rf2 Steam info: ISI Q&A

[Paul Jeffrey]

Back in September rFactor 2 developers Image Space Incorporated announced their intention to launch the popular simulator on the Steam platform, moving away from the current download and subscription method via ISI's own website.

With the planned go live due before Christmas 2015 many of the community have been left confused regarding what the move will mean in reality and how different Stream features can be incorporated in the sim. In response to the upcoming move, ISI have today released a short Q&A aiming to answer the most common questions.

Q&A on Steam:
If I already own rF2, can I move over to the Steam version for free?
Yes you can migrate over to the Steam version at no extra cost. Once you do this, your original non-Steam product is no longer active.

How will Steam work with Standard/Lifetime?
For those who do not buy or have Lifetime, you will need to buy online access through Steam. We will not offer Lifetime upgrades (from ‘Offline’) on Steam. We are also planning to stop doing Standard to Lifetime upgrades for the non-Steam version soon.

rF2 on Steam will offer three things:
– rF2 Offline
– 1 Year Online for rF2 (adds multiplayer to rF2 Offline)
– rF2 Lifetime (has multiplayer included)

Will my online access be carried over from non-Steam to Steam?
No, not for the standard version of rF2. We are not able to move over remaining online access, so users may want to wait until that expires before migrating. Lifetime access is carried over to Steam.

Why Steam? Why now? What Steam features are implemented in rF2?
We have done a lot of work to support Steam, including implementation of Steam Workshop for additional content. Here is a more comprehensive list:

– automatic updates of rFactor and mods
– support for Steam Workshop as a single easy source for all ISI and third party mods
– workshop items will automatically stay up to date
– leagues can use the workshop to create a convenient installation for participants
– automatic backup of car setups in the Steam cloud
– integration with the Steam matchmaker for finding servers
– support for the Steam friends system to join a friend’s game
– screenshots can be quickly shared on Steam
– broadcast options to allow (your friends or anybody) to watch you play
– streaming support that allow you to run rFactor 2 on one system but stream the graphics to another
– Steam Music Player support to listen to your favourite songs in your car and control the stereo
– statistics and achievements that you can use to compare your performance against others

Some may consider it a better platform for rFactor 2 due to the Steam integration, but we’re not planning on any Steam exclusive features (apart from those that require Steam or are enabled by using it, as can be seen above).

Will non-Steam and Steam rF2 be cross compatible?
Our goal is that MP races are cross compatible, yes.

Will a non-Steam version continue to be sold?
We will continue to sell a non-steam version for an undefined period. We may look to wind down new sales on the non-Steam version, but much like rF1, this is probably a long-term transition, if it happens at all.

Will you be upgrading your account to Steam when its available, or will the move encourage you to purchase rFactor 2 if you haven't already? Let us know your opinions in the comments section below...

 

[Will Mazeo]

Personally, I'd rather have the few that dedicate time and money to play online than all those public wreckfests that come with free MP. There's a reason why public is dead in more serious sims while supervised league/club races are still a thing.

People get tired of public servers and are more likely to join a league. People that never tried online racing may be tempted to join after being invited in a forum like here in RD while they look for a mod, happened with us in EEC, some people tried a race or two and enjoyed it, now they are racing in some other forums that fit their schedule better, but they are active. rF2 model kills it and it's terrible if you want to grow a new league.
People please... make some sense, I'm also a huge ISI fan but let's be less fanboys here. This model was not good before and it is just terrible for Steam -_-"

 

[David O'Reilly]

It will be a shame that this great sim will not have the recognition it deserves because of a short sited business practice that has proven time after time to be flawed.

The elite apologists on here need to look at the type of people the Steam platform attracts. There is a world outside our little goldfish bowl and they as history suggests do not like paying for multiplayer.

Speaking for the elite apologists.....
Sorry no apology here.
The short sighted companies are the ones that went broke due to a lack of residual incomes from the thousands of people who played their game online for free forever.
I don't apologise I fundamentally disagree with your view. I think that charging for mutiplayer is clever. I mean isn't Iracing doing kind of ok ish with a far inferior sim platform? What does it cost for a year of Iracing?

How is Xbox online getting on @£40.00 per annum?

Ducks down below the paywall / blockade to reload musket.

 

[Miroslav Davidovic]

Right, they should make it simply lifetime license only.
Giving people options just makes them choose what they can complain more about.

 

[vee10]

Speaking for the elite apologists.....
Sorry no apology here.
The short sighted companies are the ones that went broke due to a lack of residual incomes from the thousands of people who played their game online for free forever.
I don't apologise I fundamentally disagree with your view. I think that charging for mutiplayer is clever. I mean isn't Iracing doing kind of ok ish with a far inferior sim platform? What does it cost for a year of Iracing?

How is Xbox online getting on @£40.00 per annum?

Ducks down below the paywall / blockade to reload musket.

Well I respect your opinion David, we will just have to see what happens.

Fundamentally when I think about I could not really give two 's how well a commercial company does on Steam. I am and have been passionate about RF2 but it won't change my life whatever happens. I don't race online and I have given what it would have cost to go online and more to quality modders in the form of donations, which I feel right about doing rather than to a unnecessary paywall.

 

[Ghoults]

I think the 10% discount from the online fee is a bit of a joke. Nobody who is on the edge of buying it or not will have his/her mind changed by a meager 10% discount.

If they could make it work for this many years without any delivery platform, Steam can only improve the sales, ain't it?

Is it working though? Do you think rf2 is closer to maximising its potential in terms of sales or failing? I think the amount of licensed content speaks for itself. Isi doesn't seem to want to invest one single dime into the game to acquire any lisences for cars or tracks. The only reason they are not doing that is because they know they won't make their money back.

Steam will probably help with sales but also provides some stiff competition. Will you buy a dlc for ac/pcars with something like 10 pieces of content or will you buy online access for one more year just to be able to race online against nobody. Or get rf1 instead for something like 5€? Try raceroom or something else?

I think the online pay wall is just a money grab and it is hurting rf2. I could understand if isi offered some kind of online features for that money but it is just a paywall. I may be oldschool but I pay for my internet access to my isp, not for individual games and that will never change.

You miss an important point: is the goal of rF2 going on steam to attract those masses, or to make accessing/using/updating the game more convenient to those that appreciate the values of this sim?

I read it like you are just trying to justify the business model of rf2 by saying that those are not buying it are not worthy of playing it. Rf2 master race vs the masses with no sense or appreciation of true sim racing?

I don't think it is worth it to even claim that it is the masses we are missing in rf2. A lot of the hardcore sim racers have given up on rf2 as well. Rf2 can't even sell itself to the hardcore niche enthusiasts.

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

I have to look into that. But i think, once i have selected the controller profile for the rim, it will stay until i swap rims and choose the other profile.
It's better then remapping buttons each time i swap rims.

edit: i'm not planning to switch rims during a race or session.

I had a similar issue and wrote myself a script with autohotkey that allows me to map my buttons diffrently for each rim without changing the controlls in rF2 and added a button to cycle through, so in theory I could switch rims in a pit stop

 

[jimortality]

I think the 10% discount from the online fee is a bit of a joke. Nobody who is on the edge of buying it or not will have his/her mind changed by a meager 10% discount.


Is it working though? Do you think rf2 is closer to maximising its potential in terms of sales or failing? I think the amount of licensed content speaks for itself. Isi doesn't seem to want to invest one single dime into the game to acquire any lisences for cars or tracks. The only reason they are not doing that is because they know they won't make their money back.

Steam will probably help with sales but also provides some stiff competition. Will you buy a dlc for ac/pcars with something like 10 pieces of content or will you buy online access for one more year just to be able to race online against nobody. Or get rf1 instead for something like 5€? Try raceroom or something else?

I think the online pay wall is just a money grab and it is hurting rf2. I could understand if isi offered some kind of online features for that money but it is just a paywall. I may be oldschool but I pay for my internet access to my isp, not for individual games and that will never change.



I read it like you are just trying to justify the business model of rf2 by saying that those are not buying it are not worthy of playing it. Rf2 master race vs the masses with no sense or appreciation of true sim racing?

I don't think it is worth it to even claim that it is the masses we are missing in rf2. A lot of the hardcore sim racers have given up on rf2 as well. Rf2 can't even sell itself to the hardcore niche enthusiasts.

I'm not disputing but are you sure they've given up? There are a lot of leagues for RF2 which seems the preferred structure and they all seem to be thriving. Personally, I used to pay £40 a year for xbox live and playstation so the £9 a year for RF2 is a bargain. Has been pointed out, we seem fine to spend zillions on getting our hardware sorted but when it comes to the software, people seem to have a thing about giving money for that. I pay the extra to be able to play on RD so very rarely play on public servers so win win. I renewed my year about 3 days before the steam announcement doh! it won't matter as everything will be the same and I'll just transfer next year. This discussion has been great with everybody giving firm and fair opinions, I wish all discussions were made this way lol

 

[Falk Massmann]

Thanks for the heads up @JeffL ... appreciated.
And for the folks discussing paying for multiplayer, it´s like this to me:
bla bla .. don´t want to pay for online access ....bla bla bla bla..
Yes it´s ok to pay for online ... bla bla bla....

Looking at 38.99 € for the game plus lifetime online access here -> no need for any other discussion, AC was 34 € or something in early access.... so ????

 

[jimortality]

Plus if you work out what you're paying for dlc for other games and RRRE pricing structure, surely rf2 is super cheap.

 

[Emery]

So buy the discounted lifetime subscription today. It's a small fraction more than the full price renewal subscription version.

 

[Stereo]

I have a question related to the image leading this article... most of the cars are recognizable in the rf2 car list. But then there's a couple Panoz Esperantes (GTR + GTLM) and a muscle car I don't know. Are these announced-but-not-released official content, or released-but-not-announced, or what?

 

[Ghoults]

Personally, I used to pay £40 a year for xbox live and playstation so the £9 a year for RF2 is a bargain. Has been pointed out, we seem fine to spend zillions on getting our hardware sorted but when it comes to the software, people seem to have a thing about giving money for that. I pay the extra to be able to play on RD so very rarely play on public servers so win win.

I just don't see any value in it. Taking a feature out of the paid game and then selling it as a yearly fee just doesn't sit right with me when isi are not offering anything at all in return for the "online fee". It is also one of the most horrible things to happen to modern games. Things are pulled out of the games at release and sold separately.

Taking multiplayer out and selling it as addon is a bit like selling the options menu as dlc. Making it yearly paid addon doesn't add any value to it because it is just a basic rf1 feature removed from the game for maximum profits. To me it is just greed and I have problem with that kind of things and choose to spend my money elsewhere.

It is not like have some kind of issues with spending money. I paid several hundreds of dollars for my content in racing and in the end I have no regrets. It was expensive but at least their business model feels honest and makes sense. Similarly with raceroom I'll probably never buy anything from them. Insane prices compared to the relatively low quality content they are offering. Their prices are ludicrous! With all content their game is worth like 200€ or more. For that kind of money you can buy all the other sims and spend the rest of the money to eat at some fine restaurant.

 

[JeffL]

Why is there constant outrage over 10 bucks in the sim community?, it's hilarious. Mods, online, dlcs. this stuff is peanuts. It's not just disagreements, it's outrage, lol. Every site, forum, every blog, It just amazes me. i used pay 6 bucks just to go roller skating for 4 hours back in the 70's, it was a cheap way to have fun. HEHE

 

[Marcel Offermans]

I have a question related to the image leading this article... most of the cars are recognizable in the rf2 car list. But then there's a couple Panoz Esperantes (GTR + GTLM) and a muscle car I don't know. Are these announced-but-not-released official content, or released-but-not-announced, or what?

Well, that was one of the first "teaser images" and so far a lot of the cars in that image have been released. So I guess it's not too hard to put two and two together!

 

[Ryan Soucy]

It's like anything in life, I want Car A but it's a bit more expensive than Car B but Car A is better, what do I do? I either save for Car A or make do with Car B, simples!

But what if Car A isn't that much better (if at all) then Car B? And Car A has future maintenance costs while Car B has none? And you have to build a bigger garage to house Car A?

Now we're getting more analogous.

At the end of the day, $12 is not that much, but:
1) there is 1 other sim in the history of racing sims that has charged to race other people online...
2) I just don't like the product enough to pay more relative to what else is on the market. Is it really THAT much better than RRRE, GTR2, SCE, rF, AC, pCars, DirtR? It's all debatable, each game has fanboys. Should I invest that much more since I have already paid for all these base products? That's how the market is going to think. This is a real amount of money to people. I don't worry about money at all with regards to sim racing, but I won't buy the new AC DLC or the new pC DLC b/c I just don't think they're worth it compared to what else I can play.

The company I work for has a software product that is superior to its competitors and has a licensing fee commensurate. But we are getting our teeth kicked in b/c the competitors are being given away for a minimal, subsidized cost by 3rd party providers who are pedalling their services and are using the software as a throw in. In most cases, "good enough" is desirable when it comes at no cost.

 

[Emery]

I just don't see any value in it. Taking a feature out of the paid game and then selling it as a yearly fee just doesn't sit right with me when isi are not offering anything at all in return for the "online fee".

In the rF1 world, you can buy a license, run it on multiple computers, and connect to multiplayer games on a private network. ISI found that businesses abused this feature by purchasing one copy and installing it 10-20 times for private arcades.

The response was the rF2 multiplayer, which only permits you to run multiplayer when you're connected to the Internet. Even then, ISI lets you run a few multiple copies to troubleshoot things provided you don't abuse their generosity (in which case you get a letter from Tim Wheatley).

So, you may not see value in the way rF2 licenses multiplayer, but ISI does. You also have the choice of paying or not paying, so your complaint is moot.

 

[Gringo]

So, you may not see value in the way rF2 licenses multiplayer, but ISI does. You also have the choice of paying or not...

+1 Well stated.

 

[David O'Reilly]

Annual Release or annual fee?-you choose.
The thing we can forget in these comparisons with other sims / games is that ISI Launch a new sim about every 7 years. Many of the competitor products do it annually (PC2 anyone).
We keep playing their title for many years having fun.
Basic commercial fact: They need to keep earning to survive and do their job. Instead of doing the PC or Codies or Forza. Grand Tourismo, GTA thing and saying "time for another 60 bucks coz everyone will be throwing last years game in the bin" or " thanks for the 30 million and now its time to crowd fund another version 2"
Instead they keep updating and improving the sim. They allow modding teams access to the internals to make an increasingly impressive array of cars and tracks.
They need to get paid for that.

Comparisons to other options.
The F1 titles on consoles. Xbox is £60 for the sim and £40 per year!!! Thats £100 p.a.
IRacing is very very expensive if you want to get right in there and race high end cars. They have been successful, good on them but can easily cost 2 or 4 times the LIFETIME FEE for RF2 every single year. You pay for every car and every track.
Is it as good? It's a subjective call but in terms of the facts. The F1 car has one tyre compound and you only need to pit for fuel, they tyres are never an issue. RF2 F1 car has a real life 4 compounds. You need to use them strategically. 24 hour racing cycle instead of always mid day. A track that rubbers in.
Still I'm not here to bash iRacing, their model works and well done to them.

You only have to pay the $12 if you want to play RF2 online (unless you buy lifetime). Its $1 per month for goodness sakes.
If that bugs you so much RF1 is available at about £6 right now. You can play it on line forever.
In the past unscrupulous people will remorselessly steal other people work. Companies go broke when that happens.

Sitting on my desk is the manual of Falcon 4.0 by Microprose. It's the only flight sim I have bothered with since its launch 17 years ago in 1998. The Flight manual is a work of art. A hard cover ring binder more comprehensive than what the real F16 plane shipped with. I paid A$80.00 in 1998. Modding teams have worked on it and the BMS 4.32 is now the state of the art. Multiplayer communities fly into battle weekly.
Despite this amazing product Microprose went broke in way back in 1998. Because their revenues could not cover their development costs. They were not able to prevent copying and sharing of the sim. If they had charged $10.00 per year for multiplayer they might still exist.

If people aren't prepared to support financially the quality of work that gets done in RF2 there are other options out there for you.
You just dont get something for nothing in life and business.

If you give it away you go broke. I dont want that. I want ISI to keep doing what they do because in my opinion its awesome.

 

[T2TB]

--

 

[David O'Reilly]

If you use a wise strategy for how/when you purchase iRacing content over time it works out to about a $1 or so a day for everything including the annual subs. Otherwise it's around $49/Yr. for just a basic.

I rest my case.