rFactor 2 | Spa-Francorchamps Released

Paul Jeffrey

Premium
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.


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.

Spa 1.jpg



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.

Spa 2.jpg



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.

Spa 3.jpg



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.

Spa 4.jpg



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.

Spa 5.jpg



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!

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Amazing job, thank you S397! Definitely worth every penny.
I was going just to turn a few laps today, just to test it, ended up driving for over 2 hours. Damn you :D

On a side note - I've also tried new UI for the first time. I don't like it at all, and I don't think it has anything to do with being different than I'm used to. IMO the design sucks. I reverted to the old UI for the time being, not looking forward to the day when new interface is the standard. It's the beta, so it'll probably get better, but I doubt the design will see major changes.
 
@ Denis Betty: Sorry about my sense of humour breakdown in this thread, it's been a long day. At least everything is running again now, I'll be giving the new UI a wide berth till I can be sure that it works properly in VR. Spent bloody hours buggering about this evening till I found out what was going on. But now it's all working as it should, it's brilliant. I love Spa, it's one of my very favorite tracks.
The new 3080 was much too expensive, but nevertheless worth the money, if that makes sense. I've never seen rF2 looking so good, my last card was a GTX1080, in VR I had to turn everything down, it looked terrible.
 
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You do know that AI learning is a feature of rF2, don't you?
Ok, maybe I should be more clear. That function in the json file allows the cars to learn a track. It doesn't really teach the computer drivers in the game to learn it's "adversaries". The AI processes would be learning YOUR tendencies and adjusting to how well you drive.

Suffice it to say, the is some learning by the game, but not true "AI".

I win :laugh::laugh::laugh:
 
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I've just re-read what you wrote here: I thought there was only one beta? The new UI. I thought all the other are non-beta builds, with 1121 being the latest. Or am I being stupid?

So to summarize it shortly:

opt-out: always the latest build, currently v1122 (default Steam behaviour)
public-beta: branch with latest build and new UI until the UI one day will be merged to opt-out
v1121: legacy option if you had problems with v1122 and wanted to go back to v1121 (you will never get new build updates if you stay on this)
v1120: same as above
etc.

The purpose of those older build betas is just to have the option available if you have issues with the opt-out build, you are right they are technically not betas, which is where it can get confusing. There is no explicit build 1122 branch because it would be exactly the same as opt-out, which is the default.
 
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So to summarize it shortly:

opt-out: always the latest build, currently v1122 (default Steam behaviour)
public-beta: branch with new UI until the UI one day will be merged to opt-out
v1121: legacy option if you had problems with v1122 and wanted to go back to v1121 (you will never get new build updates if you stay on this)
v1120: same as above
etc.

The purpose of those older build betas is just to have the option available if you have issues with the opt-out build, you are right they are technically not betas, which is where it can get confusing. There is no explicit build 1122 branch because it would be exactly the same as opt-out, which is the default.
Thanks for the clear explanation,I've always wondered exactly how it works. I'll stay with the opt-out till I can be sure that the new UI has mouse support in VR.
 
Thanks for the clear explanation,I've always wondered exactly how it works. I'll stay with the opt-out till I can be sure that the new UI has mouse support in VR.
Apologies if you already know this, but with the Rift, if you go into virtual desktop mode, you can control the new UI with your Touch controller, works well. Button 'A' to select btw.
 
Not sure where the "absolutely stunning" comments are coming from, tbh. It looks and drives maybe slightly better than Raceroom Spa. Nothing that would blow your mind IMO.

But it's nice to have an official version, sure. And it runs well, too, which is still kinda unexpected in rF2.
I think it's nice that they have included the endurance version, with the what feels like a ten minute drive out of the pits. Increases the immersion factor a bit.
 
You mus be kidding right? I dont use VR but comparing RF2 1990s look to ACC makes me ask if you have by any chance ingested some psychedelics....

While the cars itself in ACC look awesome, in my opinion everything more than couple meters away to far distance is not good and looks more like a painting. Think also unreal engine problem where only near objects are detailed. I like photo-realistic look like GT Sport and I think RFactor2 Spa looks more realistic than ACC in my opinion when driving in VR. Rfactor 2 while maybe more simplistic graphics gives me more sense of presence in VR than ACC and something seems to be missing apart from the amazing looking cockpit ACC. However when driving at night in ACC because the distance is black it actually can look pretty incredible and photorealistic as you can only see near objects.

However, judge for yourself with screenshots below taken in VR while driving. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion ofcourse. Even with HP Reverb G2 distance looks more like a rough painting in my opinion.

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I'm having an issue and I'm curious if anyone else is. I purchased this plus the Ferrari 488 gt3 and gte. Neither the Ferrari 488 GTE or Spa are installing and when I boot up the game it tells me that Spa 1.05 requires a base mod that is not installed. Strange.

Edit: I figured out a solution through some reading on the s397 forum, albeit an annoying one. If anyone encounters the same issue I had, remove all workshop content by unsubscribing to all of it(as in all of your workshop content, yes all of it), exit steam, reboot steam and boot up rf2. It installed correctly this time. I tried just unsubscribing to spa and the 488 GTE several times in an attempt to fix it until I found this solution.

The unfortunate problem with this solution is that any mod content you unsubscribe to won't be reinstalled upon booting up rf2 like the dlc content will. So keep track of any mods you have if you have to do this.
 
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While the cars itself in ACC look awesome, in my opinion everything more than couple meters away to far distance is not good and looks more like a painting. Think also unreal engine problem where only near objects are detailed. I like photo-realistic look like GT Sport and I think RFactor2 Spa looks more realistic than ACC in my opinion when driving in VR. Rfactor 2 while maybe more simplistic graphics gives me more sense of presence in VR than ACC and something seems to be missing apart from the amazing looking cockpit ACC. However when driving at night in ACC because the distance is black it actually can look pretty incredible and photorealistic as you can only see near objects.

However, judge for yourself with screenshots below taken in VR while driving. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion ofcourse. Even with HP Reverb G2 distance looks more like a rough painting in my opinion.

View attachment 421262View attachment 421264

View attachment 421265View attachment 421266View attachment 421267View attachment 421268
I have to admin that ACC really looks terrible when downsampled. I am using 3x1440p screens and for me nothing can beat ACC (at least in terms of gfx) but I understand that for VR users its a big NO
 
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Now post another screenshot of oponent cars in front of you during night time lit up by your own car and tell me you are not looking at cartoons.
I think it's quite obvious tha UE4 has better lighting capacities. That said, stuff like the horrendous AA, ghosting and LOD popups, especialy noticable with the trees makes ACC look like a 90s games if you have to run it on lower settings. Trees become wierd polygon blocks so I am not surprised that people might prefere the rF2 version.

I don't think that it looks that much better, but it just looks crisp and runs well. Together with the nice roadfeel it makes a nice experience. :)
 

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