R3E WIP - Testing new Road Surface

[Andy Kettler]

R3E WIP - Testing new Road Surface

 

[Bryan O'Connor]

Do i spy a WTCC BMW 3 Series?

 

[feels3]

Oh, so that's me on the video, didn't know that it will goes online

Anyway, if you guys have any questions about improved road surface, feel3 to ask, I will try to do my best and explain a little bit what we are doing

 

[Jan Mikuž]

In what way does the optimization,improvement of this feature affect the quality of the game/sim ?

 

[Ernie]

Anyway, if you guys have any questions about improved road surface, feel3 to ask, I will try to do my best and explain a little bit what we are doing

The new road surface looks like a big improvement. Can't wait to try it out in a few days.
So here's a question, Wojciech. Is the new road surface technology capable of generating a dynamic racing line (like the RealRoad-feature of rF2)? If not, maybe in the near future?

cheers
Frank

 

[Sean Lander]

New iPhone and big Apple event on Sept 9th. But I have to say I'm more excited about R3E! If you guys get the FFB right then this game keep me happy for years to come.

 

[feels3]

So here's a question, Wojciech. Is the new road surface technology capable of generating a dynamic racing line (like the RealRoad-feature of rF2)? If not, maybe in the near future?

cheers
Frank

It is possible, but it's more about decision than about tech it self

We know how to do it, we did some tests some time ago and yes, it is possible to deliver it at some point in the future.

But I don't want to promise anything right now, because it needs to be done properly and work good together with car physics (performance/lap times ect).

I'd say, let's wait and see

 

[Jan Mikuž]

Will you write something about "explain a little bit what we are doing", please.
Thx

 

[feels3]

I very short way, we are moving to 3d bumps on tracks

 

[Jan Mikuž]

So there's not really much to say about it then ?
You gave the impression there was more to communicate about it than just one sentence.
Lol, that's a good one. I guess you changed your mind or smth...
Or will you post smth about the tech/coding behind it on simbin insider ?

Anyway, in the end all we wish for, and you as well i presume, is for R3E to be a great sim racing title.
Good luck with that and keep up the good work and ambition.

 

[feels3]

Code and tech behind this is one thing, final result is another.

We were (and still are) working on the big package that works together, new ffb, road surface and car physics.

As for tech info, it will come later

 

[Shovas]

I hope it's a language barrier thing but I'm caught between chuckling and fear when I hear "3d bumps" lol I hope it's realistic road contouring, grooving, rutting, etc.?

It's not laser scanned right? So it'll be more artistic impression. I don't really care as long as they're in the right places and feel like they would on a track in a real car. The most important thing about the track surface is the reliability of it telling how the car is handling going over it. When you're driving on ice, like R3E is right now, you just feel like you have no information coming it. It's quite scary.

I've often wondered, I can picture how laser scanned data can be interpreted by the engine as putting forces into the tires and up through the wheel but if you don't have laser scan data how do you manage it?

Thanks, keep up the great work, can't wait for your upcoming update!

 

[feels3]

You are right, I should be more carefull with such a short words, it may cause misinformation
Of course, we are doing it in the best way possible, we are doing our best to do it very acurate and model track as close to real life as possible, so there is really no place for artistic impression. It needs to be done properly.

Properly means also that if there is a flat track in real life, it should stay flat in simulator, right?

We visited Spa few weeks ago to get references, we were walking around track, checking everything, taking pictures, talking with drivers and getting materials from racing teams ect. And I must tell you that Spa is damn flat track, I don't need laser scanned data to know that, I have been there

As for laser scanned data, it's just a reference material, as many others. At the end, you are creating normal mesh, normal polygon, and that point cloud from scannig you are using as a reference material. Final result in game is the same, polygonal mesh.

If you don't have lasser scanned data, there are other ways to model a track like CAD data.
Very often CAD data contains all elevations changes so you can create very acurate track.

Of course you can say, that CAD is just a project, kind of basic design, and track has plenty subtle diffreneces and it's getting different after every race, it's getting damaged, bumps are showing slowly (at the begining mainly in braking zones) ect. so CAD is not giving us all those information, and it's true.

But let's not forget that laser scanned track is acurate only at the time when it was scanned.
You need just couple of months to have basicly different track.
Track is getting old every day and you would have to scan the track every few months to keep it acurate in game.

Good example is Lime Rock, in iRacing that track was scanned, in rfactor 2 it was not. iRacing version is very bumpy, rfactor2 version very flat.

Guess, which one is more accurate?
That one on rfactor2 since it's new and the data used by iRacing is already outdated (really very old)

And let's not forget also that final result in game/amatour simulator is only very simplified model. You can scan a track with few mm precision and similar density, but that kind of data goes only to profesional simulators that are used by car manufactures ect. They have very powerful computers designed especially to handle with that kind of data. Our PCs at home are not ready for this (obviously...yet)

But as an artist I would like to work on it anyway, that technology is very interesting, so I hope I will be able to work with that kind of data at some point

 

[Sean Lander]

So it's the 9th any chance the updated FFB will be out today?

 

[duko]

Thank you feels, very good read.

 

[Shovas]

Great read @feels3 Thank you!

Question about road ffb: Aside from big bumps/ruts/grooves/rolls/etc, there's always 'road feel' coming through the wheel in a car in real life even if it's pretty small. On flat and straight sections of R3E tracks there's no 'road feel' currently. Will that still be the case after the next update or do you think we'll start getting that smaller, subtler road feel through the wheel?

I was watching the single player video that Jay released recently and I was watching the wheel specifically and I noticed that even on straights the driver was making small adjustments to the wheel to keep in a straight line. Is that part of the new ffb? I hope that's intended and helps with the road feel.

 

[siranodb]

In my opinion there was a problem with ffb the time of braking. The information from the wheels and the bodywork was minimal. Another problem is the steering lock in relation to degrees of rotation .I thing you should help us to correctly adjust our steering wheels.I believe these numbers differ from brand to brand.I love this simulation because I am with you from the time of gt legends so I've become accustomed to the actual behavior of the cars.What counts above all is a good multiplayer mod and servers with rules to guarantee as much as possible the fair result.
I wish you the best and we are waiting for it.

 

[Georg Ortner]

I thing you should help us to correctly adjust our steering wheels.

It´s being worked on right now.
Will probably be in one of our next patches.