Sebring, Zandvoort, Community Nights - rF2 June Roadmap Released

[Davide Nativo]

With clockwork precision, Studio 397 publishes their June Roadmap, which includes news about some very interesting stuff indeed.

Studio 397 sets the pace for their summertime schedule with plenty of work going on some juicy content for rFactor 2. GT3 drivers will see position lights included in the next patch, as well as dedicated in-car traction control and anti-lock brake settings. What this means is that you will finally be able to set your TC and ABS levels separately from the counterpart present as aids! Zandvoort and Sebring are being worked on, while fixes to some glitches related to rain for VR users and replay cameras are also coming. Some info about the current state of the UI development and the newly introduced Community Nights end this lovely roadmap.

Let’s have a look:

Content
We are currently preparing an update to our GT3 pack as we already indicated when releasing the Endurance pack. This update includes the position lights, new in-car traction control and anti-lock brake settings as well as the latest set of tyres. All of those are in, we’re now checking the BOP and doing a few minor fixes.

For Zandvoort, we’ve just finished the night lighting. There are still a few other layouts to complete and obviously, we’ve also addressed some of the performance issues that were still present in the latest public release.

Sebring is in the middle of testing and optimization. As you might have seen from previous screenshots, we are trying to recreate the atmosphere on the track during the yearly 12-hour race. We are also planning a version with more of a “track day” feel in case you want to do some training without everybody watching your every move.

Rain
When we released our performance update, we already indicated that we were aware that the specific combination of using VR and rain still was causing problems, frame rate wise, and that we would be addressing those in a future update. We are happy to announce that we have found a good solution that gives a significant improvement and we’ll be releasing that next month. This update also includes another visual fix which made the raindrops become too large in external TV cameras. Finally, it has a few small fixes that caused the wipers to sometimes skip a frame and not always start in the correct starting position.

UI
We are currently working on a few more important details in the interface. For one we are adding a search function to all places where you select something from a potentially long list of things, such as cars and tracks. We are also improving opponent selection, allowing more fine-grained control over exactly what cars you race. The final bits we are tweaking now are the standings, including the position in class we also use with our position lights.

Community Nights
We all know, racing and especially sim racing is not only about competition. It´s also about spending time with friends and teammates and tackle different challenges. We always try to be transparent and close to the community, so we thought it would be great to arrange a date every now and then! The idea for community nights was born. Race among friends and developers, ask some questions or even see a race broadcast and enjoy the thrill of a friendly competition. Who knows, we might also give you a peek at some upcoming content in some of those events. We’ve scheduled our first event on Monday, July 9th at 20:00 CEST. Stay tuned!

Looking Ahead
Earlier this month we visited the Duqueine Engineering headquarters for more simulator testing. Expect a new blog about that in a few weeks time, where we reveal a bit more about how we collaborate. And remember, if you want to have a chat with us, join our Discord server or join one of our servers, running official content.

That’s all for this month. Happy Racing!

rFactor 2 is available exclusively for PC from Steam now.

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What's your take on the latest rF2 Roadmap? Are you looking forward to drive at both Zandvoort and Sebring? Impatient to try the latest GT3 update? Will you join the Community Nights?

Let us know in the comments!

 

[Jockey]

To be honest. In the last 7 months, I think? I lost interest in this game due to the rain update. Since I have an old PC. For some reason, the game can't run adequately since then. If I had a modern pc I would be hyped.

I like the screenshots. They are very nice. The game seems to be coming along nicely. And I'm waiting for Reiza's reveal (the mysterious tweet with a blurred car) which I hope will be related to rfactor 2 one way or another.

 

[Oldzeb]

Nice roadmap, again!
sebring laser-scan you won't have to miss otherwise the judgment will be very hard!! (shader/color/texture)
the new UI and the official online competitions are really waiting, it is necessary to put the gas!!!
Community Nights That's a really good idea that could be really cool!!

 

[Nick Gregory]

Who knows, we might also give you a peek at some upcoming content in some of those events.

This interests me the most. I think this also might give S397 a chance to see if there are potential optimization or bugs that need to be worked out, as well as community feedback. It's nice to see developers do things like this.

 

[dave kirk]

I love and hate this game, I can't wait till the new UI is finished, hopefully that will alleviate some of my non graphics issues

 

[Dirk Steffen]

There is just so much to race these days.
I am busy with the little time available for racing with Assetto Corsa, racing DRM Gr 5 cars and doing the odd AC club race.

I am following the development of rF2 with great interest, have bought the DLCs to support further development, tried the cars from the last pack (911 RSR and BMW M8), found them excellent (although the Porsche cockpit clearly needs some improvements on the model and textures).

I am not racing rF2 though - it is simply still too rough around the edges in it's current state.
I have high hopes for the new UI (my one single major issue with rF2) and hope for more content to be released in the future.

The rainy weather although being a feature of rF2 from the start really has zero priority to me.
I wish for the platform to be polished, well working and having proper content first and then look for advanced weather improvements. For me rF2 could step back with rain effects to the old times of GTR2 and it would be just fine for me until the rest of the platform is properly developed.

Did you ever on a road trip come across a city where seemingly EVERYWHERE is construction going on? Roads are blocked, other roads are restricted in one way with large construction equipment, cranes, containers, building material stores and barricades everywhere, parking zones are restricted, sidewalks are half blocked, buses can't move, the city center is impossible to reach, …

That is how rF2 feels to me to this day. It has wonderful potential, the cars (especially the recent GT3 and GTE packs) feel amazing, some of the tracks are sublime, it is just that everything else is under constant construction and no finishing date is in sight.

 

[Boby Kim]

Looking forward to VIR, Daytona, The Glenn, Road America, Road Atlanta....ah well, the complete Imsa circuit pack so to say...

 

[Gaëtan Legastelois]

No news about G29 and G920 rotation bug... again, that become to be long

 

[mrbungle83]

Why can kunos develop a new game in less time than 397 can develop a UI?

 

[Dirk Steffen]

Looking forward to VIR, Daytona, The Glenn, Road America, Road Atlanta....ah well, the complete Imsa circuit pack so to say...

If I recall correctly there is a really good Road Atlanta track available for rF2 and if I am not mistaken even a really nice Road America version as well. I do not know how these are kept up to date in regards of DX version, etc …

 

[vee10]

If I recall correctly there is a really good Road Atlanta track available for rF2 and if I am not mistaken even a really nice Road America version as well. I do not know how these are kept up to date in regards of DX version, etc …

Not far from these shore for Atlanta.

https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/road-atlanta-2017.18259/

 

[NBH]

Why can kunos develop a new game in less time than 397 can develop a UI?

I think that's a question they don't want us to ask

 

[Gasper Zupan]

They? Kunos or S397?

 

[tr1v1um]

There is just so much to race these days.
I am busy with the little time available for racing with Assetto Corsa, racing DRM Gr 5 cars and doing the odd AC club race.

I am following the development of rF2 with great interest, have bought the DLCs to support further development, tried the cars from the last pack (911 RSR and BMW M8), found them excellent (although the Porsche cockpit clearly needs some improvements on the model and textures).

I am not racing rF2 though - it is simply still too rough around the edges in it's current state.
I have high hopes for the new UI (my one single major issue with rF2) and hope for more content to be released in the future.

The rainy weather although being a feature of rF2 from the start really has zero priority to me.
I wish for the platform to be polished, well working and having proper content first and then look for advanced weather improvements. For me rF2 could step back with rain effects to the old times of GTR2 and it would be just fine for me until the rest of the platform is properly developed.

Did you ever on a road trip come across a city where seemingly EVERYWHERE is construction going on? Roads are blocked, other roads are restricted in one way with large construction equipment, cranes, containers, building material stores and barricades everywhere, parking zones are restricted, sidewalks are half blocked, buses can't move, the city center is impossible to reach, …

That is how rF2 feels to me to this day. It has wonderful potential, the cars (especially the recent GT3 and GTE packs) feel amazing, some of the tracks are sublime, it is just that everything else is under constant construction and no finishing date is in sight.

It might feel like a constant construction place because the sim was allways advertised as a product with ongoing development and nothing else. If you are expecting a full package experience then you are propably looking at the wrong place if you are using rF2, because it is the complete opposite and more like a sandbox. The rain for example, that has zero priority for you, was allways a feature advertised but never really finished. Right now S397 is turning this feature into a solid feature, wich started with adding proper rain effects on wind screen that were long needed and polishing this features now to offer decent perfromance and visual quality. Once all the pieces of the puzzle fall into the right place, it might be a product for you though

 

[Will Mazeo]

Why can kunos develop a new game in less time than 397 can develop a UI?

Because rF2 code is a mess, watch the dev video with Marcell to see when he talks about how the current UI needs like 100k of code lines if you want to add one button. Imagine having to change all this, if he adds some suggestions from the community I guess the package system is an obstacle too.

 

[AyrtonForever]

the fix for rain performance in vr is out 2 hours ago, someone tried it?

 

[Andrew Harper]

Nice set of updates and I love the little addition with the position indicators.

Sebring and Zandvoort look glorious, can't wait for those to appear. Sebring might be a little tough on the PC with all that detail but RF2 deserves official tracks like this in it's collection.

Actually now I think about it, why not get hold of licences and make official tracks for venues that run 24hour races, show off the day/night-time features of this title. It's still quite a unique feature in sim racing.

I wonder if a good licence would be ELMS? S397 are very nearly there with their current cars. Yes WEC is the top category if you like but ELMS fields in the last few years have been huge and it might be easier to gain a licence for. I suppose you could do it manually with various mods but an official season re-creation with all the cars and laser-scanned tracks would be great.

I still believe that for a small group Studio397 have done a great job so far.

Yes it still requires work in some areas but it's a sim I greatly enjoy racing on.

 

[MarcG]

the fix for rain performance in vr is out 2 hours ago, someone tried it?

Yes the performance increase is staggering, before it was a slide show now I can get 90fps in some situations, vast improvement.

 

[AyrtonForever]

yes, it's true! finally!!

 

[Marcel Offermans]

Because rF2 code is a mess, watch the dev video with Marcell to see when he talks about how the current UI needs like 100k of code lines if you want to add one button. Imagine having to change all this, if he adds some suggestions from the community I guess the package system is an obstacle too.

I hope I did not say that but the overall UI definition file is definitely that large. Adding a new button, especially if it is a bit non-standard, takes a considerable amount of code and more important time.