rFactor 2: 2019 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Final GT Challengers Car

Paul Jeffrey

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rF2 GT3 Challengers Pack.jpg

Studio 397 have dropped the news that the fifth and final GT3 car coming to the GT3 Challengers DLC will be... the 2019 Aston Martin Vantage GT3!


Another new licence to the rapidly expanding rFactor 2 racing simulation, confirmation of the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 is also another sim racing exclusive - with Studio 397 having once again secured bragging rights as the first racing simulation to deploy a brand new spec GT3 car to the genre - joining the recently announced McLaren 720s revealed earlier this week.

In other rather happy news, Studio 397 have also confirmed the GT3 Challengers pack will be released tomorrow! Sadly, due to the tight timeframe constraints of licencing and the approvals process, the Aston Martin will not be made available immediately alongside the Porsche 911 GT3 R, BMW M6 GT3, Audi R8 LMS GT3 and McLaren 720s GT3 - players will have to wait just a little bit longer to find out how the new Aston drives (and looks!) in sim, until final approvals have been released by the manufacturer.

That aside, the imminent release of this upcoming and rather exciting looking new DLC for rFactor 2 should give us all a rather solid reason to avoid having to socialise with family over the Christmas period - that alone being worth the price of the new pack!

GT3 Challengers DLC Contents:
  • Aston Martin Vantage GT3 (delayed release)
  • Audi R8 LMS GT3
  • BMW M6 GT3
  • McLaren 720s GT3
  • Porsche 911 GT3 R

rFactor 2 is available exclusively for PC from Steam now.


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..! Head over to the forum now!

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3rd, I wouldn't mind having an improved UI as well (as a driver)...but it's not that important to me; It works well enough, and once the race has been setup and you're on the track, none of that matters anymore to me.

What does it exactly do well for you? Load single car on track for hotlapping in default conditions?

Lastly, based on my understanding of the complaints you made, it sounds like you're asking Studio 397 to completely redesign how the inner workings of rFactor 2 works,
I want ui that helps the user to get stuff done, not make things impossible or unnecessarily difficult. I want ui that shows the user the information he wants and needs. Adding a skin should be just dropping some files into a folder. When browse the server list I want to see the cars and tracks on that server, I want to see how many humans and bots there are and I want ping and active session type and timer and I want to know if I have the content or not. If that requires total redesign of rf2 then sure as hell I want it. That is the bare minimum of things to have for any game. For a modding platform not having any of those is unforgivable.

but when rF2 modders create something and ask to be paid for it...do they give a cut to ISI or Studio 397?

Jackie-Chan-WTF.jpg



not to make the sim any more realistic
That it is so blatantly misrepresentative interpreation of my post that I'm going to treat your account as a comedy bot from now on.
 
It's only MSAA 4x, every video card from 1060 and above can run this smoothly at 60 FPS, full HD. I run this on ultra settings on a stock 1070, in 2K resolution. It's not SSAA to ruin your framerate.
Given that my 970 is pretty much on par with 1060, maybe 5-10 percent slower in some situations, and is at times easily dipping into low 30's with moderate settings on level 4 in 1080p (while running 80-100 with level 2 in the same context), I have certain doubts about your smooth 60 fps with every videocard from 1060 (and to be honest, about your 1070 on ultra in 2k as well).

And the point still stands - you didn't even ask what GPU he has.
 
Yup, short attention span confirmed.
Or just someone with a life and another use of a sim than a narrow-minded fanboy. Just try to do the same with raceroom where most of the online races are 15 minutes long. How stange there are so many people enjoying the game this way with short races (and I must admit that, although I am quiet critical about rareceroom, the public races in this game are the most enjoyable ; the other sims being just not enjoyable online).

Justrespect other people way of using a sim, improving your social skill is as much important than being fast in sim races.

By the way did I say somewhere I did not enjoy rfzctor2? Did I say it was not suitable for old simracers who like to make endurance races? Or did you just make a movie in your head to try making fun of me? Well you indeed have proven something, not positive for you, but interesting...
 
It is strange that today by curiosity I was sezrching for a recent review of kartsim (10€ currently) and encountered a review about the new gt3 cars. A youtuber, streaping regularly on sim rzcing, with some.piece of equipment that I obviously don't own. He was just lost in the rfactor2 UI and annoyed by the incredible loading times... Thise who can load all of this at light speed must have configurations from the nasa.
 
Just 2 simple examples of how bad the UI is :
- at launch, the verification of steamworkshop items is annoyingly long and unuseful most of the time. It would be easy to just implement a "do you want to perform the workshopnitems verification?" With a yes button and a no button. Yes you can get rid of that by doing some mon user friendly manipulation. By the time of this verificztion I'm already on ttack on any other game.

- rfactor2 receives a new update, how great, I want to test it un the best conditions, sl I need to use only an up to date official car on an up to date official track. Wow, I've got hundreds of cars and tracks, how can I know which ones are official and up yo fate content??? Well, I can't...
 
That it is so blatantly misrepresentative interpreation of my post that I'm going to treat your account as a comedy bot from now on.

I’ll avoid the humor when responding to you from here on out.

What does it exactly do well for you? Load single car on track for hotlapping in default conditions?

The most common races I do these days are GT3 races from the power pack (time varies from 10 to 30 mins or I’ll do a set number of laps) on various tracks, under various weather conditions. I’ll occasionally do single make races like the Renault open wheelers or I’ll do mix classes like GTE + LMP2. Sometimes I’ll do qualifying or sometimes I’ll just race in a random position. All of this takes me 1 minute, maybe 2 mins at most to setup. Track loads in about a minute, Sebring takes a little longer. I don’t do much hotlapping these days, and when I did, it wasn’t in rf2.

I want ui that helps the user to get stuff done, not make things impossible or unnecessarily difficult. I want ui that shows the user the information he wants and needs.

The user you refer to is a gamer or a modder? As a gamer, I don’t find it difficult, but it depends on the person. I think most things I need are there. The only thing I’d like to see is a summary of the current race settings/conditions once on everything has loaded (like what AMS has when you click the “i” button in the middle).

Adding a skin should be just dropping some files into a folder.

As I said, this would probably require a massive rewrite of how rFactor 2 works. This would also break every car created before the rewrite. Easier said than done, but hey...having big dreams is healthy.

When browse the server list I want to see the cars and tracks on that server, I want to see how many humans and bots there are and I want ping and active session type and timer and I want to know if I have the content or not. If that requires total redesign of rf2 then sure as hell I want it. That is the bare minimum of things to have for any game. For a modding platform not having any of those is unforgivable.

I haven’t used rf2 in MP yet, but I agree that those things should be shown...changes like these I can get on board with, but changes that will break all content created thus far, only to make modding easier (as opposed to making modding possible, which it already is) would be excessive, in my opinion.

My interpretation of your words is just that: my interpretation. You listed a laundry list of UI changes and I didn’t agree with some, that’s all. If I’m still a “comedy bot”, then so be it, but essentially labeling someone a bot to end a debate rarely ever works in your favor. If your point is worth defending, then debate it...no need for name calling.
 
Now I feel bad having commented a few times without talking about the topic at hand...

I’m very excited about the Vantage being added; drove around Watkins Glen in all but the McLaren last night (will get to that today) and was very impressed so far...I’m no good with Porsche’s these days but the Audi was quite lively to drive, very enjoyable and my favorite of the new cars so far. My favorite GT3 car in the sim is still the Callaway though, but let’s see how the Vantage compares. :)

As a side note, Sebring is awesome...but I’m starting to like Watkins Glen more and more as a test track for all its long downhill/uphill corners...really brings out the handling characteristics of a car.
 
Waltkins Glen is my usual track to quickly test a car, short and with various curves and elevations changes ; never get boring.

After so much discussions I've just relaunched rFactor2 again, I won't speak about the UI again, the loading times are better than last times I've used the game, but still too long and too often (yes 1 or 2 seconds of loading time when you click on a car is too long).

It still feels great, and I did not get performance issues, except one critical stuttering in Monaco66, an official track, which led me directly in a wall...

The real issue is the quality of the mods, cars and tracks. Many are obsolete and feel or look awful (well, it's not possible to know if they were already bad before of if it's because of the numerous updates the game received). rFactor2 is stuck between the old ISI model, counting on the modding community to receive content, and S397's one, focusing on additional paid content and ignoring the mods. I'm sure there is something to do between the 2 models. Why not making an agreement with teams who developped popular and well done mods (Enduracers? direct competition to S397 endurance pack lol, but with older cars), to help them to update and finalize their mods and to sell them at a reasonable price? This would also give some financial recognition to those who provide quality content, quickly, which is what can save the sim from dying. If licensing is an issue (it will be the main one), helping 1 modding team each quarter to update its mod, without selling it, is another way to do it. rFactor 2 just needs more solid and unique content.

New UI + new interesting content is the way to go. Sorry but GT3s won't bring any new users, ACC has around 300 users like rfactor2 who has been focusing on GT3 for months ; the old AC has an average of 1800 users (3500 right now) and the GT3 aren't the stars of this sim... Raceroom has around 300 users too, and has been communicating lately a lot about GT3 and GT4 (slower and slower categories, available in several titles). And now it seems GTR3 is about... GT3 too...

Is a sim title so unexpensive to develop that having a regular player base of 300 players is considered a success? Especially when the title is aimed to last several years? Or the aim is just creating the hype, selling 10 000 copies at the release and forget about the product so that in a few months 15%-20% of the base still play the game more or less regularly? I really don't know what's happening there, but it truly explains the attitude of releasing unpolished products and paid additional content. Cheap ambitions will just kill the business.

About rFactor 2, I'm amazed that S397 allows a developer to release a title linked to its plateform in the state of Kartsim. I just bought it today and, although the karts are cool to drive, the pilot has only the arms and the feet moving, the rest of the body is absolutely static (and the small body / big head issue has never been fixed). S397, if you don't respect your own title by checking what the other developpers are doing, or by make them deliver polished products, it won't get respect. It means that Reiza could do a bad job and sell their content through Steam for your title. By chance, I'm confident with Reiza but what was ok for Kartsim can be done again with any other external development team...

The day rFactor 2 will be more than a sim with a huge potential is far from now. I sincerly hope it will become more than that. Something has to be done with the graphics (it's currently on the way), the UI (it's been on the way for some time), and with the modding community (is rFactor2 still a modding plateform or does it need to definitely cut its modding possibilities? Or is S397 waiting for the final definitive director's cut version of the game to work on that? When all modders will have forgotten the game).
 
The user you refer to is a gamer or a modder? As a gamer, I don’t find it difficult, but it depends on the person. I think most things I need are there. The only thing I’d like to see is a summary of the current race settings/conditions once on everything has loaded (like what AMS has when you click the “i” button in the middle).

How do you feel so confident in saying it is all there when all you do is one off races against the ai? It might be all there for you but you are using very small slice of the game.

As I said, this would probably require a massive rewrite of how rFactor 2 works. This would also break every car created before the rewrite. Easier said than done, but hey...having big dreams is healthy.
You mean like the graphics engine or the ui update which did/do require full rewrites? This full rewrite you say can't happen is actually happening and with graphics it is happening second time somewhat soon. I love it and I hope s397 goes in balls deep because there is just so much stuff that is just wrong in a modding platform and wrong in a racing sim in 201... let's say 2012. ISI did not want to do anything because they were afraid of rewriting anything and it killed rf2. I'm glad s397 is willing to put in the work and "rewrite the whole sim". The more they rewrite the better for rf2. And the more times they have to refurbish the same content to newest iteration the more likely they are likely to give in and fix some of those issues that make that process take too long each time around.

but changes that will break all content created thus far
Will it?

If I’m still a “comedy bot”, then so be it, but essentially labeling someone a bot to end a debate rarely ever works in your favor. If your point is worth defending, then debate it...no need for name calling.
Your post was weird thing to read. I still have no idea what your paymods point was or how it had anything to do with anything that was discussed. Anytime someone posts meme images as part their post I'm going assume worst. If you are going to act like adult and drop the meme images, snide remarks and misrepresented strawmen then sure we can talk.
 
You mean like the graphics engine or the ui update which did/do require full rewrites? This full rewrite you say can't happen is actually happening and with graphics it is happening second time somewhat soon. I love it and I hope s397 goes in balls deep because there is just so much stuff that is just wrong in a modding platform and wrong in a racing sim in 201... let's say 2012. ISI did not want to do anything because they were afraid of rewriting anything and it killed rf2. I'm glad s397 is willing to put in the work and "rewrite the whole sim". The more they rewrite the better for rf2. And the more times they have to refurbish the same content to newest iteration the more likely they are likely to give in and fix some of those issues that make that process take too long each time around.

The UI probably is more or less a full rewrite, which is why it is taking a massive amount of time. But generally speaking games, especially sims, aren't being rewritten very often anymore (maybe back in early DOS/Windows era that was the case). If you'd fully rewrite a modern sim it would probably take a minimum of five years to get started. rF2 was based on around 7 or 8 years of iterations by ISI, which again was based on 5 years of rF1, which was based on F1 Challenge, etc. etc. I think a full rewrite of a 2018 sim is a bit similar in complexity as "rewriting" an operating system. It simply makes no sense and new operating systems are always based on the previous version.

When Codemasters releases a new F1 game, it's probably 95+% the same code as last year's title. pCars 2 has much of the old content taken from pCars 1 (which is why pCars 2 tracks are inconsistent). iRacing is based on 10 years of gradual improvements and then again years of improvements from Papyrus Nascar games. Kunos have probably been coming up with the most rewrites as they switched to a completely new graphics engine for ACC and AC had some new UI and graphics stuff. But even AC was at least to some degree based on netKar Pro. Making a new sim from scratch simply doesn't happen anymore, which is is why a 100% rewrite makes no sense to begin with.
 
Kartkraft? Before it kart racing pro? Even wreckfest with a simplified driving model but awesome physics and unmatched collisions model? Some still creates fames.from scratch.

There is for sure almost no point for a developper, who already has his own existing sim model, to develop a new one from scratch except when it performs absolutely bad in newer systems. We saw that in flight sims, where the old developpers are still working on their 20-25 years old models, and the users get horrible performances. It's less a problem as from the sky 30fps are sufficient for virtual pilots. But these sims show their age. New developers can create new sims from scratch, and it take years, what they need is the support of the flight sim community. And this one is awfully divided and cruel with new projects ; it basically killed flight sim world, not made from scratch but with many positive ambitions, and I'm pretty sceptical about the future of aerofly which is coded for the latest and future technologies.

The sim racing community tends to reproduce this fanatical behaviour but what can be understandable with the flight sim community (people who stick to their good old sim on which they have spent hundred of dollars or euros, even thousands), although it kills emerging projects, is a nonsense for sim racing where titles are priced between 20 and 100$ or € for the most expensives. there is space for 100% new racing sims, some already came and are on their way. What is true is that these titles must have exclusive content. It would be indeed useless launching a GT/open wheeler title from scratch (which has been done by the developer of kart racing pro, World racing series, and does someone know this game?).

So I would say, considering the number of titles on the market, it's not rare that a fully new game is developed. But it takes time.for sure. Early access can help, with all its issues (remember Wreckfest's users loosing faith and feeling robbed until the game show his real face, what a good surprise it was, an early access with a happy ending).

Coming back to rfactor2, yes rewritting some parts of the code is great but without any original and unique content it's probably a waste of time and investment. Well, not totally, it will be a valuable asset to sell. Giving a new UI to people who already use the title in its current state won't make the game go from 300 players average to 2000. It will make very few people to launch it more often, nothing more, which explains the non prority state of the project, better to sell content to the small existing base...
 
Will new UI shorten the loading time? Havn't heard that before. It would be so great if so.
Well maybe a new UI just would not require to load the car when you just click on its name or image (other sims use images, except AC which loads the car too, but quickier). Or maybe a better presentation of the data would make you find immediately what you want and make the right unique click, so you would not be botherrd by the loading time.
 
How do you feel so confident in saying it is all there when all you do is one off races against the ai? It might be all there for you but you are using very small slice of the game.


You mean like the graphics engine or the ui update which did/do require full rewrites? This full rewrite you say can't happen is actually happening and with graphics it is happening second time somewhat soon. I love it and I hope s397 goes in balls deep because there is just so much stuff that is just wrong in a modding platform and wrong in a racing sim in 201... let's say 2012. ISI did not want to do anything because they were afraid of rewriting anything and it killed rf2. I'm glad s397 is willing to put in the work and "rewrite the whole sim". The more they rewrite the better for rf2. And the more times they have to refurbish the same content to newest iteration the more likely they are likely to give in and fix some of those issues that make that process take too long each time around.


Will it?


Your post was weird thing to read. I still have no idea what your paymods point was or how it had anything to do with anything that was discussed. Anytime someone posts meme images as part their post I'm going assume worst. If you are going to act like adult and drop the meme images, snide remarks and misrepresented strawmen then sure we can talk.

Well...since you insist on continually responding in this way, I'm done replying to you after this...since now I'm not an adult because one meme image somehow messed with your head. Can't waste any more time and/or brain cells on you. Reply if you wish, because I sure as heck won't be after this one.

Besides the fact that you refuse to see all the times I referred to this as being my experience and my opinion (as opposed to your experience and your opinion), or the times where I actually agree with what you're saying in principle:

The user you refer to is a gamer or a modder? As a gamer, I don’t find it difficult, but it depends on the person. I think most things I need are there. The only thing I’d like to see is a summary of the current race settings/conditions once on everything has loaded (like what AMS has when you click the “i” button in the middle)....

...I haven’t used rf2 in MP yet, but I agree that those things should be shown...changes like these I can get on board with, but changes that will break all content created thus far, only to make modding easier (as opposed to making modding possible, which it already is) would be excessive, in my opinion.

My interpretation of your words is just that: my interpretation. You listed a laundry list of UI changes and I didn’t agree with some, that’s all. If I’m still a “comedy bot”, then so be it, but essentially labeling someone a bot to end a debate rarely ever works in your favor. If your point is worth defending, then debate it...no need for name calling.

Beyond that, all I'll say is you're so caught up with the modding benefits a full rewrite might bring (yes, might...the changes may not be to your liking), that you can't see the forest for the trees. S397 is a company first and foremost, and just like any company that works for profit, they have time constraints and financial obligations to make a game, one that's based fundamentally on a 15 year old engine, flourish in the age of ACC, pCARS 2 and iRacing...without the revenue stream that those games I mentioned have.

A full, comprehensive rewrite to make the UI easier, faster and/or more informative would be AMAZING :thumbsup: (guess I broke my no images rule...aww well)...but that won't sell enough copies of rF2 to warrant the effort, because it's the gameplay that matters in a game (or the simulation accuracy of a sim in this case): RF2 strongest selling point is racing aimed at being as realistic as currently possible and that's where it excels in my opinion. Based on that premise, why not put more resources into giving customers more cars and tracks to showcase the sim's strongest asset? Why put more resources into rewriting the whole engine, which will then undo all the work they've done over the last 2 years?

If it was economically feasible to rewrite the engine, they would have done it first and foremost, income be damned, so that they wouldn't have to do double-work later in re-writing all their cars/tracks to work with the new engine. Or better yet, they would have written their own engine from jump street...but in both cases they would be playing catch up to SMS, Kunos, iRacing and all the other sim makers. This is where my "paymods" point was hinting at: they are a company and people have to get paid somehow for their efforts, whether it's rewriting the ISI engine or creating the GT3 Challengers pack...S397 is not a non-profit organization.

I hope for your sake that I'm wrong and they do rewrite everything to your expectations, but I try to stay as pragmatic as possible. Others here have echoed the same sentiments, maybe we're all idiots or maybe we have a point, who knows?

Anyways, good luck to you and your future modding/gaming endeavors.
 
The UI probably is more or less a full rewrite, which is why it is taking a massive amount of time. But generally speaking games, especially sims, aren't being rewritten very often anymore (maybe back in early DOS/Windows era that was the case). If you'd fully rewrite a modern sim it would probably take a minimum of five years to get started. rF2 was based on around 7 or 8 years of iterations by ISI, which again was based on 5 years of rF1, which was based on F1 Challenge, etc. etc. I think a full rewrite of a 2018 sim is a bit similar in complexity as "rewriting" an operating system. It simply makes no sense and new operating systems are always based on the previous version.

When Codemasters releases a new F1 game, it's probably 95+% the same code as last year's title. pCars 2 has much of the old content taken from pCars 1 (which is why pCars 2 tracks are inconsistent). iRacing is based on 10 years of gradual improvements and then again years of improvements from Papyrus Nascar games. Kunos have probably been coming up with the most rewrites as they switched to a completely new graphics engine for ACC and AC had some new UI and graphics stuff. But even AC was at least to some degree based on netKar Pro. Making a new sim from scratch simply doesn't happen anymore, which is is why a 100% rewrite makes no sense to begin with.

Which is why I said the more they rewrite the better for rf2. Of course that does not mean literally everything. Just the fact that graphics are being overhauled is a major feat on its own and the ui rewrite is the same kind of massive operation. Rewrites of parts of the code are a normal process of development and while you never rewrite your full code between products you always write some and tweak some others parts. Bad stuff out, good stuff in. One of rf2's problems is that it did not rewrite enough between rf1 and r2 and now s397 is forced to do rewrite parts of the game while also struggling with backwards compatibility. Isi also got plenty of things wrong with rf2 which are basically impossible to fix on a live product so we are more or less stuck with those decisions.

When s397 took over I was hoping they just kill rf2 and fix all those massive issues rf2 came with while also improving the good things. Obviously that did not happen but s397 is doing million times better job than isi did. Even if they have to work with hands tied behind their backs.
 
What are "those massive issues rf2 came with" you were saying about?
Last 2 years I am successfuly playing offline.
If I knew there were massive issues I would stop playing immidiately.
Now I feel I wasted 2 years enjoying Rf2 much more than other sims I tried.
 
But generally speaking games, especially sims, aren't being rewritten very often anymore (maybe back in early DOS/Windows era that was the case). If you'd fully rewrite a modern sim it would probably take a minimum of five years to get started.


Rant again :)

exactly John , imagine 10 studios all develop new engine in 5 years
We get 10 totally different feeling products that all profess to be realistic

...that is a physical and scientific impossibility

We would still end up with 10 good titles that all have significant shortcomings and issues .
WHAT after 50 years work !@!

So why not collaborate and use combined 50 years on a single engine

Ui - universal studios would add their design
VR universal
RTX / DLSS universal
All hardware compatibility and settings universal
Feedback universal

Arguments which studio is best - none
 
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Rant again :)

exactly John , imagine 10 studios all develop new engine in 5 years
We get 10 totally different feeling products that all profess to be realistic

...that is a physical and scientific impossibility

We would still end up with 10 good titles that all have significant shortcomings and issues .
WHAT after 50 years work !@!

So why not collaborate and use combined 50 years on a single engine

Ui - universal studios would add their design
VR universal
RTX / DLSS universal
All hardware compatibility and settings universal
Feedback universal

Arguments which studio is best - none
Sounds fantastic and all but monopolies tend to be bad for consumers.
 
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