RaceRoom Secures Porsche Licence.. Nine New Models Coming

[Paul Jeffrey]

Sector3 Studios have revealed a new licencing agreement with the historic Porsche brand, meaning R3E will soon be receiving plenty of content from the German manufacturer.

Securing a deal to represent the Stuttgart marque in their RaceRoom Racing Experience title, the agreement has been some time in the making behind the scenes, and will bear the first fruits of the labour during 2017 with three new cars planned to be deployed to the sim this year, and at least another six coming during 2018.

As can be seen from the new announcement trailer below, it appears as if Sector3 have already been hard at work behind the scenes working on the new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (991 II), with the trailer indicating that the car looks close to a release ready state of development.

You can check out the trailer below:

Speaking of the announcement, Sector3 confirm they have committed to a "long-term agreement with the goal of bringing you the best virtual Porsche Motorsport experience". When we spoke with the studio earlier this year it was clear from our conversations that this agreement is not just about releasing new content, but could stretch into further areas such as competitions and driver experiences in the future.

Undoubtedly great news for fans of the sim, we will eagerly await more information on which cars are going to be included, and if the deal now means an update is scheduled for the already in game ADAC GT Masters packs, which to this point have been making use of the RUF placeholder cars to fill out the racing grid.

Now that Sector3 and RaceRoom have announced the new licencing agreement it means that Porsche are or will be represented in almost all the major racing simulations. The once incredibly difficult to acquire cars are now expected to appear in no less that five games, ranging from console giants Gran Turismo and Forza, to Project CARS and Assetto Corsa, well and truly returning these incredible vehicles to the forefront of the sim racing genre.

Indeed Sector3 and the former SimBin development team have been courting Porsche for some time, with Sector3's J-F Chardon explaining that the ambition to see the marque in their games is something long desired by the development team. When asked what it means to secure the licence for RaceRoom Racing Experience, Chardon was understandably pleased with the agreement:

"It means a lot because it's been a very long chase on our side. Back in the days we had already been talking with the former license holders, several agreements were brought on the table but never materialized. It just wasn't as good as working directly with Porsche. Being able to finally go through with Porsche on our intentions is a great feeling".​

Indeed now the relationship has been set in stone so to speak, Sector3 have been incredibly impressed as to the level of access afforded the team when putting together the virtual renditions of the selected race machines.

Working closely with both Porsche and some professional race teams, Chardon added:

"Our artists had what they called the "most complete reference package ever" to work with, and we have also a lot of data about the car that we can use for developing the handling".​

What's more, Sector3 are continuing their tradition of working closely with real life teams in an effort to produce the most realistic experience possible, something which will continue with the new Porsche models, although which teams are involved in this process remain a close secret for the time being...

"Our GT3 Cup model (which you can only see this season in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany and the Mobil1 Supercup) is also made in collaboration with a couple of racing teams, but we'll share more on that topic soon".
​

We already know from the licence announcement that nine models will be developed over the coming year and a half, of which we have confirmation that the Carrera Cup will be the first of the new deal. However the rest of the roster of cars is still something open to discussion, as Chardon went on to explain to me earlier today..

"It is indeed 9 models at the pace of 3 each year. The first three were selected together with Porsche and are already well advanced in development. The next 6 are still to be decided. The selection of modern cars will follow Porsche Motorsport activities, while we have a couple of historic cars that we know we want to make".​

So all in all it's been a busy Saturday afternoon for fans of the simulation, with more interesting info to be released over the coming weeks and months.


RaceRoom Racing Experience is a free to play simulation exclusive to PC with additional content available to purchase via the in game RaceRoom Store.

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So Porsche at last.. happy to hear of the deal? Which models would you like to see included? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[The-IC]

@M D Gourley "adjust specs to your own game engine" is just another way of saying "delete and rebuild from scratch"

 

[randMracer]

So....I can now get shunted off the track in a Porsche. I get shunted off the track in this game by all other AI cars, now Porsche also. Game is unplayable.

Lower the AI settings until you get better. Apparently you're going too slow.

 

[RufGTI]

I wonder how long it takes until the Porsche's are buyable. I still wait for the M235i Racing (announced March 2016), the AMG GT3 (ingame screens September 2016), the C7 GT3-R (announced October 2016) and the X-BOW GT4 (ingame screens February 2017)

 

[Ralf Brinkmann]

I don't think there's such a thing as checking from the Porsche side. More likely to be a very complex and detailed contract containing all restrictions and penalties in case of any violation.

I remember Aris posting a statement after the Porsche-Marathon they had last year where he states that Porsche wants to look over everything. "...the attention to detail from Porsche which expects perfection on every single polygon, texture... skin... everything."

 

[Andrew Harper]

This is great news for the title and the list of cars looks really good.

One thing I would like to see now is maybe full 24 hour cycles, Even if they only made it available on a few tracks.

The selection of endurance level cars in the sim is now really good and day/nighttime races would be a really cool addition.

 

[Andrew Harper]

I remember Aris posting a statement after the Porsche-Marathon they had last year where he states that Porsche wants to look over everything. "...the attention to detail from Porsche which expects perfection on every single polygon, texture... skin... everything."

Yeah I agree, I think the reason why some of these cars take so long to appear in these titles is just the demands of the licence holders. I would imagine Porsche want every polygon perfect!

 

[James Cook]

Yeah I agree, I think the reason why some of these cars take so long to appear in these titles is just the demands of the licence holders. I would imagine Porsche want every polygon perfect!

That seems to be the case from what I've read on the official forum. Both the car models and liveries have to be approved and it sounds like a very thorough, time-consuming process.

Games that have these cars with no/very few official liveries can get these cars out quicker, Assetto Corsa for example.

 

[Will Mazeo]

It's what J-F Chardon said, according to the article:

This is actually nice news if means the license secure future cars.

 

[samcar304]

rFactor 2 has the most features out of all the Sims currently but it lacks in content. AC has a great amount of content but it lacks in features compared to rF2. Its a balance you have to get right. i think R3E is doing fine with features and content. AC has not even got rolling starts.... and its probably got the biggest pool of GT3 cars available in sim racing.

 

[Case_]

Yeah I agree, I think the reason why some of these cars take so long to appear in these titles is just the demands of the licence holders. I would imagine Porsche want every polygon perfect!

In his last stream, Georg Ortner mentioned at least some of the new, long awaited GT3 cars are currently in the process of manufacturer approval, so their release is currently out of S3's hands. And yeah, given the hints from S3 and also from Dirt Rally devs I've seen in the past, apparently at least some of the manufacturers are very thorough with their approvals and also have some very specific demands that have to be fulfilled for the car to get a green light.

 

[Craig Dunkley]

Over the last year or so this sim has come a long way in a lot of aspects, it would not surprise me to see them at the top of the pile in the not so distance future.

There was a time that only iracing interested me, but a monthly fee and cars and tracks costing £11.00 upwards it does get very expensive. In comparison I have purchased cars @raceroom for as little as £0.25 !!!

My iracing subscription runs out on the 27th of this month, there is a very strong possibility that I will not renew.

My current go to sims are: rfactor2, AC and AM, along with raceroom of course. With this new licensing agreement for raceroom it is slowly but surely becoming my number 1 go to.

Project cars 2 ??? ..who knows but there would need to be a huge improvement over 1.

 

[TheReaper GT]

Over the last year or so this sim has come a long way in a lot of aspects, it would not surprise me to see them at the top of the pile in the not so distance future.

There was a time that only iracing interested me, but a monthly fee and cars and tracks costing £11.00 upwards it does get very expensive. In comparison I have purchased cars @raceroom for as little as £0.25 !!!

My iracing subscription runs out on the 27th of this month, there is a very strong possibility that I will not renew.

My current go to sims are: rfactor2, AC and AM, along with raceroom of course. With this new licensing agreement for raceroom it is slowly but surely becoming my number 1 go to.

Project cars 2 ??? ..who knows but there would need to be a huge improvement over 1.

Lot's of good cars to be released, who knows when. I really think R3E is the most fun for me right now both online and with the AI. I'm really looking forward for the C7 GT3R and the KTM GT4.

 

[Christian Moreau]

Lots of great stuff coming! I know it's difficult to stay patient, especially with all these previously announced cars yet to be released, but please don't forget, Sector 3 is a VERY small development team and work extremely hard on every car they develop to make sure they capture every detail of the car inside and out. The manufacturer approval also puts delays on top of this process. Lately, as you've seen in the recent patches, a lot of work has gone into bug fixing and stability improvements to provide the platform that they need to bring more content. I'm sure you guys remember the disaster that was the November patch. They've come a long way since in stabilizing the game. Finding issues and their causes, as well as developing a fix is much more difficult than some of you might think.

Testers are working hard with the devs to provide feedback and bug reports. There's no use in releasing content if it's half broken on release. The good stuff is coming and I know you guys are going to like it, the Porsches included!

 

[protonv5]

Lower the AI settings until you get better. Apparently you're going too slow.

Right.... My fault. Well, uh, no. To drive a car in a realistic manner in Raceroom is not possible. You have to drive as hard as possible and stand on the brakes while locking hard in every corner. If you don't do this you get smashed from behind. Sorry, but this is no fun and not realistic. Do I have to drive this way in Assetto? No. Do I have to drive this way in PCars or any other driving game for this matter? No. But in Raceroom you have to. Terrible game. Has nothing to do with me needing to get gud. . In fact I've tried all the AI settings and it doesn't matter what they are. Same thing. and by the way, if I speed up as you say, then I wind up smashing into the AI cars in front of me. RR is a hotlapper at best.

 

[TheReaper GT]

You are cute.

 

[protonv5]

You are cute.

What's the point of your comment reaper? Does anyone know?
Enjoy RR. Joke that it is.

 

[Greg Latty]

Right.... My fault. Well, uh, no. To drive a car in a realistic manner in Raceroom is not possible. You have to drive as hard as possible and stand on the brakes while locking hard in every corner. If you don't do this you get smashed from behind. Sorry, but this is no fun and not realistic. Do I have to drive this way in Assetto? No. Do I have to drive this way in PCars or any other driving game for this matter? No. But in Raceroom you have to. Terrible game. Has nothing to do with me needing to get gud. . In fact I've tried all the AI settings and it doesn't matter what they are. Same thing. and by the way, if I speed up as you say, then I wind up smashing into the AI cars in front of me. RR is a hotlapper at best.

well its a good thing this game is free then huh ...Good thing we as sim racers have options. I thought pcars 1 sucked so i stopped playing it and never visited their forum since. thank god for options.

 

[TheReaper GT]

What's the point of your comment reaper? Does anyone know?
Enjoy RR. Joke that it is.

Thanks man, I really do enjoy it.

 

[kedy89]

Great to see Porsche coming to R3E

Cup car should make for some nice club racing I think. Can't wait to see which ones the other 8 are.

rFactor 2 has the most features out of all the Sims currently but it lacks in content. AC has a great amount of content but it lacks in features compared to rF2. Its a balance you have to get right. i think R3E is doing fine with features and content. AC has not even got rolling starts.... and its probably got the biggest pool of GT3 cars available in sim racing.

AC could use a few more tracks as well. There are modded ones, but only few come in high quality. VIR, RIR, Bridge, NJMP, Thomson and Poznan come to mind.

 

[Martin Larsen]

I've been running R3E for awhile now and quite enjoy it. Out of curiosity what do you think needs fixing?

Oh... Can I take this? Where to begin

Lag in online often when people join which has been like that for many, many months now and has ruined countless qualify laps. And you are not able to complete your flying lap in qualify online when time session is over, when time is att zero then you have a few secs and it's over witch again has ruined many qualify laps.
No dynamic track conditions, no flatspotting, no weather(that counts for most sim's but still)no tire pressure settings and other basic car setup features
You barely feel differance between a few liters of fuel tank and a full tank.
Collisions in online races even though no contact between the cars.

And AI was fine before, but in qualify they just run out there with full tank of fuel and just run like it's a race. So after a few laps the AI run in train and never improve there time again and many times(Atleast with FRX) don't even use DRS. And AI do sometimes fight you when you try to overtake, but when you make the overtake you dont ever have to think about that AI again. He either falls far behind or just nicely follow you like a train

And you also have things that are in works, like offline multiclass racing which I do not add since they are atleast confirmed even if also take ages...


There is so many things this game miss that you should expect from a sim in 2017, and many people will say game is in development and that's fine. But the fact is still game was out in 2013 on Steam, 4years ago, and still miss all this and much more. But still puke out car after car and track after track we can buy but feature development goes in snail pace. And when a feature is finnaly realeased it take months to make it work properly, like flag system. Game released 2013, called a sim, first in 2017 had a working flag system... And now manual start is removed from online, so not just does game lack features but also removes features...

And I have over 300hours in this game but... Yeah don't think that number is going to increase with this content over features focus.