I think people forget some important issues that you face when you develop closed games dedicated to one special series nowadays. First of all it limits of what you can do with a title, especialy in terms of moddability and you spend alot of money and resources to go into negotiations with all parties involved, if it is tracks, teams, drivers sponsors and so on. ACC is on one hand a good example on how to create such a game, but also highlighting the difficulties of such a game gaining traction. Frankly speaking compared to AC it is a big flop, eventhough the investment was propably alot higher. It's getting better and it's the better product from my POV, but it has the big issue that rF2 had with rF1 being the biggest competition when it was released. For rF2 it might be dangerous to exclude potential options to sacrifice it's open nature, as that's one of the big selling points if you ask me. Just take a look at the laughable skin editor, that you get in ACC and you might get the picture. And the people complaining that you don't have full series should really think about if that's actually the case. With rF2 you have the option to create a full or atleast allmost complete ELMS or IMSA grid without paying too much money for expensive lisenced products - and all in one product. With rF2 you get full season skinpacks for several mods and Enduracers offers you ELMS grids with over 40 cars. I think the biggest grid I used so far was at Le mans with a full 2015 grid from URD and Enduracers with allmost 60 cars. rF2 actually offers the most complete 2018 IMSA grid by default from the bunch of current spec sims. Where else do you get that, even with fully lisenced titles? And then you get to the track-issue. In AMS2 we got a nice US pack, but it's very very limited. What happens if I want to drive at Mosport, Road America or Road Atlanta? Granted, there is more to come but looking at the PC2 track roster, where they seem to get alot of stuff from, users will allways be left with the mercy of the developer. Sometimes it's good to actually notice that the glass is not half empty.
Circuit d' Azur. Tracks really don't need to furnish a license; thats not to say one wouldn't want to just for the name. Some like Long Beach or COTA may have pricey names, others like Road Atlanta, Road America, Infineon, VIR are likely to be pretty painless. rFactor ain't based in Ann Arbor anymore, and its not surprising to see more regional tracks than global, but at least we have a great modding community to subsidize the European customer base.
Circuit d'Azur IS licensed; it´s just the name "Monaco GP" that has a separate license. They´ve also stated that everything should be licensed from now on in order to be used in the competition system. (VIR is already licensed and used as well)
I think this depends on your criteria for comparison. Right now on Steam DB ACC has 4,100 players and AC has 9,000. If you compare paid DLC vs free content, ACC is 100% paid and AC is likely 50:50. For a niche genre (GT3 is a niche) with a lot of online racing, it's unreasonable to call that a "big flop." I'm not a fan of ACC's handling and FFB, I understand the obsession with GT3 racing over more engaging and challenging platforms, and I cringe when I hear people lauding its physics fidelity. It's a good way to get someone else to subsidize your foray into Unreal Engine and confirm that it's not the engine on which you want to build AC2. --- Back to the subject of Monza, I hope someone does a comparison of GT3 racing between rF2 and ACC at Monza, because rF2 does a very good job of making everything from green light to chequered flag enthralling and intense. If S397 took a page out of ACC's UX and Marketing books, it would help fund more licensed tracks and cars. Running LMP2s around Monza is going to be a lot of fun in rF2, and any true piston head knows that in their bones.
Think there’s a new formula 1 car coming I’ll grab it with Monza / spa & sone of the laser tracks I don’t have happy days
The a issue with most tracks is that they are in private property and in order to do laser scanning and snap photos you need access to the track. The other thing is that with most tracks wile you can take photos at the track you can not used them for commercial purposes. With public roads like Monaco and Long Beach no one can stop you, the only thing you may require to do is inform the city you will be doing a survey in the area and perhaps a simple permit.
