Live For Speed | Latest Graphic Update Previews

Paul Jeffrey

Premium
The Live for Speed Development Team remain busy - previewing some further developments on the graphical side of the title at the South City circuit.

Live for Speed has been around for well, well, well over a decade now, but like any fine wine, the title continues to improve with age - especially now that the small development team have upped the ante in recent months as they look to bring a fresh lease of life to the ageing graphics within the simulation.

Reviewing the whole graphical aspect of the game, from the addition to day-to-night transition to significantly improved visuals, the latest preview from the ongoing development once again look rather tasty indeed..

From the latest LfS Development blog:

In our July progress report we talked about the realtime sky that allows day to night transitions and showed screenshots of the Kyoto track area. Since then, Eric has been working on South City and Scawen has continued with the lighting. More roads have been opened up and you can drive into the multistorey car parks. Road surfaces, fences, barriers, objects and various buildings have been updated. There is still a way to go but we would like to show you some of the changes so far.

LfS Roadmap Preview1.jpg
LfS Roadmap Preview2.jpg
LfS Roadmap Preview3.jpg


With realistic brightness values, the difference between night and day is very extreme. For example a shot taken in street lighting may need around 4000 times the exposure of a daylight shot. To compare LFS with real photos we have a manual exposure mode with the same settings as a digital camera. In normal use, exposure and white balance are automatically controlled.

LfS Roadmap Preview5.jpg



A bloom effect has been added for the High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode. This spreads the light out from the brightest points in the image, to simulate the similar effect that happens in a camera or your eyes. In game this helps bright lights or the sun to look a lot brighter.

LfS Roadmap Preview6.jpg
LfS Roadmap Preview7.jpg


Some recent updates: The sky is now generated on the graphics card, saving CPU time. The sky is updated more than twice per minute around sunset and sunrise. Sun brightness and colour is more accurate. Our shaders have been updated to allow better sky reflections on surfaces that are not perfectly smooth. Headlights now illuminate nearly all objects including other cars.

For further images from the latest blog posting, check out the original feature on the LFS website, HERE.


Live for Speed is available now on PC.

Got something to say about the title? Jump into the RaceDepartment Live for Speed sub forum and get the conversation started by posting a new thread today!


LfS Roadmap Preview8.jpg
 
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If you have never played lfs it is a great sim worth trying. It is very expensive and it is never in discount but if there is a sim that is truly plug and play and "just works" then this is it. If you have ever driven lfs there is no point driving it again tho. It is still the same game with the same content as in 2006. The game needs new content dearly (refurbished tracks... are not new content) and as such it makes no sense for anybody to even download it if you have driven it somewhere during the last 10 years.
 
I don't get LFS's focus on graphics for the past year. It is amazing work for sure, very technical and highly commendable, but I view that effort as I view the lens flare on GTSport: the coding time and CPU/GPU resources could be used on improving the driving/racing simulation (I do get that other sim racers enjoy state-of-the-art, photo-realistic graphics so that could be the selling point).

As much as many people love LFS' FFB, I can't quite get how I can throw a single seater on a high curb on Blackwood (e.g., the last turn that everyone cuts) and not struggle to maintain control. Surely there is something in the simulation that they can improve, if physics simulation is the goal (maybe better math models, more variables to calculate, etc.). I bought it after seeing a graphics update here last year (so the marketing effect works!) but it is no longer in my rotation. It is on my HD because it is the one sim that my kids enjoy (they love the FOX).
 
I see thing a bit differently where LFS is concerned.
Sure!, it isn't one of my mainstream sims. I've hardly run it at all in the past few years.
It does though, have some really good features beyond almost all of the top sims.
Look at the road textures and the surrounding grass....look at the natural day lighting.
I think those are better done in LFS, than just about any other sim.
The cars are a major disappointment and feel dull as heck.
That's my main reason for not running it on a consistent basis.
 
I don't get LFS's focus on graphics for the past year. It is amazing work for sure, very technical and highly commendable, but I view that effort as I view the lens flare on GTSport: the coding time and CPU/GPU resources could be used on improving the driving/racing simulation (I do get that other sim racers enjoy state-of-the-art, photo-realistic graphics so that could be the selling point).
I agree. Much as I love LFS (the user interface wipes the deck with the likes of AC), this kind of improvement won't cause me to fire it up again.
I have to assume that this is simply Scawen doing what interests him. (And fair play to him - not gonna argue with that! :))
 
I agree. Much as I love LFS (the user interface wipes the deck with the likes of AC), this kind of improvement won't cause me to fire it up again.
I have to assume that this is simply Scawen doing what interests him. (And fair play to him - not gonna argue with that! :))

I think this IS the reason. He is just doing a passion, pet project that makes him happy (coding a technical challenge can be fun, I am a hobby programmer so I get it completely). Explains the lack of discounts also. He does not care if he earns more from volume at a lower price. He just leaves it as is and if there is more buyers, fine. If none, he at least did something of a legacy to tell his grand kids.
 
Very nice update. It´s a shame the updates are still developed so slowly. But, Live for Speed is what it is - no big team of developers behind it. To me Live for Speed has
the most beautifull and realistic skies and grass in any Sim, and its colour palette
is the most beautifull; other Sims look pale compared to it in this regard.
 

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