Is rF2 being left behind.

Before I begin I want to make it clear I am a big ISI and rFactor 2 fan and its the only Sim I consider when firing up my rig, so in no way am I trying to troll or cause any upset.
I keep upto date with most sim racing news sites, dev blogs and the modding scene and spend hours a day just generally surfing the net taking on sim racing news and views ( a lot of this is for my rf2 community facebook page ) and feel I have a good perspective of what the general state of sim racing is in and how many people into our hobby feel.... be that from disinformation ( happens a lot ) or true fact.
So in the last 3-6 months I have seen other devs really start upping their game when it comes to implementing features. Features that should be in rf2 if its to really be considered as the class leader.
I'm not sure how to go about this so I thought best to just list each Sim and demonstrate what has been or is due to be implemented ( as confirmed ) soon that I feel is going to really hurt rFactor 2 unless the devs can confirm to us that these features are being worked on or at least planned. I will more than likely miss a lot of features available in other titles, not here in rf2 as I don't follow them as enthusiastically.

iRacing
Lollipop man, Dx11 update. The lollipop man is such a small feature but it adds such immersion compared to the red rectangle in rf2, that people have complained about missing or not being able to see, we have animated characters all over the track and then pull into our pit stalls to see this extremely arcade like pulsating red box. I saw people requesting Pit crews and lollipop men 5 years ago.
View attachment 19589

Automobilista
This is an rF1 engined sim and yet it has bodywork in the rear view mirrors, dirt pickup on tyres, Leaderboards linked to in-game time trial, Drivetrain modelling / damage, Point-to-point support for Rally / Hillclimb type events.

rFactor 1
We see sparks even in rF1, even 3rd party modders have got rain on the windscreen working there ! Look at this video of rF1, it looks better than rF2 !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5tdIdcxeDo

Sector 3 R3E
The move to The UE4 engine speaks for itself.
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Which brings me onto graphics, personally I think rF2 looks realistic and quite stunning on my system but everywhere I go on sim racing web pages... every single discussion all I read is rF2 graphics suck..rF2 looks like Sh*t.. Its like ISI haven't been able to shake of this stigma since the Beta days. Some even think the sim is still in beta !!
So what about all these features... Some stuff is right there in dev mode, pit crews, lollipop men ( I'm not talking about the crappy static crew from rF1 that can be added to mods ) swaying trees in the wind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzoxKmlM0FI
Wipers and rainspray, wipers were there on certain default cars in much earlier builds but as the cars got updated the wipers were omitted. Rain on windscreens was demonstrated 5 years ago and looked really good... what happened ? When the Howston released I believed proper drivetrain and gearbox damage was to come shortly after... what happened ? Cars and track licences announced..2003 Bentley Speed 8, Toleman TG184 to name one or two.

To say I am getting frustrated with rF2 is an understatement, because I know all these features are there or completely possible because they are there in other ISI engined titles. And this post isn't even mentioning VR or graphics or SLI, I leave those subjects for the real moaners

I just hope things are changing very soon because I am seeing more and more people bringing these issues up everyday and I am seeing more and more people I used to race with moving on to other sims and that worries me somewhat... It worries me rf2 is being caught and passed at an alarming rate.

 

No.

 

No.

Stock Cars were a major addition to RF2 in recent months, overall it's still one of the very best car racing games out there for me.

 

The funny thing is that a lot of (the most vocal) people who says rF2 looks like s**t haven't even tried the sim themselves.
They're judging it from a) badly compressed YouTube videos, and b) somewhat decent quality YouTube videos with prominent YouTubers repeating over and over how much rF2 looks like s**t compared to the other titles.
It then simply turns into a catch phrase that spreads like a wild fire, even though it's far from the truth. That's just the internet for you.

Then we have "the guy" who loads up rF2 for the first time and sees that it doesn't look all filtery, lens flary, Hollywood movie-y and immediately panics.
He then messes up his installation with silly injectors, obscure GPU overrides, odd JSON changes and what not.
rF2 then actually ends up looking and running like s**t, and our guy then runs to the first forum or comment section he can find to moan about how awful rF2 looks and runs.

The fact of the matter is that rF2 looks stunning as long as long as its run with everything maxed out, like you say.
Why anyone could possibly thing that rF2 should look "stunning" with low or medium quality settings, or with silly 3rd party gfx hacks, I'll never understand.
I guess not all PC users actually understand how PC gaming works.

Personally I've never been less frustrated with rF2 than I am right now.
To me it feels like everything is falling into place, even though some features are still yet to come.
Details, nothing that detracts from my enjoyment of the sim.
Sure there are things I would like to see, but I certainly don't allow myself to become obsessed with those things.
Life is too short for stuff like that.

I just don't see what the big rush and doom/gloom is all about?
Will rF2 automatically disappear off the face of the earth just because another sim title gets a little lollipop man or a bit of visible dirt on the tires?
The answer is no, it will not.

ISI is in for the long haul, nothing is rushed, there are no half solutions, therefore quality is always top notch, even though it takes time to get there.
That's just the nature of this sim. It still provides the best driving and racing experience by far, and that's what it's all about in the end.
There are currently more content combinations than I will ever have time to try out, official and third party stuff combined.

Just my take on things.
This post is not an attack btw, just to be clear.
Just another point of view.

 

Because AC and P Cars still look decent on medium graphics (tbh P Cars is not that bad even on low). You can even choose to turn off some stupid graphic options on those games. And setting environment to medium still can look better than rF2 on max.
I have no problem with rF2 graphics at all, but if going "photo realistic" will bring more people then I'm all for it. Honestly if rF2 had its max graphics as P Cars medium would be good enough xD especially under rain lol

Back on topic I feel like it is. But then I only drive one sim now that is SCE/AMS so it could be just a personal feeling that rF2 is falling behind. Would drive rF2 if I had a online league that interested me (well I'm waiting for the VLMS to begin, hope I can find a team)

 

Not again guys, really.

PRC, it's fine for us you posting your sentiments, I can understand this. But this is not going to change a thing apart starting a flame. Your OP sounds more like a sentence than something searching for opinions.

Gonna close this, sorry.