rFactor 2 Moving to DX11 - New Company Partnership Announced

[Paul Jeffrey]

With the build up to this weekend’s Sim Racing Expo, Image Space Incorporated have announced a strategic partnership with the Dutch software group Luminis. The new alliance has been created to help increase development in rFactor 2, including a number of exceptionally exciting announcements in relation to the sim.

The partnership will be brought together into a new company: Studio 397. Studio 397 will have its headquarters in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands and will operate under the leadership of Marcel Offermans, a fellow sim racer and the man responsible for bringing both rFactor and rFactor 2 to the Steam platform.

Gjon Camaj, Vice President of Image Space Incorporated:

“We at ISI are very pleased to have found a partner that shares our enthusiasm and vision for the continued growth of rFactor 2. We look forward to working with Luminis to expand the reach of rFactor 2 both in Europe and beyond. After having worked with Luminis for some time and seeing their passion for motorsport simulation, this partnership was a natural next step. By leveraging each of our company’s individual strengths, we will be better able to serve our current customers and further expand our reach into the world of motorsports”.​

Marcel Offermans, Luminis Fellow and Managing Director of Studio 397:

“I’m really excited by the opportunities that our partnership with ISI offers; rFactor 2 represents the best of breed, stable simulator platform in the industry. Online simracing has been my longtime personal passion, so the opportunity to combine my passion with my business feels like a great privilege. By infusing the platform with some of our own technology we see great opportunities to accelerate development in general and specifically in the areas of competitions and training”.​

The new partnership have released an ambitious roadmap for rFactor 2’s further development including the stated plans to move over to a DX11 compatible graphics engine, including VR support for both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. With the move to DX11, Studio 397 have committed to bringing performance improvements for high end video card users as well as maintaining compatibility with current content.

Other highlights from the announcement include a proposed new HTML based front end interface and Matchmaker support, in game UI updates and a promise to make more frequent car and track releases, working on racing cars and series as well as "popular and challenging" tracks. The new partnership also promises to work more closely with the community to support development of free and paid mod releases...

Oh, and the game has a new logo too....


All in all, this is fantastic news for rF2 and the sim racing community. I can hardly wait.

Check our rFactor 2 sub forum for news, discussions, mods, club and league races and everything in between!

What do you think of the announcement? Excited about DX11, VR support, new content? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Juergen]

397 are the most laps done during a 24h LeMans race.

...or it`s the question of the meaning of the life, the universe and everything

//Edit: 397 / 42 = 9,45

Lukas 9:45:
But they understood not this saying, and it was concealed from them, that they should not perceive it: and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

As nobody knows, what 397 means...look what the bible says

 

[Paul Thompson]

397 are the most laps done during a 24h LeMans race.

Thank you

 

[TheGrunt]

Amidst of all this partnership fuzz, it would be also nice to hear something about ISI and their future plans with "not-rF3" project

 

[MarcG]

Amidst of all this partnership fuzz, it would be also nice to hear something about ISI and their future plans with "not-rF3" project

RD Interview with ISI coming up, hopefully something in that

 

[Alexandre Costa]

Great news! Good luck to you guys.

Btw, I hope modders start to use Steam Workshop now, it makes everything easier.

 

[TheGrunt]

Involved they still are, both because we have a very good and close relationship with them and because Studio 397 will still use their development skills for specific projects. But roadmap, future development and content licensing is all done at Studio 397. Does that answer your question?

To me this sounds very much the same arrangement that ISI has with Kangaloosh (rF Pro).

Without knowing anything specifics about any of the contracts, of course, but certainly sounds similar

 

[Will Mazeo]

.

I get over 100fps with almost all maxed with a 660gtx and 8gb ram so in my opinion it doesn't run too bad, but obviously doesn't look THAT good.

Hope they fix the rain looks because it really breaks inmersion...

But under severe situations current graphics engine performs too bad, I too get over 100fps but I have it going bellow 20 at rain and night if I don't use the auto detail fps. Meanwhile in P CARS my avg fps is like 50 and it won't go bellow 30 in the worst conditions. P CARS is playable all time, rF2 may not be and it's a issue if you race online

 

[Terry Rock]

Welcome 397....
This 'injection' of software resources may be just what RF2 needs at this time.
I like and respect the work ISI has done to advance the core of simracing... but this particular project seemed to have distractions associated with it.
It's not that it's behind at all... it just seemed like they were working on so many areas that we never saw a map leading to where we wanted to go.
The multiplayer debacle never got cleaned up, the puffy smoke never got sorted, etc...
The things they did get right....tire deformation, real road etc... were done brilliantly.
I do overall like what they've done and I've shown that with my wallet over the years.
I own the lifetime subscription and every other product they've ever release or collaborated on.

 

[Robert Stanley]

Good news...about three years too late, but good news.
IMO the biggest thing RF2 always needed was polish (not staff from the former eastern bloc); the interface was woeful, the mod support / packaging was a disaster & the graphics (though functional) horribly dated. TBH i think they should ditch the RF2 name & just call it something else, the underlying tech is there no doubt but it was one big missed opportunity from the start.
Obviously DX11 is a winner; if they could re-work the sound to R3E standards using FMOD processing we would be on a winner, chicken dinner! I would pay good money for officially licensed WEC DLC for example. The basis of THE endurance series simulation is already there, i wish them well & Mr. Wheatley luck with his Thrustmaster Warthog.

 

[Fanapryde]

have you ever driven in VR

Yes, and on both occasions I suffered from nausea after less than 15', not even speaking about the rest of the discomfort.
Probably not everyone is affected, but I will NEVER buy it, I'll gladly stay with my triple 144 Hz 27" screen setup.

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

Rf2 very well could finally turn into the amazing endurance racing sim that it has been on the cusp of becoming all these years. Good luck to all involved.

 

[Andy_J]

Spyware... you guys are very parano... you should be only scared if you do illegal stuff or watch weird porn.

Windows 10 was free to upgrade for a full year, going forward in time, win7 will just become useless and win10 will be a obligation if you want certain stuff and all the new stuff. People like you that put a brake to progress.

This would have been the opportunity for them to go to the latest installement and I even wish they would have gone UE4. It's free, only a small royalty needs to be payed, but it looks amazing.

Rubbish. Windows 7 works for me. Its better than Windows 10 by a long way and it allows me to run certain simulators and other games that just wont work under windows 10. I know, because I tried it. I'll get Windows 10 when I build my next performance Gaming PC but until then Win 7 works for me and many more. You must be a bit slow if you think they have only chosen DX11 because many users haven't got WIN 10 though.

 

[Tr3voRR]

Rubbish. Windows 7 works for me. Its better than Windows 10 by a long way and it allows me to run certain simulators and other games that just wont work under windows 10. I know, because I tried it. I'll get Windows 10 when I build my next performance Gaming PC but until then Win 7 works for me and many more. You must be a bit slow if you think they have only chosen DX11 because many users haven't got WIN 10 though.

But futur games and futur hardware will only work with win10. The day games are DX12 how will you do ? that's not in the far distance my friend.

 

[Will Mazeo]

They can just add DX12 support in the future guys. Going DX11 now does not mean the door is closed, really get some common sense there is no reason to go DX12 now due to it being Win10 only, way too much people didn't move to it yet. Would be suicide to go DX12 at this moment.
Same thing with Vulkan, it's just too early to do it. Now if AMD or Valve or whatever appeared with a sponsorship check then shut up and take their money

 

[Marc Collins]

I wonder... Is it possible that in between the lines we may read rF2 going console? Some of the signs are there... Specialized devs, DX11 render stack, happens after success for AC on consoles.

Because for the small simulation crowd on PC i see no benefit at all in focusing on DX11. As evidenced by RaceRoom DX9 is still very much good enough, in delivering an immersive and beautiful experience. Also, DX11 brings its own problems, as my experience working with it is that it is VERY reliant on post-processing, meaning multi-pass rendering, that give some nice effects but also less sharpness (see AC jaggies and fuzz) as well as sync issues. And for a crowd that is mostly in it for the accuracy of the simulation, not the number of hollywood-movie post-processing buzzwords, i don't see DX11 bringing any real render efficiency.

If anything, some fundamental flaws in the underlying core should be fixed first, such as correctly multi-threading the physics and AI as well as doing something about some of the (few) physics bugs.

So to me DX11 for the PC rF2 is a waste of time and money. Instead improve content, license real world series with full grids. Those things will be more important to the target group than overexaggerated sheen on bumpers and artificial motion blur. I mean, even if you may entice a few more "casual" race players at first, they will then turn away again after experiencing the grueling nature of a full simulation like rF2.

Unless... Like i said, they are sneakily looking at consoles. Because then a shift to DX11 and cross platform toolchaining becomes logical.

Don't agree. iRacing moved to DX11 a while back. Zero change to the visuals (that I can detect anyway). Instant almost doubling of the frame rate. In case you live under a rock, sim racers spend untold hours and $ trying to increase FPS for sim accuracy reasons (the visual experience and it affects controllers). That alone is reason to do it because we have all known for many years that the ISI graphics engine is not at all efficient.

 

[Marc Collins]

I think free and paid DLC hopefully means that the lifetime users get free whereas the base or light users pay?
Or maybe it's just that being a lifetime user only referred to the online aspect and DLC was never even a consideration?
Not sure but would be good to get some info on this.

If DLC is needed to save the product financially, giving away DLC wouldn't be a very smart strategy.

 

[Richard Eriksson]

Don't agree. iRacing moved to DX11 a while back. Zero change to the visuals (that I can detect anyway). Instant almost doubling of the frame rate. In case you live under a rock, sim racers spend untold hours and $ trying to increase FPS for sim accuracy reasons (the visual experience and it affects controllers). That alone is reason to do it because we have all known for many years that the ISI graphics engine is not at all efficient.

iRacing was rendering limited to a large degree, they had many effects that could make use of the DX11 post-ptocess pipeline, thus giving a massive increase in framerates on modern hw.

rF2 however is CPU/loop limited in that it doesn't really put much stress on the render output at all, but a lot more is lost in what i believe to be some inefficient code at the very core of the simulation. Now, even if you switch your output to DX11, the core is still going to be the same, more or less and will still impact framerate severely.

As for increasing fps, as long as you hit 60 fps, and can then lock it there (vsync) you can have the best experience. And unlike what the "self proclaimed alien elite" will tell you, the input lag of it is so small it is negligable, so trying to reach 200fps because you think it makes you a better simracer, while learning not to get sick and dizzy from the violent screen tearing and stutter is silly anyhow, imo.

 

[Paul Bennett]

Looks like Studio 397 will have the tools in place to throw at rF2

http://luminis-technologies.com/

 

[Deleted member 130869]

I'm really hoping the interview will cover the licenses aspect with this rF2 ownership transition.

So ISI will be working on a full-game package with whatever distributor they'll have, ok. So they contract their artists for tracks and cars, and eventually release it ok. We'll see what they will have and if the game will be worth it.

 

[Ghoults]

As for increasing fps, as long as you hit 60 fps, and can then lock it there (vsync) you can have the best experience. And unlike what the "self proclaimed alien elite" will tell you, the input lag of it is so small it is negligable, so trying to reach 200fps because you think it makes you a better simracer, while learning not to get sick and dizzy from the violent screen tearing and stutter is silly anyhow, imo.

Not really. Input lag is a serious issue and nobody who knows their stuff will not change any setting knowingly that increases it. Turning on vsync is horrible advice. I hope nobody does it. If tearing is issue then run you fps at 83fps limited for 60Hz monitor and it will look better with no lag. Also screen tearing is all about how the fps matches your monitor refresh rate. If monitor is 60Hz and screen is 60 then you will have tearing. If monitor is 60 and fps is 90, 120, 240, any multiplier of 60 or 30 you will have tearing.

Your post is so wrong on so many areas that it sounds more like self rationalization than valid advice.

Pretty much any game, any sim. You get best performance if you run either unlimited 100+fps or cap it at 83 (or any other number that is not multiplier of 30). If you turn on vsync you are hurting yourself period.