Think twice before buying R3E content

[Dirk Steffen]

I have been a happy user of Raceroom since it's initial release and have purchased most of the available content up to the time when it became simply too troublesome to maintain Raceroom in running order.

Late in 2018 I wanted to try R3E out again and purchase the newly released Porsche content.
I was sooooo lucky it turned out that my initial attempt of purchasing the content failed and in turn I first reinstalled R3E completely fresh just to find that it consistently crashes on boot - I do not even get into the menu system.

I have made countless efforts to troubleshoot and fix this issue including having issued an official support ticket through the Raceroom support webpage.

That ticket was issued in December 2018.

… image a long silence here …

Now finally after more than 3 months have past and I have long deleted Raceroom from my hard drive support eventually came through and answered on my support ticket.

… well, … sort of.

I was recommended the very same, generic failure analysis and fix (not) my initial 30seconds google search upon running into the issue the first time in 2018 turned out.

A fix is described that unfortunately did not solve the issue (as it did not solve the issue for several other users mentioned in those forum threads).

I have answered to the support suggestion a couple of days ago but so far did not hear back from them.

I guess a response from Raceroom support can be expected somewhen around the beginning of July 2019 !?

Here is a suggestion: if Raceroom has any issues for you, think twice before you pay any money for their content.

 

[Kenny Paton]

Do you mean the Sector 3 support?

 

[Majuh]

Thought twice about it, then bought some new content, thanks for the advice!

 

[Alex Hodgkinson]

Really sorry that you had a bad experience. However we are a teeny tiny little team and everybody here has at least two, sometimes three roles to fulfil. Therefore our help desk can get overwhelmed very quickly, so actually the best place to seek help is our sector 3 forums.

 

[Mr.Mints_Taboo]

I have been a happy user of Raceroom since it's initial release and have purchased most of the available content up to the time when it became simply too troublesome to maintain Raceroom in running order.

I don't understand this part; maintenance of RaceRoom for me means letting Steam auto update whenever there is a patch or I buy new content. (Actually, I don't think buying new content affects this.)
Although I sympathise with your troubles, surely you are aware that there are thousands of people playing R3E without issues. Posts like this do not help anyone, and can actively hurt a developer that has bought myself and others so much pleasure.
From it's initial release - which was horrible to navigate - it has become very user friendly, and the Sector 3 Forums are full of people who will be more than happy to help.
I wish you luck getting back on such an amazing game.

 

[Kurupt CDN]

surely you are aware that there are thousands of people playing R3E without issues.

Surely you are aware that there are a few hundred people playing R3E without issues.

https://steamcharts.com/app/211500

 

[dene11]

Surely you are aware that there are a few hundred people playing R3E without issues.

https://steamcharts.com/app/211500

Yes, but Raceroom is still on the 3rd position of simulators. For example last sunday peak: rFactor 953 players, Raceroom 905, Automobilista 201, iRacing 142. Most popular is Assetto Corsa, of course, with 3597 players in sunday peak.

 

[Michel Bélisle]

Never had any issues with R3E content and I have bought all available content so far. Every person's mileage may vary, I guess.

 

[Kurupt CDN]

iRacing 142

Very few iracers use steam.
This is the current numbers online using their form ticker.
https://gyazo.com/0a40a787a2cd787349d4c5d1d39c5e76
Currently, there are 3 races running with over a 120 racers and several servers with 50+. If you can afford it iracing is the current king for mp racing.

I am glad to see Racerooms numbers are slowly increasing, tho it's still a ghost town online after 5pm est here in canada

 

[natedogg1867]

Surely you are aware that there are a few hundred people playing R3E without issues.

This is one of the most disingenuous things I have seen someone say on here in quite awhile

Surely you are aware that the total amount of people playing a game is more than the amount of people playing at one specific snapshot in time.

 

[Michel Bélisle]

Very few iracers use steam.
This is the current numbers online using their form ticker.
https://gyazo.com/0a40a787a2cd787349d4c5d1d39c5e76
Currently, there are 3 races running with over a 120 racers and several servers with 50+. If you can afford it iracing is the current king for mp racing.

I am glad to see Racerooms numbers are slowly increasing, tho it's still a ghost town online after 5pm est here in canada

I play R3E regularly offline. I assume that the statistics quoted above monitor only online play. I maybe wrong. Therefore, I assume that even if I play the game, I am not part of those statistics.

Also, since R3E does not implement a rating system, online R3E races feel more like a demolition derby in my experience. That is why, for R3E online play, I just race on RD Club events. That way, I can race in a civilized environment.

I think that if Sector 3 Studios would implement a rating system like iRacing, Gt Sport and others, it would enhance the civility of the online races and I would be more motivated to do online racing with R3E.

In conclusion, I enjoy the game, but by not policing online play, Sector 3 Studios puts a limit on the popularity of that game. However, the single player experience is great.

 

[MapoUK]

I've never had many issues with R3E that I haven't been able to fix without the help of support, BUT my friends list has been completely messed up since the Raceroom double server crash that occurred last year.

I contacted support about it over 3 months ago and had no reply at all, it's very frustating to have spent over £150 on a title that doesn't work as intended (no one in the forums would be able to assist with this issue).

Raceroom is still my most played title and I always buy all content when it's released, but it's disappointing that these issues have been ignored considering how integral friends lists and leaderboards are to the raceroom package.

 

[Emerson Meyer]

This is one of the most disingenuous things I have seen someone say on here in quite awhile

Surely you are aware that the total amount of people playing a game is more than the amount of people playing at one specific snapshot in time.

Do you really understand what Average Number means? Statistically speaking? I will answer. Don´t.

A trully disingenuous post regarding the popularity of RR is taken from your post at S3 forum:

https://forum.sector3studios.com/index.php?threads/new-track.9210/page-8#post-144536

"RaceRoom has millions of players overall."

Don´t pretend this game is popular. You are free to like it, everyone is, but just don´t try through misinterpreting data to turn your believe in reality.

I know very well from where the figure of millions came (https://steamspy.com/search.php?s=raceroom). Well, it´s up to you keep believing that RR has 5000000 of "customers" or 5000000 users that tried the free content and then just left.

 

[Andi Goodwin]

Do you really understand what Average Number means? Statistically speaking? I will answer. Don´t.

A trully disingenuous post regarding the popularity of RR is taken from your post at S3 forum:

https://forum.sector3studios.com/index.php?threads/new-track.9210/page-8#post-144536

"RaceRoom has millions of players overall."

Don´t pretend this game is popular. You are free to like it, everyone is, but just don´t try through misinterpreting data to turn your believe in reality.

I know very well from where the figure of millions came (https://steamspy.com/search.php?s=raceroom). Well, it´s up to you keep believing that RR has 5000000 of "customers" or 5000000 users that tried the free content and then just left.

wow; i dont what it is that people type like this
but what i do kno is that , if 2,000,000 ppl download it and use it once they ae customers;
what they do after that is something else

all statistics can be manipulated in many ways , there is no truth , just results depending on the question you ask

i wish all sim racers would be nice and be part of what is a small gaming community, but that aint going to happen statisticaly


Andi

 

[UMC 22]

I do sympathise with anyone that is having issues with the games they want to play, but the reality is that most people are not having the same issues. In an age where we all have very different hardware from very different manufacturers running very different drivers, there are going to be problems. If five out of a thousand people contact you with an issue they are experiencing, an issue you can't seem to reproduce, and you don't have access to their systems directly to test anything, what can you do? Not much, other than offer the fairly generic list of potential "fixes" such as re-installation, etc.

Case in point, someone recently posted about a major problem with the game, saying the same as you that S3 weren't helping. It was of course very frustrating and they blamed the game and S3's support. Then out of the blue, it was found that the issue was a setting on their own PC and had nothing to do with the game. I'm not suggesting for a second that the person was at fault, but this is an example of how a problem can be down to an individual system rather than the software itself, and that is not something the devs can necessarily help with since they don't have access to the system themselves.

 

[Yetch]

If anyone lives anywhere having a PC that does what they want, when they want, at all times, can you please send me your settings. I've administrated numerous networks and hundreds of individual systems for 25+ years and in every group of a hundred there are 2 or 3 that will not play ball, with billions of individual components being instructed by thousands of different software engineers, then throw millions of end users with varying abilities and to be honest, I'm amazed so many people just go about their computing lives without a worry in the world. For the team that has to maintain systems, life is pure hell and you can bet your sweet arse that the one with the problem shouts the loudest. Glad to be out of it, I run just 3 PC's on a home network these days and one of those three gives me grief regularly, it's an old X58 board with an original i7 920, on-board LAN sucks so have had to junk it and replace with a card and it still appears and disappears from the network at will. The moral of the story, old crap gives everyone a headache and always will. Having to cater for legacy kit for so long just hinders development. The relentless updating of hardware drivers that seems to be the norm, just opens the door to errors & mistakes. Windows, although better is still clogged up with rubbish and prone to spoiling ones day. As of this morning out of 7 Sims installed on a reasonably up to date, mid to high end PC, which has just had a clean install of Win10, RR, AMS, Wreckfest & ACC work as they should, rF2 I eventually got to run yesterday after 2 weeks of refusing to start, AC just will not have it, although when I first put it back on it was fine and DR2 has been nothing short of a nightmare, no co-driver for first 2 weeks, then he spoke up, only for the frame rate to drop below an acceptable number. Don't even start me on f1, although I beta tested it, refused to ever work on my PC as a released product. Many people must arrive at PC Sim racing after starting on a console, where generally things just work, if only life with a PC was as simple and care free. A love/hate relationship is the best a PC can offer to anyone, think of it as marriage but with an on/off switch!

 

[Kenny Paton]

Windows, although better is still clogged up with rubbish and prone to spoiling ones day

Have a nap Paul, it will make you feel better, go on you know you want to

 

[Yetch]

Have a nap Paul, it will make you feel better, go on you know you want to

Wish I had a choice, feels like I have narcolepsy, daren't go near the Morphine, fancy I'd be on the long sleep if I did.

 

[Kurupt CDN]

Surely you are aware that the total amount of people playing a game is more than the amount of people playing at one specific snapshot in time.

Thanks tips, would have never have figured that out without your valuable information....and here I thought that everyone that owned games all played at the same time lol

The snapshot was to show that there is more than 100 people playing iracing.

As much as I enjoy Raceroom, I put it aside soley due to the lack of online population and features that are finally starting to make there way in after 7 yrs of development. If your located in the UK there are a few groups running regularly....North America it's a ghost town after 5pm asides from ESR when they have something going on.

@Michel Bélisle Raceroom always needs an online connection to run the game so it's a fair assumption the numbers are fairly accurate.

 

[2stains]

My only issue with R3E is the performance fluctuating! One day I have 4k maxed with 29Ai on any track and it's a solid 60fps and the next day I'm at 35fps max with exactly same cars/track and Ai! I've been so happy racing away one night only to be ready to uninstall R3E the next and after many hours of trial and error sometimes I can get it back and others (like now) I i cant!
#iwannasmashsomething