Developers please read. Just came back to rF2, but......

[Giuseppe Curri]

Hello!

As the title says, I recently came back to re-explore rF2 after being away many years from it.
I love sim-racing and dedicated the last 20 years of my life to this passion, and I'm quite pleased to see that this sim has grown up quite a lot since my last launch, 4 or 5 years ago...
I'm really enjoying dedicating time to it, but I also feel like to give the developers a few suggestions in order to improve rF2 and hopefully make it grow up even more by "fixing" some details of the sim itself:

- please update the telemetry coming from the sim in order to make data available to be displayed on an external dashboard. These data include: Water and Oil Temps (not working for 99% of the cars at the moment), onboard TC setting, onboard ABS setting and onboard FUEL MIXTURE setting. BRAKE BIAS works nicely instead;

- add a "down-shift" protection for suitable cars. Not that I have problems with downshifts, but nowadays all of the paddle-shift gearboxes have this feature included, so it would be nice to have this feature in the sim as well, simply because real cars have it;

- force users, on certain type of cars like GT3, GTE and LMPs (or any other car that uses paddles) to use a sequential shifting method (as of now I can drive any of those cars with a H pattern shifter, but I shouldn' t be able to do this);

- polish official cars dashboards/DDUs and their features, in order to better match real-life counterparts; these features include, for example, data displayed on the dashboard/DDU, better LED functionalities like Pit- Limiter status, wheel lock-up and slip, TC and ABS intervention pulses (I would love to have these data coming from the telemetry so that I could assign LED functions on my actual dashboard when the tires are slipping/locking or for ABS and TC intervention);

- on most of the GT3 and GTE cars there is a TC-2 setting as well, that would be nice to have too;

- flashing headlight feature.

These are a few suggestions in order to improve some aspects of this beautiful sim.
I'm loving racing in rF2 but I find these little details a bit disappointing for nowadays standards and this is a pity, because the potential of this sim is just incredible, and it can really become the new ultimate benchmark among the competition...

Thank you for your attention and I wish you good work for your continuous development!

 

[Filip]

- force users, on certain type of cars like GT3, GTE and LMPs (or any other car that uses paddles) to use a sequential shifting method (as of now I can drive any of those cars with a H pattern shifter, but I shouldn' t be able to do this);

Are these users getting advantage by using H pattern?

 

[Giuseppe Curri]

Are these users getting advantage by using H pattern?

Well, I don't really think so, that would be really weird if it was the case. It's just from a realism point of view, almost any other sim out there has this and other mentioned built-in features.

 

[DavidG]

Never force users to do anything. If people want to drive a sequential car with an h-pattern, then that's their decision to make, not yours. If you don't want to, then just don't.

 

[mantasisg]

Are these users getting advantage by using H pattern?

LOL, a year or so ago my paddles failed during online racing in S397 community evening. Fortunately there was Hshifter right there, so I was able to keep on racing !

It isn't very immersive, but I must say I find ANY car more enjoyable with good old-school H pattern stick shift and clutch.

This being said, it is very unfortunate that many half skilled people tend to compensate their lacks when racing actual Hshifter/clutch cars in rF2 using neither, it is their loss, but they also may gain slight advantage by doing that. Unlike viceversa situation as you pointed out.

However. Nobody loves good oldschool car in simracing anymore. Huge loss.

 

[jo_siffert]

However. Nobody loves good oldschool car in simracing anymore. Huge loss.

Some leagues out there are still enjoying old cars. It just takes an effort to find something that matches you're desire.

 

[Giuseppe Curri]

LOL, a year or so ago my paddles failed during online racing in S397 community evening. Fortunately there was Hshifter right there, so I was able to keep on racing !

It isn't very immersive, but I must say I find ANY car more enjoyable with good old-school H pattern stick shift and clutch.

This being said, it is very unfortunate that many half skilled people tend to compensate their lacks when racing actual Hshifter/clutch cars in rF2 using neither, it is their loss, but they also may gain slight advantage by doing that. Unlike viceversa situation as you pointed out.

However. Nobody loves good oldschool car in simracing anymore. Huge loss.

First of all, with all the respect, I would like to point out that I absolutely love manual transmission cars and heel and toeing, I drive a GT86 and I chosed that specific one over multiple "modern paddle shifter options"...
I also actually hate pretty much all of modern racing when it comes to Kers, MGU-K and Hybrid in general, and I wish race cars still had that H pattern gearbox, but this is not the point here.
Because rF2 is a proper simulator, and not an arcade game, I would like to drive cars like are meant to be driven from factory in real life, especially when it comes to official GT3, GTE cars and other content available for purchase. If all of these cars I mentioned were just a mod, I could withstand with this concept, as people need to have fun first of all and also have the possibility to choose whatever they like to do, but again, I don' t find this very "sim-oriented" when it comes to official content, and what I just said it is already applied in other sims since a long time, it's as simple as that.
By the way, this specific point on the list is the least important one among all the rest, so I'm perfectly fine if developers don't want to do this, but I really hope that you guys agree with me in improving the other points in the list, as they are much more important.
I wish to have some feedback about them, if you guys agree or not.

Have a nice day.

 

[mantasisg]

@Giuseppe Curri I think everybody would agree with all of your points, they are rather simple and straight. I guess the one about forcing realistic shifter type is just slightly more debatable.

I like how it is in AC. If H shifter is detected, you drive H shifter cars the way you should and same goes for paddles. Paddles never broke to me while playing AC, so I wonder if in case paddles would fail, could I smoothly switch to H shifter (and vice versa). Your suggestion is totally logical, but in case someone doesn't have paddles or H-shifter, would they be forced to use automatic gears assist ? Not exactly realistic either. But game designers must project into all possible scenarios.

Speaking of what IMO should be more important, IMO forcing simracers those who HAS clutch assigned, to use it, because you can just simply not, if you want gears to grind you'll need to use external plugin created by guy who likes rF2.

But it is all GT3 and modern racecars.

@jo_siffert Thats why I make my own physics, 9/10 stuff out there doesn't match that desire. It is so sad people here will totally cheer over some classic porsches like 911RSR or 917 with dominantly unaltered Howston physics. Thats why devs do nothing about clutch for rF2.

 

[Giuseppe Curri]

I apologise with you guys if my point was not clear, in fact I needed to be more specific, sorry:
when I said about "forcing" users to use the correct type of shifter based on the driven car, what I really meant is to have an option to let the sim automatically pick up, from the assigned controllers, the correct type of shifter for that car and force to use only that one (in case of multiple shifting devices connected). In my case (which may not be the case for everyone) I have a H shifter, sequential shifter with lever and paddle shifter, this means I have the opportunity to simulate every car based on real life specs. Now, if I have all of these devices connected (like I am), I would like the sim to pick up the correct one automatically, not allowing me to use any other when driving that particular car (e.g. exactly like AC or iR and pretty much what you said above).
With this I was not referring to force users to go and buy a H pattern shifter just to drive a H pattern car
Statistically, I believe 90% of sim racers have at least a sequential shifting option (either paddles on the wheel or external lever), so in this case nobody could be forced to use a H pattern if they don' t have it or don' t want to use it, even when driving H pattern cars.
Another point in which I totally agree with you is the clutch: I personally always use the clutch on a car if needed and, if mapped on the controls, it should be mandatory to use (for H pattern cars at least).
I hope this clarifies what I really meant in the very first post.

Thank you.

 

[AMillward]

This being said, it is very unfortunate that many half skilled people tend to compensate their lacks when racing actual Hshifter/clutch cars in rF2 using neither

just because they don’t do it “muh proper way” doesn’t make them any less skilled. Some people don’t have a shifter, some people don’t have a clutch, some people only have an F1/GT rim that makes driving in that manner very difficult.

 

[Daniele Vidimari]

Are these users getting advantage by using H pattern?

Yes, you can abuse it for example going straight from 5th to 2nd gear with a single button in a hard braking. Is not about using a H pattern shifter but being able to map a specific gear in a button and using it when it's worth.
Not allowing such shifting in cars with no H pattern shifter would both increase realism and fix this "exploit".

 

[DaVeX]

The game should switch from paddles to H shifter automatically, if you don't own a shifter and clutch pedal (or you don't want to use them) then you should be able to activate auto-clutch and use paddles...

On official or leagues races, admins should be able to add ballast to using using auto-clutch and paddles on H pattern cars in order to balance the race.

Wasn't rF1 like that, adding penalties based on active driving assists?

 

[Lazza]

Wasn't rF1 like that, adding penalties based on active driving assists?

I believe it had only the same capabilities rF2 has, ie:

[AIDPENALTIES]
TC=(0.00,0.004,0.003)                    // Weight penalties for using different
ABS=(0.000,0.003,0.004)                  // levels of aids.  First value is typically
Stability=(0.000,0.004,0.005)            // with the aid off so it should be 0.0.
Autoshift=(0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00)          // Penalties should only be applied to
Steering=(0.000,0.003,0.004,0.010)       // aids that the vehicle would not be
Braking=(0.00,0.00,0.00)                 // allowed to run with.  Penalties should
Invulnerable=(0.00,0.00)                 // typically only be used if the aid improves
Opposite=(0.00,0.00)                     // laptimes for a decent driver.
SpinRecovery=(0.00,0.00)                 // Values are fractions of the total vehicle
AutoPit=(0.00,0.00)                      // mass, and are modeled as extra weight in
AutoLift=(0.00,0.00)                     // the fuel tank.  Do not use negative values.
AutoBlip=(0.00,0.00)

So nothing as specific as whether a gear is selected via sequential or actually selecting it. The skippy has a small penalty for autolift and autoblip for example, but nothing stops you turning those off when using paddles.

 

[DaVeX]

So no auto-clutch right?
...never looked at it since I have 3 pedals...

 

[mantasisg]

just because they don’t do it “muh proper way” doesn’t make them any less skilled. Some people don’t have a shifter, some people don’t have a clutch, some people only have an F1/GT rim that makes driving in that manner very difficult.

I had in mind those who HAS the equipment. I am not that dumb to suggest that people who doesn't have certain controls to be locked away from content, although I see there are some people around who'd like me to be so.

 

[Juergen-BY]

I believe it had only the same capabilities rF2 has, ie:

[AIDPENALTIES]
TC=(0.00,0.004,0.003)                    // Weight penalties for using different
ABS=(0.000,0.003,0.004)                  // levels of aids.  First value is typically
Stability=(0.000,0.004,0.005)            // with the aid off so it should be 0.0.
Autoshift=(0.00,0.00,0.00,0.00)          // Penalties should only be applied to
Steering=(0.000,0.003,0.004,0.010)       // aids that the vehicle would not be
Braking=(0.00,0.00,0.00)                 // allowed to run with.  Penalties should
Invulnerable=(0.00,0.00)                 // typically only be used if the aid improves
Opposite=(0.00,0.00)                     // laptimes for a decent driver.
SpinRecovery=(0.00,0.00)                 // Values are fractions of the total vehicle
AutoPit=(0.00,0.00)                      // mass, and are modeled as extra weight in
AutoLift=(0.00,0.00)                     // the fuel tank.  Do not use negative values.
AutoBlip=(0.00,0.00)

So nothing as specific as whether a gear is selected via sequential or actually selecting it. The skippy has a small penalty for autolift and autoblip for example, but nothing stops you turning those off when using paddles.

Can please someone explain the shown numbers? E.g. Invulnerable, i guess the first number is the given penalty (weight)? But what its the second number (0,0.0001)?

The other example: TC=(0,0.0075,0.015) The second is the penalty weight, but what is first and third number?

And why its different from the above post TC=(0.00,0.004,0.003)? I have mine from the Skippy...

 

[Lazza]

Can please someone explain the shown numbers? E.g. Invulnerable, i guess the first number is the given penalty (weight)? But what its the second number (0,0.0001)?

The other example: TC=(0,0.0075,0.015) The second is the penalty weight, but what is first and third number?

And why its different from the above post TC=(0.00,0.004,0.003)? I have mine from the Skippy...

Some aids have multiple levels (e.g. low, med, high), so the penalty is set per level. First number is for the aid off and should normally be 0.0.

Doesn't the skip have comments next to these?

*haha! Didn't even scroll across on my own post. So yeah, comments...

 

[Bill Worrel]

Can please someone explain the shown numbers? E.g. Invulnerable, i guess the first number is the given penalty (weight)? But what its the second number (0,0.0001)?

The other example: TC=(0,0.0075,0.015) The second is the penalty weight, but what is first and third number?

And why its different from the above post TC=(0.00,0.004,0.003)? I have mine from the Skippy...

Based on what it says, the first number is with the aid off - so no penalty. The second number is with the aid on low and the third number is with the aid on high. Which would be why some of the aids only have two numbers since those are only on or off and don't have low and high settings.

As far as the number - it looks like you take the total vehicle mass and multiply it by the penalty value e.g. 900 kgs times 0.004 would be a 3.6 kg penalty.