SimBin Kicks Off R3E Open Beta

Bram Hengeveld · Jan 30, 2013

Bram Hengeveld submitted a new blog post:

SimBin Kicks Off R3E Open Beta

SimBin Studios AB and RaceRoom Entertainment AG have today released the open beta for RaceRoom Racing Experience. A wide selection of licensed content is available in the store alongside plenty of free-to-play cars and track layouts. An additional release bonus has been added for all users that register during the first two weeks.

RaceRoom Racing Experience is a Free2Race concept where a high end racing game is provided for free via Valves digital game distribution platform, Steam. The game...

Continue reading the Original Blog Post

jun2510 · Jan 30, 2013

Do memebers who already tested the closed beta have to re-register? I entered my email and password, it will not accept my email.

JvMr · Jan 30, 2013

That would be weird and annoying..

Alexander van der Woude · Jan 30, 2013

makes me think a lot about nfs shift, and i didnt like that game at all

museumsteve · Jan 30, 2013

jun2510 said:
Do memebers who already tested the closed beta have to re-register? I entered my email and password, it will not accept my email.

Yes...you need to register again

Craig Stevenson · Jan 30, 2013

Confused, is this an Open Beta or a Teaser?, different animals in my book, Steam is calling it a Teaser, if I try and run the Closed Beta I get a message saying

Hello,
This is the installation folder of the closed beta builds.
If you were looking for the OPEN BETA, please install it from:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/211500/

Thank you,
SimBin Studios

So SimBin are calling it an Open Beta.

Mattross · Jan 30, 2013

Eyghon-RD said:
Confused, is this an Open Beta or a Teaser?, different animals in my book, Steam is calling it a Teaser

It was a Teaser until yesterday when they updated the installer for Open Beta. When you looked they hadn't updated the Steam page description to explain the change yet. The Steam page has now been updated to remove the "Teaser" wording, although it doesn't mention Open Beta.

Senad Subasic · Jan 30, 2013

Steam downloaded 8 something GB last night, but it's just the same one track and same cars? Heh, I was hoping to try Bathurst.

Peter · Jan 30, 2013

It was 3.8gb and you can buy Bathurst.

Senad Subasic · Jan 30, 2013

Peter Koch said:
It was 3.8gb and you can buy Bathurst.

8 GB total.

8€ for one car and one track I might enjoy. Can you try out cars or tracks? A lap or two?

Kennett Ylitalo · Jan 30, 2013

I recommend this 100%. It's not perfect but it's so far, besides TF2 went public, the best launch of Free2Play titles yet. Almost unbelievable really. Not a full sim (yet) but heck, taking Judd to Hillclimb the first time.. Even the most HC simdriver will have a smile on his/her face. So i beg you old schoolers, take it for a spin and then let's give them the feedback this title truly deserves.

If i wasn't SimBin fanboy before (who are we kidding here..) now it's official.

Kennett Ylitalo · Jan 30, 2013

But like i said: its not perfect and if HC drivers aren't giving feedback it can to one tick too much to arcade very easily. We need to express our fears and wishes, politely and loudly. If that don't work, we'll increase our loudness until it do.. There are so many HC drivers on the dev team that we, the drivers, the players need to keep marketing department on check.. They can't do it alone. I've witnessed this too many time with Free2Play format. Let's not give this one half a chance to do so. Arcade freaks can always put their beloved TC on but we need to make sure we get zero TC too. Aliens, we need you!

FerrariMan96 · Jan 30, 2013

"Something wrong happened with our servers. Please try again."

"Something wrong happened with our servers. Please try again."

"Something wrong happened with our servers. Please try again."

Server overload?

Anyone else getting this? Or is it just because I'm trying to register on my phone.

Peter · Jan 30, 2013

Senad Subasic said:
8 GB total.

8€ for one car and one track I might enjoy. Can you try out cars or tracks? A lap or two?

I only had a teaser update.
The competition is free, but you won't regret buying Bathurst and Zandvoort.

Craig Stevenson · Jan 30, 2013

I'm really not sure they are going to get many takers for this game when you look at the pricing structure. In the Closed Beta I "purchased" at total of 6 packs (500 points per pack), IIRC I purchased 4 cars and 2 tracks, including Bathurst, those 6 packs cost $16 each which is a total of $96, if they will be using the exchange rate that would be almost £61, of course in the UK they quite often ignore the exchange rate and do a straight $ to £ conversion which would take the cost of those 6 packs to a whopping £96. Bathurst costs a pack and bit at 589 points (2 packs = $32 (£20) for ONE track!, a track which just about everyone on this forum will already have for free in most of the Sims we already own. Most of the cars are over 250 points (very cleverly priced) as to buy 2 cars means you need 2 packs even though you will only use maybe 10 points out of the second pack.

So has anyone (particularly in the UK) actually bought packs for real in the Open Beta, if so how much did they cost?

I would also think this is a bit of a worry for GTR3, if they are going to release cars for RaceRoom @ $16 each and a track for $32 it makes me wonder how they can justify these prices if they are going to release GTR3 as a Full game including any of these tracks and cars at the usual price of around £24-£30, I get the feeling GTR3 will be or has been shelved.

Dave Flower · Jan 31, 2013

Think you need to check the prices again in the Open Beta - I was looking earlier and 5000 points is about £39 uk - still seems a little excessive to me at the moment, but we will see where the pricing takes it. I'm afraid personally I'm not a big fan of Free to Play then buy the rest of the game in bits. Because in my opinion thats all that happens - take a £20-£40 game split it into a free bit and charge premium for the bits people will really like so they get £40-£80 in the case of people who buy it all. I accept it has its place, because people are going for it, I'm just old fashioned. Can someone tell me how I get this game on floppy disc ? !

Craig Stevenson · Jan 31, 2013

Yeah I've just noticed they have now changed the prices to GBP, so 500vRP is now £4.99, 1100vRP £9.59, 2000vRP £16.79, 5000vRP £38.39.

Tracks: Zandvoort 399vRP, Hockenheim 499vRP, Portimao 399vRP, Bathurst 549vRP.

18 cars on offer at the minute, 6 @ 199vRP, 5 @ 299vRP, 1 @ 249vRP, 1 @ 329vRP, the rest being free.

By my reckoning that means to buy all the current tracks it will cost £21.57 with all the cars costing £31.17, Total £52.74

Sk3ptik0n · Jan 31, 2013

I spent $40 yesterday and bought all that I needed top buy. And I will keep it that way for a long time.

I like how the cars drive. The corvette is great, the Judd also a lot of fun but all cars drive pretty well.

While the graphics are very good, I absolutely hate their turn markers. They are hideous and they don't belong on a racetrack. I wish they would give us a choice to change them to meter or feet markers because the color coded huge markers are just too much for my eyes.