| Live for Speed S2 Facts : | ||
|
| General note: There were a lot of 'Will there be' questions and we find those hard to answer, because it is not how we work. We do not sit, and write down all the things which will eventually be in the game and stick with that. Many things are decided on the fly and created when it is logical to be created. It's because of that why some of the answers can be a bit short, but now you know why :) It's because we haven't really thought about the question yet.) TIRES, TIRE WEAR AND TELEMETRY BHMS: There will be tire wear in S2, does this mean that there will be a soft, medium or hard compound? Scawen: I can't say for sure until it's done - at first in testing we'll have one compound and see how it goes from there. It's not needed in LFS at the moment so much as in real life, because we don't have the changing weather conditions that we expect to add in S3. BHMS: Will the grass and gravel stick to the tires and also cause a loss in grip? Scawen: I hope so but at this stage it can't be guaranteed... at the moment my focus is the wear and temperatures. BHMS: Is there going to be skidmarks in S2? Scawen: I think so as it goes hand in hand with tyre wear... BHMS: What kind of tyre temp display there will be? Always on screen when you drive or how some other way? Scawen: I think there should be a mode where you can see the temperatures on screen (for practice) and a hardcore mode where that info is not available (for serious racing). BHMS: Will the new suspension modelling in S2 effect to camber settings? At the moment in S1 in FXO the fastest setups have almost not at all negative camber. If you look any race car front wheels position, they have loads of negative camber, like real ETCC cars. Though this does not effect to gameplay in any way, but those cars would look more realistic, as a race cars. Scawen: In S1 the tyres lost too much grip with any amount of lean angle, but this is fixed in S2, so it's possible to use more camber if that helps with the setup for that track / car combination. PITSTOPS & FUEL BHMS: As we know already, there will be pitstops and fuel usage in s2. Are these going to configurable when starting a server, meaning, like could you increase the rate of fuel consumption and tyre wear or having forced pitstop races? Scawen: We don't have any plans for changing the rate of fuel consumption or tyre wear but a forced pit stop option is on my list. BHMS: Can you modify next pitstop fuel and tyre choices in the middle of the race? Is there an option to modify or change the setup during the race? Scawen: I would like to add some keys to change fuel amount, tyre pressures, tyre compounds if available and various things like wing settings and suspension settings. It would be nice as well if on some cars, the anti-roll bars or brake balance could be changed on the move. BHMS: Could the player himself or amount of damage in car effect to pitstop duration, and/or is there some random element, like simulated mistakes made by "pit crew"? Scawen: I don't like the idea of random time added as that's the kind of thing that can make a race unfair - it's what we don't like to see in real life and luckily we can avoid it in a simulator. Currently i'm thinking of two modes (1) instant damage repair in the pits, where all damage is fixed immediately, and (2) realistic damage repair, only some things can be fixed and each item takes a certain amount of time to fix. BHMS: When a car enters to pit for a pitstop what will happen if another car crashes that car which is in the pits? Scawen: At the moment, the parked car is knocked out of its position and the pitstop ends. :-) BHMS: Does the amount and movement of the fuel in tank effect much to cars handling? Scawen: I don't plan to simulate it actually moving around in the tank for S2. The handling is changed quite a lot in a light car as a heavy fuel load is used up because of the mass and weight distribution change.SOUND AND GRAPHICS BHMS: Sound is just as important as graphics in a realistic racing simulation... How are you going to improve the sounds, especially engine sounds in S2? Scawen: We've made some changes to the way the exhaust pipe works and added an environmental echo system. We still have other ideas to experiment with, as the cars don't yet sound as powerful as we'd like them to. BHMS: Is there going to be any major difference in graphics quality in S2? Scawen: There aren't any major changes to our 3d engine core so we don't have some things we'd like to see in future like specular effects, changing weather and so on. But Eric is working on all the tracks and making improvements within the current system. Eric: Since the first release of S1 the 3D code has improved a bit so I'm able to use more polygons for all the cars and the track graphics. I'm also using higher resolutions for the textures. WEATHER BHMS: Loads of questions came in about weather, what kind of weather effects we are looking for in S2, or do we have to wait until S3 to see them? Victor: Weather effects will not be in S2, but will indeed have to wait for S3. It's not completely decided what effects there will be, but an old wish is to have 'real time of day' (position of sun). So that includes night driving. And a weather system would not be complete without at least having rain for wet road surfaces. Looking forward to that myself :) DAMAGE MODELING BHMS: Is the engine damage modelling improved in S2? Is there information available(gauges) for engine heat and oil pressure? Scawen: We have a guage for engine temperature, and i expect to add more damage systems to the engine, for example a damaged radiator in a crash. BHMS: Will there be (adjustable) rev limiter? Scawen: I think there will be a rev limiter. BHMS: How about transmission, could you damage it in S2, like loosig gears, or to have some failure in differential? Scawen: I haven't thought about that much but as a guess, probably not for S2. It's one of many things that will depend on the time available. BHMS: Tell us a bit more about suspension damage in S2! Scawen: You can damage the thrust bearing by bottoming out the suspension and eventually it can break so you have no more springs and dampers on that wheel. Side impacts can damage lower and upper suspension arms or damage the wheel alignment. Also the whole suspension and wheel can be moved a bit when there is a major impact to that region of the car. BHMS: Is it possible to damage your car in S2 so badly that it`s not possible to fix it in pitstop during the race? Scawen: Yes you can damage it so it's not drivable any more.GENEREAL BHMS: Is there a plan to implement tracks with different adherence characteristics due to dirt, water, oil, paint etc.? It could allow racing on a track with a narrow clean path and dirt on the sides to provide more challenge wile passing. Regarding tires, dirt driving could increase chances on blown tires etc. Victor: I think it would be great to have that. Somehow i think that will be a possibility when 'rain and wet road surface' will be done, thinking of puddles and oil stains being like rain, falling on the ground and changing surface characteristics. BHMS: Is it possible to impliment option for skin download from clients, or does this eat too much bandwith? It`s just that there`s so many white cars out there...:) Victor: there are some ideas for that on the shelves. It's just one of those things that do not have a very high priority and will be done eventually. BHMS: Are asymmetric setups possible, considering especially oval racing? Scawen: It's not done yet but it's on the list to be considered. BHMS: Will the existing skins for FXO, GTI and GTT fit on their new race versions? Eric: Most of the skins created for the S1 cars will need a slight adjustment to fit on the new S2 cars and new race versions. All the cars shapes are being updated all the time so this is unavoidable. BHMS: How moddable will the game be? Victor: LFS S1, S2 and S3 will not be moddable. That is, no self created 3d content can be added or changed. The plan has always been to work out some kind of way for public modding after S3. BHMS: Will the number of players increase in S2? Victor: Yes. The number of LFS racers grows every day, although it does not always reflect in the statistics. But many people are waiting for S2 to come out and many people still have not yet tried the sim, so some records should be broken when S2 is out :) Scawen: Or did you mean the number of players in a race? :-) The first S2 release will allow 20 racers per host. Victor: LOL, yeah that's probably what he meant :) BHMS: And in the end, do we have any kind of change to have some video or soundclip from S2 before it`s release, that would really make lots of LFS fans out there really really happy? And of course, everyone is interested(surprise:)) about release date, any estimate concerning that? Victor: There will be an official video from us, not too far from now. And yes, it will contain sound :) About release dates, as usual we cannot give any, because we simply don't know when all is done what should be done to complete S2. Alpha stage is approaching though, which means the main features are there and we'll be working on refinements and detail, which, all in all, still is a lot of work. Big thank you to developers and Esa Kajander for preparing the questions. |
|
Comments : |
|
| Author: Scott Michaels | 17-09-2004 |
|
Very interesting, thanks guys :D |
|
| Author: Henrico | 17-09-2004 |
|
Really cool, concise, interesting interview. Thanks BH ;) |
|
| Author: Xero | 18-09-2004 |
|
Nice article! Sounds to me like they are being very conservative about releasing info though... perhaps keeping some secrets/surprises for the release? |
|
| Author: Bob Smith | 18-09-2004 |
|
Nice. Never a boring conversation with the devs. Let's just hope they leave some of the little things for S2B, S2C, etc - I wanna get playing! |
|
| Author: lfs noob | 18-09-2004 |
|
great interview WEEE SKIDAMARKS :D |
|
| Author: killo | 18-09-2004 |
|
nice nice nice!!! * |
|
| Author: AK-47 | 18-09-2004 |
|
Great interview ! Thank You BHMS ! |
|
| Author: Sien | 18-09-2004 |
|
I'm really lookin' forward to S2! The feature-list sounds great! |
|
| Author: pitzamann | 18-09-2004 |
|
cool interview. nice 2 hear about skidmarks and the upcomin video. i want 2 play it NOW ;o) |
|
| Author: LOL | 18-09-2004 |
|
Makes no sense. They don't answer any ?'s sayign they haven't made decision about this for S2, then the last thing they say is that it is in Alpha stage with ALL main features are there... LOL bout right... |
|
| Author: Scotty | 19-09-2004 |
|
I think is used a lot with the start of each answer to the question asked. Or it's on the list to be considered. I think I'll wait for S3. |
|
| Author: Teddi | 19-09-2004 |
|
Mommy! :D |
|
| Author: MonZta | 20-09-2004 |
|
Very nice interview. Not as much for the things told but more that us racers can see that there are still much acticity making S2 available. I for one look very much forward to S2 cu�s theres so much in s1 that need changing (damage etc) to make it a SIM sim .. Hope i can get S2 for christmas :o) |
|
| Author: Nasos | 21-09-2004 |
|
Ok nice interview.But i was always thinking that when at least this game realesed will be old. an thats couse the base will be old. as years passing new things developed and will be hard to use them at this game. bad... |
|
| Author: Sci | 23-09-2004 |
|
Excellent news, cant wait! |
|
| Author: Techno Racer | 29-11-2004 |
|
nice job from you guys of BHMS! |
|
| Author: RBR | 08-12-2004 |
|
waiting s2 :D work,work guis |
|
| Author: RAYfighter | 10-06-2005 |
|
Found the S2 demo lately and definetly going to buy S2 licence. Great game for a great prize! (and I'm saying that from Slovakia) |
|
| Author: ~K!lleR~$:] | 05-07-2005 |
|
cool! |
|
|
published at : bhmotorsports.com © copyright 1999 - 2002 |