Apologies if this has been brought up allready. I dont just need my simulation fix, i need to feel part of something whilst doing so. Thats why i joined a league of course but thats also one of the main reasons i sticked with rFactor and did not fully embrace iRacing or sims like GTR2. As funny as this may sound, rFactor -even without a league- has a community feel about it. i cant realy explain well, people chat allot even on random servers, share stuff and have fun with banter and what not along side the racing. GTR2 for example did have a chat window but it was not the first screen, you have to select it and therefore (i think) nobody ever talked to eachother. It made me feel detached from the game. We use iRacing as well in our league and eventhough its a great sim and its fully supported, i stopped using it recently because of the same issues. With iracing i felt (others as well) i was in a hotlapping sim with other drivers. Again a detached feeling of driving alone, and others driving alone as well. no chats, no sharing, very little community atmosphere about it. Even in our own private hosted league sessions, it felt the same -although it was better of course- then in public. Like i said, i can't put my finger onnit exactly why rFactor is different in this respect. And i dont need to chat and share and whatnot dont get me wrong. if i'm seriously practising i ignore everyone, but its there, we can use it and somehow people do use it allot more then in other sims and it does work like a charm in that respect. Within a league this even becomes more aparent. I'm probably not very clear, sorry about that. one thing i could ask for that is clear, dont hide the chat channel. make it easy for people to interact. please I'm sure others will have noticed the same, maybe someone else can explain better
In short. Racing is not about chatting. It's just about racing. If you want to talk with others (usually team member in racing), use some more 'direct' communication, for example teamspeak. Finally chatting disturbs other drivers while on track. So, if you are leaving sim community just because chat window is not on top - there must be something wrong with you. No offence.
None taken. Many people have said there is something wrong with me over the years However i think you missed my point. If you just want to race in whatever conditions, thats fine, ignore everyone and race. Beeing part of a league, or more specifically the one i am in, also means beeing part of a community and in communities people tend to interact. In this respect we are very active and this is also apparent on the servers. Sure, we have a no-chat rule in qualifying and races, people can get penalties for using chat. We race on sunday evenings and we use the whole week for that venue on our public server. Allot of members practise during the week online and we get a study flow of guests. Beeing able to interact in the way we do gives strengthens the community. And it not just banter and 'how are ya', allot of members share setup info, help eachother out racing wise etc etc. As for something beeing wrong with me for leaving a sim based on that. it was not just that but it was a big part of my decision. Having to pay money for something i dont feel a passion about because i feel like a hotlapper amongst other detached hotlappers was not doing it for me. i love simracing but its not the best thing since sliced bread for me. Taking part of a good and fun community is one of the main reasons i have stayed in this league for so long and rfactor has helped allot in this respect as aposed to other sims. If you dont understand that then there is someth....ah never mind, thats to easy
As rF is a bit more "obscure" than the titles pushed into people's minds by big PR and advertising budgets, it's only natural the rF crowd is a bit more "friendly" than your average "off the shelf" simracing / gaming title. This may play a big part in explaining the community feel around this sim, people know they have a gem (even though it's sometimes a rough one with all the mismatches etc.) on their hands and are probably more willing to share, engage in conversations and so on. I'd think this "community feel" will carry over naturally to rF2 as close to 100% of the existing userbase will upgrade, so I wouldn't worry about this special feel going away just like that. All the best, Uwe
Yeah you could be right Uwe. Although this 'feel' was the same when rf started and back then there was no other next-gen sim on the market if i recall correctly? Maybe it was the mismatches that got people talking to eachother ehehe!
