rF2: The Big Interview - Submit Your Questions Here

[Paul Jeffrey]

We are soon going to interview Marcel Offermans, the head of Studio 397 and the rFactor 2 racing simulation, and we want your questions!

The last few months have seen a whirlwind of development and improvements for rFactor 2, with some significant changes to the simulation taking place as well as a number of high profile car and track licence announcements - not least of which is the legendary combination of the Nordschleife and Le Mans 24 Hour circuits coming to the title.

Following on from the successful Automobilista 2 interview, I'm looking to tour round all the major developers and have a word about how things are going in their respective simulations - starting with a discussion with Studio 397 and their rFactor 2 racing title.

In order to ensure we get to the bottom of the questions our community want to know, I'm asking you to submit your questions for Marcel in the comments section below, and I'll do my best to ask as many of them as possible when we have a discussion next week.

Feel free to submit a question about anything and everything you always wanted to know about rFactor 2 in the comments section below!

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[Alex72]

Will we ever get the AI to draft?

Thanks.

 

[Dave Thayer]

Thanks Paul for all your interviews with Developers. Dont have anything to add that others already mentioned, just want to say look forward to hear what they have to say about any updates to RF2.

 

[Alex72]

Looking at AMS2 moving to the Madness Engine, ACC moving forward with UE4 and iRacing making some updates to include HDR/DX11/particles to their engine....where do you see the future of your graphics engine headed? Are you still committed to updating and improving the engine or do you feel it is still competitive with the pending releases coming in 2019?

Yeah one of the next steps is more effects in my personal view. Graphics is alright even though i value phsyics, FFB and audio first (without them there is no sim) but im missing effects especially. Bug splats on the windscreen (which is normal), dirt ending up on the windscreen, sparks and more effects that are related to racing and that does have small to big impact on the driving. Simulators have been the cleanest experiences for a long time. Its sort of super clean racing when in reality theres a lot of grit around it hehe.

Anyway, behind super audio with realistic sounding engines, transmission whine, shifting and everything else that give you a smile when driving off it would be so cool to see some more effects eventually. They are both signs that you driven for a while, they have an impact on the driving AND seeing sparks and such puts you into the experience even more. Just some day dreaming.

 

[davehenrie]

Can you make a cross-over/tie-in with one of the truck sims so that we can transport our car to the track inside the tractor trailer/Lorry? You know, spend two to three days transporting the car, driving into the pit area, parking the rig and setting up at the race circuit. Simple, easy eh?

 

[Alex Townsend]

Can't really add to anything as all the questions are on the pulse of what anyone who has put any time at all into rF2 wants to see.
Looking forward to the interview so thanks to all involved in making this happen.

 

[Angeltheartist]

When will the new U.I be released . Will all new tracks from Studio 397 be laser scanned . Studio 397's Sebring is the best of all sims !

 

[VFX Pro]

Do they have any plans to hire a true art director, and someone that can reduce the contrast (everything is slow black/dark) and design a proper modern UI? The driving feels good, but the visuals are terrible

 

[tpw]

While I understand that DLC represents a revenue stream to fund further game development, it sometimes appears that visual QC takes a back seat with vehicle releases. For example the infamous missing yellow strip on the Porsche GT3 steering wheel , or the overlapping fonts in many car displays, or the completely misaligned mirrors on all GT3 and GTE cars. They've all been reported ad nauseum, and never acknowledged or fixed. They don't affect the core (sublime) driving experience, but they do add to the aura of incompleteness and amateurish presentation that rF2 struggles to shake off.

Once some of the really pressing stuff like the UI is released, can we expect any sort of commitment to a QC pass over the S397 released vehicles to bring everything up to the same consistent high standard that we know the game is actually capable of?

 

[enhancer]

Keeping an eye on the most subscribed workshop item reveals, that in the last year there have been around 12-16k sold copies of rF2. We don't know the sales numbers for the DLCs of course, but having ~20 people, programmers, graphics artists, business people around isn't exactly cheap.

So my question is:

Is the development of rF2's announced features at risk financially? Or is rF2's development budget secured for the foreseeable future?

 

[Nick Hill]

It's awesome that you guys get this kind of access to the devs - much appreciated!

Being an 800 lb gorilla within the sim racing community has its perks!

 

[TheGame316]

Is there any plan with the adoption of the new UI and competition system, to allow the purchase of only the vehicle you are driving and the track. Using current DLC, if you want to plan a multiclass race at Sebring you are needing up to 3 DLC packs to even access the server. This fragmentation will only get worse as more DLC packs are released.

 

[Pawlo2002]

Ask them if they are planning to add sparks to the game cause i would love to see sparks exploding from F1 cars or when gt3 cars bottom out or hit a kerb and get bouncy. it would be a nice touch to the game as well

 

[Chris Alfveby]

Why are rf2 dlc so expensive. I’d love to get all of it but when all the dlc costs double or more than the game itself it becomes kinda hard.

 

[fireballr18]

Great idea Paul

Questions:
- Does it make a difference in the development to engineer such an iconic track and race the 24h of Le Mans is compared to e.g. Sebring (also a great race btw)? How does it make special to s397 (ressources, tools, special spirit within the team of s397. etc)?

- Le Mans is the highspeed track per se. Will the ai setup their car configurations to low downforce settings as well to match the pace of human players?

- on the pics we see the lmp3: will a wider ratio of the gearing be provided for this car?

- last one - although I know further dlc/content questions are not that welcome in terms of precise answers: do we have the chance to see this years LMP1 cars of the private teams in rF2?

Thank you Paul!

 

[Greg Latty]

any plans to further optimize vr. while vr works fantastic as is, With some minor tweaks this could be one of the best vr experiences. Part of this is due to the UI as well so the new UI might fix some of the minor issues. Also and plans for new driver animations. this kills immersion in vr.

 

[2stains]

Why are rf2 dlc so expensive. I’d love to get all of it but when all the dlc costs double or more than the game itself it becomes kinda hard.

A little from a lot or a lot from a little ! What way will bring the most income ? I believe a little from a lot

 

[Fushida]

It would be so nice if you could make the track temperature working as expected and affecting the car behavior as it happens in real life, It's a pity that the BEST SIM regarding tires, FFB and car physics is still suffering the lack os such an important feature. The same goes for tire pressures.

Many thanks Paul and Mr Offermans for the interview.

 

[TTM75]

Is new version of the qjed coming in the future?

I also want to know if there is any change to add rallycross and hillclimb content/support for the game?

 

[Case_]

There's been a lot of talk about the upcoming UI, but very few mentions (if any) lately of the new plugin system that was supposed to solve the issue of plugins not being able to draw to the screen in the DX11 version. Is that still planned? Is it considered part of the new UI? If not, are there at least some in-game replacements for the most popular plugins planned, like proper track map or the very badly needed FFB meter?

Are there any plans to improve the sound engine that seems to be basically limited to a very simple on/off reverb and to stereo only sound?

 

[Peter Koslowski]

I love that sim! No matter if there is a new UI, Nordschleife or a server display AI driver.
All I need is 3D grass. Will all new and old tracks (Zandvoort already has it) be equipped with it?