R3E: Bentley GT3 and Formula RR Junior First Previews

[Paul Jeffrey]

Swedish Development team Sector3 Studios have released teaser images of 2 pieces of new content heading to their premium 'Free to Play' racing simulator RaceRoom Racing Experience in the form of an entry level open wheel car called Formula RR Junior and GT3 giant the Bentley Continental GT3.

Complementing the high end GP2 esque Formula RaceRoom 2 released recently, the Formula RR Junior looks to represent the popular entry level Formula Ford championship, a car known to provide close racing and helping launch many professional drivers into the world of motorsport.

Powered by a 1.8 litre 145bhp race tuned engine in the back of a super lightweight 545kg chassis (including driver), the Formula RR Junior should be a nimble (if not slightly slower) option for drivers of the sim and is sure to be a popular online option on release.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum features the monstrous V8 beast that forms the GT3 specification Bentley Continental, a gigantic (comparatively) machine that made its GT racing bow in the Gulf 12 Hours of Abu Dhabi in December 2013 and has been adopted by many other GT racing series across the globe.

The RaceRoom version of the car will be from the 2015 running of the German ADAC GT Masters series, marking the first Bentley to grace Sector3's racing sim.

The Continental should be available either as part of the ADAC 2015 Experience park and possibly also include a GTR3 class version, however that has not yet been confirmed by the studio.

Details on release dates and prices have yet to be revealed, stay tuned to RaceDepartment to find out more in the coming weeks.

Also don’t forget to have a look at our RaceRoom Racing Experience Race Club right here on RaceDepartment to be a part of our friendly online racing community.

Looking forward to the new content updates for the game? How are you finding the open wheel cars recently added to R3E? Will you be purchasing ADAC '15 (including the Bentley) on release? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Travis]

So, RR has the money to get the licenses of so many series and exclusive cars (man, were are talking about a LOT of cars, DTM, WTCC, Nissan, Corvette, Camaro, Ford GT, Audi, Bentley etc, I guess this was/is VERY expensive), but has no resources to improve the team? Right

I suggest you join the beta testing team, talk to the Sector 3 guys via Skype and Mumble and learn what a small team Sector 3 is. The owner of Sector 3 seems more interested in is suspension systems than recreating SimBin pre bankruptcy.

As for the actual staff numbers, Chris Speed should know as he is the CEO:

“We have a lot of talented people at the studio, and after the restructure, we were left with 10-11 people at the studio,” Speed tells us - a quote taken directly from http://www.redbull.com/au/en/games/.../raceroom-racing-experience-sector3-interview

Remove Jay Ekkel at the team is even smaller.

Given the amount of beta testers versus paid employees (by my maths a 3:1 ratio), S3 is shoestring operation that punches well above their weight. Did you know they moved offices again? The new premises didn't work out for a variety of reasons adding to delays with the latest builds.

Sector 3 make a great product; it'll just take more time than usual for it to be feature complete and fully finished. People need to understand this and either accept it for what it is or move onto something else as Sector 3 are working as fast as they can given the constraints.

 

[James Cook]

@Travis

Fair points and I appreciate Sector3's problems but said problems are common knowledge among users and my frustration is wholly with Raceroom group and it's owner rather than the guys at Sector3, whom, as you said, punch above their weight with minimal resources.

A few months ago on the Sector3 forums I mentioned that I used to buy almost all R3E content on day one to do my little bit to help the studio stay afloat, even though some of the content isn't of great interest to me. A member of the beta test team told me that although this was honourable there was no need to do so as R3E is pretty much subsidised by the owner of Raceroom and is essentially a side project for the man at the top. Seems the devs are more interested in making a simulation than he is.

So I've stopped pumping money into R3E and moved on for the time being. I feel for the Sector3 guys but enough is enough.

 

[Andy_J]

Great thing nowadays is we have a selection of games to play, if we don't like one then they'll be another we can enjoy.

The trouble is Kenny, that is what might happen. It's forums like this that get their attention. Word of mouth, bad news etc. They need to concentrate on getting the basics in there. A working flag system has been in just about every race sim since Microprose Grand Prix and Papyrus Indycar. It's simple. If it was possible back then with the limited ram and 386 pc's, it must be a breeze now. Flags, stable net code and better server/MP race configuration. Not much to ask is it mate?

 

[Travis]

A few months ago on the Sector3 forums I mentioned that I used to buy almost all R3E content on day one to do my little bit to help the studio stay afloat, even though some of the content isn't of great interest to me. A member of the beta test team told me that although this was honourable there was no need to do so as R3E is pretty much subsidised by the owner of Raceroom and is essentially a side project for the man at the top. Seems the devs are more interested in making a simulation than he is.

So I've stopped pumping money into R3E and moved on for the time being. I feel for the Sector3 guys but enough is enough.

Naturally I have no idea on Sector 3's financial status however 9-10 people barely keeping their heads above water because of too few staff with too much to do doesn't read like a studio with a tonne of cash.

Personally I think what you've done to support S3 is awesome. I did the same prior to becoming a tester.

You are right to move on of you're frustrated; lot's of complete sims that offer great experiences, including some older classics. Come back to R3E when its more to your liking.

 

[James Cook]

It just needs the basic stuff such as what @Andy Jackson mentioned plus things like formation laps, in laps at the end of a race, manual pit lane control etc, etc...

Even something as trivia as race distance by laps is still absent. Myself and others have been asking for this for two years.

More advanced features like dynamic track rubbering, flatspots, weather conditions & night racing seem a very long way off or aren't on the agenda at all.

Listen, I love R3E but it got to the stage where the game was becoming a grind while waiting for the next meaningful feature update. The regular new content additions just feel like sticking plasters on what is quite a basic, shallow racing simulation.

 

[Kenny Paton]

The trouble is Kenny, that is what might happen. It's forums like this that get their attention. Word of mouth, bad news etc.

In the same way there seems to be plenty of complaints about so many other games, so R3E is not alone there. I certainly don't think it helps when every thread turns in to a discussion about the pricing model and lack of features and then proceeds to go round in circles with everybody more or less repeating what they've said in previous threads. If I'm not that interested in a game then I don't head off to the forums of said game to denigrate it. If there's a bug I find, then I may go to see if there's a solution but I don't keep going back just to repeat the same things over and over.

"They need to concentrate on getting the basics in there. Flags, stable net code and better server/MP race configuration. Not much to ask is it mate?"

I agree these things are really needed, believe you me, I agree. But with S3 in thrall to KW whose priorities are not the same as ours they just might not come as quickly as we would like. So I enjoy what I can until they do. Hopefully soon.

 

[Andy_J]

If we all just sit back and say nothing, nothing will happen. Just my opinion Kenny.

 

[Kenny Paton]

If we all just sit back and say nothing, nothing will happen. Just my opinion Kenny.

I agree and have voiced that before. I just get a bit fed up with different threads (and I'm not just talking about R3E here) that get taken over with same points and issues being regurgitated ad nauseam.
And while I'm having a rant, I just do not understand people who go to forum/threads of games they don't play or like and rubbish them. In a niche genre with a supposedly more mature group of players it just doesn't make sense to me.
Okay rant over see you on track tonight

 

[Travis]

It just needs the basic stuff such as what @Andy Jackson mentioned plus things like formation laps, in laps at the end of a race, manual pit lane control etc, etc...

Even something as trivia as race distance by laps is still absent. Myself and others have been asking for this for two years.

Basic for us means more coding time for the Sector 3 dev team and it may not be a simple task - you got me on the race duration by laps as we've had the feature on and off within beta builds for ages.

More advanced features like dynamic track rubbering, flatspots, weather conditions & night racing seem a very long way off or aren't on the agenda at all.

I'm not a programmer or artist however as I understand, many of these functions are able to be done as R3E's physics remain isiMotor 2 based and the graphics are of Sector 3/SimBin's own in-house, however improvements and additions come back to having the people in place to create then optimise these functions. I know of one of your listed features being created then deemed to be to resource heavy to employ at present.

Listen, I love R3E but it got to the stage where the game was becoming a grind while waiting for the next meaningful feature update. The regular new content additions just feel like sticking plasters on what is quite a basic, shallow racing simulation.

As you've said, you've reached a point with R3E where it's time to take a break and it reads like you need one. I feel the same way about AC, so I've moved back to rF2 which is more 'feature rich'.

 

[Erick Goldner]

Not so on topic, but i got curious with the Beta Test thing.
Is it open to those who wish to become one and help?

 

[Brandon Wright]

In the same way there seems to be plenty of complaints about so many other games, so R3E is not alone there. I certainly don't think it helps when every thread turns in to a discussion about the pricing model and lack of features and then proceeds to go round in circles with everybody more or less repeating what they've said in previous threads. If I'm not that interested in a game then I don't head off to the forums of said game to denigrate it. If there's a bug I find, then I may go to see if there's a solution but I don't keep going back just to repeat the same things over and over.

"They need to concentrate on getting the basics in there. Flags, stable net code and better server/MP race configuration. Not much to ask is it mate?"

I agree these things are really needed, believe you me, I agree. But with S3 in thrall to KW whose priorities are not the same as ours they just might not come as quickly as we would like. So I enjoy what I can until they do. Hopefully soon.

I think part of what happens is we tend to latch on to something and keep repeating it. At this time last year R3E was missing a lot of things and had several issues and we got in the habit of discussing/complaining which imprinted into our brains that "R3E is missing features". Over the last year a lot of things have been addressed or added but it's still habit to say "R3E is missing features" and with humans being habitual creatures we continue to repeat it despite the fact that many of the things that were missing have been added. But it almost became a trope/meme that "R3E is missing features" and that took on a life of its own regardless of how many things it was still missing.

But, after the next update it looks like a lot of the things we complained about being absent will now be in the game. We have pitstops, we'll be able to save setups, lots of improvements to the FFB settings, the "floaty" physics are being eradicated, we have dedicated servers now, we can do longer races.....these are all things that were common for people to harp about and the game now has them (or will soon). Sure, we're still missing flags and formation laps and flat spots and full control in the pits, but the list of things we're missing is getting smaller and smaller (and to be fair, AC is still missing a lot of these things).

From what I've learned about the guys at S3S, if they could get these missing things into the game easily/quickly they would. They're sim nuts just like we are and probably want these things in their game as badly (or even more badly) as we do. But they're a small team and their handlers dictate the direction that development goes, as do the license holders who dictate when/how content will be created or released. This does lead to a situation where it seems certain things stagnate while others flourish, but they have to play by the rules their given and not by our wishes and desires (or their own). I agree with the sentiment many have expressed here and have also stopped putting money into the game, but I don't pretend to know what terms/schedules are being dictated to the team or how easy it is to add a certain feature that we want. It is what it is and no amount of complaining/arguing with strangers is going to change it.

A working flag system has been in just about every race sim since Microprose Grand Prix and Papyrus Indycar. It's simple. If it was possible back then with the limited ram and 386 pc's, it must be a breeze now.

Back in the days with limited ram and 386 pc's everything about the game was simpler. Probably a safe bet to say that the AI and physics are an order of magnitude more complicated today, which means adding something like a working flag system actually gets harder, not easier. If it were a breeze I'm sure it would be in the game by now.

 

[James Cook]

It's using an ISI-based engine which is already capable of delivering many of these missing features though? A highly adapted engine, yes, but the development of R3E leaves me with a feeling that there was no need to re-invent the wheel, particularly when you look at how good SCE is.

 

[Brandon Wright]

It's using an ISI-based engine which is already capable of delivering many of these missing features though? A highly adapted engine, yes, but the development of R3E leaves me with a feeling that there was no need to re-invent the wheel, particularly when you look at how good SCE is.

I don't disagree with that at all, in fact that's always been my number one complaint about the FFB system. My only guess is that during their bastardization of the ISI engine they managed to break some of these things in a way that's difficult to fix or causes conflicts with other parts of their code. I'm sure if it were easy to do they would have done it by now, I doubt they're sitting there thinking "Hmm, it would take me a day or two to implement flags, or we could spend a few months modeling a car. Yeah, definitely car." Whatever the reason, it's certainly frustrating.

 

[James Cook]

Certainly frustrating indeed. Just think how good this product could have been by this stage if it was built squarely on the foundations of RACE 07 and GTR2? Take that base with its already very competent physics and feature set, improve on all aspects, and we would be seeing one hell of a racing simulation, I have no doubt.

But as you said, it is what it is, what's done is done. Sector3 will do their best with what they've got, as always.

 

[Travis]

Not so on topic, but i got curious with the Beta Test thing.
Is it open to those who wish to become one and help?

Contact Sonat as per his instructions here: https://forum.sector3studios.com/in...t-involved-with-beta-testing.4226/#post-54163

 

[Travis]

It's using an ISI-based engine which is already capable of delivering many of these missing features though? A highly adapted engine, yes, but the development of R3E leaves me with a feeling that there was no need to re-invent the wheel, particularly when you look at how good SCE is.

I asked how much of the original isiMotor 2 remains in R3E and Jay Ekkel said about 20%

The physics engine may be capable of many things, the custom graphics engine may also have the capability but it needs the programmers and artists to make it happen.

 

[Erick Goldner]

Contact Sonat as per his instructions here: https://forum.sector3studios.com/in...t-involved-with-beta-testing.4226/#post-54163

Thanks for the info.
Will contact him!