About Live For Speed (LFS)

LFS is an online multiplayer motor racing simulator, used by virtual racers from all over the world. Some of the racers are or have been slot car racers, and others also race remote control cars. LFS is a great community and meeting place for everyone who is interested in racing cars, and almost everyone is a follower of motorsport in some shape or other, be it on TV, attending races, or in some cases LFS racers are actually real life racing drivers at various levels.

LFS is a great substitute for slot car racing when you don't have the time, opportunity or fellow racers handy to fire up a slot track - but it's unlikely you will find that it replaces your interest in the slot car hobby. However it can give you a nice "fix" of racing and a racers' community to dip into at any time of day or night. 5 or 10 minutes is the typical length of a public "pick-up" race, but some servers offer longer options, even 24 hour races. And if you are disappointed by the closure of the Scalextric Sport World internet racing service, then LFS is not a bad substitute, enabling you to race against anyone else anywhere on the planet. As you will see from the video above, this is made from real in-game footage and it's pretty realistic.

LFS for slot car racers

You will find that your experience in competitive or club slot car racing will stand you in good stead on LFS, on three counts, and give you an instant advantage over other LFS newbies. Firstly you will be aware that in a close slot car race, one crash can put you right out of contention, so you will probably know how and when to exercise caution in your driving, and not to push it too hard. The same applies in LFS. Secondly, you will have experienced closely chasing an opponent (or being chased) - perhaps for a number of laps. Whether you race slot cars on an analogue or digital slot car track you may already have your own strategy for dealing with pressure, and know how to pressurise an opponent into making an error and letting you past easily. (But if you don't know, then LFS will help you develop those personal strengths). Finally, most slot car racers are also great sportsmen, knowing how to lose (or win) gracefully and also how to apologise for taking someone else out of the race. You will need all of these skills on LFS, as well as some new ones such as looking after your tyres, clutch, and getting the right downforce and suspension settings. Analogue racers will also need to adapt to finding race lines around corners too!

The Slot Car Racers team

This is a team of racers who have come to LFS from the slot car world, providing mutual support, sharing car setups, driving tips and such like. Having a pool of people to bounce ideas off who have a "slot car mindset" is very useful when it comes to finding good lines round tricky corners, and how to set up your steering controls to be most effective. We also tend to be older, more mature chaps (and ladies) and know how to compete fairly. There are hundreds of racing teams on LFS and they all race in a club livery with driver names presented in their standard club format. You can of course race on LFS as a freelancer (outside of any team) but if you race under the Slot Car banner you can use club liveries and become known as a part of that rather decent team who are bringing their knowledge of racing slot cars to the online world. The team also helps promote the slot car hobby amongst on-line racers. Finally, you should find that it hones your racing instinct for when you next get back on the slot track. You will feel better able to soak up and dish out pressure!

The team is always on the lookout for new members who can be fast, firm and fair, and who have a background in slot car racing. Perhaps you are a member of the NSCC, Slot Forum, or the Scalextric Club. If you are interested in taking part, download the demo and get it running on your computer. You will need to register on that LFS download site first. Choose a suitable username that you would want to keep in the future if you choose to get the full licence. See if your PC equipment is up to the job, graphics and sound are OK, and consider whether you need to buy a steering wheel (to be honest you won't be able to do decent lap times just using the mouse and keyboard to control the car). Look at Saitek or Logitech models for example, and perhaps see what you can find on Ebay. Concentrate on the XFG or XRG saloon and FBM single seater cars at the Blackwood (BL GP and BL Rally X) circuits to begin with. Start in single player mode, racing against a couple of AI (computer-driven) cars, to build your confidence, before moving on to multiplayer racing. To avoid being a right royal pain in the backside to other more experienced racers, you should be able to get within about 5-10 seconds of the fastest lap time for a circuit (depending on the lap length) before venturing into a multiplayer race.

Please don't be put off by the extremely childish behaviour you may see on the multiplayer demo servers. You will find the Rallycross track the most combative. Because this is a free demo it can be very frustrating to be contintually "nerfed" by careless foul-mouthed teenagers who are only interested in wrecking and crashing and have no intention of buying the full game. If you can't find a sensible demo server it may be worth going back to single player mode to practice your art and trying again later. Practising against robotic computer-driven cars is all well and good, but they don't make mistakes and can't be pressurised, so you really do also need to practice against other real racers too. Make use of the facilities of Setupgrid or Team Inferno to download some alternative setups for your car with different handling characteristics that may suit your style of driving better. Also check in to the LFS Forums for news and discussion. Once you are happy that you have the hang of the simulator, you can pay your £24 to unlock the full game, and all the other cars and tracks, where standards of driving are greatly improved due to additional race control features for reporting bad behaviour and issuing race or server bans.

Questions? Post a question in the discussion forum, or send a message via the contact link in the shop.