LMP2, LMP3, GTE, Historic McLaren and More in Latest rF2 Roadmap

Paul Jeffrey

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rF 2 McLaren M23 3.jpg

Studio 397 continue to pump fresh life into rFactor 2, confirming a five car DLC pack is on the way.. containing a couple of Prototypes and some GTE action...

Now Studio 397 are keeping the exact content list of the next DLC car pack close to their chests, but what we do know is that the Norma LMP3 and Oreca 07 LMP2 will be joining the epic Corvette C.7R.. yet we don't know the identity of the remaining two GTE cars coming in the pack, other than they are "in the final stages of development" - meaning a release can't be all that far away... yey!

With the popular new build release focussing on performance improvements already behind them, let's take a look at the latest Development Roadmap offering from Studio 397, and have a peek at the future of rFactor 2 going forward...

This month we released the much anticipated performance upgrades. Judging from the feedback we got, build 1110 has provided most, if not all people a significant improvement. On top of those improvements, we also added several new features, one of which was a refinement of our tyre model, which Michael explained extensively in his blog. In the last couple of weeks we’ve been monitoring our forums and other channels to resolve any remaining issues. As promised, we also intend to address some remaining issues with our rainy conditions. In VR the performance is still relatively low, and viewed from external TV cameras the raindrops, when zoomed in, look too big. Both issues are still on our list for a future update.

We also took part in the Luminis DevCon, a yearly conference that we organize in a big movie theater by developers for developers. Studio 397 was there, and we brought two rigs for people to try rFactor 2. One of them was a prototype of a new monocoque by Bernax that was setup to use VR, the other our office rig with triple screens. As a special guest we had Rudy van Buren, McLaren’s World’s Fastest Gamer, join us for the keynote and answering questions and giving advice all day, and Marcel gave a talk about the future of simracing.

Norma M30 LMP3
Two months ago we announced we had licensed the Norma M30 LMP3 car. Working closely with both Norma and one of the first team to race this car, Duqueine Engineering, we are now in the final stage of production for this car, testing the car on different virtual tracks and comparing its performance with the telemetry and other data we gathered. This car will be one of five in our next car pack, joining the Corvette C7.R and the Oreca 07 LMP2, with two more, yet unannounced GTE cars to come. In fact all five cars are actually in the final stage so pending final approval from the different manufacturers we are getting close to a release.

Rf2 Norma M30 LMP3 1.jpg


Actually, the whole LMP3 class is fairly new, being launched by ACO in 2015, when five constructors were selected to build the chassis with Nissan providing a 420hp engine to power all of them. Norma introduced their car, the M30, in February of 2017, and since the car has been used by a growing number of teams and winning quite a few races they entered in. At Studio 397 we met the guys from Duqueine Engineering in one of their first races with the car at Spa during the ELMS race, and this is where we started to examine the possibility of bringing this car to rFactor 2.

Rf2 Norma M30 LMP3 2.jpg
Rf2 Norma M30 LMP3 3.jpg
Rf2 Norma M30 LMP3 4.jpg


UI and Competition
On the topic of UI and Competition we are still working hard to finish both, and at this point we really don’t have much more to say other than that both are being tested internally. Some of the things that are currently being tested are the localisation of the interface, which we are basing on open standards to ensure that it will be easy for translators to provide a new version in their own language by leveraging existing tools. On the competition side we are now testing sequences of different types of sessions, ensuring our servers can transition from one to the other and have the results of one session (such as a qualification result) influence the next session (the grid for the start of a race).

Historics
Last week we already showed you the latest screenshots for the March 761, the first car to accompany the Brabham BT44B which has been in development for quite some time and also served as the main character in a whole series of blogs that explain all intricate details of the rFactor 2 physics engine. What we did not say is that we are not stopping there. After these two cars are released, we are going to add another, and we are very proud to announce that this will be the McLaren M23. This car is the one James Hunt drove in and won the championship with in 1976, beating Niki Lauda by just one point! We certainly hope that these cars will please the many fans of historic racing we have!

rF 2 McLaren M23 1.jpg
rF 2 McLaren M23 2.jpg


That concludes this month, and its roadmap. We have a lot of things in motion at the moment and we’re pushing hard to finish those things so we can share them with you as, believe it or not, we are as impatient as you to start driving! Have a great month!

All very exciting in the world of rF2, looking forward to seeing what S397 have in store for us all soon!
rFactor 2 is available exclusively for PC from Steam now.

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Happy with the contents from the April development roadmap? What are you looking forward to the most? Let us know in the comments section below!
 
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Found it:
it's Toggle HUD MDF
But I think this was introduced with this new update, because I had this option always binded to a key and only today it shows me the tires temps. Before this key showed me another element. If I remember well in the past the players were using a 3rd party plugin for the tires.

Yes they did and still use other huds , download at RD in downloads/AC/APPs the SimHub app and there are lots off nice overlays that will work in AC but also RF1 + 2 / AMS / and many more
 
Multiview does not render properly. I'm using AMD eyefinity, have no problems with Iracing, AMS, AC.
But in rfactor2 seems like as if my bezel width was double or substantially wider then it is in reality.(its hiding more of the picture than it is supposed to) So the picture gets totally broken at the bezels.
Anyone has the same problem?
I have just started using multiview in RF2 with NVidia surround instead of the extended resolution and I have to say that it looks much better now but you need to adjust the settings from the game (once you're on the track), the default key is CTRL plus '=' if I'm not mistaken. Once you get the menu you can adjust the bezel, height, angle, etc...
 
An interesting update, looking forward to trying it.

Hopefully you'll be able to combine the Enduracers V2 mod with this Sportscar pack. As they have introduced an LMP3 car as well. Fingers crossed the performance levels will keep the cars together reasonably well.

Would make a great WEC type field. Or even ELMS if people want to do the skins for them.

For those that are talking about content. One of the biggest issues modders had was the super complex tyre model. Studio 397 have created a set of "ready made" tyre models for modding teams to save them lots of time. So hopefully that will allow more quality mods to be created for this sim.

I agree though RF2's future is looking good. People forget just how slow ISI were at even bringing out even small updates so S397 have done an incredible amount of work in a fairly short space of time.

OK, it's not all great. I wish the new UI would appear soon and the rain effects still need tweaking but otherwise so far so good.
 
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I have just started using multiview in RF2 with NVidia surround instead of the extended resolution and I have to say that it looks much better now but you need to adjust the settings from the game (once you're on the track), the default key is CTRL plus '=' if I'm not mistaken. Once you get the menu you can adjust the bezel, height, angle, etc...


Thank you Dave! I owe you a beer! Did not even know that menu existed. So now we can set monitor angle, bezel width , monitor width and height just like iRacing. Great little tool. Also FPS improved a lot compared to previous build. Thanks again.
 
Thank you Dave! I owe you a beer! Did not even know that menu existed. So now we can set monitor angle, bezel width , monitor width and height just like iRacing. Great little tool. Also FPS improved a lot compared to previous build. Thanks again.

You're welcome!. I think I read about that option somewhere in this forum... and to be honest I got myself surprised about so many things you can adjust with that menu.
 
IMO rF2 needs tracks more than any car. Almost all tracks I like to drive either do not exist in rFactor, are horrible conversions from rF1 or "eye-made" tracks, or are rips from other simulators. This is trully embarrassing.

Go ahead, release the Nordschleife, Nurburgring GP, Spa, Portimao, Brands Hatch, Hockenheim, Imola, LeMans, Monza, COTA, Daytona Roadway, Laguna Seca, Macau, Redbull Ring, and a few more. I'll happily pay 60 USD for these tracks, and I'm sure many more will.
They don't need to be laser scanned, just good enough. R3E tracks are a good example of non-laser-scanned tracks that are good (except for the NOS which I think needs to be LS).
 
Also, integration with the Workshop is horrible. I have 40GB of workshop content, and these 40 GB's are doubled because, for some reason, they're kept in the workshop folder and also within rFactor 2's folder. Such a waste of space.
 

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