Do I need to keep this weekend free?

I think you're spot on, but lots of beta's get bad things written about them by clueless individuals who don't understand what a beta is. I appreciate that the R Factor team have full control over this whole thing and have good reasons for everything they do but sometimes comments feel a bit like 'biting the hand that feeds you', I mean fair enough when he says we don't want to tell you when it's coming but to say it might be pushed back because we're too excited??? I've never heard anything like it personally.

 

I think everyone needs to chill out. Everyone is going crazy talking about when its gonna be released and everything, And after what he said, People are flipping out even more. Sit back and relax, When it is ready it will be released. Speculating about something and wondering what something was ment to be taken as isnt going to make it come any quicker. Calm down, Relax, And ride it out.

 

the site slowing up.... this thread is gonna go bang in a minute..

 

I also agree, I guess my biggest issue is if the team don't want all this interest why didn't they have a closed modder test and only send activation codes out to the biggest mod groups? If you make an open beta open, then people are going to want it.

 

This is definitely the "quote of the day".
I can say that it is a fact that now the community is greedily waiting the beta, and this isn't changing at all by "slowing" the release.

There is no rush: I think that releasing content before Christmas was a smart move, but it increased the "community pressure" for sure.
I also think that ISI doesn't fear this community in particular (as they could easily release the beta to us), but general customers who don't know anything about development and beta-testing and pretend to have the "golden version" of the game.

Reputation is important and, even though dumb customers are inevitable, they still have a voice and could throw mud on ISI, while having no reasons at all to do this.


If the release is still some weeks/months away maybe a "mid-way" between open and closed beta is the solution in the meanwhile: pick some volunteers from within this forum and make them purchase the game, so ISI can trust this users and cool things down. Dumb customers should be avoided and great fans should be "rewarded". Modders can begin their work and bugs would be tracked in a more useful way.

Just my 2 cents. What do you think about it?

 

A slower FORM of release, not a delayed one.

 

Yeah, But some people are going to "Want" It, Not want to "Test" It. I Believe they want the intrest, But think of how many are just going to play it, And never submit a bug report or anything like that. And they gave a large portion of those codes to mod groups so they can learn and adapt to the mod structure.(IIRC)

 

Like a disc on the back of a turtle?? I joke of course, and I appologise for any comments that may be taken badly, we just love rFactor Tim

 

wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

It's still around 6 months or more away, beta is not the game. =)

 

I think people are over-estimating the size of the community. There might be a few hundred people looking for the beta, at most. We arent talking something on the scale of GT5 here, it's a niche product.

 

Has anyone ever considered how interesting it might be to watch people watch a dangling carrot! So what is going to happen if it doesn't come out soon? Will the world end? We have at least until December 21, 2012 until the next predicted inflection point for that!! And what is the prize for the one who downloads it first? Should each licence be numbered so in the future someone can auction off licence #1(interesting idea, but lets not let it delay the process)!! Someday rfactor2 is just going to show up! When it does, it will be downloaded and played, developed, debated and whatever else! Surely we must have more important things to do while we wait patiently, especially since it should be obvious by now that nothing else that is said here is going to change the natural course of things!

Thanks for keeping us posted Tim

cheers

 

Sorry for Double Post (If someone hasnt jumped between these). But also consider, How many people are going to play the beta and consider it a "Gold Release", and then find out it has bugs, May not be optimised for all systems, And may possibly become bored with the included content and want a refund. I couldnt imagine having to deal with all of that, and deal with fixing bugs and continue creating activation codes and dealing with payments.

 

That's fine, but during the testing period they're not our focus as we've said.

Features can be added or removed, bugs can drop them from a race in the middle of it, etc. It's not a finished product and it's important that ISI aren't the only ones thinking of it that way. Hope that's clear.

 

The vast majority of sim racers are mature enough to understand what the beta is. I am not a Modder so the beta is really not for me in that sense but I do plan on giving constructive feedback on any issues I may find whilst getting my hands on it early.

The care that has been taken not to rush release will probably mean we get a very playable beta but if I came across a game-breaking bug I won't be throwing my toys out of the pram and wouldn't expect anyone else to either.

I'm sure there will be a few but I expect most of us will provide a detailed breakdown of any issues found by using the appropriate forum and in a format that ISI find useful.

 

Thats what I Was getting at Tim, Ive seen a lot of people thinking as if they are getting a Final product.

I have done Closed beta testing for a few companies, Including Atari (TDu and TDu2), And ACR, and ive seen people that even thought they were getting "Final products"

 

I vote you put a beta disclaimer in the corner of the screen at all times when playing, that would keep things clear for all, lol.

 

I personally think that's a silly way of going about business. I don't get why some are worried about peoples potentially bad-mouthing RF2.
Sim-Racing is a niche market, peoples already KNOW what they are in for.

Don't even think for a second that this game will bring thousands upon thousand of new players aboard the sim-coaster. This isn't a big console title, that generates hype like no tomorrow. Even if this game gets trashed by a "angry" customer, it won't have any effect.. Peoples know what ISI do, and they do it well.

 

That's why I thought of a "open" closed beta
We could just use a system like Valve is using for Dota 2: you apply and be selected if ISI finds you useful.

 

Just realised they are going to release the exe torrent only, I'm so slow