Latest Roadmap Update -October 2017

I think the name rFactor2 is burnt for most of the people who tried and left it and they will never give some attention to it till it will be called rFactor3 or whatever.

 

rF2 bad fame can be reversed with finished stuff instead of beta every time (UI, bug fix, etc) better DLC model (instead of making it like AC ) and then market to show people it has changed. But actually change before marketing! Otherwise people will come just to go away again
If you make it a big patch to fix all stuff and announce it to show people it has been revamped even better. Give it a fantasy name (to not lose licenses) like rFactor 2 dot 0 or whatever.

 

They are basically doing this. Radical, GT3 Pack, WFG. They are campaigning for marketing exposure with limited spend, within their limited release schedules. I imagine, based on the success of WFG, they will host another one when they have the next major stage of changes and content releases out. This would get more buzz, more interest in paid DLC, and (probably as important for them as anything else) showing off their server software tech.

But you are right, there will need to be a large(r) expose of the platform when things are stable. That's the #1 reason there's less mod support than rF1. Once that relative stability exists, modders will be more confident they won't have to update every release to keep their work working, more users will be inclined to use the environment, more online races, more people buying DLC, etc. Can Studio 397 see all that come to fruition before new sims beat it out? That's what we're all waiting to find out. My vote is yes.

 

I can only speak for myself and give you some answers to that as I've found myself spending less time in RF2 as of lately.
Even though no other game matches RF2 in physics and FFB, I find its interface and package system dated and the least user friendly of all the current sims.
I found in R3E a much better and easier alternative for my single player needs after tweaking the FFB. Do I think the FFB/physics is on par with RF2? No, but it's not bad either and I can create a custom championship in a breeze and has some other nice features. In RF2 even choosing your opponents for a single race is a bad joke, let alone creating vmods for custom championships, dealing with virtual drivers, talent files, etc....and in lots of cases with zero documentation.
I'll never leave RF2 for the pure driving pleasure and occasional races but I find it unlikely S397 will make the drastic core changes I'm looking for, for it to become my go to sim again.

If you've been to RaceDepartment lately, you'll find some people who lost hope long time ago after they felt ISI abandoned the game and already moved on and others waiting to see what S397 can deliver once DX11 is out of beta stage and if they can deliver a more polished game than what it is right now, after all, the game is 5 or so years old by now.

 

an annual license of about 100 euros to run online with a good service would be ideal for those of us who want to do good careers in rfactor as in iracing. and cars and track as iracing but another models... no gt3... always.

 

if you want to run like iracing go to iracing
They have taken out a DLC and protest, as if to pay 100 euros a year, sorry but it's funny

 

Yes, maybe the new competition model follow something similar to iracing.

 

I don't understand why people want to have rfactor 2 being a copy of iracing or other racing video games, with servers controlled only by the game developer.
I would say that the possibilty to create own servers with own series is one of the strengths of rfactor.
Take it away and you will loose even more players.
And, by the way, without the modders, there wouldn't be a rfactor anymore, since a longer while.

 

@Bernd they haven't said anything about taking away that possibility. Anyway, we've had that possibility since 2012. Perhaps they think the ~20 players online most of the time could be improved upon?

 

@Lazza Maybe it's caused by language barriers.
I haven't said anything about ' someone taking away that possibility'.
And the rest is my opinion.
Feel free to have a different one.

 

at The pace this game is developing and with the rushed quality of content,I’m starting to think rf2 is a lost cause when it comes to generating and keeping new members.

Not sure what s397 can do really without winning the lotto to fund such major development and probably a complete overhaul that this sim needs,in a time frame that doesn’t see most people religate rf2 to the retirement home that is the windows trash can.

Iracing has a 25% off renewal deal until December,yet I’m going to pass for another year due to its tyre model,they have everything else but lack greatly in the most important area.

Rf2 lacks in every area apart from the tyre model,but still the tyre has its flaws,ride Heights don’t change with pressure adjustments etc,or at least it doesn’t show in the garage,setups seem in some cases rudimentary and confused.

I don’t know if it’s just me being hard to pls,but not one jeffing developer can make a game that has every area covered to 2017 simulation standards.

Maybe the future is “arcade” style games from the likes of the big players codemasters etc,and the obscure sim has had its time.

Sad times for sure for the folks who want a simulation package that works on all fronts.

 

Ok then, let's break down that barrier.

When you said "take it away", what were you talking about?

rFactor has always been a bit weird in that sense. Changing one thing, you expect it to have a given effect. But in practice, the game makes other adjustments because of your change. That's quite often why something you think would affect static ride height, doesn't - the game is taking your changed setup, AND your specified setup ride height, and adjusting something else so that you can have both the setup change and the ride height you said. I can't remember the specifics (obviously), some people in the community are more knowledgeable about this stuff.

 

Apart from being highly regarded as having one of the best FFB, AI & Physics of any other Sim? I think maybe you're expecting too much from RF2, it's not going to be the very best Sim on the market this year or next, it has it's place amongst a crowd.

Personally I take it for what it is without worrying where the future lies, we have a choice right now of many fabulous Sims to play in and they all have their strengths and weaknesses and the future across the board is bright.

 

I just want a sim that has great physics ffb and pick up and play online racing,at the moment there isn’t one,as you say they all have their weaknesses which equate to there not being one.

I just think it’s quite sad,iracing has been on the market for 10years,and had millions invested,rf2 has been what 5years,not sure so pls correct if wrong.

How long should it take a to create a complete package,it seems even $20million+ in iracing case even isn’t enough,so hardware and funding/budget aside,the fault lies squarely in the devs,no one person specific obviously.

Sometimes I think egos get in the way of creating a complete package for the customers,I mean iracings tyre model on principle is an amazing feat,but what’s the point of it gives such a lacklustre experience and is extremely hard to work with,which means years between version tyre model versions.

I can concede I may be expecting too much,but I can’t help but think we sent people to the moon with less hardware,or did we,lol.

 

I try.
Maybe i should have written 'If you take it away, you will loose even more players.

The Sentence is only my Opinion about what will happen if only S397 will control the rfactor 2 Servers.
I have nowhere written that they will do it.

 

Online payment only if you want to access a serious system and licensing per level of driving, if you do not want to follow convel rf2 traditional system I agree to pay an online license added and optional 100euros year is fine

 

I very much doubt there’s a lot of people with the confidence in rf2 to justify them paying that sum though.

Rf2 has to pick up its game big time before asking for that type £££

 

How do you think leagues are going to survive if there is going to be 100 euro fee? We have also some fellow mates from Brazil etc which I believe are not going to be able to pay 100 euro fee

 

Could be a fee o tax abaut 10-20€ for oficial champ by S397 and his training servers, and free for prívate leages with his own servers. Both worlds

 

I think it is pretty clear to everyone, that S397 can't afford to do and doesn't have the resources to develop all the things we'd like to see.

The structure and availability of online racing is probably the key design they need to tell us about. I don't think there is a large group that will want to see an iRacing-type subscription fee in order to race open servers in 'arrive and drive' mode; and I understand why some people say they don't want to see that at all. They want to see leagues and individuals still have the ability to set up and run their own servers. I don't think S397 can afford all the cost to host everyone's dedicated servers up in the cloud. But I'd like to see some sort of analysis on how leagues do this now. Do they rent servers? How much does that cost? Would they be willing to pay for an S397-hosted server in place of this? On iRacing, you can host an individual event for a few $. Groups do club together to pay for that so that it isn't solely charged to a single hoster/admin, but iRacing don't facilitate this.

I do think S397 will host some 'free' arrive and drive racing, but will probably focus more on special events like WFG and Formula E stuff. I'm hoping they do much more. At the very least, provide an infrastructure to find leagues/join leagues/create championship schedules/post results. And personalize some of the content, such as skins but extend that to other aspects such as downloadable rulesets, fixed setups (locked), car physics modifiers and circuit modifiers (to change/fix pit stall locations, etc.) with a way to package that up different to a mod/vmod.

I look at what SMS have done with their competition licenses on PC2, and I don't think this is taking off as they'd hoped because it still relies on individuals or leagues to host servers/events. I see very few people in their online competitions. And its because there is no structure for arranging leagues or scheduled series; its just a bunch of open (level-restricted) or locked servers at any point in time.