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S2: First impressions

It is very special for S1 lovers to start LFS S2 for the first time. After months of waiting, many new screenshots, interviews and developer reports, the patience and the anticipation have been strained very much and then finally it’s done.
The first start: the menus look different. They look modern, finer and just better than before. For the first time you have a background picture. You can change that of course by putting another picture in .jpg format. This way, you can put a team design to your LFS menu in S2. You can even change the colour of the buttons as well as the saturation of the colours, which means that short after the release, there will be new interfaces, as you can personalize virtually the whole menu. For those of you who might think that this is at the cost of the simplicity and the usability of the menus, you are wrong. The structure and the performance of the menus in S2 is the same as in S1 what probably will cheer up many old stagers in LFS. On the track: For the first run, we took a FormulaXR and chose Aston for the test drive. At first, we went to the garage to adjust some basic options in the setup. As we left the setup screen, we found ourselves in the garage, more specifically in the pit buildings, not as in S1 in front of the pit. In the garage you can find neat textures on the wall and the room is filled with work benches, tyres and all kinds of tools and equipment. We went to the first gear, left the pit lane and took the first curve combination at full throttle. Very soon you’ll notice that the general speed in S2 is a lot higher than in S1. Narrow chicanes, relatively short straights and even rails on the track have been replaced by long straights, high speed curves and technically challenging passages. The new tracks are a lot faster and it has to be like this, because naturally you want to race the new cars at full speeds.

Pitstops

Besides the new cars and the new tracks (see box below), S2 has a whole lot of improvements and expansions. For the first time it is possible to make pit stops, no, it is even necessary to make pit stops in a race. The mileage will be simulated very accurately as well as the tyres will lose grip in every round. With these two features, a very realistic and at the same time essential aspect of racing has been added to the game namely tactics and the necessity to find the right strategy to get through the race. How many pit stops you do, how much fuel you have on board and which tyres you use are important factors that decide about victory or defeat in the game. Certainly you will notice that the handling changed and you will notice whether the rides are heavy (filled up) or light which is good for fast rounds. Even the movement of the fuel in the tank while driving fast curves will be simulated and you will feel the changing balance point. Once more, LFS is trend-setting with this feature and ahead of every other racing game on the market.

The driving behaviour

LFS has not only been improved with pit stops, but in many other points as well. The driving behaviour has been extended once more and fine-tuned and now it feels alarmingly realistic. The cars react to rough tracks as well as to setup changes and of course, to the different drivers. They react the way you would expect from real cars. LFS really gives you the feeling of steering a car with four tyres, of leaving skid marks on the track and of moving the car at the limits. For the first time, there will be different suspension models to give the cars of the different classes their proper driving behaviour. For example, the so-called "McPherson Strut” suspension has different characteristics than the well known "Wishbone” suspension for formula cars.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the new tyre model in our version, but it will be implemented in the final version which will provide even more realism. The tyres will heat up while driving, and when they have the right temperature, they have their full performance. If the driver starts too aggressively, the tyres will lose grip too fast and you ruin your whole racing strategy, because you have to do an additional pit stop. Many drivers in the community will have to adjust their driving habits and learn to handle the "black gold”.

Sound

The engine sound has changed very much, too. The developers still count on synthetically generated sounds. So, it is not enough to just replace some wave files and it’s done. You have to implement, adjust and optimise new sound algorithms.
The new sound is amazing compared to the lean engine humming in S1. If you accelerate an FZ-50 in the sixth gear, you will think that you’re driving a real Ferrari, because the sound is very realistic and dynamic. The squealing of the tyres and the airstream have been revised as well and are now more realistic than before. The development of the sound engine will go on as well. The developers already have announced that they will continue to work on it and expand it in further versions of the game.

Damage

For all S1 lovers, the damage models will be the biggest surprise. Many drivers are anticipated and demanded damage models in the official forum. Some drivers consider damage models essential, other drivers prefer tyre wear and pit stops. Official announcements from the developers originally said that the damage models won’t be implemented before the final version S3. However, all drivers will probably be satisfied, because all features are already implemented in S2.
The damage is not limited to the engine only, but you can destroy the whole car now. If you take the curbs a little too rough or have a ride in the gravel pit, your suspension might suffer and even bend. You will notice a change in the driving behaviour. The damage model goes even further: if you hit the crash barrier very hard, you can destroy the car completely. The deformation of the chassis will be simulated starting accurately from the spot where the impact took place. There are no pre-defined hit boxes which deform always in the same way like in other racing games. In the final version of S2, tyres, wings and spoilers will break off which means after a hard crash your race definitely will be over.

20 drivers online

This announcement will be interesting mainly for league admins. The maximum player count raises in S2 from 16 to 20. This means more action on the track, more takeovers and more players will be lapped. There will be 20 starting places and the pit lane will be extended to make 20 drivers fit in. The anyway great multiplayer mode has even been improved again and once more LFS shows with S2 how a good net code has to look in an online game. You can send your setups to other players via point-and-click. You can download skins for everybody to see in the game. Some leagues that have used a two grid system up to now, will possibly change to one big grid.