rFactor 2 | Spa-Francorchamps Confirmed

[Paul Jeffrey]

Studio 397 have confirmed they are set to release the mighty Spa-Francorchamps circuit for rFactor 2 later this month.

Having taken to social media earlier today, Studio 397 have finally confirmed the mystery track heading the way of rFactor 2 later this month will be Spa-Francorchamps - adding yet another high profile laserscanned circuit to the simulation.

At present, the studio have just revealed initial screenshots of the circuit in game, however an exact release date has yet to be revealed, aside from the fact it should be released within the month of November.

Stay tuned to RaceDepartment.com for more news and information about this exciting new track release as and when it becomes available.

rFactor 2 is available now, exclusively on PC.

Check out the rF2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment for a great place to hang out with your fellow fans of the title, discuss the latest news and get advice on how to make the most from your simulation. Join in and start a new thread today!

 

[SunBro]

AC if you just hotlap. Once you start adding cars (which is more fair to other sims) it takes longer, but still plenty fast

Yeah. Hotlapping load times ac vs rf2 is a joke. When racing, the gap narrows but if you mostly do hotlapping, rf2 is like a turtle compared ac which is a rabbit.

 

[Ghoults]

If only my local track was 2 minutes away...
Good things are worth waiting for

On a more serious note, it would be nice if rF2 tracks loaded faster, but unless one changes tracks every few laps, somewhat longer loading times should not be a deal breaker (we are talking a minute or two longer than other sims)

Well I'd guess it doesn't matter for rf2 because the online is dead anyways but for online loading times are important if there is a time window or race countdown and you need to get in before it. In ac and ams2 (well not in ams2 because it doesn't let you) I can join when there is 15s left in the clock and still make it out on the track after doing a quick fiddle with the setup. In rf2 15 seconds is not enough to even fail at loading random packages when failing to load into the server. All that time spent not loading is track time you are losing. Although this is a moot point as rf2 server browser(s) is so crap it isn't even able to show this kind of information. It can barely find servers with other humans...

Quick load times are also important for sanity and just for the sim being usable. If make a bad setting and need to fix it by reloading it doesn't take 5 min just to load back in. And frankly if the realroad takes 2 minutes to calculate I'd rather drive without it. Why can't the game just pre-calculate it and package it with the game... The game doesn't run ttool for cars either everytime to generate the same data.

Loading times are also crucial for modders who need to load into the game often just to check some small thing and if it takes 2 minutes just to load and 5 seconds to check that minor thing then it is just bad. Those 2 minutes add up quick for everybody. If I spend couple of hours racing I easily load into the track 5-10 times. In rf2 that is 20 minutes spent just watching the loading screen out of 2 hours. In every other game that is something like a minute.

Everything in rf2 takes lots of time. Constant issues, loading times, reloads... Rf2 has the slowest load times and I'm sure the biggest need to reload because rf2 more often than others needs a reload to change a setting. There is literally a loading screen that takes minutes after every click if you have not ran the sim for a while. Just to load into a frigging offline line single player race it loads the damn server list. It is just bad design everywhere. Not life ending but just one of many things wrong and frustrating with rf2.

 

[Ami_M3]

Well I'd guess it doesn't matter for rf2 because the online is dead anyways but for online loading times are important if there is a time window or race countdown and you need to get in before it. In ac and ams2 (well not in ams2 because it doesn't let you) I can join when there is 15s left in the clock and still make it out on the track after doing a quick fiddle with the setup. In rf2 15 seconds is not enough to even fail at loading random packages when failing to load into the server. All that time spent not loading is track time you are losing. Although this is a moot point as rf2 server browser(s) is so crap it isn't even able to show this kind of information. It can barely find servers with other humans...

Quick load times are also important for sanity and just for the sim being usable. If make a bad setting and need to fix it by reloading it doesn't take 5 min just to load back in. And frankly if the realroad takes 2 minutes to calculate I'd rather drive without it. Why can't the game just pre-calculate it and package it with the game... The game doesn't run ttool for cars either everytime to generate the same data.

Loading times are also crucial for modders who need to load into the game often just to check some small thing and if it takes 2 minutes just to load and 5 seconds to check that minor thing then it is just bad. Those 2 minutes add up quick for everybody. If I spend couple of hours racing I easily load into the track 5-10 times. In rf2 that is 20 minutes spent just watching the loading screen out of 2 hours. In every other game that is something like a minute.

Everything in rf2 takes lots of time. Constant issues, loading times, reloads... Rf2 has the slowest load times and I'm sure the biggest need to reload because rf2 more often than others needs a reload to change a setting. There is literally a loading screen that takes minutes after every click if you have not ran the sim for a while. Just to load into a frigging offline line single player race it loads the damn server list. It is just bad design everywhere. Not life ending but just one of many things wrong and frustrating with rf2.

You're exaggerating but whatever. If you race two hours and need to load track 10 times that means the race lasts 12 minutes, and that includes qualifying. If you comment from a modder point of view that is a totally different ball game and this is probably not the best place to complain.
I agree that faster loading times would be nice, but if you truly miss lots of online races because rF2 takes 30-60s longer than other sims to load, you're either very unlucky or trying to prove your point by exaggerating a bit.

What settings in rF2 require you to re-load tracks so often if you're a regular user? I don't really know so please explain, and I'm genuinely curious.

Look, I've been a member here for some time, and while I don't spend a whole lot of time here, I already know the usual suspects that no matter what complain about the same things. Like it's their personal crusade to bring rF2 down.
Long loading times is something that devs are aware of, and are working on. Improvements are not groundbreaking, but they are there. There is no reason to bring the same issue over and over again.
Sadly, I don't remember you saying anything nice about rF2 ever. That's why I take your post with a grain of salt, even if you have some valid points, because I feel you have hidden agenda. Nobody said rF2 is perfect. Cleary you like AC way better. What is the point visiting rF2 forums if you hate the title so much?
rF2 is not for everyone. I want the title improved too, but beating the dead horse is not going to help.

 

[Ghoults]

You're exaggerating but whatever. If you race two hours and need to load track 10 times that means the race lasts 12 minutes, and that includes qualifying. If you comment from a modder point of view that is a totally different ball game and this is probably not the best place to complain.

It is not about averages. Sometimes when you join a server you just leave immediatelly. Sometimes you stay for a lot longer. Sometimes in single player you need to reload to change a setting. 12 minute per load is an average but in reality it is a mix of couple of 30 second load times and one 30 minute block of driving. And I'm not exaggerating anything. I literally started rf2 and tested those numbers. One server was taking over 5 minutes to load before even loading... I have better things to do in my life even if the closest real race track is more than 5 minutes away from me...

I agree that faster loading times would be nice, but if you truly miss lots of online races because rF2 takes 30-60s longer than other sims to load, you're either very unlucky or trying to prove your point by exaggerating a bit.

What settings in rF2 require you to re-load tracks so often if you're a regular user? I don't really know so please explain, and I'm genuinely curious.

I could have forgotten to set specific weather for all sessions, forgot to add all cars I wanted, wrong time of day, wrong accelerated time. Penalties, ai settings, car upgrades all kinds of things.

Long loading times is something that devs are aware of, and are working on. Improvements are not groundbreaking, but they are there. There is no reason to bring the same issue over and over again.

Yes there is. Rf2 seems to be a special case where issues only get fixed if they are mentioned constantly. After all the devs didn't even seem to be aware that the load times in rf2 were attrocious before someone mentioned and a small improvement was then made in response to those complaints. If complainig about load times makes me a rf2 hater then be so. I consider it a win if it leads to even 5% improvement.

Sadly, I don't remember you saying anything nice about rF2 ever. That's why I take your post with a grain of salt, even if you have some valid points, because I feel you have hidden agenda.

Why do I need to say positive things to balance things out? What's the point of sugar coating something that in the end is the same kind of flaw regardless how much I applaud the physics for example? Every sim has their flaws. Telling me to go away does not make rf2 better. Rf2 becomes better by only the devs making it better and that means fixing the various issues the game has. If I say something is good or bad I expect people to criticize my opinion the same way I made the criticism. Facts. Not by how much good things I have to say.

 

[tr1v1um]

Well I'd guess it doesn't matter for rf2 because the online is dead anyways but for online loading times are important if there is a time window or race countdown and you need to get in before it. In ac and ams2 (well not in ams2 because it doesn't let you) I can join when there is 15s left in the clock and still make it out on the track after doing a quick fiddle with the setup. In rf2 15 seconds is not enough to even fail at loading random packages when failing to load into the server. All that time spent not loading is track time you are losing. Although this is a moot point as rf2 server browser(s) is so crap it isn't even able to show this kind of information. It can barely find servers with other humans...

Quick load times are also important for sanity and just for the sim being usable. If make a bad setting and need to fix it by reloading it doesn't take 5 min just to load back in. And frankly if the realroad takes 2 minutes to calculate I'd rather drive without it. Why can't the game just pre-calculate it and package it with the game... The game doesn't run ttool for cars either everytime to generate the same data.

Loading times are also crucial for modders who need to load into the game often just to check some small thing and if it takes 2 minutes just to load and 5 seconds to check that minor thing then it is just bad. Those 2 minutes add up quick for everybody. If I spend couple of hours racing I easily load into the track 5-10 times. In rf2 that is 20 minutes spent just watching the loading screen out of 2 hours. In every other game that is something like a minute.

Everything in rf2 takes lots of time. Constant issues, loading times, reloads... Rf2 has the slowest load times and I'm sure the biggest need to reload because rf2 more often than others needs a reload to change a setting. There is literally a loading screen that takes minutes after every click if you have not ran the sim for a while. Just to load into a frigging offline line single player race it loads the damn server list. It is just bad design everywhere. Not life ending but just one of many things wrong and frustrating with rf2.

I think people exaggerate a bit on the whole loading time issue and get bend over for something that isn't as bad as some people make it sound like. For one thing, if you use rF2 on a regular base loading times are less of an issue and you learn to deal with how you join a server. If you reboot it after months of not using it, it's obvious that it'll take longer to update all the stuff you are subscribed to or to rebuild the shaders after gfx updates. It's certainly not perfect and if we were living in a perfect world I would certainly take the loading times from ACC over that from rF2.

But comparing rF2 especialy with AC, as those are the last two moddable modern sims, I still prefere one or two minutes of waiting for workshop mods being verified and updated automaticly instead of having to manualy lurk through RD for half an hour or more to check if my AC mods are up-to-date and copy and pasting everything like in the good ol' rF1 times. That's equaly or even far more annoying for me as an end user and nobody even mentions this valuable time loss. That's lost track time by your logic - and not just one or two mintes but easily racking up some hours.

I can see how stuff get's more problematic for people who don't use rF2 on a regular base or who are new to it. The new UI solves alot of problems allready and offers some great feautures that I allready miss in other games and sims, but has it's own new issues, wich S397 are still working on as stated in the roadmap. And at the end of the day it comes down to expectations. I am certainly not a person with too much freetime but I wouldn't rate the loading times of the different products as critical if the on track experience is worth it - wich it certainly is in rF2, atleast for me and stuff like real road is part of that experience.

At the end of the day, every sim has something that is equaly as annoying as a minute or two more loading time in rF2 compared to the rest of the products. Have I mentioned the annoying setup screen that allways forces me to save my setup before I hit the track in PC2 and now AMS2 too? This makes certainly up for one minute more loading as you have to do whenever you change something. And after that you get an on track experience that can be very hit more miss.

 

[Durge Driven]

@Ghoults


Stop sprouting BS lies

There is plenty online

 

[Ami_M3]

It is not about averages. Sometimes when you join a server you just leave immediatelly. Sometimes you stay for a lot longer. Sometimes in single player you need to reload to change a setting. 12 minute per load is an average but in reality it is a mix of couple of 30 second load times and one 30 minute block of driving. And I'm not exaggerating anything. I literally started rf2 and tested those numbers. One server was taking over 5 minutes to load before even loading... I have better things to do in my life even if the closest real race track is more than 5 minutes away from me...


I could have forgotten to set specific weather for all sessions, forgot to add all cars I wanted, wrong time of day, wrong accelerated time. Penalties, ai settings, car upgrades all kinds of things.


Yes there is. Rf2 seems to be a special case where issues only get fixed if they are mentioned constantly. After all the devs didn't even seem to be aware that the load times in rf2 were attrocious before someone mentioned and a small improvement was then made in response to those complaints. If complainig about load times makes me a rf2 hater then be so. I consider it a win if it leads to even 5% improvement.


Why do I need to say positive things to balance things out? What's the point of sugar coating something that in the end is the same kind of flaw regardless how much I applaud the physics for example? Every sim has their flaws. Telling me to go away does not make rf2 better. Rf2 becomes better by only the devs making it better and that means fixing the various issues the game has. If I say something is good or bad I expect people to criticize my opinion the same way I made the criticism. Facts. Not by how much good things I have to say.

Well, first, just to get this out of the way, I've never said you should leave. I questioned why do you waste time in rF2 forums since you're so fed up with it, but it's your choice.

I must say that someones that rates rF2 as low as 3/10 and AC as 9/10 raises my eyebrows. 3 out of 10, really? Sim that is widely regarded in both FFB and physics as top of the line. It has it's flaws, few will argue about that, but common, 3 out of 10?
You seem to disregard all the faults AC has, while at the same time criticize rF2 whenever the chance. You don't have to say anything nice to balance things out, but to me it looks there may be other issues at hand. OTOH, S397 have done tons of good since taking over, and it would be nice to sometimes recognize them for it as well, but I'll leave it to each individual. From you I see: rF2 - bad, bad, bad. AC - good, good, good
Maybe I'm jaded because sim community can be pretty toxic and I see this stuff often, and strangely almost always from Kunos followers, like rF2 is their nemesis. I try to ignore it, but once in a while I'll respond.

Now about you forgetting to set the stuff up that in consequence requires you to leave the session, change settings, and reload: if it happens all the time and you KNOW it takes long to load a track, spend a little more time setting everything up, don't be sloppy. You know it's a weak point of rF2 and you proceed to make the same mistake over and over? If you don't remember about this stuff, make a check list, so you know everything is right before you hit that 'Race' button. It's a workaround, but really, it seems a little far fetched what you described.
Oh, and this is about single player, right? Because if you need to set up time of the day, ai, etc then it must be for offline? I thought you were complaining that long loading times cause you to loose lots of online races? Which brings another point: why would you join a session just to leave it 30s later? If that is really the way you use sims I have no answer.

Again, I'm not denying the fact that loading times are not optimal, but it seems you're twisting a reality a little to make your point. If you're here because you're genuinely interested in using rF2, and not just to bring it down, think about making that checklist. Quick glance, and it'll save you time.

You know, disregarding the fact that news' threads are not the greatest mediums to give feedback do devs (unless we just want to whine) I'm not sure complaining again about loading times after they've been improved recently is in our best interest. It's obviously something that cannot be drastically (and easily) changed. There are far more important issues that need to be addressed by S397.

Be honest with yourself. Are you here because you really want rF2 to be better, or are you here for different reasons?

 

[Case_]

Is rF2 now a cult? Sure sounds like it from the above post.

 

[Ami_M3]

I think people exaggerate a bit on the whole loading time issue and get bend over for something that isn't as bad as some people make it sound like. For one thing, if you use rF2 on a regular base loading times are less of an issue and you learn to deal with how you join a server. If you reboot it after months of not using it, it's obvious that it'll take longer to update all the stuff you are subscribed to or to rebuild the shaders after gfx updates. It's certainly not perfect and if we were living in a perfect world I would certainly take the loading times from ACC over that from rF2.

But comparing rF2 especialy with AC, as those are the last two moddable modern sims, I still prefere one or two minutes of waiting for workshop mods being verified and updated automaticly instead of having to manualy lurk through RD for half an hour or more to check if my AC mods are up-to-date and copy and pasting everything like in the good ol' rF1 times. That's equaly or even far more annoying for me as an end user and nobody even mentions this valuable time loss. That's lost track time by your logic - and not just one or two mintes but easily racking up some hours.

I can see how stuff get's more problematic for people who don't use rF2 on a regular base or who are new to it. The new UI solves alot of problems allready and offers some great feautures that I allready miss in other games and sims, but has it's own new issues, wich S397 are still working on as stated in the roadmap. And at the end of the day it comes down to expectations. I am certainly not a person with too much freetime but I wouldn't rate the loading times of the different products as critical if the on track experience is worth it - wich it certainly is in rF2, atleast for me and stuff like real road is part of that experience.

At the end of the day, every sim has something that is equaly as annoying as a minute or two more loading time in rF2 compared to the rest of the products. Have I mentioned the annoying setup screen that allways forces me to save my setup before I hit the track in PC2 and now AMS2 too? This makes certainly up for one minute more loading as you have to do whenever you change something. And after that you get an on track experience that can be very hit more miss.

Well said.
rF2 has its flaws, but it is very rarely praised for stuff that some other sims don't offer.
I'm often annoyed myself at some things that are dragging for years without a word from devs whether they're working on them or not (FCY, drivetrain model, etc). Not everything is rosy here

 

[Ami_M3]

Is rF2 now a cult? Sure sounds like it from the above post.

No Martin, at least not from my side. I like the sim, but I also recognize it's not perfect. However I'm a little irked when I see it kicked all the time. Nowadays I spent more time in R3E, so wouldn't call myself rF2 cultist, not sure where you got it from, but it's ok

 

[Denis Betty]

Is rF2 now a cult? Sure sounds like it from the above post.

Personally, I felt it was more balanced than the post it was replying to. Just my opinion OC.

 

[Case_]

OK. Nevermind me, then.

 

[Ciccina2016]

Well I'd guess it doesn't matter for rf2 because the online is dead anyways but for online loading times are important if there is a time window or race countdown and you need to get in before it. In ac and ams2 (well not in ams2 because it doesn't let you) I can join when there is 15s left in the clock and still make it out on the track after doing a quick fiddle with the setup. In rf2 15 seconds is not enough to even fail at loading random packages when failing to load into the server. All that time spent not loading is track time you are losing. Although this is a moot point as rf2 server browser(s) is so crap it isn't even able to show this kind of information. It can barely find servers with other humans...

Quick load times are also important for sanity and just for the sim being usable. If make a bad setting and need to fix it by reloading it doesn't take 5 min just to load back in. And frankly if the realroad takes 2 minutes to calculate I'd rather drive without it. Why can't the game just pre-calculate it and package it with the game... The game doesn't run ttool for cars either everytime to generate the same data.

Loading times are also crucial for modders who need to load into the game often just to check some small thing and if it takes 2 minutes just to load and 5 seconds to check that minor thing then it is just bad. Those 2 minutes add up quick for everybody. If I spend couple of hours racing I easily load into the track 5-10 times. In rf2 that is 20 minutes spent just watching the loading screen out of 2 hours. In every other game that is something like a minute.

Everything in rf2 takes lots of time. Constant issues, loading times, reloads... Rf2 has the slowest load times and I'm sure the biggest need to reload because rf2 more often than others needs a reload to change a setting. There is literally a loading screen that takes minutes after every click if you have not ran the sim for a while. Just to load into a frigging offline line single player race it loads the damn server list. It is just bad design everywhere. Not life ending but just one of many things wrong and frustrating with rf2.

Unless you load up Reiza Content.. try to load 40 cars at Imola.. It takes less than a minute..

 

[DaVeX↯]

Mass Effect Legendary Edition confirmed...

 

[Ghoults]

I think people exaggerate a bit on the whole loading time issue and get bend over for something that isn't as bad as some people make it sound like. For one thing, if you use rF2 on a regular base loading times are less of an issue and you learn to deal with how you join a server.

No, people should not just have to learn to deal with it. Something as simple as finding and joining a server should be simple.

But comparing rF2 especialy with AC, as those are the last two moddable modern sims, I still prefere one or two minutes of waiting for workshop mods being verified and updated automaticly instead of having to manualy lurk through RD for half an hour or more to check if my AC mods are up-to-date and copy and pasting everything like in the good ol' rF1 times.

You don't need to update anything if you don't want to. Mods don't get updated that often. And in ac mod updates are sometimes as simple as 2 second downloads because they are simple text files doing adjustments via content manager. And in my experience copy pasting is still faster than even the fully automated rf2 process. Zip file downloads quickly and opens instantly then you just unpack it. In rf2 there are a lot more steps and it is just slower.

That's lost track time by your logic - and not just one or two mintes but easily racking up some hours.

I can download a mod and install it in ac quicker than I load into a sim in rf2 in a car/track combo I don't need to update. There is nothing I can do in rf2 quicker than I can do in ac except check that my mods are up to date. But to actually update anything takes a lot longer. Personally I like having options. In ac I can choose to update or not. Sometimes an update is not an improvement so I can just manually roll back to older version. Not to mention getting rid of mod is also much quicker.

I can see how stuff get's more problematic for people who don't use rF2 on a regular base or who are new to it. The new UI solves alot of problems allready

What problems does it solve? I admit of course that there is always going to be a culture shock when moving from one sim to another. Or even from one interface to another. Sometimes just being different is experienced by people as being worse. But when it comes to rf2 it is not just that it is different. There are big flaws and just wrong ways to do things. Even the most basic thing like not being able to see what content the server is using is unforgivable. Can't even order the servers based on which has most humans drivers so I can actually drive against people when I join an online server. Not bots. That is just bad and the new ui hasn't even touched it. Why has it been like 8 years and these issues exist? And why do people defend them?

I must say that someones that rates rF2 as low as 3/10 and AC as 9/10 raises my eyebrows. 3 out of 10, really? Sim that is widely regarded in both FFB and physics as top of the line. It has it's flaws, few will argue about that, but common, 3 out of 10?

So where does this 3/10 rating come from? If I have made such a rating I have also written why I gave it. If you are going to nail me down to a number then at least take the words that come it...

You seem to disregard all the faults AC has, while at the same time criticize rF2 whenever the chance.

On the contrary. I think ac has serious flaws. Ams2 has serious flaws. Raceroom, iracing... All have serious flaws. What makes ac better than rf2 for me is that its flaws are something that are easy to live with. Rf2 issues are things that just bother and frustrate and downgrade my experience constantly. Which is a shame because rf2 has peaks of excellence where it can dominate over anything that is out there. But just because some other sim has flaws don't make rf2 better. Why would I spend an hour trying to get something to work in rf2 when I can boot up ac or ams2 and know I'm going to have a good time. And if you want to read my opinions about ams2 I'm not giving it glowing reviews either. That boy ain't right.

Which brings another point: why would you join a session just to leave it 30s later? If that is really the way you use sims I have no answer.

In rf2 if I want to join a server that has other people I need to try to join many servers because chances are I don't even get in in 80% of cases. And when I get in it might be that despite the server list showing 15 slots filled on that server in reality there is just one human player there. I also need to join the server to see the schedule, the session and all basic stuff. If it is one human there idling, 30 minute practice left, 30 minute quali and 7 lap race I'm not going to bother. In other sims I can see all of that from the server browser so the only sim I have this issue is rf2.

You know, disregarding the fact that news' threads are not the greatest mediums to give feedback do devs

This is the best place to give feedback. It gets seen and it gets debated.

 

[Alfredino]

Or how about a sim with made up in the virtual world (Toban), tracks copied from the physical world (Spa) and even some tracks that are both (inaccurate versions of tracks in the real world, that actually turn out to be great in their virtual counterpart), like one of those wrong notes you play when jamming, but then you keep using it cause you've stumbled across a happy mistake!

That would be great if modding in rF2 was simple, straightforward, and effective as it was in rFactor 1 or F1C. With a 6000 $ sim-racing equipment, I play PC2 and ACC. having F1C as my sim of choice in using mods is how little time it takes to create something. (And GPL 1955 for a good 50s F1 season).

 

[bozakn]

That would be great if modding in rF2 was simple, straightforward, and effective as it was in rFactor 1 or F1C. With a 6000 $ sim-racing equipment, I play PC2 and ACC. having F1C as my sim of choice in using mods is how little time it takes to create something. (And GPL 1955 for a good 50s F1 season).

"With a 6000 $ sim-racing equipment, I play PC2 and ACC."
Ahh maan, such a waste of equipment.

 

[mantasisg]

I feel like if I had 3DsMax modding for rF2 wouldn't be that much difficult. But I don't have it, and I don't like it.

As for physics, I think it is exponentially better and effective to how much it is more difficult. I am not some kind of pro guru physics guy, but I was getting my skills improved on that in past year or two. To me rF2 physics parametrization seems more intuitive and more direct than in Assetto Corsa.

I had a thought for loading times - maybe it would be useful to make actual comparisons. I tried AC Nords, it was just over 30s, and rF2 was over 70s. Most other tracks I used recently loaded in between 15-30seconds.

Also... wow it is 8th of November... dammn time is fast

 

[tr1v1um]

No, people should not just have to learn to deal with it. Something as simple as finding and joining a server should be simple.


You don't need to update anything if you don't want to. Mods don't get updated that often. And in ac mod updates are sometimes as simple as 2 second downloads because they are simple text files doing adjustments via content manager. And in my experience copy pasting is still faster than even the fully automated rf2 process. Zip file downloads quickly and opens instantly then you just unpack it. In rf2 there are a lot more steps and it is just slower.


I can download a mod and install it in ac quicker than I load into a sim in rf2 in a car/track combo I don't need to update. There is nothing I can do in rf2 quicker than I can do in ac except check that my mods are up to date. But to actually update anything takes a lot longer. Personally I like having options. In ac I can choose to update or not. Sometimes an update is not an improvement so I can just manually roll back to older version. Not to mention getting rid of mod is also much quicker.


What problems does it solve? I admit of course that there is always going to be a culture shock when moving from one sim to another. Or even from one interface to another. Sometimes just being different is experienced by people as being worse. But when it comes to rf2 it is not just that it is different. There are big flaws and just wrong ways to do things. Even the most basic thing like not being able to see what content the server is using is unforgivable. Can't even order the servers based on which has most humans drivers so I can actually drive against people when I join an online server. Not bots. That is just bad and the new ui hasn't even touched it. Why has it been like 8 years and these issues exist? And why do people defend them?


So where does this 3/10 rating come from? If I have made such a rating I have also written why I gave it. If you are going to nail me down to a number then at least take the words that come it...


On the contrary. I think ac has serious flaws. Ams2 has serious flaws. Raceroom, iracing... All have serious flaws. What makes ac better than rf2 for me is that its flaws are something that are easy to live with. Rf2 issues are things that just bother and frustrate and downgrade my experience constantly. Which is a shame because rf2 has peaks of excellence where it can dominate over anything that is out there. But just because some other sim has flaws don't make rf2 better. Why would I spend an hour trying to get something to work in rf2 when I can boot up ac or ams2 and know I'm going to have a good time. And if you want to read my opinions about ams2 I'm not giving it glowing reviews either. That boy ain't right.


In rf2 if I want to join a server that has other people I need to try to join many servers because chances are I don't even get in in 80% of cases. And when I get in it might be that despite the server list showing 15 slots filled on that server in reality there is just one human player there. I also need to join the server to see the schedule, the session and all basic stuff. If it is one human there idling, 30 minute practice left, 30 minute quali and 7 lap race I'm not going to bother. In other sims I can see all of that from the server browser so the only sim I have this issue is rf2.


This is the best place to give feedback. It gets seen and it gets debated.

Again, I agree with you that things have to be made more streamlined and intuitive for (new) users. And especialy the new UI needs alot of work in that regard. But to claim that logging into RD to manualy handle zip files is faster than automated processes is propably the biggest nonesense I've ever read. The pure fact that I have no idea if a mod got updated since I last used it makes it alot more time consuming and it doesn't take more than opening Steam and a few seconds to verify the update in the game within rF2. How that requires more steps is beyond me. Did you know that even uninstalling mods works alot more clean and faster in rF2 because I don't have to dive into folders? Opposed to your claim that everything in rF2 takes alot of time I can easily give you a handfull of things that it does much faster than other products that balances the loading times. Do you have to make up this stuff just to make your point?

rF2 is certainly not perfect and propably never will. I have a long list of stuff that I would like to see improved or fixed and I certainly have no problem with pointing that out in the appropriate places. But I hardly see any benefit in making up stuff or constant complaining just for the sake of it while there are very good features and points in the sim that simply stand out and make it a very solid product. I basicly used or use every modern sim on the market on a regular base (besides R3E that I haven't fired up for a long time) so I think I have a pretty good overview where each product has it's strength and weaknesses.

In that regard I wonder how a sim that is supposed to be a total mess according to some users here manages to get very positive user reviews on Steam in a hub very basicly everything is ripped in pieces when it doesn't work. Propably all of them were written by fanboys ...

 

[gecco]

Yesterday, I installed the new Nordschleife update, and first time loading of the track for a AI race with the BT20, it indeed took around 5-7 min to load. However, subsequently, it did not take more then maybe 30-60s, so maybe some shader compiling going on at first. This is from a 2013 4770K PC with sata SSD. I do reckon that on present day hardware with M2 SSD, loading times would be inconspicuous.

Comparing AC and rF2, things have changed quite a bit over the last 5 years, one has to admit.
Back in 2016, AC had finally evolved into an AAA title, mostly bug free, with single as well as multi player working flawlessly, acceptable AI, and with all 163 cars having been updated to tire v10 model, there remained very little to complain about, while the then still ISI owned rF2 was a bug ridden mess, with horrible graphics and questionable FFB, at least for the Cobra and Holden Commodore from the demo, that I more then once downloaded, played, and deleted right off my drive again.
The incentive to purchase the game, for me, was nil.

Fast forward to 2020, S397 has taken over rF2, graphics engine is overhauled, and the new content, that S397 releases is of top notch quality. The last Nordschleife update looks amazing, textures, vegetation, shading are stunning. ACs rendition look pale in comparison.

And then there is the mighty subject of physics...Well for some cars, like the GT3's e.g., once the force feedback is dialed in, at least with my Simucube, there is little between AC, ACC, and rF2.
BUT for the BT20 e.g there is so much more fidelity to be felt through the wheel in rF2 , that I rarely find myself driving the 49 in AC anymore. rF2 (imho) depends on a direct drive wheel though to really shine here.
I also like the rF2 M235i much better then the AC one...

Well long story short, my depiction of S397 polished rF2 in 2020 is very different to my view of ISI rF2 back in 2015. For the right content, rF2 now blows AC right out the water, for physics and FFB, as well as graphics. I could not care less about a glitchy and bugged UI. Yes, it's annoying most of the time, but its just another obstacle on my way to the track...

Sadly though, rF2 is also only being developed at a snails pace. My gut feeling is, that the core development team, that actively works on the game, is very very small, few people at best.
Till we have even a dozen of laserscanned tracks in a quality like Nords is now, I'll have long turned senile