Paul Jeffrey
Premium
Studio 397 have released a brand new version of the popular Japanese Super GT specification Nissan GT 500 for rFactor 2, alongside deploying a second update to the new build release 1108 back in December.
Hot on the heels of the December 28th 'update 1' release, the new build patch does add one or two very interesting and useful enhancements to support livery makers who use car templates for their designs. It should be noted however that one should ensure they do not edit those files in the templates folder as they will be overwritten when new updates for that car are deployed. The advice from Studio 397 is to save a copy before beginning work on any custom liveries.
In terms of the version 1.2 Nissan GT500, the new car build adds a substantial number of improvements over the previously released vehicle. Immediately obvious from the update comes the inclusion of three new tyre compounds in the form of softs, mediums and hards as well as an intermediate tyre for light rain conditions and several substantial improvements to the admittedly rather weak audio effects previously found with this car. Studio 397 claim the new sounds have been completely reworked from the original, giving a "deeper range and a more raw and resonant feel". Undoubtedly this is good news as, for me at least, the original sounds accompanying the GT500 proved to be a major let down and went a long way towards breaking the immersion of an otherwise very impressive piece of content.
You can read the full statement from Studio 397 and respective change logs for 'Build Update 2' and the GT500 below -
"And we’re back, as promised, with an updated Nissan GT500 – there’s a worthy set of improvements and upgrades to get excited about!
On the physics side, we’ve added a new set of tyres, including a full range of compounds for added strategy and increased competitiveness. The previous dry compound is now split into three types – soft, medium, and hard. We’ve also added an intermediate compound for light wet conditions. The all-new audio for the GT500 is a complete overhaul. We’ve replaced all sounds to give a deeper range and a more raw and resonant feel. Full credits for this go to Rick Schoenmaker, who did an awesome job!
On the graphics side, we’ve made some considerable improvements and added features, including improved car body reflections, backfire effects, headlight lens flare, and more. We’ve had community feedback from many different people here, and we would like to mention Ales Ogrinc for generously contributing several 3D objects for inclusion in the update.
Accompanying this update is a new build: 1108 update 2. Like update 1 we released on December 28th, 2016, this build is fully backward compatible, which means there is no need to update your dedicated server. With this new build we introduce a new system to distribute templates with our cars. As soon as you upgrade to the new build, whenever you start the Launcher, it will install templates into a folder called “Templates” in your rFactor 2 main folder. Do not edit those files in place though, as they will be overwritten on updates of the car. Make a copy before you start designing your own livery.
The new version of the Nissan can be found in the workshop, and you will automatically be updated if you are subscribed to it".
Nissan GT500 v1.2 and Build 1108 Release Notes:
Sounds
- Added a completely new pack of sounds that should be a lot closer to the way the original car sounded.
- Added additional tyre compounds, the car now has soft, medium, hard, intermediates and full wet compounds.
- Added additional rim types to reflect the ones used by the different teams.
- Added fluorescent shader for digits on the dashboard.
- Added backfire graphics.
- Fixed a gap between the driver helmet and the body.
- Fixed tyres going through the fenders when under load.
- Updated body 3D shape, adding a missing floor, correcting the front fender shape and some smaller tweaks.
- Updated icons.
- Improved cockpit textures on the fans, door handles and several other small details.
- Improved body reflections.
- Improved level of detail (LOD) models.
- Improved exhaust model and textures.
- Improved windows in cockpit view and added the missing side windows.
- Improved liveries.
- Improved headlights, now with lens flares.
- Added new tyre compounds to match those added to the graphics.
- Updated a few garage settings.
- Slightly tweaked the AI physics.
- Added code that allows car modellers to tweak the body roll for AI physics to ensure tyres don’t go through fenders graphically.
- Introduced a simple mechanism for distributing templates with cars (which will end up in a “Templates” folder until the new UI is released).
- Fixed a problem where the launcher accidentally URL encoded passwords, making it impossible to join servers with certain characters in the password.
rFactor 2 is available exclusively on the Steam network for Windows PC right now.
Additional third party content can be downloaded from a variety of sources, one of which is the RaceDepartment rFactor 2 modding archive. Head over and check out the latest releases for the sim, or alternatively join in the discussion and keep up to date with the latest news at our rFactor 2 sub forum right here at RD. If downloading mods or keeping up to date with the latest news items aren't your thing, you can always sign up to one of our epic Club and League events using the software. We hold regular club racing events in our schedule, however the jewel in our crown in no doubt the RaceDepartment Le Mans Series. This is our premium endurance league using rFactor 2. Head over to the RDLMS forum to find out more!
Have you tried out the updated GT500 and new build of the game? Do you like the car post update? How does the GT500 compare to other vanilla rF2 content? Let us know in the comments section below!
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