I'm going to try and explain from my perspective what LFS is missing, and how it could significantly increase its player base and quality of the game.

1. Problems with LFS:

a. It is clear that currently, LFS has two fundamental problems. First, the lack of updates. I understand that the game is old, and it probably doesn't receive a lot of attention from developers. The latest news we had of any update is the day/night cycle which should've been implemented in my opinion way earlier. The last update we've heard of this was 4 months ago. This means that the devs have either given up, or this update will come out when there's no one left playing the game anymore.

b. Secondly. LFS, considering its age and current state, has surprisingly a decent player base. However, this player base is slowly drifting away and will not return due to the previous issue I highlighted. Many friends of mine agree that the game has become dull and boring over time due to the lack of updates and purpose in playing anymore. There's no real 'objective' or 'purpose' left in playing the game. There are better, newer racing simulators out there with bigger communities as well. Players need a reason to keep playing the game.

2. A likely solution:

I'm a strong believer in the idea that LFS could release their game to the modding community. Taking Skyrim as an example (thanks Daklan), the vanilla game itself is not great, however since the game allowed mods to be made by the community the game has exponentially become better. Better graphics, better physics, better content, environments, etc, you name it. Whatever you can think of, it's probably been done by someone already.

If LFS were to follow in the tracks of Skyrim, I'm positive that the game would once again become a popular choice of entertainment for an average player and even returning veterans of the game. Instead of developers who clearly aren't prioritizing the game (because they probably have better things to do, or are just not getting paid enough, if at all) why not let the community do most of the work? They're willing to do it. The 'day and night' cycle could've easily been implemented already by modders instead of having to wait for 4months+ for it and counting as of right now. Here are just 2 ideas that I can name off the top of my head:

1. Environments and Graphics --> Just like with Skyrim, graphics mods could be created to improve the look of the game or perhaps by improving the environment of tracks. Weather effects like rain, fog, snow and ice could be added for a more unique driving experience. Distant mountains or buildings to fill the edges of the maps instead of badly textured leaves or trees. Road conditions like cracks in the concrete, potholes etc. The list goes on.

2. Custom maps/tracks --> Cruise servers could download or create maps that are specifically designed for the 'cruise' gamemode. Tight cities (like some Italian village) or big open roads (somewhere in America). Race servers could also do this, modding in popular tracks like Spa, or perhaps just making completely new race tracks. Drift servers can design new exciting routes and lines from wherever they want and so forth.

It sounds like this would be an incredible amount of work but the reason it's not is because it is up to the community what happens. Enthusiastic players such as myself are willing to put in the work for free to make the game better. Players are constantly trying to improve the game by modding car models, interiors, textures etc. with the little wiggle room they have to work with. Opening the game completely to allow people to work with whatever they feel is missing from the game could be life changing for LFS. However I do realize that perhaps the game engine will need to be improved for this to be able to happen, however I think that if this idea is acknowledged by the devs it can happen.

Perhaps people would worry that the game wouldn't be "LFS" anymore, however the game would still have its fundamentals that make it feel like its still LFS and not some completely different game, but now, the popular requests from the playerbase can be actualized and implemented instead of waiting months or even years for updates to come out that change something minor.

This is my perspective on helping this game strive once again, and not to just let it rot away in silence. I am open to any feedback or criticism of this idea and will gladly discuss it further with those who want to. Thank you for reading, I hope this will reach the developers and leaders of Live for Speed.

Vilix

I have stopped reading after point 1a. You clearly have no idea how LFS is developed (by a single guy) and that it isn't being developed to make as much money as possible, but to make the best simulator possible.

Modding has been suggested many times before and Scawen (dev of LFS) has said that at the moment he has no intention to open up the game for officially supported mods or modding of the game.

I see. I did not know that it was developed by a single person, which explains a bit about the development speed. However, I disagree with the statement that "it's being developed to make the best simulator possible." Wouldn't you agree that by adding things like weather conditions and minor details like concrete cracks would make it a better simulator? As you said I'm not a complete expert on LFS, but from a casual players perspective this is my opinion.

Quote from Vilix :

Many friends of mine agree that the game has become dull and boring over time due to the lack of updates and purpose in playing anymore. There's no real 'objective' or 'purpose' left in playing the game. There are better, newer racing simulators out there with bigger communities as well. Players need a reason to keep playing the game.

I totally disagree with this. It is not a story based game which tells you the objective/what to do. This is a racing simulation (sandbox?) game. You set the objective for yourself.
For example i decided to have a PB i am satisfied with with every car in every track.
There are leagues every week you can have some fun and gain experience at the same time.

There are newer simulators but better? I tried many others but nothing lasted more than 1-2 weeks. (I play with LFS for 9 years and counting). What keeps me here is the physics (there is no other game that can match this) and the good controls with keyboard.
Because of the great gameplay the graphics is not that important. Yes it could use some polish, but at least you can run it in a smart calculator. But graphical improvement wouldnt improve the gaming experience that much. Content does and if you are not satisfied with the current state you can mod the game free for your taste (singleplayer only or local server).

LFS's small community is not a bad thing. When i join a server i always find familiar names, i know who to fight with, who to let pass. Around your skill level is easy to get a rival.

Quote from Vilix :

I see. I did not know that it was developed by a single person, which explains a bit about the development speed. However, I disagree with the statement that "it's being developed to make the best simulator possible." Wouldn't you agree that by adding things like weather conditions and minor details like concrete cracks would make it a better simulator? As you said I'm not a complete expert on LFS, but from a casual players perspective this is my opinion.

Day/night , weather , visual improvements would add to the overal feeling the game has, but it won't make it a better simulator.
The new tyre model that is being developed will.
If all goes to plan, the next update (no promises, no estimate when it will be read) should include the new tyre mode, day/night cycle and moving DirectX up to version 11 (coming from 9), which will give the graphics artist (Erik) a lot more options, while he has already given most tracks (every track when the new update goes live) a huge graphical update.

You might want to read these articles, written by Scawen:

https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/94032-March-Progress-Report---LFS-in-Direct3D-11
https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/93766-December-Progress-Report%3A-South-City
https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/93689-October-Progress-Report
https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/93569-July-Progress-Report
https://www.lfs.net/report-aug2018-bl
https://www.lfs.net/report-dec2018-au

It shows you how much is going on and what has been worked on.
LFS is very much alive, but with a single developer and one graphics artist, things go slow, but steady and with always the highest quality possible in mind.
https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/93420-April-Progress-Report

Many times software developers go through a phase of apparent stagnation--where they make tiny improvements of their product--until a big idea arises in their mind. What's important is to never stop the R&D tempo. Although customers don't see any new updates showing up, the developers are making a lot of progress learning new stuff and evolving the whole game.

Quote from Vilix :

As you said I'm not a complete expert on LFS, but from a casual players perspective this is my opinion.

What do you mean with that? That hundreds of route variants and vehicles are required for a simulation to be good?

I like LFS as it is and how it "feels". Of course, I would also prefer some variety in terms of new routes and vehicles ... but the older you get, the more patient you will be, or you just get different priorities. :-)

I also have other racing sims like AC, PC and AM. But I hardly played them in comparison because they hadn't convinced me; because they have too high hardware requirements (which I could not always understand), they were too unstable or they had complicated / cumbersome menu navigation.

I can't judge whether mods make a sim better. I never used mods for any racing simulation. However, it can certainly keep (old) racing sims alive longer.

Hey an opinion topic about LFS development, thats new. Interesting.

Quote from Pasci :

I like LFS as it is and how it "feels". Of course, I would also prefer some variety in terms of new routes and vehicles ... but the older you get, the more patient you will be, or you just get different priorities. :-)

I also have other racing sims like AC, PC and AM. But I hardly played them in comparison because they hadn't convinced me; because they have too high hardware requirements (which I could not always understand), they were too unstable or they had complicated / cumbersome menu navigation.

Same here, I first started playing LFS in 2003 and played for a few years until recently, as I have been experimenting with PC2, AC, RaceRoom, rFactor2 and iRacing with a view to reaching a consensus with my friends (ha!). They seem to be put off by the lack of real cars but I think the variety of cars in LFS is pretty much all that one would ever need.

They're also put off by the lack of real tracks, and while there is plenty of variety in the tracks given all the multiple configurations, I would sometimes like to have a go at racing on some of the tracks that I do know from watching F1 and GT racing. Understandably though there are licensing issues around that, so it's not something I would ever expect to be added with the indie nature of the LFS team.

What makes LFS such a standout experience for me still after all these years, is how it feels to drive and the visual and audio cues that give a sense of speed. It may not have those pseudo wheel vibration feedback things like wheel slip, etc.. but I think I prefer that, as there's quite a lot of tuning in other games required to get it at the right level to be useful but not intrusive.

rF2 is the only one that I would say I think I could come to like as much in terms of driving feel, although I haven't spent much time with iRacing yet.

Also LFS has an easily accessible menu interface which you can access whenever you need it.

I was astonished to find how bad this can be in these other games I've been trying. In AC you actually have to leave the track to adjust your controller settings, which is a nightmare if you're trying to get your wheel settings right or even adjust your in game volume settings (there maybe mods that allow it, haven't had time to look, but that's extra effort).