Motorsport Games’ spending spree continues with the acquisition of Studio397.

[Bram Hengeveld]

A few weeks ago Motorsport Games was something of an enigma in the simracing world having produced a handful of Nascar titles but recently things have changed. Having burst onto the scene recently announcing the acquisition of Australian developers Black Delta they have quickly followed up with yet another studio acquisition, this time in the shape of Studio397.

Love it or hate it rFactor 2 does a lot of things right, like the physics and overall driving experience but there are certainly areas which could be improved, I don’t need to name them all here but graphics is an example of something which fans of the title have been hoping for a drastic improvement on for quite some time. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad, but it’s not the best in the industry.

The hope is that with the seemingly endless resources that Motorsport Games have at their disposal, they will iron out all the quirks and accelerate the development of the title. They already have some impressive licenses which could be leveraged such as BTCC and the aforementioned Nascar, so the potential for some exciting content to emerge is promising.

However, the hardcore sim racers will be waiting with bated breath to see what direction this new sim racing giant will take the studio. In previous communications MSG President Stephen Hood has said: "The BTCC title will not be a hardcore high-end racing simulation, but will also not be an arcade game". Read into that what you will.

rFactor2 is a beloved sim and we can only hope that this acquisition will propel the title to new heights.

What do you guys think about the news? Are you looking forward to seeing how Motorsport Games integrate with Studio397? Let us know in the comments.

 

[TTM75]

Another angle to consider is modder support. Will they be seen as selling out? Will modders be progressively alienated? Will it further cement the move away to other sims that do allow modding.

Anyone know MSG's or their owners track record with moddable sims?

Sadly i have to say that developers nowadays don’t care or want spend time to add modding support to racing games.
Only money is what matters to them. It’s better to release a ”new” game every two year with some dlc.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

It's more than that with RLM. It relates to their content being used without permission I think.

Motorsport.tv also runs a lot of Duke-things (as they bought Duke), and they do a lot of copyright strikes, takedowns etc. on youtube on material they don't own. Even to the point of taking down material that is the original source/production, that still owns the rights!

I don't like the motorsport group thing either.

 

[passenger]

Alright, what else to say... Hoping we get a fantastic rFactor 3 within a couple
of years at the most, with the same great physics, tyre model and FFB, but
with the addition of top quality graphics like ACC has, all rendered with the
Unreal Engine 4 or the new upcoming version 5.

Do you guys like that prospect? That would be awsome - Sim heaven!

Fingers crossed.

 

[Adrianovix]

I just hope they don't transform rF 2 in something "more arcade". If they implement the AI, great. If they make possible to users create a offline champ, great, but please, don't mess the physics. Use other products if they want something more arcade. If you make a comparison, I bet that hardcore simulators have more public than arcade race games.

The most important thing to me is fix the multiplayer bugs. That's all. I can survive with any other issue.

 

[Knoxstar]

Alonzo is an investor.....
....there's that.

 

[BorisK]

Yes, RF2 has all the assists needed, from the ABS to the Steering assist. But he said that these aren't enough for the novice.

I don't see a problem. Let them do it as in PC3 - when playing on a gamepad or keyboard, the assists are not disabled, even if the settings are set to "None" for all points

 

[GagarynGaribaldi]

I hope they are able to fix the freaky driver hands. Current driver model seems to have E.T.'s hands in Sparco gloves.

 

[bgil66]

I remember Stephen Hood when he did the F1 games, I'm a fan. Good luck.

 

[G-Slev]

Motorsport.tv also runs a lot of Duke-things (as they bought Duke), and they do a lot of copyright strikes, takedowns etc. on youtube on material they don't own. Even to the point of taking down material that is the original source/production, that still owns the rights!

I don't like the motorsport group thing either.

Hindy said the following on the radioshowltd Facebook page about motorsport.com:

"Everyone... The site we are talking about continually steals copyright content including ours, that is a fact that is uncontested even by their editor.

That is aside from their woeful editorial standards and, complete lack of journalistic morals. There's nothing that anyone can say that will change our policy of refusing to have their links here, or indeed to mention them.

On a personal note, I have made it clear to RSL and others for whom I work that I will not be put in a position where my voice or any content containing my voice, will appear on that site.

Don't mention them, don't defend them. To make this completely clear, this is NOT a debate."

 

[mantasisg]

Alright, what else to say... Hoping we get a fantastic rFactor 3 within a couple
of years at the most, with the same great physics, tyre model and FFB, but
with the addition of top quality graphics like ACC has, all rendered with the
Unreal Engine 4 or the new upcoming version 5.

Do you guys like that prospect? That would be awsome - Sim heaven!

Fingers crossed.

I don't think it is going be the case. I am also not sure if I'd like it to become reality.

But if it will. Then say goodbye to all present content, especially thats not from S397. Very likely say goodbye to modding.

Besides... whats up about the attraction to the Unreal engine ? I personally simply don't like it, and would rather see inhouse engines developed further. Unreal engine = "cheap" to me. Also it is obviously cheap way for devs, but also they loose all investments in their own graphical engines by going UE. And IMo rF2 graphics ain't bad, and can be a lot better.

Kunos for example went the cheap and quick way with UE. And what happened in AC ? Modders kept on tinkering original AC engine with good success, and everybody loves it !

 

[Trebor901]

Well we now know what engine the BTCC game is gonna run on then.

 

[nicky stevenson]

It’s like world war 2 all over again they have taken Australia and Netherlands please leave Italy and Sweden alone..

 

[BazzaLB]

I fire up rf2, I select my car, I select my track, I select my type of event, I click Race, I race. If you cant keep those gt3s on the track even with no assists what so ever, I sure as hell hope you never get a real drivers license. How damned easy does it need to be for gods sake.

And yes, I am with @Case_ , visions of PC3 and Dirt 4.

Alright, what else to say... Hoping we get a fantastic rFactor 3 within a couple
of years at the most, with the same great physics, tyre model and FFB, but
with the addition of top quality graphics like ACC has, all rendered with the
Unreal Engine 4 or the new upcoming version 5.

Do you guys like that prospect? That would be awsome - Sim heaven!

Fingers crossed.

Having seen how UE4 handled VR with ACC, I sure as hell hope not.

 

[budgetek]

I fire up rf2, I select my car, I select my track, I select my type of event, I click Race, I race. If you cant keep those gt3s on the track even with no assists what so ever, I sure as hell hope you never get a real drivers license. How damned easy does it need to be for gods sake.

And yes, I am with @Case_ , visions of PC3 and Dirt 4.



Having seen how UE4 handled VR with ACC, I sure as hell hope not.

More or less the same in my case. I fire up rF2, I wait 1 minute before favourite online servers load despite I am exclusive single player…
I click race, I go to the toilet, have a drink, make love with my beloved wife untill the track loads. And I race.

 

[Brent Mills]

with baited breath

'Bated', not 'baited', just sayin..
(unless you mean you've been eating this...)

.

 

[Shincha20]

@Durge Driven
Good to see you have some laughter.
Laughing is good to your health.

 

[Cheesenium]

Guess the AI fixes and improvements will never happen now because they will shove esports and multiplayer further down your throat instead.

I hate all these big corporation acquisitions as all they care is money.

 

[GuitarTech]

They have just bought McDonald’s and KFC whatever next

Burger King of course

 

[Shincha20]

Guess the AI fixes and improvements will never happen now because they will shove esports and multiplayer further down your throat instead.

I hate all these big corporation acquisitions as all they care is money.

The MG employee explicitly mentioned improving ai is on their priority list...

 

[GuitarTech]

@Bram Hengeveld It might be an idea to put the Press Release in the actual article and not a separate download link...Paul wouldn't of done that

Where is Paul at the moment? Have I missed something?
Edit I've just realised that Paul Coleman was meant here, and not Paul Jeffrey. I feel a bit of a fool now :-(