Silverstone Will Be Retired From rFactor 2

silverstone_rf2.jpg
This is unfortunate news for rFactor 2 fans. One of the iconic free tracks of the service will be retired from public access on Friday morning due to licensing problems.

This news has been published on studio397 forums and apparently sounds like an expiring license problem. Original Silverstone license for the game dates back from 2012 when the sim was still developed by ISI and renewing one of these licenses is not always an easy task.

"Due to a change in licencing agreements, this Friday, November 25th, Studio 397 have been instructed to remove access to the Silverstone circuit in the rFactor 2 Steam Workshop."

"Players can still download the circuit until the morning of Friday November 25th, and can continue to use the track within rFactor 2 beyond this date."


Silverstone was one of the main pieces of the free base content, so Studio397 plans to add a new track as soon as they can.

"While we appreciate this is not the news anyone wanted to hear about this track, we are working very hard to look at alternative options to bring another new, free circuit to the simulation in the very near future"

You can still download the track for private use beyond 25th November by clicking this Steam's link.
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Gonzalo Camara
More than 20 years enjoying simRacing and watching it grow. Writing and spreading the word to allow real racing fans discover this wonderful universe.

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Something about this isn't adding up.

When has this ever happened in the world of racing sims, beyond entire games naturally being de-listed because they're old?

Studio 397/MSGM can't afford licensing rights to Silverstone...

But somehow Reiza Studios, with AMS2, can.
As can RaceRoom Racing Experience.
These are two very niche racing sims that didn't sell a lot and have a very small userbase.

Silverstone is not an issue with those teams.
Only an issue with the company who is bleeding money according to quarterly investor calls, and who's board members all quit.
They had a 11-year license that expired, and the best offer they got for a new one was for more money than any other track in rF2 (and rF2 has Le Mans and Spa). For a track that was ancient and not based on high-quality scans I guess they couldn't justify continuing to give it away for free for such a price. Maybe it will reappear as a new laser-scanned paid version in the future, provided the studio is still around and not busy with other things.
 
Premium
How this is going to work probably just needs a bit of clarification.

I would hope those who already have it own a perpetual license attached to their Steam account, although I wouldn't unsubscribe just to be sure.

After tomorrow it should just be a case of no one else being granted access to the content.

Edit.

1669281533012.png
 
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typical, I finally properly invest time into rF2 and this happens, glad I have the advice to back it up.
 
How's your master? Does he have the money to finally get Interlagos in one of his games, or will be just empty promises also this time around? How many years we'll have to wait before the game will be delisted from the store?
Project CARS 3 features Interlagos. Got any other conspiracy theories that need to be debunked?
 
There is no money. They are just trying to reduce the cost.

That's the report from Motorsport Games (mother company of rF2). 18/11/2022

Liquidity

  • As of September 30, 2022 and October 31, 2022, the Company had $3.2 million and $1.8 million, respectively, of available cash on hand with $3 million of long-term debt owed to its majority shareholder.
  • The Company’s Q3 2022 Form 10-Q discloses that there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Based on the available cash on hand and the Company’s average monthly net cash burn, the Company does not believe it has sufficient liquidity to fund its operations for the remainder of 2022. The Company is currently evaluating new sources of funding, including discussing potential debt and/or equity financing arrangements, including additional financing from its majority shareholder.
  • In September 2022, the Company announced the 2022 Restructuring Program to reduce its operating costs, which is expected to generate annualized cost reductions of approximately $4 million by the end of 2023. To date, the Company has made progress by achieving annualized savings of approximately $2.5 million and is continuing efforts to achieve further cost reductions
 
I've lost my patience with rf2 and S397's business model long ago. Apart from iRacing, they have the most expensive offering in the sim world. And I'm positive it's not in the top 3 when it comes to content quantity and quality (visual, physics).
 
Staff
Premium
I must admit to being disappointed at the notion that some people seem to be almost gleeful at the prospect of one of our racing games being in trouble.
Yes sim racing may not be as niche now as pre pandemic but it's still niche nonetheless and as community we should be supportive whether we like a particular game or not certainly not crowing over its possible (though unlikely) demise.
 
Yeah , not good tbh.. If they wanted to get new users into rfactor2 then that'll mean there will be a discrepancy when it comes to online racing - new racers won't have it. To me this feels like a winding down of something as why would you not renew Silverstone. I wish rfactor2 the software itself the very best as the physics are awesome; just a shame you need the patience of a saint to set up a server.

Maybe Ian Bell will snap it up if it comes up for sale and don't go giving me aggro for that remark - keep the engine and the physics and update and license everything else. If it goes for sale watch this space I reckon, as Ian Bell and his crew have worked with the ISI engine before and delivered GTR2 which is awesome. There's good reason why my wife nick names me Mystic Dwighty - I'm always right.

If I come across as a troll that is not my intention - I'm a big fan of the ISI engines and genuinely want rfactor2 to succeed but in its current state it's a love and hate relationship for me.

EDIT: Ian Bell not SMS
 
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Staff
Premium
Pretty sure they do B ....or everyone would still have the 2 Nissans right ? ;)

Nope. They don't. The only thing that are "deleted" are patched/updated items.
When has this ever happened in the world of racing sims, beyond entire games naturally being de-listed because they're old?

Considering your contacts, you surely should know about the removal of content of a game that is still sold on Steam.
That is a unique problem with workshop content I guess. It is not a proper part of the game thus it can be subjected to different conditions.

Nope, this is a thing for many games that are "getting old". GTR2, all Grand Theft Auto's (Radio Music). Alan Wake was removed due to licensing IIRC. There are quite a few games that have some content removed, changed or just removing the whole game because that is simpler.

Yeah , not good tbh.. If they wanted to get new users into rfactor2 then that'll mean there will be a discrepancy when it comes to online racing - new racers won't have it. To me this feels like a winding down of something as why would you not renew Silverstone. I wish rfactor2 the software itself the very best as the physics are awesome; just a shame you need the patience of a saint to set up a server.

The nice thing with rF2 is the GetMOD system. If a server has content that you don't own, have GetMOD set up, and a proper download-link, then you will download the content you need from the server, the game will install it and then let you join. We use this on our RD servers to people don't have to bother with subscribing on Steam, just fire up the game and join the server. (Obviously not used for paid DLC...!)

Maybe SMS will snap it up if it comes up for sale and don't go giving me aggro for that remark - keep the engine and the physics and update and license everything else. If it goes for sale watch this space I reckon, as Ian Bell and his crew have worked with the ISI engine before and delivered GTR2 which is awesome. There's good reason why my wife nick names me Mystic Dwighty - I'm always right.

SMS is EA - I highly doubt EA wants to buy a sim, even though they did publish ISI's first sim and contracted them to make PC versions of the F1-Series games.

Ian Bell is not a part of SMS, he has set up yet another game studio. So I'm sorry to say, I think your wife might need her nickname on you changed :p
 
Nope. They don't. The only thing that are "deleted" are patched/updated items.


Considering your contacts, you surely should know about the removal of content of a game that is still sold on Steam.


Nope, this is a thing for many games that are "getting old". GTR2, all Grand Theft Auto's (Radio Music). Alan Wake was removed due to licensing IIRC. There are quite a few games that have some content removed, changed or just removing the whole game because that is simpler.



The nice thing with rF2 is the GetMOD system. If a server has content that you don't own, have GetMOD set up, and a proper download-link, then you will download the content you need from the server, the game will install it and then let you join. We use this on our RD servers to people don't have to bother with subscribing on Steam, just fire up the game and join the server. (Obviously not used for paid DLC...!)



SMS is EA - I highly doubt EA wants to buy a sim, even though they did publish ISI's first sim and contracted them to make PC versions of the F1-Series games.

Ian Bell is not a part of SMS, he has set up yet another game studio. So I'm sorry to say, I think your wife might need her nickname on you changed :p

Alright alright - not SMS but Bell and crew instead - my mystic antenna needs a bit of tweaking that's all
 
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