E3 2018: Studio 397 Announce BMW M8 GTE for rFactor 2

[Paul Jeffrey]

Then there were five... Studio 397 have confirmed the final car of the upcoming 'Endurance Pack' DLC.. the wonderful new BMW M8 GTE.

Joining the Porsche 911 RSR and Chevrolet Corvette C7.R in the GTE field, alongside the LMP3 specification Norma M30 and the now hugely popular in real world racing circles Oreca 07 prototype, the M8 GTE is the first official inclusion to rFactor 2 of the BMW brand, and goes a long way towards fleshing out the increasingly impressive collection of endurance racing content coming to rFactor 2 of late.

The BMW is another very pleasing step in recent months towards high profile manufacturer licences for rFactor 2, a step the simulation badly needed to make if it was to continue its upward trajectory following the acquisition of the rights to develop the software by Studio 397 became public knowledge at the 2016 Sim Racing Expo in Germany.

The "Endurance Pack" DLC will be the second long distance racing themed paid content added to rFactor 2 when it releases in the not too distant future, joining the popular GT3 Power Pack that Studio 397 used to signal their intentions to beef up the GT racing aspect of the title - a discipline of motorsport that fits perfectly with the features and functionality of the simulation.

Announcing the final car from the upcoming release during the hype of the E3 2018 event in LA, a period of time sure to be rich in Sim Racing and racing game news is a shrewd move by Studio 397, helping direct plenty of attention to a pack of cars that is sure to be seen as a welcomed addition to a title that is rapidly progressing over the last 12 months or so.

No release date has been confirmed for the upcoming DLC as yet, however as always stay tuned to RaceDeparment.com for all the latest news and discussions as they break...

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Happy to hear the BMW will be coming to rF2? Looking forward to the Endurance Pack DLC? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[thepharcyde]

Whilst this is awesome news and super hyped S397 are the first SIM to have this car I really hope they fill out the remainder of the class to be a full grid.
A lot of 85% content plus need more official tracks to race these on
Everything aside thank you S397, take my money but invest it wisely haha

 

[davewilliams000]

This may actually tempt me into starting to use RF2... but as a newcomer to it, it still seems overly complicated (vs AC and AMS) to get it set up and get into it (subscribing to content on steam workshop?). I bought it over a year ago and have only tried it once, and whilst I did manage to get into it, the overlays felt a bit clunky. It's probably come on quite a bit since then. If there was a simple guide somewhere that would help (i.e. 1: do this, 2: click that, etc..) , or if they finally get the new interface out then that would likely make it simpler.

Any more details of the URD pack somewhere? Hope they can do something like the new Aston as I love that car.

 

[Terra21]

That barvarian beast looks mean!

 

[Davy Jones]

What studio 397 does looks official to me - the GTE pack cars that will be released all look to be officially licenced (by the car manufacturers).
Likely the accompanying URD car pack will NOT be licenced (using fantasy car names and livieries).

For any more than what it looks to be at the moment studio 397 would have to get a licence from the FIA to license the WEC series per se and that is highly unlikely seeing the budget constraints the small studio has with limited sales.

I love what they are doing - the GTE pack will be an insta buy for me as will be the URD GTE pack.
I hope URD will be more professionell about their communication this time around and will not let this pack slowly fizzle out as they have done with their former content.

Now we only need that complete rF2 UI overhaul (I cringe every time I have to use the car selection menu or even worse the filtering menu for custom grids).

Maybe studio 397 could get into a cooperation with Ilya of Assetto Corsa Content Manager fame - now HE is a guy who understands simracing and complex user interfaces.
I would LOOOOOOOVE a Content Manager for rF2 !

Indeed Jimmy and Stephen brought up the issues with the URD content when they appeared on my podcast

I wasn't aware of the issues. Nor did I know that Marcel from Studio397 was involved with simracing.club. If rF2 is to get the Porsche 911 RSR and the BMW M8 (the latter which I have not seen in any other title yet) could it possibly get proper versions of Le Mans Sebring, Daytona etc? I mean to make use of the new DX11 features and laser scanned as well.. RaceRoom has the same issues. I get that licencing fees are an issue but licenced cars with half-baked mod tracks is kind of not helping. I will still buy the content to support what they're trying to achieve but overall it gets a bit frustrating...

 

[Davebrave]

This may actually tempt me into starting to use RF2... but as a newcomer to it, it still seems overly complicated (vs AC and AMS) to get it set up and get into it (subscribing to content on steam workshop?). I bought it over a year ago and have only tried it once, and whilst I did manage to get into it, the overlays felt a bit clunky. It's probably come on quite a bit since then. If there was a simple guide somewhere that would help (i.e. 1: do this, 2: click that, etc..) , or if they finally get the new interface out then that would likely make it simpler.

Any more details of the URD pack somewhere? Hope they can do something like the new Aston as I love that car.

There are different guides somewhere but keep in mind that since Studio 397 updated the graphics engine to DX11, some of those guides are not totally up to date. Regarding content, I find rF2 way easier to manage content than AC for instance, as you can just subscribe/unsubscribe to content using Steam Workshop.

The game has changed a lot (for better) in the last two years, so it's worth giving it a go. My advice is to start only with official (by Studio 397) content from the workshop until you have the sim fine tuned (in terms of graphics and performance) to your liking and then you can try and add more content from other creators.
Depending on your hardware, it might require some time to get the best out of it, but you can rely on forums for helping you solving the commons problems.

 

[avenger82]

Whilst this is awesome news and super hyped S397 are the first SIM to have this car I really hope they fill out the remainder of the class to be a full grid.
A lot of 85% content plus need more official tracks to race these on
Everything aside thank you S397, take my money but invest it wisely haha

You can use tracks that are in Steam's workshop or download from league's servers. But I understand objections using conversions(rips)from laser scanned tracks from other sims that are available in various forums .

 

[thepharcyde]

You can use tracks that are in Steam's workshop or download from league's servers. But I understand objections using conversions(rips)from laser scanned tracks from other sims that are available in various forums .

If you're subscribed to a league ergo MP is not password protected

 

[avenger82]

could it possibly get proper versions of Le Mans Sebring, Daytona etc?

They are finishing official, laser scanned Sebring. For other tracks you can check this (not updated) list :
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...HbEKDHRBzK6UFbOSvNE/pubhtml?gid=0&single=true

 

[avenger82]

If you're subscribed to a league ergo MP is not password protected

Of course, but during practice some servers have no password.

 

[tr1v1um]

You can use tracks that are in Steam's workshop or download from league's servers. But I understand objections using conversions(rips)from laser scanned tracks from other sims that are available in various forums .

The rips of the laser scans aren't that good and I don't know why people still use them. They mostly have bad performance and the track mesh doesn't work well too in some cases. Besides that, conversions aren't just something that affects rF2 but all sims that offer modding options. When I skip through the track databases for AC I find rF2 or AMS tracks aswell, so at the end the user has to inform himself no matter wich platform he/she is using. And for the fact that most of the tracks in the workshop are done by hoby modders in their freetime, I consider some of the tracks in the workshop of very good quality. You just have to know who did the conversion.

 

[davewilliams000]

There are different guides somewhere but keep in mind that since Studio 397 updated the graphics engine to DX11, some of those guides are not totally up to date. Regarding content, I find rF2 way easier to manage content than AC for instance, as you can just subscribe/unsubscribe to content using Steam Workshop.

The game has changed a lot (for better) in the last two years, so it's worth giving it a go. My advice is to start only with official (by Studio 397) content from the workshop until you have the sim fine tuned (in terms of graphics and performance) to your liking and then you can try and add more content from other creators.
Depending on your hardware, it might require some time to get the best out of it, but you can rely on forums for helping you solving the commons problems.

Thanks. Sounds good. I don't get an awful lot of time to drive so I think that's been some of the hurdles to having a go at it. I have AC set up the way I like, so it's very quick for me to fire it up and go for a few laps, and find it very easy to manage content (I have quite a lot!) with Content Manager, without which it would be a lot more difficult.

I think the last time I tried RF2 the DX11 was out but not the default, so I will re-install it and see how I get on. Running a fairly decent system - i7-4590K, 16gb ram and a 1070OC @ 3440x1440 (no VR as yet) so hopefully I can get it to run well.

Has all/most of the official content been updated to DX11 now?

 

[Peter Stokman]

car looks perfect, as does the Porsche.

It sucks though that RF2 is one of the most expensive sims now, but the new content (aside from the Merc GT3) is excellent.

Have you checked other sims and oh for sure you also work pro deo for your boss

 

[Peter Stokman]

This may actually tempt me into starting to use RF2... but as a newcomer to it, it still seems overly complicated (vs AC and AMS) to get it set up and get into it (subscribing to content on steam workshop?). I bought it over a year ago and have only tried it once, and whilst I did manage to get into it, the overlays felt a bit clunky. It's probably come on quite a bit since then. If there was a simple guide somewhere that would help (i.e. 1: do this, 2: click that, etc..) , or if they finally get the new interface out then that would likely make it simpler.

Any more details of the URD pack somewhere? Hope they can do something like the new Aston as I love that car.

spent half an hour and youknow it , even easier then AC arc

 

[MarcG]

<snip> If rF2 is to get the Porsche 911 RSR and the BMW M8 (the latter which I have not seen in any other title yet) could it possibly get proper versions of Le Mans Sebring, Daytona etc? <snip>

There is no *If* as RF2 *Is* getting the Porsche 911 RSR GTE and obviously the Beemer, there is also no *could* as RF2 *Is* getting Sebring.

I would love a Daytona Road Course made by S397, Le Mans as well would of course be great but it's fair to say the community made versions are pretty decent already.

 

[avenger82]

The rips of the laser scans aren't that good and I don't know why people still use them. They mostly have bad performance and the track mesh doesn't work well too in some cases. Besides that, conversions aren't just something that affects rF2 but all sims that offer modding options. When I skip through the track databases for AC I find rF2 or AMS tracks aswell, so at the end the user has to inform himself no matter wich platform he/she is using. And for the fact that most of the tracks in the workshop are done by hoby modders in their freetime, I consider some of the tracks in the workshop of very good quality. You just have to know who did the conversion.

I can agree laser scanned rips are not that good in therms of side objects etc. but you say track mesh is not accurate or there are some glitches? Besides lower performance on some (i.e. on Nordschleife) I didn't see issues. If I have a copy of a game that has original track it shouldn't bother me that much to use a conversion.

 

[davewilliams000]

There are different guides somewhere but keep in mind that since Studio 397 updated the graphics engine to DX11, some of those guides are not totally up to date. Regarding content, I find rF2 way easier to manage content than AC for instance, as you can just subscribe/unsubscribe to content using Steam Workshop.

The game has changed a lot (for better) in the last two years, so it's worth giving it a go. My advice is to start only with official (by Studio 397) content from the workshop until you have the sim fine tuned (in terms of graphics and performance) to your liking and then you can try and add more content from other creators.
Depending on your hardware, it might require some time to get the best out of it, but you can rely on forums for helping you solving the commons problems.

spent half an hour and youknow it , even easier then AC arc

Have made a start. Unsubscribed from everything and then only subscribed to S397 content that I would like to start with - cars/tracks that I know or would want to drive:
Corvette C6RGT2 2009, Radical SR3-RSX, Marussia MR01 2012, Nissan GT500 2013, FormulaRenault35 2014. Silverstone 2012, Malaysia 2007, Indianapolis 2013, Zandvoort 2017

Don't have time to try it out right now but will do soon. If that goes well I'll probably buy the GT3 pack followed by the endurance one when it comes out.

 

[avenger82]

I think the last time I tried RF2 the DX11 was out but not the default, so I will re-install it and see how I get on. Running a fairly decent system - i7-4590K, 16gb ram and a 1070OC @ 3440x1440 (no VR as yet) so hopefully I can get it to run well.

Has all/most of the official content been updated to DX11 now?

With 1070 it will run smoothly at high setting. With a lot of cars you can lower Opponets Details and maybe shaders. Also check VR thread on S397 forum for additional performance tips, like lowering AA to FXAA.
Yes, most of official content is updated to DX11, but still most updated mods don't look on par with pCars. They seem to miss post processing, shaders etc.

 

[Andrew Harper]

Interesting news, I will certainly be getting myself this pack when it's released.

The URD tie in is cool as well. We still get the cars we want but without the licensing headaches. Hopefully the manufacturers won't take offense (even though the cars are non-branded).

I'll probably try running them against the URD endurance pack to see how they perform. There is an Aston Vantage GTE in there but not sure how well it will compete. Worth a try though for the full GTE experience.

Sebring will be brilliant when it gets here no doubt. However it would be nice to have a really lovely version of Le Mans. At the moment it's fine I suppose but when you compare it to the visual feast of something like Project Cars 2 it looks pretty plain.

What would be lovely is a DPi pack. That would be great and real feather in the cap of S397 if they got a license for it.

However S397 have done a lovely job so far, and almost accidently I find myself racing on it more and more at the moment. You do have to be careful, there is an awful lot of poor mods as well as some very good stuff to choose from but what's good is very good

 

[Peter Stokman]

With 1070 it will run smoothly at high setting. With a lot of cars you can lower Opponets Details and maybe shaders. Also check VR thread on S397 forum for additional performance tips, like lowering AA to FXAA.
Yes, most of official content is updated to DX11, but still most updated mods don't look on par with pCars. They seem to miss post processing, shaders etc.

not looking like pcars isnt hopefully going to be because then they will drive as **** as pcars arcade

 

[avenger82]

not looking like pcars isnt hopefully going to be because then they will drive as **** as pcars arcade

Yeah I didn't mean handling - just visuals. I agree that especially pCars 1's handling feels arcade . I care about physics and it puts me off so much, that I played it only few hours, despite good graphics etc. I've read it has advanced tire model(SETA) that was improved in Project Cars 2, but still the end result is that handling is not as realistic. Maybe it's also because there are A LOT of cars thus they didn't put enough of work to fine tune physics for each one.