rFactor 2: Historical McLaren F1 Cars Released!

[Chris]

Just days after their announcement at the 2018 Sim Racing expo in Germany, right on cue, Studio 397 have released three historical McLaren Formula One cars for rFactor 2... free of charge.

Replicated with stunning attention to detail, the three vehicles brought to the increasingly popular simulator are:

1. McLaren M23 - The one that carried Fittipaldi and Hunt to WDC's in 1974 and 1976 respectively.
2. McLaren MP4/8 - The one that helped Ayrton Senna complete the greatest opening lap ever.
3. McLaren MP4/13 - The one that won the 1998 Drivers and Constructors titles with relative ease.

But don't let me talk you into it, here's a little of what Studio 397 had to say about the cars:

McLaren M23
"When McLaren introduces the M23 to the world in 1973 with first test drives, they knew already that they had created something special. Feedback from the first laps had been amazing, an easy to steer car with a great balance, thanks to nearly all the weight being close to the center, where also the tank was located.

The introduction to the Formula 1 World Championship was marked as a complete success before even going into the cars first race, since McLaren managed to put their brand new M23 right on Pole Position."

McLaren MP4/8
"While the car featured innovative technology and an advanced chassis, the team was being led [sic] down by engine in the end, which didn't offer as much performance as their competition was able to produce. Nevertheless this car put up a fight for the championship, especially since it featured automatic programmable gearbox, traction control and a host of other options, leaving the driver with more resources to concentrate solely on fighting for the top spots."

McLaren MP4/13
"Designed by Adrian Newey, the new MP4/13 was a perfect fit to the new rule-set and the grooved tyres. Efficient aerodynamics teamed up with the most powerful engine (780bhp) on the grid, the car immediately dominated the series and turned the first race into a pure McLaren showcase. Every single competitor got lapped at least once during the Australian Grand Prix, just a sign of what was to come for the rest of the season."


So there you have it. Three iconic F1 cars, for free and they're available for download right now. So what are you waiting for?!

 Tried the new content? Let us know what you think in the comments below, and be sure to stay up to date with all the latest simracing news here at RaceDepartment (especially once our Editor-in-Chief gets back from the Expo!)

 

[tlsmikey]

It's not, it's just that the dynamic range of FFB on that car is pretty big. It feels light under normal driving, but it can load up right to the point of clipping in faster corners, even with the default 1.0 multiplier. With 1.8, there must be plenty of situations where you are clipping.

Interesting. I'll try it lower. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Farrow_21]

Driving the MP4/13 around Spa is really amazing. The handling & how to drive the car all makes much more sense to me now that I've had some more time with it. I Think S397 has done a very good job.

 

[T_rac3]

Keeps crashing for me.
Mod could not be installed
MOD download failed

But I've already been able to load the same combo up in single player without issue...

I found this link on s397 forum, it is the .mod file:
https://mega.nz/#!nM9gUS4A!UyUAT1kiYcRtKGxpVB28cMN5nKYgiW_HrQ6OoFxs5Jk
The forum is:
https://forum.studio-397.com/index....-rfactor-2-qualifier.61206/page-2#post-961189
post #26 and #37
I didn't tried it so I can't say it is working or not

 

[gamer19]

I call this carpack "a desperate cry for some good Marlboro/West liveries".
I mean... look at them three, they (developers) practically beg us for some sweet tobacco promotion. @@

 

[JaimeDK]

I call this carpack "a desperate cry for some good Marlboro/West liveries".
I mean... look at them three, they (developers) practically beg us for some sweet tobacco promotion. @@

Then make those brands to pay Studio 397 for the promotion they don't deserve.
Together with safety the only thing has been a good improvement from old F1 days is to get rid of tobaco.

 

[redoer]

I tried it yesterday and was not able to stop automatic shifting, switching between automatic and manuel does not work for me with the Mp23

 

[Marcel Offermans]

I call this carpack "a desperate cry for some good Marlboro/West liveries".
I mean... look at them three, they (developers) practically beg us for some sweet tobacco promotion. @@

We cannot have alcohol or tobacco brands in rFactor 2 even if they pay us, because we would loose our "all ages" rating and that would seriously hurt us, sales wise. For that reason we always take those off, even if we have a license for them.

 

[kamackeris]

And one very exciting news it is this, McLarren Shadow. More details here:
https://www.studio-397.com/mclaren-shadow-rfactor2/

take a look who currently has the slowest time on the leaderboard ....lol !!! @Marcel Offermans

 

[kamackeris]

hmmmm... so i can't get this to load up...i click ok on the steam pop up launcher and nothing

 

[Sharjeel]

take a look who currently has the slowest time on the leaderboard ....lol !!! @Marcel Offermans

C'mon @Marcel Offermans , show us what you've got. Don't be so patronising!

 

[Marcel Offermans]

I was trying to be a keyboard warrior there... and failed miserably.

 

[SirVanhan]

@Marcel Offermans Given you are here, I'd like to ask some things related to the McLarens and what they can bring to the simulation:

M23: this car, as others historic cars, would benefit from a transmission model, i.e. proper clutch and gearbox. Are there plans to implement it in the future?

Mp4/8: are active suspensions possible to simulate? If so, did you decide against it or could we see them in the future?

Mp4/13: On the official forum, Lazza said: "the grooved tyre we see on the McLaren is basically just a lower grip slick". Is it true? And does it apply to wet tyres too? Can you explain then how do wet tyres work on rF2?

I realize how hard it is to develop a game and to stay behind every feature request. And probably people won't even notice or care about what is missing. However, I believe that at least a proper clutch would be ideal given the amount of historic content you are releasing.

 

[Greame Champion]

Few questions on these.
1. How do I stop all head movement in cockpit.. including the movements under braking.
2 is it possible to have the view from the cockpit without the cockpit. Like a higher bumper cam view.
Hope that makes sense

 

[Andrew Harper]

Mp4/13: On the official forum, Lazza said: "the grooved tyre we see on the McLaren is basically just a lower grip slick". Is it true? And does it apply to wet tyres too? Can you explain then how do wet tyres work on rF2?

I can only compare to what I remember Jacques Villeneuve saying about them when he first drove on them....he hated them! lol

As I'm sure you know they were introduced as a way of controlling the speeds of the cars during the tyre war (Bridgestone/Michelin) of that period.

The tyres were of a high performance compound (because of the tyre war of course) but they had low grip at slow speeds and if I remember they had a nasty habit of letting go suddenly. Because the tyre had grooves in them, they generated friction like a wet or intermediate so had this habit of letting go without much slip angle. So I suppose you couldn't push them as hard in the corners and under acceleration.

Some drivers adapted well to them and others really suffered. You couldn't attack in the way you could with a slick.

 

[Peter Kerényi]

I reinstalled rF2 because of these new free cars from Studio 397, I think they are great. Might even keep rF2 installed. Still, hoping for more content before I start shopping their paid content. The "other part" of the current GTE grid would be a good starting point to convince me (more endurance was quite teased during the expo livestreams)

Although I have been a Ferrari fan forever, the sound of the MP4/13 is special. And the MP4/8 just... clicks, drives very well.

 

[Andrew Harper]

I reinstalled rF2 because of these new free cars from Studio 397, I think they are great. Might even keep rF2 installed. Still, hoping for more content before I start shopping their paid content. The "other part" of the current GTE grid would be a good starting point to convince me (more endurance was quite teased during the expo livestreams)

Although I have been a Ferrari fan forever, the sound of the MP4/13 is special. And the MP4/8 just... clicks, drives very well.

Also, although S397 have done a great job on these, I would like to give some love for ASR Formula. All their F1 cars are amazing. Most are free or you can get WIP's for a small donation.

The Ferrari's on there are just great fun.

 

[T_rac3]

Could you link those sources? I've heard a rumor about Super Trofeo and Porsche GT3 Cup, but no confirmation yet. Would be great tho.

(Sorry for OT )

Another short OT
I think it is here. I didn't listen all, just skipping through.

 

[Marcel Offermans]

@Marcel Offermans Given you are here, I'd like to ask some things related to the McLarens and what they can bring to the simulation:

M23: this car, as others historic cars, would benefit from a transmission model, i.e. proper clutch and gearbox. Are there plans to implement it in the future?

I do believe an updated transmission model will happen. We have not started it yet, but it's one of the physics features that's relatively high on our list.

Mp4/8: are active suspensions possible to simulate? If so, did you decide against it or could we see them in the future?

We decided against implementing it after reading how complicated it was to setup on the real car. Without getting into details (I'm under NDA here) you had to program it for each track and although our community loves realism, this might have been a bit too much except for the most hardcore users.

Mp4/13: On the official forum, Lazza said: "the grooved tyre we see on the McLaren is basically just a lower grip slick". Is it true? And does it apply to wet tyres too? Can you explain then how do wet tyres work on rF2?

I realize how hard it is to develop a game and to stay behind every feature request. And probably people won't even notice or care about what is missing. However, I believe that at least a proper clutch would be ideal given the amount of historic content you are releasing.

I think we already have one of the most detailed and true to life tyre models out there. It's true we don't implement the actual thread patterns. As far as I know, no simulation does that (and it would make little sense given the physics frequency of most simulations vs the rotation speed of a tyre at speed). I do think Lazza simplified things a bit. Grooved and rain tyres are not just slicks with less grip, there are a lot of other differences.

And you're right, there are still lots of features we would like to add, given the time and resources. We're not in a rush though, we'll just keep adding features one by one!

 

[Peter Kerényi]

Also, although S397 have done a great job on these, I would like to give some love for ASR Formula. All their F1 cars are amazing. Most are free or you can get WIP's for a small donation.

The Ferrari's on there are just great fun.

I know them for sure, but thanks for the heads up.

 

[E304LIFE]

I would like to give some love for ASR Formula. All their F1 cars are amazing. Most are free or you can get WIP's for a small donation.

The Ferrari's on there are just great fun.

+1