rFactor 2 | April Release Candidate Brings Fixes to Sound and Wet Weather


A new release candidate is available for rFactor 2 via Steam which previews a long list of upcoming changes to the title, including improved sounds, engine and brake cooling and shift protection for select open-wheelers, and improvements to wet weather driving.

For those looking to preview what will be coming to rFactor 2 in the coming months, a new release candidate build is now live.

The preview build brings a long list of changes to the title, highlighted by global improvements to the in-game sound engine and the wet weather experience.

Studio 397 notes that the changes to the sound engine will immediately be applied to all cars, but specific improvements will be applied in time to certain cars.

There are also physics improvements available with this build, but they currently only apply to the Dallara IR-18 and Formula Pro vehicles, and these updated cars can be found temporarily in the "TEST" category from the vehicle selection screen. Each has received a new shift protection feature, along with improved engine and brake cooling physics.

Racing in the rain will also be an improved experience in rFactor 2, as the S397 team has enhanced how the rain accumulates and evaporates, as well as how AI cars deal with adverse track conditions.

The full list of changes available in the new test build can be found on the next page and in rFactor 2's blog, along with how to opt into release candidates via Steam. Let us know your thoughts on this build, or anything else rFactor 2 related, 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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BrunoBæ
Sound
New 3D Sound Engine
Increased amount of simultaneous effects to 256
Support for full surround sound setups
HRTF support (Binaural headphone experience)
Every car now causes audible ambient noise around the whole track


This sounds really promissing.:)
Not a gamechanger for me - but I will from now on be following info about rF2 closer.
Uninstalled it years ago because of mandatory crashes and completely bullocs on my HD.

But it could be a bit more informative if Studio397 told us which new sound engine they are introducing.
Because a fully homegrown one is not plausible - or desirable.:rolleyes:
 
S
As offline racing concerned still in the top of my favourite racing sim in VR.

Online multiplayer on the other hand needs lobby functionality to create and invite a friend. I tried joining a server with track I have and somehow every server needed to download a lot of other stuff which after 20 min was still on 10%. So for online racing with a buddy I was forced to play other racing games such as AMS2 which do have that functionality. I gifted my buddy rfactor 2 and in the end we couldnt play together. Big let down. Please make this next on your list.
 
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X
I tried the Release Candidate. I recommend you turn up the Onboard Sound to 100%, and drive your favorite GT3 / GTE / LMP Car, Formula / Taatus, and the Alpine Cup. It sounds amazing; mostly because onboard, the sounds from the outside are a lot more pronounced than the engine now.
 
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X
Ternauwies2020 said:
As offline racing concerned still in the top of my favourite racing sim in VR.

Online multiplayer on the other hand needs lobby functionality to create and invite a friend. I tried joining a server with track I have and somehow every server needed to download a lot of other stuff which after 20 min was still on 10%. So for online racing with a buddy I was forced to play other racing games such as AMS2 which do have that functionality. I gifted my buddy rfactor 2 and in the end we couldnt play together. Big let down. Please make this next on your list.
Click to expand...
You should learn to host your own server. It works by having a Dedicated client, creating a "Series" by packaging your chosen car and track, and then using it on the RF2 Dedicated Server client. Yes, it'll take quite some effort, but it's well worth it. Let me know if you need more help.
 
Ole Marius Myrvold
Staff
Premium
Ternauwies2020 said:
Online multiplayer on the other hand needs lobby functionality to create and invite a friend. I tried joining a server with track I have and somehow every server needed to download a lot of other stuff which after 20 min was still on 10%. So for online racing with a buddy I was forced to play other racing games such as AMS2 which do have that functionality. I gifted my buddy rfactor 2 and in the end we couldnt play together. Big let down. Please make this next on your list.
Click to expand...

That all depends on what's on the server-mod. Take the RD servers for rF2 club racing, we make new mod for each race, only containing the track and car(s) we will use that week.
However, if you run a public server, you may have one car/class, but loads of tracks to have some variety. Then the users have to download all content they don't have before joining.

It could be a good thing if it showed what content was on the server, either before joining, or after downloading the rfmod file, so you can choose to proceed or not after that.
That being said, some people still make the rfmod file containing all content, instead of just "pointers". So if the make it contain the content, it would be as large as all files regardless. If just "pointers" that file would be 4-6kb, and should be fine to DL, and get a list of what content is needed.
 
D
Xierra said:
I tried the Release Candidate. I recommend you turn up the Onboard Sound to 100%, and drive your favorite GT3 / GTE / LMP Car, Formula / Taatus, and the Alpine Cup. It sounds amazing; mostly because onboard, the sounds from the outside are a lot more pronounced than the engine now.
Click to expand...
small hotfix just came out that fixes the AI not driving and fully updated the Oreca 07. (Zytek/Gibson is my favorite sounding engine...popPOPpop!)
 
Ole Marius Myrvold
Staff
Premium
eg01st said:
My first impressions after 30 minutes of trying were bad. Car engine sound was set to 25% by default and it got lost in other noises around. Simple fix.
But AI clearly needs work, or there is another setting that needs to be changed. 1st race with mod F1 cars was ok, bet then 6 tries in a row on Spa and Silverstone AI would just stay on grid with engines off. Several restarts each time, 2 different car classes. Official content.

Turned it off. See you in a few months when this is fixed.
Click to expand...

RC Hotfix Released
Client 8558551
Dedi 8558556
- Fixed AI not having fuel in some circumstances at the start of races.
- Fixed default camera profiles for Freelook
- Added Moza[sic] Controller Profiles

Like I said, you have joined in on beta. Issues are to be expected.
 
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D
Ternauwies2020 said:
Online multiplayer on the other hand needs lobby functionality to create and invite a friend. I tried joining a server with track I have and somehow every server needed to download a lot of other stuff which after 20 min was still on 10%
Click to expand...
Yeah this is exactly my experience, oh and once it's finished downloading it throws up an error and requires a restart, great!
I only race online, I won't be reinstalling any time soon I guess.
 
kart1
After a few hours of testing the new sound system is promising and I'm looking forward to good optimization with this new sound! Good work S397!
 
eg01st
Ole Marius Myrvold said:
RC Hotfix Released
Client 8558551
Dedi 8558556
- Fixed AI not having fuel in some circumstances at the start of races.
- Fixed default camera profiles for Freelook
- Added Moza[sic] Controller Profiles

Like I said, you have joined in on beta. Issues are to be expected.
Click to expand...
Yeah I was expecting that it's not going to be like final release. But still, even for RC it's too big to miss. Out of 3-4 combos I tried only 1 was working. 75% fail rate is not exactly "some circumstances".
 
eg01st
Ole Marius Myrvold said:
You know this is a "Release Candidate", or better known as a "beta". This is opt-in on Steam, and by opting in you know that you will use a beta-version of it, which is specifically meant to find bugs and issues.
I doubt that the engine sound is set to 25% on default tbh.
AI issues with this RC is known, or as said by S397 staff "please run lapped races for now, seems to be a bug with AI on timed races." in regards to AI not moving, not having engine sound etc. at race start.
It's all a part of being a tester.
I would guess the Release Candidate being there for about a month, before they release it as a stable version after applying fixes to things like this.

The fact that it is a beta, is also why the rFactor 2 Club Races at RaceDepartment, always use stable builds and not Release Candidates :)
Click to expand...
BTW thanks for pointing out the workarounds. I left the rF2 discord a while ago and haven't been following details like these.
 
Ole Marius Myrvold
Staff
Premium
eg01st said:
Yeah I was expecting that it's not going to be like final release. But still, even for RC it's too big to miss. Out of 3-4 combos I tried only 1 was working. 75% fail rate is not exactly "some circumstances".
Click to expand...

Some circumstances = Timed races.
 
Ole Marius Myrvold
Staff
Premium
eg01st said:
BTW thanks for pointing out the workarounds. I left the rF2 discord a while ago and haven't been following details like these.
Click to expand...

I stay away from that Discord as well btw. I just look a bit on the forums around releases to keep up to date as I keep the RD rF2 servers up to date :)
 
BrunoBæ
Ole Marius Myrvold said:
So far I can't see anything pointing to anything else. No FMOD or similar. Seems to be in-house.
Click to expand...
Maybe you are right - but the reason I consider it rather un-plausible is because creating an advanced good working sound engine is a huge task.
Thats the reason many of the sims use some kind of derivatives of as example FMOD.
 
D
BrunoBæ said:
Maybe you are right - but the reason I consider it rather un-plausible is because creating an advanced good working sound engine is a huge task.
Thats the reason many of the sims use some kind of derivatives of as example FMOD.
Click to expand...
The Release Candidate credits list Greg Mills of iRacing fame and the RAD software via Mills Soundworks. Don't know if that is a new credit or has been there all along.
 

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