RaceRoom Update Notes: New Tracks, New Cars and New Features

Paul Jeffrey

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RaceRoom Developer Diary .jpg

Sector3 Studios have taken to the internet today to share some interesting insights into the near future of RaceRoom Racing Experience...


Yes folks, it's time for another roadmap from a sim racing development team... this time the turn falls to Sector3 Studios and their RaceRoom Racing Experience title.

In the September 2019 'Developer Notes' thread, Sector3 have shared plenty of interesting updates about the title... read on to find out what they have to say...

This is a follow-up to the May 2019 thread.

Summer is short in Sweden, so we try and make the best out of it, and that means quite a lot of vacation days have been taken, and therefore a significant slowdown in development for a few weeks.

But here we are, back at it, skin maybe still peeling off from sunburns. I hope everyone had or might still be having a nice time out! I for one visited family and friends back in Belgium.
Is this relevant for these development notes? Well, sort of, as I landed in Belgium the very week of the Spa 24H. I went there on the practice days, 23rd and 24th in order to collect references for no less than 7 or 8 cars.

S3 RaceRoom Development Notes 1.jpg


After those refs were taken, it was time to go up and pay a visit to Aris (Kunos), Paul Jeffrey (RaceDepartment) and Chris Haye (yey, thanks for the mention JF, was awesome to finally meet face-to-face - Paul).

S3 RaceRoom Development Notes 2.jpg

I did queue to qualify for the ACC event, but suddenly had other opportunities to seize.

Anyway... Here is a quick rundown of the items listed in the notes from May, and where we stand for each:

Cars
: The WTCR 2019 car class that we were working on is out and the esport season has started ( Check out the first race stream ).
We had a couple small updates since the release, and also WTCR 2018 car class received their physics update to match and be raced alongside the 2019 cars. What we still have not shipped is the BMW M1 Group 4, which is awaiting liveries, and the updated Volkswagen ID.R, remade according to actual telemetry for which I also need liveries. Discussions are to resume soon with Volkswagen Motorsport regarding livery designs and final sign-off of the new physics. As you may have seen, Romain Dumas and the VW crew have been busy breaking records in China as well!

Tracks
: Two of the tracks we've been working on are now finished and being prepared for public use, so expect announcements and previews in the coming weeks. Our artists will immediately move on to new projects as we have reached agreements for four more in the meantime.

Force Feedback updates
: Static friction and pneumatic trail effects have been in testing for a while now and I have to hold them back for now as we have to wait for a gap between two competitions before we push changes that affect handling and performance of the cars. Those effects are physics based and the pneumatic trail effect has an impact on the car handling, especially coming out of corners. The next period between esport competitions is December 2019.

Moving / resizing HUD elements :
Issues reported on ultrawide monitors are considered fixed. Let us know if you still have any.

So, what's new?

Thomas Jansen has been recruited to help in the physics and AI department. After proving his worth as a betatester and delivering flawlessness™ in BOP, Thomas is now a consultant, working hand in hand with @Alex Hodgkinson . He is tasked with things ranging from damper tuning to critical AI physics improvements, such as preventing AI of recent cars from losing the rear so often.

Renato Lipi
has been recruited as our new web backend developer. Renato will have a lot on his table with very big tasks awaiting him, such as a migration to AWS, development, along with the rest of the team, of the scheduled multiplayer / rating / career features, improvements to competitions, menus, and so on. I'm confident that his skills, in combination with a true passion and excitement for the projects, will help bring RaceRoom much further.

Anthony Monteil and @Robert Holm
are cooking up some nice updates to the tyre sounds. A completely new set of recordings from Anthony, along with some code changes in the engine from Robert (allowing tweaks per car but also more randomness in the samples) should bring you a lot more information regarding grip levels while you are driving. I tried to demonstrate the progression in this video :
AI improvements: We acknowledge that the more demanding physics we have been delivering are likely too much for the AI to handle properly. There are plenty of places where AI now easily gets in trouble, so we're addressing this issue from an AI physics point of view.
What we need to avoid is for this job to put us in a spot where AI cars differ quite a lot from the player's car, making racing feel unfair as AI appear to have much better cornering grip, braking or power.

To prevent this but also improve AI in general, @Robert Holm has experimented and came up an interesting self-learning AI. The way it works is that we take a car and we throw it on a track, then we tell the AI to drive and run tests to autotune itself. It all happens in a few seconds and the following measures happen:
  • DECELERATION / BRAKING
    Performs brake tests and compares measurement with what AI thought would happen. Useful for preventing AI from hitting you in the back.
  • ACCELERATION|
    Performs acceleration tests and compares measure against prediction, this will for example improve the calculation of slowdown penalties or the decision of when to issue a stop-and-go penalty after cutting the track.
  • LAP
    AI performs a timed lap and logs it for developers to gauge the effects of their changes (for example, matching real world laptimes)
  • CORNERING
    Keeps track of how far off the line the AI went and the amount of understeer. Used to prevent AI from cornering too early or too late.
  • RADIUS
    A complex set of tests for grip levels per corner radius, allowing AI to be fine-tuned so they are not dead slow in hairpins or lightning fast in medium radius corners.

    I'm very much looking forward to seeing what the team achieves with this new tool.
    Watch it in action here:

Physics
- Current projects are:
  • GT3 overhaul (Release December 2019)
  • DTM 92 / Touring Classics (Release TBA)
  • VW ID.R modifications for an eventual release in store (Release TBA)
  • Working on new cars as well that I can't disclose.
Art - Always complicated to talk about what our talented artists are working on as they're always the ones with the top secret stuff in their hands... Just know that we have 7 or 8 cars in the pipeline at the moment, along with official liveries of the 2019 season of three racing series (for cars that we already released). As touched above, two tracks are in their final development phase. Two more are lined up afterwards, currently receiving art polish and tweaks.

Damage - As you know from previous notes, we have suspension damage and flatspots in beta, and the only thing that was holding it back was the need for a modification of how damage options are handled. Right now, you have two settings to set for damage: visual and mechanical. That will go away and in the future you'll only have one damage setting with three choices: "Off" - "Minimal" and "Full". If you want suspension damage and flatspots, you'll have to go on "Full", while "Minimal" will give you damage like you currently have it. That modification is now done and we only have to wait until a gap in esport to push these game-changing updates. The next gap is in December. So that is when we'll push those.

Dedicated Server
- The following doesn't require a gap in esport competitions and therefore will hit your server machines very soon.

Chat box
- The server admin can now read and send chat messages. Messages from the server admin will be shown as originating from 'SERVER', like in this example:

In the server interface:

RaceRoom Dev Notes 3.png

And in-game:
RaceRoom Dev Notes 4.png


MOTD - The server can now be set with a Message Of The Day, a text-only short message that will be shown to players joining the server (in practice and standing start qualifying). Communities can now use this to show server rules or their website / Discord URL, etc.
There is some basic html formatting available

Will result in this aspect:
RaceRoom Dev Notes 5.png


Weight Manager - We're adding an example of what can be done using the Dedicated Server's API with this tool. Feed it with a results file from a previous race and in a matter of a few clicks, you can set success ballast for the next championship round, saving you the trouble of manually going through their ID's and usernames.
We're adding a field to input a formula allowing for quick automated weights attribution. Example here with this RRVLN race result where we give ballast based on the finish position in class, with a maximum of 50kg:

RaceRoom Dev Notes 6.png

Here's a list of the helpers currently in testing, allowing for creativity in the formula:
RaceRoom Dev Notes 7.png


Pre-determined starting grid
- As I write these lines, I'm not sure yet if it works as we added it this week and we haven't managed to organize a race with the betatesters yet. The goal of this feature is that you should be able to set the starting grid of your MP race and skip qualifying altogether. Either set the grid manually, or point the tool to a leaderboard with your league's team name and it will fetch all the players with that team name on that leaderboard and automatically generate the starting grid. Hopefully it passes QA swiftly.

RaceRoom Dev Notes 8.png
An example import with a WTCR championship round from https://www.racingfr.net of how the starting grid can be imported from a leaderboard and then edited manually with a couple of clicks.

So that's it folks - plenty of interesting an exciting stuff on the horizon for RaceRoom Racing Experience - looking forward to it all dropping the coming months..

The RaceRoom Racing Experience sub forum here at RaceDepartment is the place to go for news and discussion about this excellent racing title. In the forum you can chat with fellow fans and take part in our excellent RaceRoom Racing Experience Racing Club - a great way to race in a clean, fair and fun online environment.

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The thing that stopped me playing RaceRoom is its pricing model. I wouldn't say that cars or tracks are too expensive in general. However, buying all of the current content for a set price (Premium Pack) and then having to buy all upcoming content for the normal price is a stupid concept. It means that a customer makes a better deal the longer he waits, which would be the nightmare of any economist. I understand that distributing new content to Premium Pack owners for free or only a few cents wouldn't pay off for S3S but the current system definitely needs an overhaul.
 
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When I make a pass I stay on that line, I don't get in front of the car I just passed. So maybe that's the problem with those who think the AI rams them? I just stated that I passed 12 cars over a 40 minute race and the AI were very well behaved except the second place car blocked me (which was very realistic...Assetto Corsa AI does the same thing...I like that:)) and after I passed him he gave me a little nudge like he was miffed at me? So I personally think R3E AI is very good. But maybe the circumstances are different that you guys are experiencing?
I'm just saying that to take away AI spinning off or crashing is not the right move, that's realistic and immersive:
I can't wait for cars to catch fire and to drive thru smoke from those fires and have oil on the track cause crashes and stuff like that. That's where this SIM racing needs to go, more realistic immersive elements!
No the problem is not when passing ai cars, it is when you are already ahead and there is a faster ai car behind. Sometimes it can make the pass cleanly and that is great but a lot of the time it just takes you out even if you have the line! The fact that you passed all the ai cars suggest that maybe you had them at an easy level! What generally happens to me is I would be fighting a car in front which allows the car behind to catch up and as we are fighting each other it is always me that gets rammed off track! So frustrating because this sim could be so good if this was sorted! That is my opinion anyway and I understand that some people have no issue with the ai but for me it is unplayable if you want a good fair fight as it is not much fun lowering the level of the ai and strolling to victory.
 
Updating to DX11 would be the cherry on the cake and I'd return to Raceroom more often I guess since their packages feature really nice and unique cars which you don't find in many other sims. However I don't know how realistic or "soon" DX11 might be for them.
 
At the moment Raceroom is my favorite - but but but I have never understood why the S3 team consider it completely unnessesary to list the individual laptimes in Practice and LB mode.
The only thing Raceroom does list is your personal BEST laptime.
But ofcourse in real life nobody is interessted if a setup change does make the car faster or slower.
Right?:sneaky:
And yes I know that you can install some 3rd party progs that does make it possible to list the individual laptimes - but there is a funny discrepancy between announcing a certain racing game as a sim and at the same time being completely uninteressted in listing the cars individual laptimes inside this socalled "sim".
Hehe my own "solution" in as example LB mode have until now been to quickly stop the car after every finishing line and then with a pocket calculator calculate the actual laptime by adding the difference value that is shown for about 2 sec(!) when you cross the line with the PB that is all that Raceroom is able to list.:poop:

CatsAreTheWorstDogs: Does this maybe reveal the degree of interest the S3 devs has in making this socalled sim(ulator) realistic?:whistling:

EDIT: Replaced ‎"deducting the difference" with "adding the difference"...:x3:
 
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Would be great if Devs could package that AI learning software into an something that we could use within the game.
We could test and share stuff for much faster results, and personally would enjoy it as a break from racing.
30 years of sim racing and I'm still waiting for something better than what we have currently.
hopefully this is step forward.
 
That AI learning tool seems very promising. My main gripe about R3E's AI isn't the aggression, but that it's generally too slow in tight corners and too fast in sweepers to the point it's unfair. They also crash quite a bit on some tracks (going off track, oversteering or riding the kerbs too much)

This of course is track and car dependant, but I really hope the tool addresses these issues and will make imo the best AI there is :thumbsup:
 
I like the fact that the AI goes off or rides the curbs, its realistic. RE3 the AI is really good in my opinion...compared to rFactor AI its night and day. I hate the fact that the AI is super quick right off bat in P1, If they would gradually work up to a fast pace that would be better. But I'm not complaining that they are too realistic in that they spin off and slide off and ride the curbs sometimes. I guess most of you guys have not have not cut your teeth (so to say)h on rFactor like I did that's why you have no baseline to compare R3E AI with? rFactor AI was crap, they would stop on track, they would punt you and they shifted weird so the replays would be funky...
 
I am a slow racer, I have gotten better in RR, not particularly faster, but better, so I have less of a issue with the ramming, but I did have issues, I am just not sure that "git gud" is useful, the game has AI scale, it acknowledges that there is a span of talent in the user base, I feel that should also be reflected in the AI behavior. I stuck with it despite a lot of frustration, because the benefits of the game made it seem a good reward for me to learn to adapt. How many just give up?

I agree with this, as a matter of fact since quite some years, i was thinking that AI should reflect more each driver, good or bad.
So i had in mind a way of doing this: the pilot would do a hotlap with his best lap, this lap would be then fed to a plugin that would take his lap as exemple so the AI would be competitive with the pilot.
I cant explain better due to english not being my native language, but you see what i mean. It is really frustrating when you know at every turn how the AI will be and on the turns they are slow you can pass one car every lap in THAT turn. On other turn they are too fast, so if you pass a car, he will pass you again on THAT turn. This ruins the race and also make the pilot have to adapt to AI instead of the contrary !
This idear i have since i drove on GTR2 where clearly AI were the downside if it.

So that was just my thinking about AI, and this goes to all simulators around.
If this is utopic or else, dont hesitate to tell me ;)

Regards,
Silvano
 
That is my opinion anyway and I understand that some people have no issue with the ai but for me it is unplayable if you want a good fair fight

Just to add to your comment, what you are saying is a bit extreme, yes there is issues but it is not unplayable!
To be fair I enjoy the AI in R3E, as I enjoy most AI. They all have their quirks, but with a little patience and adequate settings they can be made to play nice. R3E AI is particularly playful and since most series are well balanced, some good fun can be had with them.
Any improvement with AI here and everywhere are very welcome.
AI behaviour is also very dependent on cars and tack combo. The Audi TT at the first chicane at Salzburgring can be a handful. :D
 
Just to add to your comment, what you are saying is a bit extreme, yes there is issues but it is not unplayable!
To be fair I enjoy the AI in R3E, as I enjoy most AI. They all have their quirks, but with a little patience and adequate settings they can be made to play nice. R3E AI is particularly playful and since most series are well balanced, some good fun can be had with them.
Any improvement with AI here and everywhere are very welcome.
AI behaviour is also very dependent on cars and tack combo. The Audi TT at the first chicane at Salzburgring can be a handful. :D
It does sound a bit extreme I know, I am prob being a bit harsh but when you have been punted off so many times and know it will happen then I just think whats the point ya know! I do feel a bit sorry for the devs though as some people say ai is too slow, others too fast, some say too aggressive while others think not aggressive enough so what do they do? As for the guy who thinks rfactor ai is bad, this just sums up how personal ai is I suppose as I find it the best ai around by far although it lacks in other things like tracks which raceroom is great!
 
It is a good thing Studio 397 has poached Feels3 from S3S, he must have been sitting there twiddling his thumbs, as there hasn't been any new tracks for this sim for a long time. Without him I wonder what the quality of their new tracks will be like now.

Ps.
And well done Studio 397 for employing a great track creator like Feels3.

We can go back and look at the threads from before he went to S3 begging ISI to hire him (I certainly did). His mod tracks for rF2 from that time period still look better (more natural) than the latest official tracks from S397. His work at S3 has been exemplary.

I hope he will be the boss of the track-making department and can hire others like him. S397 needs the help desperately. And sorry if S3 is in some sort of financial or other trouble that they could not keep him. The natural feel of the tracks (and updates) since he joined is a very major element of the appeal of R3E.
 
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Every time you reach a turn you have to start praying so that they don't hit you from behind and get you off the track.

It is a very expensive game, supposedly a simulator and this aggression has nothing fun for me.
 
So i had in mind a way of doing this: the pilot would do a hotlap with his best lap, this lap would be then fed to a plugin that would take his lap as exemple so the AI would be competitive with the pilot.
I cant explain better due to english not being my native language, but you see what i mean. It is really frustrating when you know at every turn how the AI will be and on the turns they are slow you can pass one car every lap in THAT turn. On other turn they are too fast, so if you pass a car, he will pass you again on THAT turn. This ruins the race and also make the pilot have to adapt to AI instead of the contrary !
This idear i have since i drove on GTR2 where clearly AI were the downside if it.
So that was just my thinking about AI, and this goes to all simulators around.
If this is utopic or else, dont hesitate to tell me ;)
Your idea is not complete utopic @Sil
Actually a sim created long before some of todays simmers did drop their pacifier :laugh: had a rather similiar tool to personalize the AIs driving.
Im talking about the legendary NR2003 and its different mods.
If you started NR2003 up in dev mode it was possible to drive a special lap that at the same time generated some socalled lp-files.
When these lp-files then afterwards was included in the track folder then the AI cars used them in situations where they were needed.
Hehe the name of the files tell something of which situations the AI used them.

limp.lp
maxpanic.lp
maxpit0.lp
maxrace.lp
minpanic.lp
minpit0.lp
minrace.lp
pace.lp
pit0.lp
race.lp
raceline.lp
 

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