Have Your Say: What Would You Like to See in rFactor 2?

[Paul Jeffrey]

It's that time again where we ask you the community to give some feedback, this time with regards to the development future of rFactor 2.

In an open letter to Studio 397, the new development team behind the rFactor 2 simulation software, we have a think about how we would like to see the sim develop going forward, and ask you the community to offer up some (constructive) suggestions regarding what you would like to see happen with the software in the future.

We already know Studio 397 have plans to bring out improved graphics and upgrade to DX11 from it's current rather dated DX9 routes, plus we know virtual reality support for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive is around the corner too. With an all new and much improved UI due to complement these new features, plus something described as "streamlined" content, already Studio 397 are talking a good fight with their plans for a racing simulation that is no doubt one of the most technically competent pieces of software on the market today.

Firstly let's have a look at what the current rFactor 2 does well.

Real Road. This is basically a dynamic track surface that simulates the behaviour of a real racing surface during a race weekend. So we have dynamic rubber build up and wet and dry lines in rain conditions, basically bringing the track to life during the session.

Dynamic weather cycle. This can be pre set for different weather conditions and also plugged in to real world weather at a given location. So if it's raining at the real track it's raining in game too.

Full time of day cycle. Low and behold something that seems to be all too rare in a race sim. Race in the day, race at night. Have it change over time depending on the time of day in game. A must have feature for any racing sim in my opinion.

Driver swop. You can share your car with either the AI or other real people during longer races if you so wish, ideal for multiplayer events. Driver swops carry over tyre wear and damage (if not repaired in the pits).

Advanced tyre model. One of the best in the business although allegedly quite complicated for modders to fully utilise. Features things like flat spots, wear, heat cycles etc.

Moddability. This is a double edged sword. Moddability is great and something that made the original title so very popular for a very long time. For some reason with rF2 the modding scene around the simulation has never quite reached those pervious rF1 heights, but seems to be slowly gathering momentum.


So with a newly motivated development team working behind the scenes and an already exceptionally strong base position, what do you think the developers need to do in order to lift this title ahead of it's admittedly strong sim racing competition? What do you think S397 should concentrate on in the short, medium and long term to help give rFactor 2 the push it needs to recapture the gaming public imagination?

Personally I would like to see further refinements to the weather simulation within the game, small details like windscreen wipers on all the cars, rain drop build up on the windscreens, puddle formations on track and aquaplaning. Basically a complete overhaul of the way rFactor 2 simulates wet weather within the sim, with the exception of the Real Road dry line formation, which for me is an outstanding feature and well implemented already.

Additionally I would like to see a considerably expanded archive of support materials for modding teams and individuals. I firmly believe a certain level of success can easily be achieved by Studio 397 if they work towards building up the first party content in the sim, bringing together the cars already released into cohesive full series (no more single cars from a championship) and adding new and interesting full championship packs. Much like the original rFactor sim and to a lesser extent Assetto Corsa, mod releases are the key to keeping a sim fresh and active long after the game has been released. Quality scratch made mod releases are slowly picking up pace in recent months, however it looks like Kunos and Assetto have taken a bit of a lead in this area since AC released and for me it is critical that Studio 397 act quickly to make up for lost time. Better and more documentation, bulk materials such as tyre sets people can use for their mods, studio sanctioned support and other things would be welcomed greatly I feel.

I could go one forever with things I would love to see, however this is not the point of this article. What I want to know is what you guys in the community would like, your opinions on how the developers can bring rFactor 2 right up to speed with it's immediate rivals in the sim racing world.

I personally think rFactor 2 is one of the best in the business, but it's potential is so much more. Share with us your opinions about how this game can be moved forward to reach that potential!


rFactor 2 is a racing simulation exclusive to Windows PC.

Additional third party content can be downloaded from a variety of sources, one of which is the RaceDepartment rFactor 2 modding archive. Head over and check out the latest releases for the sim, or alternatively join in the discussion and keep up to date with the latest news at our rFactor 2 sub forum right here at RD. If downloading mods or keeping up to date with the latest news items aren't your thing, you can always sign up to one of our epic Club and League events using the software. We hold regular club racing events in our schedule, however the jewel in our crown is no doubt the RaceDepartment Le Mans Series. This is our premium endurance league using rFactor 2. Head over to the RDLMS forum to find out more!

Please have a think about what direction you would like the development of rFactor 2 to go, and what you would like to see added in future. All comments and suggestions gratefully received below!

 

[Ghoults]

I think the main issue with rf2 is not graphics. It is the usability. Everything is complex, everything is undocumented, everything takes long time to do with relatively mediocre results and it applies to pretty much everything. The main strength of the game: the physics and modding pipeline is almost completely undocumented except some individual spotty outdated tutorials for some simple things. 90% of rf2 modding is unpacking other people's cars and tracks and copying their solutions. It is no wonder there is almost 0 respect towards modders in rf2 community because "everybody can create a mod" (rf1 conversion).

Adding skins to existing cars is literally impossible unless you are willing to google for an about an hour how to do it. How to create series with multiple cars. Again, just google and hope for the best. Half the time you are looking for a solution that doesn't exist and half the time you don't know to look for solution because you think the feature doesn't exist. If you want to change a settings you are most likely looking to find it in plr file or some other ini file - not in gui.

If it was me deciding what to do I'd just do with rf2 what reiza did with gamestockcar. Relaunch the game as new title. Call it rfx. Or rfactorista. I don't really care as long as you don't call it rf2. Create a kickstarter with clearly laid out short term plans. Plan out some killer dlc and stretch goals. Just to make sure you are getting paid to relaunch the game.

Then start fixing the game core systems. Fix the insane amount of complexity that permeates the game everywhere for no reason. Allow users to add skins, sounds and texture into ANY car by just dropping files to folders. Allow users to combine cars and tracks inside the game to create races and championships and events with few simple button presses. Put all settings in the gui. Simplify and streamline the content creation process so that the pipeline is well documented for car and track creation so full focus can be put into making rfx the king of new simulators and scratch made original content. Forget rf1 conversions. Bury them into 20 kilometer hole and lay 5000 tons of concrete over it. If people want to regurgitate 10 year old mods let them but clearly this is not the recipe for success (as proven by rf2). Take steps toward reducing the amount of pointless notepad editing to minimum. Make gjed create packages directly without users needing to mess around with gen and scn files. The goal is simple. Keep the current features but make them easier to use. Create a modding pipeline and commit to it.

I mean nobody likes the rfcmp system. Just forget it ever existed. Relaunching the game just for that alone is imho worth it.

Relaunch the game as a new product. Give it for free for anyone who has rf2 in steam (like reiza did with ams). Anyone who has rf2 lifetime gets all the dlc for free. Forget backwards compatibility. Focus on quality instead of quantity. With the simplified procedures now in place with still as feature rich system it will make it easier and faster to create quality scratch made content for rfx. It runs better, looks better and works better. It also takes less time to convert the old content for the new release because your new version is an all around improvement for content creation. It also makes the game better because the limiting factor is not your old content. New shaders, new file structure where needed, new features. Dx11, multicore support, improved audio, improved rain graphics, new drivetrain model, better gui, better online functionality. Start the process now and release for christmas 2017. It would be killer sim and it would blow the competitors out of the way.

 

[Will Mazeo]

I think the main issue with rf2 is not graphics. It is the usability. Everything is complex, everything is undocumented, everything takes long time to do with relatively mediocre results and it applies to pretty much everything. The main strength of the game: the physics and modding pipeline is almost completely undocumented except some individual spotty outdated tutorials for some simple things. 90% of rf2 modding is unpacking other people's cars and tracks and copying their solutions. It is no wonder there is almost 0 respect towards modders in rf2 community because "everybody can create a mod" (rf1 conversion).

Adding skins to existing cars is literally impossible unless you are willing to google for an about an hour how to do it. How to create series with multiple cars. Again, just google and hope for the best. Half the time you are looking for a solution that doesn't exist and half the time you don't know to look for solution because you think the feature doesn't exist. If you want to change a settings you are most likely looking to find it in plr file or some other ini file - not in gui.

If it was me deciding what to do I'd just do with rf2 what reiza did with gamestockcar. Relaunch the game as new title. Call it rfx. Or rfactorista. I don't really care as long as you don't call it rf2. Create a kickstarter with clearly laid out short term plans. Plan out some killer dlc and stretch goals. Just to make sure you are getting paid to relaunch the game.

Then start fixing the game core systems. Fix the insane amount of complexity that permeates the game everywhere for no reason. Allow users to add skins, sounds and texture into ANY car by just dropping files to folders. Allow users to combine cars and tracks inside the game to create races and championships and events with few simple button presses. Put all settings in the gui. Simplify and streamline the content creation process so that the pipeline is well documented for car and track creation so full focus can be put into making rfx the king of new simulators and scratch made original content. Forget rf1 conversions. Bury them into 20 kilometer hole and lay 5000 tons of concrete over it. If people want to regurgitate 10 year old mods let them but clearly this is not the recipe for success (as proven by rf2). Take steps toward reducing the amount of pointless notepad editing to minimum. Make gjed create packages directly without users needing to mess around with gen and scn files. The goal is simple. Keep the current features but make them easier to use. Create a modding pipeline and commit to it.

I mean nobody likes the rfcmp system. Just forget it ever existed. Relaunching the game just for that alone is imho worth it.

Relaunch the game as a new product. Give it for free for anyone who has rf2 in steam (like reiza did with ams). Anyone who has rf2 lifetime gets all the dlc for free. Forget backwards compatibility. Focus on quality instead of quantity. With the simplified procedures now in place with still as feature rich system it will make it easier and faster to create quality scratch made content for rfx. It runs better, looks better and works better. It also takes less time to convert the old content for the new release because your new version is an all around improvement for content creation. It also makes the game better because the limiting factor is not your old content. New shaders, new file structure where needed, new features. Dx11, multicore support, improved audio, improved rain graphics, new drivetrain model, better gui, better online functionality. Start the process now and release for christmas 2017. It would be killer sim and it would blow the competitors out of the way.

They could relaunch it and call it "rFactor 2... dot 0" to keep all the licenses
Rereleasing the game with all the needed modifications and a good marketing plan for sure would do more than a few changes here and there. You know the "wow impact" most times only come with a whole "new" product

 

[Spinelli]

Simple, further improvements to physics.

Trying to fix some of the 20+ year oddities that still exist in all versions of the ISI engine since at-least F1 2002, if not the 1990s with SCGT. The following are some examples:

- Being able to turn cars into corners with hardly having to turn your wheel (you just move the wheel a few degrees and make the car turn by applying some brakes - it's a sort of baked-in super duper trail-braking affect but it makes the car turn as if there's no mass or inertia).

- Not being able to apply a "chunk" of steering input at low-speed and have the car follow your line (you either have to make the car turn from the rear - possibly using the technique above - or have a very loose car, or not be on the tyre's limits). You can't rely on sheer front-end bite from the tyres at low speeds like you can in real-life.

- When tyres slide - oversteer or understeer - it's almost as if they love sliding. Whereas in real life when a tyre slides (besides glass or ice or something), you really get behavior as if the tyre wants to re-bite back into the asphalt, as if it has claws out trying to regrip the asphalt especially during low-to-mid speed understeer during high tyre/steering angles.

- Rear rotation way too often also making the car turn sharply thus making the car do a sudden extremely sharp-in rather than the rear rotating RELATIVE to the vehicle's trajectory (towards the outside of the corner on corner-exit, or straight ahead during braking (look at Live For Speed or real life to see how it's supposed to be).

- Lots of oversteer moments often needing unusually small amounts of opposite lock to save them. If you try to apply "normal" opposite lock for the given slide, the car will suddenly grip and snap over-correct.

- Lots of times you have to snap off the throttle, give a quick snap opposite-lock correction, then almost instantly return the steering to centre to save the slide while in real-life there is A. a "middle stage" where you stop increasing opposite lock but you don't return it back to centre yet - there's a holding point and the oversteer angle stays static, B. the ability to keep throttle and wheel-spin during the slide There's leeway in the middle of the slide in real-life; the rear doesn't just snap out and and almost instantly correct as if mass or inertia doesn't exist like it often does in game (unless it's a very small, "micro"-slide).

- Hitting front-grip limits during turn-in at ridiculously low amounts of steering lock / tyre angle. This encourages you even more to take advantage of the flaw I pointed out in my very first point above if you want to be fast.

- Once in a while during oversteer, your opposite lock has no affect on the car. It's like your steering became disconnected and doesn't do anything even though you're reacting accordingly. During these moments, the way to save the slide is to just hold your wheel and wait for the slide to die-off and end on it's own almost as if the slide is scripted.

- Low grip cars, soft cars, street-tyres, heavy road-cars, etc. should still grip and be "planted" unless you're behaving very aggressive with them or near the limits. If they had the characteristics in the ISI physics engine, people at racing schools (eg. Skip Barber, Bridgestone Racing Academy) would be crashing and having major accidents non-stop. "Bad technique" driving shouldn't punish you while you're driving way under the limit. I worked at an F2000 school for a year and been to multiple ones and if they drove like ISI physics engine's "super, duper sensitive" dynamics, kinematics, and tyre model, people would be dying throughout the year or the schools would have to close down as all the cars would be constantly crashed.


A good discussion between me and another rFactor 2 / Automobilista fan who makes some good points is here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh8PWWCqfD4&lc=z12finyh3rbus3nqe04cebw5ulvbvrtp4hs.1489444205227829

 

[GP20]

Get the same graphics level than on Iracing.

 

[tpw]

My opinion of rF2 compared to its competitors

Pros:

• Best physics
• Best FFB and driving feel
• Best AI
• Most complete racing features

Cons:

• Least appealing audiovisuals (including UI and HUD)
• Least consistent quality of official vehicle and track content
• Poorest performing
• Most complicated to create, add or modify/configure content

What I would like to see from rF2 moving forward is a shorter Cons list

 

[Rudder]

Auto Select Real life Gear Changing depend on real car.
ex. H-shifter real life car in sim will force to use H-shifter when setting assist:off.

Car:
Dirt content : Rally X (most fun)
Drift car : with Drift AI ( Now rF2 has the best AI !) First sim that make you can tandem with AI.

 

[Deleted member 130869]

Quick question: does anyone remember the official webpage that listed rF2's licenses? It was in the original rfactor domain but I can't find anything anymore. The only official bit I found was this article from 2013 at VirtualR but it only tackled the Indy 500 licenses, not the list showing the 1960's and 1980's F1 cars, Group C, and Le Mans material.

 

[Emery]

Unless you can dig up Wheatley's comments in the forum, I think that old page is gone now after the re-org.

 

[Deleted member 130869]

Yeah, even the legacy downloads have been dead for many weeks now. Tim was the one who had originally posted that link, I sadly only memorized the cars I cared about. I fear everything will be ignored and tossed aside in favor of whatever new comes up.

I must say I never understood ISI prioritizing the release of so many underwhelming vehicles when some big tickets were always there. And I mean, from that Indy 500 deal we only got the track and one car.

 

[DavidMk7]

It’s basic stuff for me; give life to single player mods by allowing the ‘all tracks’ filter to be used (or better still, introduce some proper track type filters, as in AMS) and allow all race settings to be saved with the mod.

Alternatively, allow race settings (start type, qualifying & race length, number & type of opponents, AI settings, time of day, time scale, weather etc.) to be saved to a named file and then loaded to instantly set up the game for the currently selected car.

Banish the AI differences between tracks, particularly community made tracks, by introducing a track specific AI adjustment value (plus or minus).

Allow players to decide for themselves how they shift by allowing auto-blip and auto-lift to work in all shift mode and with all cars, with these options given ‘On, ‘Off’ and ‘Realistic’ (‘Factory’?) settings (with host controlled limitations in multiplayer).

 

[Doug62]

More official content with high quality, more accessible game for those who doesnt like being 40minutes configuring things like the wheel (something like AC would be ok), more high quality tracks, improve of fps, i can run project cars in high @60fps but rf2 just lag, and better ffb

I haven't read all post yet to be fare.
But this post needs a answer in my opinion. The words "high quality" and "official content" DON'T go hand in hand. I agree that if this was to be the case then it would help built on rF2 but the ISI content to date is the most ugly, worst made stuff in rF2! Or near to it. I wont, don't use it apart from tracks. So, Yes! rF2 needs more content and quality stuff.
A lot of the official content has the better physics. This should be the case! after all it's their format and the licensed cars would, or should come with a lot of the geometry with it. But visually! the worst!

So yeah. Good quality stuff would be good, and let's be honest, if the work is put into the mods it reflects on the hole sim.

 

[Shad3R]

I haven't read all post yet to be fare.
But this post needs a answer in my opinion. The words "high quality" and "official content" DON'T go hand in hand. I agree that if this was to be the case then it would help built on rF2 but the ISI content to date is the most ugly, worst made stuff in rF2! Or near to it. I wont, don't use it apart from tracks. So, Yes! rF2 needs more content and quality stuff.
A lot of the official content has the better physics. This should be the case! after all it's their format and the licensed cars would, or should come with a lot of the geometry with it. But visually! the worst!

So yeah. Good quality stuff would be good, and let's be honest, if the work is put into the mods it reflects on the hole sim.

Yes, thats true good point.
In my post i was talking that when u see a game like Assetto Corsa updating his game with the 787B and the Audi Quattro, i know both mods where good, but the devs version is even better always...

 

[Deleted member 130869]

the devs version is even better always...

That isn't true, at all. Sometimes modders are more skilled than the hired artists (especially rF2 artists), and sometimes devs are pushed further thanks to modded content as it's been the case in that game you cite.

 

[Korva7]

My number one wish would be having atleast one proper supercar. Here some examples of interesting cars: Mclaren F1, Pagani Zonda, Porche Carrera GT, Maserati MC12, Koenigsegg One:1, Lexux LFA, Noble M600

 

[Ghoults]

My number one wish would be having atleast one proper supercar. Here some examples of interesting cars: Mclaren F1, Pagani Zonda, Porche Carrera GT, Maserati MC12, Koenigsegg One:1, Lexux LFA, Noble M600

The corvette zr1 does get pretty close I think. I get what you mean though.

All the cars you listed are pretty much what I think are great driver's cars. Excellent handling but not too much downforce. Lots of power, long braking distances and they sit in my opinion in the awesome place where the cars are fun to drive AND race. Some cars are fun to drive but don't really provide great racing. Some other cars provide great racing but are not that exciting to drive. It would be nice for the zr1 to have a car to race against.

Mclaren 720 (or whatever is the best one for trackdays), the new ford gt, ferrari enzo or f50). Although the lexus lfa would definitely be my favourite of the bunch. Turn all the aids off and it would be amazing.

 

[Korva7]

All the cars you listed are pretty much what I think are great driver's cars. Excellent handling but not too much downforce. Lots of power, long braking distances and they sit in my opinion in the awesome place where the cars are fun to drive AND race. Some cars are fun to drive but don't really provide great racing. Some other cars provide great racing but are not that exciting to drive.

This ^ and that it would make rf2 much more attractive sim for car nuts. Experiencing any of these cars on rf2 physics would be very interesting.

 

[Ari Antero]

I would like to see drivetrain modelling to simulate sequential gearshift mechanisms, electronic features as downshift protection. Gears/ gearbox/ clutch leading to failure if consistently misused or abused. Turbo modelling, boost / push-to-pass and energy recovery systems. Realistic TC and ABS.
Update of all ISI cars like Marussia MR01 which is missing engine mapping and few HP, tires, chassis etc.