rF2 March Development Roadmap

[Paul Jeffrey]

The March edition of the rFactor 2 Development Roadmap is here!

Firstly my apologies for the late posting... been a busy 48 hours!

Now on to the bit you came for, the roadmap...

Welcome to our third roadmap of the year. We’ve had quite an exciting quarter altogether with updates to many of our car packs, a new material editor, an exciting 12 hour race at Sebring and last but not least the release of our biggest pack to date, the Reiza pack, featuring no less than 6 cars and 4 tracks. Check out the trailer above. You can buy the full pack here, but there are also options to buy just the tracks or just the cars, or even individual items.

And those of you who follow our roadmaps every month will know there is a lot more to come, so let’s get started with this month’s updates!

Cars
We’ve just wrapped up the development of our brand new brake-by-wire system for the Gen 2 Formula E car. These cars are rear wheel driven, so the rear wheels also do the energy regeneration when braking. As much of the braking torque as possible will be used to regenerate the batteries, with the remaining required torque coming from the rear disc brakes. This is all controlled by a brake-by-wire system and we’re in final testing of it in the new car, so expect this one to be released next!

Tracks
The Nürburgring is going as planned as we’re moving towards the barriers and mapping out all the different pieces of graffiti on the track. Those of you who heard the podcast René and Marcel had with Davy Jones already know that we have two more tracks in progress, both of which we will keep as a surprise for later this year.

Performance
Very recently we’ve released a build that embeds some very specific performance logging in an attempt to catch the few cases people have reported over the years where they are “running out of real-time” because of hickups of the physics calculations. We have a dedicated thread on our forum explaining how to report these logs to us and although we have already received a few logs, we can still use a lot more so if this has happened to you in an on-line race, please help us out and submit your data, and we will try to help you solve the issues.

Competition and new UI Update
This month we’ll take a more in-depth look at where we are with the new UI and competition infrastructure. Our current UI is really split into parts, with a Launcher that is responsible for content management and on-line matchmaking and a main executable that can either be launched in single player or multiplayer mode. For our new UI we want to merge all of that into one. We are now at a point where we’ve replaced every bit of UI in the executable for both modes. In fact, one thing we are doing is eliminating the need to have two modes, merging single and multiplayer modes.

So let’s get started. When you launch rFactor 2, you end up in the main menu that provides you with a few different options. Here you can drive in single player, view a replay or live race or participate in multiplayer, browse various aspects of our community (forum, news, upcoming events) as well as configure the game.

The game options have been cleaned up and re-arranged to give a better overview. As an example we’ve kept the settings for recording replays here, but moved the actual playback of replays to a different location as viewing replays clearly has nothing to do with options. In general we now have more space as well to add extra context and help, making it easier for users to understand the many different settings. Session settings have also been revamped.

We’ve split those up into generic settings that span the different sessions, and session specific settings. We also exposed a few extras here, allowing you to for example configure more than one practice session without having to resort to editing text files. Car and track selections have been tweaked as well. For both we have added a few different views, ranging from a more graphical, icon based view to a more compact list. In all of those modes we’ve added quick search options, which usually help you find the car or track you’re looking for with just a few keystrokes. Car tuning is also still there, and here you will see our our new material editor being integrated nicely as well.

Moving on to the garage, you see we have grouped the different tuning options for a car into logical sections. Little details to make your life easier here is that we can show you in a different color all options you changed compared to the set you last loaded or saved, and we also still allow you to compare your own setup to another one, where we no longer list all options twice, leaving you to figure out the ones that actually changed, but more clearly indicating those. At this point it’s also interesting to point out another feature. As the whole UI is web based, we will also allow you to “share” your UI with a team mate remotely.

What this means is that while you’re driving he can log in to your game and review and make changes to your setup. Such changes will then be applied the next time you leave the garage. As you can imagine such features open up a ton of possibilities for people racing as teams, but also ways to give remote support and I’m sure our community will find many other uses as well! Apart from the garage we also have a monitor that allows you to view the action live from different camera standpoints, as well as to view an instant replay. Standings have been extended to show more information and the camera controls can be used for broadcasting races as well.

Competition is being developed now as part of the new UI, so it is easy to see what are the upcoming races. From a list of competitions you can sign up for the ones you want to compete in. Zooming in you can see past and upcoming events, sessions and standings. Joining a session directly takes you to the right server. This part is far from done but we just passed a few important milestones that will allow us to run not only hotlap competitions but also qualification sessions and actual races. We’re working on different ways to score those, from traditional “points based” ones to ones that evaluate the actual racing skills of every driver involved and ranking them accordingly. Another thing we’re integrating right now is a protest system. Currently we’re evaluating, through internal testing, how to best release this to the public and we are considering doing some kind of beta as a first step.

So, what is left to do? Mainly the features that are currently in the Launcher, two of which are crucial: the matchmaker showing the list of servers and the package management system. The matchmaker will receive some love as we will add features to see if a server has players or AI on them and we will also add more detailed information about each individual server. The package management system will be extended to allow you to directly browse the workshop and our item store, so all content can be managed in one single place.

Fanatec 12 hours of Sebring
A week ago, 40 teams divided into three classes lined up for the 12 hours of Sebring, and wow what a race it was. Right from the get go we had action and close battles that lasted right until the very last minute of the race. The top 3 in each class got cash prizes and Fanatec vouchers, and commentators and spectators joined forces to nominate a driver of the day, who walked away with a SimLab rig. Also, a record number of viewers watched the event and every two hours could win a Fanatec voucher and even a Podium Series wheel! All in all this event was a big success and we will certainly host more as we ramp up towards the release of our competition system.

rFactor 2 is a racing simulation exclusively available for PC.

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[Diogo Goetz Brand]

But you don't actually need the DLC to play the base title and with it, all the free content created for the sim.

Yeah, I guess I just never took the time to find good mods for the game.

 

[dajdosta]

Yeah, I guess I just never took the time to find good mods for the game.

But you don't actually need to find good mods to play the base title and with it, all the free content created for the sim.

 

[Fucitol]

I received my Direct Drive wheel this week and have been testing out different sims to see it's capabilities. And so far, I'm just in awe (really, I've had speechless/ drooling moments here) at the driving experience. I can understand the criticism of all the stuff around it, but once on track it is simply amazing. I exclusively race in VR and even with pretty high settings it's very smooth.

Once I found Sebring I can't stop lapping that in all the cars the game includes. Little fine-tuning of the FFB and setting some nice weather/ time of day (later afternoon, driving into the evening, watching the lights turn on goosebumps!) and I'm in simracing heaven!

I'm also pretty invested in iRacing at the moment and I seem to have made some mistakes spending my money; days after receiving my Simucube system they announce a more future-proof update and bought a number of tracks on iRacing which feels kinda bland compared to rf2..

Definitely looking forward to Nords for rf2, but I get that older issues should be looked into first.

 

[Pauli Ahonen]

This. And a mid-race save feature would be nice (for endurance races).

I thought you can resume a race if you open the replay and click race.

 

[Marc Collins]

I received my Direct Drive wheel this week and have been testing out different sims to see it's capabilities. And so far, I'm just in awe (really, I've had speechless/ drooling moments here) at the driving experience. I can understand the criticism of all the stuff around it, but once on track it is simply amazing. I exclusively race in VR and even with pretty high settings it's very smooth.

Once I found Sebring I can't stop lapping that in all the cars the game includes. Little fine-tuning of the FFB and setting some nice weather/ time of day (later afternoon, driving into the evening, watching the lights turn on goosebumps!) and I'm in simracing heaven!

I'm also pretty invested in iRacing at the moment and I seem to have made some mistakes spending my money; days after receiving my Simucube system they announce a more future-proof update and bought a number of tracks on iRacing which feels kinda bland compared to rf2..

Definitely looking forward to Nords for rf2, but I get that older issues should be looked into first.

Just like good audio equipment revealing the pretenders in music, a DD wheel more easily reveals who has authentic physics and who doesn't. Did you try AMS? Which wheel did you get?

 

[Ace King]

Which wheel did you get?

Fucitol states that he is using a "SimuCube' in his third paragraph.

 

[Emery]

I could buy an entire DLC on AC1 with a laserscanned circuit and multiple vehicles for the cost of one car on Rf2.

But those are 3rd party generics instead of 1st party licensed DLC because Kunos isn't making any new DLC for AC.

 

[natedogg1867]

But those are 3rd party generics instead of 1st party licensed DLC because Kunos isn't making any new DLC for AC.

What?

Dont let your disdain for AC cloud reality.

AC's dlc's are not '3rd party generics'. AC not being in development anymore has no bearing on whether the dlc available for purchase is some hacked together knockoff, or a first party creation.

Or you completely misunderstood what the comment you quoted was saying, in that, AC's dlc's include multiple cars and a track at a similar cost to 1 single car in rF2.

 

[Fucitol]

Just like good audio equipment revealing the pretenders in music, a DD wheel more easily reveals who has authentic physics and who doesn't. Did you try AMS? Which wheel did you get?

Haven't tried AMS due to lacking VR support unfortunately and I can't go back to racing on a screen.. I've got the Augury 30NM set which is just fantastic albeit a bit too strong obviously. It might also be a bit too heavy for my rig (RSeat RS1) so I'm getting some free buttkicker effects on all the curbs.

 

[Emery]

Or you completely misunderstood what the comment you quoted was saying, in that, AC's dlc's include multiple cars and a track at a similar cost to 1 single car in rF2.

Sorry, yes, I was confusing posts.

On the other hand, it's been how long since Kunos made any DLC for AC? 2 years? What might their price be today if they were to do so?

 

[Denis Betty]

I could buy an entire DLC on AC1 with a laserscanned circuit and multiple vehicles for the cost of one car on Rf2.

Sorry, I get all OCD when somebody makes a statement like this without including the facts/figures. I also think it's important to compare apples with apples.

So, firstly, I'm assuming that you are talking about S397 cars? In the UK they are currently £4.27 each, whereas Reiza Pack cars cost £2.56 a pop (if you buy them individually).
https://store.steampowered.com/itemstore/365960/browse/?filter=Cars#p1

I can't be bothered to look it up, so can anybody tell me, were S397 cars ever more expensive than this? So Diogo, are you saying that, on initial release ie. at full price, it was possible to buy on Steam, an entire DLC on AC1 with a laserscanned circuit and multiple vehicles for the equivilant of £4.27?

Please could you link in this thread to support this assertion? I'm genuinely interested to know what the content was and when. Thanks in advance.

PS I'm half expecting somebody to come out and call me a fan boy of rF2 now. In all fairness though, it would not be out of character for me to call somebody out in defense of AC1, in similar circumstances.

 

[Will Mazeo]

Sorry, I get all OCD when somebody makes a statement like this without including the facts/figures. I also think it's important to compare apples with apples.

So, firstly, I'm assuming that you are talking about S397 cars? In the UK they are currently £4.27 each, whereas Reiza Pack cars cost £2.56 a pop (if you buy them individually).
https://store.steampowered.com/itemstore/365960/browse/?filter=Cars#p1

I can't be bothered to look it up, so can anybody tell me, were S397 cars ever more expensive than this? So Diogo, are you saying that, on initial release ie. at full price, it was possible to buy on Steam, an entire DLC on AC1 with a laserscanned circuit and multiple vehicles for the equivilant of £4.27?

Please could you link in this thread to support this assertion? I'm genuinely interested to know what the content was and when. Thanks in advance.

PS I'm half expecting somebody to come out and call me a fan boy of rF2 now. In all fairness though, it would not be out of character for me to call somebody out in defense of AC1, in similar circumstances.

AC DLC uses Steam currency convertion while rF2 DLC does not, that's why there is a big price difference. Then I think the price dropped even more after AC development stopped.
I dont think Kunos made any cent with sales in countries like Brazil for example, at least not after our currency melted more than butter on a hot frying pan

 

[Diogo Goetz Brand]

Sorry, I get all OCD when somebody makes a statement like this without including the facts/figures. I also think it's important to compare apples with apples.

So, firstly, I'm assuming that you are talking about S397 cars? In the UK they are currently £4.27 each, whereas Reiza Pack cars cost £2.56 a pop (if you buy them individually).
https://store.steampowered.com/itemstore/365960/browse/?filter=Cars#p1

I can't be bothered to look it up, so can anybody tell me, were S397 cars ever more expensive than this? So Diogo, are you saying that, on initial release ie. at full price, it was possible to buy on Steam, an entire DLC on AC1 with a laserscanned circuit and multiple vehicles for the equivilant of £4.27?

Please could you link in this thread to support this assertion? I'm genuinely interested to know what the content was and when. Thanks in advance.

PS I'm half expecting somebody to come out and call me a fan boy of rF2 now. In all fairness though, it would not be out of character for me to call somebody out in defense of AC1, in similar circumstances.

Just like Will said, it probably has to do with the currency conversion. On AC I could buy an entire pack with the release discount for around R$20,00, which is the cost of a single car on rF2.
To be fair rF2 DLCs are probably not expensive at all on other countries, but here in Brazil a single car pack costs more than the game itself, more than I paid for AC1, more than I paid for ACC, and enough for at least 2 DLCs on AC1.
I really like AC and ACC, but I don't consider myself a fanboy, I'd like to enjoy rFactor and all the new content being released by S397, I just don't do it because of the cost.

 

[Ghoults]

Sorry, yes, I was confusing posts.

On the other hand, it's been how long since Kunos made any DLC for AC? 2 years? What might their price be today if they were to do so?

Their pricing did stay pretty consistent throughout the years so there is no reason to assume they'd suddenly change their pricing.

 

[Denis Betty]

Very strange that AC was/is so much cheaper in Brazil. Is rF2 the only game which is expensive in Brazil then?

 

[Case_]

It's not, we had some Brazilians complaining about the game not having special low prices for them in the Raceroom forum a while back for example.

 

[makan]

It's not, we had some Brazilians complaining about the game not having special low prices for them in the Raceroom forum a while back for example.

Yes, it depends on games and publishers, for example, in my region ــ India ــ (actually I'm Iranian) AC is much cheaper (ACC is 13.85$ right now) but rf2 and R3E are the same prices as in others.

 

[Will Mazeo]

It's not, we had some Brazilians complaining about the game not having special low prices for them in the Raceroom forum a while back for example.

Yeah RR also sells content with base price in Euro, maybe the Experience packs have the currency discount in Steam but nobody buys them

 

[BP]

@Marcel Offermans

Don't know if this is planned for the new UI, but could we get a "car-specific controls" option, just like there's a car specific FFB option? It's a feature in Assetto Corsa Content Manager that's really good: You can assign one of your controller presets as a default preset for each car, so whenever you use that car again, you don't have to bother with changing profiles. Very useful if you have multiple wheels and button assignments are different for each, so I can assign my Formula steering wheel profile to all modern open wheelers, Round steering wheel to Karts, Road Cars, Vintage open wheelers...and so on.

I once had to re-enter a race server last minute due to a computer glitch crashing rF2; unfortunately rF2 didn't remember that I had my round steering wheel profile loaded last, so it reverted to my GT3 steering wheel profile (last profile loaded before a proper shutdown)...other than button mappings being in the wrong place, the big thing was my clutch pedal wasn't working because the GT3 profile has the clutch mapped to clutch paddles on the GT3 wheel. Luckily it was a sequential transmission car so only the start suffered; if it were an H-pattern gearbox that would be a race ending situation.

 

[Jonathan Young]

I’m very new to RF2 as I’ve always been put off by the UI. But I’d heard so much about Sebring that I have jumped back in. Sebring is amazing, worth every penny, and the GT3 pack is pretty good too (feel fantastic, look - pretty good). But the UI is so complicated and slow, so I’m thrilled that they’re updating it, can’t come soon enough.

I have limited time to race, so I’m pretty snobby about the content that I play on. Are there other tracks that are as goo, or nearly as good, as Sebring? The few others that I’ve tried don’t seem to be in the same league. Are the tracks in the Reiza pack good for example?

The problem for a noob is not only in navigating the UI, but also in sorting out the great content from the not so great.