Rate the Sims: Community Edition | rFactor 2

Paul Jeffrey · Dec 23, 2019

We are looking to crown the 'RaceDepartment Community Favourite' racing game - get your votes in now for our next game on the list... rFactor 2!

Our dear RaceDepartment community. You folks are the most mighty fans of sim racing, often displaying an immense amount of understanding and depth of knowledge when it comes to our favourite hobby.

With sim racing and eSports in such a wonderful boom period of late. Gamers looking to have some fun with their virtual racing machines have never before had such a wide and robust variety of software to enjoy.

Now occasionally I've been in a position to rate new racing titles that have come my way, and almost every time I've received a wide variety of folks agreeing, or strongly disagreeing with my own opinions.

Opinions are great, but sometimes the opinion of one person, with their own likes and dislikes taken into account, can often give a bit of a skewed picture (intentional or not) to the greater cause in which said person is trying to explain.

As such, rather than doing one myself, and in the spirit of engaging some interesting community discussion, I thought it could be fun to let our own community rate each of the key sim racing / racing games available today.

As always with these things, please do try and respect each other and their opinions, and let's try to see if we can give a fun, but fair shake of the stick to each of the games included in this poll.

For transparency, I'm going to be featuring the following racing games over the next weeks:

I'm going to launch the article each Monday evening, and keep the poll running for a full week until the next new article is pushed live. So get your votes in quick!

Once I've completed the full list of games, I'll publish a final results feature, and we can award the winning developer the lofty title of 'RaceDepartment Community Favourite'!

Have fun, stay sensible and let the voting commence!

Ami_M3 · Dec 30, 2019

I love rF2 but even though the driving experience is outstanding (physics and FFB) I rate it "only" 8. No sim deserves a 10 today IMO, but I awarded AMS and R3E a solid 9, because in my mind they are more polished.

rF2 definitely has the potential to be a 10, but some things need improvement, such as:

sound - while newest content has good engine sound I wish the transmission whine could be more pronounced. Also, I wish tire scrub/skid volume could be adjusted, or at least be bit louder. Ideally, I'd like to have it similar to R3E, where different sound levels could be adjusted. Not sure how hard it is to implement, but maybe this is something S397 could look into sometime in the future
cockpit detailing. It is not a deal breaker, but dashboards in rF2 are behind the competition
it may change with new UI, but currently joining multiplayer session is not easy to newcomers if content is missing
messy DLC section on Steam
proper clutch simulation - why is it still missing after so many years?
native FFB meter

Then we have things such as Nordschleife, Sebring, LM that are the best in the business and combined with the right cars can show how good rF2 can really be.

Finally, on one hand I understand S397 needs to bring income and has to create new DLCs, but on the other I wish a bit more effort was put into updating older content as well.

Emery · Dec 30, 2019

Durge Driven said:
>>> lol

Where to start

Just so everyone knows Durge's flying car pictures aren't totally a videogame fantasy...

”Formula 3, Blandford, August 1949: Major Peter Braid was the man in command in this famous accident when competing in his F3 Cooper. You’d have thought that his military intelligence would have helped him know where he was going, especially as the circuit was laid out around an army camp.

As it was, he got it wrong, very wrong running over the crest at Engineers bend, the fastest corner on the circuit, ending up with his Cooper perched atop the roof of the guardroom, having hit a bus stop and a small tree between leaving the track and reaching his unintended destination.”

R5th · Dec 31, 2019

- Lack of Content (Cars and Track).
- Aging mods on steamworkshop. Most of them not being updated.
- HUD are old! Need simhub which consume more CPU power to run.
- Not a good multiplayer system or implementation compare to at least GT Sport. iRacing are the highest form of multiplayer standard that hard for every racing sim to follow.
- DLC a bit expensive despite the game age.

The rest was ok for me.

wajdi · Jan 1, 2020

In the last 9 years I raced only rfactor2.... enough said

roadyroad · Jan 1, 2020

avenger82 said:
I don't understand what you mean old content becomes unusable. It's just not updated to latest graphics and occasional physics updates. Every sim that supports modding has varying quality of mods. Some don't need super accurate or tracks or cars as long as it's fun. Especially with less known tracks or cars it's often hard to expect premium quality.

Indeed some content not being updated is visually atrocious (this occured when rfactor2 got its dx11 update), even inside the cockpit (the usual overbloom post effect). And when the pysics are updated, the old xars are not, so we don't know.whether their physics still make sense. The old official cars at least should be updated.

I may have been a bit too critical. S397 has been releasing interesting free content and selling good dlcs. But this is the effect of the issues I pointed out. Lots of great content and features mixed with many other badly implemented features ("mixed" is the right word when you look at the car selection menu, which is an absolute mess).

Emery · Jan 2, 2020

roadyroad said:
Indeed some content not being updated is visually atrocious (this occured when rfactor2 got its dx11 update), even inside the cockpit (the usual overbloom post effect).

The only ISI/S397 content that is not visually updated are the ISI experimental/fun cars: the quads, the delivery van, and the r/c cars. See https://steamcommunity.com/id/studio-397/myworkshopfiles/?appid=365960&p=1

As far as physics updates, S397 has updated when they've had new data. Players have given those physics updates lukewarm reception. We'd all like to see CPMv2 tire updates for the older cars, myself included, but then realize that those cars are old enough that more accurate tire data probably doesn't exist since those cars are not current race cars. Heck, half of those older cars are fantasy anyway, even when loosely based on real cars (Howston, Eve, Spark, Formula ISI), so what exactly are you expecting the physics updates to consist of?!?

Obviously when you play with modders content, then you have to rely on modders to update the content they provided. We all hope/trust that modders keep their content current, improve it, but the reality is that is rarely the case.

patchedupdemon · Jan 2, 2020

blueferrari said:
I only could give RF2 a 2. For a sim that has been around for a long time, I really think it should be much more advanced. Graphics are poor, the voice-over is appallingly old and dated, there are many bugs and stutters and it's really only set up for Mods, that are again very poor in presentation and graphics. Yes, granted it has good FFB and physics, but that just doesn't keep you interested.

Doesn't keep you interested you mean, I would hazard a guess you're an iracing fan by giving it a 2,but then you seem to be about graphics,but iracing has worst graphics so you can't be

avenger82 · Jan 2, 2020

Ami_M3 said:
I love rF2 but even though the driving experience is outstanding (physics and FFB) I rate it "only" 8. No sim deserves a 10 today IMO, but I awarded AMS and R3E a solid 9, because in my mind they are more polished.

rF2 definitely has the potential to be a 10, but some things need improvement, such as:

sound - while newest content has good engine sound I wish the transmission whine could be more pronounced. Also, I wish tire scrub/skid volume could be adjusted, or at least be bit louder. Ideally, I'd like to have it similar to R3E, where different sound levels could be adjusted. Not sure how hard it is to implement, but maybe this is something S397 could look into sometime in the future

cockpit detailing. It is not a deal breaker, but dashboards in rF2 are behind the competition

it may change with new UI, but currently joining multiplayer session is not easy to newcomers if content is missing

messy DLC section on Steam

proper clutch simulation - why is it still missing after so many years?

native FFB meter

Then we have things such as Nordschleife, Sebring, LM that are the best in the business and combined with the right cars can show how good rF2 can really be.

Finally, on one hand I understand S397 needs to bring income and has to create new DLCs, but on the other I wish a bit more effort was put into updating older content as well.

+1
That's fair criticism.

roadyroad · Jan 2, 2020

Emery said:
The only ISI/S397 content that is not visually updated are the ISI experimental/fun cars: the quads, the delivery van, and the r/c cars. See https://steamcommunity.com/id/studio-397/myworkshopfiles/?appid=365960&p=1

As far as physics updates, S397 has updated when they've had new data. Players have given those physics updates lukewarm reception. We'd all like to see CPMv2 tire updates for the older cars, myself included, but then realize that those cars are old enough that more accurate tire data probably doesn't exist since those cars are not current race cars. Heck, half of those older cars are fantasy anyway, even when loosely based on real cars (Howston, Eve, Spark, Formula ISI), so what exactly are you expecting the physics updates to consist of?!?

Obviously when you play with modders content, then you have to rely on modders to update the content they provided. We all hope/trust that modders keep their content current, improve it, but the reality is that is rarely the case.

Well, my main issue is that you can't identify what is official content, paid content (reiza pack, kartsim), and community content. That's enough to create a huge mess in the game. So you're lostnin a lot of content, without knowing what's good or wrong. Only this makes rfactor2 a bad sim.
This way of presenting the content is just the result of how the game is dependent on the modding community. Modding is one of the roots of rfactor2, although s397 tries to stop it.
It's necessary to cut all the modded content or yo embrace it by managing the modding community. A decision has to be made.

The amazing Race Sim Studios mods are available for AC and, although the developpers stated they wanted to port qome of their content to rfactor2, they are not available yet. Just the GTs and NGTs would worth the price of rfactor2 ans the mods to replace at last GTR2. There are no news from RSS about this conversion and S397 should be the first ones to help them in the process, to support them, to promote them. But... Nothing, just letting a bunch of crappy or outdated mods in the workshop that ruin the experience.

Rfactor2 was about modding, it is not anymore. As Insaid, S397 should just close the workshop or manage it the right way. And should stop delaying the UI. All the other sims has stopped the modding feature, it became impossible to support because further developments are always coming, unless you decide to stop the development to move on another project (AC, Automobilista), which let the sim in a final state which allows modders to work without thinking thei worl will be lost in 2 months. Mod content in AC was a huge mess until kunos stopped its development. I don't have to explain how active the community is around AC nowadays. And I don't need to state how the modding community is around rfactor2 in comparison...

By the way, I wanted to launch rfactor2 few days ago, after a few months without doing it, my mouse cursor disappeared. So I realized that you can't do anything without the mouse, the keyboard being unusable to navigate in the menus. And after that codemasters is burnt because there is no mouse support in their games. But they have controller and keyboard support...

Rfactor2 is still in a prelaunch/prerelease state, this is the real problem, still without a clear identity (it lost it). Although, as I stated, when it does something right it's a 10 out of 10 title.

roadyroad · Jan 2, 2020

And another example : the f1 1975 mod has been released few years ago and was never finished (issue with the onscreen wheel and with the dx11 update). S397 released a car from that year. Obviously the mod was wrong with the performance of the cars (assuming s397 has more accurate information). What about s397 trying to help this mod being finished? With their knowledge about the cars of this era? By being in touch with many modders, they could find a way to make a modder continue this project which obviously has been abandoned. This mod alone would make rfactor2 a mist have. And what about helping other modders to create or converting the tracks from this era (they are all availablz for F1 challenge).

Tr0nic · Jan 2, 2020

8 ... but:

Why nobody is mentioning the Ai and their behavior on throttle in corners?

In every corner, every car, on every track ... the Ai pushs the pedal so weird ... why they can't lift and push smooth?

It is the most unrealistic thing about Rf2 that is annoying me from time to time ...
Sadly it is kind of ridiculous to watch a replay with sound imho...

I really hope the Devs do care about it...

Edit: lol, found a fresh video about the throttle input, that is coincidence now!

Old input is somewhat smoother, maybe not on the brakes, but on throttle. But way better imho.
Any opinions? Ty!

bflorezruiz · Jan 2, 2020

Tr0nic said:
8 ... but:

Why nobody is mentioning the Ai and their behavior on throttle in corners?

In every corner, every car, on every track ... the Ai pushs the pedal so weird ... why they can't lift and push smooth?

It is the most unrealistic thing about Rf2 that is annoying me from time to time ...
Sadly it is kind of ridiculous to watch a replay with sound imho...

I really hope the Devs do care about it...

Edit: lol, found a fresh video about the throttle input, that is coincidence now!

Old input is somewhat smoother, maybe not on the brakes, but on throttle. But way better imho.
Any opinions? Ty!

That AI behavior is exasperating. In an interview Marcel Offerman said that they do not see this as a defect of the game but, in fact, it is one of their virtues, because it shows that AI is very fast to make corrections (https://www.racedepartment.com /threads/rfactor-2-the-big-interview-part-2.170417/page-2#post-3003022). That is, they do not plan to fix it. Nor have they fixed the problem of freezing despite the fact that 9 months have passed since the first cases were reported.

blueferrari · Jan 3, 2020

patchedupdemon said:
Doesn't keep you interested you mean, I would hazard a guess you're an iracing fan by giving it a 2,but then you seem to be about graphics,but iracing has worst graphics so you can't be

Just to answer your question, I race most sims, including: Raceroom, Assetto Corsa Comp, Project Cars 2 and F1 2019. Yes, graphics are important to me, as are decent and adjustable championship/career modes etc. Each to their own.

Shaun Vane · Jan 5, 2020

I bought rf2 the first day it was available also rf1 love the sims but back on memorial day this year I got hit by a F4 tornado seriously, lost everything I owned house cars clothes computers, all i had was the clothes I was wearing.Thankful I survived! So any way I just recently was able to finally get a pc again and have tried multiple times to get RF2 again with my order numbers. I had bought it twice in the past when they did the switch thing and can't even get a response back! This really changed how I felt about doing business with them. I'm looking forward to the other sims coming out. Good sim bad customer service!

Doug62 · Jan 5, 2020

Shaun Vane said:
I bought rf2 the first day it was available also rf1 love the sims but back on memorial day this year I got hit by a F4 tornado seriously, lost everything I owned house cars clothes computers, all i had was the clothes I was wearing.Thankful I survived! So any way I just recently was able to finally get a pc again and have tried multiple times to get RF2 again with my order numbers. I had bought it twice in the past when they did the switch thing and can't even get a response back! This really changed how I felt about doing business with them. I'm looking forward to the other sims coming out. Good sim bad customer service!

You bought the Steam version so all you need to do is sign in to your Steam account. All your records of purchases are saved through them.
rF1 if you what it you'll probably need to buy the Steam version if you don't have it already. Bit hard to find rF1 mods these days. rFactorCentral no longer exists and other download links are down. Pretty old now.

mr Sw1tchblade · Jan 5, 2020

Hobbo88 streaming rf1 videos at YouTube from time to time. Maybe he can help to find rf1 mods.

MarcG · Jan 5, 2020

Shaun Vane said:
I bought rf2 the first day it was available also rf1 love the sims but back on memorial day this year I got hit by a F4 tornado seriously, lost everything I owned house cars clothes computers, all i had was the clothes I was wearing.Thankful I survived! So any way I just recently was able to finally get a pc again and have tried multiple times to get RF2 again with my order numbers. I had bought it twice in the past when they did the switch thing and can't even get a response back! This really changed how I felt about doing business with them. I'm looking forward to the other sims coming out. Good sim bad customer service!

Who did you email exactly?

Tr0nic · Jan 5, 2020

bflorezruiz said:
That AI behavior is exasperating. In an interview Marcel Offerman said that they do not see this as a defect of the game but, in fact, it is one of their virtues, because it shows that AI is very fast to make corrections (https://www.racedepartment.com /threads/rfactor-2-the-big-interview-part-2.170417/page-2#post-3003022). That is, they do not plan to fix it. Nor have they fixed the problem of freezing despite the fact that 9 months have passed since the first cases were reported.

Well, that is frustrating to me. I wonder how can they be satisfied with this Ai behaviour...

Maybe they look into it someday... i think RF2 deserves it.