Live for Speed [FAQ] [Newbies should read]

[Jostyrostelli]

So what is that weekly race you were talking about?
It's a weekly race with members of FinalGear.
I once made a thread about who played LFS, Renesis replied that he played it a long time ago. And he invited me to race with him sometime.
So we did, and posted about it. After that more people came in the race and the idea was born.
As you can see in this section there are a few threads names like:
26th of March Online Race
You'll find one for every saturday from the 29th of January.
These thread confirm the date and members for that saturdayrace.

Can I join?
Yes, we prefer FinalGear members to join, because we can discuss things with you about replays, setups, skins etc.
If you are not a member (yet), become one.
You can join the race, IF you agree with the rules below.

Originally Posted by Rules

General Rules
1. You can only join if you are a serious racer. We are here for fun and we don't need childish wreckers.
2. You need a legal copy of the game. Demo will do for the first couple of races, almost everyone has the full version already. Later on we will be playing the full version online.
3. If you keep fucking up the race, like forgetting to brake in every corner or anything like that. I'll kick your butt

Is it really that fun? I played the demo and I wasn't very impressed
Well, that's what most people say.
However, LFS has one of the most realistic handling cars for the PC.
Graphics may not be very good, but for real racing you need handling, not high-end graphics.
Is it that fun?
Well, look at the number of posts in this section, in such short period of time. This thread started half way January. So you can see how many people enjoy this game.
You can practise anytime you like and bring it into practise on Saturday!

What do I need to start playing?
You need the demo.
Start at www.liveforspeed.net and download the latest demo.
There are 3 cars, the FWD, RWD and a RWD Turbo.

If you wanna race more cars, like a 4WD or a more powerful FWD car. A 'sort of' Caterham in 2 versions or a kart?
Then buy S1. There's already a thread about buying S1 here (click)

I suggest buying S1 though, in the saturdayraces we'll only play demo for an hour or less and then play S1 for like 2-3 hours.
We'll work on less demo and more S1 in the next few weeks though.
Most part of the members have the Stage1 LFS right now.

I wanna read the threads about the race first.
You can, here they are.

29th of January Online Race
5th of February Online Race
12th of February Online Race
19th of February Online Race
26th of February Online Race
5th of March Online Race.
12th of March Online Race.
19th of March Online Race
26th of March Online Race
2nd of April Online Race.
9th of April Online Race
16th of April Online Race

Okey I've read all, what more things should I know?

Skins
For instance, you can change the 'skin' of your car. You can simply open the skinfile and edit it with Photoshop or any other editing program.
You simply open the folder "skins" in your Live for Speed directory.
Here you find different skins. Open up the standard white skin for the car you want to change. Edit it and save it as XR_GT_your username.
Now upload it at Imageshack and share the picture here, you'll have to note what name you saved it because
Imageshack messes with the filename.
We can download your skin and put it in our Skins_X folder in the LFS directory.

These threads can be found here:
Skins from all members
Our own FinalGear skin.

LFS Tweak
You wanna have a little bit more power? Well, you can.
Fonnybone from this thread made this handy little program called LFSTweak. With this you can change the performance of your car. Maybe you want a 2600hp FWD car, with this program you can try everything.
This, however, doesn't work in demo, and only works in Multiplayer if all players have the same Tweak-setup.

If you wanna have setups of existing cars in S1, just go to this site and click on LFS Tweak Presets. There you'll find your supercar.

This is a direct downloadlink to LFSTweak03H.

Thread can be found here.

Drivingtips
Say, you just downloaded Live for Speed, but can't even keep the car in a straight line. Then we have some drivingtips for you.
Contestors of the weekly Saturday race all joined this thread to give away their secrets to their 'fantastic' driving.
This thread can be found here.

Controls
Some people prefer mouse or keyboard, others prefer the wheel.
So what should you get? I suggest trying them all first.
Some people are really, really, really fast with the keyboard and people with a wheel can't keep up with them.
If you are using mous or keyboard and are concidering buying a wheel, you might want to check out this thread with a little discussion about what wheel to get.

This thread can be found here.

Car-Setups
You might have noticed that LFS comes with a wide variety of 'tuning'.
You can tune your car into a dreammachine, but you can also transform it into a frog. Since not everyone is a mechanic and not everyone knows about camber, gear-ratios and diffs, we can share our setups.
We can do it 'in-game' or post them here on the board.
If you can't drive with the standard setup I suggest downloading a setup from Team Inferno or get a setup from one of our members.

Here is a really good Setup Guide, made by Bob Smith from this site. Click on LFS Advanced Setup Guide.

The thread can be found here.

Crashes
Are you a newbie to LFS? Do you have weird crashes all the time?
Don't be ashamed and post them in this thread.

LFS Moviemaker
Want to make a movie? Try this program.

Thread can be found here.

Laptimes
After you have done all the above (getting a setup, read the drivingtips etc) you can practise it. Tell us what your fastest laptime is and try to become number one on the board (or in the world).

Thread can be found here.

Live for Speed Stage 2
If you look into LFS on the interweb more, you'll find out that the three men are busy working on LFS Stage 2.

See the progress of LFS S2 in this thread here.

Get Live for Speed S1
Of course, you can play demo for a long time, but you'll have more fun with LFS S1. Here you have the full grid of cars and can play with us online.

Check the thread here.

Replays
If you decide to join our Saturday-race. You'll find the replays the next day here.

Thread can be found here.

Photos
Have a knack for photography? Try getting some nice pics of your LFS car.

Post them here.

Drifting
For the professionals, try drifting, download a driftsetup and join the Saturday-race to show your skills.

Thread can be found here.

How do I get all cars?
At first you don't have all cars, because you don't have any points.
Fastest you can gain maximum points: Fern Bay RallyX Green 3 laps with 3 AI if you win you get 48 points.
Around 1.50mins per race. Make all AI cars Gti and take the Turbo yourself.
Also more points will be awarded if you have:
-Full grid AI players
-Lots of laps

I want to edit an AutoCross track
What a coincidence! With SHIFT-U you can edit an Autocross-track.
You want to try the Top Gear testtrack?

Thread can be found here.

Why don't I just crack this game?
Well, you could, I'm sure there is a crack for it.
But you can't play online with a crack.
Plus, you don't wanna crack this game, there are three guys working on this game.
Victor van Vlaardingen, Scawen Roberts and Eric Bailey, they work very hard to give us the Stage 2. They are one of the few people who really deserve all the money from us to get this game better. They are active in the community and on forums like these:
Suggestions to Scawen, Eric and Victor

And some handy links.

About the game and community
Live for Speed Homepage
Suggestions to Scawen, Eric and Victor
Interview with Victor
News and Updates
News and Updates
Hotlaps.de
Boomerandrapido

LFS Movies
LFS Movie Maker (WIP)
Online G-meter
Lots of links
LFS T-shirts and caps!

About playing the game:
Team Inferno [Setups, skins etc]
Live for Speed FAQ
Setups, skins, autocross layouts, interiors, etc. (currently down)
Keyboard Guide 1
Keyboard Guide 2
Setup Guide Part 1
Setup Guide Part 2
Gear-ratio Calculator

[Jostyrostelli]

I unlocked this thread again for suggestions. No Spam please.

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by Jostyrostelli

How do I get all cars?
At first you don't have all cars, because you don't have any points.
The best way to get points fast is to use the shortest track (Fern Bay 1.6km) and make all AI cars Gti and take the Turbo yourself.
Also more points will be awarded if you have:
-Full grid AI players
-High winds
-Lots of laps

Never knew about the wind thing!

And I got most of my points via the #2 city track I think it was (50 seconds for a lap) and just doing 1 lap. Do you get more points for doing lots of laps?

[Krane]

Originally Posted by Jostyrostelli

How do I get all cars?
At first you don't have all cars, because you don't have any points.
The best way to get points fast is to use the shortest track (Fern Bay 1.6km) and make all AI cars Gti and take the Turbo yourself.
Also more points will be awarded if you have:
-Full grid AI players
-High winds
-Lots of laps

Fastest you can gain maximum points: Fern Bay RallyX Green 3 laps with 3 AI if you win you get 48 points.
Around 1.50mins per race.

Wind doesn't have any effect how many points you get.

[Jostyrostelli]

Hmm so why is there an option for wind? That's weird then.

I'll edit yours in Krane.

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by Krane

Fastest you can gain maximum points: Fern Bay RallyX Green 3 laps with 3 AI if you win you get 48 points.
Around 1.50mins per race.

Wind doesn't have any effect how many points you get.

Damn!

[Jostyrostelli]

Yeah that surprised me too...Rally Never thought of that.

[Krane]

Originally Posted by Jostyrostelli

Hmm so why is there an option for wind? That's weird then.

S-I-M-U-L-A-T-O-R.

[andyhui01]

The wind does make alot of difference...you can notice it in the first corner in rev, and for forward, on highwinds, you usually go alot faster down the straight of alot slower

[SiR_dude]

Originally Posted by andyhui01

The wind does make alot of difference...you can notice it in the first corner in rev, and for forward, on highwinds, you usually go alot faster down the straight of alot slower

They were talking about making a difference for points, Andy

[andyhui01]

... when I saw wind in the discussion, I asssumed its about the performance of the car ... because I did a little test

[Buba]

Well, you could update it, since its stickied

Buba

[pdanev]

talking about updates, you could remove that ***********S2!!!********** announcement

[geeman]

Just noticed the LFS section in FinalGear forums
I read this thread and looked at the earlier race threads and there are few rules that confuse me. It's the rules about honking the horn and using turning signals to let some behind you know you he/she can overtake you. Are these rules mandatory? I have raced in a few properly organized races and a few more public races and I have never seen anyone using those and for that matter missed for them. Honking the horn before passing is not really necessary, the person behind always wants pass you and he/she will if he/she is faster. And if you are front you most likely are not going to give him/her pass easily anyway, that's waht racing is all about. This makes using the turning signals useless too. So what I am asking here is that is it forced to use these signals, will I get banned if I don't?

When I get these sorted I'll just might join the next race

[swek]

Don't worry. Jos made these up when he was in a strange mindstate. Nobody here enforces them. In fact, the only one I remember using the indicators is Andy. The only rule enforced is common sense ie. not crashing on purpose, parking in the middle of a track during a race etc.

Personally, I remember breaking rule Nr.8 on three different accasions.

[pdanev]

Jos made these up when he was in a strange mindstate

swek is in a good shape again

yeah, forget those rules, they were from ages ago, just use commonsense

[geeman]

ok, That's great then I will take part in the next race, if nothing unexpected happens.

[pdanev]

time is saturday, around 8pm for you i believe, just check the forum to see when we start racing

oh, and

[Jostyrostelli]

Geeman: Yeah, I made it a long time ago, when we basically sucked (at least a few did) and we had some major crashed on BW (good old times) so we used that a few times, but now everybody got better and races are smoother.

[swek]

^ Oh yeah, fun times on Blackwood. Ten restarts in a row.