rFactor 2 February Development Roadmap

[Paul Jeffrey]

Studio 397 release latest roadmap update, share images from the DX11 update and progress on VR and NOLA Motorsports Park.

In the second development roadmap update of 2017 from Studio 397 the team behind the continual development of rFactor have outlined their recent work on the sim, as well as confirming both VR and DX11 are still on schedule for a Q1 release.

Although no actual release date for VR and DX11 outside of the loosely mentioned Q1 2017 has been shared by the developers, it has been confirmed the latest track to join rFactor 2, NOLA Motorsports Park, will make it's official debut on February 28th. As usual with stock Studio 397 content, the new track will download automatically when you next fire up the game in Steam.

You can read the full February 2017 Roadmap Update below:


We have a lot of exciting news in this month’s update as we edge closer to our release at the end of Q1. The team is working very hard in all areas and we’re thrilled to share some of the recent developments with you.

VR Update
With DX11 implementation complete, we are now in our first development stage for VR. Our initial focus is the in-car driver experience with both the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive. The second development stage will delve deeper into the environmental capabilities of the VR experience, which we will share over the next couple of months.

DX11 Content Peek
Last month we shared with you our first comparison shots for DX11. In the last couple of weeks we’ve focused on ensuring compatibility with existing content as well as further improvements to the way we render our HDR output. We’ll let the new screenshots speak for themselves.

Competition Update
Development of the competition infrastructure is going well and is on track to be released this summer. Drivers and teams will be able to record their stats, achievements and results, which then can be accessed through any device and shared with friends. Competitions will feature selected existing content and new content. Details will be announced in the coming months. Our main focus is to create feature rich mechanics that provide a challenge for new drivers and seasoned sim racing veterans alike.

UI Update
We are super excited about our new user interface, which is currently under development. The new UI not only provides a more intuitive and user-friendly experience, it also offers improved flexibility and the ability to add new elements and modules.

NOLA Motorsports Park
Whether you choose to race a kart, open wheeler, or tintop, the large variety of configurations makes NOLA a very versatile and challenging track to master. NOLA Motorsports Park will be released on February 28th!

Radio Communication
Most racing series use radio communication to let drivers talk to their team and pit crew. Some series also have race control broadcasting instructions. For example, oval racing series such as Stock Car typically also have spotters that keep an eye on what’s happening to keep you out of trouble.

We are working on expanding our current system, which is centered on the spotter’s role, into a system that allows different people to talk to you on the radio. In addition, we intend to make the communication more interactive by giving you the ability to ask for information or instructions.

Modding
We’re excited to invite modding teams to join our private forum. We are looking to work with those of you in the modding community to explain the necessary steps that ensure your content continues to work flawlessly with the new DX11 engine. Modders joining our forum will also get access to pre-release builds of the DX11 graphics engine (still in alpha). Our goal is to ensure that your content is ready to go when we do the first public release of the new engine.

If your modding team is interested, please register on our forum and start a conversation with Christopher and Marcel, stating:

1. Your modding team name and all the names and forum names of members that need access.
2. A list of mods you have released for rFactor 2 (either links to the workshop, or some other reference).
3. Any other interesting information about your team such as mods you are still working on.

That wraps up this roadmap update. We are looking forward to the coming month of development so we can continue to share with you our progress on the new innovative elements planned over the next few months!

rFactor 2 is a racing simulation exclusive to Windows PC.

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!

Did you enjoy the latest roadmap post from Studio 397? Looking forward to DX11 and VR? Do you think NOLA will make a good addition to the sim? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Ace King]

This is cool, but look how many thousand and thousand of people didn't.

I would then need to say "Their Loss" lol

 

[unknwn]

One more thing about graphics. As long as graphics cards manufacturers keep clinging to the same polygons + textures formula, it doesn't make much sense talking about good graphics. Basically, there's not a single game out there that I could say has good graphics about. They are all bad. But those that have more functional graphics with less visual clutter allow your mind to do the rest.

Also, there is the phenomenon called "uncanny valley". I suspect it has to do with anything rather than just with human images.

Haven't you seen photorealistic approach with Forza Apex or Gran Turismo?
http://static2.gamespot.com/uploads...80-gtsport_race_willow_springs_raceway_01.jpg
http://gematsu.com/gallery/albums/g...2016/Gran-Turismo-Sport_2016_08-17-16_067.jpg
http://static4.gamespot.com/uploads...-gtsport_race_nurburgring_nordschleife_02.jpg
http://static2.gamespot.com/uploads...-gtsport_race_nurburgring_nordschleife_01.jpg
http://static4.gamespot.com/uploads...gtsport_race_willow_springs_big_willow_03.jpg

Of course they have speed blur, a touch too much shiny reflections and saturation, but the overall ambience, lightning is there. Also the surroundings are high quality unlike in majority simulators.

 

[John-Eric Saxén]

I'm pretty the initial sales of rf2 were actually better than ac's. I mean surely rf2 did outsell a a hotlapping simulator with handful of cars and tracks, with no online component, not very good ffb and not even ai? But while ac kept pushing out interesting stuff rf2 just sort of vaned away. It was like it was survival mode for isi from 1 onwards. There are and were lots of reasons why rf2 did not build any kind of momentum. But overall I think graphics is just one of the smaller reasons.

Doubt the rF2 sales were ever better, because the big difference was AC used Steam as sales platform from day one, where everyone could find it, whereas what ISI did was release a beta on their forums with no advertising whatsoever, then a year later moved silently out of beta with no announcement again. The game was lost from day one because of the poor marketing choices ISI made, not because it was an inferior product.

 

[Will Mazeo]

Doubt the rF2 sales were ever better, because the big difference was AC used Steam as sales platform from day one, where everyone could find it, whereas what ISI did was release a beta on their forums with no advertising whatsoever, then a year later moved silently out of beta with no announcement again. The game was lost from day one because of the poor marketing choices ISI made, not because it was an inferior product.

In part I believe they did it because they always expected rF2 to survive from the modding comunity that was expected to follow ISI from rF1 or even GTR2 (even tho that one was from Simbin). This never worked and if S397 still have the same idea it still won't work.

 

[Ghoults]

rF2 is for people who have atleast some interest in racing and it's technical aspects and regulations and not to make people interested in racing. It's a raw racing simulation and not some kind of interactive movie.

And here we go again. Rf2 is the only true choise. All others are just interactive movies.

For example I like to listen to Death Metal, a genre that I would call pretty niche or unpopular. So please tell me, why on earth should I care for the music of Lady Gaga or Justin Timberlake, musicians who are more popular and have propably sold many more albums than any Death Metal band? Niche products are nothing to worry about and I have a better time enjoying a moshpit with a few buddies than listening to the crying and screaming of a few thousend teenagers in the first row of a Justin Bieber concert. What worries me more is that people, who are watching a niche from the outside allways try to turn a niche product into a mainstream product, wich makes it basicly as crap as everything else for the people who are looking for that niche product.

You heard it here first. Rf2 is the only true choise. Everything else is just justin bieber.

At the end rF2 has a pretty active userbase, if you check the stats on steamspy. Does it have the most owners and users? Propably not. But the percentage of owners, who actually use rF2 on a regular base (13,646 ± 3,335 last 2 weeks), is higher than with AC or PC everytime I check it. I know, this doesn't fit the economic plans of some companies who aim for infinite growth, but let's face it: sales numbers, evergrowing numbers of customers and bigger market sharings don't make a good product. And there is a reason, why more owners of rF2 actually keep using the product instead of letting it catch dust in their steam libraries, so I guess ISI did something right to fill a niche. Wich was most likely their strategy with high end simualtors. Or do you think that some total dumbasses are able to survive in the fast progressing software market for allmost 3 decades now? Must be some amateurs who are lucky I guess.

You are once again taking one small thing and making it the only thing that matters. You can cherrypick stats all you want and you literally just picked the only one stat where rf2 has somekind of advantage over sims.

As far as what ISI was going to do. They were going to drop rf2.

Why can't people see the good and apprecaiate that there are improvements made on the weakpoints?

People do appreciate it. 397 can do great things with rf2. But at the same time people need to understand that the game is not perfect. Rf2 could be a lot more popular (while still being hardcore) but there are clear reasons why it is not and it has nothing to do with screenshots, interactive movies or justin bieber.

It is always sad and dangerous when people view their choise of game as some kind of god that nobody else seems to understand. There is this weird fanatism where choise of game completely defines you. It is not about what you like. It is more like taking a pledge. It creates this atmosphere where honest discussion is impossible because the true fans always take it personally when anything negative is mentioned about their precious thing. Any kind of criticism is just show of poor character. No matter what you do you are less pure, less worthy and less intelligent if you ever want anything else than rf2.

I hope 397 listens to those who have more than just praise to say about rf2 because that is the only way the game can truly maximise its potential as the best racing sim. It doesn't mean adding pointless graphical glitter.

 

[hitm4k3r]

I think you made a mistake there with quoting but I got your point anyway.

I think we got to meet there in the middle a bit. I think you are misunderstanding me a bit there as some other people here. Most people are fully aware, that there are short commings in rF2 like it's graphics, clutch simulation could be better and there are certainly other things like better weather implementation wich would be nice. rF2 isn't perfect, but none of the sims is actually. The question is wich one fits my needs best. Fanatism would be if I visited the Kunos or SMS forums just to open threads and tell them how crap their games are, wich I don't do. I play other sims besides rF2 so don't let my interest for that sim make you believe, that I don't enjoy rF1, GTR2 or other sims. I even play AC once in a while and can have some fun with it. Maybe you should also check the rF2 forums and see if rF2 users are really that fanatic or if they are interested in updates. I see noone saying: GTFO and stop improving my game!!!111

The new preview images certainly show some progress in the visual departement so from my perspective small progress is better than nothing and expecialy the shadow system improvements will be very welcome. Would it be nice or matter to me personaly if rF2 had thousends more players? Dk, I can only play with 64 players at once and not with all the 13k people, so in order to make the game a decent experience there are certainly more important points to improve than making huge leaps in the visual departement and droping support for all older content and mods. It all is a matter of balancing the right desicions.

If you gave a huge part of the active player base the option to vote for a comepletely new graphics pipeline and to drop all modded content or to keep old content and to improve the less appealing pipeline the vote would be pretty clear, if you just take a look how often people use modded content. It has nothing to do with only just praising rF2, but with being realistic and know what'spossible or not. Marcel Offerman allready answered the reasoning behind not going for a complete new graphics engine.

If you want to see rF2 get to it's full potential, you should take a close look at what is planned and in the works, because Studio 397 have their foot right in the door to fix most the urgent issues, wich are more balanced and fluid gameplay experience, improvements on shadows, a better matchmaker and to finaly hook up all the weather stuff that is in the UI allready. Believe it or not, but stuff like visual damage are pretty much on the lower end of priorities when you want to make the game more accesible and enjoyable for customers. There is no need to sell a sim to thousends of people to make it an enjoyable experience for the end user.

And as much as people want to deny it. One of the reasons why PCars and AC sold more copies were their rich track and car lineups (licenses) and a very nice presentation. Sex sells ... and I predict that you will see the same with GTR3 and PCars 2.

 

[TzZyO]

Haven't you seen photorealistic approach with Forza Apex or Gran Turismo?
http://static2.gamespot.com/uploads...80-gtsport_race_willow_springs_raceway_01.jpg
http://gematsu.com/gallery/albums/g...2016/Gran-Turismo-Sport_2016_08-17-16_067.jpg
http://static4.gamespot.com/uploads...-gtsport_race_nurburgring_nordschleife_02.jpg
http://static2.gamespot.com/uploads...-gtsport_race_nurburgring_nordschleife_01.jpg
http://static4.gamespot.com/uploads...gtsport_race_willow_springs_big_willow_03.jpg

Of course they have speed blur, a touch too much shiny reflections and saturation, but the overall ambience, lightning is there. Also the surroundings are high quality unlike in majority simulators.

Well, those shots don't look too bad. But even if it was coming to PC looking exactly like that while having unimpressive physics/FFB, I wouldn't bother with buying it. Heck, even if AC 2 has exactly life-like graphics, but everything else is still the same, I wouldn't bother with it either. I'm not in this for the graphics, I can watch those either outside, or on TV/photos. I'm much more interested in the way these cars drive. Yes, you could say, "why don't you go outside for that too?" Would be nice to, but it's expensive to own and maintain a decent amount of interesting cars, and don't get me started on planes and helicopters

 

[Terry Rock]

I like what Offermans and crew have proposed for RF2.
I do fear it'll be a steep up-hill battle getting those who've come and gone, to take a second look.
Hopefully, they'll come back.
It will require a bit of an advertising campaign.
S397 will really need to highlight it's strengths... (physics, road-feel, etc...).
ISI did not do this simulator or it's followers any favors with their lack of communication during development and certainly not with the subsequent hand-off.
It left a really bad taste for some.
I plan on seeing it through to the end.
Hopefully, S397 can sort out some of the more pressing multi-player issues.
I can count on one hand the number of on-line races I've been able to join, going all the way back to it's release.
That... coupled with ISI's lack of updated info on where they wanted it to go, is what has driven folks from RF2.

 

[Bwana]

AC 's biggest surge in buyers was its release on console (that says heaps) Rf2 is now seeing more online mp numbers due to improvements proceeding at a steady rate and those who purchased the sim in its early Beta stage are returning to see what all the talk is about,not surprisingly most comments I've read is" why didnt some one tell me what ive been missing" . Im sure once S397 is happy with their adopted product that a more centered marketing campaign will start and see another surge in purchase.. Remembering as well by comparison to AC, whose future is uncertain in a sim sense , that S397 are certainly showing signs of a clear direction and openly supporting this with announcements . I for one look forward to thousnads more hours of using rF2

 

[Deleted member 130869]

For the March or April roadmap, I'd like to read news on Studio 397 and their plans for all the outdated content. As an example, bringing everything to the latest tech and especially fixing camber and suspension simulation. As the single player aspect is developed, also news on the longstanding licensed content that has been announced but still not developed.

 

[Daniel Faas]

For the March or April roadmap, I'd like to read news on Studio 397 and their plans for all the outdated content.

Would be nice to see some updates to the DW12 in terms of Push To Pass, increase quali boost, in-car weight jacker. Or digitial dash's on the stock cars. I know that rF2 isnt meant to compete with the likes of iRacing but it'd be nice to have similar tech in the similar vehicles.

 

[Deleted member 130869]

Yeah, it would be nice for the car to simulate the real one. I prefer the more commonly used wheel as well but that is not necessarily a fault.