Still no endurance features

Bram Hengeveld · Jan 26, 2012

@iRacing responded to our tweet yesterday.

https://twitter.com/#!/iRacing/status/162589793090416640

Not really the answer endurance fans want to hear. Seems we have to postpone the RDiLMS even more now.

It was the main reason to buy a two year subscription to the service again. Feel pretty disappointed I must say.

Hampus Andersson · Jan 26, 2012

Now it´s starting to get ridiculous....

Lars Strijdonck · Jan 26, 2012

Don't understand the upset, it was not really announced for this build iirc.

Bram Hengeveld · Jan 26, 2012

Correct, it was announced for Q4 2011!
http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/rdilms-s1-general-discussion.29613/page-3#post-859026

Lars Strijdonck · Jan 26, 2012

don't get me wrong I would love it too but there is hardly any software out there that meets its initial deadline.
it wil come and when it's there it wil work, I hope

edit:
I also think most won't like endurance racing on a track where it's always 2pm. I would rather see day and night transitions and dynamic track conditions first. The static tracks will really get boring to run arround at for 12 hours..

Hampus Andersson · Jan 26, 2012

Hopefully you wont be running an endurande event for 12 hours by yourself

Yup August they said this would arrive.....…

Bram Hengeveld · Jan 26, 2012

Lars Strijdonck said:
The static tracks will really get boring to run arround at for 12 hours..

Not all endurance races need to be 12 hours or longer

I can enjoy myself pretty much with the team in a 6 hours / 1000km race on a static track. For me personally I only need the driver swap feature.

Don't get me wrong I would love it too but there is hardly any software out there that meets its initial deadline.

With any other simracing game I would agree with this statement. However I am paying a monthly fee again and renewed my subscription for two years only because of the announced LMS features. I've bought all the content there is and was really looking forward to make iRacing my sim of choice for the coming year.

With the introduction of the NTM and now the delay of the endurance features I am close in giving up as I am not motivated enough to run the official series every week.

Lets hope they will deliver soon as the races we had planned for the series are made for LMS style racing

Lars Strijdonck · Jan 27, 2012

I agree you can have a very nice 1000km race. I have a lot of respect for you Bram. But hounestlly resubbing for no less then 2 years just because of an announcement? Wasnt it also because they had some nice discounts going? There is so much more that is great about iRacing that i have a hard time believing that would be the one and only reason. A little research before doing that could have easlly got you to the conclusion to wait till its there.

Its your most anticipated feature i get that, as the new tire was for me. The amounts of post i could have dedicated to that.... i am glad i dont play sims just for one feature. I would get fed up with most of them really quick.

To each there own i suppose, iam sorry iRacing didnt turn out to be what you expected from it. I personally still think its a great sim, even though there are also features I dearlly miss.

iRacing learned from it, they are now a lot less eager to announce realese dates and such which is a good thing.

Email support, explain your situation and there is a good change they allow you to put your account on hold untill the driver swaps are there.

Bram Hengeveld · Jan 27, 2012

Actually I missed out on the discounts when I resubbed

I don't want to imply that I need my money back or something, not at all. I buy any sim racing game that comes out on the market because I want to have it myself in order to have an opinion and as a support to keep our sport alive. With iRacing you have to make a huge investment to own all the content. I knew that up front so you don't hear me complaining about that.

I do complain about the fact that they officially confirmed these anticipated endurance features for Q4 2011 and don't deliver and lack to to clearly communicate about that. The first time it got postponed I had to find it buried in a huge thread on the iRacing forums where two lines were dedicated about it and now I have to read it on Twitter.

They seem to forget that communities with a lots of leagues like ourselves do a lot of planning up front to make everything fit in a schedule. Ever since June I have been contacting some very well known sim racing teams and asked them to take part in our announced RDiLMS but what do we tell them now? Just wait until its done?

From a company that charges me so much money to race in their service I expect them to meet deadlines they announced and if they can't then I would like to be informed why its not ready in time and hear an ETA when it does. "Hopefully soon", "In development" etc are not enough. I can accept that from an ordinary game developer that sells me a game for a normal price but not from a company that needs to charge me every month to benefit from their services on top of the purchased content.

iRacing learned from it, they are now a lot less eager to announce realese dates and such which is a good thing.

Is it? They announced with a lot of hype iRacing 2.0. 2.0 imo means a whole new game experience. So far they have absolutely not delivered a new game experience to me. What was so groundbreaking they had to call it 2.0? NTM?

Enough complaining, let's hope they release a flawless working driver swap system as that is what endurance sim racers have been waiting for. It was for me personally at least the reason to renew my interest in iRacing after I gave up the first time in 2009..
The Le Mans Series in rFactor has been one of the, if not THE, coolest race experience I have ever had in all those years of racing but the bugs with driverswaps and disconnecting issues and the incredible lame physics and lack of grip of the enduracers mod forced me into the direction of iRacing. iRacing has huge potential when they have all the endurance features working properly in game.

Lets hope it will be here soon.

Eric Estes · Jan 27, 2012

Observation: Really hope they will have day/night transition and weather - but it will really throw my braking points off at the Okayama hairpin and the entrance to the Spa chicane, where I currently rely on those static shadows

Hampus Andersson · Jan 27, 2012

Eric Estes said:
Observation: Really hope they will have day/night transition and weather - but it will really throw my braking points off at the Okayama hairpin and the entrance to the Spa chicane, where I currently rely on those static shadows

Would like to see them put up virtual brake markers there, in the F1 at Okayama braking for that tight hairpin it´s like a gamble every time

Dazmaniac · Jan 27, 2012

Bram Hengeveld said:
The Le Mans Series in rFactor has been one of the, if not THE, coolest race experience I have ever had in all those years of racing but the bugs with driverswaps and disconnecting issues and the incredible lame physics and lack of grip of the enduracers mod forced me into the direction of iRacing. iRacing has huge potential when they have all the endurance features working properly in game.

Lets hope it will be here soon.

As annoying as the announcement is, for those that have been waiting patiently for the endurance features since they were first announced, I guess the iRacing guys don't want to replicate what you have described above with the rFactor series.

They've taken a lot of flak over the last 12 months for the NTM and other bits n' bobs so I guess they want to make sure something like the driver swaps is as fully functional as they can get it before making it widely available to the community.

Hampus Andersson · Jan 27, 2012

Daz Webb said:
As annoying as the announcement is, for those that have been waiting patiently for the endurance features since they were first announced, I guess the iRacing guys don't want to replicate what you have described above with the rFactor series.

They've taken a lot of flak over the last 12 months for the NTM and other bits n' bobs so I guess they want to make sure something like the driver swaps is as fully functional as they can get it before making it widely available to the community.

Though the problem is not the time it takes. The problem is that they announced it would be here in August.
That means someone in iRacing has made an estimate time schedule but obviously something must have gone horribly wrong as they are now 6 full months ahead of the initial release.
That means it´s been in development for way longer...

And also the the FMOD, it took them several months to realise that their own sound model could do exactly the same thing as the FMOD.
Surely it would take no less then a week to realise that a product you have bought can do the same thing as the product you already have...it´s absolutely ridiculous since we pay monthly for stuff to arrive every three months, that was the plan from the beginning.

George Mastrokostas · Jan 28, 2012

I came to the RD-iRacing forum to see if the Daytona2.4 event is in effect this year so I can return back just for this event.
Then I read this tread and I remembered all the numerous, over hyped, un-delivered/unfinished items iRacing still is "working on" since 2008 while all the while they have 30k members paying them monthly subsrciptions plus the content.

Yeah, I changed my mind, I am not doing the Daytona2.4 event even though it is one of my favorite events and I actually came third in my class last year.

Dazmaniac · Jan 31, 2012

George Mastrokostas said:
I came to the RD-iRacing forum to see if the Daytona2.4 event is in effect this year so I can return back just for this event.
Then I read this tread and I remembered all the numerous, over hyped, un-delivered/unfinished items iRacing still is "working on" since 2008 while all the while they have 30k members paying them monthly subsrciptions plus the content.

Yeah, I changed my mind, I am not doing the Daytona2.4 event even though it is one of my favorite events and I actually came third in my class last year.

I would agree that they have under delivered in some areas (not lived up to the hype), but it's not as if subscribers are paying their money and not getting amything in return.

Latest build went live late last night and once again whilst there are still things that are missing from the service, it seems from early feedback in some areas that progress has been made. I haven't tried it yet for myself, but will hopefully over the next few days.

George Mastrokostas · Feb 4, 2012

Daz Webb said:
I would agree that they have under delivered in some areas (not lived up to the hype), but it's not as if subscribers are paying their money and not getting amything in return.

Latest build went live late last night and once again whilst there are still things that are missing from the service, it seems from early feedback in some areas that progress has been made. I haven't tried it yet for myself, but will hopefully over the next few days.

I will return to it with no hesitation.
In fact I am thinking of going back now just to check the new NTM update.
I do realize they have broken new ground with their service and in fact I think the sudden development of so many sims can be attributed to a large degree to iRacing. Development teams saw that there is still a market for racing sims.
iRarcing is a jewel and I am not being cute when I say that.
However I have been jaded to a large degree with how they handled themselves as of late and I have turned from being a huge supporter to now being a supporter from a distance.

Chances are I will give it another chance after a year.

Dazmaniac · Feb 4, 2012

i guess I'm a little selfish as the Enduro features are not big thing for me, as they are not something I tend to run, so the features I can live without, but I appreciate that they are something that need to be introduced, but introduced correctly otherwise the community will be all over the staff like a rash, lol.

I'm finding the new build an absolute treat. They have certainly made progress with the NTM and whilst I ain't no expert in how tires function, it certainly feels better than it did previously and I'm finding I have more enthusiasm for the sim again as it had been on the wane. Even the spotter has had a makeover and is now full of information, although on the odd occasion he throws up some misreads and his 'you have wheel damage' can get a bit tiresome (no pun intended, lol).

Let's just hope they don't drop the ball and keep the service improving and progressing over the coming months/builds and keep a smile on the faces of the subscribing members.