rFactor 2 | Dev-Talk: User Experience

[Paul Jeffrey]

Studio 397 and more specifically Christopher Elliot and Rene Butler, have released a very interesting new video where they discuss the user experience and new UI functionality within rFactor 2.

Making the most of the current stay at home orders in place pretty much throughout the world, Studio 397 colleagues Christopher Elliot and Rene Butler have used the opportunity to put together a short Q&A style video around the user experience within rFactor 2 - including some interesting insight into the future development direction of current big project underway within the studio.

The HTML based new UI for rFactor 2 has taken on something of a mythical status in sim racing circles. At first, a delayed launch and much hyping led the community into something of a lather about how this seemingly boring aspect of the sim might change the player experience. Since launch, the first pass at the new UI has been met with a mixed reception from the community - but it seems like Studio 397 remain as committed as ever to developing, enhancing and improving the feature to better support ongoing developments within rFactor 2 in the years ahead.

The video is an interesting idea from the team at 397, and well worth 20 minutes of your time to sit down and watch when you get a spare minute...



rFactor 2 is available now exclusively for PC.

Want to learn some of the tricks and tips for getting rF2 to perform how you want it to? No worries, start up a thread in the rF2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment and ask our community!

 

[williang83]

I have a challenge for Studio397: the council of Barcelona city says that "Sagrada Familia" will be finished on 2026, it has building since 1882... if you finish RF2 before i'll buy you all DLC's.

Then your money is safe

 

[BrunoBæ]

The devs do seem to pay attention at times an it is clear marcel cares for example. But they don't write anything down so every flaw or issue in the game seems to be a surprise for them. For example rf2 has had insanely long and slow loading times for ages and everybody knows it. All it took was some randoms complaining about it in one of the rf2 threads and I think marcel saw it and something was done about it. I think sadly the only way to get rf2 stuff fixed is to wait until they release some news and racedepartment makes an article about. Marcel will likely read that thread so next time spam those list of issues there and I guarantee they'll get fixed.

I honestly think you are right on this
It sounds like a fullblown joke - but maybe its so simple as they forget to write it down when they stumble over a bug.
Or the yellow sticker with the note get lost between the coffee cups
But then when boss Marcel is forced to see it because of some stubborn forum posters then (sometimes) he just snap.. solves the problem.

CatsAreTheWorstDogs: It reminds me about a hamster I had that often poo´ed on the floor. One day I took it behind the ears and forced its nose down into its own poo. No more poo´ing on the floor. Hehe at least after I had repeated it several times.

 

[dajdosta]

Crimson, you need to understand that criticism is a synonym for insult in the rf2 world. Any discussion about rf2 will always spin back to be a discussion about you.

Not true.
You and CrimsonEminence are generalizing and that is the problem here.
I am part of the rf2 world and I am criticising and praising rf2 at the same time.
So you are wron...no ... sorry.. so you don't get offended and think this is about you I'll phrase it differently: your statement is wrong.

 

[dajdosta]

Pretty accurate percentage. Good for you, mate. But not for all users.
I can run rF2 fine, but it's the most time consuming sim here in use until even starting to drive.
"It works for the majority of time" is just not true.

I agree it is most time consuming but that doesn't equal it doesn't work.
It works for most users, it doesn't work for minority of users.
There are issues that affect most users.
There are issues that affect some users.
Out of cca 15 issues you mentioned I am experiencing 2 or 3.
Therefore any statement like "It doesn't work for the majority of time" is false.

 

[CrimsonEminence]

You and CrimsonEminence are generalizing and that is the problem here.

I'm generalizing, by listing reported issues over the time (not even a complete list)?
Many issues, that are NOT on the users end.
You are just stating "it works all the time", without delivering any proof, that there aren't the stated issues, which make me avoid recommending rF2 to new users. This reads like advertisement by you. I'm even listing facts (reported issues, some for years, some finally fixed now after 3 years of possible aknowledgement), but i'm apparently generalizing. Heck, i was even disclaiming, that not all of these issues are persistent on my system, but on many others.

Some issues or quirks, quality of life things etc. aren't that hard to solve, to have it right out of the box. (For example: The heat-flare-Halo, offset virtual and in-cockpit mirrors, an official starting guide/up-to-date manual, global FFB multiplier to start with in any car, other than 1.00)

I'm not talking about the power users, like you and me, knowing the ISImotor for years, i'm talking about approachability, usability and streamlining for users with no experience in this foundation.

Out of cca 15 issues you mentioned I am experiencing 2 or 3.

Some arbitrary percentages again. Still no facts. Some even experience none of them. Is it fine because of that? No.

 

[BrunoBæ]

Im staying out of this slightly goofy generalizing/not-generalizing quarrelling - OK?

But the only racing game I have been forced to completely uninstall is rF2.

Personal story.
I have been running rF2 happily for years before the Steam desaster.
But some time after the transfer to Steam I suddenly began to have random BSOD in the middle of sessions.
The irritating thing was that when I restarted the game after such crashes some of the setup json files was completely empty.
So I had to manually reconstruct the content in them.

When these crash got more often I began to get a bit tired of this game.

But suddenly some day it was impossible to restart the game after a crash + reconstruction.
Then I uninstalled and reinstalled the game completely.
Viola now it was possible to launch and run the game again.

A few hours later the game crashed - and it was again completely impossible to restart it.
This time I both uninstalled + deleted any trace of this fu** game from both HD + Registry.
After a reinstall the game was running happily again - for a few days.
I dont have to repeat what happened.
Now my computer is completely cleaned of any trace of this disaster.

CatsAreTheWorstDogs: I know my way around of my selfbuild computers - and thats probably the reason that rF2 is the only program I needed to uninstall because of permanent unstability.

 

[Trebor901]

Did they say in which century the new UI will be released?

Hopefully it won't. Runs absolute rubbish with it and my pc isn't exactly rubbish. Runs ACC perfectly on max settings yet this new UI with everything built into it is just rubbish.

 

[Stogie]

Screw esports. Its gonna ruin sim racing if it hasn't already.

 

[tr1v1um]

Im staying out of this slightly goofy generalizing/not-generalizing quarrelling - OK?

But the only racing game I have been forced to completely uninstall is rF2.

Personal story.
I have been running rF2 happily for years before the Steam desaster.
But some time after the transfer to Steam I suddenly began to have random BSOD in the middle of sessions.
The irritating thing was that when I restarted the game after such crashes some of the setup json files was completely empty.
So I had to manually reconstruct the content in them.

When these crash got more often I began to get a bit tired of this game.

But suddenly some day it was impossible to restart the game after a crash + reconstruction.
Then I uninstalled and reinstalled the game completely.
Viola now it was possible to launch and run the game again.

A few hours later the game crashed - and it was again completely impossible to restart it.
This time I both uninstalled + deleted any trace of this fu** game from both HD + Registry.
After a reinstall the game was running happily again - for a few days.
I dont have to repeat what happened.
Now my computer is completely cleaned of any trace of this disaster.

CatsAreTheWorstDogs: I know my way around of my selfbuild computers - and thats probably the reason that rF2 is the only program I needed to uninstall because of permanent unstability.

And going by your tinfoil hat attitude regarding Steam and your post history about rF2 you are clearly the first one to trust, because you know your way around your selfbuild computers while the majority of users managed to transfere to Steam. And ofcourse rF2 is desintegrating by itself and started destroying your system, since it it was moved to the evil Steam platform. Seriously, how you are able to play any of the current gen sims is beyond me. If I had BSOD I would start investigating somewhere esle, but clearly not in the software area and certainly not in Steam. You know that you get error codes with BSOD? But yep, you know your way around your selfbuild computers so why I am telling you this. Wanna hear my personal story: over 15 years running Steam and every possible sim on the market with it since as long as I built my own PCs - and I built them all by myself - and never had a single BSOD while running any of the sims or Steam itself. I don't know how I managed that, but I must have been lucky. Blasphemy, isn't it?

 

[CrimsonEminence]

And going by your tinfoil hat attitude regarding Steam and your post history about rF2 you are clearly the first one to trust, because you know your way around your selfbuild computers while the majority of users managed to transfere to Steam. And ofcourse rF2 is desintegrating by itself and started destroying your system, since it it was moved to the evil Steam platform. Seriously, how you are able to play any of the current gen sims is beyond me. If I had BSOD I would start investigating somewhere esle, but clearly not in the software area and certainly not in Steam. You know that you get error codes with BSOD? But yep, you know your way around your selfbuild computers so why I am telling you this. Wanna hear my personal story: over 15 years running Steam and every possible sim on the market with it since as long as I built my own PCs - and I built them all by myself - and never had a single BSOD while running any of the sims or Steam itself. I don't know how I managed that, but I must have been lucky. Blasphemy, isn't it?

When you are finished, going by your ad hominem attitude, we all could start applying a longer fuse to our base of communication and actually start talking about what is causing issues. Maybe even find solutions by ourselves, because official development is, in fact, slow.

By the way (oh no, i'm also starting this ) :
A BSOD can occur even by software side + hardware communication in the environment, i've encountered my last one on my shi**y old Win XP machine with an AthlonXP 2500+ (R.I.P.) and it was pretty much software related.

But we can also continue to have a go at each other because of experienced issues. Calling names and so on, because somebody is talking negative stuff about your favourite sim.

 

[Trebor901]

Screw esports. Its gonna ruin sim racing if it hasn't already.

It will eventually because to play online or aqquire ANY material will cost ridiculous amounts of money. Just an example for you Mini Challenge UK have decided to run an esports season open to everyone with Assetto Corsa using the mini challenge uk mod you can download for free from this very website. Also using all UK tracks that you can also find here for free yet they're charging £50 entry fee PER RACE!!. 8 races thats £400 for the season...... they've used the excuse they have commentators etc. to pay for but its bull**** because their title sponsor in real life should be stumping up the prizes and commentators fees. Massive money making scam. Also guarentee they havent got permission from authors for use of their mods for paid competition.

 

[tr1v1um]

When you are finished, going by your ad hominem attitude, we all could start applying a longer fuse to our base of communication and actually start talking about what is causing issues. Maybe even find solutions by ourselves, because official development is, in fact, slow.

By the way (oh no, i'm also starting this ) :
A BSOD can occur even by software side + hardware communication in the environment, (i've encountered my last one on my shi**y old Win XP machine with an AthlonXP 2500+ (R.I.P.) and it was pretty much software related.

But we can also continue to have a go at each other because of experienced issues. Calling names and so on, because somebody is talking negative stuff about your favourite sim.

View attachment 366759

If I wouldn't have read his comments about Steam and his devastating transfere from rF2 to that platform during the last 5 years I would give him some attention and maybe even help him to sort his issues, if he is really looking for help. But I have been dealing long enough with this kind of "let's-throw-some-more-sh!t-at-it-while everonye-else-is-allready-at-it approach" so that I know who adds something to the discussion and who doesn't. It's the same nonesense when a discussion about AC or ACC comes up and people start calling it simcade or arcade. It's the same nonesense as trying to solve BSOD issues by digging in Steam or rF2 files. I experienced enough BSODs on my own so I know how to deal with it, but thanks for your advice. Anyway, I will let you guys - who seem to be clearly the majority of rF2 users and enjoy it on a regular base - have your go at it while I enjoy a bit of racing on my own. *OpensJSONfile*

 

[CrimsonEminence]

Anyway, I will let you guys - who seem to be clearly the majority of rF2 users and enjoy it on a regular base - have your go at it while I enjoy a bit of racing on my own. *OpensJSONfile*

Again: I have nowhere stated, that i'm any majority of users, you are interpreting this into my posts, because you got triggered by something, you've read into it. Everything, i've listed are issues, encountered by users over the time and most of them reported long ago.

You should sit down on a pillow, mate, no offense, but you're taking it very emotionally!
I enjoy it on a regular base, btw., that's the reason why i moan about it.

 

[bgil66]

I just ran the Norma for the first time @Lemans and man what a feeling! That combo is like ‘Ray Tracing’ It just works!

Never played RF2.It was on my Steam wishlist but I removed it simply because of the slow progress,muddled content & complex technical issues & workarounds that people mention all the time.Sim racers today expect a plug in & play experience.Who wants to go in & change files just to get a sim to run properly?

A shame because the LMP3 cars they are running on the RACE series on Youtube look great to drive & for a change the tv coverage also looks great.

 

[Travis]

Why do GTE cars have such low engine inertia?

This annoys me more than just about any other issue.

One simply cannot exit the pits without the car stalling and has been an issue for many months which needs to be addressed as it's paid for DLC.

S397 have done a solid job with rF2 development however the long wait for fixes (i.e. full course yellow flags, GT3 BoP, GTE stalling) causes some people to become disinterested.

Further, I'm not logging into Discord to get answers from the dev team; they need to communicate on their forums. The video is a good start.

 

[fireballr18]

Good and solid start. Hope this will be continued in future.

Looking forward to those changes and the next races.

 

[MarcG]

This annoys me more than just about any other issue.

One simply cannot exit the pits without the car stalling and has been an issue for many months which needs to be addressed as it's paid for DLC.

I turned off Auto-Clutch and drove out the pits in all the GTE cars quite easily enough, sure the engine inertia is low (BMW the lowest it seems) but I never once stalled. Regardless I'll try and find out why it's so Low.

 

[fireballr18]

I turned off Auto-Clutch and drove out the pits in all the GTE cars quite easily enough, sure the engine inertia is low (BMW the lowest it seems) but I never once stalled. Regardless I'll try and find out why it's so Low.

Can be easily seen already in the pit before leaving, while going on and off throttle.
Afaik there is an inertia array in the physics sheets in which that can be defined.
Obviously it's not that easy as S397 would have it already updated then.

 

[Travis]

I turned off Auto-Clutch and drove out the pits in all the GTE cars quite easily enough, sure the engine inertia is low (BMW the lowest it seems) but I never once stalled. Regardless I'll try and find out why it's so Low.

Awesome.

I have three pedals and can try without using auto clutch; not everyone has a clutch pedal so it's not always an option for people to turn off the auto clutch so a fix is required.

If Marcel or Chris stated on the official forum they are aware of the GTE issue and are seeking a solution, most of the unrest would be solved. More often we read nothing of fixes in the monthly update blogs and are told on the forum in thirdhand posts by forum members issues have been talked about on Discord.

Meaningful engagement with the community helps; silence on long and short-standing issues does not. Takes notes from Reiza and Kunos as it's not rocket science to get right.

 

[BrunoBæ]

while the majority of users managed to transfere to Steam.

Hehe I had no problems transfering rF2 to Steam my good man.
Where have you got that funny idea from?
But its hilarious how personal you need to be cause Im again one of the many who have given up on rF2 both because the goofy "progress" of this game - but more urgent because this socalled sim is the most unstable of the racing games today.
Be aware I didnt say of the modern racing games today

CatsAreTheWorstDogs: Hehe and I have no problems comparing your trustworthiness to mine - thank you

EDIT: A tiny (IMO) to be positioned by your own choice