What's this about?

[Steve Worrell]

This sim seems to pop up a bit when people list their favourite sims but it looks terribly out of date and there doesn't seem to be much content for it.

Am I missing something?

Thanks,
Vern

 

[Deleted member 379375]

I don't think content is an issue with the full licence but yes it is very out of date. I uninstalled it years ago, it was my goto online race for a few years but it has a tiny development team so updates are very infrequent. It's as good as dead now.

 

[Kenny Paton]

And yet you can jump on a server almost anytime and get a race, so there are still a fair amount of people playing it.
It also has the best MP functionality of any sim, shame it's not managed to stay current.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

haven't played it for ages, but especially for older PCs it is a great alternative, the multiplayer is flawless, the limited number of tracks are well designed and the range of cars is good. i fired it up once more some years back and was surprised at how good it felt but haven't played regularly since about 10-12 years ago.

 

[Paddler]

Just laded it again and drive it in VR. Just a great sim!!!

 

[Alexandre Costa]

It is incredible. Very good physics and FFB. And it has the best mirror you can ger using a VR headset, wich adds a lot to immersion.

 

[Kenny Paton]

Just speculating, I can't help wondering what it'd be like now if they had partnered up with another group and kept the development going.

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

certainly makes you think. for me it was the entry into online sim racing and it will forever hold a special place in my memories for doing that, but it was flooded by the first wave of good, enjoyable games out there, i.e. race07, rFactor, iRacing and they just wiped them clean off the board, pity.
turns out laser scanned tracks are more of a buying incentive than interestingly designed fantasy tracks, a real life series is more mesmerizing than well designed fantasy cars, a gridding system by rating is better suited to stimulate online competition than rock solid code and moddability is more enticing than guaranteed compatibility of content.
They made good, sensible decisions which turned out to be wrong, happens to the best of businesses.

 

[Kenny Paton]

They made good, sensible decisions which turned out to be wrong, happens to the best of businesses.

As Sony betamax and Toshiba HD DVD have shown
To be fair EA's F1 series had wetted our appetite for real tracks and series, not forgetting modding.

 

[AccAkut]

@Eckhart von Glan
In their stubborness in keeping a three person team (tho I'd argue for the last ten(!) years it was basically Scawen alone and Victor and Eric only helping from time to time) they turned down so many opportunities. We could have had a race truck, the whole Palatov lineup, a bunch of vintage Fords and numerous tracks....

Recently there has been comparable huge movement again, apparently Scawen overhauled the whole graphics engine, but most argue... for what? There is no userbase left, most people seriously grew out of simracing, have families now and maybe fire up a contemporary title for a few hotlaps now and then if at all.

LFS is only still really being used in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, probably because people there have lower spec PCs and LFS runs on microwaves basically

 

[9397]

For some reason LFS still feels most fun to me, after +300 hours on Assetto Corsa and +100 hours on RRE.

There are still several leagues running weekly events. The physics are good, the fictional tracks are awesome, and close racing feels very real.

What makes LFS extraordinary is the community and the social interface of the game - all time enabled easy-to-use chat with chat history which supports easy interaction and give possibility to enjoy together every second of the race in real time. Shared fun is multiplied fun, I'm not used to laugh out loud while racing other sims, but I do it constantly while racing in LFS.

ps. the graphical update is not out yet...