So I spent most of the holidays playing old and new racing games and testing out my new Logitech G27 playseat combo, including LFS and most of its main competitions. These some of the games that I've played.
Almost all of the ISImotor/Gmotor based games - rFactor, GT Legends, GTR2, Race07 with a bunch of expansions. These are pretty old, considerably older than latest LFS, and it shows in every possible way. Graphics, sounds are very dated. They have a lot of (repetitive) content, and even more with mods (most of which are mediocre) but cars just don't feel natural, handling and grip seems fake, you dont seem to have the feeling of tires, suspension and forces working in collaboration with each other. No 900 degree steering animations either. I even tried Simbins latest Raceroom experience teaser which is supposedly using a new engine, and if anything it feels even worse than their previous games. Not impressed. I wanted to try rFactor 2, but didn't want to spend the money. I have a feeling that ISI or simbin aren't very capable without their core team that is now known as SMS. These games are direct competitors to LFS, and asides greater number of cars/tracks there is very little reason to bother playing them.
Codemasters GRID, Dirt 3, and F1 2012. Codemasters have been making racing games for a long, long time - I still remember playing TOCA2 back in the late 90ies, and even then it was a much better sim than ISI's first game - Sports Car GT. Original Colin McRae rally was also an amazing game for its time. Unfortunately Codemasters future attempts took direction towards arcade rather than sim. And yet, with GRID, Dirt 2/3 and F1 series they made games that are good mixture of arcade and sim, with amazing graphics, jaw dropping tracks, and great fun. Nowhere near the sim like LFS, certainly not in the same category, but well worth playing. Unfortunately their upcoming games might not be as good. Dirt showdown is pure arcade, GRID 2 will not have dashboard view.
SMS games - Shift 1/2, TD: Ferrari. These are all great games. Closely related to the gMotor games, but updates, polished, with much improved graphics and proportions, tons of cars and tracks. Definitely worth playing, but don't expect them to be the same level of sim as LFS, they are "simcade". I also tried SMS latest pCARs, which is supposed to be more of a simulation. It has potential but right not its just way too unfinished. Menu system is buggy and confusing, game has serious performance issues even on a powerful PC, and the only cars available are obnoxiously fast purpose built race cars that are hard to control.
Biggest surprise... I got a 3 month subscription for the very hyped up iRacing. This game is widely regarded as the ultimate, most realistic race sim out there. It is made by the same guys that were once Papyrus, and were responsible for game series such as IndyCar racing, Nascar Racing, and Grand Prix Legends. Even though I'm probably in the minority here, but I never found Papyrus games to be very good. I though ISI's Nascar Thunder was better then Papyrus Nascar, and I don't even like ISI games all that much... or Nascar.
This is what I have observed so far in the game.
1) The graphics are lame. No better than LFS. Granted, this is not very important for a racing sim, but a lot of people kick LFS for its dated graphics.
2) Propotions just look wrong. When you're sitting inside the car, it appears as if your car is the width of the entire track. Its very difficult to judge the distance - how close you are to the car next to you, how close you are to the edge of the track, etc. On the contrary, in LFS proportions are done just right, better than any other game.
3) No 900 degree steering animations! The game reacts to 900 degree input, but in car animations are limited to 360 degrees. This is just pathetic.
4) Poor force feedback, feels very unnatural and artificial.
5) No feeling of speed. This is a problem that haunted even the original Nascar game. Your engine can be screaming, car accelerating at very fast rate, you could be going close to 200mph, but if you shut off the sound and don't look at the speedo, just look at the road ahead of you - it doesn't feel that you are going fast or accelerating fast at all.
6) Physics don't feel anywhere as natural as LFS either. With LFS you know when you are pushing your car to the limit, and with iRacing you get no feedback at all, very little warning before you lose control.
This is why I simply love LFS. I've been playing it since 2003 and I'm never getting bored of it. It doesn't have much content, but it has great variety. Theres every type of car from a slow street car to F1 car, and you can adjust almost every setting, and with unofficial addons you can simulate almost every type of vehicle out there, from Nascar to Tractor. Tracks are limited but also have great variety, from drag to offroad. And the physics, the menus, the controls, the driving feel are just so excellent. Keep up the good work guys!
Almost all of the ISImotor/Gmotor based games - rFactor, GT Legends, GTR2, Race07 with a bunch of expansions. These are pretty old, considerably older than latest LFS, and it shows in every possible way. Graphics, sounds are very dated. They have a lot of (repetitive) content, and even more with mods (most of which are mediocre) but cars just don't feel natural, handling and grip seems fake, you dont seem to have the feeling of tires, suspension and forces working in collaboration with each other. No 900 degree steering animations either. I even tried Simbins latest Raceroom experience teaser which is supposedly using a new engine, and if anything it feels even worse than their previous games. Not impressed. I wanted to try rFactor 2, but didn't want to spend the money. I have a feeling that ISI or simbin aren't very capable without their core team that is now known as SMS. These games are direct competitors to LFS, and asides greater number of cars/tracks there is very little reason to bother playing them.
Codemasters GRID, Dirt 3, and F1 2012. Codemasters have been making racing games for a long, long time - I still remember playing TOCA2 back in the late 90ies, and even then it was a much better sim than ISI's first game - Sports Car GT. Original Colin McRae rally was also an amazing game for its time. Unfortunately Codemasters future attempts took direction towards arcade rather than sim. And yet, with GRID, Dirt 2/3 and F1 series they made games that are good mixture of arcade and sim, with amazing graphics, jaw dropping tracks, and great fun. Nowhere near the sim like LFS, certainly not in the same category, but well worth playing. Unfortunately their upcoming games might not be as good. Dirt showdown is pure arcade, GRID 2 will not have dashboard view.
SMS games - Shift 1/2, TD: Ferrari. These are all great games. Closely related to the gMotor games, but updates, polished, with much improved graphics and proportions, tons of cars and tracks. Definitely worth playing, but don't expect them to be the same level of sim as LFS, they are "simcade". I also tried SMS latest pCARs, which is supposed to be more of a simulation. It has potential but right not its just way too unfinished. Menu system is buggy and confusing, game has serious performance issues even on a powerful PC, and the only cars available are obnoxiously fast purpose built race cars that are hard to control.
Biggest surprise... I got a 3 month subscription for the very hyped up iRacing. This game is widely regarded as the ultimate, most realistic race sim out there. It is made by the same guys that were once Papyrus, and were responsible for game series such as IndyCar racing, Nascar Racing, and Grand Prix Legends. Even though I'm probably in the minority here, but I never found Papyrus games to be very good. I though ISI's Nascar Thunder was better then Papyrus Nascar, and I don't even like ISI games all that much... or Nascar.
This is what I have observed so far in the game.1) The graphics are lame. No better than LFS. Granted, this is not very important for a racing sim, but a lot of people kick LFS for its dated graphics.
2) Propotions just look wrong. When you're sitting inside the car, it appears as if your car is the width of the entire track. Its very difficult to judge the distance - how close you are to the car next to you, how close you are to the edge of the track, etc. On the contrary, in LFS proportions are done just right, better than any other game.
3) No 900 degree steering animations! The game reacts to 900 degree input, but in car animations are limited to 360 degrees. This is just pathetic.
4) Poor force feedback, feels very unnatural and artificial.
5) No feeling of speed. This is a problem that haunted even the original Nascar game. Your engine can be screaming, car accelerating at very fast rate, you could be going close to 200mph, but if you shut off the sound and don't look at the speedo, just look at the road ahead of you - it doesn't feel that you are going fast or accelerating fast at all.
6) Physics don't feel anywhere as natural as LFS either. With LFS you know when you are pushing your car to the limit, and with iRacing you get no feedback at all, very little warning before you lose control.
This is why I simply love LFS. I've been playing it since 2003 and I'm never getting bored of it. It doesn't have much content, but it has great variety. Theres every type of car from a slow street car to F1 car, and you can adjust almost every setting, and with unofficial addons you can simulate almost every type of vehicle out there, from Nascar to Tractor.
Tracks are limited but also have great variety, from drag to offroad. And the physics, the menus, the controls, the driving feel are just so excellent. Keep up the good work guys!
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, especially the tracks. While I love the hill climb tracks (Pikes Peak :lovies3d