rFactor 2 | New Build Update And First Competition System Blog Posting

Paul Jeffrey

Premium
Studio 397 have deployed a new build update for rFactor 2 alongside giving users more insight into how development is progressing for their in built Competition System within the title.
  • New build release now available.
  • Competition System specific changes released.
  • Update on future progress.
rf2 3.jpg


Plenty of work is happening behind the scenes at Studio 397 these last couple of days, as hot off the heels from the recent GTE content update of Wednesday afternoon, the Dutch studio have now deployed a new build to rFactor 2 as well as giving players some insight into how the new Competition System within the title has been developing, and what comes next.

As part of a new regular series of insights into the system development, this is a welcome first attempt to ensure the community remain up to speed and engaged with the latest functionality to be added to the rFactor 2 title.

Build update change log notes:
  • Fixed an issue with software vsync not strictly adhering to the actual limit in the UI.
  • Several improvements to VR rendering in the UI that should eliminate the flickering people saw.
  • Added a missing error prompt in dev mode if some file was missing.
  • Changed a timeout value when interacting with Steam to not give up as easily.

Competition System Blog Post | Week 1 in full:

Hello and welcome to a new series of blog entries. These are not intended to replace the monthly roadmap, but give more in depth updates specifically on the competition system.

Two weeks ago we launched the first competition, using the Tatuus FT-60 car at a selection of free tracks. A week later we added our paid GTE cars running on a combination of free and paid tracks. This allowed us to both test the subscription to free content as well as the process we added to calculate the cheapest combination of bundles to get you the paid content needed to compete.

The response so far has been really good. Thousands have signed up and raced in over 500 splits, and although not all elements of the system have been deployed yet, we’ve seen some good racing and had a lot of valuable feedback from the community.

In the first two weeks we mainly focused on making sure the system runs smoothly and the user experience is good. Initially we encountered and fixed some scalability issues. We also discovered that there are some issues with people having installed upgrades to our content that interfere with our series definitions. We are looking into adding code that will try to analyze the components and their upgrades you have installed and and report back on the root causes of why certain content won’t work. Overall, we’ve made an effort on both Discord and our forum to support users that ran into issues, and we’ve seen others in the community helping each other out.
By now people should be able to get into sessions without problem and we added extra servers as well as adjusted the session timings to ensure we could meet with the demand. To give you some insights, we were running 20 servers and in some cases the sessions were too close together, so servers did not have enough time to reconfigure and be ready. We’ve learned a lot on how to better tune the system as a whole.

In the update we have deployed today we have fixed a lot of minor issues we encountered in the backend. We also fixed some duplicate entries that entered the system, so this might affect some of the existing standings. Messages we present to you if something does still go wrong should now offer better advice on what to do going forward.

rF2 1.jpg



The GTE series now runs with fixed upgrades as defined in those cars. We have deployed an update to all GTE cars, with other cars to follow, that allows us to make sure people only run with the “Le Mans” aero package on that track and nowhere else and our competition servers have been upgraded to enforce that.

We have also released an rFactor 2 build update, fixing some of the reported issues with the new UI and VR, as well as some tweaks that will improve the competition system experience. In general we are focusing on making sure everybody can smoothly run these new builds.

In the upcoming week we will focus more on bringing you quality of life improvements to the front-end based on your feedback. There are a lot of screens where we can add little details to give you a better insight. Our goal is basically to make sure the system is rock solid before we take the next steps.

rf2 2.jpg



So what are some of these next steps? Obviously, when these two competitions end, we want to present new ones. In those we will be again experimenting with some new formats as we test some of the flexibility of the system. To elaborate a bit on that, we can define per competition what kind of sessions we want to run in events, how long events last, how we decide splits and grids and how points are handed out. We will also add some variation in the session formats, such as private qualification sessions with fixed conditions to create a more equal playing field. We’ve also had a few questions on if we could also run sessions where a race is directly preceded by a qualification session. Yes we can. And it’s something we will definitely try out going forward.

Obviously our next big step is the introduction of a stewarding system that will encourage safe driving. During the development phase we’ve developed quite a few ideas in this area, as well as studied what other similar simulations are doing. We expect to try out some different systems in the upcoming months and are looking forward to your feedback.

Also, to make this blog more interactive, we encourage you to send us any questions you want to see answered and we will pick and answer the most frequently asked ones. Enjoy the races and stay safe!



Original Source: Studio 397

rFactor 2 is available now exclusively on PC.

Got questions? Our community have answers! Check out the rFactor 2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment for a great way to engage with your fellow fans of the simulation.

rf2 4.jpg
 
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Several improvements to VR rendering in the UI that should eliminate the flickering people saw.
Sounds great!

I still hope we can adjust the menu brightness aswell someday, haven't tested the update so far, but there was a very bright grey background in one submenu, (i think it was the settings menu?) which was not ideal in VR imho. :)

Still hoping for an update on NOLA! :D
And please... maybe you find some time for the tiny peugeot and renault cars S397!? :inlove:
 
lol. so, thought I would take a look at the competition service that for all intents and purposes should mimic the equivalents of RRE ranked / ACC setup.

OHHHHH NO
Wait, I have to purchase all content to join???? WTF is that about, I do not want to race the missing car that's not in my library.

Honestly, RF2 is a total farce, forcing you to purchase content, even if you have no intention of racing it.

Joke
 
lol. so, thought I would take a look at the competition service that for all intents and purposes should mimic the equivalents of RRE ranked / ACC setup.

OHHHHH NO
Wait, I have to purchase all content to join???? WTF is that about, I do not want to race the missing car that's not in my library.

Honestly, RF2 is a total farce, forcing you to purchase content, even if you have no intention of racing it.
I agree.
 
I tip my hat to the rF2 guys - in my book, they are the true die hards within our hobby. No, really. I'm not trolling, I really think this.

First off, I truly believe rF2 has the most authentic physics of any home sim out there. It's the only thing us mouth breathers can get our grubby mitts on that comes close to what you'd find in a professional team's setup.

But that's just the type of the iceberg. To enjoy the game at even a casual level takes such an intimate familiarity with the setup and configuration of the sim itself, it's staggering. I can tell you it's cost prohibitive for me. There are too many other (admittedly inferior) sims out there that are more or less plug and play for me to justify the effort. I'd rather be lapping in an OK sim than configuring a great sim. Sorry.

Also, I'm a professional software developer so, yes, I do know how to use a text editor. Several of them.

I've recently got into real life club racing, I see some parallels. If I ever added up how many *actual* on track hours I could reasonably expect in a year, I would probably fall into a depression. It's single digits, by a long shot I'm sure. But I have to put a lot of dollars and hours into it to unlock those few hours of fun. I do it because it's really, REALLY fun - the "value proposition" works out for me. I suspect many of the rF2 jockeys see things much the same.
"I've recently got into real life club racing, I see some parallels."
The abovementioned sentence says it all.
This is the most realistic commercial sim we've got at the moment.
People just complain and complain, it just never stops.
The new UI, well, I was one of the very few who actually really liked the old one.
I was afraid I'm gonna be lost in the new one.
That's not the case.
The color palette is ugly, but I found my way through in a matter of minutes.
All it's needed is not to be a lazy moron.
 
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"I've recently got into real life club racing, I see some parallels."
The abovementioned sentence says it all.
This is the most realistic commercial sim we've got at the moment.
People just complain and complain, it just never stops.
The new UI, well, I was one the very few who actually really liked the old one.
I was afraid I'm gonna be lost in the new one.
That's not the case.
The color palette is ugly, but I found my way through in a matter of minutes.
All it's needed is not to be a lazy moron.
This is actually pretty funny, considering you can set wing to the lowest possible and it's all fine in any track. So much for that "authentic physics".
 
This is actually pretty funny, considering you can set wing to the lowest possible and it's all fine in any track. So much for that "authentic physics".
I can't seem to find a single real life racer complaining about the rF2's physics.
The only ones who do are just nitpicking behind their simrigs, without any track time experience.
I'm talking about the driving FEEL man, and this is where this sim excels.
 
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Yes I have tried this guide and I get the server running and my buddy can join it. But I can only start it up when Steam is not running - if I start it while Steam is running it starts up RF2 in steam. Meaning I cannot start the actual game myself. If I start the server without Steam running the server can still start and it works. But as soon as I then start up RF2 afterwards both the server and RF2 crashes. Dont know what to do from here. I will try with old UI and see if it makes a difference. Thanks anyway ! :thumbsup:

I remember now running into that issue too. You just have to go into the rFactor subfolder called 'Launcher" I believe, i'm away from my rig now. Inside there is a .exe called Launcher.exe or something similar. If you launch rFactor that way it doesn't crash. I always launch the dedicated server first, then I run RF2 using the Launcher.exe to start it.
 
I can't seem to find a single real life racer complaining about the rF2's physics.
The only ones who do are just nitpicking behind their simrigs, without any track time experience.
I'm talking about the driving FEEL man, and that is where this sim excels.
While being one of S397s most vocal critics concerning all the stupid legacy bugs that ruin the reality of what's supposed to be an endurance sim, I must give credit where credit's due:
rF2s driving physics, the FF, and the immersion are second to none.
No other sim gives me the feeling that I'm really there, sitting in the car. ( I drive exclusively in VR)
If they could just tidy the workshop system up, fix the transmission model, fix the FCY joke, and a few other things, it could become the sim to judge other sims by.
But what they already do well, they do very well indeed. And, btw, in a previous life, I do have extensive real life experience, I do know the difference :)
 
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