rFactor 2's Quarterly Content Release and UI Refresh Out Now

rFactor 2 Quarterly Content Release 01.jpg
An update to rFactor 2 is live now on Steam, and the sim now welcomes four new pieces of content.

Studio 397's social media has kept us busy over the past weeks with the implementation of a new user interface and teasers of upcoming content. That content is now live on Steam for purchase, and the UI has been given an update.

The rapid-fire nature of the content release is part of a new strategy from Studio 397 and Motorsport Games for rFactor 2. Rather than release each bit of new content as it is becomes ready for release, there will be quarterly releases of multiple projects the team has been working on.

The four pieces of content welcomed this quarter include three new cars and a racing circuit. The first and perhaps most notable release is the Dallara IR18 INDYCAR. Studio 397 has bundled all of the teams, drivers and liveries from the 2021 NTT INDYCAR Series for this release.

Along with the INDYCAR, another impactful piece of content released today was Daytona International Speedway. This track has seen a recent boost in popularity in sim racing, with Automobilista 2 and iRacing already having official versions of the circuit, plus a popular mod for Assetto Corsa and an upcoming appearance in Gran Turismo 7.

Two more cars to join the sim this quarter are the Ligier JS P320 and BMW M4 GT3. The former joins a Norma competitor in the LMP3 class, and the latter helps fill out the GT3 class. If you've yet to try the LMP3 class in this title, you may enjoy the ease of use of the car thanks to its aero package and low, wide stance. The BMW has proven to be a popular choice of car in Assetto Corsa Competizione, and should find itself many fans in rF2.

With so many new choices now on offer in rFactor 2, it may be tough to decide what to purchase. If you've bought and experienced any of the four new pieces of content, let us know your thoughts below in the comments.
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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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V
Premium
davehenrie said:
There was a small aero adjustment about 2 years ago to try and keep the cars from spinning at every compound corner.(like a right/left/right) But other than a mention they were looking into the car's ffb, we haven't seen any real change. TIKOA
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The AI still has trouble keeping it clean on the AMG, but from a driver perspective, apart from being impossible - even on capable hands (not the case) - to beat the faster GT3, I see absolutely no issue with the car.

Base setup, the back goes out very easily, but I am a putrid driver and love to throw it around Nords and I believe that the FFB feels great: I can feel the weight transfers, the understeer, can catch slides, etc...
 
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Wreckoning said:
Yep, just did a quick race on 100% AI had lapped the entire field before the end of lap 7, AI seemed to be running like it was a pace lap.

Does make you wonder about how much testing they do. Given the content they just released testing to see if the new Indycar worked on the Daytona Oval at 100% AI and gave a half decent race would seem like something you'd test before release. Given the performance of the AI it doesn't seem to be the case unless a bug crept in post testing.
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Was the AI actually using he right aero config? I think you need to force the upgrade option, atleast that's how you had to do it in the older UI versions. I only tried the IR18 with AI at Portland so far and they seemed pretty damn fast.
 
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Premium
tr1v1um said:
Was the AI actually using he right aero config? I think you need to force the upgrade option, atleast that's how you had to do it in the older UI versions. I only tried the IR18 with AI at Portland so far and they seemed pretty damn fast.
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I’ll give that a try next time out, cheers.
 
C
Havner said:
Why would Studio-397 ever sell or release something that's bugged? :cautious:
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They have been selling something that is bugged. One of the earlier GT3 releases still have the reverse light turned on when braking.

The game has some amazing driving physics but the polish of the game is disgusting.
 
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D
I like the game rfactor2, in particular the feeling of driving, the cars are beautiful, the tracks are not always. I thought that the novelty was not interesting to me, but I bought it out of curiosity. And I liked it.
 
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T_rac3
I've read all the comments. What I can say ...
I enjoy rFactor 2 off line and on line. In fact I enjoy all the sims I have (all of them) and never uninstalled any no matter what. All have good parts, and all of them have bad parts.
I love sim racing, and I'm in it for over 20 years. I like the fact we had so many to chose from, and I think there is one for anyone. I don't understand why ... all of this. It is just sad.
Just play what you like.
About AI, for me the learning thing it does the job. And also, usually I made some laps to have my lap time reference then I hit CTRL+X and watch the AI time. If it is a big difference between my time and AI time I change them up or down, restart the session and hit CTRL+X again.
When AI time match my time, I can enjoy some great offline races.
And also it is very important to run qualy. The fastest cars will start in front and not random like in case you didn't run qualy. If you don't have time, hit CTRL+X again.
 
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Peter Kerényi
T_rac3 said:
I've read all the comments. What I can say ...
I enjoy rFactor 2 off line and on line. In fact I enjoy all the sims I have (all of them) and never uninstalled any no matter what. All have good parts, and all of them have bad parts.
I love sim racing, and I'm in it for over 20 years. I like the fact we had so many to chose from, and I think there is one for anyone. I don't understand why ... all of this. It is just sad.
Just play what you like.
About AI, for me the learning thing it does the job. And also, usually I made some laps to have my lap time reference then I hit CTRL+X and watch the AI time. If it is a big difference between my time and AI time I change them up or down, restart the session and hit CTRL+X again.
When AI time match my time, I can enjoy some great offline races.
And also it is very important to run qualy. The fast car will start in front and not random like in case you didn't run qualy. If you don't have time, hit CTRL+X again.
Click to expand...
I critiqued the AI in this thread and previous threads. I would like to emphasize that I don't really have issues racing the AI. I have issues with functions such as slipsteaming, pit in laps, pit strategy, lapping slower classes being broken in many many cases.

Of course we all have different needs, expectations, perception, etc. It is perfectly fine that you enjoy rF2 at its current state, I am happy for you. However with the single player being "broken" to a certain extent and multiplayer being behind multiple paywalls, how do you expect rF2 to grow into success?

Imagine a new user starting rF2. Manages to set it up, the controls, the graphics, to be servicable (will require tweaking, frustration with high probability). Starts a practice session with forced pre-installed content. There is a high possibility of choosing a car/track that looks just old. Bad impression. The next step? Tries the AI. Bam, another bad impression with high probability. Will that person try teaching the AI as you suggested (no info about it in sim) or even go online (to find servers running on ancient free tracks like Mores from 2013 with the CS for another bad impression) or just refund the game because we can do that now.

rFactor 2 is a great simulator, for people who already know the simracing scene, with certain limited content, in certain limited scenarios (like your method, which will only make it servicable for single-class racing). However, it has many flaws. Us, who critique the game, please understand, we want it to improve, for our experiences as well for the success of the sim. I personally strongly think that improving the AI generally would bring a lot of new players and old players back. If the multi-class AI was good (a few "tiny" bugs away that are ignored) I would have already gotten the new DLC pack for example and I would be racing at Daytona... as much as me free time allows.

You write "just play what you like". Well I would like to play offline and recreate Daytona, Sebring, Le Mans races. rFactor 2 has the content for it. But the core of the sim simply won't allow a good experience. Hence criticism.

You "don't understand why... all of this"? Why don't you welcome people pushing to improve your sim of choice to be even better and actually successful? Would you not want that? Because that is all we want. Not failure, not bad PR, but improvements.
 
A
Peter Kerényi said:
I critiqued the AI in this thread and previous threads. I would like to emphasize that I don't really have issues racing the AI. I have issues with functions such as slipsteaming, pit in laps, pit strategy, lapping slower classes being broken in many many cases.

Of course we all have different needs, expectations, perception, etc. It is perfectly fine that you enjoy rF2 at its current state, I am happy for you. However with the single player being "broken" to a certain extent and multiplayer being behind multiple paywalls, how do you expect rF2 to grow into success?

Imagine a new user starting rF2. Manages to set it up, the controls, the graphics, to be servicable (will require tweaking, frustration with high probability). Starts a practice session with forced pre-installed content. There is a high possibility of choosing a car/track that looks just old. Bad impression. The next step? Tries the AI. Bam, another bad impression with high probability. Will that person try teaching the AI as you suggested (no info about it in sim) or even go online (to find servers running on ancient free tracks like Mores from 2013 with the CS for another bad impression) or just refund the game because we can do that now.

rFactor 2 is a great simulator, for people who already know the simracing scene, with certain limited content, in certain limited scenarios (like your method, which will only make it servicable for single-class racing). However, it has many flaws. Us, who critique the game, please understand, we want it to improve, for our experiences as well for the success of the sim. I personally strongly think that improving the AI generally would bring a lot of new players and old players back. If the multi-class AI was good (a few "tiny" bugs away that are ignored) I would have already gotten the new DLC pack for example and I would be racing at Daytona... as much as me free time allows.

You write "just play what you like". Well I would like to play offline and recreate Daytona, Sebring, Le Mans races. rFactor 2 has the content for it. But the core of the sim simply won't allow a good experience. Hence criticism.

You "don't understand why... all of this"? Why don't you welcome people pushing to improve your sim of choice to be even better and actually successful? Would you not want that? Because that is all we want. Not failure, not bad PR, but improvements.
Click to expand...
This.

I love RF2, and until the past fortnight had given up on it for AMS2 instead.

Since the new UI, I’ve been playing RF2 a lot again. So much, that I’ve bought loads of DLC.

Sadly, as I speak, it’s reinstalling the DLC, after uninstalling it 10 mins ago, for some weird reason. And it’s just mucked up all my wheel settings, which I’ve had to reset.

I love RF2, but it’s flawed. It’s like an old pet that you adore even though it occasionally pisses on the carpet.
 
D
Alex Butters said:
This.

I love RF2, and until the past fortnight had given up on it for AMS2 instead.

Since the new UI, I’ve been playing RF2 a lot again. So much, that I’ve bought loads of DLC.

Sadly, as I speak, it’s reinstalling the DLC, after uninstalling it 10 mins ago, for some weird reason. And it’s just mucked up all my wheel settings, which I’ve had to reset.

I love RF2, but it’s flawed. It’s like an old pet that you adore even though it occasionally pisses on the carpet.
Click to expand...
Just an FYI, rF2 does remove old versions of DLC prior to installing new versions.(unless the old version is tied to a mod) A lot of users have seen the un-installing and thought the game was stealing back their paid content. And, if you have been away awhile, there can be lots of other updates that get removed and then replaced. It is what it is...Marcel was even commenting on it this morning, sounds like it is something they would like to address, but won't be anytime soon.
 
B
My thoughts on this matter are quite different, and somewhat radical.
Please don't take any of this as a personal attack, I hope we're all civilized adults sharing the same passion.
Peter Kerényi said:
However with the single player being "broken" to a certain extent and multiplayer being behind multiple paywalls, how do you expect rF2 to grow into success?
Click to expand...
For me, rF2 is already a fantastic success. The feel of driving. What a joy.
The original rFactor was a major success, but not because it was polished to perfection.
It had a horrendous AI and a very unstable UI that had a tendency of crashing if you put too much mods into the sim.
The FFB was a nightmare. You had to tune the RealFeel plugin for every single mod, and even then, it was nowhere near as good as it is in rF2.
The graphics were pretty mediocre, even for its era.
Peter Kerényi said:
Imagine a new user starting rF2. Manages to set it up, the controls, the graphics, to be servicable (will require tweaking, frustration with high probability).
Click to expand...
This is a problem with society today in general.
People take everything for granted and don't have the patience to be bothered with anything.
I want it all, I want it now - that's the prevalent attitude.
People are used to having ultra fast internet and smart phones with zillion cores. Everything is plug n' play.
When I was a kid, the concept of driving something like rF2 in VR was just a dream. A dream I had never though it would become true in my lifetime.
Back in the day, PC racing sims were catered towards hard core racing/motorsports fanatics.
The average gamer surely didn't want to bother with Indy Car Racing, Grand Prix Legends, Cart Precision Racing etc. Were those polished and without a single flaw? Hell no.
Back then, PC simming was so ghetto, even if you had an exclusive piece of gear like a wheel, it was so hard to control a car. You had to be a fanatical masochist to like this kind of thing. And the average Joes were into Ridge Racer/OutRun.
Frustration with tweaking?
Tweaking was an integral part of simracing.
Hell, even installing an OS back then required a bit of tweaking.
My point is - simmers were once geeks, now they are gamers.
Peter Kerényi said:
rFactor 2 is a great simulator. Us, who critique the game, please understand, we want it to improve, for our experiences as well for the success of the sim.
Click to expand...
I think this is the main reason why so many people today dislike rF2.
It is a great simulator, but a lousy game. And that clumsy fusion is something I'm not a fan of.
But compared with the rest, rF2 is way less "gamy".
I'm not saying it is the best and the most accurate. If that Kyuubeey guy is right(and I tend to believe him), it's not.
But it feels just right. Even a pro sim engineer admitted in another post that it has an edge over the competition in the handling feel department.
My point is - rF2 should never have been marketed as a game. It should've stayed under ISI and off Steam as a buggy sim software for the enthusiasts.
Peter Kerényi said:
You "don't understand why... all of this"? Why don't you welcome people pushing to improve your sim of choice to be even better and actually successful? Would you not want that? Because that is all we want. Not failure, not bad PR, but improvements.
Click to expand...
In conclusion:
I don't want this sim to be a commercial success accepted by everyone. That strive towards success and acclamation is the sole reason rF2 ended up this way. First they opened to a broader audience with going to Steam, then a sell out to 397, and then the MGM thing.

My advice to you is - accept rF2 for what it is.
It will never be successful, it will most likely never improve in the areas you would like.
It is heavily oriented towards that eSport bullsh...
Hence all the constant complaints become pointless, and to some people repetitive.

I'm using the old, original UI from 2012.
I'm driving only single class races.
And I'm having a blast.

If someday they remove the old UI from the launching options I will show them the finger and switch to an ancient rfactor 2 lite build 1098 that's been lying on my USB HDD for ages. I've even got some high quality tracks and F1/Group C mod versions from that period.
I will ditch the VR and go for triples.
I will say hello to the great AI it once was.
And I will be entertained for ages.
I'm just that kind of guy.
 
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A
davehenrie said:
Just an FYI, rF2 does remove old versions of DLC prior to installing new versions.(unless the old version is tied to a mod) A lot of users have seen the un-installing and thought the game was stealing back their paid content. And, if you have been away awhile, there can be lots of other updates that get removed and then replaced. It is what it is...Marcel was even commenting on it this morning, sounds like it is something they would like to address, but won't be anytime soon.
Click to expand...
Hi, yes I’m aware of that. What was a BIT weird was that I had the DLC, then next time I loaded it up some of it was missing completely from the car / track lists. Restarted the computer and it reinstalled next time. I’m assuming something weird happened because I had to change all my wheel settings.

I’ve sorted it all now (largely through trial and error!) but it is something us PC sim racers have to put up with I guess.
 
D
Alex Butters said:
Hi, yes I’m aware of that. What was a BIT weird was that I had the DLC, then next time I loaded it up some of it was missing completely from the car / track lists. Restarted the computer and it reinstalled next time. I’m assuming something weird happened because I had to change all my wheel settings.

I’ve sorted it all now (largely through trial and error!) but it is something us PC sim racers have to put up with I guess.
Click to expand...
This may or may not be of help:
When you join certain online servers, that have a specific series(not like WEC or Nascar but like the Current rF2 servers which are mirrors of the Competiton system.) So when you join the server, you are essentially joining the 2022 CS Indycar event, for example. Then when you return to the main menus, you are no longer in the ALL CARS & TRACKS heading but only the 2022 CS Indycar heading. It only shows the cars & tracks for that particular event. Click the Series header at the top of the menu and then choosing All Cars & Tracks will reload all your normal content.
 
T
Peter Kerényi said:
I critiqued the AI in this thread and previous threads. I would like to emphasize that I don't really have issues racing the AI. I have issues with functions such as slipsteaming, pit in laps, pit strategy, lapping slower classes being broken in many many cases.

Of course we all have different needs, expectations, perception, etc. It is perfectly fine that you enjoy rF2 at its current state, I am happy for you. However with the single player being "broken" to a certain extent and multiplayer being behind multiple paywalls, how do you expect rF2 to grow into success?

Imagine a new user starting rF2. Manages to set it up, the controls, the graphics, to be servicable (will require tweaking, frustration with high probability). Starts a practice session with forced pre-installed content. There is a high possibility of choosing a car/track that looks just old. Bad impression. The next step? Tries the AI. Bam, another bad impression with high probability. Will that person try teaching the AI as you suggested (no info about it in sim) or even go online (to find servers running on ancient free tracks like Mores from 2013 with the CS for another bad impression) or just refund the game because we can do that now.

rFactor 2 is a great simulator, for people who already know the simracing scene, with certain limited content, in certain limited scenarios (like your method, which will only make it servicable for single-class racing). However, it has many flaws. Us, who critique the game, please understand, we want it to improve, for our experiences as well for the success of the sim. I personally strongly think that improving the AI generally would bring a lot of new players and old players back. If the multi-class AI was good (a few "tiny" bugs away that are ignored) I would have already gotten the new DLC pack for example and I would be racing at Daytona... as much as me free time allows.

You write "just play what you like". Well I would like to play offline and recreate Daytona, Sebring, Le Mans races. rFactor 2 has the content for it. But the core of the sim simply won't allow a good experience. Hence criticism.

You "don't understand why... all of this"? Why don't you welcome people pushing to improve your sim of choice to be even better and actually successful? Would you not want that? Because that is all we want. Not failure, not bad PR, but improvements.
Click to expand...
Trust me, from the time that I've spent in sim racing forums over the last ten years - yep, I am a Rookie :redface: - reaching from virtualR, bsimracing and Racedepartement the people who are the most vocal don't want to see a product succeed. They want to see it go up in flames. And based on some of the comments from the usual suspects who have a very clear agenda where and when to join a conversation, who barely play the products that they target, it just shows the sim racing scene in a nutshell. These forums should be a source of inspiration for any developer, but it's no big surprise that developers have stopped reading blogs like RD and you won't see any of them taking part in discussions. And you know why? Any sane person would get big depressions just wading through the sh*t.

I don't want to say, that negative critique is out of place or shouldn't be voiced, but as all people (should) know: the sound makes the music. Some people have really forgotten that there are individuals like you and me at the recieving end. If I was a developer, I wouldn't give a **** about a certain person who recently got banned on the forum and is pretty vocal in this threat and steers up trouble. There is a big difference between critique and some well executed drama queening.

We all know about the short commings of rF2, but at one point it's just fair to give it a rest. They just fixed the main issue of this product in a solid update. Yet some people simply jump the gun and expect them to fix everything at once as if they were entitled to get everything they want in an instance - and in the case of rF2 for free. And nobody forces anyone to buy anything. There are free versions for most of the DLC content available, so use that incase that money is an issue but don't pretend that the official DLCs are of bad quality. There is a well done Daytona, some very solid Indycars (free and payware). There is more than most of the people can master anyway.
 
Ghoults
T_rac3 said:
Just play what you like.
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I always cringe when I read this on rf2 forums. The age old "if you don't like it, just go away". Not only does it hold rf2 back but saying it implies that rf2 issues are somehow subjective. Matters of taste and opinion. Some are but some aren't. The server browser is still objectively bad and has missing features. What cars, what session, anything about what is going on. Objectively literally all other sims provide that info. It is not matter of taste. It is not subjective feeling of something being just different to rf2.

Just like with loading times it seems the only way to get through of the wall of rf2 fanboys is to just keep coming to these rf2 news threads and mention all the issues that are hurting the game and hope the dev becomes bothered enough to fix it at some point. Loading times have been improved a great deal now. Great success. But if the matter of loading times had been left to these T_rac3s and other people who respond to issues by just telling to go play something else.. I doubt anything would have changed.

I don't particularly care about rf2 ai as I am online player. But the only way to get those fixed seems to be mentioning them in every news thread. So I'd say go for it. I'd hope more people would start complaining about the rf2 multiplayer and dlc issues and we could drag a lot of rf2 fanboys kicking and screaming to 2020s with some fixing and patching. And make rf2 more popular by removing obvious issues that cause people to take the advice of rf2 fanboys and go play other sims instead.

bozakn said:
This is a problem with society today in general.
People take everything for granted and don't have the patience to be bothered with anything.
I want it all, I want it now - that's the prevalent attitude.
People are used to having ultra fast internet and smart phones with zillion cores. Everything is plug n' play.
When I was a kid, the concept of driving something like rF2 in VR was just a dream. A dream I had never though it would become true in my lifetime.
Click to expand...
I'd guess it is good to have moderate achievable dreams but I live in world where things progress. New stuff is supposed to be better. What was good enough in the 80s and 90s, or in the last generation, is not good enough anymore. If a sim gets left behind because its developer makes bad decisions then the reasons are just that. Not that "society sucks" or "idiocracy is here". If a sim has issues that don't get fixed and is just less advanced than its competitors then it is not the fault of its users or the society if people don't play it.

It is yet another rf2 fanboy issue where rf2 is somehow the gold standard of simracing and anybody who doesn't like it is not just good enough to be called a simracer. But now also wants everything now, is entitled and just plain stupid and lazy, I'd guess. Nope. Society is fine. We are seeing a lot more simracers every day. More sims, more players, more coverage in the press, more big events and pro drivers promoting our sport because they actually like it. Are we really heading towards doom and are people becoming stupider just because one person is mad that his dream sim is not the most popular one? Or some dare to criticize it.

I like this update. The new ui is good. Hasn't gotten in my way once. I like the competition servers. I love the new loading times. I appreciate the effort that went into this and I'm going to play more rf2 now on. Is it because I am now less stupid, less lazy and less entitled or is it because rf2 has improved a little bit?

I hope everybody who has tried rf2 somewhere around last 8 years will give rf2 another chance now. It is not perfect but there is enough there to justify another chance imho. Not because rf2 deserves it but because it is actually fun and worthwhile to play some rf2 now. Try the competition servers. There are people racing, it is not a ghost town. The competition system works and there are races every 30minutes. The cars are fun to drive. The usf2000 is super fun. The alpine rookie car is also fine. The tracks are fine. That is all free content.

The ui is not awful anymore. The schedules are fine, the events are fine and overall doing a comp race is a positive experience. Loading a session happens quickly enough. I'd honestly hope people would give it a go and then come to the forums and roast rf2 for its issues. Or just post that they had a positive experience. That will make rf2 more popular and drives it forward. Blaming the society won't get this sim anywhere.
 
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What's needed for simracing in 2024?

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