Live for speed

The paid version of the game includes

• 8 racetracks with 50 track configurations:
  • ring asphalt tracks
  • mixed race tracks for rally cross
  • drag racing lane
  • oval track
  • training grounds
• 20 cars of different classes:
  • road class (powerful compact cars and sports coupe)
  • sports class (front, rear and all-wheel drive cars with turbo engines)
  • lightweight two - seater kit cars similar to the Caterham Super 7 ( Lotus 7 )
  • powerful body racing cars similar to the GT class
  • 5 racing single-seat cars, “formulas” (including BMW Sauber Formula 1 car)
• 4 game modes:
  • single player game against computer
  • network game over the Internet and in a local network
  • fast circles
  • training exercises

There is a system of text commands and scripts ; diagram editor, in which you can arrange cones , stacks of tires, fences and jumps on the tracks; synthetic sound editor; support fast circles with a set of rules.

The network game in LFS is close in functionality to 3D shooters (for example, Quake 3 ) and at the time of its release was one of the most convenient among car simulators. Racers are fined and disqualified for speeding on the pit lane, mandatory pit stops are possible, players traveling against traffic are automatically deleted.

License : demo - available in demo (free), S1 - costs 6 pounds , S2 - 12 pounds, S3 - 18 pounds. All Demo, S1 and S2 cars are available in the more expensive S3.

Type : collective image of one or another class of machines; real car under an assumed name; licensed real car.

STD Class

The STD (Standard) class includes relatively low-powered road cars.

TBO Class

Turbocharged road cars.

LRF Class

High-speed two-seater cars. The class is named after the first letters of the names of the cars.

SS Class

Single car seats ( single-seaters )

The first public test version of LFS 0.04d appeared on the Internet on the website of Scowen Roberts in August 2002 .

After a series of test versions, the first paid version of S1 (Stage 1, “Stage 1”) was published in July 2003 . In total, 3 such stages are planned.

Version S2 was planned to be published in 2004 , but it was postponed, and appeared only in spring 2005 called S2 alpha. Despite the delays in the release of the final version of S2, the game won the prize "Best Racing Simulator of 2005" and a number of other nominations from Blackhole Motorsports

In April 2006, in the next LFS patch, a BMW Formula 1 team car appeared.

In December 2008, the authors wrote: “ Volkswagen Scirocco is postponed” - and “disappeared” for eight months. They appeared on August 21, 2009 with the message: at the moment, a new physical model of tires is being worked out. Obviously, a serious update should be released in a few months. The new car will be available under license S1. At the same time, they promised the first real race track - Rockingham ( Great Britain ), measured by a laser scanner ^[3] - and seriously limit the scope of settings for road cars. In 2013, neither one nor the other, nor the third came out.

In September 2009 it was announced ^[4] that developers are moving away from naming software versions S1, S2, S3 and so on (the S number means the type of license and refers to the content that will be available to you - cars, tracks, individual functions). According to the developers, it makes no sense to name the LFS software version “S1” or “S2”. The simulator is constantly evolving. This, therefore, frees developers from the need to "complete S2" (release the final version), before the release of S3 content. They also discussed the possibility of calling the next version simply “Live for Speed ​​0.6A” - without the addition of “ alpha ” and “ beta ” (the game is already quite stable). A version number below 1.0 in any case indicates that there is still room for improvement.

The version 0.6F, which appeared in 2014, supports Oculus Rift , the empty Westhill track has overgrown with scenery, the game has switched to DirectX 9. Work continues on a new physical model.

In December 2015, after a series of test patches, a version of the game 0.6K with the S3 license was published, which already includes the previously promised real racing circuit - Rockingham ( UK ). Work on filling content with the S3 license will continue after the Christmas holidays.

A number of changes were also made to the graphics of the game. Added editor of training races. Added support for HTC Vive VR . Improved bot logic (AI).

In the construction of any simulators, two complementary strategies can be distinguished: modeling and setting performance indicators .

Popular simulators, for example, rFactor , F1 2002 , GTR , are mainly made according to the second strategy, and are essentially not simulators, but arcades. In LFS, in contrast to them, the mechanics of the suspension, the deformation and temperature of the tires, the deformation of the levers of the suspension, the distribution of the mass of the machine and inertia along all axes are modeled. However, certain characteristics are also set through numerical parameters: tire friction, aerodynamic drag.

Simulators built on this principle are rare and not widely known: Grand Prix Legends , NASCAR Racing 2003 , IRacing , NetKar Pro , Rigs of Rods . A similar situation exists in flight simulators: Microsoft Flight Simulator follows the approach of characteristics, and X-Plane from Laminar Research - modeling the aerodynamics of the aircraft body.

• Setting dynamic characteristics makes it easy to imitate the "behavior" of machines in typical conditions. But even under typical conditions, the level of realism remains low.
• The strengths of modeling are 1) the ability to recreate a machine in the simulator by its size and minimum number of characteristics, 2) realistic behavior in abnormal situations: drifts , supercritical angles of attack and corkscrews , adequate operation of machine components and assemblies.

• Official Live for Speed ​​website .
• The official forum .
• The community of all Russian-speaking players Live for Speed (Russian) .