Paul Jeffrey
Premium
Studio 397 have released a bumper sized Development Roadmap to end 2020, looking at some of the achievements from the past year, as well as more information on the new Competition System within the title.
The final rFactor 2 Development Roadmap of 2020 is here! With the festive season in full swing amidst the yearly tradition of afternoon drinking, over eating and slouching around the sales in search of items at prices we can't resist, it feels like a fine of a time as any to tell you all about the rFactor 2 goodies during this holiday season, before we lay virtual pen and paper to rest for a much-needed break.
Of course this month is a little shorter than usual, punctuated with a visit from a fat man in a red suit clambering down the chimney at the dead of night to deliver those socks you always wanted, but that doesn't mean we've taken our foot off the gas here at Studio 397, far from it in fact, as we've once again had a bumper month of new stuff for rFactor 2, with plenty more cooking away nicely in the background ready to kick into gear for 2021.
So, before we rip open the wrapping paper of future development discussion, let us take a moment to review what's been happening in December in the world of rFactor 2...
Winter Sale
Sale time! Yes, a sale is as synonymous with Christmas as cheap socks and cheaper wine, and not wanting to break from the tradition of low prices on awesome content, the rFactor 2 Steam Winter Sale is in full swing - with massive discounts across loads of items within the simulation. If you've been holding off on that bit of something you fancy but haven't gotten around to purchasing just yet, then fear not, now is very much the time to treat yourself to a gift or two during the holiday season.
Our biggest sale of the year, we have fantastic discounts on plenty of great content within rFactor 2. From a 60% reduction of the Formula E Bundle, to half price happiness with our GT3 Pack, even KartSim and the Reiza DLC packages get in on the action too - so head over to the rFactor 2 Steam Store page and pick up a bargain for yourself!
Endurance Bundle 2 DLC Release
With endurance racing very much one of our key pillars here at Studio 397, we are delighted that just ahead of Christmas we were able to release our Endurance Bundle 2 DLC, adding three very special endurance racing machines to the sim . The Endurance Bundle 2 DLC has been a labour of love for a number of months here at rFactor 2 HQ, and we've been absolutely delighted to see the positive initial reaction from the community towards these three new cars. With so many exceptional racing series and categories that exist in the world today, it is always a really difficult decision to look through everything and decide what type of car we want to bring to life within rFactor 2, adding variety to the simulation but at the same time also keeping a keen eye on fleshing out some of the categories that are already held dear to the heart of our sim racing community.
With the Endurance Bundle 2 DLC, we've looked to further strengthen both the LMP2 and GTE classes within the sim, whilst also bringing a top level IMSA specification DPi racer to the rF2 for the first time. In regard to this new prototype, the Cadillac DPi-V.R, we have enjoyed an unprecedented level of support and access from JDC-Miller MotorSport during the development phase of the car, and as such we are pretty confident this is one of the most realistic releases we've managed to put together during the whole lifespan of rFactor 2... needless to say, we really like driving this beast out on the virtual circuits.
It is also with significant pleasure that another firm favourite brand of the studio is represented now in rFactor 2 with their latest challenger, as the eighth generation Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTE makes its debut in the simulation, further expanding our already impressive collection of GTE cars within the title, and bringing the latest and greatest in terms of engineering technology from the famous American manufacturer. Significantly different to its ultra-successful predecessors, the C8.R is notable not only for its mid-engine concept, but also for the quite dramatic styling changes over the beloved lines of the original Corvette. Initial scepticism from fans of the brand about this dramatic change in direction were quickly overcome however, as the new car has proven itself to be a mighty impressive piece of hardware this season in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - wrapping up driver and team titles in its first year of competitive action.
RCCO eX ZERO 2021 Release
Endurance Bundle 2 aside, this month the content development team have also been hard at putting together quite a few new toys to enjoy within rFactor 2. At the beginning of December we kicked things off with a release of the very interesting new RCCO eX ZERO 2021 electric car - a first for rFactor 2 in that it was designed by former DTM champion Mike Rockenfeller and his team, exclusively to be brought to life within our simulator. Loads of power and massive grunt courtesy of the 1000 hp electric power unit, the car will primarily be used for future esports competitions and could well prove to be an early look at the not too distant future of real world motorsport in the years ahead.
Content Updates... lots of updates.
The development team here at Studio 397 have also taken the opportunity this month to push live a number of developments to some of our existing content within rFactor 2. As is always the case with a continually evolving piece of software, as we move the base rFactor 2 platform forward on a number of levels we have to find that balance between current and future releases, and ensuring our older content meets the standards enjoyed by newer items. As such, December has seen a number of tweaks and improvements to several of our existing tracks within the simulation, with special attention paid to the Nurburgring Nordschleife and its missing curbs, and a few improvements to the Portland International Raceway, Spa-Francorchamps, Hong Kong E-Prix and the Botniaring Circuit. Fear not dear sim racers, further track and vehicle updates will be coming on a reasonably regular basis next year, as we continue to work hard to bring all the content within rFactor 2 up to the quality levels deserving of this racing simulation.
The New Competition System
rFactor 2 Competition System First Release
Back in the November Development Roadmap posting (here), we spoke about our desire to use the December update as a first pass of our new Competition System within rFactor 2. Now while this first release by no means represents the finished article in terms of how the competition system will look going forward, it does present us with an initial starting point to base development and expansion of the features and functionality based on what the end user would like to see and experience within the system. This first release should offer players the opportunity to engage in regular and scheduled online racing events in rFactor 2, which will be expanded with further offerings and more feature rich functionality in the coming months. For the initial launch phase of the system we have put on a selection of popular car and track combinations for players to enjoy, however expect to see this change up on a regular basis with more frequent events added as the system begins to populate with regular users.
To get you started, we've embedded a little guide which will be expanded upon in 2021.
Getting Started
The competition system is integrated into the brand-new UI. Whilst we won’t attempt to explain everything regarding the new interface, we do want to start here by pointing out where to find the new system. From the main menu, right at the top of the screen, click the “Race” option to go to the race screen. Here you will see different panels for accessing single player, multiplayer and competition shortcuts, as well as buttons to further configure each. Click “sign up” on the competition panel to get started.
Signing Up for the System
The first time, you need to sign up for the competition system. This involves accepting the terms and conditions, as well as creating an account using your real name and e-mail address. Once that is done, you are ready to start looking for competitions that spark your interest. Note that, as the system suggests, it is important to sign up with the identical name you are using in rFactor 2 (by default it will already fill that in for you).
Browsing
The “Competitions” screen uses the familiar interface with tabs at the bottom that allow you to browse all the competitions that are currently active in the system. Click on each one for an overview, and if you want to learn more about them, click the “more” button to “drill down”. The “back” button or the path menu at the top allow you to quickly go up that same hierarchy again.
Trying the Series
At this point you might see a competition that you are interested in. In some cases, you might want to first try out the content that is associated with the competition, so at this point we allow you to do just that: subscribe to the content and try it out in single player mode. You can hit the subscribe button at which point you will automatically be subscribed to all the content you need. But what if that includes paid content? We will check if you already own it, and if not, we go and look for the best possible deal for you in our store. We will put all those items in your basket for you to checkout, if you so choose. The end result after downloading and installing all content will be that you get a new “series” that you can use in single player as well that features all the cars and tracks used in that competition. Find the car you like best, practice the tracks you need to drive, tweak setups and in general make sure you come prepared.
Signing Up for a Competition
You’ve now come to a point where you decide to sign up for the competition. The sign-up process for a competition involves the creation of your “entry”. Right now we only support entries with a single driver, but future versions will include endurance races with driver swaps, race engineers, and various other roles. What you do need to do now is pick the actual car you want to race with, as well as any upgrades for it. Once that is done, you are ready to register for your first session!
Registering for a Session
Registering for a session is something you can currently do at the latest 15 minutes ahead of the actual start of the session. By registering, you are telling the system you will be in that session, and pressing the button will redirect you to a briefing screen. You will see some information about the session, as well as a countdown that will automatically join the server that got prepared for you.
As the briefing will have told you, when you enter the server, you will be in a 5-minute session ahead of the “real” session. For example if you joined a race, there will be a 5-minute warmup. This is to allow everybody to join the server ahead of time. You can use this session to drive. As always, be mindful of other drivers that are joining as well. At some point the session will then start, and you can drive. Good luck! When the session ends, you can either leave the server yourself, or wait until it shuts down. If you leave before it ended, you will see a screen that indicates that the session is still in progress, and you can even try rejoining. If the session has ended, you will end up in a post session report screen, and from there you can navigate back to the competition screen and look at the standings or register for the next session.
Looking at the Standings
If you go to the screen for the competition you were just in, the standings tab at the bottom allows you to view the current standings. Each competition can have one or more of them, depending on how it is set up, but typically you will find at least some points based standing and something that will tell you your position in qualification, which determines your grid position relative to others.
Wrapping it up
So that wraps up our short introduction. There is a lively community on our Discord server that can definitely help you if you're stuck or simply have questions about the system. And with that out of the way, it's time to remind you about what's coming. We posted a mini development roadmap for the competition system last month. Below is a brief outline of some key areas of focus around the competition system in the immediate future. Note that this is our current order of priority, but as we move forward and get more feedback from our community, priorities might shift and new ideas added. We will definitely report on such changes going forward.
Ratings — are probably one of the most anticipated features, and one of the reasons for not having them active right from the start is that we want to test our algorithms on real-world data before publishing anything. Our current philosophy is to have a single rating system that encapsulates both your skill and safety record. Internally we already use ratings to evaluate the results if various races in an event, and to give you points based on how well you did in that event.
Protests and decisions — are also high on our roadmap list as we will no doubt have situations where an incident will need to be reported and evaluated by our stewards. Our goal here is definitely to let the in-game systems do a lot of the (easy) work here, monitoring when you cut the track or commit other offenses and directly handing out penalties. At the same time we are aware that not everything can be decided by robots.
More competition formats — are things we will probably gradually introduce but as a feature they certainly need to be mentioned on any roadmap. We intend to run our GT championship, various hot lap styles, some completely new formats as well as more “league style” competitions in the system. The intention here is to keep things fresh, so expect us to introduce several new ideas over the course of next year.
Roles and team based driving — will be added to allow multiple drivers to share an “entry”, or car, in a competition. Roles can be defined so teams can also have a manager or race engineer. Other roles are stewards, race control, and cameramen to facilitate broadcasts.
Broadcast integration — is probably another feature that will be gradually introduced, but obviously when broadcasting sessions that belong to a competition, we want to make sure that overlays showing standings, points, participants and calendars accurately reflect the competition they’re a part of.
Offline Championships — will be added once the online part is running smoothly. We will leverage the features we use online to also facilitate offline championships, where you can race against our AI.
December Build Update
In order to be ready for the competition system launch, we deployed a new build update for rFactor 2 on Tuesday 22nd December. The new build, as detailed in previous roadmap postings, now ensures our latest generation UI is the default way rFactor 2 launches for all users. The current UI technology is essential for the continued progression of the simulation and the integration of the competition system, and continuing to focus development attention on two separate branches of the simulation (old and new UI) isn't practical for the studio moving forward.
That said, we acknowledge that some users may find initial technical limitation issues with the new UI, and some Simulation Centres also require access to the original UI in order to run their businesses, as such, we have retained a depreciated version of the simulation running on the original UI. This version can be accessed via the Beta tab on the Steam interface.
It is worth noting however, use of the previous UI version will not be compatible with the new competition system, nor will it be in receipt of future updates.
A Look Back At 2020
We are of course incredibly excited about the new competition system and the continual development and improvements that are being brought to the new UI in rFactor 2, but it is important to remember some of the other achievements we have made during the course of what has been a pretty crazy year for everyone in 2020. With most of motorsport closed down without much warning thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic at the beginning of the year, the opportunity for bigger and more ambitious than ever esport events has opened up the opportunity for us to put on some incredible displays of esport racing activities this last 12 months. From holding the official Le Mans 24 Hours esport action in rFactor 2 to seeing all the real world Formula E drivers taking to the simulation in the Formula E Race at Home Challenge, with plenty of quality racing in events like our GT Pro and GT Challenge seasons, the BMW M2 CS Racing Cup, Sim Formula Europe 2021. An incredible journey so far, and we are still at the very beginning with plenty more to come!
Ferrari
One of the key highlights for us this year just has to be securing a licence to bring the legendary Ferrari brand to rFactor 2 for the very first time. For years, having a licence agreement with the famous Prancing Horse has felt so far out of reach for us, but with quite some determination and a push for bigger and better licenced content within the sim, it was an unbelievable feeling to finally be able to bring the best of Maranello into our vehicle roster here in rFactor 2. Already the fruits of these labours have been seen with the addition of the 488 GT3 EVO and GTE, and expect more to follow in 2021...
Spa-Francorchamps
Another key highlight over the last 12 months has to be the addition of probably one of the best race tracks in the whole world (well, in my humble opinion anyway), yes, after many, many, many requests from the sim racing community, earlier this year we were finally able to recreate the legend that is the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in all of its laserscanned glory in rFactor 2 - and honestly, we think it is spectacular with the cars within our simulation. It has certainly been a long time coming to rFactor 2, but as we double down on our desire to be the best option for sim racers looking to recreate a number of different endurance style racing events, we just had to have a collection of the finest endurance racing venues in the world, and with Spa now joining Le Mans, Sebring and Silverstone within the sim, we think we are getting very close to achieving that goal... with yet more goodies to follow next year too...
Zandvoort 2020
Although most certainly not an endurance racing track, and sadly due to the world health situation not even a Formula One track yet, we also very much enjoyed giving our virtual racers the opportunity to sample the newly reprofiled Zandvoort Grand Prix Circuit ahead of the real world drivers trying out the Dutch venue earlier this year. Unfortunately, circumstances would prevent the much anticipated return of the Dutch Grand Prix until 2021 at the earliest, but that hasn't stopped us bringing the challenging new layout to the simulation for rFactor 2 players to enjoy. From the sweeping banked last corner to many other profile changes aimed to help improve the racing spectacle, here at Studio 397 we are big fans of the new changes, and we can't wait to see how Formula One get on at the track when the Dutch Grand Prix finally returns after a 36 year wait!
New Bentley
Another new car we found ourselves very excited to release earlier in the year was the 2020 update to the astounding Bentley Continental GT3. Having proven that racing cars don't particularly need to be small in order to be blisteringly fast on the world circuits, the new update of the powerful British car has proven to be a step up in almost every way from its now aging predecessor, and having the opportunity to bring it into rFactor 2 and help keep our collection of GT3 machines up-to-date with their real world counterparts, was an opportunity we just couldn't let pass.
Of course, having already released the earlier specification Bentley as paid DLC, we also took great pleasure from being in a position to add this to the already existing store item, meaning players who own the car already get a new version for free, and anyone looking to pick the car up for the first time gets both the old and new version together, for the same price.
The 2020 Bentley is very much a different beast that its older sibling, both in terms of style and also the way it behaves on track, as such, both cars very much have something unique to offer the player, and our continued collaboration with the great British brand we feel is again testament to the strides forward we continue to make with rFactor 2 in recent years.
- Competition System userguide and next steps.
- Looking back at 2020.
- Steam Sale.
The final rFactor 2 Development Roadmap of 2020 is here! With the festive season in full swing amidst the yearly tradition of afternoon drinking, over eating and slouching around the sales in search of items at prices we can't resist, it feels like a fine of a time as any to tell you all about the rFactor 2 goodies during this holiday season, before we lay virtual pen and paper to rest for a much-needed break.
Of course this month is a little shorter than usual, punctuated with a visit from a fat man in a red suit clambering down the chimney at the dead of night to deliver those socks you always wanted, but that doesn't mean we've taken our foot off the gas here at Studio 397, far from it in fact, as we've once again had a bumper month of new stuff for rFactor 2, with plenty more cooking away nicely in the background ready to kick into gear for 2021.
So, before we rip open the wrapping paper of future development discussion, let us take a moment to review what's been happening in December in the world of rFactor 2...
Winter Sale
Sale time! Yes, a sale is as synonymous with Christmas as cheap socks and cheaper wine, and not wanting to break from the tradition of low prices on awesome content, the rFactor 2 Steam Winter Sale is in full swing - with massive discounts across loads of items within the simulation. If you've been holding off on that bit of something you fancy but haven't gotten around to purchasing just yet, then fear not, now is very much the time to treat yourself to a gift or two during the holiday season.
Our biggest sale of the year, we have fantastic discounts on plenty of great content within rFactor 2. From a 60% reduction of the Formula E Bundle, to half price happiness with our GT3 Pack, even KartSim and the Reiza DLC packages get in on the action too - so head over to the rFactor 2 Steam Store page and pick up a bargain for yourself!
Endurance Bundle 2 DLC Release
With endurance racing very much one of our key pillars here at Studio 397, we are delighted that just ahead of Christmas we were able to release our Endurance Bundle 2 DLC, adding three very special endurance racing machines to the sim . The Endurance Bundle 2 DLC has been a labour of love for a number of months here at rFactor 2 HQ, and we've been absolutely delighted to see the positive initial reaction from the community towards these three new cars. With so many exceptional racing series and categories that exist in the world today, it is always a really difficult decision to look through everything and decide what type of car we want to bring to life within rFactor 2, adding variety to the simulation but at the same time also keeping a keen eye on fleshing out some of the categories that are already held dear to the heart of our sim racing community.
With the Endurance Bundle 2 DLC, we've looked to further strengthen both the LMP2 and GTE classes within the sim, whilst also bringing a top level IMSA specification DPi racer to the rF2 for the first time. In regard to this new prototype, the Cadillac DPi-V.R, we have enjoyed an unprecedented level of support and access from JDC-Miller MotorSport during the development phase of the car, and as such we are pretty confident this is one of the most realistic releases we've managed to put together during the whole lifespan of rFactor 2... needless to say, we really like driving this beast out on the virtual circuits.
It is also with significant pleasure that another firm favourite brand of the studio is represented now in rFactor 2 with their latest challenger, as the eighth generation Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTE makes its debut in the simulation, further expanding our already impressive collection of GTE cars within the title, and bringing the latest and greatest in terms of engineering technology from the famous American manufacturer. Significantly different to its ultra-successful predecessors, the C8.R is notable not only for its mid-engine concept, but also for the quite dramatic styling changes over the beloved lines of the original Corvette. Initial scepticism from fans of the brand about this dramatic change in direction were quickly overcome however, as the new car has proven itself to be a mighty impressive piece of hardware this season in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - wrapping up driver and team titles in its first year of competitive action.
RCCO eX ZERO 2021 Release
Endurance Bundle 2 aside, this month the content development team have also been hard at putting together quite a few new toys to enjoy within rFactor 2. At the beginning of December we kicked things off with a release of the very interesting new RCCO eX ZERO 2021 electric car - a first for rFactor 2 in that it was designed by former DTM champion Mike Rockenfeller and his team, exclusively to be brought to life within our simulator. Loads of power and massive grunt courtesy of the 1000 hp electric power unit, the car will primarily be used for future esports competitions and could well prove to be an early look at the not too distant future of real world motorsport in the years ahead.
Content Updates... lots of updates.
The development team here at Studio 397 have also taken the opportunity this month to push live a number of developments to some of our existing content within rFactor 2. As is always the case with a continually evolving piece of software, as we move the base rFactor 2 platform forward on a number of levels we have to find that balance between current and future releases, and ensuring our older content meets the standards enjoyed by newer items. As such, December has seen a number of tweaks and improvements to several of our existing tracks within the simulation, with special attention paid to the Nurburgring Nordschleife and its missing curbs, and a few improvements to the Portland International Raceway, Spa-Francorchamps, Hong Kong E-Prix and the Botniaring Circuit. Fear not dear sim racers, further track and vehicle updates will be coming on a reasonably regular basis next year, as we continue to work hard to bring all the content within rFactor 2 up to the quality levels deserving of this racing simulation.
The New Competition System
rFactor 2 Competition System First Release
Back in the November Development Roadmap posting (here), we spoke about our desire to use the December update as a first pass of our new Competition System within rFactor 2. Now while this first release by no means represents the finished article in terms of how the competition system will look going forward, it does present us with an initial starting point to base development and expansion of the features and functionality based on what the end user would like to see and experience within the system. This first release should offer players the opportunity to engage in regular and scheduled online racing events in rFactor 2, which will be expanded with further offerings and more feature rich functionality in the coming months. For the initial launch phase of the system we have put on a selection of popular car and track combinations for players to enjoy, however expect to see this change up on a regular basis with more frequent events added as the system begins to populate with regular users.
To get you started, we've embedded a little guide which will be expanded upon in 2021.
Getting Started
The competition system is integrated into the brand-new UI. Whilst we won’t attempt to explain everything regarding the new interface, we do want to start here by pointing out where to find the new system. From the main menu, right at the top of the screen, click the “Race” option to go to the race screen. Here you will see different panels for accessing single player, multiplayer and competition shortcuts, as well as buttons to further configure each. Click “sign up” on the competition panel to get started.
Signing Up for the System
The first time, you need to sign up for the competition system. This involves accepting the terms and conditions, as well as creating an account using your real name and e-mail address. Once that is done, you are ready to start looking for competitions that spark your interest. Note that, as the system suggests, it is important to sign up with the identical name you are using in rFactor 2 (by default it will already fill that in for you).
Browsing
The “Competitions” screen uses the familiar interface with tabs at the bottom that allow you to browse all the competitions that are currently active in the system. Click on each one for an overview, and if you want to learn more about them, click the “more” button to “drill down”. The “back” button or the path menu at the top allow you to quickly go up that same hierarchy again.
Trying the Series
At this point you might see a competition that you are interested in. In some cases, you might want to first try out the content that is associated with the competition, so at this point we allow you to do just that: subscribe to the content and try it out in single player mode. You can hit the subscribe button at which point you will automatically be subscribed to all the content you need. But what if that includes paid content? We will check if you already own it, and if not, we go and look for the best possible deal for you in our store. We will put all those items in your basket for you to checkout, if you so choose. The end result after downloading and installing all content will be that you get a new “series” that you can use in single player as well that features all the cars and tracks used in that competition. Find the car you like best, practice the tracks you need to drive, tweak setups and in general make sure you come prepared.
Signing Up for a Competition
You’ve now come to a point where you decide to sign up for the competition. The sign-up process for a competition involves the creation of your “entry”. Right now we only support entries with a single driver, but future versions will include endurance races with driver swaps, race engineers, and various other roles. What you do need to do now is pick the actual car you want to race with, as well as any upgrades for it. Once that is done, you are ready to register for your first session!
Registering for a Session
Registering for a session is something you can currently do at the latest 15 minutes ahead of the actual start of the session. By registering, you are telling the system you will be in that session, and pressing the button will redirect you to a briefing screen. You will see some information about the session, as well as a countdown that will automatically join the server that got prepared for you.
As the briefing will have told you, when you enter the server, you will be in a 5-minute session ahead of the “real” session. For example if you joined a race, there will be a 5-minute warmup. This is to allow everybody to join the server ahead of time. You can use this session to drive. As always, be mindful of other drivers that are joining as well. At some point the session will then start, and you can drive. Good luck! When the session ends, you can either leave the server yourself, or wait until it shuts down. If you leave before it ended, you will see a screen that indicates that the session is still in progress, and you can even try rejoining. If the session has ended, you will end up in a post session report screen, and from there you can navigate back to the competition screen and look at the standings or register for the next session.
Looking at the Standings
If you go to the screen for the competition you were just in, the standings tab at the bottom allows you to view the current standings. Each competition can have one or more of them, depending on how it is set up, but typically you will find at least some points based standing and something that will tell you your position in qualification, which determines your grid position relative to others.
Wrapping it up
So that wraps up our short introduction. There is a lively community on our Discord server that can definitely help you if you're stuck or simply have questions about the system. And with that out of the way, it's time to remind you about what's coming. We posted a mini development roadmap for the competition system last month. Below is a brief outline of some key areas of focus around the competition system in the immediate future. Note that this is our current order of priority, but as we move forward and get more feedback from our community, priorities might shift and new ideas added. We will definitely report on such changes going forward.
Ratings — are probably one of the most anticipated features, and one of the reasons for not having them active right from the start is that we want to test our algorithms on real-world data before publishing anything. Our current philosophy is to have a single rating system that encapsulates both your skill and safety record. Internally we already use ratings to evaluate the results if various races in an event, and to give you points based on how well you did in that event.
Protests and decisions — are also high on our roadmap list as we will no doubt have situations where an incident will need to be reported and evaluated by our stewards. Our goal here is definitely to let the in-game systems do a lot of the (easy) work here, monitoring when you cut the track or commit other offenses and directly handing out penalties. At the same time we are aware that not everything can be decided by robots.
More competition formats — are things we will probably gradually introduce but as a feature they certainly need to be mentioned on any roadmap. We intend to run our GT championship, various hot lap styles, some completely new formats as well as more “league style” competitions in the system. The intention here is to keep things fresh, so expect us to introduce several new ideas over the course of next year.
Roles and team based driving — will be added to allow multiple drivers to share an “entry”, or car, in a competition. Roles can be defined so teams can also have a manager or race engineer. Other roles are stewards, race control, and cameramen to facilitate broadcasts.
Broadcast integration — is probably another feature that will be gradually introduced, but obviously when broadcasting sessions that belong to a competition, we want to make sure that overlays showing standings, points, participants and calendars accurately reflect the competition they’re a part of.
Offline Championships — will be added once the online part is running smoothly. We will leverage the features we use online to also facilitate offline championships, where you can race against our AI.
December Build Update
In order to be ready for the competition system launch, we deployed a new build update for rFactor 2 on Tuesday 22nd December. The new build, as detailed in previous roadmap postings, now ensures our latest generation UI is the default way rFactor 2 launches for all users. The current UI technology is essential for the continued progression of the simulation and the integration of the competition system, and continuing to focus development attention on two separate branches of the simulation (old and new UI) isn't practical for the studio moving forward.
That said, we acknowledge that some users may find initial technical limitation issues with the new UI, and some Simulation Centres also require access to the original UI in order to run their businesses, as such, we have retained a depreciated version of the simulation running on the original UI. This version can be accessed via the Beta tab on the Steam interface.
It is worth noting however, use of the previous UI version will not be compatible with the new competition system, nor will it be in receipt of future updates.
A Look Back At 2020
We are of course incredibly excited about the new competition system and the continual development and improvements that are being brought to the new UI in rFactor 2, but it is important to remember some of the other achievements we have made during the course of what has been a pretty crazy year for everyone in 2020. With most of motorsport closed down without much warning thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic at the beginning of the year, the opportunity for bigger and more ambitious than ever esport events has opened up the opportunity for us to put on some incredible displays of esport racing activities this last 12 months. From holding the official Le Mans 24 Hours esport action in rFactor 2 to seeing all the real world Formula E drivers taking to the simulation in the Formula E Race at Home Challenge, with plenty of quality racing in events like our GT Pro and GT Challenge seasons, the BMW M2 CS Racing Cup, Sim Formula Europe 2021. An incredible journey so far, and we are still at the very beginning with plenty more to come!
Ferrari
One of the key highlights for us this year just has to be securing a licence to bring the legendary Ferrari brand to rFactor 2 for the very first time. For years, having a licence agreement with the famous Prancing Horse has felt so far out of reach for us, but with quite some determination and a push for bigger and better licenced content within the sim, it was an unbelievable feeling to finally be able to bring the best of Maranello into our vehicle roster here in rFactor 2. Already the fruits of these labours have been seen with the addition of the 488 GT3 EVO and GTE, and expect more to follow in 2021...
Spa-Francorchamps
Another key highlight over the last 12 months has to be the addition of probably one of the best race tracks in the whole world (well, in my humble opinion anyway), yes, after many, many, many requests from the sim racing community, earlier this year we were finally able to recreate the legend that is the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in all of its laserscanned glory in rFactor 2 - and honestly, we think it is spectacular with the cars within our simulation. It has certainly been a long time coming to rFactor 2, but as we double down on our desire to be the best option for sim racers looking to recreate a number of different endurance style racing events, we just had to have a collection of the finest endurance racing venues in the world, and with Spa now joining Le Mans, Sebring and Silverstone within the sim, we think we are getting very close to achieving that goal... with yet more goodies to follow next year too...
Zandvoort 2020
New Bentley
Another new car we found ourselves very excited to release earlier in the year was the 2020 update to the astounding Bentley Continental GT3. Having proven that racing cars don't particularly need to be small in order to be blisteringly fast on the world circuits, the new update of the powerful British car has proven to be a step up in almost every way from its now aging predecessor, and having the opportunity to bring it into rFactor 2 and help keep our collection of GT3 machines up-to-date with their real world counterparts, was an opportunity we just couldn't let pass.
Of course, having already released the earlier specification Bentley as paid DLC, we also took great pleasure from being in a position to add this to the already existing store item, meaning players who own the car already get a new version for free, and anyone looking to pick the car up for the first time gets both the old and new version together, for the same price.
The 2020 Bentley is very much a different beast that its older sibling, both in terms of style and also the way it behaves on track, as such, both cars very much have something unique to offer the player, and our continued collaboration with the great British brand we feel is again testament to the strides forward we continue to make with rFactor 2 in recent years.
