I guess a good start might be that people stop thinking that there are only Indycar, BTCC and WEC. I would even go as far as saying that it makes total sense to ship a hyper car pack or a new GT3 pack to get the foot into the door to support more IMSA content. And I expect even more Indycar content to be in the next Q3 content drop to be totaly honest.
@88mphTim: What I take from your comments about MSG is a few good ppl from S397 more than likely left as it was heading in a different direction to when luminous owned S397. Like yourself moving on to better things. So with that, all I can do is wait to see what MSG has installed for the future of RF2. Time for patience or time to move on only time will tell.
Yeah, pretty much. The art and content guys from ISI moved ISI > S397 and they are still there now. The engine guys from ISI went ISI > rFpro and most of them are still there now. S397 has since hired some new and skilled guys there, some recently. All S397 has ever lost under MSG were some frontline guys like Chris, Paul and myself and honestly that can be the effect of just being on the frontline. The only exception probably Marcel, but I guess he wasn't doing a lot of what he actually enjoyed anymore and is probably happier now. I know I wasn't the same after my time at ISI (I went to go work for rFpro for a couple of years as well). AFAIK nobody has ever been let go/fired from S397 production under MSG. That should count for a lot, IMHO. I really do mean what I said earlier... I honestly think that if LMU does well it will give S397 greater strength and options in the future, not less.
For reference: The last new GT3 we had was Feb 22, BMW M4. We've not seen Lambos, Ferrari 296, etc. homologated since then. Since Early 2021, we've had the following new vehicles, not of WEC/IndyCar/BTCC varieties: RCCO EX Zero electric car; Alpine GT4 (gap exists with no other GT4s or TCRs) (done by modders); SC2018X NASCAR; Tatuus F3; Formula Pro; Ligier LMP3; BMW DTM; Mini; Caterham; Formula E Gen 3 electric So this is a decent mix of other cars to race with, and more than I'd thought off the top of my head. As regards tracks, they did 3 Formula E (London, Rome, Diriya); 4 BTCC (Croft, Thruxton, Brands, Donington); 3 IndyCar (Laguna, Long Beach, Gateway); plus Bahrain, Daytona and Monza for those into endurance sportscar racing, which had been the main focus up to that point. There's lots of scope to add more laserscan tracks; but my guess would be that team is fully engaged now building the tracks for LMU, IndyCar etc. since we've only had one track in 2023.
@88mphTim The ISI staff in charge of the rFactor 2 physics engine is no longer there today (in S397/MSG) ?
And hence sim market is flooded with GT cars and other similar content. spa/ monza gt3 24/7....sigh and don't forget the BoP complains. I would honestly would like a sim that resembles to modded AC1 , lots of street sports/super cars (especially JDM ones). add some hill climb tracks from around the world (stelvio pass anyone ?), touge and somthing like shutoko revival project. just more driving sim with cop chases (either with AI or multiplayer), running through traffic with friends , doing touge 1v1 battle like initial D, hill climb time attacks, drifting etc......and add nordschleife , just so people shut up about it (I love that track btw). Spoiler: P.S , extra stuff not necessary to read. Yes i'm aware all these stuff can be done in AC1 , but i want it to be done on newer better physics engine and official content so cars physics are better, quality is maintained etc. some of the AI stuff which i talked about can't be done, afaik ....beside all of these mode done by dev team would be implemented better instead of relying different mods.
I guess that probably explains that from 2017 to 2022 the improvements in the physics engine and the realism of the simulated driving has been very weak, much to my regret. 2022 will have been a nice surprise, however.
Yeah, we at RSC have a podcast that has touched on much of this multiple times. It's unfortunately there's no products taking real risks right now.
There was plenty of work that went on behind the scenes that I'd argue on that, but I can understand from a user perspective. The changes made the last year or two, and with LMU itself, should show that S397 is in a good place for this.
No! It's not that simple. First came the DirectX11 update with VR support! Then came the Competition system plus lots of licensed content and a new UI. Unfortunately, the AI was shot to pieces and the physics were not developed much further. Unfortunately, things didn't always work out the way they were supposed to. But what in life does?
I've reinstalled AC after 4 years a few days ago. Very impressive what's happened in the past 4 years. SOL, Pure, CSP, CM.. and so on. I have a lot of fun with my 512 TR with Semslicks or the Cobra Shelby with an almost perfect sfx mod from Scib Sound. I just say Spring24. And Ac2 will be there. Hopefully they do it right (Kunos).
I know the whole story, I've been on rFactor 2 for 9 years. But just understand that my priority from far and wide has always been physics/realism, and indeed I was disappointed and even frustrated that S397 improved things so late, although indeed the base was great. It's normal that we don't all want the same things, example : I remember, most rFactor 2 users wanted a better graphics engine as a priority, long before the improved driving realism they found satisfying, when S397 come.
Yes, but we must not forget the "breadwinners". Luminis also had a say in what should and should not be done.
Let's not forget that unlike the LLC owned by John Henry, MSG/S397 must remain profitable in order to develop rF2 and other titles. What we can do is support them by purchasing what they like from the DLC and software they sell.
Terence Groening is now at iRacing (hence the recent improvement in physics for that Sim according to users, he is a god!)
That right there was part of the problem; the users. Many of whom who didn't know the first thing about car physics just wanted shiny graphics, S397 obliged in part (no doubt they wanted to improve them anyway) and what do we get? the same users saying the same "RF2 graphics are bad/cartoon" still to this day, it's a cheap shot at RF2 and the repetitiveness from the Vocals at RaceDepartment is simply pathetic, but they & those youtubers getting hits for negativity keep the "bad RF2 graphics" ball rolling along, when in reality it now looks damn impressive. I also agree that S397 "lost" the physics aspect, during my time as a private beta tester I noticed subtle changes whereby cars could've been better than they were, but ultimately I was/am no expert myself so I left it to those demon drivers to inform S397. Now since I lost touch with RF2 & sim racing in general for a couple of years and coming back I find AMS2 practically on par with RF2, FFB in this sim is still king but the feeling of the physics is very good in both titles. As above with TG going to iRacing I've heard very good things about physics improvements from people I respect very much, his magic has moved on and RF2 has lost out. With LMU is may well have "decent enough" physics, but I doubt it's going to be groundbreaking or improved over RF2 by that much, I'm expecting it to feel practically identical.
if you look at some of the interviews with Marco Massarutto (one the founder of kunos i believe) he said somethings that really caught my attention and increased my hype for next AC2 even more. now i don't remember exact quote but he said something along the lines >> *He misses driving sim, ACC is very focused on racing aspect. so he would like to go back to AC1 route, to add to that he said that AC2 will be more like AC1 , ACC is a spinoff title. (also no more unreal engine , as its not really made for sims in mind) *Kunos is looking at AC1 and what people are doing with it , so all the stuff i mentioned in earlier post is being watched at by devs ....they are learning. *they are looking at AC1 when its completely modded and keeping that as a new baseline for new AC2 instead of keeping vanila AC1 as base, their aim is to be even better than modded AC1 some more things here and there, if they incorporate most popular things that people do in AC1 + what i mentioned earlier officially , then it will be one hell of a sim.
AC2 has lots of potential, only doubt is the route they'll take... First of all i hope it's a real sim with proper physics and car dynamics... It might be a "driving sim" but i still prefer they focus more on the "racing sim" part. Something like: Racing=70% - Driving/fun=30% With this i mean they should create a base that allow us to race 24h events with driver change, create a good detailed racing weekend for online championships/league racing and having a complete data/motec UI... The graphics i have no doubt they'll be great, but in the physics/dynamics department i think there's room to implement a lot of things, like weather, dynamic racing line, damage, etçª, without this we're not going to the future of simracing...
