Image Space Incorporated Exclusive Interview

I don't think it's an RD issue specifically. The idea of pushing a developer down that has largely given a community what it asked for is still strange to me though, regardless of what genre of gaming it happens in, or what site it happens on. rFactor's beauty is the complexity, the array of options and personalization a community can bring to it. rFactor's failings are the complexity, the array of options and personalization a community can bring to it.

Modders don't like to sit twiddling their thumbs for a day while a tire builds (neither do we), but wanted realistic tires. People don't like packaging mods (neither do we), but every support email I seem to get about rF1 relates to mods breaking installations, mods that overwrite steam files with non-steam files for no good reason (and break it), or different versions of the same thing mismatching. People don't seem to care too much that you can make a realistic setup change and get a realistic result from it. Realroad is hailed as amazing in other sims, but seems overlooked as a feature for us, even though you can do more with it, and it's not based on AI paths.

You can go on for a long time with all these things, and at the end of the day it seems that there are very few actual hardcore sim racing people out there. That's OK. It's not what you want to see when you're making those titles, and realize you could have put your efforts somewhere other than your physics, etc, but what are you going to do? You do your own thing, make your own product, and essentially let those who aren't into it be into something else. The only really annoying aspect in all of this is when people say they want pretty much what we have, but attack our product and company anyway because we're not sat behind advertising agencies or aren't early in the process anymore, making their interpretation different when hearing the same answers. Not to say that some things haven't changed.

 

Although I completely agree with what you are saying here Tim, people are never pleased, even if they get what they want.

However, what am I missing here? Especially in the last paragraph you focus on catering to the hardcore sim racer as something you'd like to do for the product. Then why is it that I see things which I see as catering to hardcore sim racers, either ignored for years, or simply not implemented? Or are some of them too low on the priority list to come up any time in the near feature?

This isn't meant to give you a hard time, just a question.

 

Can you ask a direct question about a specific thing that you feel isn't implemented that should be? Then I can give a specific answer. Unless you want a standard Q&A response about priorities and things changing when necessary due to them.

 

Oh sure that's fine with me ^^

Some of them are very much included in the QA and made me frown a bit reading your previous relpy.

- Dirt pickup
Sure you have some decreasing grip off line, but I think after picking up debris, grip decrease should continue to be an issue till the tire 'cleans up' again. This same principle applies to going off track for a bit and getting grass or dirt on the tires. It will punish you and should cost you time. Now the grass is almost usable road surface (it even heats the tires as one).

- Control! More flexibility in cockpits, Ive gone on about this one for three years. With the great rF2 dynamic environments, shouldn't the cars where they have the possibilities match that same dynamic? Even more so, all controls are there in setup, why not 'simply' promote them to incar use? What is keeping you guys from actually 'just' doing so? (I don't know the consequences/issues obviously)

- Gearbox
It's been asked for quite some time, updating the gearbox/drivetrain model promotes realistic driving, punishes bad driving. Need I say more? This is what you should want with rF2 I reckon if you are a customer! Your answer is that it is still planned, my question is, why isn't this a very high priority?

- Vehicle in mirrors, this always worked but to this day it doesn't seem to. Ads to immersion

- Lights Flash standard pattern for endurance racing

These are just some I could think of on the spot. The wishlist forum is filled to the brim with sometimes more than reasonable requests from a pretty much hardcore simracing standpoint. I think some topics deserve an honest answer

On the completely other hand, I can't freaking wait for a 2016 F1 car
Although I'm curious, if it can turn out to be what I want it to be

 

Pickup was discussed, wanted, but never planned nor implemented. In fact, when Darin Gangi mentioned that we had it (that it was in the sim) in a video he did around the time of the Panoz release, I contacted him to say he was incorrect, and he got annoyed at me.

Control
Do you mean clickable buttons in cockpit? Not considered important enough to do in this product, other things that won't make it either I'd put above that myself. Clarify what you mean if I'm not getting it.

Gearbox
As far as recent discussions go, this is still planned as an eventual update. Our devs wear a lot of hats, and the dev who would do this hasn't had a block of time available to work on this specific feature.

Mirrors
Please clarify.

Lights
Probably not important enough to look at really when someone can just press a button a few times. But I can mention it, if it's easy and quick it could happen, even though it's probably only been mentioned rarely.

In most situations the way it has to work, for the sanity of all is for people, is to assume they're not going to get a random wish list feature implemented. Then if it happens to turn up in a changelog, be happy about it.

Unfortunately these answers all pretty much boil down to that horrible word: Priorities. And I get it, it can suck sometimes. How disappointed do you think I am to not be driving the 1967 Eagle around Belgium yet?

 

Yeah that answer has been overlooked by many, as have the images of the 3PA track.

 

*goes back to look*

Essington?

edit: first pic that is, second one is not!

 

My perception regarding all the comments, always, comes from mostly a base where people were interested in rF2 supplying all their needs. We all want one place that combines what we desire, and have a huge community around it. What you see now is a mixed field of frustration and often times people collide, as no single game is able to provide all we want, which is why we shift support or try different ones.

It's the same with other titles, too. As an example, Assetto was hyped so much because we knew how good the nKp base was, eventually, when 1.03 came out after 97% (yes, I made this up) of the user base said "screw that." So AC was expected to be an improved nKp with licenses and good, packaged content. You know, how games used to be, except for rFactor 1. Then AC ships without weather, a couple of key setup components, and lackluster FFB.


@wgeuze:
Regarding control, Kunos did do the clickable/interactive cockpit and it got shoved aside by the community as an unnecessary gimmick. It took more time to locate things and click, being sure where you clicked worked, than it did by simply clicking "Race."

 

Thanks for the straight up answers so far

Pickup
- That's a prime example, I get it isn't planned. What I don't get is the why It fits the bill, it works on more occasions than one, it promotes good driving, it adds to already good tire modelling. What is there not to like about this, if 'liking' it has anything to do with it from a dev perspective.

Control
- No this isn't flight simulator. What I'm looking for is the how and why we seem to be able to adjust ARB in about every car we get, brake bias, wings during pit stops, I could even dynamically change turbo pressure in an old Mazda and Porsche (blew my mind), why are some other well know adjustments simply not there, why is there a division in the first place? Stuff like throttle map, brake map, fuel mixture, hopefully soon ERS mixture, ABS/TC for GT cars, how are all these things, which are implemented, not adjustable realtime? In dynamically changing weather conditions, changing diff and throttle maps, can make or break a race for you. How is that not about hardcore simracing, right there?

Mirrors
- In rF1 I always had self in mirror on. This made the rear part of my own virtual car show up in the mirrors, something I, to this day, don't see in rF2. Is this some option which is hidden away, or just broken from the start? I did see it in Paul Loatman's last video though, so I'm wondering if I'm missing something.

Lights
I thought you guys were working on an endurance car as well. Since in multiclass racing this is used very often, I think it is 'part of it'. Also, manually blinking can lead to driving with the lights off or generally you'd have to be too aware of it. It's a seperate button in those cars for a reason

About the random wishlist things, I agree. That is why in my opinion these points aren't as random and are more in line with the kind of simracer you were talking about earlier, which is a sentiment I fully support.

Priorities indeed, as a developer myself, I know they can and will be frustrating. As a customer, it would be sometimes be nice hear direct responses like these more often (as with the DX9/VR discussion). I do appreciate to have things out in the open, instead of being uncertain about things for long times.

 

Would like if ISI boss can hurry on this project. Some 3D artists could come back (or a few that don't do cars right now but do a lot of harder stuff than cars) could be interested, who knows. Win-win for everyone.
Just imagining here Shadow Works projects bringing back Uli to physics modding if that could be some kind of a "job" for him. Damn

 

Wgeuze might be talking about in car adjustments. Diffs, brake maps, ARB, etc

Haha, already clarified by the man himself

 

I'm quite honestly baffled that no one on RD has even mentioned the 3PA track pics teased in the interview.
And the info on the 2016 F1 car was a bombshell, and a very positive one at that.
A positive bombshell..? Hmm. Well, you know what I mean.

People whine about a lack of content.
They're given very tangible teasers for upcoming content.
People continue to whine about lack of content, while ignoring the fact that we currently have so much content that the number of possible car/track combinations seem almost endless.
I've driven this sim for almost 3 years now, and I have still yet to try every ISI car on every ISI track.

Give people full racing series.
People will then whine about the season of said series, how it's outdated because 2015 liveries and drivers instead of 2016.
Give people a full season track pack.
People will then whine because you can't drive reverse layouts of all the tracks, or because the advertising boards don't say "Rolex" or "Castrol".

Kindergarten indeed.
I guess only grown-ups understand the meaning of the word "priorities".

 

I look forward to the day I can use the Manus VR gloves (with haptics) to press buttons in cockpit and interact with engineers in the garage

 

Where do you see Essington? Title picture is Indy screenshot using old oversaturated HDR build from year ago (not sure why they used that), inside article there are two new ones from Suzuka.

 

As sim racing is such a small niche market, I actually appreciate the ISI business model. Not ton's of revenue but working within the margins to slowly create something that will probably last a generation or 2. I think we will all look back years from now and look fondly how they stayed the course and stayed in business. To build one of the most intricate simulators with obviously one of the smallest teams is an eye to the future. To put the physical world unto 1's and 0's is not a video game it's science and I would imagine in the future ISI will be regarded as a tech co. more than a game maker.

 

Ahhhh that kind of control! Papyrus has always been the leader in that aspect of simulation. But can you imagine the confusion with a poorly laid menu, and endless options without a little pop-up info box on what each thing does, with an example? The average and lower quartiles of users will give up even more on trying to set a car .

 

Most of those things are available in the set-up options already. The lower quartiles of users shouldn't be the ones keeping rF2 from improving

 

I ignored the indy pic as that didn't have 3PA on it, so technically the 2nd screenshot almost looks like the straight heading to Turn 2 at Essington, I don't believe it is but was just asking the question

 

It looked like 130r. "Just" Suzuka may not be enough for the frustrated people.