rFactor 2 Open Beta (pre-release discussion)

[Adam Eggbeer]

What is the pricing structure for rF2?
In the USA, rF2 will sell for $43.99. This will allow unlimited access to single player and mod development mode. It will also include one year access to an online account. Additional one year access to the online account can be purchased for $12.99.

Why not simply raise the initial purchase price?
That wouldn’t be fair to those wanting to use only the single player or mod development mode.

What exactly are online services?
Users will be given online accounts from which they can access multiplayer races. This should reduce the number of anonymous race entries and in turn hopefully reduce the number of passworded servers.

The service will identify when updates are available and allow for automatic downloads.

The service provides a way to generate and maintain unique Mod/Package ID’s. This should help reduce the mismatch problem found in the current version of rFactor and also help reduce/eradicate version confusion for the end user.

Additional features such as online statistics are also planned.

What will I be able to do if I don't use online services?
You will be able to run single player, run Mod Mode, and manually find and install any mods or updates.

What is this open beta I have been hearing about?
We plan to release an early content-limited version for mod makers to provide feedback on the system. It will be an open beta, meaning anyone can participate. People wishing to take part will be required to make a full purchase (see pricing info above). We are planning to give those who take part in the open beta 18 months of online access with that purchase rather than the 12 months which will come with purchase after the open beta.

Will you offer refunds during or after the open beta?
If you believe you became a part of the rFactor 2 community too early we can arrange one.

Source

 

[Bob Miley]

I don't think it's so much a complaint about 10 euros per year for the online racing, I think it's more a case of you are forced to pay 10 euros to play online. They are only providing a lobby, a central hub for people to publish servers. Let's face it, there will not be updates every week, probably once or twice per year. Also, what stops them increasing the cost year on year? It's the thin end of the wedge, if it's a success then more games will be done this way and if you play 3 or 4 like this it gets more expensive. Also, does this mean they will just be updating this game for years to come, adding a car or track every 6 months or so.

I will probably buy it and see what the first 12 months is like before deciding, but this yearly cost, no matter how small, is something I am against on principle, but as with all things, if enough people go along with it then it will be the future of online gaming and will leave me more time to do other things.

 

[David O'Reilly]

So Senad your beef isn't about pricing its about having to pay for something then?Please explain the difference.

 

[jimbop]

@ jamie shorting

read bob mileys post. this isnt about money, its about 'if you dont pay, you dont play online!'

the matchmaking bull**** is just to distract from the fact.

 

[Senad Subasic]

So Senad your beef isn't about pricing its about having to pay for something then?Please explain the difference.

As Ivo pointed out somewhere, if I'm able to pay 400$ for a wheel, surely I'd be able to scrap together 13$ per year for this

If they have something new and great and useful, sure, offer and charge for it all you want.
But they don't offer, they take away a basic function of any (PC) game on the market today, and charge you if you want it back. That just ain't right in my book.

 

[Jamie Shorting]

I don't think it's so much a complaint about 10 euros per year for the online racing, I think it's more a case of you are forced to pay 10 euros to play online. They are only providing a lobby, a central hub for people to publish servers. Let's face it, there will not be updates every week, probably once or twice per year. Also, what stops them increasing the cost year on year? It's the thin end of the wedge, if it's a success then more games will be done this way and if you play 3 or 4 like this it gets more expensive. Also, does this mean they will just be updating this game for years to come, adding a car or track every 6 months or so.

I will probably buy it and see what the first 12 months is like before deciding, but this yearly cost, no matter how small, is something I am against on principle, but as with all things, if enough people go along with it then it will be the future of online gaming and will leave me more time to do other things.

What's wrong with updates once or twice a year?

Nothing is stopping them with increasing the price of the matchmaking service. We will have to see what happens with that.

You are right. This probably is the future of online gaming. It is what it is. If we are interested in playing something new rF2 will be a choice. Another choice is iracing and I'm not even going to get started on that but rF2 is a much cheaper choice and it has an OFFLINE mode. This is a business decision on ISI's part and I agree with you that other companies will follow suit. Heck maybe if LFS had done something like this two years ago they'd have some updates. I think this fee will keep ISI and rFactor2 updated and in the sim racing news for a long time. This is just my opinion.

 

[Sam Binfield]

I have three things to say on this: If you cannot afford $13, then I feel very sorry for you and wish you luck. If you think $13 is too expensive, I would put it to you that you are being too cheap. If you think that this service should be free, then I think that this (the simracing) community has a big problem with an undue sense of entitlement. I welcome this change. ISI will have more money to play with, lord knows they've earned it, and the only iRacing feature I've really cared for, the enforced use of real names, may make an entrance into the rFactor community. Keep up the good work ISI .

 

[Marco Boemi]

ISI you have a new fan (while SimBin have lost him). 10/15€ to play online is something anyone can afford and should keep away some rammers.

 

[still_bacon]

I will probably buy it and see what the first 12 months is like before deciding, but this yearly cost, no matter how small, is something I am against on principle, but as with all things, if enough people go along with it then it will be the future of online gaming and will leave me more time to do other things.

So, lets put this into financial perspective.. F1-2011 costs approx $55-60 dollars to buy the game (based on ebay prices). It lasts for 12 months, then Codies release a new version, which in essence is a further $55-60 per year to maintain the current seasons.

- rF2 costs less
- has a lot more licenced (and through modding) unlicenced content.
- is going to provide online servers for 12 months to try their systems out included in the price.
- will provide a community based system

Think of the first 12 months as a trial of the online community and functions. If you are then not convinced you wish to continue with online racing, then you don't need to continue, and you can sit by yourself in a little room racing AI..

Its less than $1.50 per month, 20 cents per day for the online component. This is a minimal cost to maintain the most up to date and entertaining racing sims in the world. I pay more than that for iphone apps that I use for about 2-3 months till something new comes along.

 

[Bob Miley]

Jamie it's not about a "cheaper choice", it's like drug dealing, we give you what you want and get you addicted for 12 months then you must pay or race alone. Iracing is different in a way in as much as it doesn't try to be an offline/online game it's pay to play or stay away, simple and I leave well alone. But, pevious games were bought with an offline/online option and RF2 is the same except it is an offline/online for 12 months option, then you must pay or get half the game you paid for in the first place.

It is either a very clever money making ploy that will expand beyond all reason.

or

It is going to make ISI very sorry when after 12 months thousands of players don't pay up because a newer better game has come out and costs nothing to play online.



I suppose it's a gamble and at my age I really don't care how it ends up, I am just trying to point out that as long as people go along with things just because it sounds cheap, does not make it a good thing. Cheap is not free.

EDIT: @ Still_Bacon, I can't argue with your financial reasoning, it makes perfect sence, F1 not so much (if you gonna pay for a new game every year just for updates, thats a different story). But thinking about your point actually made my mind up not to buy it and to make this my last post on the matter.

Forget the microsoft like licencing talk, you are basically paying a price for a game, no matter what they decide is the total price you will own that game and have full functionality. Then after 12 months the game you bought has restrictions put on it and you lose functionality. It's like you buy a trial version that lasts 12 months then you can continue to use the trail version for another 12 months once you pay some more. If microsoft did this with its OS there would be uproar, imagine buying Windows 7 for 12 months then having to pay more money to continue using it or a major part of it would be unusable. It doesn't matter that it's less than $1.50 per month, because when you put it like that you are only paying a deposit on the game initially and renting it from then on.

It's probably an old fashioned point of view, but when I buy something, I want to use it as I bought it for as long as I own it and it looks like I will never really own RF2 in it's fully functioning version.

 

[Sk3ptik0n]

A whole $12.50 a year? Do they think we are made of money? This is totally unacceptable! They are robbers and they have no heart. I am sure they are laughing at us suckers, while motoring away on their yachts and private jets. Can't ISI understand that the community wants them to provide us with free games, mods and online access? Why are you so cruel ISI? In fact, ISI, if you want us to invest time and effort in downloading and playing your software, the least you should do is give us all a free Obutto cockpit, triple screen and a decent wheel and pedal set, along with the game. I know you are in your "opulent" office petting your miniature giraffe and paying your servants to exercise for you while a bunch of pouting supermodels feed you grapes and caviar. We instead have to sleep in doorways and eat stale bread dipped in our own tears because you have decided to make us pay actual money for dependable servers, updates and a better online experience. Is your heart made of stone? Is your greed boundless? Don't you know that our children will have to go to school hungry and some will have to use newspapers and duct tape instead of shoes? Oh, the humanity! Let me tell you ISI: online Simracing is a Basic Human Right and what you are doing is nothing less than a Crime Against Humanity. You belong at the Hague along with the other war criminals. How dare you? PS: you are lucky I am late for my daily $4.50 Venti latte and $2.75 pastry at Starbucks or I'd really let you have it.

 

[ufunacaoenn]

ISI is actually smart to use this pay for multiplayer because in rF1 the modding community were the one that keept rF1 alive for such a long time. Imagen with all the new mods to come after 2012 people will want to pay this monthy fee to see how good they can do against other drivers.

I am honestly against it because rF2 will soon just turn into iRacing (I am not against iRacing but I am against pay to play the game and pay for every single car and track).

 

[AProst]

This pay for online is a joke whatever the price. Pay for engine content, new tracks or cars ok no problem, I would be happy with that, but for multiplayer no. And ISI is not even providing online server. I don't mind the price. I don't want to pay for nothing. I agree to pay 5 times that per year for good content but not for online matchmaking. nKPro, GSC, LFS, Race 07, GTR Evo, GTR2, GT Legends, F1 2011 have free multiplayer. And it will also be the case for C.A.R.S and maybe Simraceway and Auto Club Revolution too. I don't mind the amount, I don't like to pay for online when the dev is not providing the online server. And the cost of the matchmaking server doesn't justify the subscription. If ISI wants to attract customers outside the simracing community this is a bad decision since it will annoy many customers very easily. ISI should be careful, we have many options now, and the competition will be fierce in the next months.

 

[Ben Phillips]

Wish people would stop *****ing about the price!!!! Its nothing compared to what you have spent on your pc and wheel to play these sims

 

[AProst]

The price is not the problem I don't like paying for nothing.

 

[Senad Subasic]

Wish people would stop *****ing about the price!!!! Its nothing compared to what you have spent on your pc and wheel to play these sims

Wish people would start reading properly.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Haha Corrado, your post made my day start with a smile, thanks for the great sarcasm :thumb: See you at Starbucks!

 

[Dave Oliver]

It wont turn into iRacing cause rFactor is community based not corporate based.

Meaning the community determines what is released or create whereas iRacing you get told what is being done, So you put up & shutup with their way.

 

[Ryan Vickery]

A few people act like this is something new, that it is the future of gaming. Open your eyes, most game genres have been here and left it behind for the new free to play, advert infested or microtransaction pay schemes. Saying that this is a scene of things to come is silly because it has been going on for years and things are already moving on.

One example - World of Warcraft (2004 release), you buy the game and it comes with 1 month of subscription, then you have to pay £9 monthly, but every 2 years they release an expansion at the usual price (£20-30). 1 time fee every 2 years + subs + microtransactions + a free to play (limited) version.

iRacing - You pay a subscription + microtransactions, the full content costs near $1000 (without discounts) - I'm surprised they haven't got a free to play option to bring in more customers. iRacings pricing pushes a lot of people away, and it has some stiff competition soon.

Simraceway - Free to play, no initial cost + microtransactions (this is the future or the current, some companies running sub based pricing structures were failing and by switching to this have completely turned things around, this model with microtransactions has been extremely successful with many games.

FPS games like COD - 1 time fee + microtransactions. Been around since DLC was thought of, first game that springs to mind is Elder Scrolls Oblivion 2006.

Rfactor 2 is cheaper than most games to buy and comes with a massive (12-18months) subscription, and a ridiculously cheap continuation. If this means they can provide a better online service i'm all for it, they could always just do away with it and charge more for the initial game.

 

[Scott Webber]

Corrado so what StarBucks you going to? the Meal is on me

 

[Ramon Alonso]

Can't wait!!