rF2 Development Roadmap: Porsche, UI and eSport

[Paul Jeffrey]

A little later than usual, Studio 397 have released their development roadmap for the month of August.

Due to commitments at the Sim Racing Expo, Studio 397 have been a little bit behind schedule getting their latest roadmap post out into the wild - but fear not, it's here now and can be read in full below..

...

Roughly a week later than normal, we bring you the monthly roadmap for August. Obviously we were at the SimRacing Expo last weekend, where we met a lot of you and showed off a pre-release version of the Porsche GT3 Cup car and the Nürburgring. Both are scheduled for a release in roughly two weeks from now, pending final approvals. But we have a lot of other news to share with you too, so let’s get started!

A1 eSport season 2
A1 eSport is back with yet another season, after a great first season. Once again the races will start off with a hotlap session, and then in each weekend following a race. A total of 5 races will be run before heading to the showdown and shootout and finally the finale in late October hosted in Vienna. Just like last season. The big difference here is that now every European can participate, not just German speaking residents. Sign up is open now, first round starts at midnight on the 9th of September. Lets go! If you want to get a glimpse of what you’re getting yourself into, on their website you can see what the last season finale looked like.

Porsche Formula E Competition IAA Frankfurt
In roughly a week from now, the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt starts again, and on the last day of this huge show we will be collaborating with Porsche to run a full day of Formula E races. The qualifiers for this event have already been decided. Congratulations to the four finalists who will compete against the Porsche Formula E factory drivers on stage! If you are planning in visiting the show and are there on the last Sunday, please drop by and say hi, watch the show and have a go yourself.

World’s Fastest Gamer 2
Qualifiers for rFactor 2 have been run and if you have not seen the final race, check it out below. Erhan Jajovski won the race in great style and we wish him all the best in the finals later this year. Although at this point little is known yet about these finals, we are confident that these will be something very special, so watch this space and the WFG2 site for more information.

Code Updates
After the first technical update last month, we have now released another one that addresses the “leave lags” that people were experiencing in some circumstances. Specifically when someone with a car with non-standard upgrades left the server, this would cause a lag that propagated to all other clients. Our latest update fixes that. Next on our list are some smaller usability issues. We are also still analyzing any freezes that specific clients are having.

The rest of our development team is working hard on finishing the UI we previewed at the SimRacing Expo. If you missed our live broadcast on Twitch on Sunday, check it out HERE.

We want to thank everybody for providing a lot of comments on this new UI. Just to clarify where we are with this. Our first release is a starting point for many more tweaks and improvements, so if you don’t see your favorite improvement yet, don’t worry, things will evolve!

With the new UI, we are also going to release the first version of our competition system, and although we did not demo any of that in the video we did at the SimRacing Expo, we will start showing it in the weeks to come.

Our graphics developers in the meantime are working on some more fundamental changes to the lighting and the way our shaders work. The move to PBR triggered a few other issues that we are fixing right now and at the same time we are improving how our shaders work, by streamlining the number of different shaders we have and making new ones that can be customized a lot more by artists. Once these things are done, we are continuing our work on cockpit shaders. Prototypes for that were very encouraging.

Content
For those of you who could not attend the SimRacing Expo we have some more shots of the Porsche GT3 Cup car. The car is officially still a “Work In Progress” but as you can see, it’s coming along nicely. Obviously we are already planning new content beyond the things that will be in your hands in a few more weeks, but we’ll save that for another roadmap.

That’s all for this month. We’ll be back in roughly three weeks with next month’s roadmap which will be back on schedule. In the meantime we would like to wish everybody a lot of fun simracing, and stay safe!

rFactor 2 is a racing simulation exclusively available for PC.

For more news from the world of rFactor 2, check out the RaceDepartment rFactor 2 sub forum and join in with the community discussion. If you like racing in a clean and fun environment online, why not check out the RaceDepartment rFactor 2 Racing Club? Get yourself in on the action!

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[wombat999]

I keep on keeping on with RF2 but I'll admit that I actually think it's something of a lost cause. It drives rather well but simply getting up and running is royal PITA!

 

[Ruy Horta]

This is probably me showing my age, but I get this feeling we're all kind of getting the whole eSport thing pushed on us (and this isn't specifically leveled at S397, it goes beyond that).

As a general rule, I don't think many people even within the hard core gaming demographic pay much attention to eSport or have any intention to begin doing so.

If you yourself participate and/or follow eSport and enjoy it, don't let me spoil your fun. Just saying I'm not holding my breath waiting for this to be the next big thing. I'd rather see a sim dev give us a true iRacing competitor in terms of an online competition system.

I do watch people play video games (specifically sim racing), but I stick with Jimmy Broadbent, GamerMuscle, etc on YouTube. They are fun dudes and get excited/frustrated with the same pointless crap I do, so it's good entertainment. I feel like I am in the mood to watch a real race long before I would ever have the urge to tune into an eSport race.

IMHO eSports is nonsense, but it is pushed for commercial reasons - as always.
Even the name is ridiculous, it is not a sport it is playing video games - regardless of difficulty level.

At best it is like most bar games, takes some skill, certainly to be a top player, but it is make believe compared to the real thing.

Racing sims have a slight advantage, only slight, compared to games like Fortnite, Call of Duty etc.

Sorry iRacing / 397 / Raceroom etc

 

[Norbert Sajtos]

Regarding to the new UI. It looks absolutely fantastic, but we need more fixes, like...

1. I'm just hoping that the devs will finally come out with a good solution for VR headset usage as well.
- Just check Project Cars 2, it handles the VR the best way. It's like the theater mode when you can see movie canvas in VR, but you are not forced to use your VR headset while messing with the car setup, etc. because on the monitor screen you can see only the "canvas" which is not moving with the headset movement.
- And with the current beta version it's true that loading times are way faster, but during loading you can only see the last frozen frame in the headset. It simply drives my eyes crazy.

2. Mirror and seat adjustment
- Why do we have to set the mirrors and the seat for the same car but with different vinyls???
- It's not priority, but would be so good to have the option in VR that the mirrors would follow the head movement as well.

Devs, if you read this, please consider the above ideas to implement as soon as possible, I think I'm not the only one who would like to see these functions in the game.

 

[Shad3R]

What you order online

What you get

 

[leclettico]

About images.
I never had a graphic detail like the one showed. Is it my fault? I have all graphic sliders to the maximum.

 

[CrimsonEminence]

What you order online[...]

To be fair, it is possible, to make it look like advertised:

In our own game:

This wasn't even its final form (uh..i mean full settings)

The NoS/Porsche Cup presentation wasn't very beautiful or fluid though, there i have to agree.

 

[pabletux]

Looking forward on the new UI and graphics updates, not a fan of the GT3 cup car.

eSports thing, I also follow simracing604, jimmy, Gamermuscle, they are different to those kids that thinks they are professionals, playing with the t-cam view of chase cam, really. But is funny, let´s they do it, as long as they not try to give me lessons about simracing. Some of them thinks they are sim racing gods, and knows everything and " i´m better than you ", the only "team" I follow is Vodafone Giants with Pablo Lopez, or Aday Coba, humility before everything, obviously is not all of them.

 

[BrunoBæ]

I do watch people play video games (specifically sim racing), but I stick with Jimmy Broadbent, GamerMuscle, etc on YouTube. They are fun dudes and get excited/frustrated with the same pointless crap I do, so it's good entertainment. I feel like I am in the mood to watch a real race long before I would ever have the urge to tune into an eSport race.

What what?
Are you me?

 

[Will Mazeo]

This is probably me showing my age, but I get this feeling we're all kind of getting the whole eSport thing pushed on us (and this isn't specifically leveled at S397, it goes beyond that).

As a general rule, I don't think many people even within the hard core gaming demographic pay much attention to eSport or have any intention to begin doing so.

If you yourself participate and/or follow eSport and enjoy it, don't let me spoil your fun. Just saying I'm not holding my breath waiting for this to be the next big thing. I'd rather see a sim dev give us a true iRacing competitor in terms of an online competition system.

I do watch people play video games (specifically sim racing), but I stick with Jimmy Broadbent, GamerMuscle, etc on YouTube. They are fun dudes and get excited/frustrated with the same pointless crap I do, so it's good entertainment. I feel like I am in the mood to watch a real race long before I would ever have the urge to tune into an eSport race.

Feels like being pushed but I see it as a bet from developers (and in some cases manufacturers too) in case the whole esport thing really sticks.
Personally I only take a look at other people playing games to see a preview of a car or track or to see how a league is running in case I join it. But I think watching other people playing games is rather stupid and in simracing it's even more. I mean you see top players in Counter Strike, what they do is impressive it's different of what 99% of us can do but in simracing the guy driving the car feels like he is doing exactly what all of us do but he goes way faster for some "unknown" reason

 

[mantasisg]

Whats the difference ? You watch someone else in action in either way. But wait, I know the difference.

Watching JB or GM is like spending time with a friend which you don't have (I suppose ). And thats probably the most important thing in the age of loneliness. If you'd watch proper eSports racing stream, which would make you feel like you are not only listening to "professional" commentator/-s, but also being together with friend/-s, then it would be same thing. Unfortunately those two things obviously can't be both at 100% in the same time.

But people doesn't even seem to participate as they clearly realize that they have no chance. More ways of engaging people into esports has to be found.

Additionally, I don't think that modern professional racing is always interesting to watch. It isn't always irl, so obviously even more so in virtual world. I don't get why it always has to be the present reality that is simulated, as some of simulation huge advantages over real life is that you can effectively "travel in time", which doesn't seem to be used anymore.

I mean you see top players in Counter Strike, what they do is impressive it's different of what 99% of us can do but in simracing the guy driving the car feels like he is doing exactly what all of us do but he goes way faster for some "unknown" reason

True, sometimes they are also so clean, that they even appear slower than they actually are. And it gets worse when all grid starts driving relatively perfectly with only little bit different pace, so it pretty much turns into train driving around the track, which is as interesting to watch as football with all defense and no attack.

 

[Fonsecker]

The only frustrating about eSport is, that i will never be as good to compete with the pro´s in sim racing, so all this eSport challenges are not my cup of coffee. iRacing does a great job with the online racing thing. Doesnt mater what series u choose, just hop in and get a good fun in racing (I only do the oval racing thing in iRacing)

So if the future will be this style of online competition, i am in. But only those events, World fastest Gamer and other things, i am not good enough. And just for doing some hotlaps and seeing my name in a list of players at position 1250 of 5000 gives me no satisfaction at all.

And joining a league is also not an option fo rme, cause i do not want to compete in a leage with planned races every week or two. Just hanging up with equal players on public servers more or less what iracing is doing is fun for me....

 

[Terry Rock]

I am still not a 'fan' of the difficulty surrounding online multiplayer racing without being in a league.
That said.... S397 has done well getting RF2 to run more efficiently and with better content.
I thank them for that but I'd still like to see a bit more emphasis placed on multiplayer racing....especially given the added cost ISI charged for that ability.
Wasn't that what the 'lifetime' payment was all about?

 

[RikkiBalboa]

To be fair, it is possible, to make it look like advertised:
View attachment 323751

In our own game:

View attachment 323752
This wasn't even its final form (uh..i mean full settings)

The NoS/Porsche Cup presentation wasn't very beautiful or fluid though, there i have to agree.

But how? How can you achieve this? I have an AMD RX480. Maybe possible with Nvidia and not AMD? Please post your settings, hopefully I can achieve the same.

Glad to read in the road-map that they are working on shaders. Hopefully will brings great improvements in the graphic department.

 

[2stains]

What you order online

What you get

I find it looks every bit as good as the advertised shots This was just a quick pic i took last week at Sebring from my replay during a 20 lapper

If needed i can try for a similar angle to your pic but im not much of a photographer

 

[Will Mazeo]

But how? How can you achieve this? I have an AMD RX480. Maybe possible with Nvidia and not AMD? Please post your settings, hopefully I can achieve the same.

Glad to read in the road-map that they are working on shaders. Hopefully will brings great improvements in the graphic department.

Overall you need to be able to run it on max (but shadows on high looks better than full imo) to get those visuals. At FullHD that card should be able to do get it all on full shadows(max blur)/reflections medium, 12~15 visible cars and get the AA right to keep ur fps stable. Wont look like the screenshots but it wont look bad either, IMO ofc

 

[2stains]

Deleted

 

[snezana]

I have no interest at all in E sports either,and for all the money I spend on iRacing (for example) I do feel they are losing site of the majority of their members that just want to race,Of course they have the right to make money for the company any way they want.But I for one am beginning to feel neglected for the sake of E sports.

 

[Nick Hill]

Yeah, to be clear, I don't have a "problem" with eSports themselves. Like I said, if you watch and/or participate, I hope it's because you enjoy it and you absolutely should not let me ruin your fun. I just don't think there are that many such people, yet devs seem to be really enthused about the whole thing...which leads me to my theory (still not a "problem") that devs are either trying to convince their user base this is a "thing" OR the devs themselves are being fed information that this is a "thing" (probably a combo of the two, actually).

And when I say "thing", I mean "more of a thing than it actually is".

Ultimately though, I appreciate S397 still kicking the can down the road, so to speak. The rF2 engine is too damned good to let die on the vine and I think that was a very real possibility not that long ago. S397 has been a net positive for rF2 and sim racing in general.

 

[NDG]

Sorry off topic... Gamer Muscle had a video of that full sized 911 and RF2 running with separate mirrors. Anyone have any idea how they manage to stream the mirrors to a separate device?

 

[John-Eric Saxén]

What you order online

What you get

Well what you are showing is a low-res screenshot from I presume a YouTube livestream, which we don't know what bitrate it uses, with YouTube compression added on top and we don't know what settings the broadcaster is using plus it's running a beta track not in release shape (Nordschleife). So are you still wondering why it doesn't look the same?