Paul Jeffrey

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Studio 397 have today deployed their latest DLC offering for rFactor 2 - the Endurance Bundle 2 - containing three new endurance specification cars within the simulation.
  • Endurance Bundle 2 available now for £8.13.
  • Contains Cadillac DPi, Ligier LMP2 and Corvette GTE.
  • Items can be purchased as a pack or separately.


The new DLC is here at long last, three new cars have arrived in rFactor 2 - introducing the Endurance Bundle 2 DLC - available now.

From the release notes:

Tis the season to be jolly… a time for giving, a time for receiving, festive merriment, a glass of something nice and more mince pies than is either reasonable or healthy. Rather than putting that much-needed pair of new socks or a thickly lined winter jumper under the tree this year, give the gift of endurance racing to your nearest and dearest (or treat yourself!) - why not take out some rather awesome endurance cars for a spin in rFactor 2?

Yes dear sim racers, we’ve gone and put together our latest car pack DLC for the simulation – and I must say we feel pretty pleased with the outcome – three epic endurance machines that include some of the most beautiful, iconic and potent race cars in modern motorsport.

endurance-bundle-2.png



Endurance Bundle 2 | Steam Store: Click HERE.

It’s hard to argue against the fun of multi-class endurance racing. That feeling of slicing a Prototype through slower traffic in the fight at the head of the field, or powering your GT racer within a crowded pack of cars while keeping half an eye on the mirrors and blue flags ready to let faster cars to pass – it’s something that just cannot be replicated in any other form of motorsport, and with rFactor 2 now containing four of the best endurance tracks in the world (Le Mans, Sebring, Silverstone and Spa), these cars never had a better place to be put through their paces against your rivals.

Endurance Bundle 1 | Steam Store: Click HERE.

With this new Endurance Bundle DLC, we at Studio 397 have tried to keep an eye on our existing content to both bring something new to the simulation, and add further depth to the popular car classes already available within rFactor2.

Endurance Bundle 2 DLC Contents:
  • Cadillac DPi-V.R
  • Ligier JS P217 LMP2
  • Corvette C8.R GTE
2020 Cadillac DPi-V.R

Cadillac_DPi_2020_10.jpg


Built in close collaboration with top North American sportscar team JDC-Miller Motorsports, the Cadillac DPi-V.R represents the very finest in American endurance racing engineering, having taken the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship by storm since an incredible debut in 2017, winning no less than the first seven events it contested in the category, including the prestigious Rolex Daytona 24 Hours. Wayne Taylor Racing pairing Ricky and Jordan Taylor would dominate the drivers’ standings in the new machine, securing the title convincingly from sister entry Whelen Engineering, themselves taking a victory at the demanding Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix at the Canadian Tire Motorsport circuit in Ontario, Canada.

2018 would be just as successful for the popular return of the Cadillac brand, with a further four wins courtesy of Mustang Sampling Racing (2), Wayne Taylor Racing (1) and Whelen Engineering (1) enough to secure a clean sweep of drivers and teams' championships for the iconic American manufacturer.

A further four wins in 2019 would again see the Cadillac DPi-V.R at the sharp end of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship despite increased competition from the likes of American powerhouse outfit Penske and Mazda, although championship success would elude the manufacturer for the first time, with the Brazilian driving duo of former Formula One driver Filipe Nasr and SportsCar star Pipo Derani narrowly missing out on top spot in what was generally considered to be the most competitive championships in the recent history of the IMSA series.

Fast-forward to a truncated 2020 season and again Cadillac would prove to be force to be reckoned with, this time with JDC running two cars under the JDC-Miller Motorsports and JDC Mustang Sampling banner alongside entries from Konica Minolta and Whelen Engineering. Despite having to perform in front of mostly closed door audiences and with a hastily amended calendar, the American teams would put up another determined fight against racing royalty in the form of Acura Team Penske, with the manufacturer taking a total of three race wins and runners up position in the championship for the #10 Konica Minolta car of Australian Ryan Briscoe and Dutchman Renger van der Zande.

With JDC in the unique position of being the only team to run two Cadillac DPi-V.R entries this season, we found them to be the perfect partner to team up with as we looked to maximise the available data and resources when creating this new car. Our collaboration with JDC has been nothing short of sensational these past months, and working alongside our colleagues at the team has opened up some exceptional opportunities to really get under the skin of this outstanding car, and most importantly for the players at home, recreate what we consider to be one of our most accurate and detailed vehicles for rFactor 2 so far.


Key Performance Stats

Engine: 5.5L V8
Power: 580HP
Weight: 930kg
Top speed: 360km/h



2020 Ligier JS P217

Ligier_LMP2_2020_04.jpg


As costs continued to spiral during the previous generation of endurance racing regulations, many teams and drivers found themselves migrating to the much more financially friendly and increasingly competitive LMP2 category of racing – high downforce prototype machines that don’t quite reach the ultimate lap pace of the table topping LMP1 / LMdH / LMH group, but offer seasoned professionals and up and coming drivers multiple opportunities to race in championships throughout the world.

With the recent influx of professional teams and drivers to the category, the popularity of LMP2 has exploded over the last few years. Offering arguably the most competitive and sizeable grids week in, week out in endurance prototype racing, LMP2 has become what the original Le Mans Prototype class never quite managed to achieve - the peak competitive proposition for prospective drivers looking to carve out a reputation and career in endurance prototype racing.

With such popularity and the sheer volume of cars produced, many championships throughout the world have been quick to adopt LMP2 regulations within their own series, either as a standalone category, or as part of a wider multi-class structure, such as can be found in the World Endurance Championship, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and European Le Mans Series.

We already have the Oreca 07 LMP2 car within the simulation, and keen as we are to ensure rFactor 2 has a wide range of vehicles suitable for close and competitive racing as possible, we felt the time was right to introduce another mighty LMP2 car. With the technical knowledge of a former Formula One race winning outfit in the form of Ligier, the French marque partnered up with Onroak Engineering to produce an exceptionally efficient and competitive vehicle, one that competes with some success in national and international endurance racing events.

Debuting in time for the 2017 racing season, the car immediately proved to be competitive in the hands of numerous racing teams, with a debut fourth place finish (and fifth overall) at the 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours in the hands of United Autosports proving without doubt that the new JS P217 is a car to be reckoned with. That form would be carried forward in the European Le Mans Series by the US squad, the team snapping up an impressive three outright race victories for the new car en route to second overall in the teams standings.

Further Le Mans LMP2 success would come the way of this attractive closed top prototype, despite the numerical dominance of Oreca within the category, with United Autosports once again carrying the flag for Ligier with a exceptional class podium in 2018, following up with a further top four finish within the series the following season.

Having released in 2017, the JS P217 immediately showed promise on the circuit, and the following years have seen the car wrap up wins in various categories throughout the world. A mainstay in series such as WEC and stateside with the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship – we are sure you will agree that this is a great car to add to our ever growing collection of official content within rFactor 2.



Key Performance Stats

Engine: 4.2L V8
Power: 600HP
Weight: 930kg
Top speed: 330km/h

2020 Chevrolet Covette C8.R

Corvette_C8R_2020_05.jpg



Replacing the venerable Corvette C7.R was never going to be an easy task for Chevrolet, however the new Pratt & Miller developed machine has immediately picked up the baton dropped by its predecessor and proceeded to firmly establish itself as a competitive force to be reckoned with in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Straight off the bat following its debut at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona the two car entry proved to be quick in the hands of the works Corvette Racing Team, going on to secure wins in over half the rounds of the 2020 season, unsurprisingly culminating with titles in both the team and drivers championship at the conclusion of its debut year of competition.

The eighth-generation Corvette represents something of a departure from expected norms from the American brand. Gone is the traditional front engine concept so revered by the partisan fanbase of the car, and in its place comes a move to the somewhat divisive modern mid-engine design, Still kicking out in excess of 500hp to the rear wheels and a top speed of just under 200 mph from the fire breathing 5.5 litre V8 engine, the car is very much a Chevrolet under the skin, but with significantly different handling characteristics than those that have traditionally been associated with the bright yellow machines of years gone by.

According to Corvette Racing driver and sportscar ace Antonio Garcia, the new C8.R is "very agile" compared to its elderly predecessor, allowing the driver to "fight it harder and push pretty hard", which should translate into a very popular choice of car for our online players to select in the white hot heat of battle!

The C8.R should stick to the road better than the C7.R as well, with an estimated additional 10% downforce possible from the new model thanks in part to the aggressive styling characteristics and complex aerodynamic details, coupled with a flat floor design as per the IMSA series regulations, These design touches, and plenty of ingenious work creating a much more use friendly and driver focussed interior layout have all contributed to the incredible success of the car on the world stage, right from its very introduction into racing at the beginning of 2020. With fierce competition from the likes of both Porsche and BMW chomping at the bit to recover lost ground to their American rivals, the race for GTE honours looks set to be another glorious one next year, and you can recreate it at home in rFactor 2 from the comfort of your own racing rigs!

Key Performance Stats

Engine: 5.5L V8
Power: 500HP
Weight: 1260kg
Top Speed: 300km/h

Corvette_C8R_2020_07.jpg


Don't forget, as it is the Holiday season we've also got our Steam Winter Sale in full swing, with some exceptional offers on content for rFactor 2. If you've been missing a few key items, want to complete that collection or just fancy taking a look at something a bit different, head over to the rFactor 2 Steam Store page now and check out some brilliant new deals - the Steam Winter Sale ends on January 5th, so act fast!

social_rf2_2020_winter-sale.png



These new cars represent the pinnacle of modern endurance racing as we head into 2021, and coupled with the already rich array of Prototype and sports car machinery within rFactor 2 (with more to come next year), we feel pretty confident that the Endurance Bundle 2 is a great way to say goodbye to what has been a fantastic year for rFactor 2, and set the tone nicely for what should be an even better 2021...

Enjoy the cars, enjoy the festivities and see you out on track soon.


Original Source: Studio 397

rFactor 2 is available now exclusively on PC.


Got questions? Our community have answers! Check out the rFactor 2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment for a great way to engage with your fellow fans of the simulation.

Cadillac_DPi_2020_08.jpg
Corvette_C8R_2020_04.jpg

Ligier_LMP2_2020_03.jpg
 
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To each their own i guess, i wonder wehat happens to the left over balance of wallet funds? Oh yeah it vanishes after a year. I have been wondering just how i could add
$10.98
$10.98
to my account? Or how do i add $10.30 to my wallet? Yes thats right you can't but nope no trickery there at all.
This is the first time I hear someone claim leftover balance vanishes from Steam Wallet. I am unable to find anything confirming this, and it goes directly against my direct experience, because I have had some leftover balance in my Steam Wallet for years now and it certainly never vanished. Can you link a reliable source for your claim?

Also, no, if you want to randomly add 10.98 (USD, EUR, whatever) to your Wallet while not actually buying anything, you can't, you can only do certain increments, that much is true. However, if you're buying something using Steam Wallet, then with any sum above the minimum 5€ (not sure if it's the same amount in dollars), you always have the option to just add the exact amount you need to cover the purchase. So if you have nothing in your Wallet and get a 3€ item, you do have to add at least 5€ (and you will have 2€ left in the Wallet for next purchases). If you are however getting say a 6.50€ item, then apart from the option to add 5€ or 10€ to the Wallet, you also have the option of adding exactly 6.50€ to cover your purchase, or whatever is the difference between your current Wallet balance and the price of the item you're buying.

So, yeah, really don't see where the trickery and such comes from. But I mean, you're obviously free to ramble about trickery all you want, that's your prerogative.
 
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It's nice and all, but do you realize some of us purchased rFactor 2 8+ years ago (just checked in my mail)? And we are still waiting for core issues being fixed. Another year and invest? Like in early access? No words...
It might surprise you but 8 years of support for a game is pretty unusual and it doesn't happen very often that games change their complete graphics engine and backend in their life cycle. Other developers move on and sell you long requested features in new titles with recycled content. There are several ways to look at this. I think it's quite nice to have a sustainable product for once where I know that support won't end in one or two years.
 
From my personal viewpoint. AMS 2 cars seem floaty, some strange wobble at certain angles, rotation of the cars seems a bit odd. Can't put my ginger on it. It feels a bit to much pCars heritage.
Last time i drove was a month ago. So might throw in another night. To see if it got better.
Like the variety of the unique content.

After having discovered the VR support for AMS1 that crewchief devs added, I have been putting time into that. Its quite an eye opener going back to find the same content drives better in AMS1 than AMS2 with better overall FFB and much much better AI. Makes you wonder what all these modern tyre models are actually really achieving in the end.

The only downside to the rf2 "store" method is you have to click on the item before you can tell if you already purchased it. Would be better if it indicated this at the store front itself. When you are as old as me, you sometimes forget what you already bought :whistling: :D Apart from that, no real issues with it.

It might surprise you but 8 years of support for a game is pretty unusual and it doesn't happen very often that games change their complete graphics engine and backend in their life cycle. Other developers move on and sell you long requested features in new titles with recycled content. There are several ways to look at this. I think it's quite nice to have a sustainable product for once where I know that support won't end in one or two years.

Depends on your definition of "support" I guess. Some issues have been hanging around for years. I like to hot lap and have the "transparent trainer" enabled. If I forget to disable it when I enter a race, the damn thing becomes real car at the grid start and ploughs into other cars as we sit waiting for the lights to go green.. or if that doesn't happen then it races around as a transparent car ok, but the AI react to it as if its a real car.

Not only that but if you are really genuinely serious about e-sports.. it would probably be a good idea to fix the obvious setup exploits that have been known for years so its hard to tell what their real future strategy really is and thereby be able to predict what they will potentially fix and what they wont. Mind you, some issues are self inflicted as Case_ made me realise earlier when it came to my complaints about LODs :)

Having said all that, rf2 is by far the most played sim on my hard drive in the last year (I bought it in Beta pre-steam btw) and I think I will always keep coming back to it regardless.
 
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Heh, no. I know its personal opinion, but its not intuitive at all, its like learning an entirely new game minus the driving part. It took me several tries and a bit of cursing just to get on track. I guess you'd warm up to it over time, but in my case I cant help think 'it wasnt broken, why fix it?' I'm sure there was some reason behind it, but atm its really annoying, especially when you just want to try out the new DLC.
 
Heh, no. I know its personal opinion, but its not intuitive at all, its like learning an entirely new game minus the driving part. It took me several tries and a bit of cursing just to get on track. I guess you'd warm up to it over time, but in my case I cant help think 'it wasnt broken, why fix it?' I'm sure there was some reason behind it, but atm its really annoying, especially when you just want to try out the new DLC.
It was broken, in that the new competition system that was activated today could not work with the old UI. So anything from today on might depend upon the New UI to work properly. The fact that it took 4 years of work just to reach this point indicates the codebase left by ISI was incredibly dense/complex/interwoven with many parts of the sim.
 
It's nice and all, but do you realize some of us purchased rFactor 2 8+ years ago (just checked in my mail)? And we are still waiting for core issues being fixed. Another year and invest? Like in early access? No words...

I bought it in 2016 so I feel half your pain.

Still, from what I've read and listened to them about their roadblocks, hurdles, and process, it sounds like it may be justified that it took this long to get rolling. They didn't get a nice, modern, pluggable, moddable platform like Reiza did with the Madness Engine, or the good base of AC in ACC (with all their money), or the lucrative business model iRacing developed.

The closest comparison may be R3E, actually. I was in that from the beginning from before it was even a good hotlapper. And look at it now. It's got respect.

So, given S397's commitment and recent changes, I have high hopes.
 
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Btw, someone do me a favor: when exiting the game, scroll down to the bottom of the credits under 'special thanks', does it say your name aswell?

Yes, me too and now I feel very honored:roflmao:

From my personal viewpoint. AMS 2 cars seem floaty, some strange wobble at certain angles, rotation of the cars seems a bit odd. Can't put my ginger on it. It feels a bit to much pCars heritage.
Last time i drove was a month ago. So might throw in another night. To see if it got better.
Like the variety of the unique content.

This 'wobbles' are from the differences in tyreload during cornering and from my limited karting-experiences absolutely and even more annoying for real. Here's a nice video to show what a front-tyre is doing during cornering and for me AMS2/Madness Engine is just nailing it.

But IMO it's BS to argue if rF2, Raceroom or AMS/AMS2 is the best, since those titles at least share the same Newton (or ISI) laws of physics under the hood. If you perform well in one title, it shouldn't take long to learn the others since the optimal driving line and technique is roughly the same. The FFB-communication of the limit seems to be the major difference, but there is also one major similarity: throttle-oversteer on exit is the way to go fast in the typical RWD-cars with LSD like it's the best in karts.

In ACC all the cars are more handling like they have an open differential, so lots of oversteer on braking,, but just understeer on throttle like a FWD-car. I can only say: If you go karting with this technique, you will totally suck. You try braking and cornering: instant spin guaranteed and if you don't power-oversteer the kart on throttle asap, you loose big time. With an LSD there can be both in theory, but if you have to choose between open or locked differential, there is only one right answer since it's faster: locked.
 
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- Random crashes: I never had rF2 crash. So there MIGHT be the possibility that the crashes are triggered by rF2 but the cause is somewhere else (if the cause would be within rF2, it would crash in EVERY single installation).

A word on rF2's stability: just today attempting to load in virtual rides, the game crashes to desktop on certain tracks without fail. Occasionally the new UI would freeze up, requiring me to completely restart my PC. another time, I pressed escape to exit a car, and the game straight up crashed. rF2 isn't the worst I've ever seen in stability (looking at you, Premiere Pro), but it could be improved.

That's really how I feel about this game in general. I want to like it. I spent months planning out what I was going to do with this game, all the awesome features I could use. Yellow flags! Oval racing! WOW! But I've realized that this sim really only has physics going for it. The devs seem intent on steam rolling out there content while not really caring about the state of the rest of the game. The new UI really shows this to me, as it's (unfortunately) awful. It's incredibly sluggish, going to change settings for single player sessions requires waiting for a prompt saying "loading favorite servers" to finish realizing for the fourth time that I don't play online, and there's no option to change the HUD! It's amazing how they just don't care.
 
It might surprise you but 8 years of support for a game is pretty unusual and it doesn't happen very often that games change their complete graphics engine and backend in their life cycle. Other developers move on and sell you long requested features in new titles with recycled content. There are several ways to look at this. I think it's quite nice to have a sustainable product for once where I know that support won't end in one or two years.
I does not surprise me. But this time most of the free old content gets left behind without getting the benefit of improvement and development, while we need to purchase additional content to really see some improvement. Furthermore, the quality improvements added in the newest paid content released by S397 do not get applied to older content sold by S397. Meanwhile core issues are being solved in an extremely slow pace and they released an UI that is a clear downgrade from the old one in both stability and functionality after 3+ years of work. Why would I as a paying consumer trust that it will suddenly be much better in a year. Sure I hope so and would be glad honestly, and if they do I will gladly purchase more content.
 
I bought it in 2016 so I feel half your pain.

Still, from what I've read and listened to them about their roadblocks, hurdles, and process, it sounds like it may be justified that it took this long to get rolling. They didn't get a nice, modern, pluggable, moddable platform like Reiza did with the Madness Engine, or the good base of AC in ACC (with all their money), or the lucrative business model iRacing developed.

The closest comparison may be R3E, actually. I was in that from the beginning from before it was even a good hotlapper. And look at it now. It's got respect.

So, given S397's commitment and recent changes, I have high hopes.

Admittedly, I have similar problems with R3E as well (been playing actively since the green UI, until like 2 years ago). There the performance really suffers due to DX9 to a point that ACC runs better with AI (and let's not even compare the graphical difference between those two). I really hope you are right, but I do not have very high hopes this time...
 
A word on rF2's stability: just today attempting to load in virtual rides, the game crashes to desktop on certain tracks without fail. Occasionally the new UI would freeze up, requiring me to completely restart my PC. another time, I pressed escape to exit a car, and the game straight up crashed. rF2 isn't the worst I've ever seen in stability (looking at you, Premiere Pro), but it could be improved.

I have never had rF2 crash on me, completely stable.
There would be complaints all over the forums and steam if rF2 really was as unstable as you are finding.
What are your system specs, someone here may be able to point to what is wrong.


There IS an option to change the hud in the new UI, as I have just been cycling through the various styles in VR hud, you cannot tell what it will look like until you are in the car though which is a shame but not game breaking.
 
Agreed, that many crashes usually points at a systems error, not game error. I too have never had a single rf2 crash. The loading times are horrible (and somehow worse with the new UI) but thats also about it.
 
A word on rF2's stability: just today attempting to load in virtual rides, the game crashes to desktop on certain tracks without fail. Occasionally the new UI would freeze up, requiring me to completely restart my PC. another time, I pressed escape to exit a car, and the game straight up crashed. rF2 isn't the worst I've ever seen in stability (looking at you, Premiere Pro), but it could be improved.

That's really how I feel about this game in general. I want to like it. I spent months planning out what I was going to do with this game, all the awesome features I could use. Yellow flags! Oval racing! WOW! But I've realized that this sim really only has physics going for it. The devs seem intent on steam rolling out there content while not really caring about the state of the rest of the game. The new UI really shows this to me, as it's (unfortunately) awful. It's incredibly sluggish, going to change settings for single player sessions requires waiting for a prompt saying "loading favorite servers" to finish realizing for the fourth time that I don't play online, and there's no option to change the HUD! It's amazing how they just don't care.
Seriously, would you consider a dev studio releasing hotfixes during the Christmas holidays as a bunch of guys who don't care? The updates to the UI, the comp system and the graphics engine have been some of the most requested core improvements of the last years. The content finaly has substance, quality and shows focus - one of the biggest complaints aswell. To make a reality check, I would advice you give the last ISI build a run. Are you really sure that rF2 could have been showcased like that on Eurosport to thousends of people? Even if not everything is perfect - which software is btw? - I would argue that we've come a long way.

Just to give you an example, when the first DX11 build was released, alot of people were complaining and went nuts. Today rF2 visuals are alot less a point for complaints and you even see people considering the graphics as nice. Who would have predicted this five years ago?
 
I just launched RF2 for the first time in a few weeks.
That's my usual practice now.
Today is the first time I've seen or interacted with the new UI...I actually like it.
It'll take a bit to find everything but I really like the replay section in particular.
I also relented and bought the pack to try the C8 since it was within cost of most mod cars.
I did not try adjusting anything yet as the car seems good out of the box.
Will hot-lap with it some more later today...time-permitting.
 
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Really like the new endurance content and having been very sceptical about moving to the new UI i do have to admit now ive got used to it i prefer this new UI to the old one.
Well done keep up the good work and for still supporting this great sim.

One question though . Will a custom championship be added anytime soon ?
 
Really like the new endurance content and having been very sceptical about moving to the new UI i do have to admit now ive got used to it i prefer this new UI to the old one.
Well done keep up the good work and for still supporting this great sim.

One question though . Will a custom championship be added anytime soon ?
one of the updates mentioned it will come later in 2021, when the online compteition system is completed :)
 
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