rF2 | Development Roadmap For January

[Paul Jeffrey]

Another development studio to release their next monthly 'Development Roadmap' is Studio 397 - the Dutch team showing off what's been happening in rFactor 2 in recent weeks.

Having posted to the world just a few short days ago, Studio 397 have released their January Development Roadmap for rFactor 2, giving us all a look at some of the things that have been happening in rFactor 2 of late, and a look at a few upcoming items schedule for the simulation in the near future.

Oh, and don't forget to watch the race video from Sim Formula 2020 to catch yours truly on commentary duty

rFactor 2 Development Roadmap - January

Hello everybody, we hope you have all had enough time to read and digest the December roadmap? Here at the studio we have all enjoyed our holidays and are back in full force for the new year. It’s time to put on your racing gloves and fasten your seatbelts to blast through the first roadmap of 2020, all lights are green!

New User Interface

A lot of people have tried out the new user interface and provided feedback. We’ve been collecting this information and are scheduling a new “public beta” update next week.

We changed the way series, track and car selection works in the main menu, returning you right back where you came from instead of always going to the dedicated race menu. Talking about that race menu, nobody liked the way we loaded the favorite servers every time you entered that menu, so that now happens only once (and allows you the option to manually refresh later). Ultimately we will make the whole loading asynchronous, so you never have to wait for it.

We made the replay slider draggable for replays so you can quickly find that scene you were looking for. A few problems that prevented the client from downloading components from a server that was hosting them were addressed and they are now correctly downloaded and installed again while showing you the progress. Brake wear and tire temperatures in the garage after you’ve been on track with your car are back, which should help you analyze your setup. An issue where you could start driving again in a session after being disqualified was fixed. The intermittent issue where the pace car did not correctly load was also addressed. Tyre flex is now again being applied correctly to the visual model.

Unrelated to the UI, we fixed the join lag which accidentally slipped in after some internal refactorings.

We also have an exciting director mode in the works. Taking our broadcast tools from rFactor 2 and allowing you to stream and control the broadcast overlay easily. That also means we’ll start shipping a configurable, customizable overlay. More news on that in our next roadmap.

Looking Back at Sim Formula 2020

Thanks to all of you who visited the event or watched the racing being streamed live. The MECC in Maastricht was the perfect venue and the collaboration with InterClassics meant plenty of eye candy, with the city providing many opportunities for a great night out in between the four days. Overall the event was a big success, with both the esports convention and the student workshop drawing a lot of attention before the big crowds hit Sim Formula and InterClassics on the weekend. The exhibition area where lots of different hardware could be tested saw rigs in constant use and I think many visitors got introduced to the depth and experience of simracing that we have all grown used to. Saturday’s hotlap competition in the main auditorium saw people pushing hard on the virtual circuit of Maastricht. The three races on Sunday crowned Risto Kappet the overall winner, beating the four other finalists for the top spot on the podium.

Assisting Aspiring Game Developers

As well as continuing to improve upon rFactor 2, making time to support young aspiring game developers is something we value here at Studio 397. Members of our UK based team have been invited to a student event at Warrington & Vale Royal College to provide support and advice to students starting their game developing journey. Before the event, students will be taking part in a week-long game jam to which they must produce and pitch the best game idea to industry clientele. The work produced will be entered into a competition, and judged by industry guests, including one of our very own artists, Joel Pattie.

The event will commence from Monday 3rd February and run through to Friday 7th February. Students will be broken into teams of 4/5 members, and must produce a solid example from their idea generation. Tasks will include the creation of a Game Design Document, Level Planning, and 3D environments representing a level in their game, with each industry guest offering support and assistance to help the learners understand how the industry operates. Studio 397 will be providing 5 copies of rFactor 2 to the team awarded best voted game idea!

GT3 BOP Update

Over the past month we have been working on updating our GT3 cars to level performance as best possible. Our hardcore test drivers have put in a lot of laps to ensure a more equal performance across the board, ranging from qualification pace to performance over a full fuel stint. That has lead to the following adjustments for the cars:

• Radical RXC GT3: -30kg weight penalty
• BMW M6 GT3: -30kg weight penalty
• McLaren 650S GT3: -5kg weight penalty.
• Audi R8 LMS GT3 2018: +5kg weight penalty.
• Porsche 991 GT3-R: -1.5% engine torque/power output.
• Bentley Continental GT3: +10kg weight penalty, -2% engine torque/power output.
• Callaway C7 GT3-R: -2.5% engine torque/power output
• Aston Martin Vantage GT3: +15kg weight penalty

Unchanged are the McLaren 720s GT3, Audi R8 LMS GT3 2019 and Mercedes AMG GT3. Expect these updates to come in later this evening.

Tracks

The environment art team has been recovering from last years work load and setting about improving our core generic assets as well as starting work on some new projects which we’ll be able to share with you in the coming months. That said we do have a few updates to share with you this month. We’ve got a full update to the latest technology for the Monaco Formula E track coming which includes many upgrades over the current release version. Additionally, we’ve made some small tweaks to Le Mans to address a few common complaints.

Competition

We are confident that 2020 will be an exciting year, both for us in the Studio but more importantly for simracers (obviously rFactor 2 drivers will have more fun, and yes you can use that as a bumper sticker). In the December roadmap we revealed a glimpse of the future by announcing 4 major endurance special events, so let’s elaborate a bit more on those now. The first three will be the Sebring 12 hour, the Nordschleife 24 hour and the rF24 Le Mans race. The fourth one will be announced later this year. These races will be partially based on invites and have qualification routes for entry for everyone else.

That’s not all. In roughly a month from now our new rF2 GT Pro Series and rF2 GT Challenge Series will kick off. Our First Pro Series season will last for three months and will be handled by invitation and a hotlap qualifier. After this season we will have people moving up from Challenge Series to compete for the prize money in the 2nd season of GT Pro Series. The Challenge Series will be fluid and can consist of multiple splits, giving everybody a chance to climb through the ranks, so don’t worry if you are not a hotlapper, you will have your chance to prove your racecraft and quickly advance to the top tier!

The GT Pro Series will be broadcast live and the top split in the GT Challenge Series will be broadcast as well. Invites will be sent out in the upcoming week and qualifying will start in two weeks time. Based on the results there, the Pro Series Grid and the Challenge Grids will be determined. Look out for our announcement and more details shortly!


Original Source - Studio 397

rFactor 2 is available exclusively on PC.

Throw down a new thread on the rFactor 2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment if you want to ask our awesome community anything about this popular racing simulation.

 

[tlsmikey]

You said "everybody" last time i checked RF2 DLC was cheaper than iRacing and even so if you can't afford it then you have bigger problems at hand.

RF2 isn't in the same league in terms of quality of product as iRacing. The scanned tracks and cars are miles better than anything RF2 has ever produced and no they're not that much cheaper. Iracing charges $15 a track and if memory serves Le Mans was $13, so not a huge savings for a track that doesn't look as good and has some optimization problems.

 

[Peter Stokman]

You said "everybody" last time i checked RF2 DLC was cheaper than iRacing and even so if you can't afford it then you have bigger problems at hand.

And dont forget when you use iracing and have bought for hunfreds of $$$ rented cars/tracks and you cant pay the 130$ anual online subscription Then you cant even use all those rented **** so : Whats expensive ??????

 

[Peter Stokman]

RF2 isn't in the same league in terms of quality of product as iRacing. The scanned tracks and cars are miles better than anything RF2 has ever produced and no they're not that much cheaper. Iracing charges $15 a track and if memory serves Le Mans was $13, so not a huge savings for a track that doesn't look as good and has some optimization problems.

cars and adjustment setups is best in Iracing but Many laserscanned/or MOD tracks are way better in other sims then iracing's laserscanned. And FFB is iceracing in Iracing

 

[Marc Collins]

I dont understand many posts here. What's wrong with rf2 AI? I mean, I mostly race online, but sometimes I go singleplayer for the exotic combos or train with heavy trafic. It's not perfect, but better than AMS, AC and iR AI. So, what sim is the refeence title to compare with?

It is absolutely not better than AMS AI.

[EDIT] I see others already posted with more detailed responses above.

 

[Mantas Jokubauskas]

I'm in a love-hate relationship with this game. The sim can be REALLY fun when you get the settings right, but otherwise it's getting miles and miles behind. UI is a long overdue but still a clunky mess, Sounds are meh, Graphics are improving but still too slowly, Game Performance is a hit or miss. Racing itself, though, can be very fun, when everything is right, however, AI "problems" (as shown in a video on page 2) are still big though.
(Pricing also doesn't help - AFAIK, there is still no "high-quality" official content in the base game...)

 

[MarcG]

RF2 isn't in the same league in terms of quality of product as iRacing. The scanned tracks and cars are miles better than anything RF2 has ever produced and no they're not that much cheaper. Iracing charges $15 a track and if memory serves Le Mans was $13, so not a huge savings for a track that doesn't look as good and has some optimization problems.

You need to read what he quoted and why i responded...

 

[MarcG]

And dont forget when you use iracing and have bought for hunfreds of $$$ rented cars/tracks and you cant pay the 130$ anual online subscription Then you cant even use all those rented **** so : Whats expensive ??????

Umm yes? Not sure I get your point

 

[CC]

always surprised by the gathering of hater on the rf2 topics on racedpt...

You mean the lynch mob ?

I was reading a comment this morning when I got up around 6am or something on the 1st page regarding all the bugs and issues within RF2 seems like a never ending story,

Anyways those comments stayed with me all day long in my mind thinking about it in depth all the games I have ever played since growing up,
I came to the conclusion in my 30+ years playing only racing games mainly,

I have yet to come across 1 single game I ever played which was not buggy and full of glitches,
have you ?

 

[captain-slow]

For me, this game comes closest to my beloved GTR2, AI is very good and no other game combines all features GTR2 had, like an option to save midrace, dynamic weather, multiclass races, dynamic day night cycle, excellent physics, mod support, a lot of free content, and much other stuff + VR support.

 

[CC]

 

[John-Eric Saxén]

I have yet to come across 1 single game I ever played which was not buggy and full of glitches,
have you ?

Yes, several, especially in the early 2000's when game development started to mature but games were still sold on market shelves. Racing titles like F1 Challenge 99-02 or NASCAR 2003 are prime examples, were they bug ridden? F1 Challenge shipped as it was and didn't get a single hotfix patch post-release, it just worked, at least for the most part.

It was after games moved on to Steam and digital stores that the real wave of bug-ridden "early access = we are not ready to ship the feature yet but have a go at beta testing it for us" sales model started and an exponential increase in bugs happened. In the cd/dvd era, if the game was shipped bugged, tough luck. Many customers didn't even have stable Internet to download hot fixes, so the business was over for the developer if they released a buggy product. Nowadays early access and work in progress stage can just drag on and on.

 

[CC]

Yes, several, especially in the early 2000's when game development started to mature but games were still sold on market shelves. Racing titles like F1 Challenge 99-02 or NASCAR 2003 are prime examples, were they bug ridden? F1 Challenge shipped as it was and didn't get a single hotfix patch post-release, it just worked, at least for the most part.

It was after games moved on to Steam and digital stores that the real wave of bug-ridden "early access = we are not ready to ship the feature yet but have a go at beta testing it for us" sales model started and an exponential increase in bugs happened. In the cd/dvd era, if the game was shipped bugged, tough luck. Many customers didn't even have stable Internet to download hot fixes, so the business was over for the developer if they released a buggy product. Nowadays early access and work in progress stage can just drag on and on.

I always remember some glitches or bugs here or there in games,
when thinking about it the more bugs and glitches that creeped into games was when all this DLC freight train arrived since then now we see a lot more bugs and issues,
simply because it pays more to sell DLC than to do anything else and also with a small business and amount of employees it becomes a main priority,
Hopefully all these small issues get fixed one day and we see a new engine similar to AMS2 and ACC,
ACC wheel presets are insane its by far the best system out there for usability instant plug and play,
R3E for me is the best sim on PC but it dont support my Fanatec CSL wheel with presets so sadly dont play it,
everything is full of bugs and issues here or there these days but there needs to be a point a cut off point where everyone stops crying over the slightest issues or bugs,
yes RF2 as loads of bugs but its not major stuff,
but all these other games are riddled with issues also there certainly isn't no greener grass at the other side of the fence that is for sure.

 

[pitkin]

You mean the lynch mob ?

I was reading a comment this morning when I got up around 6am or something on the 1st page regarding all the bugs and issues within RF2 seems like a never ending story,

Anyways those comments stayed with me all day long in my mind thinking about it in depth all the games I have ever played since growing up,
I came to the conclusion in my 30+ years playing only racing games mainly,

I have yet to come across 1 single game I ever played which was not buggy and full of glitches,
have you ?

That may be true to an extent, but I've played plenty that are less frustrating than rF2.
For example:
AMS
F1 Challenge
The Grand Prix series
Indianapolis 500
Nascar 2003
Indycar racing 1+2
F1 2018
GTR2
GTL
Revs

There'll be others, but it's all subjective.

 

[Ghoults]

Rf2 keeps doing rf2 things. It is not a sim that improves. It is a sim that digs deeper going into the direction it has been heading since it launched. The only thing it needs is a change of course and it will never happen.

 

[pitkin]

It seems like a lot of text to tell us they've tweaked some .ini files.

 

[Danpros]

It's sad. Rf2 is my favorite sim but in every roadmap they release, i become more and more frustrated.
Now i'm driving my attention to AMS 2. I hope Reiza can develop a good ffb and physics with Madness Engine

 

[sbabb]

Number 3 will shock you!

10) Finish the UI you've been teasing for years.
9) Don't release buggy/unfinished DLC content...
8) ... for double the money everybody else charges.
7) Stop focusing solely on e-sports.
6) Bring AI back to par with the other sims.
5) Implement a proper transmission model.
4) Don't prioritize paid content over core upgrades.
3) Release hotfixes/optimizations for new DLCs in a timely manner.
2) Implement Single player game modes like championship/carrer.
1) Fix the bugs everybody was telling you about for years!

6 is wrong no sim out there has good AI yet, none of the sims has achieved to make them smart, they dont follow your draft or either ignore your presence or give up to much, also not accelerating on straights makes a nice train pretty much everytime, 6 should be an area where every game has to improve a lot, remember Grand Prix 4? That is what I want to have instead we got the same AI just in a different Engine between all Sims since GP4

The only real issue I have with rF2 is that it needs more cars and tracks (paid or free), like it has most of the things you would want for an endurance Sim, it only needs a few more GT3's the 2 new GTE's plus maybe the Ferrari and GTE needs to be faster again, then some US Tracks and its basically IMSA, then like SPA etc and WEC would also be possible (some Hypercars with some LMDh would also help)
With ACC covering GT3, Codemasters having F1, AMS locking down excotics and all the other ones having variety being their selling argument either those Endurance series or Indycar, V8 Supercars would be fields that are underrepresented currently

In an ideal world every dev would focus and nail one big series (or group of similar series) so that in total everything relevant would be covered, because why would I want to drive the same car in x different sims? (Although I still cant resist doing it )

 

[tr1v1um]

I always remember some glitches or bugs here or there in games,
when thinking about it the more bugs and glitches that creeped into games was when all this DLC freight train arrived since then now we see a lot more bugs and issues,
simply because it pays more to sell DLC than to do anything else and also with a small business and amount of employees it becomes a main priority,
Hopefully all these small issues get fixed one day and we see a new engine similar to AMS2 and ACC,
ACC wheel presets are insane its by far the best system out there for usability instant plug and play,
R3E for me is the best sim on PC but it dont support my Fanatec CSL wheel with presets so sadly dont play it,
everything is full of bugs and issues here or there these days but there needs to be a point a cut off point where everyone stops crying over the slightest issues or bugs,
yes RF2 as loads of bugs but its not major stuff,
but all these other games are riddled with issues also there certainly isn't no greener grass at the other side of the fence that is for sure.

I couldn't agree more. I spent quite a bit of time today with ACC to check the new update and later on with rF2. In both products I found bugs and issues. In ACC the game did not recognice my wheel properly when starting the sim, so the wheel rotation was messed up. That's a bug that has affected AC aswell as ACC and still isn't fixed btw. Another one was the AI crashing into me while starting a quick race at Spa, so the race ended before it even started. In rF2 I had the usual issues with FCYs, with the SC allmost crashing into AI and the game crashed while exiting, wich is a common issue for me. So now I will let people decide what is actually far more severe when judging the different products. The important thing is that you know your way around those issues. As a matter of fact, I think it is nice that games have such a long life time span today, even if the way to get a polished experience is a bit longer nowadays. In the late 90s and early 2000, when I started playing games, those were released, got one or two patches at best and the devs were done with it.

 

[Durge Driven]

Number 3 will shock you!

10) Finish the UI you've been teasing for years.
9) Don't release buggy/unfinished DLC content...
8) ... for double the money everybody else charges.
7) Stop focusing solely on e-sports.
6) Bring AI back to par with the other sims.
5) Implement a proper transmission model.
4) Don't prioritize paid content over core upgrades.
3) Release hotfixes/optimizations for new DLCs in a timely manner.
2) Implement Single player game modes like championship/carrer.
1) Fix the bugs everybody was telling you about for years!

//Errata:
8) should read "... for double the money everybody else (except iRacing) charges." Thanks @MarcG

Not saying I don't agree

If you really care go tell S397 direct, does no good here I can tell

Still amazes me how are people that have never been happy still bother, unprecedented in sim history .....must have some evil hold over them

I would seek out a exorcism

 

[Gevatter]

If you really care go tell S397 direct, does no good here I can tell

No use for that, I've tried. We all did. This list wouldn't even exist otherwise.

Still amazes me how are people that have never been happy still bother, unprecedented in sim history

As long as people complain about a game, they still care and want to see it improved. Those are the people who can be brought back if the devs demonstrate their will to listen and improve their game. The ones who don't complain anymore are the ones that are gone.

I would seek out a exorcism

Or another sim, which is what most people did.