rF2: Sebring Released

[Paul Jeffrey]

Studio 397 and rFactor 2 have released a fully laser scanned version of Sebring!

Rich in motorsport history, the Sebring International Raceway is a legendarily tough, bumpy, dirty and challenging race track in Florida, USA, home to many high level international grade motorsport events and something of a favourite with endurance racing fans.

With little margin for error and some delightfully fast corners mixed with slow and technical sections, Sebring has many of the characteristics essential for a classic race venue, and now, thanks to Studio 397 and rFactor 2, sim racers get the chance to try out the track in all its virtual glory, with a new and laserscanned version of the iconic circuit released earlier today - Happy weekend everyone!

And now for the big one, Sebring! Since taking over the development of rFactor 2, our goals have been clear: take an already incredible simulation as a base and move the bar higher, push new and exciting features that you want, and give you the chance to experience a professional grade simulator – at home!

So this track release is more than just “a track release”. It’s a milestone for our team in what we’ve set out to do. The level of fidelity and road feel is above and beyond anything that’s out there, and we’re boldly confident you will agree. Of course we’re excited to say the track was created using an extremely detailed laserscan – but it’s not just about the laserscan itself, it’s about the way we utilized the data and converted it into usable detailed information that gets back to the force feedback in your wheel, something that has not yet been done in rFactor 2 at this level. We feel we’ve achieved our goals in the high level of road fidelity thanks to some innovations and, of course, rigorous testing. The end result is… the ‘FFB’ doesn’t lie – you’ll feel every crack in the pavement and every undulation in minute detail. On the straights and as you dive into each turn, those subtle nuances in the track surface will give you the precise control and muscle memory that a real-life driver would have on track. Our development and test teams have all become addicted, driving endless stints and trying to get that elusive extra tenth or even hundredth of a second!

On the visual and graphics side, we’re just as excited and pushing ahead. We’ve paid close attention to those essential details that add to the overall immersion. The road surface itself is very precisely modeled on the real thing, with every crack and repaired and re-repaired crack. All the nuances and color variations as well as the overall worn-down, characteristic look from years of racing help to really convey the atmosphere. And with an ultra high level of trackside objects in the environment, from spectators to campers and vehicles, there’s a real ‘track vibe’ from any camera you’re viewing from, which makes watching an online event that much more exciting. Of course, as always, we’ve kept in mind scalability for performance.

So today we release to you Sebring. The main layout is available in two versions. One featuring the 12-hour race layout, with a packed infield and a lot of spectators, and another that gives you more of a “track day” feel. On top of that we also included two shorter layouts: School and Johnson Club. These layouts are very well suited for smaller fields of cars and somewhat slower cars.

Sebring is completely laser scanned in location, through professional high density, high accuracy, laser scan equipment. We scanned the track just a few weeks before the 2018 “12 Hours Of Sebring”. We then processed, filtered and optimized all the data to produce a clean stream of points for the simulation. We used that data to describe and model everything from centerline to first barriers, so even if you put your tires off the grass, you’ll still get a complete simulation of the grounds, through both physics/FFB and graphics.

rFactor 2 is available exclusively for PC from Steam now.​

Check out the rFactor 2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment for all the latest news and discussion with regards to the simulation. You can take part in lively debates with fellow rFactor 2 fans and take part in some great Club and League racing events..! Head over to the forum now and share the love this simulation so very much deserves...​

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What do you think of Sebring from the talk and drive video, do you think it looks like a good representation of the track? Are you excited to try a first laserscanned circuit in rF2? Happy with the choice of Sebring for the sim? Let us know in the comments section below!
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[RedBarchetta]

Thanks for this Leonardo. Great clip, plus it's always nice to see someone using the correct FOV

 

[Leonardo Ratafiá]

not my videos though but thanks

 

[Lefthook]

My concern is fragmentation. The rf2 userbase is very small right now.

Lets say in a couple months someone new to RF2 wants to join an Endurance league. If that league is running the new Sebring and maybe one of the Reiza tracks, this new person has to spend about $100 Canadian to participate. Buying in pieces like that is often very offputting for people and I wonder how much new blood this will yield.

 

[JeffL]

The cool thing about Rf2 is that there will be options of budget friendly leagues to join. There are good free versions of most tracks and cars. While not perfect they are great cheap fun for economically challenged.

 

[MPortnoy]

My take on it is that people look at what they get for their money, and as 8 or 9 Euros usually isn't that much money for most (not all) people to spend on anything, in the end it's 9 Euro for just one track, which is a lot of money for little content compared to what you can get in other sims for the same amount, especially if rF2 isn't the sim you spend the most time in.

On the other hand, if rF2 happens to be you go-to sim, I guess it's an investment that will easliy pay off for you, as you'll get the mileage out of it to justify the price point. I say this as someone who owns all DLC and most paymods for AC, which is my most played sim, making it worth it for me.

I totally agree that is the way people think and decide whether to buy it or not, but you know what is mind blowing? All the whining about the price.
If you go to buy a computer you can't demand the salesman to drop the price 80% because you're only going to use it on Mondays.
Don't like the price and don't want to skip tomorrow's coffee?? Move on to your cheapest sim available.
They fail to understand rF2 isn't PCars2 and S397 isn't SMS.

 

[randMracer]

My take on it is that people look at what they get for their money, and as 8 or 9 Euros usually isn't that much money for most (not all) people to spend on anything, in the end it's 9 Euro for just one track, which is a lot of money for little content compared to what you can get in other sims for the same amount, especially if rF2 isn't the sim you spend the most time in.

On the other hand, if rF2 happens to be you go-to sim, I guess it's an investment that will easliy pay off for you, as you'll get the mileage out of it to justify the price point. I say this as someone who owns all DLC and most paymods for AC, which is my most played sim, making it worth it for me.

I agree, if rF2 is your "go-to" sim, then 10 bux isn't that much since it does improve your experience. But when you own all the top sims and buy all the DLC (except iRacing), paying $10 for one track might create some hesitation.

What makes me a little skeptical, is the devs are not improving the basics, like the menu UI. When I look at my cars and tracks in rF2 I'm clueless which is original content and which are mods. I'm fairly new to rF2, just broke 200hrs yesterday and purchased a year ago, so I may not be aware of all the history and the reasoning of the UI.

In AC I can go into the json file and add the word MOD, so when I go to the UI it will have MOD in the title so I know which is OC and a MOD. I haven't looked into the file system of rF2 to see if that's possible. Personally I would like to see improvements to the basics first before the creation of pay tracks and cars.

 

[Ace King]

They are working on a great new UI to be released in the hopefully near future,

 

[RichardHessels]

I think it's been mentioned in this forum or maybe another, I've been reading so much today I forget. But it's not the actual cost that's the issue, I think it's the idea of the investment. Are we putting money into something that's going to get better, or is it just too old of a game to keep dumping money into?

Is it like putting lipstick on a pig? Not to say rF2 is a pig. It's like investing in an old car. Sure you can drop in a new engine and restore it with new interior and a paint job, but underneath it's still the same old car as it was designed originally. Like the aerodynamics of a 1960's car compared to modern day aerodynamics.

I think that's where the skepticism comes in. Are consumers investing in something that's going to keep on improving, or will the devs just drop it in a year or so because the software engine will limit any more improvements they want to implement?

Hope that makes sense. I'm pretty tired so it makes sense to me. I've been messing with Sebring all day. Should've been doing the lawn and the house, but been sitting on my ass all day long. I'll post more later today about my thoughts on Sebring. It's actually not bad.

Right now it's time to .

Big parts of the C-code that runs your modern computer originated in the 70's.
There is no limits on the software, you can keep rewriting and upgrading pieces of code.
It's all modular. Physics calculations are timesless equations from well documented formulas.
If you rewrite it from the ground up you would end up with more or less the same code.
Unreal engine also been around for decades, your think they rewrite all code with every version?
There is no reason why rF2 cant be upgraded to DX12/Vulcan in the future and use 8-16 cores efficiently. They are still implementing more advanced shaders compared to the vanilla version of rF2.
It's just how much effort you are able to put in the programming of new code.

 

[Davebrave]

Big parts of the C-code that runs your modern computer originated in the 70's.
There is no limits on the software, you can keep rewriting and upgrading pieces of code.
It's all modular. Physics calculations are timesless equations from well documented formulas.
If you rewrite it from the ground up you would end up with more or less the same code.
Unreal engine also been around for decades, your think they rewrite all code with every version?
There is no reason why rF2 cant be upgraded to DX12/Vulcan in the future and use 8-16 cores efficiently. They are still implementing more advanced shaders compared to the vanilla version of rF2.
It's just how much effort you are able to put in the programming of new code.

Marcel explained in a video that the code base of rf2 started with the F1 challenge game... Or even something older... So yes, the software will evolve. However the question is how long rf2 will last? Nobody knows...

 

[2stains]

In AC I can go into the json file and add the word MOD, so when I go to the UI it will have MOD in the title so I know which is OC and a MOD

What file do I change please ? Id love to have this in my AC !

 

[2stains]

VR image (with shadow blur on

What rF2 settings for VR and PC specs are you running please ?

 

[randMracer]

Big parts of the C-code that runs your modern computer originated in the 70's.
There is no limits on the software, you can keep rewriting and upgrading pieces of code.
It's all modular. Physics calculations are timesless equations from well documented formulas.
If you rewrite it from the ground up you would end up with more or less the same code.
Unreal engine also been around for decades, your think they rewrite all code with every version?
There is no reason why rF2 cant be upgraded to DX12/Vulcan in the future and use 8-16 cores efficiently. They are still implementing more advanced shaders compared to the vanilla version of rF2.
It's just how much effort you are able to put in the programming of new code.

Well if that's the case then they really need to get busy, because the software is definitely showing it's age. Load times on Sebring are really bad. And is it cost effective to keep on coding and adapting older software or to switch to an entirely new modern game engine? I think AMS and ACC might have already answered that question.

 

[randMracer]

What file do I change please ? Id love to have this in my AC !

I'm on my laptop in front of the TV watching some racing right now. When I go to my rig I'll provide that info to you. Get Notepad++ if you don't have it. It's free and makes things easier.

 

[randMracer]

What file do I change please ? Id love to have this in my AC !

I'll use Lilski's Watkins Glen as an example. Go to wherever you store your AC and go to the "ui" folder. X:\Steam\SteamApps\common\assettocorsa\content\tracks\lilski_watkins_glen\ui\boot

In this case there are 4 track layouts and you have to change the name in each layout. I'm on the "Boot" layout. The ui_track is your json file, right click to open with preferred text editor. I'm using Notebook++. You can label it whatever you want, but I just put "Mod-" in front of the name. Then save it.

Once you open up AC it will look like this. Make sure you are not in AC when you're making the changes. Hope this helps...cheers.

Edit: The forum mods may need to move this post some place else. I was just answering the question, but it's not really part of the original topic. No worries, do as you must.

 

[Isaac Chavira]

Ummm yeah it's not free 10.49 US dollars And that's pricey for one track and nothing else.

IRacing yracks are $14.99 ea

 

[jason_peters]

What rF2 settings for VR and PC specs are you running please ?

1080ti and a 8700k

Run steam 160% resolution, level 2 AA, post process @ medium, shadows high with blur at quality. Other setting at High or max except road reflection at low (else the render has an issue at the edge of the FoV). aI run about 15

This give me solid 90 FPS except at the very start in the wet

 

[Patrick van der Meulen]

Just bought it. I always had a blast with the VirtuaLM version.

But this one is on a whole other level! If you somehow still think RF2 is running behind... Run this track with their GT3’s and GTE’s. It will leave you with a big .

 

[RichardHessels]

Just bought it. I always had a blast with the VirtuaLM version.

But this one is on a whole other level! If you somehow still think RF2 is running behind... Run this track with their GT3’s and GTE’s. It will leave you with a big .

Had some of the greatest offline sim moments yesterday racing the BMW in a 30 car field. Trying to hold on to the car while jumping trough the last corner.

 

[2stains]

1080ti and a 8700k

Run steam 160% resolution, level 2 AA, post process @ medium, shadows high with blur at quality. Other setting at High or max except road reflection at low (else the render has an issue at the edge of the FoV). aI run about 15

This give me solid 90 FPS except at the very start in the wet

I don't think you can get 90 with those settings ! My 7700k/1080Ti doesn't
Do you have any videos showing this in action ?

 

[M-Bimmer]

S397 needs to make money somehow. I support them by buying DLCs. Haven’t even spent 50 euros yet on RF2 even after buying all these DLCs and game itself (which was on sale back then and the subscription model was scratched).
As for the track price, we can debate if it’s worth it (with 4 layouts) or not but the one thing that is clear & known is that you get great quality stuff (Hong Kong anyone?).
So again no brainer...