Sim Discussion Monday - rFactor 2

Paul Jeffrey

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Have an opinion on rFactor 2 or got a question to ask? Having something burning to discuss about the game or want to share a review? Well, now you can...

Monday.. back to work, back to reality. To help ease the pain we thought it would be a nice idea to have a good old discussion. Use this article to share your opinions on rFactor 2, tips on how to get the best performance from the sim, what content is great, what is less so and anything else you might so desire!

I will be running one of these each Monday, for all the major sims, as a place to get some community feedback on the game itself and everything associated with the title.

Let's use this as a place for some user reviews and a central spot for all things rF2. Found a good mod you want to let people know about, tell us! Have a particular favourite car or track? Well shout up! Know some tricks to get the game running in its sweet spot? Fire away! Want to muse about future content coming to the sim, or want to beg the developers to go out and secure a particular licence agreement? Well now you can... !

rFactor 2 has come a long, long, long way in a short space of time after its initially slow start to life under Image Space Incorporated. Now with DX11, VR, quicker development and several exciting pieces of content and features all in the pipeline, there really hasn't been a better time to be involved in the simulation....


Mondays be like...

rF2 Discussion datasting.jpg
rF2 Discussion jayarrbee36 2.jpg
rF2 Discussion jayarrbee36.jpg
rF2 Discussion RoWo.jpg


Image credits - datasting (picture 1), jayarrbee36 (pictures 2 & 3), RoWo (picture 4)
 
We had a ripper of a club race at Interlagos using the Apex GT3 mod Saturday past.
Great mod on RF2 that is really becoming a superb sim now under Studio 397 and in its DX11 guise.

We have not tried too many mods so far, but the Formula 2 mod is also very enjoyable.

I have had RF2 since the beginning, but have only really started playing it recently with the new direction and am becoming more in love with it each day now :inlove: :inlove: lol
 
Can't get it to work. I click the "Series" icon but the menu comes up blank, with no series available to race in. I've looked everywhere for a solution with no luck. I really want this sim to work. As it stands Rf2 scores a fat 0 out of ten from me.
 
Good sim but sadly graphics are dated, does this matter ? Probably not as they do have everything else, physics, weather, great tracks, mods,
For me though visuals are important!

I do wish that rfactor 2 could have a love child with Assetto Corsa
 
This is from an old post of mine about using the FFB clipping app to fine-tune rF2's FFB for older, weaker wheels. I'm curious to know if my method helps or hinders anyone. :geek:

NOTE: Frustratingly, the FFB clipping app does not work in the DX11 build. It will probably crash your rF2. It was almost impossible to find a good FFB setting without using the app. (Another reason for using DX9 until DX11 improves). It's a good idea to adjust the in-car FFB for each vehicle and each circuit, especially when trying a mod.

Current Settings

  • Wheel: Driving Force GT
  • Logitech Global Settings: 100/0/0, Centring Spring 0 (unticked), Rotation 900, Allow game to adjust settings.
  • Logitech rF2 Profile Settings: the same.
My method (you may laugh at it!)
  • Set Car FFB to 1.00.
  • Set Minimum Torque to 0.
  • Set Smoothing to 0.
CAR FFB

Drive laps and, using the clipping app, watch out for the bar turning red. This often happens on a high-speed curve when the car is on the edge of grip. Increase/decrease FFB until clipping occurs/stops. Ideally, there should be no clipping but it's OK if there is a flash of red once a lap when running over a very high kerb or a big bump in the track. Make a note of the FFB level, car and track.

MINIMUM TORQUE

Set minimum torque to 0. (This setting tells the sim what is the minimum level of force your wheel will produce.) Then raise the torque by small amounts until your wheel gently oscillates on the start line when you take your hands off it. When you hold the wheel, you should probably feel nothing or just a faint vibration. (EDIT: At this point, I like to reduce the Min Torque by 0.5% or 1.0%.) With a bit of luck, your wheel will now feel a little livelier when driving. Make a note of the Minimum Torque level.

SMOOTHING

Drive some laps and test for clipping. The wheel should feel quite light but responsive. However, especially with lower-end/cheaper wheels, there might be some FFB spiking that produces a "notchy" feel. You might become aware that your wheel is not an expensive, top-of-the line product! :whistling:

Here's where your personal taste comes in. Smoothing at 0 might be what you like. If not, gradually increase smoothing until the wheel feels less notchy, and more like a wheel driving a car with pneumatic tires, while still retaining enough information to help you feel what is happening to the car. Too much smoothing and you will lose vital FFB information. Make a note of the smoothing level.

Then check for clipping again - the additional smoothing might allow you to increase slightly the FFB level.

FINALLY...

Keep a record of your final FFB, Torque and Smoothing numbers for the vehicle/track combination. It will save you a lot of time when you return to that combo. :geek: Your figures might be much higher than mine if you have something better than a DFGT. :)

As an example of what a difference clipping makes, here are my figures for the GT500 Nissan at Mills Outer Loop:

Without the FFB app: Car FFB 1.44, Torque 6%, Smoothing 13 (In other words, I was guessing!)
With the FFB app: Car FFB 0.87, Torque 11%, Smoothing 5​

Each car will be different. I had to increase the Howston at Barbagallo to 1.50.

Please note my wheel is old and tired - just like me. These are my opinions, and they may well be wrong. But I hope someone finds this post helpful. :)
 
Can't get it to work. I click the "Series" icon but the menu comes up blank, with no series available to race in. I've looked everywhere for a solution with no luck. I really want this sim to work. As it stands Rf2 scores a fat 0 out of ten from me.

There is no series anymore, they dropped this some time ago ...you select track and car. All the default cars and tracks can be downloaded from steam workshop, just search for the 397 stuff, unless of course you want some third party mods ..there are some excellent mods for rf2

I play with rf2 a lot more than I used to, I have all the sims and switch between them, it is hard to pick a favorite, they all have plus and minus points, there is no clear winner YET.

Rf2 is marching forwards for sure, there is no doubt in my mind about that, my only concern being the cost of there first DLC, one sole car for 4.99 is to expensive, imo it should be half that, ...10 cars would = 50 at that price ..that is more than double what you pay for the whole sim.
 
Only the simulation is really complete to make a lEndurance race!
(big advance on the others simulation!)
Cycle day/night
Real time weather
Real road
Attractive and rather pleasant graphs, very involved Dev and has the listening of the players!
The future seems to be good on-line, (like iracing system race):

Complete series are now necessary: GT3, GTE, Proto, DTM Etc...
 
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I`m just wondering, when we could expect, to see some documentation (especially for Car`s) about the used parameter. Usually i`m used to use the Skip Barber files as reference, as there are most parameter commented, but they`re are a bit outdated, as many parameter went obsolete/exchanged/replaced and newer were added. Sadly point, the new introduced parameter are mostly not commented. Also a list of shortcuts for special physics pages, to use with Moddev (e.g. strg+i), would be very helpfull...
 
My opinion of rF2 is it is the best feeling sim by a long margin. This does vary depending on what hardware you have to race with. Eg: if you own a Logitech device, any of them, you may not like this sim. I didn't like it first time round when I was using a G27. Logitech make toys. If you spend a little more and get a high end Thrustmaster or Fanatec, nothing else gives the feel of this sim. I wish I had the $$ to get a direct drive wheel, maybe if I sold my G27, T300 and Clubby V2 I could buy one...

As far as content goes, most tracks that have been developed for rF2 by either the devs or modders are good, but there are still a lot of tracks that are not designed for rF2, i.e. they are rF1 tracks that have been ported and they are utter garbage, mainly due to high poly track surfaces where rF2's insanely high FFB frequencies just don't behave well on them (2400MHz vs 360MHz for rF1). AC has this same 'problem' of rF1 ports.
Some of my favorite cars are the BTCC BMW 125i & the Camaro GT3 2012
Tracks like Toban, Palm Beach & Mores are good fun too.

Just my 2c
 
There is no series anymore, they dropped this some time ago ...you select track and car. All the default cars and tracks can be downloaded from steam workshop, just search for the 397 stuff, unless of course you want some third party mods ..there are some excellent mods for rf2

I play with rf2 a lot more than I used to, I have all the sims and switch between them, it is hard to pick a favorite, they all have plus and minus points, there is no clear winner YET.

Rf2 is marching forwards for sure, there is no doubt in my mind about that, my only concern being the cost of there first DLC, one sole car for 4.99 is to expensive, imo it should be half that, ...10 cars would = 50 at that price ..that is more than double what you pay for the whole sim.

Thanks for the info :)
 
Only really interested in online racing and find the system currently too messy.
Mods are the main killer of the game for me. Too much content so good many not, If i can find a sever that isn't locked chances of me being able to download mod content is low, if i can it take ages to download just for one race.

Feels like the mentality of the users is their happy with how things are and don't like change. Before steam users had different build version online, migration to steam was hard pill for many. VR has opened up this title and have been more keen to give it a go. Physics and ffb is great, the package just needs to be completed.

Hope we get more original content and mods be more of an option....Any details on online points/rating system?
 
Eg: if you own a Logitech device, any of them, you may not like this sim. I didn't like it first time round when I was using a G27. Logitech make toys. If you spend a little more and get a high end Thrustmaster or Fanatec, nothing else gives the feel of this sim.
I don't agree. Logitech has always been good to me. They make good hardware for a reasonable price and last but not least very reliable which cannot be stated for Fanatec and especially Trashmaster. I liked my G25/G27 and currently G29.

Just to remain on topic, I'd like to see my windscreens being wet during wet races, windscreen wipers functional and that annoying ALT/TAB thing being fixed. It's a constant pain in the ass seeing 'rFactor isn't working anymore' happening.
Also a good guide for setting up a dedicated through Steam would be nice as I didn't managed to do so and the explanation found doesn't cover enough for it. (steam cmd)
I'm not a computer whiz and I can't figure it out.
 
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Bought the game at the start with the expensive multiplayer option. To be honest after the initial first few months I stopped playing. Now that VR is implemented It's my third most played sim after Raceroom and AC. I have no issues with the game, more official content would be nice. Either in an old school expansion or dreaded DLC.
 
Not a fix but a workaround: I didn't get a single crash since I'm using borderless window mode. :)
I also run windowed mode. But I remember back in GTR2 the game had the same problem, I found a way to never let it crash again: simply click drive then change the camera a bit, like cockpit, TV, 3rd person. Then hit esc to go back to garage and alt tab without worry. No idea if it works in rF2 as I always run windowed
 

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