zerolight
09-10-2003, 10:15
I downloaded the demo yesterday (working from home) and liked it so much that that I paid for the full game. I thought you racers might be interested in my take on it, if you've never played it before. You can find out more on http://lfs.racesimcentral.com/ and http://www.racesimcentral.com/articles/reviews/pc/lfs/index.shtml.
http://www.racesimcentral.com/articles/reviews/pc/lfs/rsccar1.jpg
In the full game you get 7 cars and 3 tracks. It seems like not a lot, but then its only stage 1 of a game being developed by bedroom coders and released in 3 stages, each with more content. S1 cost £12. Its an interesting way to fund development, and also interesting that they take on comments from people on their forum and include in future releases of the game. It can be played online or off.
So. The tracks, of which there are only 3. Well thats kinda in accurate. Each of the tracks has 3 or 4 variations (think suzuka long and short to get the idea) which utilise different sections of track. Then there is a rally-cross track in the middle of the race track. Finally, each of these tracks can be reveresed. The tracks are ficticious, but realistic and technical. There is a city track, and two regular race tracks. Each track has its own challenges... remember Laguna Seca's off camber twist over the brow of a hill. Well there are corners like that, not as severe, but there is a camber, and that throws in a challenge under braking. Oh, and there is also a drag strip and skid pan to play on. Haven't tried that yet.
The cars. Only 7? Yep. But they cross a broad spectrum. They are again, ficticious. Initially you get a FWD GTi and a RWD Coupe. The GTi looks a bit like a Fiat Uno. The Coupe looks like an old RX7 or 200SX. They feel quite slow, but are fun to drive. As you win races, you earn credits which let you unlock cars. I have 200 credits. Thats unlocked the turbo charged version of the RWD Coupe, a Turbo Charged 4WD Coupe, a FWD Touring Car racer which looks like a cross between an Astra Coupe and a Integra Type R, and I have also unlocked a RWD car which looks a lot like the last Supra. Still to unlock are two Caterham style cars. One at 300 and the other at 600 credits. So that covers quite a spectrum of handling styles.
In terms of views and configuration. You have total control. Cockipt view, bumper cam, and trailing cam. Standard stuff. Except you can zoom in and out of these views as much or little as you want. So in cockpit you can be sitting virtually on the back seat, or you can have you nose pressed up against the windscreen. In bumper cam, you can be sitting where the driver is, on the back seat, or right at the bumper. You can even choose whether the front wheels should be visible in bumper cam view. Infact its not a bumper cam, its more like you are sitting in an invisible car. You can also look left and right like in GPL, over your shoulder, etc. You can use a virtual mirror ala Ridge Racer/GT3, or real mirrors (wing mirrors and cockpit rearview mirror). You can decide whether the car is left or right hand drive. In bumper cam (called central cam) you have more of a GT3 perspective, though as I say you can zoom in and out. You can even configure the height your view is, how wide an angle it covers, the depth of vision, etc. Totally tailorable. And the zooming, its assigned to buttons or POV, so you can do it on the fly whilst driving. So you can find that sweet spot.
Handling? Well its been said that it aims at rivaling GPL. It does. Lets talk physics engine. There are tyres laid out in certain sections of the track to stop you from cutting corners. You've seen that before. What happens when you hit them in F355 or some other game? You stop. They stay where they are? In LFS, the slow you, as they should, they also move. Some are lighter than others. If you hit them hard, they fly away, and bounce (yes bounce, just like a wheel coming off ur car in GPL) down the track, getting in other drivers way. You can roll your car, you can end up on your roof, and it all happens very convincingly.
Say your in a FWD car. You clip a high kerb on a corner, your front end loses grip, the wheels spin, and you understeer off the track, unless your quick at correcting the mistake and were not going to fast to begin with. Do the same thing with a RWD car, and the nose will bite again because the wheels weren't spinning... you better just hope the back end doesnt clip the kerb too, or you'll be fighting massive oversteer. It takes a good few laps to get driving a FWD car quickly round a track. There are sections when you feel you are tip-toeing your way through, on the edge. RWD cars take longer to master. Switching from FWD to RWD and cornering and braking techniques have to change so much that you take a while to aclimatise. The handling is certainly as realistic as GPL. But more fun.
Its not as hard as GPL, because your driving modern cars with more grip and less power. You will make it round a lap of the track easily. Being competitive, now thats another matter. Right now I've earned my credits, winning races, but pitting myself against a bunch of AI drivers in the slowest class car, whilst giving myself the fastest car. Now the AI. Its quite impressive too. They have to learn the track. They game tells you if the AI has ever raced it before. And saves their experience. They get better. Not only that, but they pass intelligently. Sure, I've been taken off in a corner (the slightest nudge of a rear quarter in mid corner can be fatal), but mostly they try to pass you if they think they can, even if that means going off the racing line, taking the corner wide, and passing you that way. They also make mistakes... pass in a wrong place and they wont make the racing line through the next corner, they'll hit tyres, which of course can cause its own carnage. You can come around a corner to find someone has spun out and is in your way. All very impressive.
When you go online, you can join someones race. Even if its already running. You will start from the pits, on lap one, even if they are on lap 3 or whatever. I joined in the lowly FWD GTi I had at the time, and they were in the Touring cars. When I joined, before I left the pits I was able to watch their racing (just like a replay). There were two of them, going around nose to tail. Then I joined. That appeared to put a spanner in the works, on my first corner I hit tyres, sent them flying. In my rearview mirror I saw these guys approaching fast. I kept out of the way to the side of the track. The 1st place guy flew past. Unfortunately the second place guy had to avoid the tyres I'd scattered, and in doing so came straight at me.
I can't think of what else to say. It's excellent. And I'm looking forward to the wee caterham style cars. I've only been online with it briefly to see what it was like, but its all rather good. You have to create a login name when you start, and its the same name you will always login as, it cannot be changed. So in that respect, its like a Gamertag. And they have online scoreboards, fastest laps per car, etc. I think folk also organise racing events, and have their own teams. For 12 quid its ace.
In future installments you can expect damage (currently there is none), new tracks, new cars, and a host of other features which people have requested. There is no release date for future updates. They're done when they're done. SO you have to look at this as a complete game of sorts. And for £12 its worth it. They also seem very active in fixing bugs. Oh, and they are UK based.
http://www.racesimcentral.com/articles/reviews/pc/lfs/rsccar1.jpg
In the full game you get 7 cars and 3 tracks. It seems like not a lot, but then its only stage 1 of a game being developed by bedroom coders and released in 3 stages, each with more content. S1 cost £12. Its an interesting way to fund development, and also interesting that they take on comments from people on their forum and include in future releases of the game. It can be played online or off.
So. The tracks, of which there are only 3. Well thats kinda in accurate. Each of the tracks has 3 or 4 variations (think suzuka long and short to get the idea) which utilise different sections of track. Then there is a rally-cross track in the middle of the race track. Finally, each of these tracks can be reveresed. The tracks are ficticious, but realistic and technical. There is a city track, and two regular race tracks. Each track has its own challenges... remember Laguna Seca's off camber twist over the brow of a hill. Well there are corners like that, not as severe, but there is a camber, and that throws in a challenge under braking. Oh, and there is also a drag strip and skid pan to play on. Haven't tried that yet.
The cars. Only 7? Yep. But they cross a broad spectrum. They are again, ficticious. Initially you get a FWD GTi and a RWD Coupe. The GTi looks a bit like a Fiat Uno. The Coupe looks like an old RX7 or 200SX. They feel quite slow, but are fun to drive. As you win races, you earn credits which let you unlock cars. I have 200 credits. Thats unlocked the turbo charged version of the RWD Coupe, a Turbo Charged 4WD Coupe, a FWD Touring Car racer which looks like a cross between an Astra Coupe and a Integra Type R, and I have also unlocked a RWD car which looks a lot like the last Supra. Still to unlock are two Caterham style cars. One at 300 and the other at 600 credits. So that covers quite a spectrum of handling styles.
In terms of views and configuration. You have total control. Cockipt view, bumper cam, and trailing cam. Standard stuff. Except you can zoom in and out of these views as much or little as you want. So in cockpit you can be sitting virtually on the back seat, or you can have you nose pressed up against the windscreen. In bumper cam, you can be sitting where the driver is, on the back seat, or right at the bumper. You can even choose whether the front wheels should be visible in bumper cam view. Infact its not a bumper cam, its more like you are sitting in an invisible car. You can also look left and right like in GPL, over your shoulder, etc. You can use a virtual mirror ala Ridge Racer/GT3, or real mirrors (wing mirrors and cockpit rearview mirror). You can decide whether the car is left or right hand drive. In bumper cam (called central cam) you have more of a GT3 perspective, though as I say you can zoom in and out. You can even configure the height your view is, how wide an angle it covers, the depth of vision, etc. Totally tailorable. And the zooming, its assigned to buttons or POV, so you can do it on the fly whilst driving. So you can find that sweet spot.
Handling? Well its been said that it aims at rivaling GPL. It does. Lets talk physics engine. There are tyres laid out in certain sections of the track to stop you from cutting corners. You've seen that before. What happens when you hit them in F355 or some other game? You stop. They stay where they are? In LFS, the slow you, as they should, they also move. Some are lighter than others. If you hit them hard, they fly away, and bounce (yes bounce, just like a wheel coming off ur car in GPL) down the track, getting in other drivers way. You can roll your car, you can end up on your roof, and it all happens very convincingly.
Say your in a FWD car. You clip a high kerb on a corner, your front end loses grip, the wheels spin, and you understeer off the track, unless your quick at correcting the mistake and were not going to fast to begin with. Do the same thing with a RWD car, and the nose will bite again because the wheels weren't spinning... you better just hope the back end doesnt clip the kerb too, or you'll be fighting massive oversteer. It takes a good few laps to get driving a FWD car quickly round a track. There are sections when you feel you are tip-toeing your way through, on the edge. RWD cars take longer to master. Switching from FWD to RWD and cornering and braking techniques have to change so much that you take a while to aclimatise. The handling is certainly as realistic as GPL. But more fun.
Its not as hard as GPL, because your driving modern cars with more grip and less power. You will make it round a lap of the track easily. Being competitive, now thats another matter. Right now I've earned my credits, winning races, but pitting myself against a bunch of AI drivers in the slowest class car, whilst giving myself the fastest car. Now the AI. Its quite impressive too. They have to learn the track. They game tells you if the AI has ever raced it before. And saves their experience. They get better. Not only that, but they pass intelligently. Sure, I've been taken off in a corner (the slightest nudge of a rear quarter in mid corner can be fatal), but mostly they try to pass you if they think they can, even if that means going off the racing line, taking the corner wide, and passing you that way. They also make mistakes... pass in a wrong place and they wont make the racing line through the next corner, they'll hit tyres, which of course can cause its own carnage. You can come around a corner to find someone has spun out and is in your way. All very impressive.
When you go online, you can join someones race. Even if its already running. You will start from the pits, on lap one, even if they are on lap 3 or whatever. I joined in the lowly FWD GTi I had at the time, and they were in the Touring cars. When I joined, before I left the pits I was able to watch their racing (just like a replay). There were two of them, going around nose to tail. Then I joined. That appeared to put a spanner in the works, on my first corner I hit tyres, sent them flying. In my rearview mirror I saw these guys approaching fast. I kept out of the way to the side of the track. The 1st place guy flew past. Unfortunately the second place guy had to avoid the tyres I'd scattered, and in doing so came straight at me.
I can't think of what else to say. It's excellent. And I'm looking forward to the wee caterham style cars. I've only been online with it briefly to see what it was like, but its all rather good. You have to create a login name when you start, and its the same name you will always login as, it cannot be changed. So in that respect, its like a Gamertag. And they have online scoreboards, fastest laps per car, etc. I think folk also organise racing events, and have their own teams. For 12 quid its ace.
In future installments you can expect damage (currently there is none), new tracks, new cars, and a host of other features which people have requested. There is no release date for future updates. They're done when they're done. SO you have to look at this as a complete game of sorts. And for £12 its worth it. They also seem very active in fixing bugs. Oh, and they are UK based.