Paul Jeffrey
Premium
EnduRacers Modding Team and Gentlemen Racers have released the highly anticipated Version 1.00 of their Endurance Series modification for rFactor 2, adding an epic selection of LMP2 and GT2 specification cars to the rFactor 2 simulation.
The new release brings ten new cars and over 400 paint schemes added to the simulation, across three categories of racing and including such legendary endurance brands as Aston Martin, Porsche, Ferrari, Ligier and Lola represented by some of the most iconic endurance racing machines from the last dozen years of racing. With the initial release featuring some vehicles now replaced by newer generation technology, the development team have promised work is underway behind the scenes to add newer vehicles into the mod at a later date. "We want the mod core to be playable since the first release with homogenic classes to allow online races and championships. This is why for example we are including in the first release "old" models like the Ferrari F430 and the Porsche 997, with a choice to develop physics based on GTE regulations instead of GT2" say the team, so it looks like bigger and better things are still to come to this genuinely outstanding modification.
The much anticipated first release of Endurance Series V1.00 contains the following vehicles:
- GTC - Flat6 GT3
- GTE - Aston Martin V8 Vantage
- GTE - BMW M3 E92
- GTE - Corvette C6.R ZR1
- GTE - Ferrari F430 GT
- GTE - Flat6 RSR
- P2 - Ligier JSP2
- P2 - Lola Coupe
- P2 - Oreca 03
- P2 - Zytek
To mark the first build release of the Endurance Series mod, RaceDepartment have sat down with EnduRacers @klo-che to discuss what goes on behind the scenes in one of the most prominent modding teams currently working on content for rFactor 2.
RD: Congratulations on the much anticipated release of Enduracers V1.00. You must be very relieved to have reached this stage?
ER: Yes ! First of all we would like to thank all simracers of the huge amount of positive feedbacks we received, it's very rewarding and gives us motivation to "end the job as good as possible". It has been a long work of development, to adapt all cars to rFactor2 new features, to build the fresh new models, to adjust the mod to the new build features as long as we were working on it.
Building a MOD 100% from scratch requires thousand of work hours, on our free time, a lot of communication between the team members, and a rigourous organisation. We have happy with current build 1.00 result in all domains, even if we would like some better results, on the graphic domain in particular, and we count on the build 2.00 and the rFactor2 recent change of hands to help us to improve that.
One word more, people often do a mistake, talking about our MODs. EnduRacers is the name of our team, and Endurance Series rF2 is the name of the mod, not the contrary.
RD: How many people have been working behind the scenes on this release?
ER: The current EnduRacers team is made with 2 people in charge of 3D modeling, 1 people in charge of cars textures, 1 member working on the rFactor2 export and fine tuning, 1 for the car skins, 1 person focused on the sounds, 1 person for R&D, and 2 members in charge of media management. Together with us, the Gentlemen Racers league is in charge of the car physics, with a complete team in charge of physics development and beta testing. In addition, we receive external help on some domains. We in addition are cooperating with URD Modding Team, with some exchange agreements based on graphic models. Building a mod like that is a huge amount of work and needs to lot of people working together with the same target, almost like a company.
RD: What technology is included in the mod, CPM tyres / chassis flex etc?
ER: The mod includes almost all rFactor2 new features in terms of graphics (dynamic reflects & shadows, deformable tires,...), in terms of sounds (in particular reverbs) and physics (like chassis flex). We are planning to test and maybe add in the mod other features such as dynamic dirt for graphics, or CPM tyres for physics. It's all in works, but it doesn't mean it will be added in the end.
RD: How long to do you plan to support Enduracers v1? Will the mod receive addon content and updates to the latest tech release by Studio397?
ER: We are planning a the Endurance Series build 2.00 as add-on content. The build will add to the mod the Oreca 05 and the Corvette C7.R (courtesy and property of URD Modding Team). Other cars announcement may be done during the build development. About Studio397, we are in particular keeping on eye on their progress on the upcoming DX11 engine, to improve the game graphics which is its current weakness.
RD: What is next on Enduracers plans? Will you be working on another series for rF2?
ER: We have no plans after the Endurance Series rF2 build 2.00 release. First of all, our team members have less and less free time. The simracing community has changed, in particular when new platforms came, and the ambient has changed. It's less friendly than some years ago, and some people have forgotten that in the end all this is done for free as a hobby. It's less motivating than before. To finish with, we have a small professional activity in parallel for some manufacturers & teams simulators.
RD: Briefly, can you describe how much work goes into creating something like this, and what motivates your team to build something from scratch for rF2?
ER: The amount of work to build a mod like that is huge. For your example, as we work on our free time, if you want to build a car from scratch (3D job, UV mapping, all textures with high level of detail, ingame exportation, sounds, physics, tests,...) is at least 6 month of work, if you want to do things in details. So when you build a multicars mod, it's very huge. In addition, you have to spend several weeks in testing, reworking, validation and so on. As you can see, we never release beta version or unfinished products. We have dozens of people available for test & feedback, in particular within the Gentlemen Racers dev team. It's years of job that we have achieved.
All Enduracers & GR members are pure fans of endurance racing and the famous LM24. Even some of us are working for, or part of the ACO team. It's what motivate us, creating the virtual reproductions of the cars we see at Le Mans. It is what has always motivated us since the creation of our team.
We would like to thank RaceDepartment for the focus on our MOD and team. We hope you will enjoy the Endurance Series build 1.00, and are already meeting you for the build 2.00!
MOD - FEATURES
Graphics
- High fidelity 3D models, with high definition cockpits.
- Hundred's of real paints reproduced for each cars.
- Highly improved car materials, reflections, lightnings and shadings.
- Animated car driver, with high definition 3D Helmet.
- Cars details with backfire, headlights with lens flares, deformable tyres.
- Specific mod UI, to be downloaded and installed separately.
- Accurate car physics, created in collaboration with Gentlemen Racers physics team, with help from real teams and drivers.
- Up to date rF2 physics features for all cars.
- Accurate and detailed sounds for all cars and engines.
- Up to date rF2 sounds features for all cars
WORK IN PROGRESS (not included in build 1.00)
- Dynamic dirt on cars.
- Tire new CPM model.
- Damage fine tuning (Not correctly yet implemented in rF2).
- Animated wipers in cockpit (Not correctly yet implemented in rF2).
- Heat effects.
- FuelMixture.
EnduRacers Version 1.00 is available to download now. Check out the rFactor 2 downloads section here and keep an eye out on the EnduRacers website for more information about projects from the team.
The rFactor 2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment is the place to go for all the latest news and discussions regarding the rFactor 2 simulation. We are placing a bit of a focus on the EnduRacers V1.00 mod in the coming weeks, so check out our League and Club Racing forum for some top quality events with this excellent new mod. As well as racing and news, we also host some of the best mods for rFactor 2 in our downloads section, head over and take a look at some of the content, skins, apps and mods available for the game today.
Have you tried the EnduRacers V1.00 mod for rFactor 2 yet? What do you think of the work done by EnduRacers Modding Team and Gentlemen Racers? Let us know in the comments section below!
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