rFactor 2 | More BTCC Goodies: Honda Civic & Hybrid Boost


In a barrage of news in light of the upcoming Q1 update and content drop, more BTCC-related content has been revealed. Both the Honda Civic Type R as well as the BTCC Hybrid Boost System will be making an appearance in the upcoming update.

I'm sure the Honda Civic Type R needs no introduction to any of you BTCC fans out there. To anyone else:

The Honda Civic Type R is a stalwart member of the BTCC grid. Even though they are not the biggest in terms of number of cars on the field, its drivers showed great prowess, Josh Cook pulling off 5 different race victories in the 2022 season.

Arguably the bigger announcement this time around is the introduction of the BTCC Hybrid Boost to the game.

It has been previously announced that a Hybrid System would come to rFactor 2, that being sorely needed for both BTCC and WEC content. For now, the less intrusive BTCC version has been included. However, this surely serves as the stepping stone for a full-on hybrid system to be added to the simulator later.

Personally, I cannot wait to see the hybrid system being developed more in-depth. After all, it currently looks like rFactor2 is trying to establish itself as the WEC simulator, while iRacing is going for IMSA content. It will be interesting to see which developer pulls it off better.

Both pieces will be available with the upcoming A1 content drop on February 21, 2023.

What is your opinion on this update? Let us know in the comments
About author
Julian Strasser
Motorsports and Maker-stuff enthusiast. Part time jack-of-all-trades. Owner of tracc.eu, a sim racing-related service provider and its racing community.

Comments

Those are sale prices which you seem to be comparing to regular prices, I asked Google to translate my US Dollars to Euros so I hope that is both current and accurate..

ACC Challengers DLC 5 cars...4.65 € 10.98 €
ACC American Pack DLC
3 tracks....10,99 € 16.83 €
ACC GT4 DLC
11 cars.....5,05 € 18.70 €
ACC GTworld DLC
2 cars +1 track...0,89€ 8.41 €
ACC Game
....4,87€ 39.99 €

I've included the regular prices just for clarity which I took from my Steam page on Feb 21 2023 at roughly half past 7pm Pacific time.
Please note you are comparing prices for a sim that has stopped 'most' of it's development versus one that is actively engaged in rebuilding it's core code. ACC and rF2 are different products created and marketed by different companies. One company's business model in no way affects the other. Kunos is still producing patches and some content, but very few new features and very few new cars. Most of their development is probably going into AC2.

As far as my <speechless> mode, that is still highly accurate. S397 delivered what was quite possibly the single most requested change to the sim in a decade and your first comment in a previous post, the very first place you went to stated it 'meant nothing.' I am still <speechless> that you went immediately to the cost of car & track content when you NO LONGER EFFEN NEED TO BUY entire car packs, just one car for whatever category & yes still need DLC tracks if you want to join a server with DLC tracks.. Several users had posted, prior to the release of the change, the expectation that prices will rise due to no longer needing all the cars. So far, the prices are the same for previously released, similar content. And if you wait a few weeks, the prices of some of those individual cars and some tracks will also be lower for the next Steam Sale you quoted prices from. Will they ever be as cheap as ACC.s mostly skin content these days? Probably not, and probably on a track by track comparision they will not match the ACC price point. But <speechless> I was and <speechless> I remain.
I don't know what conversión from euros to dollars you use or what dollars you use, but you are wrong, search cheapest prices here: www.dlcompare.es
All prices are from there, but don't try to search DLC from Rf2 no-one sells out from Steam. Means nothing cause this "not owned content" is used from ACC from the begining, and after more than a decade Rf2 now they release? Maybe late. But u can still search server prices or how many companies still offers Rf2 servers, the results is clear, less than 1% instead of Assetto Corsa or ACC, why? is easy less users and a difficult interface to create It. That's why they need to arrive to more players and the easy way is cheapest prices or not selling same cars on different DLC, not a great idea at least not for users but you can still defend those non-success ideas and tell how great is Rf2, but you don't help S397, if you want help them you need to tell what things go wrong for users and how could be better, other things are just speechless mode, word u adore as i'm knowing
 
You are correct, but the tempaltes folder should have all in one, which makes looking for them faster
Another thing to improve is using 3D templates, everybody is using now on ACC and its saves lot of time, or maybe a true skin editor where you can add stickers or patterns like Motogp2019 or ACC games
 
Design choice? ACC has its own skin editor and Zero lag, same on Assetto Corsa or Ams2 .showing a yellow box is the best way to avoid lag? So they are pioneers from Rf1 don't make me laugh It not help game defend something without defense
That's not entirely true. AC and AMS2/PC2 have quite noticable join lag, especialy when players with higher pings connect. And that's with maximum 32 players. AMS2 even inherited the lag on racestart from PC2. I can't comment on ACC as I haven't played that enough, but I guess you will notice people joining aswell. I agree with you that the yellow box isn't ideal and something that could be improved in the future but it's better than your race ending because the 100th player from Brasil has connected to your server in central Europe. Anyway, for me that's a bit picky what you are doing. They solve like 100 bugs and add ten new features, but it's still not enough because they haven't solved your desired bug X,Y,Z that you deem most important to you while I am still seeing the same bugs in AMS2 as in PC2. That's not fair and I wouldn't do it that way with Reiza or Kunos either. They are all doing their best, it's just that you can't solve everything at once.

And regarding your issues with skinning in rF2: there is no sim on the market that has a true 3D skinning programm integrated, simply due to the fact that something like that requires a sh*tton of work. There are dedicated programms for that and they are expensive. And I don't mean the "skinning" that people do in ACC in 3D. Slapping a few stickers on a car in 3D is not skinning. From what I have seen so far for various sims I would even argue that rF2 offers the most advanced and flexible features for skinning cars with the material system and region maps including stuff like luminous paint. That said, as with any other sim you have to know how to use the tools and how to use templates to get the best out of it. That there are people who have created full 992 skin packs within two months of release should tell you that it isn't any more difficult than in other sims. You just have to put in effort and that's where most people allready stumble.

If you really want to do 3D painting:

But don't look at the price. :p
 
That's not entirely true. AC and AMS2/PC2 have quite noticable join lag, especialy when players with higher pings connect. And that's with maximum 32 players. AMS2 even inherited the lag on racestart from PC2. I can't comment on ACC as I haven't played that enough, but I guess you will notice people joining aswell. I agree with you that the yellow box isn't ideal and something that could be improved in the future but it's better than your race ending because the 100th player from Brasil has connected to your server in central Europe. Anyway, for me that's a bit picky what you are doing. They solve like 100 bugs and add ten new features, but it's still not enough because they haven't solved your desired bug X,Y,Z that you deem most important to you while I am still seeing the same bugs in AMS2 as in PC2. That's not fair and I wouldn't do it that way with Reiza or Kunos either. They are all doing their best, it's just that you can't solve everything at once.

And regarding your issues with skinning in rF2: there is no sim on the market that has a true 3D skinning programm integrated, simply due to the fact that something like that requires a sh*tton of work. There are dedicated programms for that and they are expensive. And I don't mean the "skinning" that people do in ACC in 3D. Slapping a few stickers on a car in 3D is not skinning. From what I have seen so far for various sims I would even argue that rF2 offers the most advanced and flexible features for skinning cars with the material system and region maps including stuff like luminous paint. That said, as with any other sim you have to know how to use the tools and how to use templates to get the best out of it. That there are people who have created full 992 skin packs within two months of release should tell you that it isn't any more difficult than in other sims. You just have to put in effort and that's where most people allready stumble.

If you really want to do 3D painting:

But don't look at the price. :p
I can't comment on ACC as I haven't played that enough, but I guess you will notice people joining aswell is better when u know how or what u are talking about, no lag, and no yellow box when u enter on ACC servers, maybe that´s why double players playing ACC on LFM that Rf2
That's not entirely true. AC and AMS2/PC2 have quite noticable join lag, especialy when players with higher pings connect higher ping depends on the internet service you have not the game, if you have high ping you have a problem playing ACC, RF2 or Call of duty, that is no excuse
They solve like 100 bugs and add ten new features what? loses of ffb from a decade ago? what 10 features are new? never seen they fixed tyres until last patch or at least they tell, but bug tyres was from the begining and everybody know doesn-t mind psi, u just have to use minimum, every car cause tyre psi not work like real
And regarding your issues with skinning in rF2: there is no sim on the market that has a true 3D skinning programm integrated wrong again! ACC templates are on 3D so u can edit and use on Photoshop
From what I have seen so far for various sims I would even argue that rF2 offers the most advanced and flexible features for skinning cars with the material system and region maps including stuff like luminous paint ACC u just need select a pattern on the skinning editor from game, and select chrome, matte, brilliant, metallic, etc, but if you made your own skin on PS u just need change a line on a json file for use chrome, metallic or matte for example, and of course u don´t need DDS file format, they work with PNG

Problem is people defend Rf2 with any argue and any knowing of another racing games, to have a better and a real vision of what Rf2 could improve from their competitors, all fanatic Rf2 just tell "this is the best game!" "there is no other like Rf2!" but truth is there´s a lot of racing games most of them with new ideas that simplify design or motor engine, i play a lot of racing games, include Rf2 of course, but not argue one is better than other, just tell things great that have some games from others.
Constructive criticism improve games, adore is just another words lost in
 
AMS2 was set to get a lookalike IR 18, but that was never going to go down well so they had to scrap it,

Really? Where did you read that?
what exactly killed any potential licensing deal is not publicly available. As far as the document about the license goes it says its not exclusive, while iR said they cant do x,y and z with it, but its iR, so I dont take their word for it. Anyway the content is still available and perfectly usable in that game still.
From what I've read, the Indy license *is* exclusive to MSG. No one can release official Indy content.
 
Oh, the S397 quality for tracks is terrific, no doubt.
However, RF1 and RF2 have both some scratch made track mods created using Lidar data and some cars made by modders as a commissioned job from racing teams, meaning that were done using real data provided by teams and car manufacturers. Not to say the cars created without official support, but still using the data coming from the drivers and the teams.

So, given that S397 won't release every track or car needed or wanted by the players, the community fortunately can still get great content by modders. Especially considering that the game has been focused mainly on GT3 and WEC content.
Terrific? some scratch made track mods created using Lidar? do u know what is Lidar system? not is something you can get on a tree, needs equipment and lot of hours and money to get licence from real tracks. Until today best tracks are from S397, try Bahrein, Nordschleife or Lemans from S397. In tracks i think Rf2 is great and enjoy with every corner, but for me often best are from original creators
 
Tried the new update with some AC vs. rF2 testing for multiclass (LMP2 vs GT).

In the case of AC the AI has always been subpar. The LMP2s get stuck easily on the straights, even at higher aggression settings.

In the case of rFactor 2, well the same way as I tested like 2 years ago, GTs tend to be very lenient, getting off the track even when the faster class arrives and thus spinning and causing a pileup. I was told back then to increase aggression to make GTs more decisive, but then my LMP AI mates are playing literal bumper cars with each other.

Starting to give up ever experiencing a good offline multiclass AI experience...
 
Really? Where did you read that?

From what I've read, the Indy license *is* exclusive to MSG. No one can release official Indy content.
Other studios are still allowed to release the tracks and the cars, otherwise there wouldn't have been a Racing USA Pt. 3 pack for example, wich includes Indianapolis, a track owned by Indycar themself . Funny enough that track is in every modern sim bar AC. The reason why the IR18 didn't make it into AMS2 was never stated in public either. Maybe it was simply down to money and the lisence being too expensive, who knows. I am not 100 % sure but I think that Dallara has a word in this aswell. They teased a lookalike car before they even had a lisence wich isn't that clever either. That iRacing is still offering their IR18 should give you a good indication that the deal isn't that exclusive as many people think. Same goes for the DW12 lookalike in Raceroom.

Another thing to keep in mind is that iRacing worded their first statement poorly, where they told everyone not being able to host certain races anymore, wich was corrected by Indycar themself:

Anyway, I think people should give this a rest at some point. iRacers can still race their Indycars, AC-fans can still race their Formula NAs and as VRC is heading into modding for AMS2 that platform might see more Indycar related content aswell. The myth that MSG is holding everything tight with their golden claws and send you a lawyer at any possible moment is rubbish, otherwise some of the content would have disappeared by now from some shops of popular modding studios or other racing sims. None of this has been the case so far ;)
 
Tried the new update with some AC vs. rF2 testing for multiclass (LMP2 vs GT).

In the case of AC the AI has always been subpar. The LMP2s get stuck easily on the straights, even at higher aggression settings.

In the case of rFactor 2, well the same way as I tested like 2 years ago, GTs tend to be very lenient, getting off the track even when the faster class arrives and thus spinning and causing a pileup. I was told back then to increase aggression to make GTs more decisive, but then my LMP AI mates are playing literal bumper cars with each other.

Starting to give up ever experiencing a good offline multiclass AI experience...
Increasing agression is never a good idea if you want to get smooth multiclass racing as this leads to the pileups that you are experiencing when AI tries to lap slower cars in impossible sections. From my test races that I did there are several issues and variables involved. While I tested Group C races at Brands Hatch for example I noticed AI allways spinning in certain places and making very aggressive divebombs no matter how I set the skill levels and aggression. At that point I started to check the AI specific files for the cars and noticed that there is a value called "CorneringCausion" wich was set to 25. Other official cars like the Skippy that you can check in Devmode for example has a CorneringCausion of 60. After I increased that value to 60 for the 962s I noticed less spins and agression settings working alot better, all in all perfect smooth racing. The huge problem is, that this is one variable of many. Increasing that value makes them less prone to stupid moves but they are a bit less decisive while lapping traffing.

Another big problem is when there are alot of cars involved. When the field stretches out it's pretty smooth, but especialy in the first round of lapping traffic it can get a bit messy. But that's the downside of running 40+ car grids. I remember running 104 car grids at Nords at one point and it was the usual Nords 24 chaos with rain :roflmao:
 
guys tell me what I am missing... I own a 300PS FWD car, driving it daily, majority of my mods are FWDs with decent reception from the simracers, even some real life drivers are using my mods for training... But I totally don't understand the force feedback in these BTCC FWD cars, especially the new Civic... I don't get why when I am speeding up from the corner my steering wheel turns to the opposite side to what I would expect from the FWD. I lived in a world where FWD should be understeery on power and pull the car out of the curve, these cars for some reasons turn to the inside the curve... Is something wrong with my Simucube profile or my overal perception of handling the FWD cars is wrong? :confused: rFactor 2 supposed to have superior physics, right? :cautious:
FFB feels fine for me and the BTCC-cars have a very high preload on default, which leads to understeer off throttle and high torque transfer to the front-wheel with more grip. Reducing the preload significantly by maybe 100 Nm makes them a lot more nimble off throttle and more like what you expect from FWD-cars.
 
Increasing agression is never a good idea if you want to get smooth multiclass racing as this leads to the pileups that you are experiencing when AI tries to lap slower cars in impossible sections. From my test races that I did there are several issues and variables involved. While I tested Group C races at Brands Hatch for example I noticed AI allways spinning in certain places and making very aggressive divebombs no matter how I set the skill levels and aggression. At that point I started to check the AI specific files for the cars and noticed that there is a value called "CorneringCausion" wich was set to 25. Other official cars like the Skippy that you can check in Devmode for example has a CorneringCausion of 60. After I increased that value to 60 for the 962s I noticed less spins and agression settings working alot better, all in all perfect smooth racing. The huge problem is, that this is one variable of many. Increasing that value makes them less prone to stupid moves but they are a bit less decisive while lapping traffing.

Another big problem is when there are alot of cars involved. When the field stretches out it's pretty smooth, but especialy in the first round of lapping traffic it can get a bit messy. But that's the downside of running 40+ car grids. I remember running 104 car grids at Nords at one point and it was the usual Nords 24 chaos with rain :roflmao:
What sort of supercomputer do you have mate? I have a lot of issues with performance offline
 
Yes, I know what Lidar is and believe or not some people have access to Lidar and CAD data without having to pay for a license or rent the equipment, because is given to them by the owners of the licenses, who agree and want a certain project to be done and accept that it can also be shared for free within the community.
Just an example, thinking at RF1, the Eastern Creek track, done I think about 15 years ago:
Wasn't like modern S397 Sebring, but for the time was awesome.

I guess all depends by what someone means with the adjective "terrific". For me is the great overall feeling and experience given by certain content.
For me original content added by S397 is great, like Lemans DLC or Nordschleife but there are some tracks great like Sachsenring, Hockemheim or Yas Marina.
 
I prefer rf2 btcc cars too. Give the best touring car feel of anything out there. Haven't touched raceroom since the btcc content came to rf2
Every Racing game adds something to you, i play Raceroom on NSU and 911 classic Cup and It's great too. Every simulator has a special cars that make enjoy the races, on Rf2 sometimes i uses too 911 rsr 1973 with H-gear, on Nordschleife and It's something awesome, but Acc is great on GT3, Raceroom on DTM 90 is another amazing experience, Ams2 on fórmulas gives you a great speeding feeling. I don't believe just in one Racing game that covers allí and is great on all, every game is good on some cars/tracks and close doors to yourself and not trying is an error in my choice. We can enjoy ACC, RF2, Dirt2.0, WRC Generations, Assetto Corsa, Ams2, Raceroom, Fia Truck Racing,.....
 
Tried the new update with some AC vs. rF2 testing for multiclass (LMP2 vs GT).

In the case of AC the AI has always been subpar. The LMP2s get stuck easily on the straights, even at higher aggression settings.

In the case of rFactor 2, well the same way as I tested like 2 years ago, GTs tend to be very lenient, getting off the track even when the faster class arrives and thus spinning and causing a pileup. I was told back then to increase aggression to make GTs more decisive, but then my LMP AI mates are playing literal bumper cars with each other.

Starting to give up ever experiencing a good offline multiclass AI experience...
Well u must known Lmp cars on AC is not original content and if you add a not original tracks too is what should be happen, that's why i prefer pay a good DLC better than a free mod
 

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Julian Strasser
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Shifting method

  • I use whatever the car has in real life*

  • I always use paddleshift

  • I always use sequential

  • I always use H-shifter

  • Something else, please explain


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