rFactor 2 Roadmap Focuses on Formula E, Rain and Mixed Reality VR

[Paul Jeffrey]

The latest 'Development Roadmap' from Studio 397 was released recently and it is full of interesting insights in to the future of rFactor 2...

Firstly sorry for the delay reporting this roadmap release here at RaceDepartment, I've had a few Christmas related things irl that have monopolised my time since Friday night (basically I got drunk and due to advancing years cannot recover like I could when I was 18). So after much toilet bowl talking I'm back, and catching up fast!

Despite 2017 rapidly drawing to a close and many businesses slowing down ready for the festive period it looks like Studio 397, the team of developers responsible for the continual advancement of rFactor 2, are still very much hard at work behind the scenes bringing plenty of improvement and enhancements to this outstanding simulation.

In the latest update to the community released on the final day of November, the team have confirmed plenty of work is still underway back at base, with an expected December release on the cards for the much anticipated new "rain build" of rFactor 2, more info on the brand new Formula E DLC and some interesting progress in the world of Virtual Reality..

Read on to find out exactly what S397 have up their sleeve for this venerable simulation in the immediate future...

The November Development Roadmap from Studio 397 can be viewed in full below:

Last month we reflected on 2017 and hinted at new content. Earlier this week we announced the Formula E Energize Pack, bringing electric racing to rFactor 2. This weekend you can all watch the season opening double header race in Hong Kong. We announced a hotlap competition, which gives you a chance to win some exclusive Formula E goodies, or show your friends how much better you are than them!

Some of you might have watched the talk and drive that Marcel did on RaceDepartment. For those of you that didn’t, you missed out on some free copies of the Formula E pack. We’ll summarize some of the new things that were discussed there.

Obviously a lot of questions centered around the Formula E content. We’ll release an update of that in a week or two that will include the new team liveries that we were not able to show you ahead of the opening race, and we’ll also provide a code update that will give you a better insight into the amount of battery you have left, and are using per lap. Since this part of the strategy is such an integral part of racing these cars, we feel an improvement is in order so you don’t have to rely on third party plugins. Incidentally, talking about third party plugins, Crew Chief already released a code update that supports Formula E. If you have not checked it out yet, we can definitely recommend you do so!

We’re also ready to announce that we will be making DX11 the default before Christmas. As an intermediate step before we come with a new HUD system for plugins, we’ll focus on providing a default HUD that includes a lot of the features you have been enjoying in third party plugins. One of these is a new dial that show you the time delta compared to your best lap, but we have a few other new things and enhancements planned. Part of this DX11 update will be the inclusion of the “rain update” that we previewed at SimExpo. We’ve since perfected it. We’ve also improved the ambient lighting, producing subtle differences that give the overall image a slightly more dramatic look. At the moment we are working feverishly to update all our cars and tracks to make maximum use of these new features. We’ll incrementally release those updates, but anticipate to already have a substantial part done before the end of this year. The shots below are still work in progress, but show you what we’ve been doing to make the rain look better on both cars and tracks.

Another announcement is that we officially support all the new Windows Mixed Reality headsets, check it here. In 2018 we will focus on more DX11 related updates, both in terms of performance and fidelity. As announced, that means we’re deprecating DX9, meaning it will still be available, but it won’t be updated anymore. This gives us more bandwidth to focus on the new engine, which should be a huge benefit for everybody.

Wrapping up this month’s update, we all wish you a happy holiday season and we’ll be back with one final roadmap update close to the end of the year. Of course we will be back in 2018. Happy simracing!

rFactor 2 is available from Steam as a PC exclusive title now. The Formula E Energize DLC can be picked up for 8.70 from the Steam Store HERE.

Check out the rFactor 2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment for all the latest news and discussion with regards to the simulation. You can take part in lively debates with fellow rFactor 2 fans and take part in some great Club and League racing events..! Head over to the forum now and share the love this simulation so very much deserves...

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Are you pleased with the content of the latest rFactor 2 Development Roadmap? Looking forward to the new wet weather build? Interested in the new wave of VR headset support? What would you like to see the studio focus on next? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[William Wester]

AI is an rF2 strength in my opinion - almost human like at time, and not pushovers when set to the right strength and aggressiveness. As for the AI making mistakes, likelihood can be tweaked in the "player.JSON" file.

"AI Mistakes":1,
"AI Mistakes#":"a range of (intentional) AI mistakes from 0.0 (none) to 1.0 (sometimes). Anything above 1.0 multiplies the frequency",

 

[Ace King]

I made hundreds of new AIW's (ai paths) over the years in rF1 and rF2 with many AI edit tests so i suggest to be very modest (.1 or .2) when increasing the AI Mistakes or it will looked forced and artificial. I prefer to use the default (0.0) since i like to see more natural mistakes made in my longer races do to tire wear and/or AI to AI contacts causing some damage thus looks more realistic/natural.

No doubt if you're not experiencing these natural AI mistakes then you're doing very short length races like you see on many servers in AC and Project Cars, so if this is the case then modestly edit the AI Mistakes setting. If the modder made a proper AI "Talent" directory then this also helps to create some additional mistakes but if not done modestly then you will also experience unrealistic/unnatural - forced mistakes too!

I agree with Emery that the pros make few errors and are very consistent and so this is what i prefer the AI to mimic in my races!

 

[clemencaman]

Miod Edit
no thanks with out even asking if you can advertise.

 

[Cote Dazur]

Not yet but Marcel confirmed during the RD live stream that they are working on it.

Good to know, thank you for the information, I am glad to know they realize it is important to some of us, or at least me,

Question about the AI, in RF2 is the AI using the same physic as us or do they have a different physic than us?

 

[Jockey]

Different.

 

[Ace King]

[QUOTE= "Cote Dazur,
Question about the AI, in RF2 is the AI using the same physic as us or do they have a different physic than us?

The AI need a different set of simplified physics simply because our pc's wouldn't be capable of doing all the processing needed for each AI car's physics/tires etc. After all the AI could care less how good their Car's FFB, handling, realism feel to them thus i doubt they will complain.

 

[MarcG]

yeah the AI use Advanced rf1 physics I believe, can't remember exactly though.

 

[Amanda]

Well, there clearly is a reason, because Kunos does exactly the same, and they are the most successful race sim on Steam at the moment.

Oh, this is one of those "well, someone else does it, so why not do it too" scenarios? I guess we should be seeing micro-transactions and loot-boxes next then? A simple unfinished car with a simple livery for full price, then micro-transactions and loot-boxes to unlock liveries. This model is also trending on very successful games.

Just because Kunos does it, it doesn't mean it's a good practice and it doesn't mean customers like it or that it's the right thing to do.

You need to download all the cars to see them in the game. The way AMS has solved it is to force all DLC content on HDD regardless if you own it or not. IMO this is not a good solution either.

Though it's still way ahead of not allowing people to join the server because the greedy company wants users to buy the full thing.

 

[Ghoults]

The problem with RF2 and modding in general is that games like AC and RF2 don't have official step by step guides for noobs

Rf2 has that problem but ac doesn't. Ac has excellent documentation and lots of great tools. And lots of additional tools made by the community. If the ac documentation is not enough for you to put a track or car into the game then no amount of extra documentation will save you. It is light years of difference between those two. One goes above and beyond trying to help people use their platform at its fullest potential while the other one provides just a little bit more modding support than a non-moddable game.

Ac is the example of how to support modding (maybe except that little episode where they kicked modders out from their forums). Rf2 is an example of how to not do it. Only thing where rf2 modding is better than ac is that rf2 has one peculiar shader which is easier to use for materials where you want tiled texturing (diffuse and normal map) and separate baked shadow and specularity layers. Ac has similar shader but it takes 10 minutes longer to get it working because the ac shader needs specifically set alpha layer for the shadow bake whereas the rf2 shader uses the diffuse directly as multiply. But that's it (well the ac shader is better at everything else but that's past the point). Rf2 has more detailed physics engine but it takes grand wizard of reverse engineering to get better results with it than everybody can get with ac.

 

[Ace King]

In my opinion rF2's advanced physics and tire model should be well worth a modder's effort.

 

[Rui Santos]

Rf2 has that problem but ac doesn't. Ac has excellent documentation and lots of great tools. And lots of additional tools made by the community. If the ac documentation is not enough for you to put a track or car into the game then no amount of extra documentation will save you. It is light years of difference between those two. One goes above and beyond trying to help people use their platform at its fullest potential while the other one provides just a little bit more modding support than a non-moddable game.

Ac is the example of how to support modding (maybe except that little episode where they kicked modders out from their forums). Rf2 is an example of how to not do it. Only thing where rf2 modding is better than ac is that rf2 has one peculiar shader which is easier to use for materials where you want tiled texturing (diffuse and normal map) and separate baked shadow and specularity layers. Ac has similar shader but it takes 10 minutes longer to get it working because the ac shader needs specifically set alpha layer for the shadow bake whereas the rf2 shader uses the diffuse directly as multiply. But that's it (well the ac shader is better at everything else but that's past the point). Rf2 has more detailed physics engine but it takes grand wizard of reverse engineering to get better results with it than everybody can get with ac.

Of course, there's no comparison between the complexity of AC and rF2, that's why one is easier to mod than the other...

 

[ronniej]

Of course, there's no comparison between the complexity of AC and rF2, that's why one is easier to mod than the other...

Kinda says something about Stefano's work...Left field comparison I know, but it almost sounds like one (RF2) used the stars, sun and moon to calculate a distance on the ground while the other (AC) used a meter stick.

*Given the result is the same or similar...

 

[ricerracer]

Pros make lots of mistakes not sure where people are getting the idea from that they do not, then again it depends what series you are watching. The AI limiter does not seem to tweak the amount of mistakes they make but rather the gap between each AI vehicle.

I did mention the fact that you can resume the replay, but as I also mentioned it is a hassle. They should just implement a proper save race/load race feature.

 

[MarcG]

Pros make lots of mistakes not sure where people are getting the idea from that they do not, then again it depends what series you are watching. The AI limiter does not seem to tweak the amount of mistakes they make but rather the gap between each AI vehicle.

I did mention the fact that you can resume the replay, but as I also mentioned it is a hassle. They should just implement a proper save race/load race feature.

As already mentioned adjust the AI Mistakes parameter in the player.JSON until you find a suitable level.

As for Resume From Replay it's hardly a hassle, you load the replay, skip to the bit you want to Resume and voila...job done. It's a lot of work to "just implement a proper save..." feature when one already exists that is perfectly good enough, remind which other Sims have anything like this?

 

[ricerracer]

I was responding to others

 

[piruloo]

No like this roadmap,i think rfactor2 o other simulator needen sistem license y room similate too iracing,no have licese y room no will succeed,is me opinion.sorry for me inglis.I hope rfactor understands it soon

 

[Deleted member 130869]

In my opinion rF2's advanced physics and tire model should be well worth a modder's effort.

The effort is monumental, not always appreciated and much less supported via donations or online servers and leagues. That said, there should be some very nice mods coming in 2018 from Apex .

 

[Emery]

I did mention the fact that you can resume the replay, but as I also mentioned it is a hassle. They should just implement a proper save race/load race feature.

My fault for not reading the final sentence of what you wrote (and I even quoted it!). All I was hearing was the wish for something that already exists in rF2 and which doesn't exist in any of the other current sims.

Save race/load race would not be as versatile as resume from replay because you can resume from points other than the current one (unless you constantly are pressing a "save race" button). Replay lets you review the action right up to the second you want to resume, to refresh your mind about was happening.

 

[Peevee88]

Formula E is like making a sim of a sim in my book
User Interface revamp, simplify choosing AI opponents and adding skins etc etc etc are things that really need to be updated and and and... long before Formula E
Although still great to drive loving the Super GT Nissan