RaceRoom Update Deployed - VR Improvements, an IndyCar and Some Data Displays

Paul Jeffrey

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RaceRoom Formula RaceRoom US.jpg

Sector3 Studios have today released a new update to RaceRoom Racing Experience, adding significant VR improvements, a range of new data displays to some of the cars and many other fixes and improvements to the title.


The sizable new build update released today by Sector3 Studios adds quite a few interesting new features and fixes for RaceRoom Racing Experience, including the long awaited update to data displays on a selection of vehicles in game. Although not all cars have received this enhancement, Sector3 are looking to roll this out across a wider range of cars during future patches. Today we see new displays for the Bentley, FRR2, McLaren MP4 12 C, Tatuus F4, all the DTM cars and the TC1 specification World Touring Cars (with the exception of the Lada Granta).

Other highlights from today's release include a selection of fixes and improvements to the online experience found within RaceRoom, including a fix for the bug where player shadows for drivers who have left the server remain on track after they depart.

Furthermore Sector3 have released their second pass at Virtual Reality support, vastly improving the VR experience within RaceRoom Racing Experience resulting in considerable improvements to performance when running under VR and adding a number of improvements to the overall experience.

On the content front Sector3 have made available the IndyCar inspired Formula RaceRoom US to the in game store. The high performance, high downforce American open wheel machine will be available for 349 vRP and comes with 20 unique liveries. You can watch the release trailer below:


You can read the full update changelog below:

Game:
  • Shared Memory: Added information on upcoming flag system, updated minor version number. Flag system is currently awaiting UI implementation and made unavailable to players.
  • Shared Memory: Changed how tire wear is reported so it matches the tire wear text in data displays (1.0-0.0 range when tire wear was between 1.0-0.94).
  • Added support for starting the game on any detected screen. The option resides in General Video Settings. Fullscreen changes are only applying after a game restart.
  • Fixed an issue with updating a profile avatar with the game in fullscreen where the dialogue box would appear behind the game
  • Added a possible fix for a rare case where only the car shadow of a car would be rendered after switching focus from car to car or from camera set to another
  • Implemented Reputation System that will run and track player incidents. This is in alpha stage and we’re gathering data in the background. Nothing will be visible for players just yet.
  • Fixed bug where opponents session data sometimes caused championship files to be broken due to conflicting ids.
  • Fixed so the game doesn't crash when trying to load championships affected by the bug above.
  • Fixed issue with game window using the wrong style when going from fullscreen to windowed in a resolution that's lower than the default resolution.
  • Fixed a menu issue with percentage stepper buttons not being enabled when switching from minimum<->maximum allowed values.
  • Broadcast : Fixed a case where camera selection requests were resulting in the game cycling through cameras instead.
  • Added an upper deadzone setting for the throttle axis in advanced controller settings.
  • Fixed an issue with DRS getting disabled before the race ends in timed based race sessions.
  • Fixed an issue where the race was starting without the player if Race Monitor was clicked instead of “Drive” at race start.
  • Fixed an issue where the DRS wing animation would remain deployed after the race.
  • Fixed an issue where on certain tracks the result timing was showing A.I. cars doing an extra lap.
  • Made lap times go invalid if player is speeding in the pitlane, so you can’t get fastest lap that way. New HUD overlay to signal it. (Stowe Long is a good example of where pitlane could be exploited to shortcut the first chicane)
  • Fixed a crash that happened in Single Player championships if the player clicked the pit preset button and then the continue to next race button before game entered the pit preset menu.
Multiplayer:
  • Fixed the issue where a player's contact shadow was being left on the track after disconnecting from the server.
  • Fixed an issue where a time penalty for a non performed drivethrough had no effect on results.
  • Various fixes to some inconsistencies that was occurring on certain IPv4 to IPv6 mappings.
  • Fixed issue with MP results taking a long time to arrive when running a dedi locally where backend communication fails.
  • Fixed issue with DRS animation not working in race sessions for opponent cars.
  • Fixed so multiplayer replays are now marked as such in the Media Hub.
VR:
  • Rendering through coupled draw calls to improve performance while also taking care of the issue reported that objects and cars would appear 2D from time to time.
  • Multi-threaded some of the rendering to improve performance
  • Added three bindable keys to modify the user’s headset translations multiplier, which alters in-game head movement and eye-to-eye distance. Default value is 0.9.
  • Fixed an issue where the Startup Argument that was set for RaceRoom in the Steam client wasn’t being used when launching game from an external link. (ie a competition webpage)
  • Shortened the distance at which lower poly car models are used.
  • Temporarily disabled the rendering of particle clouds. They’re bugged at the moment in VR.
Sounds, Cameras, Physics & AI:
  • Fixed a bug where H-pattern gearbox cars would receive delays for both up and downshifts.
  • Fixed TV cameras at the bridge and gantry areas for Nordschleife Tourist layout
  • Cars no longer hover a few cm above the track
  • Formula RaceRoom 2 and Formula RaceRoom US have a special pitting system allowing them to perform fast pitstops
  • Reduced bigly the probability of stress induced mistakes by AI’s
  • Fixed an issue where AI’s were accumulating stress by being followed by an opponent in the pitlane.
  • AI’s now ignore cars in the pitlane entrance lane if they’re not on it themselves.
  • Improved AI navigation in the pitlane.
  • Fixed an issue where AI would never start a qualifying lap around Nordschleife 24H when fuel multipliers were enabled.
  • Fixed so only damaged AI or AI’s on their inlap will use the Nordschleife VLN / 24H pitlane entrance by the start/finish straight
  • Fixed an issue where an AI going back to garage during a practice or qualifying session would never go out on track again
  • Fixed AI using up their P2P in the beginning of a race without saving them
  • Many more AI code tweaks to improve awareness
  • Formula Raceroom 3 : Improved the blending of the sound samples
  • Turbo cars : unloaded turbo pressure increased to deliver a better boost from a standing start.
  • Laguna Seca : Tweaks to AI lines
  • Mid Ohio GP and Chicane : Tweaks to AI lines
  • Moscow : added TV camera sets
  • Suzuka GP : Tweaks to AI lines
Art:
  • Bentley Continental GT3 : added data display
  • DTM cars : added data display
  • Formula RaceRoom 2 : added data display
  • McLaren MP4 12 C : added data display
  • Tatuus F4 : added data display
  • WTCC TC1 cars : added data display (except Lada Granta)
  • Hockenheim : Smoothed out bumps
  • Laguna Seca : Smoothed out bumps, audience update, updates and tweaks
  • Lausitzring : Smoothed out bumps, audience update, fix to vegetation
  • Monza : Smoothed out bumps, updated the track to match 2016 season
  • Norisring : Smoothed out bumps
  • Nuerburgring : Smoothed out bumps
  • Sachsenring : Smoothed out bumps
  • Sonoma : Smoothed out bumps
  • Zandvoort : Smoothed out bumps
Portal & Backend:
  • Made optimizations to code handling content in portal.
  • Implemented individual car packs system which includes all liveries of a car. Livery packs will roll in very soon.
  • Changed so the livery clusters show how many liveries there are in total and how many you own in parenthesis.
  • Added so the essential packs that are purchased show date of purchase when hovering over them.
  • Added so we show prices in real currency based on player currency preference.
  • Changed so cars in which there are still liveries to purchase, the car does not appear as fully owned in store.

Additionally the new update has added several pieces of locked content to the game due for release at a later date. The new build now includes the McLaren 650s GT3, BMW M6 and Swedish race tracks Anderstorp, Karlskoga and Mantorp Park. As is usually the case this content will be locked away from players whilst final testing and improvements are made prior to a release over the next few weeks.

If you are interested in the future development plans for RaceRoom Racing Experience you might want to check out our recent article found HERE and also take a look at a recent interview we held with Sector3 Studios CEO Chris Speed HERE. Just in case you have been living under a rock in recent weeks you might want to take a look at an interview regarding the upcoming GTR3 title we held back in January, detailing some interesting insights into the future development of this new racing game HERE.

RaceRoom Racing Experience is a free to play racing simulation for Windows PC by Sector3 Studios. Additional content can be purchased from the in game RaceRoom store.

RaceRoom Citroen WTCC 2016.jpg
RaceRoom Citroen n Volvo WTCC 2016 .jpg
RaceRoom Formula RaceRoom US 2.jpg


Here at RaceDepartment we do club racing. We do club racing very well indeed. If you feel the need for an online fix then please head over to our RaceRoom Racing Experience League and Club Racing forum to have a look what we have on offer and sign up for an event - all skills and experiences welcomed.

If you don't want to get involved in the racing action then head on over to the RaceRoom Racing Experience sub forum to catch up with all the latest news and discussions regarding the game, download a mod or two or just simply hang out with like minded individuals. All here at RaceDepartment.com!

Have you tried the new patch yet? What do you think of the game so far? Looking forward to the new content? Let us know in the comments section below!
 
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OK, now, could someone point me to the wheel-specific optimal FFB settings? Way too much clipping with what I have now, but way too many settings to spend a week testing every combination. I am looking for the most realistic/raw settings possible with no aids, non-linearity, etc. If I can get those set, I might just be ready to buy-in to a large swath of content! :) I have a Fanatec CSW, though I presume there are suggested settings for all reasonably popular wheels.

You can try checking out the FFB Guide from the Sector3 forum. It describes each of the options to give you an idea of what they do. Although I wouldnt use the recommended %'s as they are a bit outdated.

I only use a G27, so I dont know specific settings for the Fanatec, but you can also check here for specific profiles or settings. I would start with the latest posts in the threads as they are the most recent.

Generally, I would recommend to use whatever gain you want. I use around 60% gain (in game) and 100% overall strength in the logitech profiler. Next, I would probably recommend vert force around 70-80%, lat force around 50-60%, steering force around 80-90%, a bit of smoothing if you want, min force if you want, 0% steering rack, no brake or kerb effects.

Be mindful that the FFB is not going to be like other games. It is a bit more 'fun' as I like to describe it. Bumps are pronounced and you will easily feel tires locking or understeer occurring. Be sure to map a key to open the FFB meter too if you havent already. Controller settings>secondary settings I believe.

That would probably be a good place to start. I dont think you really need to make .ini tweaks to your controller profile to start out with. I would say that you should get settings you like before making further changes there.
 

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