rF2: Nürburgring Nordschleife Now Available

[Paul Jeffrey]

Teasing time now over and done - the epic Nurburgring Nordschleife for rFactor 2 is finally here.

Available now via the rFactor 2 Steam Store, the new laserscanned circuit comes complete in four different racing layouts, with Studio 397 planning to add further versions as free updates in the coming months.

Retailing for a very reasonable £10.66, the track is available to purchase now.

Happy lapping folks!

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[Heyer54]

The best Nordschleife, only after the installation in rFactor2 a nasty surprise, the crazy long loading time, less than 5 minutes, nothing, then, jerky without end, before all the tracks are top. After EXIT pressed, nothing more, the whole System collapses, several times reinstalled, nothing changes, all settings completely screwed down, it changes nothing, the only thing that runs is the GP track and so halfway the pure Nordschleife with slight stuttering, are 8GB Ram too little? Or do I need now a Super PC for 4000, - €?

 

[makan]

are 8GB Ram too little? Or do I need now a Super PC for 4000, - €?

8GB Ram or Vram !?

 

[F_B]

The best Nordschleife, only after the installation in rFactor2 a nasty surprise, the crazy long loading time, less than 5 minutes, nothing, then, jerky without end, before all the tracks are top. After EXIT pressed, nothing more, the whole System collapses, several times reinstalled, nothing changes, all settings completely screwed down, it changes nothing, the only thing that runs is the GP track and so halfway the pure Nordschleife with slight stuttering, are 8GB Ram too little? Or do I need now a Super PC for 4000, - €?

Nowadays 8gig RAM is quite low. Get yourself 16, RAM is not expensive.
What are your system specs btw?

 

[Michael Stead]

I was having trouble loading nords and occasionally it would result in a 'failed to allocate a section of memory' error. I have 16gb and rfactor was only using about 6. I ended up changing my windows page file caching to auto (i had previously limited it to 1 - 2gb) and deleting my bin64 folder in the rfactor 2 directory and re verified the game. Haven't had a problem since. Suspect it was the game files issue.

 

[fireballr18]

The fantastic this track is I hope for some optimisation work.
Some functional details/features are missing like Kurzanbindung or the Ludwigteller in the chicane of the GP-layout. Also bollards and pylons...

In general: Are there track limits? Not tried to get punished but I didn't get any warning or sanctions so far.

 

[Martin Vindis]

Or do I need now a Super PC for 4000, - €?

I'm running an old i5 4690K with a 2080 (yeyeye, i know it's overkill for that processor but I got it for cheap) and 16GB RAM and I'm running smooth 60fps all around the track with a mix of high/max settings (PP low) and visible vehicles set to 16. 5760x1080 triple screen.

Check what's bottle necking your system and go from there.

EDIT: Also, those 5 minutes load times is only first time you load the track. Next time it'll drop to 1 minute or 1:30

 

[Ruy Horta]

Reiza has put some pretty scenery on the tracks, like traffic or a drone. Their Imola version is not laser scanned, but detailed. I find the AMS versions to be a bit better in terms of colour palette, but the rF2 versions are definetly quality content!^^
Also the cars are enjoyable. Especially the MetalMoro AJRs with stable setup.

My Ranking of the tracks from good to "not that good":
1-Nürburgring (By far the most advanced track in rF2 in my opinion)

2-Sebring (This track impressed me the most before the NoS and is the first time, i like Sebring to drive on, it also changed my "reservation" for rF2 tracks)

3-Ibarra (The scenery is just well made and this track is an underdog of driving fun)

4-Imola (Finally Imola at high detail in rF2, 'nuff said)

5-Le Mans (It would be MUCH higher in this list, if the trees wouldn't be so "cartoonish" at noon)

6-Virginia (I'm not the biggest fan of Virginia, but the Reiza track is just well done)

7-Guapore (The drone)

8-Zandvoort (Great work for a "free" track, really quite impressed)

9-Silverstone (Pretty standard "rF2ish looking")

10-Classic Brianza/Monza (A blast with 60s-70s Formula cars)

11-Monaco (Pretty decent, but nothing more for me)

12-Interlagos (Poor AI in the Descida do Lago, especially with LMP2 and it annoys me, because it is my 2nd favourite track after the NoS in general speaking)

13-Classic Spa (No Dx Optimizations)

14-Indianapolis (I just don't like rovals that much)

15-Montreal (Outdated)

So this is a list I could find on DX11 tracks

• Silverstone 2012
• Mores 2013
• Indianapolis 2013
• Nola Motorsports Park 2016
• AtlantaMP 2014 (incl. oval)
• TobanRP 2016
• MillsMetro 2011
• Portugal 2009
• Palm Beach 2012
• Malaysia 2007
• Monte Carlo 1966
• Quebec Super Kart 2011
• São Paulo 2013
• Botniaring (?)

Add

• Zandvoort
• Le Mans
• Sebring
• Nürburgring.

Formula E

• Hong Kong
• Monaco
• Lester NJ.

The other tracks being DX9?

Classic

• Brianza 1966 (Monza)
• Belgium 1966 (Spa)
• Longford 1967

Various

• Bathurst
  
• Skip Barber
• Lime Rock Park
  
• Matsusaka
• Lost Valley
• Loch Drummond
• Tiger Moth

Ovals

• Brookdale (Darlington)
• Northside (Richmond)
• Apple Valley (Fontana)
• Eagle Creek (Kentucky)
• Jacksonville
  
• Joesville
• Alabama
• Mountain Peak

 

[vegaguy5555]

I brought up getting older content updated in rF2. If they can get everything to the Nordschleife standards rF2 would be a top notch sim.
Be nice to see the moding community shift to rF2 a little.

 

[Jason Mullin]

I brought up getting older content updated in rF2. If they can get everything to the Nordschleife standards rF2 would be a top notch sim.
Be nice to see the moding community shift to rF2 a little.

Would be great if modders would shift to rFactor 2 ALOT.
I’m tired of Assetto Porka, how fat do you modders intend on making that pig? rFactor is the better driver imo.

 

[Case_]

I ended up changing my windows page file caching to auto (i had previously limited it to 1 - 2gb)

Limiting page file size is a tricky thing to do and is one of those things that don't work the way people claim/believe it does (why is IT and/or gaming so full of these...*sigh*). Sadly it is also one of the most frequently mentioned "performance tweaks".

Nowadays, it is generally better to leave it at auto, and if you do limit it, you should certainly at least keep an eye on both your RAM usage, as well as on the commit memory usage, so you'd know if/when you're running out.

 

[vegaguy5555]

Would be great if modders would shift to rFactor 2 ALOT.
I’m tired of Assetto Porka, how fat do you modders intend on making that pig? rFactor is the better driver imo.

LMFAO!
Oh that was funny! But you know what the AC guys would say? We just don't know how to drive!!
This new version of the Nordschleife is the new high mark to beat, especially physics wise.
I was liking iRacing more than rF2 there for awhile, I hate to admit, but I was comparing it to the older cars and tracks.

 

[John-Eric Saxén]

I brought up getting older content updated in rF2. If they can get everything to the Nordschleife standards rF2 would be a top notch sim.
Be nice to see the moding community shift to rF2 a little.

Not possible the way tracks are built. The first issue is geometry, a non-laser scanned track built five years ago will have a much lower resolution of geometry. Even if the resolution was upsampled, it would somehow need to be fit with new scanned data. Redoing geometry is basically same as redoing the entire track.

Textures, in principle, can be updated. But the same problem exists here: unless you re-do all the textures to match 2019 standards, what happens is the track will look "off", as the newer and more high-res textures will make the old textures stand out even worse. I'd say the most they can do is smaller tech updates to older tracks like the new wet shaders, IBL, PBR and things like that. Doing anything more for nearly 10 years old tracks like 1966 Spa will only make them look more off.

 

[vegaguy5555]

Not possible the way tracks are built. The first issue is geometry, a non-laser scanned track built five years ago will have a much lower resolution of geometry. Even if the resolution was upsampled, it would somehow need to be fit with new scanned data. Redoing geometry is basically same as redoing the entire track.

Textures, in principle, can be updated. But the same problem exists here: unless you re-do all the textures to match 2019 standards, what happens is the track will look "off", as the newer and more high-res textures will make the old textures stand out even worse. I'd say the most they can do is smaller tech updates to older tracks like the new wet shaders, IBL, PBR and things like that. Doing anything more for nearly 10 years old tracks like 1966 Spa will only make them look more off.

That's sad to hear. Can the cars be updated easily or same problems?

 

[fireballr18]

Reiza has put some pretty scenery on the tracks, like traffic or a drone. Their Imola version is not laser scanned, but detailed. I find the AMS versions to be a bit better in terms of colour palette, but the rF2 versions are definetly quality content!^^
Also the cars are enjoyable. Especially the MetalMoro AJRs with stable setup.

My Ranking of the tracks from good to "not that good":
1-Nürburgring (By far the most advanced track in rF2 in my opinion)

2-Sebring (This track impressed me the most before the NoS and is the first time, i like Sebring to drive on, it also changed my "reservation" for rF2 tracks)

3-Ibarra (The scenery is just well made and this track is an underdog of driving fun)

4-Imola (Finally Imola at high detail in rF2, 'nuff said)

5-Le Mans (It would be MUCH higher in this list, if the trees wouldn't be so "cartoonish" at noon)

6-Virginia (I'm not the biggest fan of Virginia, but the Reiza track is just well done)

7-Guapore (The drone)

8-Zandvoort (Great work for a "free" track, really quite impressed)

9-Silverstone (Pretty standard "rF2ish looking")

10-Classic Brianza/Monza (A blast with 60s-70s Formula cars)

11-Monaco (Pretty decent, but nothing more for me)

12-Interlagos (Poor AI in the Descida do Lago, especially with LMP2 and it annoys me, because it is my 2nd favourite track after the NoS in general speaking)

13-Classic Spa (No Dx Optimizations)

14-Indianapolis (I just don't like rovals that much)

15-Montreal (Outdated)

1. Nürburgring
Most advanced track and gives completely the feeling to be on track in real life. Best example of S397s cabapilites
2. Sebring
Me too, more impression when it was released because I did not have any experience of such a feeling in simracing before. Extraordinary quality.
3. Le Mans
Also strong but I miss a few more polishing and love for details, e.g. the trees in Tetre Rouge looks the worst in sim-racing and have nothing to do with rl. The vegetation at all is mediocre. Bush rows looks cheap, firs did not appear....though there are a lot around the track. This should be updated.

 

[Durge Driven]

I was liking iRacing more than rF2 there for awhile, I hate to admit, but I was comparing it to the older cars and tracks.

rF2 physics are ISI they have been there from day 1 and it was always a notch above to drive from anything else

If it was not for all the negativity we would most likely have rF3 by ISI with gmotor 3.0

 

[CrimsonEminence]

Also strong but I miss a few more polishing and love for details, e.g. the trees in Tetre Rouge looks the worst in sim-racing and have nothing to do with rl. The vegetation at all is mediocre. Bush rows looks cheap, firs did not appear....though there are a lot around the track. This should be updated.

The love for detail in Le Mans is actually pretty high in my opinion, i don't know any track, that comes close to it, except iRacing maybe, i find, it is just the colour palette.

 

[fireballr18]

The love for detail in Le Mans is actually pretty high in my opinion, i don't know any track, that comes close to it, except iRacing maybe, i find, it is just the colour palette.

Yes...perhaps I should correct myself. It's on a high level as you say and it's whining on the highest level but for me Nürburgring comes way closer to real life, speaking of the details beside the track itself. Sure, it's just for visuals but I appreciate it very much when different type of trees are used and more or less on the same position as in rl. Maybe a bit fastidious...

 

[dreamer al]

I'm running an old i5 4690K with a 2080 (yeyeye, i know it's overkill for that processor but I got it for cheap) and 16GB RAM and I'm running smooth 60fps all around the track with a mix of high/max settings (PP low) and visible vehicles set to 16. 5760x1080 triple screen.

Check what's bottle necking your system and go from there.

EDIT: Also, those 5 minutes load times is only first time you load the track. Next time it'll drop to 1 minute or 1:30

Yay!!! only 1 minute or 1.30 to load

(Sorry, I just couldn't help myself)

 

[makan]

Yay!!! only 1 minute or 1.30 to load

(Sorry, I just couldn't help myself)

Did you tried the iRacing version?
I didn't measure how many minutes it's take to load , but if rF2 load's nurburgring in 1.30 so i'm very happy with it.
RF2 and iracing's base codes written in early 2000's , you can't compare them to games with modern engines like ACC or Pcars ,...
With that said,i dont mind if it takes 1-3 minutes to load. RF2's nurburgring is the best in terms of feel, visuals and immersion.

 

[lukester1975]

Yay!!! only 1 minute or 1.30 to load

(Sorry, I just couldn't help myself)

I remember it used to take me more than 90 seconds to find the Revs tape...