RaceRoom Updates and GT4 Cars Released

[Paul Jeffrey]

The big new November update for RaceRoom Racing Experience is here - and with it comes the three new GT4 cars for the simulation.

Suggested by JF Chardon of Sector3 Studios as something of a landmark update to the simulation, the very latest build of RaceRoom Racing Experience has been released today and comes packed with plenty of updates, improvements, changes and fixes to the popular racing title.

As with any new build release in the gaming world, often it is the content updates that garner the most attention from players, and despite some seriously pleasing notes within the changelog, the latest build of RaceRoom Racing Experience is no doubt set to be overshadowed by the newly purchasable content unlocked following the latest build release - namely the three new GT4 cars and the freshly updated P/45 Competizione that arrives within the GT2 racing category within the title.

However content aside, and you can see more of that by reviewing the links towards the foot of this article, the new build for R3E also packs plenty of interesting changes to the sim - not least of which is a new gearbox logic applied to h shifter cars within the title. Now rewarding careful shifting more than ever before within the game, players using any of the h shifter cars within the current selection of vehicles should notice a much richer experience and sterner consequences for mistimed gearshifts.

November 2018 Update Notes:

Download size = circa 2.8 GB
Client version = 0.3.0.6514
Client BuildID = 3346300
Dedi version = 47.0.764
Dedi BuildID = 3346554

Note : All leaderboard entries were reset for this update.

Content

• Added GTR4 car class with KTM GT4, Lotus Evora GT4 and Porsche Cayman MR
• Added the full grid of the Cayman Trophy by Manthey Racing for the Porsche Cayman Clubsport GT4
• Added a GT2 version of the P4/5 Competizione

Game

• Reworked our approach towards driving assists. In Single Player events, the player can now fully customize which assists are enabled and at what level. The assists available in multiplayer sessions will depend on the settings defined by the host. Competitions and leaderboards will still offer the familiar “novice”, “amateur” and “get real” options, enforcing equality in such competitive environments.
• Dedicated server : Interface reworked for easier server management. Added settings for the driving assist, either enforcing specified assists levels or allowing connected players to freely pick and choose.
• Dedicated server : Qualifying session timer is now frozen while the server is empty if there is no practice session and the “freeze session if empty” option is enabled.
• Reworked the Multiplayer lobby page to better present servers overall. More filters are now available to narrow down a search we also added the required information regarding which assists are allowed or enforced for each server.
• Introducing additional assists : ESP and Countersteer assistance.
• Reworked the Assisted Braking to become more targeted towards not missing the braking points. Useful when learning a new track.
• Implemented a weight ballast system for assists that do not naturally make the car slower.
• Further tweaks to Slowdown penalties
• Added Look to Apex, Pitch camera lag and Roll camera lag sliders to options menu.
• Reorganized the option menus for easier navigation.
• Added a menu option to toggle the saving of replay files
• Lowered default volume values for Roadfeel and Suspension Squeak sound effects
• Cockpit camera now has some movement from G-forces by default.
• Car selection menu no longer shows cars in order of their release dates but alphabetically.
• Further improvements to serving of Slowdown penalties after all the great feedback from the last update.
• In a Multiplayer session with “Wrecker Prevention” option enabled, a player sitting idle on the track without accelerating will be presented with a message asking “Are you still there?” and to press Throttle to confirm. Failure to comply will result in being brought back to the garage.
• Reduced the distance at which the green flag is presented after passing a yellow flag incident.
• DRS in a multiclass race will no longer become available from following a car having a different performance index.
• AI no longer defends its position in the first turn of an s-curve
• AI now makes better defensive decisions based on the type of corner ahead.
• AI no longer goes defensive on the first lap of a race if there is a car in front.
• AI should now respect a bit more distance to opponent cars

Physics / Sounds / AI / Cameras

• All non sequential cars: Reworked the entire H-pattern gearbox and clutch management.
• Introducing downshift blip on gearshifts when clutch is set to automatic
• Turbo spooling now drops more accurately on gearshifts
• Tyre and brake disk temperatures are now pre-heated to their optimal temperatures when performing a rolling start (time attack, rolling start qualifying, race rolling starts)
• Damage sensitivity tweaks for all cars
• Added stone chips samples to replays
• Added specific pitstop timers for GTR1 and GTR2 car classes
• Changing a damaged front nose of the Formula RaceRoom X-17 no longer takes 30 seconds.
• Audi R8 LMS - Improved behaviour when biting curbs
• BMW M6 GT3 - Improved corner entry behaviour
• Formula RaceRoom 3 - Improved base setup. Improved AI standing starts. Fuel tank now lasts 15 laps around Macau.
• Formula RaceRoom U.S. - Prevented AI from performing a pitstop on a short race around Road America.
• Formula RaceRoom X-17 - Improved AI standing starts
• GTR2 - Complete rework on the physics, 2 tyre compounds
• GTR2 - New sounds for the BMW M3 GT2
• GTR3 - Adjustments to the balance of performance (power, downforce, fuel consumption, etc)
• GTR4 - Introducing this class with 3 new cars.
• Hillclimb Icons - Complete rework of the physics.
  
• Mercedes C-Klasse DTM 2005 - Improved AI behaviour
• Porsche 911 GT3 Cup - Overall improvements of the handling and of the AI behaviour
• Porsche Cayman Clubsport - Overall improvements of the handling and of the AI behaviour
• WTCR - Adjustments to the balance of performance (power, weight, gear ratios) and to the estimation of fuel consumption (affects AI decisions and car setup menu estimations)
• New Static TV cameras brought to various tracks with focus on atmospheric scenes and listenning to sounds of cars passing. Those cameras can be accessed with Page Down, then using End key to cycle through camera sets.

Bug fixes

• Reduced vibration of opponent cars in multiplayer (mostly noticeable when standing still)
• Fixed a case where the game would not validate the serving of a drivethrough penalty if the player stopped at the spot. Also removed the pit area markers if “serve drivethrough” is selected in the pit menu to stop luring players into stopping.
• Fixed some rendering issue occuring after altering visual settings in the menus and letting the game revert the changes by not confirming.
• Fixed a case where the game would stop the car at the spot if serving a drivethrough with AI assistance in pitlane.
• Fixed an issue where, in certain cases, some incident points would be missing from the results file generated by the dedicated server.
• Fixed the lap time not being invalidated from driving in the wrong direction.
• Fixed a Triple Screen rendering issue where smoke or dirt clouds would not appear properly.
• Fixed a replay issue where sounds from cars could fail to play properly after switching quickly between cars.
• Fixed an issue with the cockpit perspective shift feature that would make the cockpit camera act up in replays.
• Fixed the cockpit perspective shift going the other way when looking back.
• Fixed cockpit perspective shift affecting onboard cameras (accessible through Home key)
• Fixed an issue where a spectator client started from a rrre:// link would fail to show the broadcast overlays.
• Fixed some wrong live diff timing values on the first race lap around Nordschleife VLN and 24H layouts
• Fixed an exploit where a player could serve a drivethrough penalty by entering and leaving the pitlane from the same side.
• Fixed tyre changes in GTR3 car class that played a very long loop of sounds.
• Fixed “Time Left” being wrong when broadcasting a multiplayer event with 2 race sessions.
• Fixed an issue where player would lose control of the car upon entering a pitlane in the wrong direction if AI assistance in pitlane was enabled
• Fixed spectator overlays showing wrong time left when joining an event with more than 1 race session.
• Fixed a HUD timing overlay that would sometimes not go away after a practice run on a hillclimb.
• Fixed pitstop menu being locked after entering the pitlane with no action selected.

If you can't make it to your racing rig just yet, check out our big RaceRoom interview and test driver here:

Or if you have less time but still want to see what's what, check out our three 'Talk 'n' Drive' videos that can be found HERE.

RaceRoom Racing Experience is a free to play racing simulation from Sector3 Studios.

If you like RaceRoom and want to keep up to date with all the latest news and discussions, head on over to the RaceRoom Racing Experience sub forum. We host a whole range of top quality club racing events in our Racing Club, plus we offer a great place to hang out and discuss the game with your fellow R3E fans. Pop over and say hello today!

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[Dirk Steffen]

Is the triple monitor setup still a launch command only option that gets lost every time the game updates or has this been incorporated into the game UI now ?

I am curious to reinstall and look how RR came along.

 

[Patrick van der Meulen]

Love the KTM handling.

I've only driven the KTM but I love it. Such a fun car to drive but seems a bit slow at powering out of corners.

Turbo lag my friend. Going just a tad earlier on the throttle and drive it agressive. I find it in a sense the most easiest car to drive fast laptimes. Love it on Sachsenring. Seems to drift through every corner. But as a breeze. Very well combo.

And yes GT4 screams for Brand Hatch! @J-F Chardon (hint hint, make it happen one day please!).

But the GT2 revamp is also sweet. My alltime favorite BMW M3 GT2 gives even more pleasure to drive than ever before!

And the whole list of improvements is indeed nothing short of a milestone improvement. Certainly after the talk and drive last week knowing what is worked on and is coming in the near future.

 

[dreamer al]

And yes GT4 screams for Brand Hatch! @J-F Chardon (hint hint, make it happen one day please!).

I yearn for the day that we will have a "complete" Brand Hatch (rather than the current one). Off topic, sorry

 

[Kenny Paton]

I yearn for the day that we will have a "complete" Brand Hatch (rather than the current one). Off topic, sorry

Oh I think it's fair to say we all feel that way with every new announcement and update.
On topic, this one's a doozy

 

[Deleted member 6919]

One thing to notice regarding setups - do note that the traction control presets are now reversed on many cars (all?), as in that preset 1 is the highest setting and preset 5 the lowest (whereas before it used to be the other way around, except for FX-17).

Yeh the Devs have said they agreed that all cars have this new setting, they felt it made more sense to start with the highest setting first, I understand their thought process, but personally don't agree, but if it's changeable in setup you can reverse it yourself and save the setup..

 

[Jason Mullin]

I also quite like the new camera movement (the default settings), it feels very natural, unlike in some other sims.

This is something that struck me immediately and it really improves sense of immersion.
I had a fight with some grass and as the car rotated around 360 It looked as if I'd actually had a real wreck because the rotation was slow.
Anyone that's had an off at a track day will tell you as you spin around it doesn't look like you're riding a fidget spinner, it's a slower progressive rotation you have time to look around and say many bad words before the car stops.

 

[TheReaper GT]

Anyone know if there is a way to change the turbo blowoff valve sound volume? I find it a bit too quiet... From ktm the videos I've watched the thing is awesome and helps the sense of immersion.

 

[Patrick van der Meulen]

Anyone know if there is a way to change the turbo blowoff valve sound volume? I find it a bit too quiet... From ktm the videos I've watched the thing is awesome and helps the sense of immersion.

The only thing they changed (to my understandings) is the turbo blow-off synced better with gear changes. Don’t know if that really effected the soundlevels or is because of another timing which enginesounds and turbo are more mixed and thus can be perceived differently. But that’s just my speculation.

 

[anthony monteil]

Anyone know if there is a way to change the turbo blowoff valve sound volume? I find it a bit too quiet... From ktm the videos I've watched the thing is awesome and helps the sense of immersion.

About this, the valve volume is intentionally balanced with the others sounds because it sounds too artificial with a higher volume. I know the valve is a bit louder irl but you need to take in count the conditions of the video recording (camera's auto volume) which often tend to increase artificially the volume of certain sharp sounds like the transmission or turbo valve.
The engine is quite silent on this car, and that's probably why the valve is so loud on the videos.
With a louder engine, the valve might even be inaudible or hardly audible.
Currently, the valve volume is tied with the engine volume in R3E, so you won't be able to adjust it with a specific menu slider.

 

[anthony monteil]

The only thing they changed (to my understandings) is the turbo blow-off synced better with gear changes. Don’t know if that really effected the soundlevels or is because of another timing which enginesounds and turbo are more mixed and thus can be perceived differently. But that’s just my speculation.

The synchronization between the gearshifts sounds and the actual mechanical/physical gear shift has been improved. The turbo valve is part of these sounds when it empties during the gear change/clutch action.
The goal was to make the gearshift sounds more interactive with the driver actions, and I think it's at least better than before (where some delay didn't make sense sometimes).

 

[Leynad777]

From the first look: Nice update and great new cars. The mouse issue after alt-tabbing out with a WMR-HMD seems gone, even it's not in the changelog.

I had to mute my bumps in SimVibe because they don't work anymore like before and just vibrating annoyingly. I'm using suspension surges instead and feels very different than the bumps, but better. I think driving over curbs felt better in a former update some while ago and I miss effects for the rumble strips.

Edit: WMR-mouse bug back again

 

[Trebor901]

So when did they add Tiago Monteiros Honda to the WTCR stable? because its a good addition but a joke that we are being made to pay for it if we've already got the whole WTCR pack!!

 

[Kenny Paton]

So when did they add Tiago Monteiros Honda to the WTCR stable? because its a good addition but a joke that we are being made to pay for it if we've already got the whole WTCR pack!!

As I said in the other post you made about this
He wasn't in the series until October this year after his crash in Barcelona last year, so wouldn't be included in the pack.

 

[apex11]

As I said in the other post you made about this
He wasn't in the series until October this year after his crash in Barcelona last year, so wouldn't be included in the pack.

Surely its just a livery payment?
We don't have to purchase the whole car do we?

 

[Case_]

Surely its just a livery payment?
We don't have to purchase the whole car do we?

No, we don't. Like the guy himself admitted, he's literally whining about having to pay 26p for an additional livery. (Edit: Ah, he mentioned it in the other post he made about it, sorry.)

 

[Alistair McKinley]

No, we don't. Like the guy himself admitted, he's literally whining about having to pay 26p for an additional livery. (Edit: Ah, he mentioned it in the other post he made about it, sorry.)

But the two Caymans are different cars, aren't they? The Manthey Cayman Cup (Clubsport/Trophy whatever) is about 80 kg heavier and doesn't come with adjustable brake bias in cockpit - or did I read it wrong?
(If so, I paid a few euros too much. )

 

[Steve D]

Having a huge amount of fun with the Lotus....so 'chuckable' and with plenty of very use-able feedback. Might quickly become a firm favourite!

Just a quick question. I'm using vr (Rift) and the virtual steering wheel in the Lotus seems huge. My FOV is fine but the cockpit seems oversized. I've thought this before about certain cars in R3E, especially when compared to vr cockpits in AC, rF2 and PC2. It doesn't detract from the immersion and enjoyment at all and it might be just me but I was wondering if I'm missing a setting somewhere to make an adjustment?

Thanks.

 

[FeltHat]

did you try different vr scale?

 

[Steve D]

After all this time I've just found the World Scale option in the VR menu. That's made a big difference although need to try and tweak my seating position as well so that the belts aren't visible. Might be a compromise though as I could do with sitting back further, whilst maintaining the world scale I now have but that will mean the belts are more visible.

 

[Case_]

But the two Caymans are different cars, aren't they? The Manthey Cayman Cup (Clubsport/Trophy whatever) is about 80 kg heavier and doesn't come with adjustable brake bias in cockpit - or did I read it wrong?
(If so, I paid a few euros too much. )

The comment did not relate to the Caymans at all. It was about S3 adding the Monteiro livery for the WTCR Honda in this pack with said livery not being given free to people who bought the WTCR as a pack before the livery was added.

The two Caymans are indeed a different car, but adding the new one if you already owned the first one was still only considered a livery update (or at least it was for me).