rFactor 2 | Portland International Raceway Update Released

Paul Jeffrey

Premium
Studio 397 have deployed a new update to the classic Portland International Raceway circuit within rFactor 2.
  • New update available on Steam Workshop.
  • New materials updates applied.
  • Various fixes.
As Studio 397 continue to work their way through the array of older content within rFactor 2, the Portland International Raceway circuit is the next track to receive the update treatment from the studio, with a new build release for the circuit having been deployed to the Steam Workshop yesterday afternoon.

Version 1.03 brings with it a number of quality of life improvements and graphical upgrades, as can be seen in the change notes below...


Portland International Raceway V1.03 Notes:

  • Updated Roads to work with latest material developments
  • Updated Vegetation to latest material developments
  • Reviewed Grass bumpiness
  • Fixed some objects tagged as Hat that shouldn't have been.
  • Roughed up inside the curbs at the fast chicane
  • Added a dedicated material which makes there more resistance on the grass to stop cutting (just on the polys next to the chicane)
  • Fixed Fence/Tent lodding issues at Final Corners


Original Source: Studio 397 Twitter

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 Portland 1.jpg
 
Last edited:
Toban and Mills are still two of my favorite tracks ever! Would love to see them get a facelift.
+1, always felt these two were good examples of fictional tracks done right. Toban really feels like farm land converted into a road course and I've had several white-knuckle races vs AI at Mills. The only part of Mills that I absolutely HATE is the decreasing radius corner at the end of the "back straight". That corner catches me out all the time and it's difficult to attack. A nice touch there is some of the corners are named after fallen real life drivers (I can't remember all of them but remember seeing "Ratzenberger" for sure). I've used both Toban and Mills in my own fictional offline USF2000 championship.

I know some people want nothing to do with fictional tracks, I understand that and I'd probably also prefer to keep adding quality renditions of real ones. However, I'm open to fictional ones if they're "believable" like this and have the proper ambience and a good flow. I wouldn't want a sim to be made up entirely of fictional tracks but a good one added now and then would be OK in my book.
 
+1, always felt these two were good examples of fictional tracks done right. Toban really feels like farm land converted into a road course and I've had several white-knuckle races vs AI at Mills. The only part of Mills that I absolutely HATE is the decreasing radius corner at the end of the "back straight". That corner catches me out all the time and it's difficult to attack. A nice touch there is some of the corners are named after fallen real life drivers (I can't remember all of them but remember seeing "Ratzenberger" for sure). I've used both Toban and Mills in my own fictional offline USF2000 championship.

I know some people want nothing to do with fictional tracks, I understand that and I'd probably also prefer to keep adding quality renditions of real ones. However, I'm open to fictional ones if they're "believable" like this and have the proper ambience and a good flow. I wouldn't want a sim to be made up entirely of fictional tracks but a good one added now and then would be OK in my book.

Same people that bitch about fictional tracks being in a sim are the same people that are bitching today about iRacing releasing a fictional formula car. "I want my sim based only in reality!" they yell while driving in a rolling chair with a G25 clamped to their desk.
 
Same people that bitch about fictional tracks being in a sim are the same people that are bitching today about iRacing releasing a fictional formula car. "I want my sim based only in reality!" they yell while driving in a rolling chair with a G25 clamped to their desk.

I'll have to tell you, that I use a G29! (other than that, it fits).

I have no issues with fictional tracks (does anyone remember North Point Raceway, Chatham or Sardian Park from Sports Car GT? Amazing tracks. I especially wish someone made Sardian Park in a modern game (@Marcel Offermans :whistling: :whistling: ).
With fictional cars it's a bit more depending on how it's done. Howston in rF2, formula V10 etc in AMS is fine. A totally fictional, not based on anything real would be harder to like, while in iRacing, with the premium prices etc. I feel cheated with fictional stuff.
 
I'll have to tell you, that I use a G29! (other than that, it fits).

I have no issues with fictional tracks (does anyone remember North Point Raceway, Chatham or Sardian Park from Sports Car GT? Amazing tracks. I especially wish someone made Sardian Park in a modern game (@Marcel Offermans :whistling: :whistling: ).
With fictional cars it's a bit more depending on how it's done. Howston in rF2, formula V10 etc in AMS is fine. A totally fictional, not based on anything real would be harder to like, while in iRacing, with the premium prices etc. I feel cheated with fictional stuff.

Nobody is making you buy it. Simple as that. Since the car was designed by Dallara, it isn't like iRacing just pulled it out of thin air. If a car is fun to race, I don't care if it is real or not tbh. Sure I love simulating the real thing, but there is plenty out there for me to do that as well. I just don't get people griping about stuff like that.
 
Bought my copy of RF2 early january in 2013, still waiting for a proper drivetrain model. But since everyone is just in for gt3 and f1 it will never see the light of day.
Yes, rF2 needs Drive-train updating for sure and the audio could do with some attention too. I don't know what version of the Miles sound-engine it uses but, some older cars really need much better samples. The addition of some more dynamic backfire sounds could go a very long way to improving the audio experience (such as RaceRoom's) but, that can be said for most titles. The single repeating sample canned-approach to backfire sounds is a sad standard to uphold imo.

Of course, rF2 still has a long to-do list but, Marcel has said that they intend to improve the drive-train physics at some point. I'm happy to have a more immersive VR experience with the graphic updates in the meantime. Any and all improvements are much appreciated. ;)
 
Nobody is making you buy it. Simple as that. Since the car was designed by Dallara, it isn't like iRacing just pulled it out of thin air. If a car is fun to race, I don't care if it is real or not tbh. Sure I love simulating the real thing, but there is plenty out there for me to do that as well. I just don't get people griping about stuff like that.

And I won't buy it either :) Just like I won't buy the NR2003 track they are making for iRacing. But this is mainly down to how the different games are marketing themselves. I feel iRacing is expensive enough for the "premium experience" that they boast about. Fiction doesn't fit in to that narrative.

Car won't be an issue anyway, I don't race open wheelers there. The track is only an "issue" when it is added to official series' and you either have to buy it, or skip racing for a week.
 
With fictional cars it's a bit more depending on how it's done. Howston in rF2, formula V10 etc in AMS is fine. A totally fictional, not based on anything real would be harder to like, while in iRacing, with the premium prices etc. I feel cheated with fictional stuff.

That's a good point - fictional as paid DLC is a little tricky, there's obviously no licensing cost to the dev but there's still a lot of work (we'd hope) put into the content. For something like RF2 where there is a precedent for releasing occasional free stuff that would be great, but if it was paid I'd think it should not be the same cost as fully licensed real things. Not that I think that sort of thing is on their roadmap but just a "what if".

Oh, the Howstons - crank up the volume for those and they sound glorious.
 
That's a good point - fictional as paid DLC is a little tricky, there's obviously no licensing cost to the dev but there's still a lot of work (we'd hope) put into the content. For something like RF2 where there is a precedent for releasing occasional free stuff that would be great, but if it was paid I'd think it should not be the same cost as fully licensed real things. Not that I think that sort of thing is on their roadmap but just a "what if".

Oh, the Howstons - crank up the volume for those and they sound glorious.

Yup, but each to their own. There's nothing wrong in supporting it, nor anything wrong in staying away from it. (Though the amount of Early Access, pre-order-idiocy and MTX is wrong,but that's another discussion).

Indeed! Crank it up, apply throttle, opposite lock, and enjoy! As proven by our amazing rF2 club racing screenshot maestro Luca! :)
2020-06-11-_-howston-dissenter-watkins-glen-jpg.381100

2020-10-22-_-howston-dissenter-ctmp-jpg.414597
 
Yes, rF2 needs Drive-train updating for sure and the audio could do with some attention too. I don't know what version of the Miles sound-engine it uses but, some older cars really need much better samples. The addition of some more dynamic backfire sounds could go a very long way to improving the audio experience (such as RaceRoom's) but, that can be said for most titles. The single repeating sample canned-approach to backfire sounds is a sad standard to uphold imo.
Also surround sound. rF2 is the only major sim that doesn't have surround sound at this point.
 
Oh man, I wasn't even thinking of THAT Howston! That one's fun too, I was thinking of the 60's style Le Mans types.

Ah, you where thinking about the Howston that are used as a base for quite a few mods! If you look at many of the mods for 60's/70's cars for rF2, you can often see that they are using the Howston as a base. So I often fail to think of that as an actual car in rF2, I just think of that as a base-mod, and the only Howston to race is the Dissenter!

I am weird.
 
Ah, you where thinking about the Howston that are used as a base for quite a few mods! If you look at many of the mods for 60's/70's cars for rF2, you can often see that they are using the Howston as a base. So I often fail to think of that as an actual car in rF2, I just think of that as a base-mod, and the only Howston to race is the Dissenter!

I am weird.
Nah, Dissenter is a fun car!!!!
 
I also think that Dissenter is one of the best original rF2 content pieces. I had forgotten it for quite a while, but now I feel like really wanting to drive it.

Interestingly it happens with some other cars too which I like a lot. Like for example NSX, especially not the R version. Almost forgot it, and then rediscovering is like having a new car in rF2.

P.S. Portland is brilliant track for any car. It is amazing that it was non paid content and the quality is so good.
 

Latest News

Online or Offline racing?

  • 100% online racing

    Votes: 71 7.4%
  • 75% online 25% offline

    Votes: 99 10.3%
  • 50% online 50% offline

    Votes: 139 14.5%
  • 25% online 75% offline

    Votes: 265 27.7%
  • 100% offline racing

    Votes: 380 39.7%
  • Something else, explain in comment

    Votes: 4 0.4%
Back
Top