Worried about the future of rF2

[Richard Eriksson]

As the topic suggests...

As a long time ISI supporter and follower, i am now feeling a bit worried for the future.The number of new users coming in to rFactor2 seems to be dwindling.

Also there is a long time between the new official content. And even when there is official content released, it seems to fail to gather an interest (Civics in December) amongst the yet unitiated.

Also, the mod community seems a lot more reluctant than for rF1, with very few members adding content.This is even more worrying as it was the foundation of rF1 and a big selling point for bringing more people to the franchise (race anything you like).

ISI now also faces a stiff competition as the "sim" genre has become "hot" again with more titles in the works, that seem to gather a LOT more interest: AC, pCars etc.

The old veterans like myself are finding ourselves drawn to the likes of GSC, and newcomers are moving towards AC and probably DTM Experience.


I start this topic to see if someone shares my worries, and also to discuss if something can be done to once again bring more interest to rF2?


My personal idea is to go for Steam greenlighting (i actually REALLY like Steam as a platform), to gain exposure and also simplify the purchasing as well as updating.
Connecting it to Workshop makes modding interesting again, like what AC proposes.


I want rF2 to succeed, it is by far the most comprehensive take on simulating the actual race mechanics and based on that it should be the goto title for the serious sim-user, but right now i fear it is not.


Discussions on graphics i will however discard personally, as a) rF2 is pretty enough and b) the prettiest of settings in something like pCars is inaccesible to 95% of users.


So, what is your view of the status of the product?



Points of improvement needed going forward as identified in this thread so far:

* Better GUI (incoming)
* Steam integration and release
* Possible new distribution method that would automate updates and sync, if not steam
* New official content
* More transparent development
* Shorter build intervals
* More efficient code and optimization of codebase
* A possibility to "lock down" the core functionality, to deliver something considered stable and final
* New updater that allows automatic updating of content as well, including adding NEW
content

 

[Bez]

@Blkout ...its not as bad as i thought it was, but...its the FFB...ive said it before and ill say it again, RFACTOR 2 MAKES MY WHEEL SING and thats the reason i bought my T500 (and the reason im currently looking at a leo bodnar wheel) im just not getting the same level of FFB im used to from RF2 in AC. Are you feeling the increased "geary" feel in AC compared to rf2?

edit: just noticed your previous post talking about the cogging, i read that the tx is a smoother base but also read the motors they used in it are a lot cheaper than the motors used in the t500, that actually put me off buying the tx when i was deciding which wheel to go for, I'm planning on pushing the boat out and upgrading to a bodnar wheel in the next year.

 

[Blkout]

@Blkout ...its not as bad as i thought it was, but...its the FFB...ive said it before and ill say it again, RFACTOR 2 MAKES MY WHEEL SING and thats the reason i bought my T500 (and the reason im currently looking at a leo bodnar wheel) im just not getting the same level of FFB im used to from RF2 in AC. Are you feeling the increased "geary" feel in AC compared to rf2?

edit: just noticed your previous post talking about the cogging, i read that the tx is a smoother base but also read the motors they used in it are a lot cheaper than the motors used in the t500, that actually put me off buying the tx when i was deciding which wheel to go for, I'm planning on pushing the boat out and upgrading to a bodnar wheel in the next year.

Marc I've seen no information on the motor that the TX uses other than its brushless, in fact I've yet to hear of a TX motor failure, its usually an electronics failure and I think most of those issues have been corrected now with either a unknown revision or firmware update since I don't see hardly any failures on the TX recently. The T500 motor is of course a Buhler motor which was priced by someone on the internet at $100 which is obviously an expensive part as mass production wheels go, but the brushless motor in the TX looks pretty beefy too from what I've seen in pictures from those that have disassembled one and if you look at the pros and cons of a brushless motor vs. a brushed motor, it weighs pretty heavily in favor of a brushless motor assuming its equal quality of course. Bottom line though, I don't think the motor is cheap in the TX, sure they cut some corners on the pedals and rim, but not the base.

I'm sure the Bodnar wheel is on another level. no doubt. I'm waiting to see what the Accuforce wheel does.

 

[Kevin Watts]

I'm thinking I may have my settings all wrong on AC as I just cant get the same level of "feel" that I get in RF2. @Kevin Watts ive found the look of RF2 has a LOT to do with the content your using and the time of day your racing, try setting the time of day to around 3:30pm

heres a screenshot taken last night. No graphics mods or jiggery pokery, just the vanilla game with everything maxed out.

tell me that doesn't look bootiful!

Yes that looks a lot better than what I'm seeing at Silverstone, still not AC but nice. Checked I had HDR set in the menu, turned up everything I could and it just looks washed out

 

[Bez]

mid ohio @ 4pm-5pm with everything in the PLR file turned on/up and 32xAA forced on in the control panel, im pretty sure those are the settings i used, i was playing around with times of day a lot so that might not be bang on, i even tried a few early morning races but i think later looked better

 

[Kevin Watts]

Ok will try that setup, thanks

 

[Bez]

URD EGT mod @ Autodromo Di Mores @ 4pm

ISI track mores is another really good looking track with some really nice textures and a nice warm mediterranean colour palette

 

[Kevin Watts]

Now see that's more like the track texture I was expecting to see, perhaps its just the Silverstone track but its not detailed like that tracks texture is, more like a grey splodge of colour - at least on my system. I'll stick with the Meganes for now as it was one of my favourite rFactor mods

 

[Bez]

Silverstone's definitely not as good looking as some of the tracks, and i had to go to 6pm+ to get some decent lighting, and some of the textures are looking a bit flat but still not too bad.

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

Silverstone's definitely not as good looking as some of the tracks, and i had to go to 6pm+ to get some decent lighting, and some of the textures are looking a bit flat but still not too bad.

What I love about tracks like the new Bahrain version or Sebring is, that they do feel very alive.
In Bahrain you get photographers, who take pictures when you are leaving the garage, lots of croud and at Sebring you get planes coming in, fireworks at night etc.

It may not look as good as AC or pCars, but it just feels much more alive compared to the AC tracks with no specators etc. and I don't really notice the texture quality of the spectators at 200mph

 

[Bez]

I never realised what a fun track silverstone was untill today, been blasting round all morning in the URD EGT Bayro and man is that car well suited to this track, a real joy to drive, been pushing it so hard ive ended up on the roof twice - fun, fun, fun!!

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

I never realised what a fun track silverstone was untill today, been blasting round all morning in the URD EGT Bayro and man is that car well suited to this track, a real joy to drive, been pushing it so hard ive ended up on the roof twice - fun, fun, fun!!

That car has a problem, that it is lacking a lot of front downforce compared to the other, that makes it a tyre killer. I would recommend you to test some of the others like the Vette.

 

[Bez]

That car has a problem, that it is lacking a lot of front downforce compared to the other, that makes it a tyre killer. I would recommend you to test some of the others like the Vette.

Cant say ive noticed as its a pay mod theres no chance of online driving so i just either race AI or practice on the tracks with it, so i have my tyre wear off, cant say i notice the problem in the handling of the car as its a blast to drive.

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

Cant say ive noticed as its a pay mod theres no chance of online driving so i just either race AI or practice on the tracks with it, so i have my tyre wear off, cant say i notice the problem in the handling of the car as its a blast to drive.

Yes, without tyre wear it is quick, but it is a main concern, if you are driving in an endurance situation. I am driving them in a non RD leauge, but there are a few public servers out there running the mod and I found 3 or 4 leauges running it some of them only use the Vette as it is free.

 

[Bez]

oddly enough of all the cars the vette is the car i tend to avoid, either go for the Bayro, Darche or AM

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

oddly enough of all the cars the vette is the car i tend to avoid, tend to either go for the Bayro, Darche and AM

It really depends on the setup. I needed some changes to get the Vette switched on, but if you have it switched on it is one of the fastest cars and definetely a lot quicker over a longrun than a Bayro.

If you want some information about leauges and servers, that are running the mod etc. drop me pm as they are not run by Racedepartment.

 

[Daiman Patel]

Hi
The above post is what I am thinking of this sim ...rf2 unfriendly and stiff....
if you have some time off and want to do some racing with Fellow racers in multiplayer..
....you have to download mods install cars download tracks...and the rigth versions by the way..
....when you get to the racing part....they are all gone.. NeXT time evrything have to be upgraded...
its a fun killer...
! I think ! ISI ran out of Money for this sim a looong time ago...and some key persons in Development
....found something else to do with their talent a looong time ago.....
My rf2 purchase runs until jun 2014...and I wont renew it....2years of installing and downloading..
simbin and the race07 series have by far the best multiplayer system around.....look at that
and do the same....
Stig Bidstrup

That's more of a slur on the game, rather than constructive criticism and suggestions which is what was requested by Ricardo. rFactor 2 is a proper racing sim - it's not always easy to drive, and requires your dedication and commitment to practising in order to improve. And regarding the downloading of mods, you are criticising the fundamental way in which rF2 works, not to mention that rFactor 1 was no different. A key aspect of rFactor is that the game moddable and customisable in such a way that every player can make it their own. Also, this mechanism allows for the creation of custom content, a unique feature of this game compared to other sims, and a major selling point of rF2 in my opinion. This does rely on the modding community to work more on rF2 content; however, this does seem to be the case, with a steady stream of cars and tracks (as well as the lovely minimalist UI that was released last week) being released. And this will only increase as more people move to rF2 and its popularity improves; modders will be more inclined to develop for the game, and start listening to more requests. This, in my opinion, is such a key part of rF2, and something that makes it so different, that without the modding ability the game would undoubtedly struggle in the current climate with AC, RRE and pCARS on the brink.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Well, I've become a believer. The last few mods have been a step up and convinced me to buy the game. The Karts are a blast.

Really enjoying the GT3 Mod racing that RaceDepartment has been hosting too.

 

[Ben Goymer]

With the Alt-m fix coming to light I tried this again last night. I'm now able to get pretty decent performance from this on my 7950 as I'm no longer having to use supersampling through RadeonPro.

This makes me happy as out of all the sims I own rfactor2 is the one I get most immersed in.

Issues like the lod stuff shouldn't be hidden away though, I'm a programmer and if our software required as much back door tweaking as rf2 we'd go bust.

 

[Travis]

You don't need to worry about the alt+m fix - you can adjust the texture filtering to zero the plr file.

As for the future of rF2; it's entirely up to ISI where they want to take their sim. When rF2 comes together - and reading this forum we've all had these moments - it is a sublime experience that transcends it's current limitations.

rF Pro probably remains the money maker for ISI and perhaps explains the small number of staff who work on rF2 - I can see no other reason for the slow development speed.

I think there is a market for all the sims currently in development, some wlll remain more niche than others

 

[Ryan Soucy]

Its funny that someone finally mentions rF Pro before I chip in. I do hope they are doing fine on the professional services end, ISI deserves to continue even if their impact on the consumer market is diminishing. Think of it, they are getting one-upped by Simbin, SMS, and Reiza who wouldn't even exist without ISI work, kind of ironic.

My Opinion: rF2 content amount is fine, but there is no "community" to pull you into the game.

I am the rare guy who races offline most (I can't race on regular days or times). I go back to AC b/c 1) it feels, runs and looks great. 2) they have their Steam badge challenges for time trials, hot laps, and AI races. This is such a great way to drive users to certain track/car combos. For me, who may have 20-25 minutes to race, I love chasing these goals. I LOVE AC update days so I can see what new challenges I can attack. pCARS has their online leaderboards, so when I jump into a desirable car/track combo (and there are many) I can tab thru the HUD and see my lap times vs. the global leader. What fun chasing those records.

I can't think of anything that gets me back to rF2 except the dread of downloading an ISI track update to go from 1.1 to 1.2. Don't get me wrong, the F2 car is probably my favorite sim car ever, but if I have 20 minutes to kill, I have so many options where I can actually accomplish something. Heck, the damn pCARS alpha has Career mode!!!

My wishlist:
1) Fix UI - Add community features, leaderboards/challenges
2) Optimize performance (fix those rain roostertails that look like they came out of Grand Prix 2)
3) Content delivery method (maybe Steam, maybe something else, even the pCARS system was better before they joined Steam.)

3-4 years ago, things looked bleak for Sim Racers. Now I feels its an embarassment of riches. Plenty of Rf1 racing at r2p, 3 promising WIPs, and some decent mainstream titles (Shift Unleashed, Dirt 3, Beam NG). Imagine being a PC gamer and a hockey fan...