rF2: GT3 Challengers DLC Update

[Paul Jeffrey]

Along with a new roadmap posting comes a fresh update - adding a new lick of paint to the outstanding GT3 Challengers DLC for rFactor 2.

Released back on December 23rd to a very positive reception, myself very much included in that statement, Studio 397 have revisited the GT3 Challengers DLC once again, this time updating these splendid cars with some much needed new paintwork, as well as the very much anticipated new painting templates to allow our ever impressive community members to create their own colour schemes for these five GT3 spec cars.

Now, why so long after release to deploy the painting template I hear you ask? That my friends is a very good question - the answer to which is complex for a layman like me, but basically it is to do with the fact that these five cars are created using a fancy new shader technology in rFactor 2. For players this means the cars look much prettier, but for painters a new process will have to be undertaken to create liveries in future. You can read more about what this means, and to access the new documentation, here.

All in all, a busy but pleasing day for rFactor 2 fans!

GT3 Challengers Update Notes:

Aston Martin Vantage GT3
v1.31

• Added new teams and liveries.
• Added templates fully set up for the new material editor

Audi R8LMS GT3
v1.21

• Added new teams and liveries.
• Added templates fully set up for the new material editor

BMW M6 GT3
v1.15

• Added new teams and liveries.
• Added templates fully set up for the new material editor

McLaren 720s GT3
v1.27

• Added new teams and liveries.
• Added templates fully set up for the new material editor

Porsche 911 GT3R
v1.23

• Added new teams and liveries.
• Added templates fully set up for the new material editor

rFactor 2 is a PC exclusive racing simulation available worldwide via the Steam network.

Check out the rFactor 2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment for all the latest news and discussion with regards to the simulation. You can take part in lively debates with fellow rFactor 2 fans and take part in some great Club and League racing events..!

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[Oldzeb]

@Terry Rock
This old piece of code was made for single player mostly, as i know. S397 need to maintain strong it infrastructure to support constant online races. And again adapt old code to current standards. Noone can do it quickly from scratch.

anything... totally wrong...
rf2 supports online races very well since always, you have to be in a league to understand that and not a solo player in his corner who is waiting for a random server to make a race, the net code and much more solid than iracing (which is getting worse)
the fact that you absolutely have to be a member of a league rejects a lot of people is sad but that's life, I know I would never go on a random server I don't want to waste my time like on AC or Pcar like destruction derby....

 

[Emerson Meyer]

anything... totally wrong...
the net code and much more solid than iracing (which is getting worse)

Really?

Tell me more about the thousands of players in rfactor ONLINE at the same time... am I missing anything?

 

[Nick Hill]

Really?

Tell me more about the thousands of players in rfactor ONLINE at the same time... am I missing anything?

I am not taking sides (I don't have the knowledge/desire to do so), but just as a point of fact - it's the number of concurrent players on any given server at one time that stretches the netcode. To do a fair comparison, you'd want to run an rF2 server with 'x' concurrent racers and a single iRacing server also with 'x' concurrent users. iRacing's ability to support 1000's of racers concurrently service-wide is very impressive (and, I presume, unparalleled in the sim racing world), but is a scaling challenge independent of netcode.

 

[mr Sw1tchblade]

@Oldzeb
I am glad i am wrong about it. I am not crying here "s397 gime online races fasta". And i will be glad to join online race in rf2 with 1 button someday

 

[tr1v1um]

This is going to be received as trolling by some even though I assure you that is not my intent - this is a serious question. Can someone tell me why I've probably spent a grand total of 15 minutes futzing with AC configuration settings and I've been playing since early access, have evolved from single monitors, to triples, to VR...not to mention various new peripherals switched in and out across a couple PC rebuilds...hell, for kicks and giggles I even installed it on my wife's business-grade laptop, cranked the settings down, and I kid you not it ran like butter. The last time I fired up rF2, it was close to an hour of futzing and I was only trying to run some hot laps, it's not like I was chasing photo real graphics for the RD screenshot thread or something. What snapped me out of it is I was starting to read/skim through an 80+ page (!!!) forum thread and I said to myself "what the hell am I doing with my life right now?"

I'm sorry, but what accounts for this absolute gulf between the two end user experiences? Based on the brief flashes of brilliance I have experienced in rF2 over the years, I am willing to believe that, on paper, it's the best home sim experience money can buy, but I am so done with the config file treasure hunt (I am a professional software developer, I spend half my days on some kind of config file treasure hunt, I'm not going to spend my evenings doing it as well).

The end user experience is and was allways dependend on hardware and software configurations. For me it was allways the other way around, so I just had to plugin my hardware and play with rF2 while I still have issues in AC. The only thing I ever needed to do in rF2 configs was to disable letter box mode for replays, setting framerate limits and cleaning the shader cache. Installing mods in rF2 is as easy as it gets and everything that I need is accessible in the current UI wich isn't pretty but very functional. AC was allways a bit hit and miss for me and still is. Why Kunos never went the same route in supporting mods through the steam workshop still puzzles me. That said, in the past people had issues with detection of their direct drive wheels in terms of the correct rotation or people with weaker systems had issues with running rF2 at desired frame rates and visual quality. Some of the stuff, like the correct wheel detection has been fixed though and if you aren't running some obscure hardware and software, setting up an offline game should be pretty straight forward. Online is currently where work is needed in terms of a proper match maker/UI to allow for easier ways to get into public racing. But S397 is well aware of this and working on the new UI and comp infrastructure.

 

[Emerson Meyer]

@Nick Hill , Im not taking sides either....but the statments that rfactor is perfect (according to some members) in all aspects is ridiculous.
It seems that no development is needed, that new content is the only thing that matters. So be it.

The brand Rfactor is important and keeps old fans around... but how long it will survive is a distict matter... new members? Not many...

 

[Oldzeb]

Really?

Tell me more about the thousands of players in rfactor ONLINE at the same time... am I missing anything?

no relationship between the net code and the number of players connected, I saw servers in great shape with 6500 players on iracing endurance and completely down with 3000 connected on a 45mn race...

 

[Oldzeb]

@Nick Hill , Im not taking sides either....but the statments that rfactor is perfect (according to some members) in all aspects is ridiculous.
It seems that no development is needed, that new content is the only thing that matters. So be it.

The brand Rfactor is important and keeps old fans around... but how long it will survive is a distict matter... new members? Not many...

Who said that? Me? I've never read that here....you have to stop making up stories just to bashing..

 

[tr1v1um]

@Nick Hill , Im not taking sides either....but the statments that rfactor is perfect (according to some members) in all aspects is ridiculous.
It seems that no development is needed, that new content is the only thing that matters. So be it.

The brand Rfactor is important and keeps old fans around... but how long it will survive is a distict matter... new members? Not many...

Depends how you define many. Checking different steam databases offering statistics about the game, the amount of players and owners of rFactor 2 has grown steadily over the past few years with a quite active base of players. It is not a matter of surviving but growth right now.

If a product is perfect for some of the users is a completely subjective question. For me there is no product that is perfect, but for other people who search for something different or have different expections for a product that might be different. It is perfectly possible that some people consider NSF Shift perfect. To each his/her own I guess.

 

[Ghoults]

Depends how you define many. Checking different steam databases offering statistics about the game, the amount of players and owners of rFactor 2 has grown steadily over the past few years with a quite active base of players. It is not a matter of surviving but growth right now.

Where do you see this "steady growth"? https://steamcharts.com/app/365960#All

The graph to me proves the exact opposite. There are no new players coming in because there are no distinguishable peaks that match dlc releases or patch releases for example. It looks to me it is the same old people who play rf2 and who buy all the new dlc. Only peak that really stands out is the last gt3 dlc.

I don't really find it surprising either. Rf2 is in holding pattern. The new ui is still long ways off, the online is dead (WhY dOn'T yOU jOiN a LEaGuE?) and the dlc prices are high and geared towards existing userbase. A lot of the issues that made rf2 undesirable racing sim some years ago still largely exist even though some big ticket items have been deleted. Like the incredibly stupid yearly online fee. Graphics looks better I'd guess. Modding is still unnecessarily difficult and with gjed killed off you only have 3dsmax users left. All official content is packed with encryption so there is 0 new info about new (or existing) features except tiny number of extremely well written tutorials for couple new features. So modding won't take off either in near future unless the big number of issues on that front are fixed. And even then the potential growth there is delayed because to make quality mod it takes 6 months minimum.

The new competition format and server system (which is what exactly?) could make rf2 online active and now that it looks like acc is not going to be a success (not saying it is a failure either) it could give rf2 a chance. Fixing the online in rf2 is big task just like fixing graphics or ui is. Does rf2 have critical mass of users for succesful online though? Any scheduled racing system needs decent amount of players so you get races with different cars with other people when you want (or can do a race) and rf2 doesn't have that. If your only option is gt3 races with 50€ entry fee in content dlcs prices then that is not your source of new players either. With that money you can buy acc and ac both soon I think.

Any new reiza offerings are just a distant dream at this point so there is no threat there. Ac is still drawing in big numbers with big unofficial updates that add massively interesting things to the game. Getting many players from there to switch is difficult.

The new ui could give rf2 some growth at least. But basic ui functionality at this point in the game's long history is not a silver bullet anymore either. The way I see it rf2 needs to add lots of functionality that is not very exciting in terms of headlines but is important for the usability and functionality of the sim going forward. Those functions are more like the base on top of which you can build a successful sim. Not something you can add later on with big influx of new users. Will new ui an some kind of online racing system bring back users who don't play their copy of rf2 anymore? Yes, at least momentarily. Does it bring in new users? What does it offer that those other sims don't have? People won't switch to rf2 just because it is rf2. It needs to be better than the alternatives.

 

[muzikant]

Where do you see this "steady growth"? https://steamcharts.com/app/365960#All

The graph to me proves the exact opposite. There are no new players coming in because there are no distinguishable peaks that match dlc releases or patch releases for example. It looks to me it is the same old people who play rf2 and who buy all the new dlc. Only peak that really stands out is the last gt3 dlc.

I don't really find it surprising either. Rf2 is in holding pattern. The new ui is still long ways off, the online is dead (WhY dOn'T yOU jOiN a LEaGuE?) and the dlc prices are high and geared towards existing userbase. A lot of the issues that made rf2 undesirable racing sim some years ago still largely exist even though some big ticket items have been deleted. Like the incredibly stupid yearly online fee. Graphics looks better I'd guess. Modding is still unnecessarily difficult and with gjed killed off you only have 3dsmax users left. All official content is packed with encryption so there is 0 new info about new (or existing) features except tiny number of extremely well written tutorials for couple new features. So modding won't take off either in near future unless the big number of issues on that front are fixed. And even then the potential growth there is delayed because to make quality mod it takes 6 months minimum.

The new competition format and server system (which is what exactly?) could make rf2 online active and now that it looks like acc is not going to be a success (not saying it is a failure either) it could give rf2 a chance. Fixing the online in rf2 is big task just like fixing graphics or ui is. Does rf2 have critical mass of users for succesful online though? Any scheduled racing system needs decent amount of players so you get races with different cars with other people when you want (or can do a race) and rf2 doesn't have that. If your only option is gt3 races with 50€ entry fee in content dlcs prices then that is not your source of new players either. With that money you can buy acc and ac both soon I think.

Any new reiza offerings are just a distant dream at this point so there is no threat there. Ac is still drawing in big numbers with big unofficial updates that add massively interesting things to the game. Getting many players from there to switch is difficult.

The new ui could give rf2 some growth at least. But basic ui functionality at this point in the game's long history is not a silver bullet anymore either. The way I see it rf2 needs to add lots of functionality that is not very exciting in terms of headlines but is important for the usability and functionality of the sim going forward. Those functions are more like the base on top of which you can build a successful sim. Not something you can add later on with big influx of new users. Will new ui an some kind of online racing system bring back users who don't play their copy of rf2 anymore? Yes, at least momentarily. Does it bring in new users? What does it offer that those other sims don't have? People won't switch to rf2 just because it is rf2. It needs to be better than the alternatives.

That is a whole story.. If you dont like it,
do not play it. simple

 

[dajdosta]

Where do you see this "steady growth"? https://steamcharts.com/app/365960#All

The graph to me proves the exact opposite.

This is school example of steady growth graph

 

[thepharcyde]

This is school example of steady growth graph

Maybe we could do a linear regression and chart out the projected players after the new UI is released

 

[tr1v1um]

Where do you see this "steady growth"? https://steamcharts.com/app/365960#All

The graph to me proves the exact opposite. There are no new players coming in because there are no distinguishable peaks that match dlc releases or patch releases for example. It looks to me it is the same old people who play rf2 and who buy all the new dlc. Only peak that really stands out is the last gt3 dlc.

I don't really find it surprising either. Rf2 is in holding pattern. The new ui is still long ways off, the online is dead (WhY dOn'T yOU jOiN a LEaGuE?) and the dlc prices are high and geared towards existing userbase. A lot of the issues that made rf2 undesirable racing sim some years ago still largely exist even though some big ticket items have been deleted. Like the incredibly stupid yearly online fee. Graphics looks better I'd guess. Modding is still unnecessarily difficult and with gjed killed off you only have 3dsmax users left. All official content is packed with encryption so there is 0 new info about new (or existing) features except tiny number of extremely well written tutorials for couple new features. So modding won't take off either in near future unless the big number of issues on that front are fixed. And even then the potential growth there is delayed because to make quality mod it takes 6 months minimum.

The new competition format and server system (which is what exactly?) could make rf2 online active and now that it looks like acc is not going to be a success (not saying it is a failure either) it could give rf2 a chance. Fixing the online in rf2 is big task just like fixing graphics or ui is. Does rf2 have critical mass of users for succesful online though? Any scheduled racing system needs decent amount of players so you get races with different cars with other people when you want (or can do a race) and rf2 doesn't have that. If your only option is gt3 races with 50€ entry fee in content dlcs prices then that is not your source of new players either. With that money you can buy acc and ac both soon I think.

Any new reiza offerings are just a distant dream at this point so there is no threat there. Ac is still drawing in big numbers with big unofficial updates that add massively interesting things to the game. Getting many players from there to switch is difficult.

The new ui could give rf2 some growth at least. But basic ui functionality at this point in the game's long history is not a silver bullet anymore either. The way I see it rf2 needs to add lots of functionality that is not very exciting in terms of headlines but is important for the usability and functionality of the sim going forward. Those functions are more like the base on top of which you can build a successful sim. Not something you can add later on with big influx of new users. Will new ui an some kind of online racing system bring back users who don't play their copy of rf2 anymore? Yes, at least momentarily. Does it bring in new users? What does it offer that those other sims don't have? People won't switch to rf2 just because it is rf2. It needs to be better than the alternatives.

The link that you posted even shows that there is growth in player base, both average and peak numbers. No idea why you question your own links, even if there are some inaccuracies as with every static. I know, 100 players more at average doesn't sound alot, but increasing the average player count by 30% in 2 years is quite good considering the age of rF2 and the niche target audience that it is aimed at. Having peaks in a graph has nothing to do with steady growth btw.

As I see it, S397 has a long term plan with rF2 and the investments for new staff reflect that pretty well. Considering how long it took iRacing to take off and where it is now, it might be realsitic to make a comparison in two years. Because it is quite obvious that all dev studios are aiming that target right now with all the esports and competition features. So what will rF2 have, once the new UI and comp infrastructure works compared to the rest of the products that makes it stand out? That list is and could be quite long actually with a bit of polishing in the right places. The argument that you can't build comp infrastructures with lower amounts of players is pretty mute aswell: I am sure iRacing didn't start with several thousend players at a time when sim racing was much more of a niche than it is now. If you have hundred players filling 5 different splits at European prime time, you have a good start to work with and considering the lower financial entry point compared to iRacing, a valid reason for filled servers. How RR, AMS2 and ACC work at that point needs to be seen aswell. Considering that Kunos is rewriting the network code at this stage of development just shows that there isn't everything going by plan either. Let's get some tea ...

 

[pitcock_90]

Audio still sound stereo or mostly big mono and the cockpit view also still Claustrophobia, only goes up down front and back.no wonder average players is 400!!

 

[davehenrie]

sound for some cars is average at best. For LMP2, I find the Enduroracer's Nissan engine cars sound glorious. (snap, crackle, pop!) But sound wouldn't make or break a sim for me. The new UI holds lots of promise, but lets examine this shall we?
User A. Hey did you hear rF2 is gonna have a new UI?
User B. a what?

 

[Alex72]

Love rF2. Dont give a crap what anyone says.

 

[Jason Mullin]

Yep rF2 and automobilista is where I hang out these days.
In fact I check forums frequently at work for news, mods, upcoming races, think about sim racing most of the day, go home make coffee and race.
It's becoming quite clear I'm pathetic and have no life but I'm loving it.

 

[Alex Townsend]

It's becoming quite clear I'm pathetic and have no life but I'm loving it.

I think this is probably what my wife thinks of me right now....
Although if it was this or some drunk, gambling womanizer I think I know which one she may pick...

 

[dajdosta]

I think this is probably what my wife thinks of me right now....
Although if it was this or some drunk, gambling womanizer I think I know which one she may pick...

Yeah I hear you.
I'd also like to know why women are attracted to drunk, gambling womanizers.