Let the cruisers do their thing. Regardless of suggestions to the contrary, they're not hurting anyone who's here to race

Let's face it, the sim has a bunch of road cars, that we racers choose to race with.. but they're road cars, with road-legal tyres (simulated) etc. Are we really the ones doing it right by racing road cars? So the simulation allows us to set the cars up for racing massively.. but they're still road cars, not race cars, when we leave the pits. Wouldn't we just be better cruising in those cars?

The puritanical "if it's not racing, it's not LFS" doesn't actually have any weight. If you're able to do it in LFS, it's LFS. Enjoy it.
#33 - Woz
Quote from dougie-lampkin :As I've said before, scavier seem to have absolutely no problem with cruise servers (idk about drift, that always seemed rather noob-ish to me...). If they did, features would be taken away, but instead new features are being added specifically FOR cruise servers, such as the new filter.

The default is to filter OUT cruise servers so you could say it was added to minimise people on them lol
Quote from dougie-lampkin :As I've said before, scavier seem to have absolutely no problem with cruise servers (idk about drift, that always seemed rather noob-ish to me...)

who the says that drift servers are worst then cruise servers? is random ramming and chatting better then people practicing car control?

people say lol to save themselves form embarrassments(just as you would do in real life). and people spin out because they are new to driving on LFS and or drifting. people hit other people by accident because of understeering or spinouts. and people swear and get into chases because they are still kids and want revenge from the crashes...

the revenge and swearing part happens less in license servers only because people have a reputation to keep up...
Quote from SamH :It's a realistic driving environment. Such an environment is kick-ass for racing, as we all know. Turns out not to be too bad if you like hanging your backside out on a corner or between some cones on a straight, AND it's also a nice place to go motoring and "simulating" driving in all respects.

Cruise server popularity (I'm sure I've said before) is testimony to the quality of the simulation. Not specifically the racing elements of the sim, but the car physics of it. Let the cruisers do their thing. Regardless of suggestions to the contrary, they're not hurting anyone who's here to race

Let's face it, the sim has a bunch of road cars, that we racers choose to race with.. but they're road cars, with road-legal tyres (simulated) etc. Are we really the ones doing it right by racing road cars? So the simulation allows us to set the cars up for racing massively.. but they're still road cars, not race cars, when we leave the pits. Wouldn't we just be better cruising in those cars?

The puritanical "if it's not racing, it's not LFS" doesn't actually have any weight. If you're able to do it in LFS, it's LFS. Enjoy it.

Exelent post, and I`ll agree on this one. It`s what you make out of the game, it`s LFS no matter what kind of racing/driving you are doing in it.
Quote from gezmoor :Well, that's very much a relative statement. Let's just have a think about who the most likely target audience for LFS is. Is it real motoring enthusiasts? or Gamers?

I'd say it's motoring enthusiasts really. Or more precisely, racing enthusiasts. Who is the target audience of Flight Simulators? Gamers? I don't think so.

Quote :It's highly unlikely to appeal to real motoring enthusiasts for one simple reason. Anyone that owns a car and enjoys driving is just going to go and do the real thing rather than sitting at their computer playing a sim.

This statement is flawed for obvious reasons. Unless you really believe that most racing enthusiasts are just going to pop off to their 500hp open wheel racing car and blast out a few quick races with twenty of their mates on their afternoon off.

Quote :Now if you're a gamer looking for a driving game in general then I'm sorry to say but LFS graphics look very dated.

Not to me. With everything on full I think they're quite stunning. Some of the models are a little simple, but the overall look of the game is fantastic IMO. I really like the style of the graphics. Really, to most simmers it's the last thing that matters anyway.

Quote :LFS needs to look good to attract gamers in general and by and large the gaming community is very picky about it's graphics quality

I honestly don't think that LFS is out there to attract gamers with flashy graphics. In fact, I think there very essence of LFS is to stand out from these types of games. The goal of LFS is to create "the best racing simulator ever". As stated clearly on the homepage.
The obsession with 'purity' round these parts is a strange thing. As far as simulation goes, all the devs need to do is concentrate on making a close, virtual analogy of the real-life forces that work on a vehicle. Then they need to provide the programming tools that enable a competition environment to be officiated.

If you also require them to have a vision of the kind of racing that is allowed within LFS, then you are asking the devs to become some kind of sanctioning body like the FIA. Frankly, I think that's a lame arsed and infantile thing for the user base to be doing.

Get on with using the tools provided to officiate over the kind of racing you want, and stop whining like the rich kid who doesn't like the scary lads from the council estate being in the same playground.

"Build it and they will come."
Quote from nihil :The obsession with 'purity' round these parts is a strange thing. As far as simulation goes, all the devs need to do is concentrate on making a close, virtual analogy of the real-life forces that work on a vehicle. Then they need to provide the programming tools that enable a competition environment to be officiated.

If you also require them to have a vision of the kind of racing that is allowed within LFS, then you are asking the devs to become some kind of sanctioning body like the FIA. Frankly, I think that's a lame arsed and infantile thing for the user base to be doing.

Get on with using the tools provided to officiate over the kind of racing you want, and stop whining like the rich kid who doesn't like the scary lads from the council estate being in the same playground.

"Build it and they will come."

I agree.

However, I think what people are worried about is the potential for the original vision to be altered to try and cater for everybody where clearly, a high-fidelity simulation simply cannot please all. Things such as introducing RPG elements (cash, upgrades etc.) would severely compromise the notion of a serious simulator.

I have no problems with people who want to drift/cruise or even have a demolition derby or burnout competition. Real cars can do that, so it should be possible in the simulation, but that's that. No cash, upgrades, "car tuning", etc. please.
Quote from dougie-lampkin :As I've said before, scavier seem to have absolutely no problem with cruise servers (idk about drift, that always seemed rather noob-ish to me...).

lfsforum is so funny when I read racer putting Cruising over Drifting. Cruising over Motorsport. :ices_rofl
#40 - SamH
Quote from Ikaponthus :No cash, upgrades, "car tuning", etc. please.

I agree very much. That might sound a bit strange coming from the CTRA guy, where you have to race to earn licences to race cars.. but that's the crux of it. LFS is the environment, within which the community operates. The CTRA does its thing for the people that want it, but it's only AN option. If you're in the mood for it, go race there.. if you want to cruise or drift, I heartily recommend going to a track/server where that's an option. It's all community driven. Every league and event is driven by the community - LFS facilitates all these things, but the "career mode" of LFS is determined by us all, from within the community. Extensibility? You betcha!
Quote from nihil :asking the devs to become some kind of sanctioning body like the FIA

Precisely.. I prefer it now, where the community has its own sanctioning bodies - servers, leagues... The LFS environment lends itself to community building INSTEAD of a built-in career mode, and it is without a doubt a fantastic community.
I don´t see the problem If you have a car simulator with the most realistic physics ever, you can drive, race, drift, drag, rally or wathever you want.
Scavier gives us the realism, we do what we want with it
Quote from atlantian :who the says that drift servers are worst then cruise servers? is random ramming and chatting better then people practicing car control?

You obviously have never been on a cruise server, so you have NO argument...and what's random ramming? Oh wait, that's demo servers...


Quote from kamkorPL :lfsforum is so funny when I read racer putting Cruising over Drifting. Cruising over Motorsport. :ices_rofl

Cruising is a form of motorsport. Motorsport doesn't necessarily have to be a competition of who can drive around a track fastest. Cruising IRL is a major part of youth society (In Ireland anyway), and I along with anybody who's ever seen it would call it motorsport.


The OP said lets not turn this into a flame war (/me grabs my flame retardant mask), and I agree. And demo users complaining about cruise servers? ROFL indeed...

Notice also I never said Scavier don't like drift, or even that I don't like drift...I just said it's sorta noobish, which I think it is...
Cruising is as much of a motorsport as taking a little walk around the block is on par with olympic running sports
I agree. Cruising is definitely not a motorsport.
#45 - SamH
Just to add my tuppence, it may be many things to many people but it's absolutely pointless (and potentially counter-positive to cruise servers) to suggest that it's a motorsport. Did someone actually try to do that?

[ed] Ahhh.. dougie! LOL! Tsk!
what is a cruise server? some grannies and 13 yr olds learning to drive using LFS?
Quote from atlantian :what is a cruise server? some grannies and 13 yr olds learning to drive using LFS?

No, grannies and 13 yr olds are using LFS to drive under 60mph around the track for money.
#48 - SamH
Quote from atlantian :what is a cruise server? some grannies and 13 yr olds learning to drive using LFS?

No disrespect intended, but you do seem to involve yourself in discussions by expressing foundless opinions. Backtracking, now, about cruise servers is making you look like an utter troll. Please refrain from posting content that has no value in future.
Quote :Cruising is a form of motorsport. Motorsport doesn't necessarily have to be a competition of who can drive around a track fastest. Cruising IRL is a major part of youth society (In Ireland anyway), and I along with anybody who's ever seen it would call it motorsport.

in real life, it's just chavs going around the neighborhood driving extremely slow in sports or luxury cars... with the stereo way up, over here we call it "bumping", it is

anyways... i disagree with him about the n00bishness of drifting, i believe that drifting is equally relevant and venerable as racing
lol cruising is not chavs driving around the estate...here it's where 100's, sometimes 1000's of young people meet up, and convoy! It's excellent to watch, and to drive!

Cruising in LFS is not as you people seem to think...you guys seem to think that evryone who goes to a cruise server stays there 24/7...but most of those who do, do so as a break from racing. It's not so pointless as you seem to suggest - I went on cruise servers for ages to get used to my G25 (After that I found out I'm naturally crap anyway...lol).

I would consider them to be more like a chat server, with cars thrown in for added effect it's more for unwinding and chilling rather than driving aimlessly around the track...

That's my view anyway...

LFS no longer a pure racing sim?
(160 posts, started )
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG