Latest Roadmap Update - April 2021

Discussion in 'News & Notifications' started by Paul Jeffrey, Apr 30, 2021.

  1. Paul Jeffrey

    Paul Jeffrey

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    Hello sim racers!

    The end of the month can mean only one thing... Roadmap Day!

    Please find link to our latest Development Roadmap posting for the month of April here - https://www.studio-397.com/2021/04/roadmap-update-april-2021/

    Please do you the comments section below to discuss this new post, and as ever, stay safe and see you out on the track!

    Roadmap Header.jpg
     
  2. Imre Bende

    Imre Bende Registered

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    ok, and the new UI isn't usable yet. when will be this in focus?
    - names of drivers (TAB) very important for online racing
    - very very buggy replay, we can't analyze after the race (lap numbers, position of driver, and more what where in old ui)
    - packages instal is very cumbersome in new UI

    We need that informations what were in old UI
    [​IMG]
     
  3. DucMan888

    DucMan888 Registered

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    Well done Paul and thanks. This roadmap was large but expecting the May version to exceed it with news (hopefully) regarding the detailed vision of MGS and rFactor2.
    Now onto the hunt for the rF2 sticker at a venue in May that is a significant track. Checking the schedules of F1, WEC, IMSA, Indycar, DTM, ADAC, BTCC at tracks that are not official content of S397 yet, include.

    Mid-Ohio (IMSA)
    Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (F1)
    Thruxton (BTCC)
    Oschersleben (ADAC)

    What other series and tracks are missing for the month of May? Happy Hunting.
     
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  4. lagg

    lagg Registered

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    You should try the Release candidate build.
     
  5. jayarrbee36

    jayarrbee36 Registered

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    Good to see the update on SSR, feels like quite some time since we last heard about that.
     
  6. Imre Bende

    Imre Bende Registered

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    i checked it. the replay better (laps, times), but the sectors and standings panel not working. the old UI was better, but this evolving a little bit. not a big step.
     
  7. davehenrie

    davehenrie Registered

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    Portimao
     
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  8. Atsuki

    Atsuki Registered

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    Some good news on the roadmap, but sadly we've more competitions blog updates than real updates in competition system =/
     
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  9. guenther

    guenther Registered

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    It would be quite more interesting to see actual (server) improvements rather than a marketing post.
     
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  10. GeraArg

    GeraArg Registered

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  11. mixer61

    mixer61 Registered

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    Hungaroring, maybe ?
    More fun in simracing than real races
     
  12. Mr.Thor

    Mr.Thor Registered

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    the screenshots look really good. rF2 is looking very good so far. now it should be time to fix bugs and work on physics updates. graphics is good enough now.
     
  13. burgesjl

    burgesjl Registered

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    Well, here we go... trying for a structured response

    Sim

    There are still several unresolved issues in the sim especially with playback of replay files, which another poster referred to, with both significant stutters and more importantly car position warping and camera transition warping as well as not updating sectors and standings. For single player, we still have AI issues and especially the binary on/off throttle behavior that makes viewing/listening to replays frankly painful, and of course, it also has to be an issue with the performance of the AI car/driver when you are racing them, in that cars become very unbalanced with rapid throttle/brake application. Not to mention the refusal to overtake. Frankly, the issues with stutters and replay faults should be overriding any efforts being spent on auto-exposure graphics improvements and SSR. I've no idea why there is such a dev focus on the graphics quality: its largely "good enough" now. I can understand the devs you have, having been employed to do graphics work, want to continue to work on something and certainly improvements can be made, but more resources could do with addressing other underlying non-graphical issues.

    UI

    I can appreciate the need to spend some time on 'quality of first experience' and setting up peripherals and basic configuration of the sim. But it seems odd to do so when there are basic quality issues and functionality not yet addressed. Namely, management of content (can't delete), management of series (can't delete competitions, which in turn lock in outdated versions of content taking up gigabytes of space) and other such functions. As others have stated, the UI seems to have not moved ahead much in months now, except for streamer overlays which is again such a niche audience, I don't know why it has priority.

    Competition System

    I still find it difficult to understand why there is a distinction between multiplayer (private servers, leagues) and online competition (S397 servers). Its causing you to duplicate developments or not take a structured, consistent approach to the functions in the sim. I'm seeing a number of "external" platforms who seem to be building competition systems tailored to leagues (find a league, race in a league) as opposed to putting them under a common umbrella. Can you discuss this in future, who you are partnering with or not and why?

    As regards the competition system itself, I can't see how you are ever going to get it out of constant beta, and actually establish some formal online racing structures. Other than GT Challenge, BMW Sim series etc. there isn't much that the average joe would be interested in over any period of time - its pure software testing at this point. When will you declare a certain type of racing as "done" and actually launch it? What about the basic infrastructure of the rating systems and suchlike? Quite frankly I see no reason why you can't have regular series such as GT3 or Tatuus series running by now, with (quarterly) seasons and the scoring systems fully deployed. It seems like there is no plan to actually finish anything off, but just keep playing around with different capabilities. When can we expect this? I see a complete drop off of both people racing online and also feedback in the blog posts - 7 forum responses over 2 weeks tells me people have totally lost interest. The blogs themselves consist of an ever-expanding wishlist that you are "thinking about" how to do it. We need some execution, not just endless prototyping. Beta means its impending fully live and final validation of a nearly completed, feature complete product; this isn't. In my opinion, your focus and approach needs to radically change.

    Motorsport Games

    Yes, we need someone to come in and tell us what the strategy is regarding rF2 and overlap with other titles they have committed to publish, and what resources will remain for rF2 development alone - BTCC/TCR sedans and especially LeMans/ACO sportscars.
     
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  14. Lazza

    Lazza Registered

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    rFactor/2 continues to be a technology showcase without actually becoming a proper working game.
     
  15. hitm4k3r

    hitm4k3r Registered

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    Some good points. What I would like to point out though is that rF2 has never been and propably never will be a product that feels finished and done. It's exactly like ArmA 3 - it's a tech demo with some updates here and there. SSR were hinted at since quite some time and it def. feels like something that's been in development shows good progress and results. I like that.

    I know, there are alot of people who think that graphics aren't as important and that physics should have priorities. But there are actually alot of tasks on the list with gfx updates, sound updates, physics updates, UI updates, AI updates, MP updates. The list is allmost endless. I know that I've been very critical and I share some of your thoughts to some extend, but it's pretty obvious that for such a big task the team is relatively small with the challenge at hand of creating a sustainable foundation that is bullet proof for years to come. And graphics technology is part of that, especialy considering that SSR are a standard tech by todays standards.

    On a last note: it's also pretty obvious why the competition system and MP lobby are two separate structures and why you can't rely on external solutions. To make it a fleshed out experience you have to ship this with the core product. Kunos, iRacing, Sector 3 and who else is out there aren't using external structures either for very good reasons.
     
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  16. AlexHeuskat

    AlexHeuskat Registered

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    Nice, nice , nice, the rain in rFactor 2 is not really sexy, I hope it will be good, it looks very nice and sexy by rain with the preview.
    I hope windscreen new effects for the rain drops.
    And I really wish a rain parameter like ACC, we can configure at start the wetness and everything, the reference for the rain.
    I want to start in rF2 only with a wet road without doing any trick to have it.....
    I will really appreciate more a lot of new features ,like ACC weather, or old GT3/GTE PBR updatetd, than any new content.
    20210501011441_1.jpg
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2021
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  17. pilAUTO

    pilAUTO Registered

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    What I hope is to see as many improvements as possible in these areas :


    1) Physics Engine (this is the DNA of rFactor 2).

    2) More S397 cars because I think they are particularly realistic, and all 40 cars physics up to date.

    3) A better offline experience (AI, racing rules, session configuration, etc.).

    4) Better graphics performance and optimization (day/night cycle, rain, AI, offer MANY more possibilities for graphics settings).


    I find that since @Paul Jeffrey is here, there is an improvement in the roadmap, thank you Paul.
     
  18. philman

    philman Registered

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    The pictures of Spa under the rain are really beautiful. I hope that the reflections of the artificial lights on wet track will be well taken into account because currently there is nothing.
     
  19. MileSeven

    MileSeven Registered

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    I welcome any improvements in handling of custom liveries, but....

    ...*no* mention of fixing the race-boot bug when using a team-car/virtual ride???
     
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  20. Corgan

    Corgan Registered

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    Words and words and words. A lot. But not one about the USF2000 update they promised for April.
    They always talk about patience. Believe us, we have that. Visuals are getting better and better, but that is all. For me, at least, because I don't race online, only offline. And in that perspective, almost nothing happens. But hey, I have patience, of course.
     

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