rFactor 2 | Spa-Francorchamps Released

[Paul Jeffrey]

Studio 397 have today released their laserscanned Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps DLC for rFactor 2.

The new track is available now, and retails at around 8.99 Euros from the rFactor 2 Steam Store.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1329732042821693440

From the release post:

Studio 397 are absolutely delighted to bring to rFactor 2 one of the most revered and loved race circuits in Europe – that’s right, the mighty Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is now available to purchase for the sim!

Spa-Francorchamps | Steam Store: Click HERE.

The Belgian legend, one of the best tracks in Europe, home to the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix and the Total Spa 24 Hours of Spa… at long last a highly accurate and incredibly detailed version of the 7.004km Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is available to purchase in rFactor 2.

The current configuration of Spa-Francorchamps first made its public debut during the 2007 racing season, having featured in previous years with several takes on the traditional lap ending Bus Stop chicane. Finally settling on a suitable configuration for a last corner that is very much at odds with the quick and challenging nature of the circuit, the venue has remained a firm favourite in the minds of both drivers and fans alike.

Consisting of some of the best sections of corners anywhere in the world, including the exceptional Eau Rouge / Radillon complex and the fearsome Pouhon (now called Double Gauche) – almost every one of the 19 turns on this historic venue are noteworthy in their own right – so let’s take a look at some key highlights as we see what we have in store for our rFactor 2 drivers:

La Source

This is one of the tightest corners on the track, and despite its relatively simple nature perhaps one of the most critical to get right for a competitive lap time – miss step on corner exit and you’ll be giving away time all the way down to perhaps the showcase corner of Spa-Francorchamps…

Eau Rouge / Radillon

Instantly recognizable throughout the world, Eau Rouge and Radillon offer up some of the most iconic tarmac in motorsport. Fast, challenging and dangerous – depending on the car and your racing line, a driver may just have to breathe off the throttle to safely navigate their way through the steeply uphill section of track, before rounding the blind crest through Radillon and powering down the Kemmel Straight and into the more technically challenging portion of the lap.

Les Combes

Here drivers have a great opportunity to line up their rivals and make a play for the overtake under braking, either down the inside into the first right-hander, or the long way round the outside and block pass for the switch back to the left-hand part of this section. A keen feeling on the brake pedal, and not too enthusiastic getting back on the gas are key ingredients to making your way through this part of the circuit in good time.

Double Gauche (Pouhon)

From top gear down to fourth, trail brake into the apex at corner entry then balance the car on the throttle for a smooth transition through the turn and early onto the power trusting the downforce and tyres to stick the car firmly into the racing surface – here you need confidence, commitment and a solid vehicle underneath you to fully unearth the speed needed to propel you through the corner and into the very fast final sector.

Les Fagnes

Another overtaking opportunity, on both the outside and inside line, Fagnes is one of those corners so very common to the Spa-Francorchamps circuit – fast, delicate and requiring the driver to dance on the pedals in order to find just that right balance between speed and keeping the car stable. A fantastic place to watch a race car in action.

Blanchimont

Pretty much flat out throughout the final sector (85% of the lap is spent at full throttle in a Grand Prix car) the drivers have to deal with the fearsome Blanchimont corner – probably full throttle, depending on setup, track condition and racing line, but very easy to make a mistake and lose lap time, or worse still, have a potentially race ending accident if you get too greedy with the curbs on corner exit.

Bus Stop

The final part of the lap is the reprofiled Bus Stop chicane. Despite its nature as a somewhat awkward corner in comparison to the rest of the lap, the Bus Stop has gained a bit of a fanbase in its own right, and offers up another really solid opportunity to overtake a slower rival. Much as with the rest of the lap at Spa-Francorchamps, get this wrong and the price of your mistake will be significant, so drivers will have to tread that fine line between caution and commitment.

Original Source: Studio 397

rFactor 2 is available now, exclusively on PC.

Check out the rF2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment for a great place to hang out with your fellow fans of the title, discuss the latest news and get advice on how to make the most from your simulation. Join in and start a new thread today!

 

[fireballr18]

Ai loses it under dirty air in GTE cars, because these cars tend to oversteer unrecoverably with dirty air in rF2 at Spa (which is like a switch, that turns your rear aero off at Eau Rouge, for example and no, this isn't normal ), if not driven carefully. Had 3 Races with "special happenings" of this kind now. AI always makes the big goodbye after being close behind me, or behind other AI cars on this track.^^

You couldn't resist, hm?
Seems like this is not always the case. When I did my tries yesterday, this was not happening in Eau Rouge.

 

[CrimsonEminence]

You couldn't resist, hm?
Seems like this is not always the case. When I did my tries yesterday, this was not happening in Eau Rouge.

You might try again...start a race with the 488GTE at 4th position, follow a car very closely through Eau Rouge and pin it on the line, like normally.^^ (no matter if tyres are cold or warmed up)

 

[RichardHessels]

Ai loses it under dirty air in GTE cars, because these cars tend to oversteer unrecoverably with dirty air in rF2 at Spa (which is like a switch, that turns your rear aero off at Eau Rouge, for example and no, this isn't normal ), if not driven carefully. Had 3 Races with "special happenings" of this kind now. AI always makes the big goodbye after being close behind me, or behind other AI cars on this track.^^

That even happens to greatest real drivers. Coming to close and loosing critical downforce.

 

[CrimsonEminence]

That even happens to greatest real drivers. Coming to close and loosing critical downforce.

You know, that downforce is actually a "channel" from the front to the rear, overall effectively created at the splitter first, leading over the car and through the undertray (a huge part)?

Dirty air affects every aspect, not just switches off the rear diffuser. You will wash out, maybe also a bit more tailhappy, of course, depending on how it is designed but this is not, what happens with rF2 GTE, where your car aero variation switches extremely to the front.

Your splitter will (if everything works correct and rake not being adjusted to benefit stalling something) lose efficiency by receiving vortices, compromised airflow and less air pressure and likely other effects, playing shenanigans with the initiation of the venturi effect under the car, dependent on your moving direction, which already kills a significant amount of your front and rear aero efficiency and downforce, but will likely reduce drag and increase acceleration (while air will not be accelerated at undertray as efficient, as before), the airflow to the rear then is compromised aswell, of course, which also leads to a less efficient diffuser, but it isn't just not working anymore. Also your wing will lose efficiency very likely, but it isn't just not working anymore, you have still tyres...less supported tyres, but you have them, they stick, they are made for it.

So the car will lose its balance more or less equaly, becoming more nervous, or understeery, depending on what its basic balance was like before, but it will not just lose all its rear downforce by a front aero balance shift at crazy short amounts of time.

But yes. Let's pretend, this is perfectly normal and AI is losing it close behind other cars because..."AI mistakes".

Replace "front wing" with "splitter"...timestamp 0:47

 

[tr1v1um]

You know, that downforce is actually a "channel" from the front to the rear, overall effectively created at the splitter first, leading over the car and through the undertray (a huge part)?

Dirty air affects every aspect, not just switches off the rear diffuser. You will wash out, maybe also a bit more tailhappy, of course, depending on how it is designed but this is not, what happens with rF2 GTE, where your car aero variation switches extremely to the front.

Your splitter will (if everything works correct and rake not being adjusted to benefit stalling something) lose efficiency by receiving vortices, compromised airflow and less air pressure and likely other effects, playing shenanigans with the initiation of the venturi effect under the car, dependent on your moving direction, which already kills a significant amount of your front and rear aero efficiency and downforce, but will likely reduce drag and increase acceleration (while air will not be accelerated at undertray as efficient, as before), the airflow to the rear then is compromised aswell, of course, which also leads to a less efficient diffuser, but it isn't just not working anymore. Also your wing will lose efficiency very likely, but it isn't just not working anymore, you have still tyres...less supported tyres, but you have them, they stick, they are made for it.

So the car will lose its balance more or less equaly, becoming more nervous, or understeery, depending on what its basic balance was like before, but it will not just lose all its rear downforce by a front aero balance shift at crazy short amounts of time.

But yes. Let's pretend, this is perfectly normal and AI is losing it close behind other cars because..."AI mistakes".

Replace "front wing" with "splitter"...timestamp 0:47

I've spent the last couple of days on the online servers running Spa and you have no idea how many real people I've seen crashing at Eau Rouge or Raidillion for various reasons. It's a very fast section so balance shifts will indeed happen very fast wich makes it look like out of nowhere with an on-off-switch if you aren't prepared for it. I crashed two times aswell, but for very different reasons each time I spun. One time I clipped the inner curb at the right hand side and another time I bottomed out with a very loose rear due to my setup. Silly driver mistakes ...

Now let's just pretend that the setup for the AI drivers might just be a tad too sensetive and you have your answer why they spin.

 

[CrimsonEminence]

I've spent the last couple of days on the online servers running Spa and you have no idea how many real people I've seen crashing at Eau Rouge or Raidillion for various reasons. It's a very fast section so balance shifts will indeed happen very fast wich makes it look like out of nowhere with an on-off-switch if you aren't prepared for it. I crashed two times aswell, but for very different reasons each time I spun. One time I clipped the inner curb at the right hand side and another time I bottomed out with a very loose rear due to my setup. Silly driver mistakes ...

Well...fine, not relevant for the effect of dirty air on aero variation in the game, but yeah. (It does not just happen at Eau Rouge, but any corner, but it's the most revealing place, to experience it.)

Now let's just pretend that the setup for the AI drivers might just be a tad too sensetive and you have your answer why they spin.

a "tad too sensitive"...yup...a "tad".

Whatever, back to the praisefest :
The track is looking amazing and blows away all other tracks of S397 in terms of performance, btw., so this is a positive, i guess.^^

 

[pitkin]

I ran two 15 lap races today on each layout using 30 AI (GT3) at 100% with 30% aggression and no AI accidents at either Pouhon or Stavelot. Did 20 minute Qualifies at medium rubber proceeding into race with naturally progressing. Used default race times with standing starts. AI mistakes "OFF" in the Player JSON

Note: I checked the AIW in both layouts and determined they both have identical main fast lines plus both layouts also have a second fast line called FAST_ALT which i would be interested to know which mods use it.

Hints:
1) Check if you have AI mistakes turned On and if so you should try lowering it or if necessary turn it off.
2) I discovered that occasionally you need to delete your Player JSON file when the AI begins to exhibit odd behaviors. Note: No worries as the game will make a new Player JSON. Make a backup incase you decide to go back.

Thanks for the reply, I'll look into those suggestions.

 

[Tarmac Terrorist]

Finding the A.I. great, sometimes they crash, sometimes not, racings been brilliant so far in whatever case!

 

[dajdosta]

Well...fine, not relevant for the effect of dirty air on aero variation in the game, but yeah. (It does not just happen at Eau Rouge, but any corner, but it's the most revealing place, to experience it.)



a "tad too sensitive"...yup...a "tad".

Whatever, back to the praisefest :
The track is looking amazing and blows away all other tracks of S397 in terms of performance, btw., so this is a positive, i guess.^^

Issue is ackgnowledged by the devs.

 

[fireballr18]

You might try again...start a race with the 488GTE at 4th position, follow a car very closely through Eau Rouge and pin it on the line, like normally.^^ (no matter if tyres are cold or warmed up)

Yea I did. Rear becomes light, but honestly: I don't know how much of downforce the rear is still producing if the car in front of you takes the air more or less completely away at Eau Rouge. I believe there are a lot of kilos missing on the rear. With a little lift I can manage this combination and still following the car in front of me.

 

[RichardHessels]

Yea I did. Rear becomes light, but honestly: I don't know how much of downforce the rear is still producing if the car in front of you takes the air more or less completely away at Eau Rouge. I believe there are a lot of kilos missing on the rear. With a little lift I can manage this combination and still following the car in front of me.

Not much, the air that comes from the front needs to find it's way all the way to the back. If that flow is disturbed it will affect the whole balance of the car.
The more a car depends on the downforce, the worse the effect will be.

 

[CrimsonEminence]

it will affect the whole balance of the car.

The WHOLE balance, yes...not just click and rear off.^^-

 

[RichardHessels]

The WHOLE balance, yes...not just click and rear off.^^-

The rear looses the biggest part, due to the huge wing and diffuser pushing hundred of kilos in clean air.

 

[CrimsonEminence]

The rear looses the biggest part, due to the huge wing and diffuser pushing hundred of kilos in clean air.

Yeah, oh that's why indy cars on ovals start to understeer in dirty air...because the rear loses the most effect. That's why front tyres suffer the most in dirty air?

 

[dreamer al]

With the new release of Spa track, along with "new UI" (faster loading times, I think), I am starting to love rF2 once again!!!

 

[RichardHessels]

Yeah, oh that's why indy cars on ovals start to understeer in dirty air...because the rear loses the most effect. That's why front tyres suffer the most in dirty air?

Comparing a indycar with a huge front wing, With a GTE with only a huge rearwing.
One has a engine in the back, the other in the front.
So if you already have a huge weight at the front, you just need a big wing on the back for the balance.

 

[CrimsonEminence]

Comparing a indycar with a huge front wing, With a GTE with only a huge rearwing.
One has a engine in the back, the other in the front.
So if you already have a huge weight at the front, you just need a big wing on the back for the balance.

Yes...a splitter isn't important at all. ...it's basically the first and most affected part, often extremely sensitive to small changes in pitch and height...and air pressure.

The "huge weight at the front" does not just work downwards...besides the fact, that you can experience the dirty air snap with all engine configurations. The huge weight of an 488 or RSR at the front...

Whatever. Happy racing, mate.

 

[Alex72]

Man, would have loved a classic version. We do have Belgium '66 and it's really fun but updated graphics and modern fidelity would have been fantastic. Still, another GREAT track by the devs.

 

[Tarmac Terrorist]

Man, would have loved a classic version. We do have Belgium '66 and it's really fun but updated graphics and modern fidelity would have been fantastic. Still, another GREAT track by the devs.

Yes mate! I am so totally with you on that! The official ISI (original creators of RF2) version of historic Spa (belgium 1966) is great but has graphical issues such as the the track turning jet black when it rains.
Now seeing as S397 have already updated the original Loch Drummond track by ISI I see no reason why they can't do the same with Belgium 1966. Its a good excuse to show off how much better they can make it now the graphic's have advanced, and with the release of modern Spa (which i am loving the hell out of!) its a perfect time for them to look at Historic Spa, it would be awsome, especially with some of the more historic cars in the sim.

I made a video a while back about the track and had an amazing time thrashing Jack Brabhams BT20 around it in an attempt to re-create the 1966 GP there. In it I do make mention of the track texture's and how great it would be if S397 updated it.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Its a good excuse to show off how much better they can make it now the graphic's have advanced, and with the release of modern Spa (which i am loving the hell out of!)

Another one like this then.