RaceRoom Racing Experience | New Update Released

[Paul Jeffrey]

A new update for RaceRoom Racing Experience is live and in the wild.

To enjoy the fruits of Sector3 Studios labour is easy, just restart your Steam client if you haven't already, and by the magic power of the internet a 4.1gb update will download - filling your harddrive with plenty more RaceRoom themed goodness.

But what goodness does said update contain I hear you cry? Fear not, in the spirit of transparency our friends in Sweden have been so kind as to furnish us with a list of applicable changes, listing what is new, what has changed and what still needs to be amended as part of the latest build release for the simulation.

So update fans, have yourself a nice read of the changelog below:

• Ranked Multiplayer - Added an option to set minimum requirements in rating and safety for a player to be allowed in a ranked session. Added a filter for this to the MP lobby list menu.
• Dedicated server - Added controls to Export and Import settings (if the host IP changes, the settings are still being lost, but at least you can now recover the settings in a couple clicks by importing a backup)
• HUD - Moved the huge Disqualification notifications to the "butterHUD™" system (the smaller left side notifications)
• Controllers - Reduced Minimum force for all Logitech wheels, and added a 10% slip effect
• Controllers - Added default profile for Simagic wheelbase
• Controllers - First iteration of support for Simucube - Added communication of in-game selected wheelrange to the simucube driver. Added “safe” default profiles for the 3 variants of Simucube 2 wheelbases. We still have to fix some forces not being stopped upon pressing ESC and sawtooth effects, which we will do together with the hardware manufacturer.
• Controllers - Updated default FFB profiles for Fanatec CSL and CSR
• Various improvements to simulating Electric powered cars for player and AI, pitstops, etc.
• AI - Improvements to their handling of traffic in multiclass racing
• AI - Improvements to their decision making in going for a defensive line while being followed
• Fixed a bug where a multiplayer server in a closed qualifying session would still be displayed as “joinable” in the multiplayer list.
• Fixed a bug where gearshift backfires would not make sounds in replays. Improved logic of the sound triggers in both replays and multiplayer.
• Fixed a case where AI could be caught not shifting up when it thought it had too low grip on the powered wheels.
• Fixed a bug where pitstop sounds wouldn't work in replays.
• Fixed an issue where the ideal raceline would feature oddly positioned brake warnings.
• Fixed an issue where watching an instant replay that featured a pitstop would result in receiving fresh tyres a second time after coming back to gameplay.
• Fixed an issue with some in-game web links that would wrongly open in a Steam overlay whenever -webdev startup argument was being used.
• Tweak to AI's understanding of gravity and forces to improve their behavior on slopes and banked corners.
• Further tweaks hoping to catch some remaining timing discrepancies when spectating MP races
• Backed out an older fix for driver names being offset above opponent cars when playing with a low FOV as it had introduced an arguably more annoying intense vibration of the driver names when close to player. Let’s live with an offset for now while we wait for a better fix.

Content updates:

• All cars - Adjustments to behavior of the tyres once they've been covered in dirt, grass, gravel. As a consequence of those changes, the sounds for pebbles hitting the car are going to feel a bit fainter.
• All cars - Modifications to upshifts and downshifts engine revs. Gearshifts are now more brutal™. Older cars from 70’s / 80’s / 90’s also received specific upshift backfires.
• All cars - New transmission whine recordings for most cars, especially modern GT, prototypes and touring cars. The transmission volume ramp is also altered, it’s now louder while coasting and the pitch is in exact sync with the drivetrain.
• All cars - New skid and locked brake tyre sounds that provide a more realistic sound during long slides. Also decreased tyre volumes for all modern GT cars.
• All cars - Updates to behaviour of both the rev and pit limiters.
• All cars - Modifications to forces involved in car to car collisions, to get rid of some collisions sometimes feeling like the other car is a solid brick.
• Aquila - Adjusted tyre pressures in baseline setup, reduced brake power
• Audi R18 - Fixed steering wheel not being exactly positioned on the steering column, which resulted in the cockpit camera placement being centered the wheel and therefore too far to the right.
• Audi TT RS VLN - Longer default final drive for Zandvoort
• CUPRA TCR - Fixed baseline setup that had an asymmetrical damper setting
• DTM 14/15/16 - Fixed excessive suspension damage over curbs. Improved curb and bump behaviour with updated high speed dampers. Modified clutch and engine inertia values to stop them from bouncing off limiter upon downshifts. Differential updates to proper locks. Slight BOP adjustment of +5 Kg on the Mercedes.
• Formula RaceRoom 2 - Updated baseline setup and tweaks to tyres for better handling. AI improvements.
• Formula Raceroom 90 - Now offers three different tyre compounts, revised baseline setup and tyre model.
• Formula RaceRoom X-17 - AI improvements
• Group 4 - Porsche 934 RSR - AI improvements
• Group C - Updated physics and tyre model, adjusted AI's to match. Adjusted Performance Index of the class to better reflect the actual speed of these cars.
• GTR 1 - Improved AI pace spread
• GTR 3 - McLaren 650s - Longer final drive
• GTR 4 - Updated tyre model and baseline setup
• Mercedes AMG CLK DTM 2003 - Adjusted cockpit camera position
• Mercedes AMG DTM 1995 - Adjusted cockpit camera position
• NSU TTS - Set undertray contact points that had been missing. Updated differential and drivetrain behaviour
• P1 and P2 - Adjusted gearchange timings and drivetrain oscillations (shaft rigidity). Adjusted placement of cockpit camera.
• Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (Sprint) - Updated tyre model and suspension. Further tweaks and improvements to physics. (this version of the GT3 Cup is not yet in store but used in Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia esports)
• Porsche Clubsport Trophy by Manthey Racing - Updated tyre model and baseline setup
• Silhouette Series - Now have factory ABS and preheated tyres. Fixed Canhard R52 that was showing some Push to Pass HUD elements.
• Volkswagen ID.R - Updated physics according to the Nuerburgring lap record sessions telemetry. Equipped the car with DRS. Shortened the water pump startup sequence and made it sound more obvious that something is happening during car boot up sequence.
• WTCC 2014/2016 - Fixed excessive suspension damage over curbs
• WTCR 2018/2019 - Fixed excessive suspension damage over curbs, AI improvements
• Bathurst - Tweaks to AI’s understanding of what’s a good cornering speed
• Imola - Tweaks to AI’s understanding of what’s a good cornering speed
• Ningbo - Improvements to framerate. The starting grid for the short layout is now the same as for the other layouts. Improved AI behaviour.
• Nuerburgring - Improved AI behaviour at turn 1 of VLN / 24H.
• Road America - Extended track limits a bit on the outside of the Canada Corner so you no longer get a cut with two wheels inside the white line.
• Salzburgring - Tweaks to AI’s understanding of what’s a good cornering speed
• Spa-Francorchamps - Tweaks to AI’s understanding of what’s a good cornering speed (Blanchimont)
• Suzuka - Tweaks to AI’s understanding of what’s a good cornering speed

Known issue

• Ningbo main layout has a wrong cut detection in the left turn just before pitlane entry. The only way to record a laptime there right now is by keeping left after the apex. Other Ningbo layouts are not affected. We’re still investigating what’s up with this and will fix as soon™ as possible.

Original Source: RaceRoom Racing Experience Steam

RaceRoom Racing Experience is available exclusively for PC, available now.

Our community is awesome. How awesome? Start up a thread over on the RaceRoom Racing Experience sub forum here at RD and find out!

 

[MarcG]

This is why I set opponent car volume to near-zero. People think it's weird but it's actually more realistic. Even on the motorway in a road car you can barely hear the engines of other cars, if at all.

Umm yeah but on the motorway other cars are not revving to 7500rpm!

Personally i like to hear the surrounding cars, the chorus of V8s all revving higher with gear change in unison is a magical sound to me Plus it helps with spatial awareness in VR if i can hear a car off to the side of me.

 

[CrimsonEminence]

Umm yeah but on the motorway other cars are not revving to 7500rpm!

But you're also not hearing your own engine and especially transmission over it killing your ears, while the vibrations are distracting your senses anyway

 

[nicky stevenson]

I wish they would do a btcc series, there dtm, dtm classic and the touring cars are great fun and the ai is very good

 

[UMC 22]

Umm yeah but on the motorway other cars are not revving to 7500rpm!

Yeah, but neither is yours! Anyway, the point is you really can't hear much other than your own car in a racing car cockpit. I can certainly understand wanting to, especially in R3E with it's awesome audio. But I actually find it distracting too, especially off the grid when it drowns out my own car so I miss gear shifts.

 

[MarcG]

Yeah, but neither is yours! Anyway, the point is you really can't hear much other than your own car in a racing car cockpit. I can certainly understand wanting to, especially in R3E with it's awesome audio. But I actually find it distracting too, especially off the grid when it drowns out my own car so I miss gear shifts.

hmm well that's partly incorrect as my friend who races Historics often talks about hearing the other cars when racing, the (V8)Supercars Drivers also mention hearing the Crowd at Adelaide over their engine noise(!), as ever it all depends on many variables of course;
- Helmet design
- ear piece and whether you have them or not
- Open or Closed cockpit
- sound levels of your own car vs others

Like everything there's differing opinions on what is "realistic"

 

[UMC 22]

... the (V8)Supercars Drivers also mention hearing the Crowd at Adelaide over their engine noise(!)...

I've heard F1 drivers suggest the same. Personally, I think this is more them trying to get the crowds to cheer and create a great atmosphere. I find it hard to believe that shouting can be heard from some distance away, while wearing a helmet and with an engine screaming right next to you. Perhaps coasting into a slow corner that has a massive crowd around it, but not under "normal" conditions.

 

[MarcG]

I've heard F1 drivers suggest the same. Personally, I think this is more them trying to get the crowds to cheer and create a great atmosphere. I find it hard to believe that shouting can be heard from some distance away, while wearing a helmet and with an engine screaming right next to you. Perhaps coasting into a slow corner that has a massive crowd around it, but not under "normal" conditions.

Well when you've got a football like atmosphere all shouting at the same time...! There's a bit online from James Courtney about it (not to mention the pre/post race interviews I've watched from over 15 years of following this category!), personally I'll believe what real drivers say over your personal opinion, no disrespect of course

 

[CrimsonEminence]

Well when you've got a football like atmosphere all shouting at the same time...! There's a bit online from James Courtney about it (not to mention the pre/post race interviews I've watched from over 15 years of following this category!), personally I'll believe what real drivers say over your personal opinion, no disrespect of course

I've heard many drivers talking about not hearing any crowd at all, while in the car...Open or tintop...
You would maybe hear it on the in-lap. But try to even register another vehicle behind you, while driving on a rental kart. Do you've ever received a "love bump"?
Even a very good helmet design will not even eliminate wind noise in fast open wheelers.

- ear piece and whether you have them or not

You would be crazy, to drive without ear protection. (In a full blown race car, at least) This is unhealthy and dangerous af...

 

[UMC 22]

personally I'll believe what real drivers say over your personal opinion, no disrespect of course

No worries. With this one, especially where F1 drivers are concerned (ie, open cockpit), I'm going mainly by my own experience. No, I'm not a former F1 driver! But when doing... er... "high speed" shall we say... on a motorway riding my bike, the wind noise is incredibly high. So high in fact that I can barely hear the noise of the engine I'm literally sitting on top of, let alone the sound of other vehicles and anything else going on around me. That engine is screaming at well over 7500rpm.

 

[CrimsonEminence]

er... "high speed" shall we say... on a motorway riding my bike, the wind noise is incredibly high. So high in fact that I can barely hear the noise of the engine

With a bad helmet, the wind noise on a little slow moped is already that loud, that you can almost not hear anything else

Also in race cars at high speeds, there is no sound absorbtion at all...if it's not the transmission, that kills your perception of the reving engine, the wind noise does this job for you. H*ck, it's even already really, really bad with a Peugeot 106 and you can hear even the transmission in that goddamn thing. (it's very low, but noticeable)

 

[BrunoBæ]

Like everything there's differing opinions on what is "realistic"

In a real car thats what you hear the most. It's mostly sittin next or close to the driver and the car has no sound isolation whatsoever.
You hardly hear the cars around you because of all the internal noise.

This is why I set opponent car volume to near-zero. People think it's weird but it's actually more realistic.
Even on the motorway in a road car you can barely hear the engines of other cars, if at all.

Personally i like to hear the surrounding cars, the chorus of V8s all revving higher with gear change in unison is a magical sound to me
Plus it helps with spatial awareness in VR if i can hear a car off to the side of me.

I can see both posters and even some of my favorite Raceroom devs is liking posts where the definition of "realistic" conserning cockpit sound is that it is allowed that you can NOT hear anything else than your own engine sound and/or gearbox whine and the inside cockpit rattling.

But if this is the definition of "realistic" conserning racing sim sound then there is no reason for the sim to try to destribute the different directional sound cues from as example both wind and tire sound and specially other cars directional sound cues.

The reason for this maybe controversial postulate is that in a racing sim you use the directional cues in quite another way than you use sound cues on RL track or on a RL motorway or road.

In RL your situation awareness is based on so much MORE than just a rather restricted visual screen/VR FOV and the actual few different sound channels/parameters available in a sim.
Because in RL your situation awareness is both based on a multitude of visual and directional audio cues - but it is also based on a lot of unconscious physical inputs - and probably even more urgent a multitude of unconscious cognitive inputs.

So if your sim should be called "realistic" in this scenario then the rather few and restricted visual and audio cues (and FFB) have to try to compensate for the lack of the multitude conscious and unconscious inputs you get in a similiar situation in RL!

If we take a FFB steering wheel input as example then it is mostly acknowledged that faked effects or not then a lot of the FFB effects either are much exaggered compared to RL wheel inputs or are plain invented fake inputs "made up" to try to compensate for the very meagre feedback you actually get directly from a steering wheel in a RL car.

And using the same analogy conserning the subject here the directional audio inputs in a racing sim - then they have to help to compensate for all the missing audio inputs our brain need to establish some kind of situational awareness that can simulate the awareness we get in RL because of the multitude of concious and unconcious inputs we get there.

Sim(ulated) situational awareness will never be the same as RL - but if we beforehand does restrict as example the audio cues in the sim cockpit to some distorted engine and gearbox noise and some rattling from the tintop then any chance to at least getting some situational awareness that can compete with the awareness we get in RL is completely lost.

CatsAreTheWorstDogs: This post became a bit more longhaired than I intended - but is aimed against positions who are satisfied with some cockpit sound without much internal and external directional cues.
And often listened through some suboptimal headsets bought for $/€10.

 

[RichardHessels]

I can see both posters and even some of my favorite Raceroom devs is liking posts where the definition of "realistic" conserning cockpit sound is that it is allowed that you can NOT hear anything else than your own engine sound and/or gearbox whine and the inside cockpit rattling.

But if this is the definition of "realistic" conserning racing sim sound then there is no reason for the sim to try to destribute the different directional sound cues from as example both wind and tire sound and specially other cars directional sound cues.

The reason for this maybe controversial postulate is that in a racing sim you use the directional cues in quite another way than you use sound cues on RL track or on a RL motorway or road.

In RL your situation awareness is based on so much MORE than just a rather restricted visual screen/VR FOV and the actual few different sound channels/parameters available in a sim.
Because in RL your situation awareness is both based on a multitude of visual and directional audio cues - but it is also based on a lot of unconscious physical inputs - and probably even more urgent a multitude of unconscious cognitive inputs.

So if your sim should be called "realistic" in this scenario then the rather few and restricted visual and audio cues (and FFB) have to try to compensate for the lack of the multitude conscious and unconscious inputs you get in a similiar situation in RL!

If we take a FFB steering wheel input as example then it is mostly acknowledged that faked effects or not then a lot of the FFB effects either are much exaggered compared to RL wheel inputs or are plain invented fake inputs "made up" to try to compensate for the very meagre feedback you actually get directly from a steering wheel in a RL car.

And using the same analogy conserning the subject here the directional audio inputs in a racing sim - then they have to help to compensate for all the missing audio inputs our brain need to establish some kind of situational awareness that can simulate the awareness we get in RL because of the multitude of concious and unconcious inputs we get there.

Sim(ulated) situational awareness will never be the same as RL - but if we beforehand does restrict as example the audio cues in the sim cockpit to some distorted engine and gearbox noise and some rattling from the tintop then any chance to at least getting some situational awareness that can compete with the awareness we get in RL is completely lost.

CatsAreTheWorstDogs: This post became a bit more longhaired than I intended - but is aimed against positions who are satisfied with some cockpit sound without much internal and external directional cues.
And often listened through some suboptimal headsets bought for $/€10.

For g-sake...
There is sound sliders for adjusting any sound-effect you want to hear or not want to hear.
Now get back to driving instead of this transmision whining.

 

[BrunoBæ]

Oh I didnt know you could change the audio levels in Raceroom.
Thank you very much.
Very appreciated
That will solve all problems I guess.

 

[XtC24]

Happy to see the Group C cars with better performance and it shows. the laptimes were previously much closer to GT3 than to Formula 90's
Now the 962 is more powerful, looks like more downforce too. It is also easier to drive ( I don't know if i like it so much).
Anyway I did jut a couple of laps directly in the leaderboard in Mid Ohio after not doing it for months and was more than 2 seconds quicker easily.
The laptimes done before the update were not erased.

So really fast guys from that leaderboard - Pls make it right again

 

[BrunoBæ]

OK @XtC24
I obeyed your order.
And to make it easier for you I just adjusted my position on the LBs in BOTH the Porsche and Nissan.
But Im not able to adjust the LBs on ALL tracks so I did chose the Lakeview Hillclimb.
OK?
Now its your turn.

EDIT 49min later:
OK I hadnt seen it was Mid Ohio. So I had to use some time to get to know this track in the Porsche.
But because of your asking I have just positioned me on this funny track on a reasonable LB position.



EDIT2 next day:
It looks like people after @XtC24 ´s teasing above have taken the challenge and have made some impressing LB laptimes on Mid Ohio.
We even now have a fast american testing this US track out

 

[Nunzio]

I have horrible stutters since the update. The game basically stops and resumes a couple seconds later

 

[UMC 22]

I have horrible stutters since the update. The game basically stops and resumes a couple seconds later

You could try deleting the various settings files found in My Documents\My Games\SimBin\RaceRoom Racing Experience\UserData so that you're starting from scratch, or verifying files. Other than that, I once had very poor performance in VR for reasons I couldn't fathom or fix. I did a complete reinstall and presto... everything was back to normal. Drastic step, but if it works...

Just make sure you backup your car setups and controller settings first.

 

[kcoxphotos]

OK @XtC24
I obeyed your order.
And to make it easier for you I just adjusted my position on the LBs in BOTH the Porsche and Nissan.
But Im not able to adjust the LBs on ALL tracks so I did chose the Lakeview Hillclimb.
OK?
Now its your turn.

EDIT 49min later:
OK I hadnt seen it was Mid Ohio. So I had to use some time to get to know this track in the Porsche.
But because of your asking I have just positioned me on this funny track on a reasonable LB position.

View attachment 362537

EDIT2 next day:
It looks like people after @XtC24 ´s teasing above have taken the challenge and have made some impressing LB laptimes on Mid Ohio.
We even now have a fast american testing this US track out

View attachment 362822

How were you able to center the HUD Tachometer display in the center of the screen? I have been trying to figure out how to do this.

 

[herve45]

In the settings you can assign a key allowing to move the elements of the hud

 

[Michael Tobin]

I have horrible stutters since the update. The game basically stops and resumes a couple seconds later

Me too! I was happy enough with performance till recently but something changed and it runs like absolute stutter city now. I'm not sure if it was the game update or a steam vr thing or new nvidia driver but its horrible now with everything on low and steam vr ss on 100%. Tried reinstallation and deleting my documents folder but no good! Even the menu screens are lagging and taking ages to load, its strange because ams2, pcars2 and rfactor2 all seem to be fine so im assuming it was something to do with the update!