rFactor 2 | New Build Update And First Competition System Blog Posting

Paul Jeffrey

Premium
Studio 397 have deployed a new build update for rFactor 2 alongside giving users more insight into how development is progressing for their in built Competition System within the title.
  • New build release now available.
  • Competition System specific changes released.
  • Update on future progress.
rf2 3.jpg


Plenty of work is happening behind the scenes at Studio 397 these last couple of days, as hot off the heels from the recent GTE content update of Wednesday afternoon, the Dutch studio have now deployed a new build to rFactor 2 as well as giving players some insight into how the new Competition System within the title has been developing, and what comes next.

As part of a new regular series of insights into the system development, this is a welcome first attempt to ensure the community remain up to speed and engaged with the latest functionality to be added to the rFactor 2 title.

Build update change log notes:
  • Fixed an issue with software vsync not strictly adhering to the actual limit in the UI.
  • Several improvements to VR rendering in the UI that should eliminate the flickering people saw.
  • Added a missing error prompt in dev mode if some file was missing.
  • Changed a timeout value when interacting with Steam to not give up as easily.

Competition System Blog Post | Week 1 in full:

Hello and welcome to a new series of blog entries. These are not intended to replace the monthly roadmap, but give more in depth updates specifically on the competition system.

Two weeks ago we launched the first competition, using the Tatuus FT-60 car at a selection of free tracks. A week later we added our paid GTE cars running on a combination of free and paid tracks. This allowed us to both test the subscription to free content as well as the process we added to calculate the cheapest combination of bundles to get you the paid content needed to compete.

The response so far has been really good. Thousands have signed up and raced in over 500 splits, and although not all elements of the system have been deployed yet, we’ve seen some good racing and had a lot of valuable feedback from the community.

In the first two weeks we mainly focused on making sure the system runs smoothly and the user experience is good. Initially we encountered and fixed some scalability issues. We also discovered that there are some issues with people having installed upgrades to our content that interfere with our series definitions. We are looking into adding code that will try to analyze the components and their upgrades you have installed and and report back on the root causes of why certain content won’t work. Overall, we’ve made an effort on both Discord and our forum to support users that ran into issues, and we’ve seen others in the community helping each other out.
By now people should be able to get into sessions without problem and we added extra servers as well as adjusted the session timings to ensure we could meet with the demand. To give you some insights, we were running 20 servers and in some cases the sessions were too close together, so servers did not have enough time to reconfigure and be ready. We’ve learned a lot on how to better tune the system as a whole.

In the update we have deployed today we have fixed a lot of minor issues we encountered in the backend. We also fixed some duplicate entries that entered the system, so this might affect some of the existing standings. Messages we present to you if something does still go wrong should now offer better advice on what to do going forward.

rF2 1.jpg



The GTE series now runs with fixed upgrades as defined in those cars. We have deployed an update to all GTE cars, with other cars to follow, that allows us to make sure people only run with the “Le Mans” aero package on that track and nowhere else and our competition servers have been upgraded to enforce that.

We have also released an rFactor 2 build update, fixing some of the reported issues with the new UI and VR, as well as some tweaks that will improve the competition system experience. In general we are focusing on making sure everybody can smoothly run these new builds.

In the upcoming week we will focus more on bringing you quality of life improvements to the front-end based on your feedback. There are a lot of screens where we can add little details to give you a better insight. Our goal is basically to make sure the system is rock solid before we take the next steps.

rf2 2.jpg



So what are some of these next steps? Obviously, when these two competitions end, we want to present new ones. In those we will be again experimenting with some new formats as we test some of the flexibility of the system. To elaborate a bit on that, we can define per competition what kind of sessions we want to run in events, how long events last, how we decide splits and grids and how points are handed out. We will also add some variation in the session formats, such as private qualification sessions with fixed conditions to create a more equal playing field. We’ve also had a few questions on if we could also run sessions where a race is directly preceded by a qualification session. Yes we can. And it’s something we will definitely try out going forward.

Obviously our next big step is the introduction of a stewarding system that will encourage safe driving. During the development phase we’ve developed quite a few ideas in this area, as well as studied what other similar simulations are doing. We expect to try out some different systems in the upcoming months and are looking forward to your feedback.

Also, to make this blog more interactive, we encourage you to send us any questions you want to see answered and we will pick and answer the most frequently asked ones. Enjoy the races and stay safe!



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.

rf2 4.jpg
 
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Agree. I just reinstalled RF2 for the first time in a while. What a disasterous UI they have "developed" in 4 years. I seriously doubt its a professional UI developer that has made this - its not intuitive at all to say the least. Its such a shame that they seem to fail polishing up the overall experience of RF2. The driving feeling of RF2 is KING. Second to none ! But the rest is just a sloppy halfdone mess. :(
 
Agree. I just reinstalled RF2 for the first time in a while. What a disasterous UI they have "developed" in 4 years. I seriously doubt its a professional UI developer that has made this - its not intuitive at all to say the least. Its such a shame that they seem to fail polishing up the overall experience of RF2. The driving feeling of RF2 is KING. Second to none ! But the rest is just a sloppy halfdone mess. :(

Overrated sim, I've supported them for years and bought all DLC but the devs and fanboys can't take constructive criticism because I apparently don't have an undergrad in coding/programming so I'm irrelevant /s.

Other sims like AMS2 are catching up fast, sound better and gradually handle better. ACC is not far off.

I'll give my money to smaller dedicated teams who listen to their investors.
 
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Maybe 2021 will be the year where they finally manage to finish the new UI, and have time to fix all the legacy bugs, like the FCY bug, and the lack of a realistic transmission model, to mention just a few.
Do the flag rules work properly when you use the new competition system to race online? Genuine question, I mean how can you race realistically with no proper flag rules? I'll try the new UI again tomorrow, maybe it works now, you never know, they'll have to get it right some time, it's in its fifth year now.....
 
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The black outline of the UI screen that appears when you are on track is still present making VR unplayable for me. Back to the old-ui for me. It was an issue acknowledged by the dev which was supposed to be fixed 2 releases ago. People wonder why there are complaints! Its disappointing because I personally don't even mind the new UI.. I would happily just use it... if it didnt have this ridiculous immersion breaking bug associated with it.
 
I could not race when this new competition system was released due to a bug and I decided to take a look on their discord channel.
I came with the conclusion that there is no quality control over the content that is released.
The solutions gave by other users having similar issues may work, but it's so painful to follow all the steps, install, uninstall, reinstall, change json files. Those are the things that shouldn't be performed by final users.
I am going to give it another try later, just don't know when.
Meanwhile I am having a lot of fun with ams 2. Yes, I know it's not the same driving experience (acc is almost there) but they are improving a lot in an incredible pace.
 
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After using the new UI since initial beta, I think its ok. Some parts are better, other parts are worse.

I had recently changed to CM for AC, lets say I am currently lost with the new UI. It will take time for me to get used to it.
 
I resumed RF2 out of curiosity after months, (I am constantly on ACC) and I must say that I was impressed by the new interface.
Initially complex, but after using it for a while it certainly seems good and neater than the original one.

Also seeing the product updated during the Christmas holidays, I appreciate the efforts of the developers.

I am curious to see how it evolves in the future, I believe the title is in the first places as a game, but still far from being a well detailed simulator.

Good job guys.
 
Great start to the Competition System BETA, just like RaceRooms System a year ago they'll tweak & fix and all sorts over the coming months. Plenty of helpful & constructive feedback from the community will go a long way, it will improve gradually not overnight so some patience is required :)

Don't you use VR? If so, do you not have the fine line black square border (that is the perimeter of the UI) around your view when on track?
 
Is it now possible to add,delete and install .rfcmp packages with the "new Ui" ???,then i will try it again.
Got no time to waste to test things that do not improve.I better test AMS 2 these days,that's worth the time.
 
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