theedge

Dunno if this has been posted before, but I came accross this posted on another forum.

http://lfs.racesimcentral.com/

"Live for Speed is a small development team dedicated to making the best online racing simulator. We currently have two versions available, Live for Speed Demo and Live for Speed S1 with which we attempt to recreate the thrill and fun of real racing, by simulating all aspects important to racing. Varying racing environments and cars which can be setup by an abundance of options - all on your home pc."



Its available for download, I got the full version which I guess has a damn time limit on it (for now ) and its a 150MB download.

I just finished screwing around in it for a few laps, my general n00b summary:

-Fscking fiddly to setup, at least the racing wheel part, beware. I personally dont care, but just be forwarned.
-Supports force feedback (Im borrowing for friends Momo racing wheel)
-Runs and looks nice on my old video card.
-Seems to have a very nice physics engine, over/under steer, the works as far as ive found.
-Allows you to set a button or pedal for the clutch.
-Primarily aimed at online play. I was playing by myself, so I cant comment on the AI right now.
-LOTS LOTS LOTS of things to change about the cars, ride height, braking balance front to rear, suspenion details, all kinds of stuff.
-You can earn points, which you put towards a new car, or work on your car.
-Lots of misc other options like viewpoint, etc etc.

Overall: Wicked indepth, options out the whazoo for the cars and such, has both offroad ralley and pavement tracks, annoying soundtrack which can THANKFULLY be turned off (very annoying techno/dance crap music), support for other languages. Seems to run decently on less powerful computers.

Looks like it could be a lot of run. No 944 models (lots of ricier stuff lol) but I have yet to look for an addon for other cars.

theedge

Some screenshots I took for you. Didnt do any ingame ones, theres some on the site.

Mark Lue

Thanks edge, downloading has begun !

Veeeery coincidental that I got a Logitec Froce feedback steering wheel from Santa and I was going to make a post asking what game I could download to try it out on.

theedge

Ditto here, I found this at another forum just before asking about more sims to try besides Porsche Unleashed.

Fishguy

I m gonna buy this game and use it to practice so maybe i wont suck when i try autocrossing this upcoming season

awesome realistic racer, top notch

turbo944

This was actually posted some time back....maybe even by me...I don't remember now....we discussed this one and another freebie called Racer at www.racer.nl but if you think this one is fiddly to setup, Racer is open ended and much more of a task to setup, although there is a 944 S2 available for it and I'm going to eventually have a 951 that can be changed to put on different wheels, colors, etc. so you can drive your own car in the game. I've still not found a good setup on the suspension for it, but I've got a pretty good powerband for a modded one that really seems to come on the power as you drive, somewhat like the boost does.

Anyway......Racer is actually a fantastic game physics wise. Go into a corner too hot and hit the brakes and try to turn and you get understeer into the nearest gravel pit or wall. Oversteer is mucho fun and drifting is a pretty big thing for people playing it. The online forum for it has some setups you can download.

I've driven against the AI....they start off slow, but they learn. That means if you race the same selected AI guys, they will learn to drive the track better and if you don't, you'll get spanked after a while. Do drive though and you'll notice when you race them that you get some credits. Get enough and you get the XR GT Turbo which is pretty fun to drive.

They did a great job with a scaling graphics engine for the game so that slower machines can run it, I have a fast enough one that I run everything turned on.

These guys, being independent, have to basically "design" their own cars for release with the game as it is a for profit project. Since it is they cannot legally use real cars in the game from manufacturers without giving them money and right now they are just getting the game going, so I don't really expect to see any until they offer the ability for 3rd parties to add free mods to the game. They are a rather odd lot of cars out there, but hopefully the game will completely mature and get through all the stages and it should be a really awesome sim.

Just my $9.44.....hey, parts are expensive!!!!!