rFactor 2 | (Yet Another) New Build Is Here

[Paul Jeffrey]

Studio 397 continue their impressive pace of development and improvements today, with yet another fresh build of rFactor 2 having been deployed to the public build of the simulation.

Yes we had (several) new pieces of content, we've also enjoyed a pretty substantial new build release, and it looks like the fun is set to continue with another new build of rFactor 2 that was made available to download within the last couple of hours.

The new build is more an interim update than full blown revision of the software, however many of the fixes included in this update will likely be well received by the sim racing community. Of the more visually noticeable are surely the changes and improvements to the lighting and shaders, a recent focus of attention by Studio 397 but one that came with some unexpected issues for older content.

You can check out the full list of improvements in the change notes below - don't forget to tell us what you think of the current state of progress with rFactor 2 in the comments section at the end of this article!

Update Notes:

• Improved logging to help us diagnose issues and run smoother.
• Lots of little UI fixes.
• Added the option to configure custom overlays, a guide is here: https://docs.studio-397.com/users-guide/broadcast-overlays
• Several lighting tweaks to improve shaders and backward compatibility.
• Fixed the lighting in the showroom.
• Fixed some issues with the sky progress from dusk to night.
• Fix for Logitech controller names which now include G-HUB.
• Improved shader hashing, might make loading slightly faster.
• Fixed suspension damage transfer during driver swap.
• Fixed an issue where moving to the next session made some clients crash.

Known issues:

• Dusk and night are a bit over-exposed at the moment.

Original Source: Studio 397

rFactor 2 is available exclusively on PC.

Want to know how to get the best from the sim? Start a thread in the rFactor 2 sub forum and let our community offer you the benefit of their massive combined experience.

 

[Deleted member 526227]

Great! 9 days to VLM

 

[Lucianoeze]

Men lag problem is Fix?

 

[eg01st]

Fix for random crashes? Replays in slow motion? Loading of wrong cars? Nurburgring and Monaco optimization? Chevy Corvette C6 rear light fix? Should I go on?

 

[thepharcyde]

Known issues:

• Dusk and night are a bit over-exposed at the moment.

I bet that ain't the only item on their JIRA board @Marcel Offermans?

 

[MarcG]

What's this? Another update? from a Sim that is supposedly dying!? Well I never, tracks, cars & updates in two weeks, numbers playing higher than ever....yeah - she's dying all right

/sarcasm off

Great update, looking forward to seeing the changes soon

 

[Atticvs]

I'd love to enjoy the virtual 24h of Le Mans, but I can't help but feel that with the amount of bugs and issues this game's code has, even if they fixed everything from last year's infamous crash 10h into the #rF24, this year's race will crash at some point as well - especially as they are introducing a raft of changes just before (presumably to improve standards).

Let's face it, while iRacing can knock a 24h race off the park at any given moment in a stable way, rFactor2 has a very poor history in this regard.

I'll watch anyway, I just feel this is a huge opportunity for rFactor 2's publicity (remember, Le Mans was a Forza-affiliated series previously, this is a major coup), and the way things are shaping up, they might run into a huge - and public - failure.

 

[tr1v1um]

I'd love to enjoy the virtual 24h of Le Mans, but I can't help but feel that with the amount of bugs and issues this game's code has, even if they fixed everything from last year's infamous crash 10h into the #rF24, this year's race will crash at some point as well - especially as they are introducing a raft of changes just before (presumably to improve standards).

Let's face it, while iRacing can knock a 24h race off the park at any given moment in a stable way, rFactor2 has a very poor history in this regard.

I'll watch anyway, I just feel this is a huge opportunity for rFactor 2's publicity (remember, Le Mans was a Forza-affiliated series previously, this is a major coup), and the way things are shaping up, they might run into a huge - and public - failure.

Given the fact that iRacing and rF2 are propably the only two options tu run such an event with such grid sizes I think that they implemented a few things to workaround potential issues in the last big build so that they can track order at every given lap and restart the race at lap xyz if necessary. That wasn't possible with the last rF24 hour race and I am not sure if iRacing offers something similar if something really goes bonkers (please correct me if I am wrong). Big events with lot's of drivers (over 200 if I am not completely wrong) will allways be a stress test for this genre, no matter wich platform you use and net code and col detection isn't that great either. Atleast that's my impression from the last couple of big events. iRacing might be nicers for the broadcasting though, atleast it looks and sounds better on TV cam. Let's see how it turns out.

 

[MFD-205]

I guess I just stop downloading skins Every time they update none of the skins work Very disapointing There has got to be a better way This is fast becoming my least favorite sim

 

[RichardHessels]

The Ferrari is such a blast. Very planted and great brakes. Bit of oversteering is corrected very natural.

 

[LibranRabbit]

Haven't been able to get it to start lately, hopefully it fixes that for one.

 

[b)b]

The Ferrari is such a blast. Very planted and great brakes. Bit of oversteering is corrected very natural.

Agreed. Not only that but the new Radical 2020 is also so satisfying to drive at the limit. S397 is really killing it in term of physics and FFB. So much that it has distracted me away from AMS2 for a bit.
The improvements in lighting have also been a real game changer to finally get rid of that old turquoise tint and make it more natural.

 

[Case_]

I wouldn't say the dusk is too overexposed. Somewhat, yes, and the sky is kinda blown, but on the upside, you can actually see something now when driving The dusk was always a horrible time to drive at before, it was always very dark, unnaturally so.

The night...well, maybe. But the night needs work beyond adjusting exposure to look better.

 

[Atticvs]

Given the fact that iRacing and rF2 are propably the only two options tu run such an event with such grid sizes I think that they implemented a few things to workaround potential issues in the last big build so that they can track order at every given lap and restart the race at lap xyz if necessary. That wasn't possible with the last rF24 hour race and I am not sure if iRacing offers something similar if something really goes bonkers (please correct me if I am wrong). Big events with lot's of drivers (over 200 if I am not completely wrong) will allways be a stress test for this genre, no matter wich platform you use and net code and col detection isn't that great either. Atleast that's my impression from the last couple of big events. iRacing might be nicers for the broadcasting though, atleast it looks and sounds better on TV cam. Let's see how it turns out.

I hope you are right - and yes, netcode is awful in iRacing, it can only get better here.

 

[Gasper Zupan]

Is iracing server able to host people from all over ther world? If not - this might be the reason to use rf2 instead of iracing. Im totally blind guesing here..

 

[J93653017]

Haven't been able to get it to start lately, hopefully it fixes that for one.

If you are running the Beta version for the new UI, I would recommend unsubscribing from all Workshop items.

 

[BP]

Update Notes:

• Lots of little UI fixes.
• Fixed the lighting in the showroom.

1) Is this talking about the main build and not the beta? UI Fix to the old UI or the new beta UI?
2) Yayy to the lighting fix...gonna check right now to confirm

 

[TrumpetReich]

In a battle of aging giants, rf2 is quickly taking back its place as my favorite with all these updates while raceroom continues to stumble over itself with frustrating changes.

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

What's this? Another update? from a Sim that is supposedly dying!? Well I never, tracks, cars & updates in two weeks, numbers playing higher than ever....yeah - she's dying all right

/sarcasm off

Great update, looking forward to seeing the changes soon

Where are you seeing the "numbers playing higher than ever"? Steam reports fewer than 1000 users at "peak" times.

 

[Wayne Hutchison]

Is iracing server able to host people from all over ther world? If not - this might be the reason to use rf2 instead of iracing. Im totally blind guesing here..

iRacing has server farms in the Americas, Europe, and Australia. Most races have some combination of drivers from all those regions all racing together with minimal issues.