rF2: Circuit de la Sarthe (Le Mans) Released & rF2 Updated

[Paul Jeffrey]

Studio 397 have released their beautiful laser scanned Circuit de la Sarthe for rFactor 2.

One of the most iconic tracks in world motorsport, this weekend has seen the 87th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race in France - the centrepiece event of the sportscar racing calendar and the season finale of the 2018/19 FIA World Endurance Championship season.

To mark the big event in style, Studio 397 have released their latest DLC for rFactor 2 - the laser scanned 2018 version of the famous Le Mans circuit!

Available to purchase now from the rFactor 2 Steam Store page for 10.99 eu, the new track is once again an impressive creation from Studio 397 - continuing the recent very high quality track standards achieved by the Dutch development studio.

rF2 Le Mans: Check out our test drive and Marcel Offermans interview HERE.

Alongside the new track comes a brand new update for rFactor 2, one that brings a number of fixes and improvements to the simulation as Studio 397 continue work towards refining and updating this highly regarded simulation. To catch up on the latest changes, check out the new build update notes below...

rF2 Update Notes:

With the track release comes a new build too. As always we advise people to update their dedicated servers and game clients. In fact, Le Mans requires this new build.

rFactor 2 version: 1.1112
Steam Build IDs: 3921932 (client), 3921933 (dedicated server)

Changes:

• Improved performance logging to be faster and give more information.
  
• Fixed skewed driver labels on triple screen multi-view (cockpit and track-side full-screen cams).
  
• Removed aggressive threading as it’s not that helpful.
  
• Improved timing to help avoid stutters and real-time freezes.
  
• Improvements on materials and lighting.
  
• Implemented all new ‘digital flags’ – for ‘Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans’.

Here's what Studio 397 have to say about the new release:

Just a few weeks ago, in our latest roadmap, we announced that Le Mans was coming to rFactor 2. Now, on the weekend that the 2019 edition of this famous 24h race is held, as the real cars pass the checkered flag after yet another memorable race, the racing won’t stop! We are proud to announce the release of the Le Mans 24h track, available immediately!

For those of you who can’t wait, here’s the link to the store, where you can buy your copy of the track right now and start driving!

Background
The story of the creation of this iconic track goes all the way back to the days when Studio 397 was founded, almost three years ago now. I guess, when we chose the name of our company we already showed our intention.

Being new to the game obviously meant that we had to first introduce ourselves to the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) and build a relationship with them. Such things always take time. Over the first two years, we met regularly, explained our ideas and plans, and listened to their feedback. In that same time period, we also entered into discussions with various other tracks and car manufacturers and showed that we were serious about making rFactor 2 the most realistic racing simulation for everybody who enjoys the experience of driving race cars. All these things led to a licensing agreement, roughly a year ago, that all parties were happy with.

Just in time too for doing a laser scan of the 2018 track, as obviously Le Mans only exists in this configuration for a couple of weeks a year. With the license in place and the scan in our possession, production work started a little over half a year ago, with us balancing our track team resources at the time between three big tracks, the Nürburgring, already in production at that time after we announced it at SimRacing Expo last year, Monaco and Le Mans.

As with Sebring, our goal was to create the most realistic model of Le Mans possible for any consumer-oriented racing simulation available. By pairing our highly accurate physics with a very detailed road mesh, we have recreated the track in a way that makes you feel every bump and curb out there.

Graphically, we have used our latest shaders on this track. Improvements to our lighting model and materials are still in full swing. So whilst you will find this track already looks gorgeous, it is safe to say we will do an update once everything is finalized later in the year, and we will provide a more in-depth update on this process in one of our upcoming roadmaps.

For more from the world of rFactor 2, head over to the RaceDepartment rFactor 2 sub forum and connect with your fellow rF2 fans today!

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[BP]

Changes:

• Improved performance logging to be faster and give more information.
  
• Fixed skewed driver labels on triple screen multi-view (cockpit and track-side full-screen cams).
  
• Removed aggressive threading as it’s not that helpful.
  
• Improved timing to help avoid stutters and real-time freezes.
  
• Improvements on materials and lighting.
  
• Implemented all new ‘digital flags’ – for ‘Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans’.

1) Does this mean the driver labels won't be 50 ft in the air anymore?
2) Awesome, I never knew whether to turn on aggressive threading or not.
3) Wondering if this is something on-screen, or maybe something to do with the new fanatec F1 wheels that have LEDs for flags?

 

[Matt Horst]

rf2 crashes when i try to load the track. gmotor2 error and some other errors. Other tracks still load ok like normal.

 

[T04STY]

Don't worry, there are people like that, and many of them - called modding community.

Really...which modder is laser scanning tracks, I'd love to know

 

[BP]

https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/tor-poznań.6118/

Seems like that was done using photogrammetry scanning, which is not as accurate as laser scanning, especially for something as large as a race track and the minute imperfections in the road surface.

EDIT: Since I kept getting those red X's for some reason, here's a company that does both explaining the differences:

 

[F1Aussie]

Big build notes as usual

 

[Peter Kerényi]

Did not even hesitate....$17.95 AUD. But 1.8 GB!!

For those of you who may complain about the price...seriously....do it your self, as good, laser scanned. And after 1 or 2 years (that is about how long it would take one person to build this track from scratch to this level)...give it away.

I haven't played rF2 for quite a long time (bought it in 2013 (?) during the open beta). I will give it another go when the new UI is released and if I like what I see, I will probably buy some content.

However, people have right to criticize. rF2 has become undoubtedly expensive. When ACC was released people were arguing that there is no content in that sim for the price compared to some other sims, yet it contains 10+1 laser scanned tracks for potentially 25 Euros in the early access.

Sim racing is a niche, but competitive market, and developers have to get additional income to produce new things. What I personally don't like about rF2 is the premium price compared to quality. For example, the S397 paid cars (Endurance, GT3) don't even have proper fonts on the dashboard displays!

Sure, it doesn't bother some people, but it bothers me. That's why they are not getting get my money. For the record, my problem is primarily with the cars. But without cars, what would I do with the track? However, I am happy that they actually produce sought for high profile content, and I hope that they will improve the aspects of their content that I don't like so I can enjoy them as well in the future. And to all of you getting Le Mans, have the best time with it

 

[mr Sw1tchblade]

and im buying the urd px cars after this

Better read gt gte thread at s 397 forum, before you will buy it.

 

[PaulH]

Purchased as a father's day gift for myself , the kids can buy me a take away!

 

[Neil Farren]

Better read gt gte thread at s 397 forum, before you will buy it.

Can you explain or link please?

 

[Matt Horst]

rf2 crashes when i try to load the track. gmotor2 error and some other errors. Other tracks still load ok like normal.

Does not work with the beta test build. working fine on regular build.

 

[coolwhip21]

Thank you for this Father's Day present! Happy Father's Day to all the Dads around the world!

 

[jake2k9]

and im buying the urd px cars after this

they're definitely worth the buy!

 

[Ceterum Censeo]

Drove 2 laps in the Oreca and I’m totally blown away!
It’s a frickin MASTERPIECE.
Never was much into La Sarthe before, but this version absolutely changed my mind!
The looks, the feel and accuracy is just mindblowing.
Off to virtual France for a long time, me thinks.

 

[Case_]

Speaking of driver labels, it would be really great if we could make them bigger.

And on the topic of Le Mans...11 euro, welp. Not looking forward to Nordschleife. Oh well...

 

[Ceterum Censeo]

It’s worth every cent imho.

 

[T04STY]

Track is great, lot's of fun!
But I do have two issues with it. The run offs at the exits at dunlop and the second ford chicane seem to be way to slippery. Also it sounds like you are driving on some kind of sand when you hit it. I don't know if it is intended to be like that but all the cars are using the run off at the final turn and it's not looking anywhere close as slippery.
Second I tried with 59 ai cars and I had massive slowdowns and zapping around cars. I just had one little test session so I have to give it a few more tries but I hope that's not gonna be the same all the time. Never had that on any track.

 

[Steve Worrell]

Going to buy this as soon as I get home. Keep up the good work. 10 quid for this level of content is a bargain in my opinion.

 

[eg01st]

Really...which modder is laser scanning tracks, I'd love to know

https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/bikernieki-race-track.17186/
This is one I know for sure.

 

[BP]

I haven't played rF2 for quite a long time (bought it in 2013 (?) during the open beta). I will give it another go when the new UI is released and if I like what I see, I will probably buy some content.

However, people have right to criticize. rF2 has become undoubtedly expensive. When ACC was released people were arguing that there is no content in that sim for the price compared to some other sims, yet it contains 10+1 laser scanned tracks for potentially 25 Euros in the early access.

Sim racing is a niche, but competitive market, and developers have to get additional income to produce new things. What I personally don't like about rF2 is the premium price compared to quality. For example, the S397 paid cars (Endurance, GT3) don't even have proper fonts on the dashboard displays!

Sure, it doesn't bother some people, but it bothers me. That's why they are not getting get my money. For the record, my problem is primarily with the cars. But without cars, what would I do with the track? However, I am happy that they actually produce sought for high profile content, and I hope that they will improve the aspects of their content that I don't like so I can enjoy them as well in the future. And to all of you getting Le Mans, have the best time with it

I agree with what you said about the cars; although they drive great they should definitely do better with the aesthetics...but S397 have a great track record so I'm sure Circuit de la Sarthe be worth it.

I also wouldn't compare it with ACC...for example I'm guessing Kunos probably reused some laser-scans from AC; remember they scanned the entire Nurburgring a few years back and I heard every official Kunos track as well (except the fictional ones obviously)...did they really scan them all again for ACC? That's around 7 of the tracks in ACC....but if I'm mistaken then I take it back.

 

[BP]

https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/bikernieki-race-track.17186/
This is one I know for sure.

Ok I surrender lol...drove a race there a month or so back in the US club race...that track IS amazing! Had no clue it was laser scanned but yea it quickly became one of my favourites overnight; I highly recommend it.

However I still think it might be rare to see a very famous track laserscanned by a modder and given away for next to nothing. We probably wouldn't have a laser scanned Nordscheleife today if the studios like Kunos, iRacing and now S397 didn't do it...I'd imagine it's quite an expensive undertaking.