Car handling different between offline and online

Like the title says: Why differs the car handling so much between offline and online?

When I participate in an online race I always do my training offline.
As soon as I enter the server to do some practice laps, I have to refine my setups on last minute.
Sometimes it works, but most of the time it doesn't. It's something that rF2 clearly has inherited from rF1.

What can be done to avoid this? Is it something on my end or is it something game related?

Any suggestion is appreciated.

 

Just out of curiosity.
Why don't you practice on the server, isn't it online 24 hours all day?

 

Yes, a server is online 24hrs, but I like to practice silently alone to prepare myself and not bother other drivers when my setup isn't ready enough to drive online. There should be no difference at all.

 

I also have noticed that difference between offline and online since the soon rf1 days.
Probably it's caused by the data transfer.
I always have tried to practice on the server, that's why i have asked.
And normally you should not bother anybody, when you practice, to build your setup.

 

@Bernd I suffer similar issues to you with a particular league. The league allows practice on the server up until the 'official' race session, when it restarts with low rubber and time x2. I practice offline with either no rubber or low rubber and no track evolvement and spent a lot of time making sure that the car 'behaves' under heavy braking. However, more often than not, when I get on the official server I get the car snapping under heavy braking. It is frustrating and I do not know why, when I practice under 'worse' conditions than the official server.

 

I'm not convinced that it's rubber/weather related. rF1 had the same issue and it didn't have these track conditions.
Maybe someone from the staff can clarify.

 

It might. When my setup has an error and I crash with someone close behind, then they crash too.
It's not an ideal situation.

 

You could set up your own server: https://forum.studio-397.com/index.php?threads/editing-grid-order-offline.62920/

 

I know, but that doesn't solve the offline/online car handling issue.
Besides, since the last build update the 'gMotor2 mas utility isn't working anymore', so I can't create an rfmod file, but that's beside the point. Right now I'm trying to figure out why the car handling differs that much.

 

I also experienced something that made me think this way a few times.

 

There is no reason to think online is different than offline, after all the simulation runs the physics calculations locally, it is not like you are being dependent on the server for any of the parameters. Realroad is the only variable factor that obviously does rely on data getting transmitted back and forth, so it should be the first suspect and by that I mean the state of the realroad is likely slightly different on server than offline.

 

Well, the car handling feels totally different and my laptimes don't match in comparison to offline; I'm 1 - 1.5sec off the pace online.

It's obviously rFactor related. rF1 had the same issue and it didn't have realroad/weather.
I haven't experienced the same with AC.

 

Well the reason is that someone feel so. It doesn't mean that the feel is really correct, but it could be.

It is not impossible that under certain circumstances something happens. Also I think that way way more data travels back and forth while in online mode than just real road data. What about collisions ? Car movement and position at any instant ?

Looking forward for rF2 new UI and competition system era. Will surely be doing lots of online racing, if there will still be any suspicious feel at some times, then it will be interesting to pick up this topic again. Right now it is not necessary to go far with it, because it is known that a lot of new things are not in too distant future.

 

As I wrote in the second part of my message, the most likely explanation is realroad. You are aware that differences in realroad can easily account for over 3 seconds in lap time in rF2? I suggest that you save the exact realroad from server at representative conditions and then use that to practice offline.

If there was a bug with different lap times offline or online, I reckon it would have been brought up long ago and big leagues would be aware of this. I raced in leagues for 10 years and I remember indeed that there was a rumour in rF1 that lap times were different online, but nobody was ever able to demonstrate it. In rF2 there hasn't even been a discussion over the last five years I've driven in leagues. Elite drivers like Bono Huis and Greger Huttu would have spotted this long ago if it was the case.

 

My realroad/server settings are exactly the same and still there's a difference in car handling/laptimes.

I've had this dicussion several times with other people as well and they experienced the same.
Since you recognize the issue from the rF1 era, I can inform you that the rumour still exists.

I drive in a league right now and a fellow racer mentioned this after last night's race.
Since it's the same for me, I thought I posted this here.
Maybe other people don't want to post it on the forum, that doesn't mean that they don't experience the same.
People in this thread even recognize the issue, so it's too easy to say that there should be no difference.

 

There definitely shouldn't be a difference in physics, regardless of what data is being sent back and forth in the background.

In rF1 I suspected maybe online's higher resource requirement was leading to lower fps and perhaps even physics update rate (only based on the fact the telemetry the game provided actually slowed down under heavy load, though that doesn't necessarily indicate the underlying physics was slowed).

In rF2 no physics loops are skipped. That's why we get out of real-time instead. Telemetry reflects this, with all data recorded whether it's keeping up with real-time or not.

The difficulty is working out whether the system (computer) as a whole is struggling in some way, leading to a change of feel behind the wheel despite rF2 itself doing the same thing.

Finally, this change in online to offline isn't consistent. I don't often do offline laps but I recently did a few with the same content as recent online races and my times were very comparable.

 

The only thing I can add to this then is show the proof please - I don't mean that in a way that I don't believe you - but the only way is to show exact proof for everyone (Devs) to see.
So if the RealRoad settings are the same as you say, drive one lap on both Server and one Offline, record a Video (preferably) of both laps and/or show a Screenshot of the Lap Times, also if you're using the DAMPlugin to use MoTeC then upload Both laps as that would be good to see that you're driving the same both times, thanks

 

IMHO rf1 was slower offline and so is rf2. i just dont even bother to practice offline. But things could have changed for the better. The last time i did anything offline was about a yr after the release of rf2.

 

Make sure you run also offline same temperature as online on the Server. I think the front Wheels tempereatures, and thus pressure, thus grip thus balance, do vary more with changes in ambient temp. Like brake temp, the front ones (GT3) heat up faster but cool down faster too.
However I DO set up same temp as expected on Server (we go with real weather) and still I have situations in race where something is slowing me down compared to very similiar offline sessions (mostly with less grip as Server builds up grip even more in practise, qualify, and warmup compared to the day before).
The really scary Thing is: it does not affect everyone. Maybe you just Need the Right Hardware that is liked by rf2 ...

 

Actually surface temperature does nothing in rF2, it's not hooked up with the realroad nor tire model. The only way temperatures affect things in rF2 is possibly through worse reliability of engine and brakes from higher ambient temperature. Track surface temperature was actually my primary suspect for why rF1 sometimes felt different online than offline because temperatures were often not configured the same. But in rF2, due to this redundancy this is no longer a source of difference.