RaceRoom Racing Experience January Update Released

[Paul Jeffrey]

Sector3 Studios have today deployed a new update to RaceRoom Racing Experience, adding plenty of nice fixes and improvements to the in game AI.

Although we've had one or two hotfix updates already in the new calendar year, today marks the first major build release for RaceRoom Racing Experience in 2018, and the developers appear to have been hard at work over the festive season brining yet more improvements to the multiplayer experience and the all important game AI - rapidly developing into one of the finer examples of artificial intelligence in the sim racing marketplace.

Of course the most prominent news from the latest update will be the release of the Road America circuit (more details HERE), however one shouldn't be too quick to overlook the importance of some of the features in the change log below. Despite the intentions of Sector3 to take a more active approach to online competitions in the years ahead, the Swedish developers are doing a very impressive job of building what is turning out to be a rather impressive AI experience, improving considerably over previous editions back in early 2017 and before, making RaceRoom a very strong contender for one of the most robust single player experiences in sim racing today..


January 2018 Change Log:

• Multiplayer - Garage assignment should now result in a lot less spawning inside several other cars.
• Multiplayer - Fixed for a second time the gear selection that resets on starting grid after everyone is ready (aka “the Franconen bug”)
• Multiplayer - Fixed a case where a close finish between two players with latency (ping) higher than the gap between their cars would result in one of them not registering the race finish and allowed one more lap.
• AI - Further improved spatial awareness
• AI - AI cars now embark varying amount of fuel in practice and qualify sessions.
• AI - Improved their pitstop strategy decisions (starting fuel, number of stops)
• AI - AI drivers now have a random performance factor to avoid having always the same AI’s winning most championships.
• AI - Nordschleife Tourist AI cars finishing a lap now longer remain idle in the parking area.
• Thrustmaster - Updated API version / Added support for leds and automated the fetching of the wheel range
• Removed the Pitstop cancel button if the player is in the pitlane to prevent mistakes.
• Pit menu navigation - “Menu Up” and “Menu Down” commands no longer wrap vertically
• Further improved performance when changing values on the car setup screen.

Sound, Physics & AI:

• Porsche 911 GT3 R - External sounds improvements
• Porsche Cayman GT4 CS - Reduced lift off oversteer (engine braking)
• GTR3 Car class - BOP adjustments. Leaderboards were cleared.
• WTCC 16/17 - More stability in the rear, reduced braking power. Also reduced the domination of Citroen by AI.
• Audi TT cup - AI has been slowed down
• Ford GT1 - Gearbox is now properly marked as sequential
• Saleen S7R - Gearbox is now properly marked as sequential
• Formula RaceRoom 2 - Now has a maximum steerlock
• Zandvoort - AI strength adjusted

Art:

• Chevrolet Daytona Prototype - Fixed a very bright cockpit when looking at a certain LOD level of the car
• Porsche 991 GT3 Cup - Fixed missing labels / texture on the steering wheel

For more from the new Road America release, don't forget to check out our reveal article and exclusive gameplay footage HERE.

RaceRoom Racing Experience is available exclusively to PC on a free to play platform with additional content available at a further cost.

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Have you tried the new update yet? What are your impressions of the latest AI revisions? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Tar Heel]

Perhaps you need to keep more up to date with the latest news? Two of those things are being worked on and are due fairly soon. GTR3 is not S3 and therefore not their responsibility to talk about. UE4 was mentioned recently, but as something that "may" happen, not "definitely will".

To be fair they have said multiclass offline racing is coming soon since last February.

 

[Steve Worrell]

I expect because there are more important things to be working on. I wonder if we'll ever see a patch release thread where people talk about the patch, instead of posting their personal wishlists of what could/should/would have been in there?

To be honest pal I dip in and out of this site. If this is the only time I have to post my thoughts on the SIM then I'm going to take the chance.

If it was my business I wouldn't care where feedback comes from as long as I got to see it.

 

[UMC 22]

To be honest pal I dip in and out of this site. If this is the only time I have to post my thoughts on the SIM then I'm going to take the chance.

If it was my business I wouldn't care where feedback comes from as long as I got to see it.

Take a chill pill buddy. People are so up tight these days. It was a general observation, not a personal criticism.

 

[Case_]

Let me see... DirectX 10/11/12... overrated too?

Yes. Because most people don't actually understand what those mean, they just think that the higher the number, the better the graphics, which is not how it works at all.

 

[Steve Worrell]

Take a chill pill buddy. People are so up tight these days. It was a general observation, not a personal criticism.

I swear there was nothing aggressive in my response but hey ho.

 

[cpt_gandy]

Loving the GT3 bop they did, so much better now they can compete with each other a lot better now

I also believe they made changes to the tires as well as the grip level fall off does not seem so aggressive and tire wear seems to of been reduced.

Been doing a lot of practice at Spa in the 650s for a GMDRC race and myself and others have been loving the changes they made.

 

[Lars Hansen]

For adaptive AI delete this file it will reset on start up, I found this at Sector 3 forum,

Documents\My Games\SimBin\RaceRoom Racing Experience\UserData\Player1

aiadaptation.xml.

Oh god, no.
Please don't do that. You'll have to start over from scratch.
While the new AI does differ a little in pace, it's one maybe two levels. Certainly not grounds for deleting the AI file.

If you feel you absolutely must do something, then simply reset the counters within the file.

 

[Celestiale]

Just tested all the new GT3 cars in Portimao for the club race on Sunday, and oh man are they feeling awesome now. A year ago i really had to struggle to find a GT3 car to really feel good, and now i have to struggle to find one that doesn't feel amazing. The McLaren maybe the only one, too understeery and boaty on the brakes for my taste. Going go be quite an audit to find my new favourite one

 

[2stains]

Realistic mechanical damage is overrated...

Well at least some visual damage would be great!

 

[2stains]

Oh god, no.
Please don't do that. You'll have to start over from scratch.
While the new AI does differ a little in pace, it's one maybe two levels. Certainly not grounds for deleting the AI file.

If you feel you absolutely must do something, then simply reset the counters within the file.

I play at 106% should I be using adaptive and why?

 

[TrumpetReich]

"Removed the Pitstop cancel button if the player is in the pitlane to prevent mistakes"
Yes! This has been one of my biggest complaints. That button is far too easy to select when using a joystick on a wheel while driving.

 

[Hal Burns]

New layout for Lausitzring with added back straight...free!

 

[Lars Hansen]

I play at 106% should I be using adaptive and why?

I'm a firm believer in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".
So if you get good racing by running 106%, by all means keep doing so.
Easy to test though. Switch to adaptive for a while, and see if that's better.
You can always switch back to a fixed AI if it doesn't work to your liking.

The main reason I'm so enamoured with the AAI is that my skill-level is all over the place, depending on which combo I run.
AAI saves me from having to remember which level I need for which combo.

 

[Deleted member 205301]

Could you elaborate ? What clutch issue ? Do you enable H-pattern shifting in the UI ?
Works as expected for me.
If you forget to change the setting, you're in for an unpleasant surprise though...

...damn....that's probably the point...(now I feel confused and a bit ashamed) i though i've enable it, but if the "unpleasant surprise" you're talking about is the clutch burning and diying after 4-5 laps, that's probably I didn't do it cause it's what happens...
oups, thanks a lot for pointing me this
@++

 

[Yetch]

You can pretty much always run a 1 rear wing on that car. Give it a try!

You can now run the Bentley with no wing at all! 0, bugger all, Zilch!

 

[T04STY]

You can now run the Bentley with no wing at all! 0, bugger all, Zilch!

Holy macharoni!!!
Reverse aerodynamcs, a flying Bentley!!!

 

[AadHofman]

"0" doesn't mean no wing...

 

[T04STY]

"0" doesn't mean no wing...

Dude it was just fun.
We are no fools

 

[UMC 22]

We are no fools

Speak for yourself!

 

[Steve Bird]

Just did a race at Imola in a Porsche and the AI smashed the crap out of me with car jams in chicanes that brought us all to a halt on every lap. I thought this crap only used to happen in PCARS1?