The online racing simulator
LFS Sense of speed
(54 posts, started )
LFS Sense of speed
Hi Everyone,

After some years of playing Live For Speed i'm still having ALOT of enjoyement and pleasure in it but what I partly miss is the lack of sensation I get from the speed. I mean if I would go 200km/h in my car everything would shake like hell and I wouldn't be able to sit relaxed in my seat.

So is there a way (if any) to give LFS a ''upgraded'' sense of speed besides changing POV ?

-Jegor
#2 - joen
There's only so much a sim can do ofcourse. I think compared to other sims LFS gives you the best sense of speed.
Don't know, hook up your PC to your stereo and turn it up to the max and things might start shaking
This isn't directly relating to your comments about sense of speed, but one reason sense of speed feels lower in LFS is that on a circuit (compared to the street), there is a lot more space, decreasing the sense of speed. I know you're talking about how the car feels when you're going quickly, but this is another important thing to look at regarding sense of speed.
Try turning on the Wide Screen Effect in the Options | Screen window. This just puts some black bars across the top and bottom of the screen similar to the 'letterbox' effect used to fit widescreen films onto small aspect ratio TV screens but I find it enhances the sense of speed marginally.
Increase those virtual g force emulation sliders.

One important thing what the tracks lack is more detailed tarmac texture. The more objects/details there are on the screen moving, the faster it looks like.
#6 - ajp71
GPL always had an awesome sense of speed, it just felt really really stupidly fast (perhaps because it was )
Quote from jegorchangai :I mean if I would go 200km/h in my car everything would shake like hell and I wouldn't be able to sit relaxed in my seat.

Most cars I've had actually become errilly smooth the faster you go.

The sense of speed comes a little from tunnel vision effect, but mostly from the acute awareness that one mistake will likely result in death and that is hard to simulate in a sim
There are two ways to increase sense of speed. Using a multiple monitor set-up, (normally 3 monitors), so things are moving quickly in your peripheral vision. Another thing is stereo 3D. Which increases the feeling of depth and distance perception.
I agree that a 3 monitor setup or a much larger monitor makes a huge difference. I actually flinch when driving on South City because of the immersion.
Well, I would consider being scared to do some of the chicanes on fern bay sometimes pretty realistic, I mean, in GTR2 or some other game, just zip through them, I love the fact LFS shows me this because I'm about to start learning to drive in real life ;D
I think the main thing I'm missing is the sense of speed too. I'm going to see if I can override my natural tendency to not spend a ****ing fortune on computer hardware and buy three monitors for my next PC.
Helps to change the FOV up too, I am a BIG fan of Richard Burns Rally, and because everything is so narrow and close to you, 120km/h through bends makes me think holy sh slow it down. Seriously though it does a bang up job of making me feel like a pussy driving.
Maybe its because I'm 6'2", but I realized in most cars I'm usually looking "down" onto the road rather than straight ahead. I changed the custom view to match this: raised up, scooted forward a hair and tilted down (so the edge of the windshield is at top of screen and the bottom is where the hands are at straight ahead). For me at least this greatly improved the sense of speed. And, because I was now looking down on the tires, also helped me with a sense of exactly where the tires are.
Quote from ajp71 :GPL always had an awesome sense of speed, it just felt really really stupidly fast (perhaps because it was )

Agreed. GPL did an excellent job at giving you a good sense of the insane speeds you were doing. It probably helped that you knew that at those speeds the car was driving on a knife's edge, and a twitch either way would send you flying off the sides.
What you would want is a three monitor setup and a FREX Simconmotion

Users love it, it costs 1500 Euros by the way
#16 - avih
the sense of speed comes in part due to the excitment, fear and real forces on your body when u drive a real car. it doesn't happen in lfs because there isn't a real fear of losing control. also, when u get used to it, 200kph, even on a bike, doesn't seem that fast. it's just.. faster than 120kph

also, as others said, FOV, size/configuration of the monitor/s and virtual distance of the eyes from the ground has part in it too. and also the force-effect-on-head-movement slider. sound plays a part too. it's the immersion after all. and on a computer the multiple-sensory immersion is less than in real life...
Alot of the sense of speed that you get from travelling in a real car comes from all the stimuli that a computer just can't offer you. Those little jiggles as you cross the white lines, that intimate connection you have with your buttocks as they tighten when you realise the front is sliding rather than griping. Those small incidental sounds, doppler effects, 3D stereo, the sound of your Rocker cover smashing as the piston makes a bid for freedom. That feeling of impending doom that if you get anything wrong (Or more scary I find is mechanical failure or something equally that you have no control over. Did anyone see Top Gear this week?) it's your life on the line. That alone tends to highten sensations and the 'sense of speed'. A computer can't deliver that. It's getting there. With motion rigs, stereo viewing, 3D sounds and the like but your bog standard issue PCWorld special offer ain't gunna give you all that. You can't expect it too. But when you've been driving a while you realise where LFS does get it right and it's all the better for those little things rather than a generic 'feel' of speed.

I do have a solution for you though. Set up your PC in your car. Get your mate to drive and shout out what you are doing at any given moment. Eveytime you shout 'Brake!' He brakes. Everytime you turn left he turns left. That should give a fairly good simulation of 'speed' for you. Plus a fairly hefty insurance bill too.
Quote from Glenn67 :Most cars I've had actually become errilly smooth the faster you go.

The sense of speed comes a little from tunnel vision effect, but mostly from the acute awareness that one mistake will likely result in death and that is hard to simulate in a sim

Not really all that funny.

Friend of mine died 2 months back because of that. Pleasanton Weekly: Pleasanton ... crash (December 1, 2006)



Other than that though, my sense of speed is just fine with one monitor and a mouse for steering. Maybe its because I drive a CRX in real life. :P
Quote from jegorchangai :Hi Everyone,

After some years of playing Live For Speed i'm still having ALOT of enjoyement and pleasure in it but what I partly miss is the lack of sensation I get from the speed. I mean if I would go 200km/h in my car everything would shake like hell and I wouldn't be able to sit relaxed in my seat.

So is there a way (if any) to give LFS a ''upgraded'' sense of speed besides changing POV ?

-Jegor

1st: Get 2 more screens

snd, visit germany, get a proper car and experience 200kmh, it's actually not that thrilling...
Quote from Vykos69 :1st: Get 2 more screens

snd, visit germany, get a proper car and experience 200kmh, it's actually not that thrilling...

Nah, neither is 255
I drove 210km/h myself on the autobahn in an A6 TDi, and 190km/h in a Celica (on a country lane, mates dad drove ) and it felt pretty fast.
For me I feel the speed best in LFS. I played various GT and NFS sequels before, but only in LFS I get this " Oh shit, one mistake and I'm out" feeling.

For exemple the very long right turn before the 180° turn on AS national, I needed some tries before I took it full throttle in XRR.
Even that I have no FF wheel, in LFS I get the feeling for the cars speed, its just more bumpy and you kind of feel that your car is fast. In NFSU2, you went up to 390km/h and, hmm, nothing, pretty fast but not exiting.
#22 - Gizz
although i do agree with the posts here i think there is a more important reason....

if you race a lot in anygame you become used to the speed, i remember when we got the V8 i couldnt wait to get my paws on it, being used to racing GTR's i grabed the v8 for the first time and took it on Blackwood, once clear of the chicane in t1 i let her go and near shat my self i had to stop half way down the strait to gather my thoughts .... now i race the bf1 a lot and it dont seem that quick, your mind adjusts to the speed it has to or we would but creeping round the track.....

thats just my opinion anyway so flame away
Outta curiosity
What are you guys "g shifts" settings?
I would like to try some changes but i don't even at which values to start.
PGR 3 in ferrari for example, HAS the GOOD sense of speed. I actually dont own PGR 3, but in TV there was some gaming show and one guy played PGR 3 there, it was cockpit view and i felt the sense of speed even from only watching! in LFS i DO NOT have good sense of speed... Which is bad for me, as it would be ton times more fun if in LFS i had same sense of speed like in RBR (which is so crazy when im going 210 Km/H in 580HP Subaru)
I don't normally use any g-shift, but someone asked me for realistic values based on my F3 car. Obviously this is only an approximation using LFS sliders, and is not going to be the same as sitting in a real car with real neck muscles and a helmet on, but it's the best I could do.

All based on driving the FOX in LFS - I don't know how it corresponds to other cars.

http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?p=238745#post238745

LFS Sense of speed
(54 posts, started )
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