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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Comments

Peter Kerényi
tr1v1um said:
I have no idea how people can take Austin even remotely serous. The guy published a video about the IR18 before release telling everyone how bad the car is. The guy who told everyone how great PC3 is. 'Nuff said. :rolleyes:

Anyway, got the pack as the content is pretty interesting. Daytona looks and drives great as all the other tracks that got released recently, performance is also pretty good. Didn't see any issues with AI so far, but only drove a few practice sessions. I used the 488 GTE and the LPM2 and DPi cars had no issues lapping me. Still need to do a few races to see how they work in race conditions. The free version had som issues with the rolling starts, so I hope that this works here. There aren't any AI related fixes in the changelog so I wouldn't expect any miracles. Reading the release notes makes it relatively easy to adjust your expectations.

About the cars: only tested the new cars briefly. The IR18 at Portland was very nice. AI is pretty fast, FFB and feel is great, handling seems allright compared to the IR18 from the VRC pack, AC aswell as the rF2 version. Throwing the car throught the fast left right sweeper at the end of the lap is just something else. The cars are very high quality in terms of visuals and one thing I really liked compared to previous releases is the sound of the three cars. Don't expect ACC or RR3 level of sounds, as the sound engine is still what it is, but for rF2 standards it's pretty damn good, especialy from the external cams. When you compare this to the bee swarm of M23s that they still haven't updated, then this is light years ahead. All in all, not a bad deal for the whole pack as long as you aren't expecting huge AI and rule system updates. In that case I would give the advice to hold on. For MP racing and short quick SP races it's a no brainer. Good job on the pack itself.
Click to expand...
That video before was about AI issues with a mod Indycar on an official track. Put his newest video (Daytona + NASCAR) on mute if you don't care about his opinion, only what happens in the sim. Does it suddenly seem right?
 
dcully
FlyAxL said:
I found the AI better on the paid DLC. But did not do more than a race on the free workshop mod. Workshop got nascar road layout which is missing in paid dlc
Click to expand...
DLC has both road and oval according to steam store.
Nevermind! your talking about the 3rd layout sorry.
 
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V
Premium
reshaderacer said:
wow thank you so much I hope you are indeed right and the car gets even better, which I think you are right of course.

It was wasn't it, indeed the indy car had the new tyres only with more to come later.

and I appreciate you saying that. I only came back on in case someone corrected me and thankfully this is true - I knew that in the past when I read originally oh well,

In fact I was that impressed with the BMW car (new) that I came back to say I was going to also buy the Ferrari Gt3 (have the gte) when I saw it was missing!

thanks for the opinion any way, you could well be right since not to take away from those at Le mans the Ligier felt so damn good and I drove it elsewhere as I now have both after today. The aero on those are just so good. which naturally again, I dont understand those who talk down the pack - since now guess what it would make me go back and drive the Cadilac DPI and the norma more.
Click to expand...
The Norma is one of my favorite rF2 cars and, in fact, all cars on the Endurance Pack are wonderful to drive and are only "undermined" by the current/old tyre model.

Once this is addressed - for instance, the Oreca used new tyres during the Virtual 24H Lemans (the GTE didn't) - a new quantum leap with be taken.

This, however, takes time. As I said, it's not like you simply change the tyres and all cars will magically behave consistently / BOP'ed correctly.
 
reshaderacer
tr1v1um said:
I have no idea how people can take Austin even remotely serous. The guy published a video about the IR18 before release telling everyone how bad the car is. The guy who told everyone how great PC3 is. 'Nuff said. :rolleyes:

Anyway, got the pack as the content is pretty interesting. Daytona looks and drives great as all the other tracks that got released recently, performance is also pretty good. Didn't see any issues with AI so far, but only drove a few practice sessions. I used the 488 GTE and the LPM2 and DPi cars had no issues lapping me. Still need to do a few races to see how they work in race conditions. The free version had som issues with the rolling starts, so I hope that this works here. There aren't any AI related fixes in the changelog so I wouldn't expect any miracles. Reading the release notes makes it relatively easy to adjust your expectations.

About the cars: only tested the new cars briefly. The IR18 at Portland was very nice. AI is pretty fast, FFB and feel is great, handling seems allright compared to the IR18 from the VRC pack, AC aswell as the rF2 version. Throwing the car throught the fast left right sweeper at the end of the lap is just something else. The cars are very high quality in terms of visuals and one thing I really liked compared to previous releases is the sound of the three cars. Don't expect ACC or RR3 level of sounds, as the sound engine is still what it is, but for rF2 standards it's pretty damn good, especialy from the external cams. When you compare this to the bee swarm of M23s that they still haven't updated, then this is light years ahead. All in all, not a bad deal for the whole pack as long as you aren't expecting huge AI and rule system updates. In that case I would give the advice to hold on. For MP racing and short quick SP races it's a no brainer. Good job on the pack itself.
Click to expand...
Oh my god is that the guy!?

I took one look at the video thumb nail of some guy on youtube and he hung his head about saying it was good and to make amends released a video saying it was bad. It was hilarious! Opinion forever taken with huge grains of salt, thanks haha! Anyone can make a mistake though, its opinion too. And content seeking.

For mine I think the version is just too good with the tires and to be honest the people at VRC and co and others have not made quality mods like this for such a long time since rf2 did advance quite considerably or the bar did lift is all. They simply can't match this level of quality I would think, this car is something else, and may be it has a few bugs but when you drive the others no they don't stack up.

1 well guess what people who want to use the ignore button - lol just think...

you have a so-called ace youtube channel telling you they think Pcars3 is 'the bomb' - then that ermin ham sandwhich guy throwing RF2 under a bus the moment he could. All in the name of content creation, but anyway

on the flipside you have people saying the lowly mods at VRC (come ON, really>) are legit even near the quality of the IR18

and then you have others, but I am not drunk, and I set that guy right or at least tried to make sure it was not the setup.

You dig?

If that sense takes you thinking I am drunk, so be it. Usually when I have to write a lot - I want to assure you - its more to do with the audience than myself.
 
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T
Peter Kerényi said:
That video before was about AI issues with a mod Indycar on an official track. Put his newest video (Daytona + NASCAR) on mute if you don't care about his opinion, only what happens in the sim. Does it suddenly seem right?
Click to expand...
I don't think that we need to discuss the AI issues all that much. I even touched them in my comment. Besides the fact, that I don't see the big differences between different products when it comes to artificial idiocy, I really wonder if people are actually understanding what is going on. I had races in AC with the official Group C cars at Brands Hatch where some of the AI cars even didn't get off the line and where sitting on the grid for the whole race. Would that qualify for a video called "AC Group C cars aren't that great"? There are tons of bugs, issues and glitches in all of the different titles and it doesn't take a degree in software engineering to spot them. People do oval racing on AC, even if that sim clearly isn't made for it. Good for them. PC2 actually offered "ocal racing". In most of the sims oval racing doesn't really work for obvious reasons, as they aren't tailored towards that kind of racing in first place and it requires very complex programming. Most of them do a bit of it, but none really does it exceptionally well despite the Papyrus engine driven sims. Wierd coincidence, isn't it?

If you look through Austins video history you will see that most of his rants are aimed at MGS recently and softwares that aren't connected to SMS. "rF2 is broken", "rF2 is borderline unplayable", "rF2 indycars aren't great", "Raceroom is broken". When do we see a video from him ripping appart PC3, a game that he advertized on his channel and that has a Steam review of whooping 53% positive overall and 46% of the recent reviews? If people can't see that there is methode behind this, then I don't know what else should make it obvious. Just imagine Paul Jeffrey creating click bait videos how broken Race Room, ACC or AMS2 is. Same principle and it would smell a bit fishy. :)
 
reshaderacer
Sometimes I think maybe the game could benefit from a ghost car in the interim over the AI, or co-op downloaded ghost cars like in AMS2. The AI being off is overblown it sure does suck but its not the end of the world.
 
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RichardHessels
reshaderacer said:
Sometimes I think maybe the game could benefit from a ghost car in the interim over the AI, or co-op downloaded ghost cars like in AMS2. The AI being off is overblown it sure does suck but its not the end of the world.
Click to expand...
I love ghostcar hunts. You can learn so much of it.
 
MJQT
tr1v1um said:
I have no idea how people can take Austin even remotely serous.
Click to expand...

It doesn't matter what y'all think of Austin personally or his video history, because that's not the subject of the thread. And let's please not go there. Take that somewhere else if you want to.

But ask yourself this: is what he says in his recent video wrong about the rF2 user experience with AI at Daytona oval? IMO, even though his wording is harsh and the title is sensationalist, he's not. In a way, he even held back. He could have mentioned that by default, even with Stock Car Rules enabled, there's no full course yellow and pace car. He could have talked more in depth about the inability of the AI to pass after a slipstream or bump draft. Only place he might be wrong IMO is that AI cars aren't affected by drafting: I've definitely seen them get a draft, but can't behave consistently enough to maintain a higher speed.

There are ways rF2 is not as bad as some accuse it of being. BUT... rF2 in the specific setting shown in that video is indeed "borderline unplayable" and indefensible. If that is truly the best oval AI behaviour possible right now in rF2 (which I believe it is) then 397 should do like Raceroom, and say in their Daytona marketing that AI on the oval is in unsupported for the moment. Anything else is dishonest IMO.
 
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Kyuubeey
MJQT said:
It doesn't matter what y'all think of Austin personally or his video history, because that's not the subject of the thread. And let's please not go there. Take that somewhere else if you want to.

But ask yourself this: is what he says in his recent video wrong about the rF2 user experience with AI at Daytona oval? IMO, even though his wording is harsh and the title is sensationalist, he's not. In a way, he even held back. He could have mentioned that by default, even with Stock Car Rules enabled, there's no full course yellow and pace car. He could have talked more in depth about the inability of the AI to pass after a slipstream or bump draft. Only place he might be wrong IMO is that AI cars aren't affected by drafting: I've definitely seen them get a draft, but can't behave consistently enough to maintain a higher speed.

There are ways rF2 is not as bad as some accuse it of being. BUT... rF2 in the specific setting shown in that video is indeed "borderline unplayable" and indefensible. If that is truly the best oval AI behaviour possible right now in rF2 (which I believe it is) then 397 should do like Raceroom, and say in their Daytona marketing that AI on the oval is in unsupported for the moment. Anything else is dishonest IMO.
Click to expand...
I guess one defense I can give to S397 is that the oval was probably in the license agreement. I don't know how it goes for tracks exactly but I would guess that. Should they have had the foresight to inform users about issues? Maybe, but I don't know if they're trying to be malicious and sell a broken product because they're just so evil or something.
 
MrLonguinha
A question. In these new updates for Rfactor 2, does anyone happen to know if they have added the possibility to choose our opponents in offline races? I still haven't found it if it does. I'll give an example: if I do a Daytona 24 Hours race I would like to choose some 8 DPI cars, 12 LMP2, 10 LMP3, 26 GT3...specifically ( ready made skins made by some modder like IMSA 19, GEM 21/22 )...or being able to choose 2 or 3 cars from each GT3 brand as in the Assetto Corsa.
 
MJQT
Kyuubeey said:
Should they have had the foresight to inform users about issues? Maybe, but I don't know if they're trying to be malicious and sell a broken product because they're just so evil or something.
Click to expand...
Whoops, if I came off as saying they're evil, I don't mean that. That would be ridiculous. But isn't it reasonable to say they should clarify what is and isn't possible right now in their game and acknowledge game-breaking issues up front?
 
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MrBraindown
Premium
Not sure if it’s been mentioned before, but I’m not sure I want to pick through 8 pages of this thread (probably packed with arguing & bickering ;)) but now rF2 is moving to quarterly releases, are we expecting this level of new content (cars, tracks etc) to be added every quarter?
 
Kyuubeey
MJQT said:
Whoops, if I came off as saying they're evil, I don't mean that. That would be ridiculous. But isn't it reasonable to say they should clarify what is and isn't possible right now in their game and acknowledge game-breaking issues up front?
Click to expand...
I'm not claiming you said that, but I feel like it might become a talking point if things get out of hand.

Yes, I do agree, especially if it's official content that just doesn't work well. A good way to frame it is as "continued development" content or something.
 
MJQT
Kyuubeey said:
I'm not claiming you said that, but I feel like it might become a talking point if things get out of hand.
Click to expand...
Oh Kyuubeey, you're silly. IF things get out of hand? I think we're well past that point in these recent rF2 comments sections :roflmao:
Kyuubeey said:
Yes, I do agree, especially if it's official content that just doesn't work well. A good way to frame it is as "continued development" content or something.
Click to expand...
1000% this. Yes! It would cut so many potential criticisms off at the knees, and thus save some serious PR headaches.
 
R00b_Driver
MrLonguinha said:
A question. In these new updates for Rfactor 2, does anyone happen to know if they have added the possibility to choose our opponents in offline races? I still haven't found it if it does. I'll give an example: if I do a Daytona 24 Hours race I would like to choose some 8 DPI cars, 12 LMP2, 10 LMP3, 26 GT3...specifically ( ready made skins made by some modder like IMSA 19, GEM 21/22 )...or being able to choose 2 or 3 cars from each GT3 brand as in the Assetto Corsa.
Click to expand...
Nope.

You'll still have to create your own Race event (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=553134744) or create your own Virtual Drivers etc.

Yes it sucks.

No they still don't care about the offline crowd.

*sob sob*
 

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