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.

 

[Boby Kim]

Seems rF2 has no choice other then become a console game for people to start liking rF2

 

[Tr0nic]

New hope for Ai throttle inputs?
It's often damping immersion, depending on track/corner and cars...

 

[Paul Bennett]

How many more pages we got in this

 

[Evert Geurtsen]

Well maybe, just maybe, it is all about making rF2 the most sophisticated sim for professional esports events. There is a coming together of real racing and sim racing and rF2 is probably the most accepted platform for real racers and esports may prove to be very profitable in the future.

 

[mesfigas]

...too much noise for nothing...

After panicking on rF2 discord I understood there is no reason for that (apparently).

Basically we will have something like this:

- S397 changed owner and now is under control of a more Simracing oriented company
- S397 will work on rF2 and benefit of help from new owners in order to achieve:
-> more licenses to come
-> current rf2 graphic engine will be developed even further
-> current physics engine will be developed even further
- no rF2 on console
- probably rF2 will be more involved with Wec or Endurance e-sport events

In exchange:

- the rf2 physics engine will be used as base for the new games developed on UE4 (like NASCAR game, BTCC, etc)
- the Devs team coming from Kartkraft/NASCAR Heat games are already working on implementing rF2 physics on such games and added support for gamepads/keyboard/etc to it since they aim to release those new games on console too


So, looks like rF2 will not switch to unreal any soon, they will have extra help from new owners in order to improve rF2 physics/graphics, they will give them access to more licenses...

...on the other hand the new owner did the best choice for it's business, why licensing a physics engine when you have the money to buy the studio behind it?

At the end of the day doesn't sounds too bad imo.

you forgot to add Alonso on top of that
cheers mate

 

[Jason Mullin]

Reading through comments about the Unreal engine, has anyone actually got it performing well in VR?
I've tried and tried, eventually gave up as even settings in the dirt give me terrible performance and visuals.
2060 super
i5 8400

 

[GuitarTech]

Reading through comments about the Unreal engine, has anyone actually got it performing well in VR?
I've tried and tried, eventually gave up as even settings in the dirt give me terrible performance and visuals.
2060 super
i5 8400

RTX3080 with an i7 9700@ 4.8GHz here:
ACC runs like crap whatever I do, but Kart Kraft runs very well, so it would appear to be an optimization problem with some games

 

[Jason Mullin]

I ask because I have rF2 running very well on a HP G2, would hate to think unreal is even a consideration going forward.

 

[GuitarTech]

I ask because I have rF2 running very well on a HP G2, would hate to think unreal is even a consideration going forward.

I'm running a Rift S at the moment, but plan to upgrade to a G2 during 2021. Nice to know that rF2 runs nicely with a G2.

 

[bgil66]

I noticed the name too, used to follow him on twitter. So now he's got the r-Factor 2 engine to play with - Interesting. I have repeatedly said that you could make an amazing F1 game with a complex physics engine and then tone it down easily for the consoles - it doesn't work the other way around.

God i hope they're doing that. One sim to bind them all etc

Yeah Hood is pretty smart and wouldn't doubt that he has some amazing ideas

 

[bgil66]

How many more pages we got in this

7

 

[Terry Rock]

There are two distinct groups in simracing development....
Those who are passionate about motorsport and proud to put out their best effort, yet still realize they need to make a living wage. (This is 100% the guys and gals at Kunos Simulazioni for sure)
AND
There are those who see simracing as a piggybank and will do everything to appeal to the widest possible audience...even if it means less difficulty in features.
With all the choices in simracing and the ability to pick and choose...
Lets hope the new owners are somewhere in the middle.

 

[DaVeX↯]

RTX3080 with an i7 9700@ 4.8GHz here:
ACC runs like crap whatever I do, but Kart Kraft runs very well, so it would appear to be an optimization problem with some games

Kunos pumped too much the EU engine looking for photorealistic results (they were supported by Epic on this) but they did the same error a lot of small indie Devs team do...to assume everyone has a pc capable of running it properly.
An example was Squad, milsim title based on UE, stunning and fluid on powerful pcs and horrible and lagging as hell on potato pc because wasn't optimized to be properly scalable on low settings...
Now they optimized it and runs great but they were forced to compromises (numbers of props, polycount, texture details, etc).

 

[GuitarTech]

Kunos pumped too much the EU engine looking for photorealistic results (they were supported by Epic on this) but they did the same error a lot of small indie Devs team do...to assume everyone has a pc capable of running it properly.
An example was Squad, milsim title based on UE, stunning and fluid on powerful pcs and horrible and lagging as hell on potato pc because wasn't optimized to be properly scalable on low settings...
Now they optimized it and runs great but they were forced to compromises (numbers of props, polycount, texture details, etc).

It'll be a sad day, if in the future, all the new games can only be played fluidly on a €2500 gaming computer, because the devs can't be bothered to scale the games properly.

 

[passenger]

If Motorsport Games buys Studio 397 to have, as they state, the best simulation
physics in the industry for their 'games' found in rFactor 2, they will support
financially rFactor 2 to make it grow, because from now on this Sim is theirs.

The question here is, for how long until a new version of rFactor is worked
on? This day will have to come. And, if they bought the Unreal Engine for
their 'games', they will use it to develop the new rFactor Sim.

And, regarding the physics, they won't spoil it because to them it is the best
in the industry. Within the Unreal Engine, or any other graphics engine, you
can have different layers, one for the physics, and on top of that you have
the graphics and audio layer. rFactor 2's old physics layer code can live
together with any graphics layer.

Also, Unreal Engine, as any graphics engine, can be updated with any
programming routines or code you need - these things arn't closed
programs. So, I guess, and if they really want this, rFactor could grow
as a fantastic Sim with its great physics we know and love, and at the
same time with modern beautiful and realistic graphics.

Fingers crossed.

 

[ivanalesi]

Guys, you can easily add more arcadish feel to a great sim like RF2... they'll continue developing the platform, like graphics, physics etc. But they are aiming for economies of scale & they're buying know-how.
I guess all of these titles will get a new gfx engine like Unreal, all will use RF3 physics engine but with different levels of "invisible" traction control, ABS, or stability control

 

[Deleted member 217114]

I am all in for using rFactor 2-engine to develop a true rally sim a la Richard Burns Rally. I kow Paul Coleman has the knowhow, and I love his voice as a co-driver. Use his voice in a mod for RBR.

rfactor 2 is cool, but it has been surpassed by AMS 1 & 2

 

[Metla]

It'll be a sad day, if in the future, all the new games can only be played fluidly on a €2500 gaming computer, because the devs can't be bothered to scale the games properly.

uh...same discussions has been going on since the days of the 386/486...

Motocross Madness 2 received negative points in reviews back in 2000 due to the fact that the reviewers couldn't find a pc to run it smoothly with everything maxed out.

It prompted me to custom build my first proper gaming pc, a Pentium III with a Voodoo 3 video card,128mb of ram....

 

[davehenrie]

uh...same discussions has been going on since the days of the 386/486...

Motocross Madness 2 received negative points in reviews back in 2000 due to the fact that the reviewers couldn't find a pc to run it smoothly with everything maxed out.

It prompted me to custom build my first proper gaming pc, a Pentium III with a Voodoo 3 video card,128mb of ram....

If you could not run GPL at a constant 30fps, then you were not truly running GPL. Many simmers were forced, forced I tells ya, to upgrade just as you.

 

[Hitman65]

Seriously, I have see your complaint here and in some other post and must be frustrating but maybe it is not a 397 bug and it is your computer problem, desktop, windows or wathever.

Never ever have these problems with F1 2021, PC 2, AMS 2, Assetto Corsa 1 and 2....It has to be the game. Lots of others have the same problem as I. and I don't like the old UI. It works ok but takes a long time to load......