July Development Roadmap Released for rFactor 2!

[Paul Jeffrey]

Studio 397 have revealed their latest 'development roadmap' detailing the future of the rFactor 2 simulation, as planned during the month of July.

With development pushing ahead at full steam, Studio397 have revealed what the future looks like for rFactor2 in the coming weeks and months..


Competition
As we previously announced, McLaren’s World’s Fastest Gamer starts soon, and we are really excited that rFactor 2 was chosen as the flagship qualifying platform. This competition aligns with the overall competition structure that we are currently building, allowing tournament style events that extend all the way to a license progression system. Our competition platform will be unique in many ways: we will have our own structured competition and, in addition, support the community. We actively believe in the strength of our community to run outstanding events, both online and onsite. Specifically, APIs will be made available to allow sanctioned leagues/competitions to integrate with our overall structure, providing visibility and consistency. We are also developing our license structure based on an overall percentage rating and a system that penalizes drivers for off-track or bad driving by giving time penalties instead of relying on an independent safety rating.

Content
We have some even more exciting news: it’s no secret that we are releasing a McLaren GT car. And now, we are pleased to announce that it will be….drum roll please… the awesome McLaren 650s GT3!

This McLaren will be used in the World’s Fastest Gamer competition and will be available for you all as a paid item in our upcoming item store at the start of August. We’re really excited to launch with this car, which was developed in close cooperation with McLaren. But that’s not all! This car will also be part of a soon-to-be-released wider pack, reaffirming our ambition to align our content! What a tease!

Many of you saw our rendition of Zandvoort at the Max Verstappen days. Since then, we have optimised and further enhanced the track. Like the McLaren above, Zandvoort will be used in the World’s Fastest Gamer competition and will be released as a free addition. Check out some screens below!

Additionally, we are working on some new significant track projects and will share more in the next couple of months.
DX11

Ever since the beginning of the year, we’ve showed you the evolution of our DX11 graphics engine. Right now, we’re close to the point where we are happy enough with the visuals and performance of this engine to soon switch it to become the default. We will keep the DX9 engine around as an option for a little while longer, at least until we’ve rolled out the new overlays (see below). This also does not mean we are done developing the engine. We still have many bigger and smaller improvements to make it look better, and we will keep pushing those out in the upcoming months. At this point, we would also like to thank everybody who actively participated in our open beta. Your input was very helpful and allowed us to improve the whole engine, and VR mode, a lot quicker and better.

UI
Not only are we putting the final touches on our in-game user interface, as you have read above, we are also about to roll out the first parts of the new competition infrastructure, which will fit right in with the new UI. To show you some of the last details we are currently working on, we’ve captured two details of the UI, starting with the calibration screen for your wheel and pedals. As you know, you could always calibrate axes visually, but when specifying the ranges of motion and the deadzones, you had to physically move your wheel or pedal in the right position to set such a limit. Now we’ve included not only the exact numbers, but you can also directly edit them to fine tune them exactly the way you want without having to mess around with text files.

A second detail we’d like to show is what we’ve done with the garage setup screens. There was already a way to compare, and we made that a bit smarter, but we also added a quick way for you to see what changes you made to the current setup compared with the one you saved last. In the shot, you see two gear ratios that have an orange font. Those are ratios you’ve changed. That way you can quickly get an overview. It’s little things like this we are still tweaking. We know it’s taking a bit longer than you, and we, anticipated, but the wait is almost over!

Physics
One of the things we have been working on over the last few months is our tyre model. You may have noticed some changes in the latest version of the Radical, and you will also see them in the upcoming McLaren. These updates reflect our work on improving accurate tyre fidelity. We have a number of tyre updates underway, making one of the best tyre models in consumer racing simulation even better.

Overlays
We have been working hard to create a solution for overlays. As you know, we aren’t great fans of rendering over rFactor 2 screens as this can cause issues that become hard for us to resolve. We have built a solution using HTML. Shortly, we will be allowing 3rd parties to develop their own overlays, not just for broadcast, but for in-game HUDS through an API.

Misc
For those of you who don’t know, this year’s Sim Expo will be held on the 16/17th September at Nurburgring – another great chance for all of sim racing to come together. We will be there, of course, showcasing some cool future features and content, so make sure you pop by!


rFactor 2 can be purchased from the Steam platform right now and is available exclusively for PC.

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 and share the love this simulation so very much deserves...

Happy with the new roadmap update? Looking forward to seeing the changes filter through to the sim? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[David Turnbull]

my point is why complain about something performance related while using a 4 year old graphics cards and expecting way too much from said card, and also why compare rf2 to any other sim game on the market that have been built with more upto date engines, rf2 was built with dx9 updating it to dx11 will be a much bigger job than folk think, and to have it performing fairly good after 6 months is a good thing, but then you get people expecting it to be at the same stage of optimization as other games specifically built with dx11.

 

[Cosimo]

so you run rf2 dx11 version with triples with no problem?... i can't
the said if the premisse that if anything is wrong is one's pc

I do run triples with multiview on the DX11 build and 80-100 fps with a GTX 780, so it's not that bad really.

Some people (and you probably among them) seem to genuinely have unplayable fps with the DX11 build whereas DX9 was completely fine. It's not either black or white.

A few things to check:
- did you enable PostProcessing? If so, disable it (Video settings in the launcher)
- do you have everything on max details? If so, turn it down a notch or two

 

[Rick Lopes]

I do run triples with multiview on the DX11 build and 80-100 fps with a GTX 780, so it's not that bad really.

Some people (and you probably among them) seem to genuinely have unplayable fps with the DX11 build whereas DX9 was completely fine. It's not either black or white.

A few things to check:
- did you enable PostProcessing? If so, disable it (Video settings in the launcher)
- do you have everything on max details? If so, turn it down a notch or two

i did..
i'll wait untill the dx11 version gets better
thx

 

[John-Eric Saxén]

i did..
i'll wait untill the dx11 version gets better
thx

I think it's more about content that needs optimization than DX11 engine. I tested FPS between different cars and the latest released car, the Radical, has about 30% less FPS in a start grid than USF2000. The FPS varies wildly between content, and modded content is usually performing even worse than stock content.

 

[ronniej]

Enjoy throwing money away at random then. I'm not a charity though. If I pay for a product, I expect the product to be worked on until it's in a satisfying shape.

Precisely how I felt (feel) about R3E.....Spend over $230.00 USD on content and support only to find that they just slash the prices and the game got worse, not better.....At least there was a change in management in regards to RF2 and then there was a change in pricing structure. Well, basically just offering online for free after folks paid for the privilege previously like yourself. I get it though. Frustrating, but at least the game is actually improving, and I believe they needed the extra sales from their move to free online to help Studio 397 pay some bills.

 

[Jonathan Ribeiro]

The staff of the S397 has to urgently correct the problem that the SIM has with its lighting and its reflections inside the vehicles. Most of the models that have parts in fiber, show an exaggerated reflection and even nonexistent if we pay close attention. I have done and re-performed several tests in various configurations and I can tell you that to a large extent the performance from low to high there is no difference whatsoever. I am very fond of the evolution of this SIM and hope that in this new update we will get better in the DX11 engine.

 

[randMracer]

Precisely how I felt (feel) about R3E.....Spend over $230.00 USD

How did you pay that much? I spent $60 for all the content.

 

[Martin Vindis]

Let's see... AMS, Raceroom, &, as I recall, pCARS all manage to let you join a server in that case.

Does AMS really do that? I have a season pass so I can't test it but I though you simple couldn't download and install the packages if you didn't bought them.

 

[magzire]

Nvm

 

[Emery]

Does AMS really do that? I have a season pass so I can't test it but I though you simple couldn't download and install the packages if you didn't bought them.

From the horse's mouth:

 

[hitm4k3r]

rF2 has been around for five years. The main release (DX9) is still effectively in beta form, as it has been since the day it was released. That was just ISI's style and appears to be S397's too, though S397 is more communicative. Despite that history, most rF2 owners bought the title to utilize; not to participate in an endless beta process. Those same owners also buy many other sims, because the natural audience for rF2 is the hardcore prosumer racing sim enthusiast. These enthusiasts also buy iRacing, AC, R3E, even PCARS, etc., to use and enjoy.

It is perfectly legitimate to compare the performance of these various titles--even if they don't all do exactly the same things. Since it's the same people running them on their same machines (and sim rigs in some cases), this should be pretty obvious to anyone who is attempting to be part of a conversation rather than whinging or trolling.

S397 just stated that DX11 was close to ready for public release...so, again, legitimate to be interested in how it is performing at the moment.

What exactly is your point and contribution to the conversation? That the rest of us should not share information about performance comparisons...for what reason?

Sure you can look at the FPS counter and compare them, but what's the point of it? That number alone says basicly nothing. Shadows alone are propably on of the biggest performance hog, together with dynamic lights and reflections. The fun fact is, that those features are stripped down to a minimum in those two titles you mentioned, so there you have a simple answer why one sim runs with less FPS than another one. If you really think that those different techniques should lead to the same result, then you simply have no idea of what you are talking about. The only comparison that really makes sense is between DX9 and DX11 in rF2 right now. As said, it was basicly unplayable in the first DX11 build due to how the game rendered the sky and the input lag was extreme, but all that has stettled down quite nicely. I think it is important to voice your opinion when things really go damn wrong or really don't work, as with the first DX11 build. But I question if it is good allways just to complain about "the never ending beta rF2" for the sake of it, when you have a pretty damn functional platform that was supposed to be evovling right from the beginning.

 

[Alex Townsend]

I like the road map as it's great to have monthly communications from S397 on what is happening and what to expect.
Yeah, I bought the lifetime online from ISI and in hindsight I probably shouldn't have. But that's water under the bridge. Things are improving with S397 at quite a rate so I'm thankful for that.
I have most things on max but reflections off and PP on medium and it runs locked at 60fps with about 29 AI on track no hint of slowdown or issues. Running an i7 3770k 8GB ram on Crucial SSD with a GTX1070

There are updates coming and every time it should allow us to turn the wick up a little on those settings. Just need a little patience.

I guess some people just can't be happy with any of it, always wanting more, and without cost to them. It's pretty sad when people appear to be moaning about these Sims more than actually racing on them...

 

[belevezero]

Am I the only person here that thinks RF2 is a huge pain in the ass?

 

[Alex Townsend]

Am I the only person here that thinks RF2 is a huge pain in the ass?

Can't comment for others but not for me. I have it set up the way I want it and lap on it daily. No issues.
What pain is it giving your behind exactly?

 

[Emery]

Am I the only person here that thinks RF2 is a huge pain in the ass?

If you mean that from the point of view that configuring FFB and navigating the UI to obscure options is difficult, then yes, I agree. Studio 397 will soon deliver a new UI; don't know what they're going to do about FFB.

Many, many years of playing ISI sims have ingrained into me that the pain is mild compared to the joy of racing the ISI sims, so the effort to get through those tough spots is worthwhile.

 

[TzZyO]

You
Pretty simple to me: don't like, don't buy. For example: just now both AC and R3E got in a state where it's worth paying for their DLC for me (tho R3E still need to improve... tire pressure anyone?). If DLC was released under ISI way of development I'd not buy it but with S397 being ahead it made it more worthy.
Honestly I didn't even buy rF2 under previous state and would not have done it tbh the game was not worth the lifetime price, was just luck I got a key in a giveaway.

Yes, I was a part of the problem too, paying in advance for products that hardly ever lived up to the expectations. These days I know better than that, supporting only those developers that actually work hard, mostly.
I don't buy what I don't like. But I was misled to believe that after hitting Steam, rF2 will finally be worked on. If only I knew ISI was going to wash their hands and call it a day, leaving the product in a semi-fleshed out state, I would never buy that "lifetime" license. They didn't deserve any additional money leaving it at that state. And if you too agree that it wasn't worth it either, I don't see what's your problem is with my sentiment. My guess is that buying it at the right time for less allows you to be that protective (for reasons unknown) of the developers, not to mention yours and your friend MarcG's general hatred towards me (you'd probably be opposing me no matter what I would be talking about).

Don't get me started about AC. AC... It's a good DLC pack for actual simulators, that's what it is. It never was worth buying in any other role, and I suspect it will stay this way. As for R3E, it's a mess. I regret buying content for it too. Still, at least it is a sim, unlike AC.

How many years do you think the average game is patched after release? I would think it's between one and two years. rF2 since it was released did receive updates and new licensed content from ISI for over four years, much longer than rF1 was patched for example. And take in consideration they probably started working on rF2 somewhere before year 2010, so they had to finance 6+ years of development + all the car and track licenses with a one-time lifetime payment from the customer, or a small 10 dollar online annual sum (which most didn't even buy, because online was dead apart from leagues).

So yeah, if you think ISI got a lot of extra money from rF2 in their pockets, I think you are a bit delusional. They almost certainly lost money on rF2, but rF1 and rFPro, which were more successful, probably kept rF2 development alive for as long as it did.

A game is a game, a sim is a sim. It's a simulation software that happened to be possible to use for entertainment purposes too. Don't put them into the same basket. The development processes and the support schemes are completely different.
It shouldn't be my headache how ISI managed to finance its creation, I just don't like my money being taken from me without much in return. If I would somehow deceive them into selling me rF2 for only fraction of the price, I bet they wouldn't be happy either. Why should it be different the other way around?

I don't really care whether they gained or lost money, because, as I said, that's not my problem, and it shouldn't be. I saw what seemed like their waking up from the slumber, starting to finally be working on rF2. They even made it finally feel like a sim. And it looked like something definitely worth supporting, which I did. Then they suddenly dropped the project for good, took the additional money with them and moved on. That's not how business should be done.

Precisely how I felt (feel) about R3E.....Spend over $230.00 USD on content and support only to find that they just slash the prices and the game got worse, not better.....At least there was a change in management in regards to RF2 and then there was a change in pricing structure. Well, basically just offering online for free after folks paid for the privilege previously like yourself. I get it though. Frustrating, but at least the game is actually improving, and I believe they needed the extra sales from their move to free online to help Studio 397 pay some bills.

Again, maybe it's improving, but that's not courtesy of ISI. They made it look like the project has a bright future ahead of it, took the money and left the scene. Do you think that's acceptable?

 

[Alexandre Costa]

Same situation here, I paid the lifetime access and didn't like what happened. But what S397 is doing with the sim is awsome.

The next ISI title I will only purchase after reading a lot of good reviews from. I'll never buy an early access or unfinished product from them.

 

[Alex Townsend]

m
The next ISI title I will only purchase after reading a lot of good reviews from. I'll never buy an early access or unfinished product from them.

Snap
Although I'm extending my early access and unfinished products to everything now.
If it's not complete enough to enjoy then it doesn't get bought. Simples

 

[leseb64]

With the resumption (resurection!) of the studio397:

dx11>Free
Online> Free
USF2000> Free
Nola MotorSport Park> Free
Nissan GT500 >Free
Radical SR3 RSX> Free
Zandvoort> Free

what else!!

 

[John-Eric Saxén]

A game is a game, a sim is a sim. It's a simulation software that happened to be possible to use for entertainment purposes too. Don't put them into the same basket. The development processes and the support schemes are completely different.

No they are fundamentally not different and I find no evidence to support that. Let's look at ISI's recent history. F1 2001, F1 2002 and F1 Challenge. Each sim was released one year after the other. Then two years and rF1 came. rF1 got patched for two years, and didn't receive any significant update after 2007.

Let's look at other sims. pCars team have moved on to pCars 2 development, so pCars had 2-3 years of patches. Dirt Rally just received it's sequel Dirt 4, so less than two years of updates. Automobilista has received one year of updates so far and Reiza have already shared plans about their Reiza 2017 sim, so sooner or later Automobilista will become obsolete. Assetto Corsa is still getting updated, but more and more focus is on console and DLC. iRacing has received updates for 10 years soon, but it's a subscription service model, very different from these other sims. So from the non-subscription sims, really only Assetto Corsa has had a similar longevity and support as rF2.