Donington Park Coming to rFactor 2


One of the UK's best loved racing circuits, Donington Park, is coming to rFactor 2 as part of the Q2 2022 content update.

Studio 397 has shared that Donington Park is coming to rFactor 2 as DLC as part of their quarterly content release for Q2 of this year. A video shared by the team shows a beautifully detailed version of the circuit and highlights its winding and hilly layout.

Donington Park has a long history in the world of racing and has been host to some unforgettable moments, including arguably the greatest racing lap ever. In 1993 Senna weaved his way from 5th position to 1st on the opening lap of the European Grand Prix in his McLaren-Ford MP4/8.

More recently, Donington has been a site for racing across a variety of series, including BTCC, Formula 4, Porsche Carrera Cup, British GT and Ferrari Challenge.

The track will be available as DLC at the end of Q2, as Studio 397 has enacted a plan of quarterly content releases rather than on an ad hoc basis. Be sure to check back with RaceDepartment often, as this is likely one of many new content releases to be announced in the coming weeks.

Are you a fan of Donington Park? Will you buy this DLC? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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About author
Mike Smith
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

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Comments

Ghoults
tr1v1um said:
And when I take a look at the skin section here at RD it's astonishing how much of the content that fill's up some of those grids in AC are ripped content, crapping content basicly from everywhere like ACC, rF2 and the F1 games.
Click to expand...
Wouldn't get on your high horse. On the official rf2 forums the ac ripped nordschleife was being shared for months on end. Not on rd but on official forums. And it didn't even have the proper laser scan mesh. Who knows what I'd find this time around if I went looking....I don't even see how skins for ripped content is somehow making ac bad.
 
T
Ghoults said:
Wouldn't get on your high horse. On the official rf2 forums the ac ripped nordschleife was being shared for months on end. Not on rd but on official forums. And it didn't even have the proper laser scan mesh. Who knows what I'd find this time around if I went looking....I don't even see how skins for ripped content is somehow making ac bad.
Click to expand...
How am I sitting on a high horse when I actually pointed out that both sims get a big part of their full grids simply due to people offering and promoting ripped content, even here on RD? RD is the mainplatform for AC skins, similar issue with the workshop for rF2. Read my comment again and you might actually understand it a bit better and not pull out some obscure AC rip from years ago, wich was very bad btw. I don't have to dive deep into the AC skin section here on RD to see that "some" people seeminly have no issue with using ripped content. Anyway, you can take this observation as is or read something into it.
 
MJQT
stenovitz said:
The main reason why I still here in 2022 in general prefer rF1 to rF2
The rF1 base sim engine together with it's huge amount of high quality full season mods is far superior to rF2 in general. And more of the mods are bulls eye simwise, even though single point tyre modelling compared to rF2's 3-point modelling.
Click to expand...
Such an interesting point, and as someone who's recently been playing a bunch of rF1 (as well as lots of AMS for a while now) I agree it still offers a great experience. :)

One reason for that, I suspect, is that it's the sim for which so many great mods like V8Factor Unleashed, CART Factor, DRM Revival, and F1 1988 (some of which have been converted to other sims) were originally designed, so you get the full experience as designed by the modders. Be that car behaviour, visuals, track mesh, and so on. Unless a conversion to rF2 (or AC, GTR2, and so on) is carefully done by skilled people, it's often not worth driving IMO compared to the original.

There's also the issue of permission -- soooo many mods were created for rF1 then have been ported without permission. So it's better to drive them in rF1 to respect the original modders.

That said, there are instances where rF2's complicated tyre model shines way over and above anything rF1 could be capable of. Take the Stock Car 2018X on a road course like Road Atlanta or VIR. Wow, that thing is visceral and the tyre feel, body roll, etcetera is so immediate in your hands... it's nuts. If rF2 continues to improve AI and thus I decide to start buying DLC again like this Donington track, I'll be taking the Stock Car there for sure.
 
MJQT
wolftree said:
I'm sure more sim devs would love to have complete series in their games. But I can imagine there are multiple difficulties involved:

- excessive licensing fees asked by the license holders
- licensing negotiations involving multiple manufacturers, some of whom have no interest in racing sims or providing any data
- lack of laser scan data for the more obscure tracks
Click to expand...
Great points! :thumbsup:

The only thing I'm unsure about in your argument is how much licensing is a major issue. For example, sim devs must already have some kind of license to release the individual cars and tracks we see nowadays... but that doesn't stop them. Besides, some devs create unlicensed versions of cars to great success e.g. Reiza's Formula and SuperV8 cars. Plus, you can make outstanding tracks with LIDAR data and "made-up" road mesh.

wolftree said:
Then when they release a game and it has five cars and seven tracks, people go "why should I play this AC has 1000 cars and tracks etc." :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
:roflmao: yes exactly. Although some of what I'm hankering for isn't less cars and tracks, but just more focus in the ones chosen. So instead of (to make up some numbers) 10 cars from 5 series and the usual 10 supposedly popular tracks (Spa, Monza, Brands Hatch, etc) you get in other sims, you get 10 cars from 2 series in a given year and 5 tracks (popular or not) that each series ran in that year.
 
passenger
We already had a mod of the track, but this one should be much better in terms of feel and looks.

This, along the new graphics improvements, especially the rain effects and reflections, will make
the Sim look fantastic!
 
F_B
Premium
You can say about rf2 whatever you want but their official tracks are impressive (Sebring, Portland, Le Mans). Wish this sim was more user friendly and had decent AI (I remember the days when it was regarded to have the best AI... what happened?)
 
S
F_B said:
You can say about rf2 whatever you want but their official tracks are impressive (Sebring, Portland, Le Mans).
Click to expand...
Especially Portland, Daytona RC and Sebring are main reasons why I on occations still visits rF2. Combined with the Camaro + GT3 + LMP3 classes, it's still simracing topping the wreath cake on several parameters as tyre wear, weather mix, immerson of track surface impact, etc.
F_B said:
Wish this sim was more user friendly and had decent AI (I remember the days when it was regarded to have the best AI... what happened?)
Click to expand...
Yes, something must have turned the wrong direction recent year.
S397 introducing Portland was from the gun an AI blast for me in either the simultaneous released Radical SR3's or mix of Camaro + GT3 races.
With just tiny tuning of the AI's I had real close racing and even getting distance after pitstop experiencing strong comebacks from AI's close to race end. Of which I by that time hadn't experienced before (but later in some AMS2 combos).

But my recent AI race was underwhelming. OK close when I was in mid pack race.
But after very close racing, overtaking caused sudden gap of 2-3 secs to the car behind. And then after the hunt for P1 is obtained, even with AI at 120%, it becomes a snoozefest to the checkered flag. Simply due to the AI's looses some sort of race craft mid race. And it's not me getting better. I'm just getting older and older.

But I've discovered this phenomenae recently in other modern sims.

Whereas some mod packs to my older rF1 and GTR2 sims delivers well on the competitive parameters on the long distance (admitted not exactly characteristic for basic rF1 and GTR2 versions). E.g. an artificial full 1958 Belgium GP rF1-event (24 laps) at a 1958 Spa GP track mod raced with full grid of HSO 1976 Formula Atlantic was just such a close AI blast right to the final flag, delivering a real authentic impression with bulls eye difference in AI driver qual/race craft, difference in engine vulnerability/carfailure, etc.
And just with the standard AI driver names you even felt the breath of history during a +3hour event incl. qual, warmup setup mingling and race day.
So much in fact that I chose to take another 3 hours after a a short break, once in a while thinking "screw the quarralsome barking about outdated graphics and outdated sim enging - this is real AI sim racing".

It's nice when you rarely hit that sim feeling of everything coming together sim-, AI- and trackwise.

Might somehow appear as remarkable when it's more frequent experience that perfect immersion for a 15 year old sim compared to a more modern.

But just think of, if rF2 was overhauled with same giant amount of high quality mods as had been the case for rF1 with e.g. authentic open wheelers ranging 9 decades, different continents and classes, historic standard car series, Group A, Group 5, Group B, Group C, japanese series, SuperV8's, F458-series, Zonda's, BMW M1's, etc, etc, etc.

I welcome modern Donnington to rF2.
However, the intro video doesn't exactly tease me as a payable DLC, I'm afraid.
But fine if it was a free gift, just as Reiza's procedure on close to a monthly basis.

Wish list for rF2:
1937 Donnington, ofcourse with authentic track surface, tarmac, sourroundings, etc.
And, ofcourse, included a full grid of authentic 1937 Grand Prix cars from the historic event.
Sorry, dreaming :)
 
Last edited:
Ole Marius Myrvold
Staff
Premium
stenovitz said:
However, the intro video doesn't exactly tease me as a payable DLC, I'm afraid.
But fine if it was a free gift, just as Reiza's procedure on close to a monthly basis.
Click to expand...

It will be a part of a content drop for Q2, so it won't just be the track. Who knows what other snacks may appear :)
 
T
rf2 charges almost as much for its cars and tracks as iRacing while delivering overall not even close of a racing environment.
while i have my issues with iRacings business model i still kind of get behind it because the sim is always being taken care of, is well maintained, they run a tight ship over there.
with rf2 i feel like the business model of ACC or AMS2 would be a much better fit.
make car packs and track packs for around 15 bucks and i will be a happy buyer.
 
V
Premium
TurboT said:
"Are you a fan of Donington Park?"
Yes.

"Will you buy this DLC?"
Of course not, the developers of this game don't even want to look at the Reverb G2+nvidia 3000 series bug. The unsolved bug that gives constant GPU framedrops. So the game was and is and will always be unplayable for me.
Click to expand...
Stop using SteamVR and move to OpenXR. Check on S397 Discord's VR Channel for more information.
The stuttering is gone with OpenXR outside "absurdly" demanding situations.
 
V
Premium
th3orist said:
rf2 charges almost as much for its cars and tracks as iRacing while delivering overall not even close of a racing environment.
while i have my issues with iRacings business model i still kind of get behind it because the sim is always being taken care of, is well maintained, they run a tight ship over there.
with rf2 i feel like the business model of ACC or AMS2 would be a much better fit.
make car packs and track packs for around 15 bucks and i will be a happy buyer.
Click to expand...
Have you checked what was the price of the Q1 pack at launch (1 track and 3 cars)?
It's roughly the price of 1 car in iRacing (€16.80).
 
V
Premium
F_B said:
You can say about rf2 whatever you want but their official tracks are impressive (Sebring, Portland, Le Mans). Wish this sim was more user friendly and had decent AI (I remember the days when it was regarded to have the best AI... what happened?)
Click to expand...
The AI is pretty good and recently it has received improvements, eliminating some of the past snags about "pit logic".
They now select and change tyres and faster class cars no longer get stuck behind slower class cars on the lap they are intending to pit, so multi-class racing is finally possible (on the BETA / Release Candidate build).
As for track behaviour, there are small tweaks (on the player.json file) that can be easily done to achieve a really solid racing experience, particularly if you make sure to do Practice/Quali/Race to set the grid correctly.
 
Last edited:
V
Premium
stenovitz said:
Especially Portland, Daytona RC and Sebring are main reasons why I on occations still visits rF2. Combined with the Camaro + GT3 + LMP3 classes, it's still simracing topping the wreath cake on several parameters as tyre wear, weather mix, immerson of track surface impact, etc.

Yes, something must have turned the wrong direction recent year.
S397 introducing Portland was from the gun an AI blast for me in either the simultaneous released Radical SR3's or mix of Camaro + GT3 races.
With just tiny tuning of the AI's I had real close racing and even getting distance after pitstop experiencing strong comebacks from AI's close to race end. Of which I by that time hadn't experienced before (but later in some AMS2 combos).

But my recent AI race was underwhelming. OK close when I was in mid pack race.
But after very close racing, overtaking caused sudden gap of 2-3 secs to the car behind. And then after the hunt for P1 is obtained, even with AI at 120%, it becomes a snoozefest to the checkered flag. Simply due to the AI's looses some sort of race craft mid race. And it's not me getting better. I'm just getting older and older.

But I've discovered this phenomenae recently in other modern sims.

Whereas some mod packs to my older rF1 and GTR2 sims delivers well on the competitive parameters on the long distance (admitted not exactly characteristic for basic rF1 and GTR2 versions). E.g. an artificial full 1958 Belgium GP rF1-event (24 laps) at a 1958 Spa GP track mod raced with full grid of HSO 1976 Formula Atlantic was just such a close AI blast right to the final flag, delivering a real authentic impression with bulls eye difference in AI driver qual/race craft, difference in engine vulnerability/carfailure, etc.
And just with the standard AI driver names you even felt the breath of history during a +3hour event incl. qual, warmup setup mingling and race day.
So much in fact that I chose to take another 3 hours after a a short break, once in a while thinking "screw the quarralsome barking about outdated graphics and outdated sim enging - this is real AI sim racing".

It's nice when you rarely hit that sim feeling of everything coming together sim-, AI- and trackwise.

Might somehow appear as remarkable when it's more frequent experience that perfect immersion for a 15 year old sim compared to a more modern.

But just think of, if rF2 was overhauled with same giant amount of high quality mods as had been the case for rF1 with e.g. authentic open wheelers ranging 9 decades, different continents and classes, historic standard car series, Group A, Group 5, Group B, Group C, japanese series, SuperV8's, F458-series, Zonda's, BMW M1's, etc, etc, etc.

I welcome modern Donnington to rF2.
However, the intro video doesn't exactly tease me as a payable DLC, I'm afraid.
But fine if it was a free gift, just as Reiza's procedure on close to a monthly basis.

Wish list for rF2:
1937 Donnington, ofcourse with authentic track surface, tarmac, sourroundings, etc.
And, ofcourse, included a full grid of authentic 1937 Grand Prix cars from the historic event.
Sorry, dreaming :)
Click to expand...
There is a 1930's Formula 1 mod on the S397 Forum, I think it's a conversion from rF1 or AMS.
 
Antonio Castagna
v4v474 said:
Have you checked what was the price of the Q1 pack at launch (1 track and 3 cars)?
It's roughly the price of 1 car in iRacing (€16.80).
Click to expand...
ok, but in iRacing all cars and tracks are regularly corrected by bugs and updated, in rF2 it is much rarer, so the prices of single cars and tracks on iR are worth at least 3 times as much as those of rF2, given that once released then over time they are abandoned and no longer updated, at least for the most part it is so.
 
MJQT
stenovitz said:
Whereas some mod packs to my older rF1 and GTR2 sims delivers well on the competitive parameters on the long distance (admitted not exactly characteristic for basic rF1 and GTR2 versions). E.g. an artificial full 1958 Belgium GP rF1-event (24 laps) at a 1958 Spa GP track mod raced with full grid of HSO 1976 Formula Atlantic was just such a close AI blast right to the final flag, delivering a real authentic impression with bulls eye difference in AI driver qual/race craft, difference in engine vulnerability/carfailure, etc.
And just with the standard AI driver names you even felt the breath of history during a +3hour event incl. qual, warmup setup mingling and race day.
So much in fact that I chose to take another 3 hours after a a short break, once in a while thinking "screw the quarralsome barking about outdated graphics and outdated sim enging - this is real AI sim racing".

It's nice when you rarely hit that sim feeling of everything coming together sim-, AI- and trackwise.
Click to expand...
Fantastic stuff. :thumbsup: Would you be willing to make a post in the GTR2 and/or rF1 forums about some more of these great cars/track combos for long-distance AI racing you've found and whatever tweaks you've needed to make? I personally would love to see more posts with suggestions like this - I'm also a fan of trying long AI races, but it's so hard to wade through the sea of mods (some good, some bad, some okay but ill-suited to AI racing).

Also, if people find such car/track combos for rF2, I'd be interested in hearing it as well! :)
 
V
Premium
Antonio Castagna said:
ok, but in iRacing all cars and tracks are regularly corrected by bugs and updated, in rF2 it is much rarer, so the prices of single cars and tracks on iR are worth at least 3 times as much as those of rF2, given that once released then over time they are abandoned and no longer updated, at least for the most part it is so.
Click to expand...
What?! All DLC tracks have received updates, including Nords (twice), Lemans, Sebring (twice already), Monza and Spa (small tweaks), ... even free tracks received improvements such as Lime Rock and Zandvoort - twice just last year.
Some DLC cars do need some refresh, but its unfathomable how a simple fact-check quickly diverted you to making a completely different point - which is still incorrect.
PS: By the way, as far as I remember, iRacing's Spa and Nords are pretty outdated scans and have outdated track features (others could be too).
PPS: There is no harm in praising iRacing on its strong suits, but to demean other sims with completely preposterous affirmations it is just lame...
 
B
I'm leaving simracing for a while now and I've been banned on discord and rF2 forums, but the last news and updates I've seen by S397 actually makes me feel like it can have a happy ending and I'm really happy for all the community and Devs.

There's still the issue of updating tires of older cars and still a nagging issue with the physics of recent iteractions, but I've since grown out of simracing after some extensive revisitation of many games and left disappointed either way... Still loved my time spent on this conflicting hobby that it is for lots of us!

I hope S397 is picked up by a serious company or that MSG is taken by a serious leadership because right now what is being seen is promising!
 

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