rec.autos.simulators

Take a look at what LFS offers with its desktop (not the greatest but not
bad) and it's statistics and hot-lapping section.  ISI is nowhere near this.

The developers of LFS are out in the open with the community; I saw one ISI
developer here (a token visit) and rarely see them on the RSC forums.  It's
as if they have released their product and washed their hands of it.

Alanb

Whomever LFS is targetting is not the issue, unless you're saying that LFS
is more like NFS and rFactor is more like GPL.  LFS is an excellent
simulator, especially when it comes to tire grip.  With my limited knowledge
of what a car on the track should feel like, I think LFS' tire grip modeling
is way ahead of both GTR and rFactor.  I never felt the tires in GTR.  With
rFactor at least it is a little better, but nothing compared to LFS.

This is total BS.  LFS' feel is nowhere near NFS'.  The game is very good.
I've yet to even get a flat tire or any kind of mechanical failure in
rFactor.  In LFS tire wear and grip surpasses rFactor by a good mile, though
I think rFactor is an improvement.  But then again I'm pretty open-minded
and not apt to have feelings of my own superiority over others.

I like both sims.  The problem I have with rFactor is that it just appears
that ISI is going to abandon ship now that their game is out.  I wonder,
will LFS S2 (complete)be released before the first rFactor patch?  Right
now, all rFactor has on LFS is its moddability, but even this is getting
rather comical, as some are calling even the slightest chance a mod.  I'm
just waiting around here for someone to change the tint of the green exit
pit lights and then call it a new mod. (This is all a part of this
superiority complex, is the way I see it.)

All in all though I'm racing rFactor rather than LFS right now, mainly
because there is sure to be some nice new cars and tracks to be released.
Once LFS gets a track and car maker, rFactor will be forgotten.  The
developers of LFS are taking their time and doing it right; ISI is
interested in something else, like making some quick cash.

Alanb

You know once I played a game of golf with a guy with one arm.  He kicked my
arse.  I gave a chuckle then, too, but I was laughing at myself.

Alanb

Based on the posts Ive read of yours you come across much different than you
percieve yourself...

myself.

Thanks for popping in under the noise ;)

Mitch

  you haven't seen the ISI business model then I take it.  The biggest
advantage that ISI now has is NOT being under the thumb of a corporate
parent.  They don't HAVE to have rFv2 out by Christmas.  They don't have to
have v3 out by fall.  They can concentrate on rF just like the LFS guys are
doing.  

  You will see mod support, not just by the modders but to the modders by
ISI.  And you will see unsupported mods as well.  If somebody like the old
SIMBIN team can find a way to whip more out of the programing package, then
we'll see another step forward.  I understand ISI may have some private sim
projects for other entities, but rFactor is going to be their cash cow...if
they have one.  I will be hugely suprised if rF just fades away.  
  I do wonder what they will do to continue the cash flow..do we have to
buy rf sp2 or will it be free as a patch?  This won't affect us end users
this year, but what about next year?

dave henrie

With the ***up that iRacing has done to the community, there's nothing
holding ISI to do the same, just to back up their arse in case of some legal
action by some entity,stopping some mods to be released.

How can we be so sure?  What's telling you somebody ain't gonna slap a
no-release legal paper on a mod? What's telling you Mods aren't going to
start charging money for mods that will be supported by rFactor?  Like they
are going to take the chance and support let's say, an F1 mod on racecast

Let's not celebrate until we see how truly third-party friendly they are.

--
-- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard>
-- This announcement is brought to you by the Shimago-Dominguez
Corporation - helping America into the New World...

However, sim enthusiasts always want to get their hands on a product as
eealy as possible so fair play for getting it out and planning to update
it. Unfortunatley the same people that want it early can often critisize
the most the missing features - so there is an element of risk even with
an enthusiast group :(

For those of us who have organised leagues and are trying rFactor the
missing features become unimportant and we have workarounds for
connecting. Generally the experience is good, especially with the OW cars.

No doubt there are some issues with flags and pace car laps that need
sorting but the most important thing for a sim racer is the underlying
engine and flags and other features can always (hopefully) be fixed. As
long as there is a belief ISI will fix these issues (we have had enough
experience here where they haven't) then I believe the ***
community (which this group represents) will be on board.

As you will no doubt have noticed this is an unmoderated board and
inevitably will have some rogue posters (!). Look beyond those and you
will discovers some diamonds within the rough :)

Cheers
Tony

Of course, rFactor will never be mainstream, because it's not in shops,
doesn't have advertising, and doesn't simulate a real life race series
(all things which get random people to buy your product in HMV).  So
ISI will only make their money from us.  They can afford to sell a lot
fewer copies because they make so much money per copy, but if they
***us over, that's it.  So I would imagine they would be *very*
interested in keeping us happy and not abandoning ship.

Top-posters, mainly.  :)

Alanb

Create a "Friends List" and build up your "Bookmarks", you can use either
to connect to servers even if the list is down.

From the readme:

On the Join page (found under the Connect icon in the main options), you
will find three tabs at the top - Server List, Friends List, and Chat.  The
Server List is where you are taken to by default and lists the games you
can join.

Under Friends List, you can specify friends by their profile name and
clicking the Plus icon to add them.  Later on, you will be able to see
which of your friends are racing right now.  In the right pane you will see
games you have bookmarked.  Once you are in a race, you can bookmark the
server by pressing the call-vote button in the bottom-left portion of the
monitor and then pressing the "Bookmark" button.  From then on, just go to
the Friends List, pick the bookmarked server and hit Join Race.

I've seen it.  At first it looked like a single, white thread, spinning
slowly in the air.  When you mentioned it here, I took a closer look, and
indeed the thread moves as my wheel moves.  Not much of an annoyance
anymore: I'm just ignoring it.

Alanb