Live for Speed Version 0.6V Released

Almost two decades since it was first developed, Live for Speed Version 0.6V has now been released by the small development team dedicated to continuing progress on the racing sim.

And there are lots of imporvements worth checking out including implementing wider steering angles and a larger range of tyres for GTR cars, more opportunities for rallycross and drifting, force feedback, VR, steering wheels and handbrake controls and more.

Live for Speed Version 0.6V Changelog:

Multiplayer:

• Maximum packets per second (/pps) has been increased to 12
• Rolling resistance included in catch-up phase of prediction
• Wear and temperature packet is more frequent and more accurate
• Position packet now includes contact patch offset for each tyre
• Reduced steering glitch each time a position packet is received
• More accurate transmission of fuel load from local to remote car
• Position packets are sent more frequently in response to steering
• You can now add up to 32 local drivers (real + ai) in multiplayer
• Easier to set up LAN race: local IP address is shown on host screen
• You can enter the local network computer name instead of IP address
• FIX: Remote cars with worn tread could wrongly get a puncture
• FIX: Car on pit speed limiter sent maximum packets per second
• FIX: Stop-go penalty caused car to get stuck in custom pit stop
• FIX: Remote car’s tyre temperature over 200 appeared black (cold)
• FIX: Remote tyre temperatures increased too slowly in skid or spin

New ALTERNATE setup configuration for the five GTR cars:

• Selecting the new config in XRR/FZR/FXR decreases tyre width a bit
• With ALTERNATE config, narrower tyres may be selected (adds offset)
• Also ROAD_SUPER, ROAD_NORMAL, HYBRID, KNOBBLY tyres may be selected
• High “Maximum Lock” is possible in XRR/FZR with narrower wheels
• XR GTR in ALTERNATE config has H-pattern shifter

Tyre choices and steering lock:

• XFR and UFR maximum steering lock increased to 30 degrees
• LX4 and LX6 maximum steering lock increased to 45 degrees
• Single seater racing cars can now use ROAD_SUPER tyres

Steering:

• Steering wheel turn amount changes with maximum lock
• Road cars now have 900 degrees steering range with default setup
• XF and UF GTR have 540 degrees steering range with default setup
• Updated and fixed steering animations to cover new steering range
• Removed option “Move view with animation” which had little effect

Commands:

• Command /canrefuel (no/yes) to set refuelling allowed in pit stops
• Command /showfuel (no/yes) allows remote car fuel load to be seen
• Most admin commands with parameter omitted now report current value
• Command /block (0/1/2) to block user messages (like the minus key)
• Command /spectv (no/yes) prevents selecting TV camera on spectate
• /press and /shift commands now support ‘minus’ as parameter
• /mprlag X simulates online packet delay of X ms (+ no smoothing)
• /mprsmooth X (0 or 1) to disable or enable input smoothing

Interface:

• Pit speed limit is shown when car speed is below 2/3 of limit
• Yellow and blue flags now alternate with RCM or penalty message
• Virtual steering gauge hidden if live settings or pit instructions
• Blocked messages remain blocked when returning from game to lobby
• Prevented auto-repeat on block message and light switching keys
• Momentary flick to rear view after SHIFT+R is now avoided
• Avoided downshift after pressing SHIFT+X to exit free view
• In fact any ‘key held’ function after SHIFT+key is prevented
• Saving replay name now shown beside option in Game Options
• Minus key (block messages) now works in all screens
• Many updated translations – thank you, translators

Garage:

• Tyre size displayed in Tyres tab in Garage
• Brakes / TC tab in garage separated into two columns (e.g. FZ50)
• FIX: Heat in garage car’s tyres was not updated when tyre changed

F12 pit instructions:

• Damage repair not required when changing pressure or compound
• Pressure change with new tyre no longer counts as SETUP CHANGES
• When alternative config is selected F12 display shows tyre size
• A new ‘cancel’ option beside the ‘setup changes requested’ line
• Settings that will be adjusted are now shown in light red colour
• FIX: rear tyre pressure was limited by front tyre pressure limits
• FIX: symmetric pressure/camber request remained after pit stop

Skin downloads:

• Faster skin downloads when joining server (and auto updater)
• Slightly faster skin downloads when driver joins race in-game
• FIX: Skin downloading could get stuck after a large header

CPU usage display:

• In Graphics or Misc options (in-game) click car icon then ‘P’
• You can now see CPU usage for Physics, Draw, Prediction, etc.
• The “Pred” line shows CPU usage for prediction of remote cars
• Prediction time also shows up in an MPR if /mprlag is set

Support for live multiplayer replays:

• Replay identified as live when starting to watch an unfinished MPR
• Does not exit replay after fast forwarding to current time
• Catch up to live position by clicking >| button
• Skins can be downloaded while watching a live replay
• Save replay while temp_mpr is being viewed – copy instead of rename
• Start new mpr while temp_mpr is in use – tries temp_mpr_1 (up to 9)
• /mprflush X to flush mpr to file every X seconds (0 = disable)
• MPR / SPR are prevented from being named temp_mpr / temp_spr

VR:

• Updated OpenVR to version 1.10.30
• Improved timing of obtaining view each frame
• New “Antialiasing” option to select 4x or 8x multisampling
• New “Resolution adjustment” slider (also known as supersampling)
• Names over cars could fade differently in each eye in Pimax headset
• Virtual keyboard is shown at dialog height if no dialog is visible
• Space bar VR click auto disabled when you type with real keyboard
• FIX: Head tracking / mirrors wrong if car leaned with horizon lock
• FIX: Free view FOV was wrong after entering VR in free view
• FIX: Names above cars looked wrong in Pimax headsets
• FIX: Some trees looked wrong in Pimax headsets

Views:

• Horizon lock now has a strength slider option
• View filter time maximum value increased to 1 second
• Improved key control (4/5/6/7) of free view field of view
• Three screens are now assumed when aspect ratio is 4:1 (was 3:1)
• Free view mode minimum field of view reduced from 10 to 2 degrees
• FIX: Filtered view went wrong with low filter time + replay speedup

Graphics:

• Avoid upward lighting related to ground colour in internal views
• Car shadows now use anisotropic filtering to reduce shimmering
• Increased distance for car subobjects to become invisible

Controls:

• Handbrake strength is now separately adjustable
• Gearshift debounce setting now applies to all controller buttons
• Mouse X and Y sensitivity (in Axes tab) lower limit reduced to 0.5
• FIX: Rare manual shift at high speed to 1st/rev during auto shift

Force Feedback:

• New settings are available under Axes / FF in Options – Controls
• FF Steps maximum value is now 10000 (the maximum in DirectInput)
• FF Rate is now controlled by a user setting (25 / 50 / 100 Hz)

New handling for ‘CAR.lfs’ and ‘shift_type.lfs’ scripts:

• LFS runs ‘road.lfs’ / ‘sequential.lfs’ / ‘paddle.lfs’ directly
• (previously these scripts were called from a CAR.lfs script)
• This is done after loading a car and immediately before CAR.lfs
• Commands to run these scripts from another script are ignored

Training:

• FIX: AI changed to low fuel load if overtaking lesson restarted
• FIX: AI skill / admin commands no longer processed during training
• FIX: Training lesson did not end if replay saving was interrupted
• FIX: Logo was visible under title during lesson replay

InSim (for programmers):

• Config byte added to IS_NPL packet indicates setup configuration
• IS_CPP Pos is now relative to “Centre view” not the user setting
• IS_NPL RWAdj / FWAdj indicate rear / front tyre width reduction
• New bytes set if /showfuel=yes: IS_NPL Fuel / IS_PIT FuelAdd
• IS_SPX and IS_LAP new byte Fuel200 indicates fuel remaining
• IS_RES: TTime in qualifying now indicates time in session
• IS_RES: PLID is now zero if the player has left the race
• IS_CPP: FOV can now be used in-car but not smoothed (0 = no change)
• InSim NLP / MCI minimum time interval reduced to 10 ms (was 40 ms)
• FIX: It was possible to miss IS_PSF packet after taking over car
• FIX: STime in IS_PSF packet was wrong after car was taken over
• FIX: Free view roll is now reported in InSim IS_CPP packet

More telemetry data for OutSim:

• New data fields documented in docs\OutSimPack.txt
• Enable by setting the OutSim Opts value in cfg.txt
• All data options can be switched on with OutSim Opts 1ff

Misc:

• Maximum number of layout objects increased to 2400
• When LFS is set to close the reason is logged to deb.log file
• Added a little more logging about D3D initialisation to deb.log
• CAR.lfs scripts are reliably run when user car is spawned or reset
• Restored code preventing 2 cars joining autocross within 3 seconds
• FIX: Wrong warning “Road tyres on rallycross track” in hotlapping
• FIX: Memory leak related to threads (most often for skin download)
• FIX: Replays from old Westhill before 2015 now marked as obsolete
• FIX: Driver names ending with a lead byte could corrupt text
• FIX: Issues with driver names ending with caret character

You can find out more and download Live for Speed as a demo version from the LfS website, or pay for one of three licenses to unlock cars and tracks at £12, £24 and £36 each.

You can keep up with our latest Live For Speed coverage, here. Or check out which cars are available in the demo and paid license levels with our Live for Speed car list, along with all of the circuits available, including the sadly-closed Rockingham Motor Speedway in the UK, with our Live for Speed track list.