A few words of THANKS! to the S397 Crew

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by John R Denman, Oct 10, 2018.

  1. John R Denman

    John R Denman Registered

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    As an rFactor sort of old timer, I began with rFactor in 2007, bought the Lifetime rF2 from ISI, than put rF down for about 6 years and came back about a year ago.

    S397 seemed to have struggled with getting the tire physics right. I suspect in a large part that came down to understanding a few of the real life characteristics, thermodynamics being one of them. They've come pretty close in the last release of RF2. Way better than any other race sim.

    But the real thanks is in the string of cars they've recently released. In a word fidelity comes to mind. The Brabham BT44, March, McLaren Series, wow, simply incredible work!

    Thanks! The quality of these mods is fantastic. They behave so close to what an old former road racer with 30+ years of real tracktime would expect its nothing less than delight.

    One more time, thank you very much guys!
     
  2. ADSTA

    ADSTA Registered

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    That's close to my story John, except I haven't stopped since starting with rF in 2007 and you have a tiny bit more real life racing under your belt than me, but only about 30+ years so we're fairly even. ;)
    Good to hear of your approval.
    Cheers.
     
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  3. Comante

    Comante Registered

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    We like real world racing drivers , would you Please share with us "rental karters at best" some of your stories? Thanks!
     
  4. John R Denman

    John R Denman Registered

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    I'll toss one out for the rental karters, mostly a historical summary.
    Began racing karts in 1966 age 11. By far the best education I ever had, learned more about engineering in the following 7 years than I did in 8 years of college. Later went on to SCCA in Formula Vee, E-prod (Porsche 914), Sports 2000. Did some IMSA racing from 1983-1989, mostly the Firehawk class and some GTU & GTP (Team Highball #71 RX7).

    By 1993 I turned my focus back to karting with my 7 year old son. In 1999 my son & I joined SKUSA to race shifterkarts until 2005. We built our own engines, dyno, even a few chassis, and a programmable ignition system for the CR125. In 2003 as the ICC engines were obsoleting the Motos, we formed an allegience to develop the Stock Moto Standards, which are pretty mush still in use today.

    In 2007 an old IMSA bud of mine sent me a gift certificate for rFactor; he also sent these to several other "retired" IMSA drivers. We began our own league for about 2 years, even created a handful of mods. Admittedly many of the graphics were pirated but with completely revised physics - which I developed as the "Tech Steward". We also paid some folks to create the graphics for few cars, including the Spice GTP. By the end of the 2nd year the novelty wore off. I still enjoyed rF1 for a few years, rF2 came out and soon lost interest.

    A few weeks ago a number of our old IMSA buds had a reunion at Laguna Seca (IMSA race), and there may be some interest shown in a revival, but racer talk at Happy Hour, well, we'll see.

    Bottom line is there is far more benefits to racing than just the thrill of driving. If you can't afford to invest in more than rental karts, that's perfectly OK, but there are many opportunities to join and work with a team whether its at the local kart track or even pro racing. And it can be one of the best life education one can ever have. Enjoy!
     
  5. Rony1984

    Rony1984 Registered

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    I would like to take this oppertunity to add another few words of thanks to S397. What made me come and reply here is the experience I had last few days of playing rf2 and some of it's competitors back-to-back, something I hadn't done for a long time. Switching from one of these to rf2 isn't even such a big revelation. Switching back however is, and makes me really appreciate rf2 and S397's effort. To me, Rf2 feels just so more alive, communicative and with way more depth. Having read a lot on the tire-model and followed Borda's development blog, I feel the physics are simply mind-blowingly good. I think some users and other simrace enthousiasts out there might be unware of how deep a level of simulation rf2 currently presents. I thus hope that with S397's efforts, rf2 will finally get the appreciation it deserves and will bring lots of joy to the community.

    Thanks guys and keep on rocking!
     
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  6. johnsclander

    johnsclander Registered

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    Great story, John! For me, although i respect other developers (Reiza on top), Rfactor 1&2 are the sims that brings me the better feelings overall.

    I've been off simracing almost since Studio397 take the development. I have re-engaged to Rf2 a month ago and I'm enjoying it like never before. Plus, modding scene is great right now.

    Cannot thank enough 397 for the work is doing. Hope they (and community) keep Rf2 growing.
     

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