Daytona International Speedway comes to rFactor 2 Next Week

rfactor 2 Daytona 01.jpg
Studio 397 has shared news that Daytona International Speedway is being released for rFactor 2 next week.

Arguably America’s best racing circuit and famously home to the Daytona 24 hour endurance race, Daytona International Speedway, is coming to rFactor 2 next week. Studio 397 has confirmed that the first major addition to the sim in 2022 will be Daytona, and the screen shots shared so far look excellent.

Daytona’s road course layout fuses a challenging and twisty infield section with a wide-open banked oval. The lap begins with a dive into infield section, after which you’ll need to navigate six corners ranging from slow hairpins to a flat-out kink. From there, the car’s horsepower and aero balance will be on full display as the oval section is taken on, which itself is interrupted by a high-speed chicane that begs you to challenge your comfort zone and push the car harder and harder each lap.

The addition of Daytona is a good fit for rFactor 2, given the variety of car classes on offer in the title. LMP2, LMP3 and GT3 cars are all official content in rF2, and DPi cars are available as 3rd-party mods through their Steam Workshop. Setting up a multi-class race for 24 minutes, 2.4 hours, or 24 hours to simulate the real world race is easier than ever now thanks to the improved user interface.

Aside from the 24 hour endurance racing, Daytona is known to host various race series including NASCAR. Studio 397 will include the speedway layout of Daytona, which should make for awesome wheel to wheel oval racing in the excellent Stock Car 2018.

Are you excited about this release? Let us know your thoughts on Daytona being added to rFactor 2 in the comments below.
About author
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

Comments

What does any of that have to do with a new content announcement

Anyway the AI will race great if you adjust properly, strength, aggression, fixed setups, fuel usage and tyre wear, add no flags ( they still get waved ) no safety car ;)

Best AI races going imho, amazes me every race is different.
Last 2 starts at Assen had car oversteer another understeer and 1 ran off track and rejoin first lap
Next race first lap just 1 car locks up

AMS2 and ACC AI look virtually canned, when you restart race over and over looks like a replay

rF2 AI are way more natural looking just follow them and watch subtle movements and how that changes every single race start
 
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When you drive a car with a manual transmission model and an H-pattern shifter. You have to use the clutch to shift gears or you match the revs. If you **** up something in between the gear won't go in or grind the gears of the transmission. It's nothing the GT3/Endurance guys have to worry about, because it's really only interesting for cars with H-pattern shifter. It would also improve all the sequential shifter cars but to a way lesser degree, since the sequential gearbox gets rid of using a clutch from its design point of view, except for starts.
Well then he is right, even now just about nobody has hardware to support that. And it's really not important anyway in terms of how the car drives in telemetry; rF2 has much bigger issues.
 
I tried running some AI races on s397 tracks after the latest build (with the new UI) and it’s still hard to get a proper race going. One thing or anything happens with them. Frustrating considering how much fun i used to have with this game. I’ve purchased all DLC thus far as i continued to see promise but I’ll hold off getting Daytona for now, even if it is one of my favourite tracks.
 
What does any of that have to do with a new content announcement
It shouldn't have anything to do with it, in an ideal world with a perfect simulator. But... for someone who prefers AI racing, if you won't be able to race with AI on the track in the ways the track is used in real-life, it is disappointing. Don't get me wrong, I'm still glad to see new content! But one would probably want to race at Daytona for a multiclass IMSA race (say 1.2 or 2.4 hours) with pitstops. Or a long stock car race as if it were the Daytona 500 or Pepsi 400. And neither of these will be possible in rF2 when Daytona is released unless 397 comes out with AI changes in the February update.

Anyway the AI will race great if you adjust properly, strength, aggression, fixed setups, fuel usage and tyre wear, add no flags ( they still get waved ) no safety car ;)

Best AI races going imho, amazes me every race is different.
Every race will be different, sure! Especially when AI mistakes are enabled, love the variety. But within small constraints: sprint race, no flags, no safety car, single class (realistically), no stock car rules, road racing only. It does offer a good experience (once you put the effort in to calibrate everything) within those bounds, you're 100% right. But not outside of those boundaries. Even though rF2 would appear to support all these things it can't actually do.

Say what you like about the (lack of) excitement in the ACC AI racing - it has working features. From what I've seen secondhand, you can actually use flags, have safety cars enabled, run AI enduros with pit stops, and do proper multiclass racing with minimal AI stupidness. Whereas you can't in rF2. Even though the features exist in rF2 - they just haven't been fixed for years. I get that S397 have concentrated on other things... but it doesn't mean it isn't disappointing for a single player racer like myself.

rF2 AI are way more natural looking just follow them and watch subtle movements and how that changes every single race start
In terms of lines off the start, maybe. But the AI on/off inputs for throttle and brake are anything but natural and subtle. It often sounds very peculiar, and in a car with body roll like the S397 Stock Cars, it looks frankly ridiculous.
 
What does any of that have to do with a new content announcement

Anyway the AI will race great if you adjust properly, strength, aggression, fixed setups, fuel usage and tyre wear, add no flags ( they still get waved ) no safety car ;)

Best AI races going imho, amazes me every race is different.
Last 2 starts at Assen had car oversteer another understeer and 1 ran off track and rejoin first lap
Next race first lap just 1 car locks up

AMS2 and ACC AI look virtually canned, when you restart race over and over looks like a replay

rF2 AI are way more natural looking just follow them and watch subtle movements and how that changes every single race start
Race track being released which is famous for multiclass events. Sim is not good with offline multiclass events. Online is... not well populated for random big multiclass events. Thus race track being released has much less "value" for racing, hence comments.

I thought it's pretty straightforward.

I know you love rF2 and think it's virtually perfect, based on your reactions and comments. Please understand us criticizing the AI isn't because we want to paint rF2 is a bad light, we want it to improve to enjoy the best content it already offers, which concentrates on IRL multiclass racing.

Big part of the community has been asking for AI improvements for years and not a word from the developers. But additional content like this is being released instead (and UI... duh) while we wait to have enjoyable realistic races, which should actually be the point of this whole thing.
 
I know you love rF2 and think it's virtually perfect, based on your reactions and comments. Please understand us criticizing the AI isn't because we want to paint rF2 is a bad light, we want it to improve to enjoy the best content it already offers, which concentrates on IRL multiclass racing.

Big part of the community has been asking for AI improvements for years and not a word from the developers. But additional content like this is being released instead (and UI... duh) while we wait to have enjoyable realistic races, which should actually be the point of this whole thing.
1000 times yes. And I really appreciate the extra respectful tone with which you've worded this! +1 for being a nice person Peter :)
 
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For what it’s worth, I don’t really have a lot of issues with the AI, for me it kinda replicates the online racing experience offline. And by that I mean that human drivers do some very odd things from lap to lap, they brake in the wrong place, take weird lines all the time and occasionally freak out causing a massive pile up.

The AI feels like I’m racing real humans (arguably a bunch of talentless morons from time-to-time) as often I have to brake excessively because the car in front has cut wildly across the racing line, which causes me to utter “what the hell are you doing?” I only ever say these sorts of things when I’m racing online. It doesn’t happen in other sims, it’s quite unique to rFactor2, rightly or wrongly, but it does make it quite exciting :);)
 
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Premium
Well then he is right, even now just about nobody has hardware to support that. And it's really not important anyway in terms of how the car drives in telemetry; rF2 has much bigger issues.
Yes but it kills my immersion if I can flat shift a 70s GT car without lifting or clutching in. You never have the threat of losing time because of a misshift since it will always go in gear no matter what you do, there won't be any gearbox damage. No need to be careful in longer races, etc. In my opinion it would add a lot to the simulation of historic cars.
 
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Yes but it kills my immersion if I can flat shift a 70s GT car without lifting or clutching in. You never have the threat of losing time because of a misshift since it will always go in gear no matter what you do, there won't be any gearbox damage. No need to be careful in longer races, etc. In my opinion it would add a lot to the simulation of historic cars.
Like was said before, rF1 had a plugin for that, and AC has something like that too. I just think the statement had to do with an actual gearbox sim that'd only make sense if there's hardware to support it. Stuff like a bad abstracted damage model are not very high on the list of things important for simulation.
 
Nice new car and nice new track; always good to see new paid content of decent quality.

Shame it'll be largely useless racing offline with the AI unless you remove 99% of what makes a sim a sim - flags, pitstops etc. The faithful call turning off features 'workarounds' - I'd suggest something far less charitable.

Further, what happened to the substantial update to the RC build we were promised would drop in Jan 2022 as it didn't happen at the end of last year? Seems to me S397 have moved the goal posts yet again by stating they've now moved to a quarterly cycle.

Do we have anything close to a roadmap from S397 regarding fixes for paid content, AI woes, FCY, rain tyres etc. or are we being asked to 'wait it out' for fixes like a person praying for a miracle from the heavens?

If the player count continues to flatline then S397 and Motorsport Games can only blame themselves presuming they don't fold given MSG pathetic effort with NASCAR Ignition and their share price tanking.
 
I think I haven't played RF2 for such a long time that I feel surprised to see so many negative comments about RF2 AI recently - in my memory people were treating RF2 as the best AI in the industry.

I was reading Paul's write-up for the official news piece on Studio 397 website - apparently Paul missed the news that the Bus Stop is now renamed ;) although we definitely will still call it the Bus Stop anyway.
Yup weird.. rF2's AI is still ok. Much better than some of the newer sims.
 
Do we have anything close to a roadmap from S397 regarding fixes for paid content, AI woes, FCY, rain tyres etc. or are we being asked to 'wait it out' for fixes like a person praying for a miracle from the heavens?
I think if we're fair to Studio 397, in the past, they've been bitten by being too specific in development roadmaps about what was upcoming. People thought X thing they wanted was on the way because 397 mentioned it offhand in a blog post or roadmap, then 397 only managed to do Y and Z things, so people got angry and vitriolic (as they seem to with rFactor 2). I can't blame 397 for not being more specific, really. They're protecting themselves, I think. Fair enough!

However, I do wish they could communicate whether they're planning to "cut their losses" and let single player mode remain indefinitely in its limited current state. Or, if they will devote some time to trying to fix the remaining single-player-related bugs in the future. That would be great to know. However, without communication and given 397's recent pattern of working on content, UI, and the competition system, I think we have to assume no changes are forthcoming as a default.
 
And by that I mean that human drivers do some very odd things from lap to lap, they brake in the wrong place, take weird lines all the time and occasionally freak out causing a massive pile up.

The AI feels like I’m racing real humans (arguably a bunch of talentless morons from time-to-time) as often I have to brake excessively because the car in front has cut wildly across the racing line, which causes me to utter “what the hell are you doing?” I only ever say these sorts of things when I’m racing online. It doesn’t happen in other sims, it’s quite unique to rFactor2, rightly or wrongly, but it does make it quite exciting :)
This is a fantastic summary of what is great about rF2 AI - including in its current state. :) Echoes Durge's comments earlier too!
 
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I would settle for the ability to have "Look Ahead" actually work to point where I can see apexes when I am turning. 20% adjustment ? Really ?
 
Just been banned because they mock you in their discord and don't fix things for ages.

No more support for S397 and hope they go bankrupt along with MSG and maybe someone will pick up rF2.
 

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