I loved GTR 2, Legends and Race. The reason I still race GTR 2 is that it is a full sim. With that I mean: 24 hour clock, weather, pitstops, tires, tracks, cars, mods, liveries and a decent driving model.
My small expectation and big hope was R3E would be a GTR 2 successor, which it is not. And as I understand from your post, never will be. That is not your problem, it is mine. AS company you have decided to change direction and from that point of view I think it is a good to let go of the old name Simbin as people will always refer to the history.
(...)
Expectation management....I need to work on that.
Yep, well put, and pretty much what I feel as well.
I actually think what the community still seems to want from SIMBIN is "GT-Legends 2", "GTR 3" and "Race 14" (etc) for today's era - i.e, their older, complete style of products (considering the package) with new gen advancements, updated content, etc, seeing there was and is absolutely nothing wrong with those products other than being old tech.
Sometimes it almost seems like a 'generational' thing, i.e, people that were well over 10 years ago into gaming in general and in sim-racing in particular, do not see themselves going with more recent (although not that new) market tendencies of P2P, paid DLC, micro-transations, etc.
I honestly perceive that there's a strong refuse/resist sense (justified?) in accepting that marketing/business strategy by a significant user base, as much as the younger (perhaps wealthier?) crowd and game-devs/corporations/management insist that it should be accepted, for the sake of continuity in the business in this "hardcore" genre and such (which IMHO will actually break it, considering it's a very small niche).
Necessity of having it or not in the business, I personally hate that crap and I won't get into it, even if it means sticking to old games or changing genre altogether.
Funny enough, we're seeing that with racing-wheel controllers too.
While quality in materials has increased (no doubt), prices gone well over 2x and 3x, sometimes 4x. It's no longer unusual to have 400,00 €uros wheels being sold as the "regular/average pieces of equipment" for the hobby, even without inclusage of shifter.
It's becoming ludicrous considering the current economy's state in the world.
......and I'm not even getting into that other part of necessary investment due to PC hardware demands to make the newer games run as they were intended.....
I think the developpers of both games and peripherals should stop, reflect, and think about newcomers to the genre, the reality of the economy, and that not everyone is a "twenty-something with first world problems".
Any of us was at some point a newcomer to the genre (including the devs), many of us wouldn't afford this hobbie if we were to start today (instead of yesterday), probably wouldn't have kept with it if we managed to get in at all.
If not in yourself, check in your circle of friends that you met along the way in this hobby and you know that is true.
I can't come up with a solution, and I don't think anyone can present a miracle but, honestly, I've been into gaming since mid-80s, sim-racing since late 90s, and I've never seen such a splitted community of "haves and haves not" as today.