CrewChief like integration in rF2

Don't know if it was already proposed and discussed, but I really feel it would be worth to have it out of the box like it's in Automobilista (and pCars to some extend). Especially it'd be useful to new users who usually don't know about CrewChief third party app, yet they would benefit most from it. Besides better immersion, it provides basic, but essential information for novice users i.e. that they need to manually turn off limiter, overheating, cutting track, opponent overtaking etc.

 

From the February 2017 Roadmap:
"Radio Communication
Most racing series use radio communication to let drivers talk to their team and pit crew. Some series also have race control broadcasting instructions. For example, oval racing series such as Stock Car typically also have spotters that keep an eye on what’s happening to keep you out of trouble.

We are working on expanding our current system, which is centered on the spotter’s role, into a system that allows different people to talk to you on the radio. In addition, we intend to make the communication more interactive by giving you the ability to ask for information or instructions."

However, CrewChief came along and the October 2017 Roadmap had this to say:
"A final thing we reported on is improved spotter code. To be honest, there the community has come up with a great alternative, Crew Chief, so we’re reconsidering what we should be focusing on here."

 

Maybe I misunderstood what @avenger82 wants about the spotter, but I would like the software CrewChief is directly integrated into the UI of RF2, without having to start the software separately.

That it really replaces the spotter of RF2, in native.

It would require the agreement of the creators of CrewChief for this integration, a technical solution implemented BY S397, and the authorization to improve this solution of spotter (granted by the creators of CrewChief).

Compensation would probably be provided for in the agreement.

Maybe I'm naive to think that such a thing is possible/conceivable/desirable ?????

@Marcel Offermans

 

Yes that's what I thought. It would be best to integrate CrewChief and not reinvent the wheel. If such things would run out of the box, then rF2 experience wouldn't be so "raw" for novice users and could attract more casual gamers.

 

Correct.

And in this case I would also like an improvement by S397.

 

They could get the authors of AC's Content Manager to do the UI too

 

This is one thing I never missed when I left iracing for rf2, we have mirrors and onscreen displays, the info is already there.

I understand why some or most like this, I don’t know, think I’m getting older and my hate for the nanny state is becoming all encompassing

 

Some people want immersion and IRL you get many info from radio not from HUDs... This has nothing to do with nanny state... wth


If they wont make their own they should get CC implemented into the game indeed, having stuff inside the game is always better to make people aware that it exists

 

I said I understood why people want this.
My opinion isn’t against the app, but the fact that in real life, I think it should be just driver a car, no help from outside .

 

Definitely agree. If such things work by default and new users don't need to hunt down for third party plugins and apps, then out of the box experience is much better. rFactor has always been a little bit like Linux i, meaning newer was so shiny, had steeper learning curve, yet when you get hang of it, you really appreciate it and don't want to get back to Windows. I think that's why rF2 gets mixed community feedback/reception. For instance casual user tries it for an <2h then refunds and writes negative comment. Things like RealRoad, endurance racing features, tire model and overall physics are not necessarily that apparent. That's why even pCars 1&2 with much bigger team behind it has also mixed reviews (people expect something like NFS, or don't like default setups or FFB).
But I'm aware it's not easy to appeal to hardcore simmers and more casual gamers. It's great UI and graphics updates are coming, but I think lower priority things like CrewChief integration should also be evaluated.

 

Except that PC1 "failed" because it was buggy, was released incomplete. And even then it has 74% approval with almost 7k reviews. rF2 has only 4% more with way less reviews. PC2 "failed" because of the fame of the first one and also because PC2 is what they promised PC1 would be while still kept bugs and bad AI.
Honestly there is a lot of myths in what you wrote about casual and hardcore sim racers. But it's a waste of time to discuss this since the devs themselves dont care and your arguments always go in a cicle of eternal repetition so nvm.

 

How do you know that?

 

But you seem to say you use onscreen displays. That's outside help, isn't it? I prefer racing with the real dashboard only and Crew Chief with the spotter turned off working like, well a real race engineer.

 

Hehe, that's how I use it too, mostly, glad to see I am not alone In case you weren't aware, there's "Realistic mode" option that enables spotter only in series that have them, as well as tweaks couple of other things based on vehicle class.

 

I meant we already have the stuff in game, with osd’s
I don’t use it while racing, I use the mirrors that are attached to the car and what ever is displayed on the steering wheel

 

I wouldn’t mind betting CC will be a 3PA type setup in the future in that it will be part of steam DL for rf2 and integrated with S397 help..

 

If the new UI had a good integration of the external plugins, addons, etc, would not matter if they were integrated by default in the game.
Imagine a section where you have a list of plugins and you tick the plugins that you want to to install

 

Er, don't we already have that? Maybe not exactly since you have to put the plugins in place and then tick to activate the plugin...

 

Now we have to install it manually and use the tick to activate/deactivate.
What i tried to say is that it would be good, to have a list of available plugins in the UI, and install/uninstall automatically with the tick.
The same system used in web browsers

 

Plugins can be third party (most are), so they'd have to be listed somewhere like Steam for automatic download/install to work.