Radical SR3 Released for rFactor 2

[Paul Jeffrey]

Studio 397 have released their second car since taking over development of rFactor 2, introducing the Radical SR3 RSX sportscar!

Built with the support and data of the official Radical manufacturer, the SR3 RSX is a purpose build club race car that packs an incredible amount of power into what is a very light weight performance race car.

"The SR3 is the next step up from the SR1 offering thrilling, cost-effective, high-performance track driving and racing" say Studio 397 on the car release. "First launched in 2001, it is the most widely produced and most successful prototype style sportscar racer in the world, with over 1,000 sold. This bears testament to its proven track record and stunning value verses performance and is surely the reason why the SR3 has been selected by the Race of Champions for the champions of F1 and other major race series to race, achieving the fastest racing lap at the last 2 Race of Champion Events. New for 2017 the Generation 4 engine offers improved reliability, better drivability and more power.

The new car comes in a couple of different configurations, with both fanciers of left and right hand drive variants catered for in the car settings options. As an additional bonus the vehicle comes with 20 unique paint schemes as designed by community members from a recent painting competition hosted by Studio 397.

Technical Specs:

0-60
3.1 sec
(3.3 Sec 1340cc)

TOP SPEED
147 mph
(141 mph 1340cc)

POWER@FLYWHEEL
225 bhp
(195 bhp 1340cc)

WEIGHT
620 kg

POWER:WEIGHT
363 bhp/tonne
(314 bhp/tonne 1340cc)

LATERAL FORCE
2.3 g

Weighing in at 501MB, the SR3 and its 20 paint schemes is available as a free download from the rFactor 2 Steam Workshop now.

rFactor 2 is a PC exclusive racing simulation from Studio 397, available to purchase now on Steam.

For more rFactor 2 goodness you really do need to check out our rFactor 2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment. If you want a great place to hang with sim racing fans, catch up on the latest news articles and engage in some pretty special league and club racing events held on a regular basis, then pop over and come make yourself at home!

Have you tried out the new Radical yet? What are your impressions of the car? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Gijs van Elderen]

Like Leseb64 pointed out. The tire temps you see in the HUD are tire surface temps, those temps are the most important when it comes down to grip. Driving style and car balance has big impact on those. If you want to see more temps in the rF2 tire layers, Motec is a cool thing.

Core tire temps are readeble after a stint in the garage/car setup menu to adjust tire pressures.

higher tire pressure = more load on the tire surface = is more tire surface temp but less core temp
lower tire pressure = more flex in the tire = more core temp, but less surface temp.

If you lock a tire = you get surface hot spots on your tire.
If you do a burn out and keep the car standing: heat is transfered to the tarmac and you get surface cold spots.

To get tires in the working range properly takes +/- 5-10 laps.

 

[Keith Dixon]

It is normal a tire cooled in some meters

In that vid, along with various others from road racing to F1 the front temps are cooler than the rears which obviously balances out as you corner and then drops back again on the straights as it should, now in AC and AMS and even some older Nascar games thats pretty much what you get but in RF2 for the most part the front temps are always hotter even on the straights, why?

Not a dig at the RF2 tyre model btw, just simple curiosity

 

[hitm4k3r]

In that vid, along with various others from road racing to F1 the front temps are cooler than the rears which obviously balances out as you corner and then drops back again on the straights as it should, now in AC and AMS and even some older Nascar games thats pretty much what you get but in RF2 for the most part the front temps are always hotter even on the straights, why?

Not a dig at the RF2 tyre model btw, just simple curiosity

That very much depends on the car itself, repsectively RWD vs FWD, rear engine vs mid engine, the setup and ofcourse the driving style. There is not really a rule to it, but a RWD car will wear the rears faster than the fronts and vice versa and that's pretty much how it is in rF2. Would be intersting to watch a video of you driving in any of the sims and to see your inputs. That said, rF2 requires a different approach on how you manage your tires compared to AC or AMS and wrong treatment, bad habbits and wrong inputs will fire back faster

 

[Keith Dixon]

That very much depends on the car itself, repsectively RWD vs FWD, rear engine vs mid engine, the setup and ofcourse the driving style. There is not really a rule to it, but a RWD car will wear the rears faster than the fronts and vice versa and that's pretty much how it is in rF2. Would be intersting to watch a video of you driving in any of the sims and to see your inputs. That said, rF2 requires a different approach on how you manage your tires compared to AC or AMS and wrong treatment, bad habbits and wrong inputs will fire back faster

I can hold my own on a track and I'm pretty smooth on the driving front when I'm in the right mood lol but then I've been around since the ZX Spectrum so I've driven pretty much everything out there and I guess I'd be classed as an old fart these days

It was a question that interested me having seen previous conversations but no real answers, although I enjoy RF2 it is the sim I spend the least amount of time in so there's not a lot of setup work going on compared to the others, it's usually a quick race with the AI then jump out, cheers for the reply

 

[leseb64]

In rf2 tire is the most successful and by far compared to other simu, but even for me who practice rf2 for a long time the settings on the tire and not easy a lot of partametre takes into account and I'm not an expert

 

[RichardHessels]

It seems this car has been given more efficient aero than F1, with less drag (Bodydrag base = 0.19). Can anyone who knows anything about this car confirm? I am struggling to accept that.

F1 cars are totally not efficient in the aero department. Openwheels, big vertical radiators with large air intakes on both sides and the top, large diffusor and rearwing. That pointy nose on a formula car does not make much difference anymore (if you have 900hp). A F1 car moves about the same wind as a truck, compared to a sleek closed wheel car.

 

[Amedeo Fiorella]

What about a club race with the new Radical?

 

[hitm4k3r]

I can hold my own on a track and I'm pretty smooth on the driving front when I'm in the right mood lol but then I've been around since the ZX Spectrum so I've driven pretty much everything out there and I guess I'd be classed as an old fart these days

It was a question that interested me having seen previous conversations but no real answers, although I enjoy RF2 it is the sim I spend the least amount of time in so there's not a lot of setup work going on compared to the others, it's usually a quick race with the AI then jump out, cheers for the reply

We had the exact same discussion quite some time ago and people who are quite a bit older than me and come from older sims, had to rethink their driving style quite a bit when they came from lets say rF1, wich in essence is the base for the AMS tire model to rF2 with it's more advanced tire model. I am not saying one is right or one is wrong as more complexity can obviously indroduce more errors, but in general the rF2 model is much more dynamic and will react much more sensetive to what you are doing with your tires. So when you drive with too much lock for example, you will notice it instantly in higher tire temps wich in fact increases tire wear and reduces grip once you leave the optimal operating temp window. You will definetly not get away with stuff that you can do in rF1/AMS or even AC. But that's just my own experience when driving the different platforms. as said, might be interesting to see a video of you driving in rF2. Even if you are as old as this genre, it might not stop you from having bad habbits. And trust me, we all have them

 

[Keith Dixon]

We had the exact same discussion quite some time ago and people who are quite a bit older than me and come from older sims, had to rethink their driving style quite a bit when they came from lets say rF1, wich in essence is the base for the AMS tire model to rF2 with it's more advanced tire model. I am not saying one is right or one is wrong as more complexity can obviously indroduce more errors, but in general the rF2 model is much more dynamic and will react much more sensetive to what you are doing with your tires. So when you drive with too much lock for example, you will notice it instantly in higher tire temps wich in fact increases tire wear and reduces grip once you leave the optimal operating temp window. You will definetly not get away with stuff that you can do in rF1/AMS or even AC. But that's just my own experience when driving the different platforms. as said, might be interesting to see a video of you driving in rF2. Even if you are as old as this genre, it might not stop you from having bad habbits. And trust me, we all have them

I have many bad habits I've picked up over the years lol some are just plain laziness because I know I can get away with it in certain sims

I agree with everything you have said, RF2 does require a certain finesse when it comes to the inputs, I've not been driving a lot of late, my interest had started to die off a bit with regards the sim world but the Radical caught my attention being a car I like so maybe I'll spend a bit of time with it

If I ever put my YT channel back up I'll be sure to let you know

 

[Nick Gregory]

I finally got around to trying this. I went to Silverstone, and I got as far as Woodcote before the game crashed. I even tried a few other tracks, and I can only get so far before it crashes. Looks like some updates are in order.

BTW, I'm only running this in DX9 until the on-screen plug-in rendering is implemented for DX11.

 

[Juergen]

I finally got around to trying this. I went to Silverstone, and I got as far as Woodcote before the game crashed. I even tried a few other tracks, and I can only get so far before it crashes. Looks like some updates are in order.

BTW, I'm only running this in DX9 until the on-screen plug-in rendering is implemented for DX11.

The DX9 version of rF2 have to be updated, to avoid crashes with the Radical`s...was mentioned/advised on the S397 forum, too.

 

[Fanapryde]

Like Leseb64 pointed out. The tire temps you see in the HUD are tire surface temps, those temps are the most important when it comes down to grip. Driving style and car balance has big impact on those. If you want to see more temps in the rF2 tire layers, Motec is a cool thing.

Core tire temps are readeble after a stint in the garage/car setup menu to adjust tire pressures.

higher tire pressure = more load on the tire surface = is more tire surface temp but less core temp
lower tire pressure = more flex in the tire = more core temp, but less surface temp.

If you lock a tire = you get surface hot spots on your tire.
If you do a burn out and keep the car standing: heat is transfered to the tarmac and you get surface cold spots.

To get tires in the working range properly takes +/- 5-10 laps.

Yes, I know and I agree for the greater part, but it should not take 5-10 laps to get the tires warmed up though (as my test shows).
But anyway:

Session setting: Oulton Park Fosters (a track that should make tires 'work')
Humidity 30%, 22°, realroad forced to highrubber_fos, realroad time scale normal.
I ran (stock settings) a warm up lap followed by three fast laps. Exited to the pits while crossing the starting line. Checked tire temps.
Went out for 13 laps, same driving, rougly same lap times, exited at the same point and checked tire temps:
Both results almost identical:
Front 191 kPa 70/60/83 - 183 kPa 88/74/61
Rear 169 kPa 53/55/55. - 165 kPa 58/53/47

So I seem to have too much negative camber in the front, will need some adjusting.
But this is with standard initial pressure of 150 kPa front and 140 kPa rear (which can not be lowered, only augmented to 220 F+R)

After strolling on the net trying to find some settings for the RL Radical SR3, it seems the car needs even more negative camber.
I tried (same conditions). -3.3 F and 2.3 R and that resulted in:
Front 183 kPa 72/76/80 - 172 kPa 78/58/45
Rear 164 kPa 59/63/64 - 158 kPa 66/54/42

Tire surface temps should be around 75 - 100°C, so I tried adding positive camber:
-1.6 both F and R
Slightly better laptimes (probably more due to getting used to the car)
Front 184 kPa 77/77/78 - 71/63/50
Rear 163 kPa 55/58/58 - 59/58/44

Still strange results imo and tire temps definitely too low.
Your thoughts ?

 

[Paul Blythe]

Only had a brief drive with the Radical and the FFB was rough on my T500RS. Quick play with the per car FFB settings and it softened the quite aggressive FFB oscillations at stand still.. Not 100% cured, and on track feeling is a bit subdued.

 

[Emery]

After strolling on the net trying to find some settings for the RL Radical SR3, it seems the car needs even more negative camber.

You can't go by recommended camber settings unless you also know the spring rates & swaybars used by the people recommending that camber.

Also, at this time, the LHD model has a severe lateral weight distribution imbalance. Do your testing only on the RHD model until Studio 397 updates the car (expect them to add wet tires at the same time).

 

[Deleted member 130869]

I'm glad it's getting an update soon. Apparently a few things are off (that drag number included), and I am very surprised 1) it was developed with the mistakes 2) it was not caught or altered while in development. But it's getting an update so that's good. With ISI it could have taken another 12 months . Hopefully they'll address them and also filter out community noise.

 

[Fanapryde]

Also, at this time, the LHD model has a severe lateral weight distribution imbalance. Do your testing only on the RHD model until Studio 397 updates the car (expect them to add wet tires at the same time).

Ah, thanks for this information.
I did not know about this and have only been driving the LHD model....

 

[GuitarTech]

The SR3 has a lot of potential that's for sure. I've been driving it since it came out, but there is too much wrong with it at the moment, I won't repeat what has already been said by other people here. I hope the update comes soon and corrects all the mistakes. I wonder how all the mistakes could've gone undiscovered with such a long development time? Doesn't anybody BETA test any more?

 

[Marcel Offermans]

I finally got around to trying this. I went to Silverstone, and I got as far as Woodcote before the game crashed. I even tried a few other tracks, and I can only get so far before it crashes. Looks like some updates are in order.

Would it be possible for you to report this through the "Contact Support" button in the launcher, adding a trace.txt, as it might help us diagnose and solve your issue.

 

[Alex72]

The SR3 has a lot of potential that's for sure. I've been driving it since it came out, but there is too much wrong with it at the moment, I won't repeat what has already been said by other people here. I hope the update comes soon and corrects all the mistakes. I wonder how all the mistakes could've gone undiscovered with such a long development time? Doesn't anybody BETA test any more?

Too much wrong? To me its just AI being too fast. And possibly tires cooling too fast, but i dont know if that the case or not. So among everything that makes up a car in a sim that doesnt seem to be that big of a deal... Updating is coming. Chill.

 

[Deleted member 130869]

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