To assume (the mother of all frack ups) this about "most people" is mere fiction. Lets try to throw opinions as opinions shall we. Back to the topic: What was the topic again? Lack of reviews... ok I have nothing more to say about that. Oh wait... maybe I could do a review, one of those indepth ones and all. 0.o
But SCE has a package around it. You have the tracks from the Brazilian series, all matching the same quality (and are quite well made) plus there are other tracks to fit the additional content - Montréal, Spielberg, Imola, etc.
Apologies, I read it three times to try and understand the point. I guess I failed. My point. I am my fiercest critic and competitor and I use the AI to push myself beyond my limits. Then I go online and race with a bunch of fantastic guys who are all at the same skill level. Each time I do a test session, I aim for the fastest lap... a record lap. Then dial it back so I can do 30 minutes stints with standard deviations of less than 5/10s. Then I break it down into ten minute intervals and see the difference is 2/10ths. Then I know I can race it. 30 minute practice sessions with deviations less than 2/10ths across the 20 laps. That's reasonably serious, no? To push yourself to this level, then to be able to go online and find others of the same caliber and enjoy clean, respectful and fierce racing is as meaningful as it gets... in my opinion. I say this because I know I'm not champion material, so points over another person is kinda irrelevant. I'd still feel like an imposter if I were crowned. I have everything in life except my family now, so prizes are irrelevant. The only meaningful thing left is me, some mates and this pure joy I get from racing offline and online!
Establishing meaning, purpose, significance, importance, etc. is a very tricky business and is almost always relative and often personal. Regardless, the burden of proof lies on he who claims that something is meaningful. We're obviously not trying to end world hunger here so why do we even do this? I do it because racing is simply in my blood and sim racing is relatively inexpensive both cost and time-wise to IRL and also allows me to do things I can't do in real life like isolate variables. None of that makes a given session meaningful, though. What makes it meaningful is the lasting impact it has on me or my sim racing career or relationships I have developed or am developing. Essentially, if nothing is different after my race then the race had no more meaning than crack to an addict.
I search for stuff to retweet on our Twitter and see a lot of people saying things to the effect of 'really should take a look at rf2' so yeah I'd agree with that.
If it's not meaning anything at all to race other people online or offline for that matter you just would go do something else wouldn't you? Maybe the word is being taken out of context. Seams to be a very common thing on forums these days were the written word is taken out of context. Though off topic. Reviews; The best reviews were back before rF2 was released. Do you remember back that far? I guess not because no one here has mentioned it. I remember being in two leagues and 3 modding teams back then. rF1 was the game of choice and we were all very busy working on new things, racing, spending time on forums, team speak, MSN chats before Skype. rF1 was a vast community were we had mod team members from all around the world, league members from all around the world. Old and young. People who started racing back with NASCAR 2003 and F1Challenge and back further. Well before I got off the console and onto PC. Then SimBin GTR, GTR2. Before rF1 was released. These same people were all talking rF2 is coming! Yah! Can't wait. Then it arrived. The mod teams tried to mod it. So many brick walls came up it wasn't funny. So much didn't work. The Dev and single player was chalk and cheese. Wasn't the same game. Most physic were similar at the time but tyres didn't work the same. Process to make them was and as far I know still is very time consuming and at that time prone to failure. V-mod. rF-mod, Whatever mod was all the rage. The word rage is out of context there. Were confusing at best. You couldn't get the cars to look right in rF2 and I'm going to say still can't. Admit their better then 3 years ago but still have issue. Then as third party modders we got run down over quality compared to ISI. Well really?? ISI got licensed content with a big piles of info on physic were a mod team had to find it themselves. Physics wise, yes ISI have it over the modders out there. Cars Graphics wise, you seam to think there all so fantastic. Truth, their not that great when your breaking them down so you have some sort of guide as to how we could add our own cars. Not two ISI cars are modded the same way. ISI were and I'd say are still learning that process themselves. rF2 hasn't got one car were the wheel rims look any good. A forged polished rim (Not electroplated chrome) are all grey and lifeless still after 3 years for one example. rF1 dose a better job. LAN multiplay works. No net required. Simple, fast and you can be anywhere. At that time rF1 went so quite we thought it wouldn't come back.rF2 was so bad it did for awhile but was it worth putting the months or years into making a mod (series) for it? We thought no. rF2 will get good soon. Soon never came the teams fell apart, people moved on. Still today the tyre physics are giving the few mod teams there are headaches, The graphics are still causing problems. Like I've said before, Dev and single player mods are chalk and cheese. This has been mentioned in the early years of rF2 and still aren't 100% in sync. Close but not 100%. Yes Tim and Turtle, we read your "No it's not! it's fine". it's not what we read that counts for anything. It's what we see that dose. A review from a rFactor fan who never bothered with any other games (Sims) if you prefer. I see rF2 like a castle. A castle surrounded by a great mote of thick black ooze. There's a thin byway over this ooze for the end users to get if your lucky online, on track and into a race. Once your there you've reached the promised land. Venture off that path a small amount and like Artac (Horse from Never ending story.) you slide slowly and quietly into the mud never to be seen again. Pretty much like about 7 mod teams I knew at that earlier time. Sad story I know. Who cried when Artac disappeared into the swamp of despair? Like rF1, rF2 is getting 1 out of 10 converted tracks that are done with any quality control. Big difference is there are far less people doing it at all. End result. Your getting 1 good track maybe every 6 months to a year not including ISI releases which have slowed a lot. Not a bad thing because their updating what's already out. Doing the right thing I'd say. Agree? Really don't care. I read all the posts here. Not enough "Variation" in mods, Agree. One car mods with no other car it's equal??? No series or series support if a modder want to mod it. The emphasis on old F1 and open wheel in rF2 is as bad as all the Euro trash in AC. Ferrari, Lotus,, Things have change on the modding side but not enough and really far to late. Most if not all the really good mod teams are gone. There is a new breed out there now but their doing it tough. Their learning from scratch and on their own. No one there to help them, teach them, support them. Those people aren't there anymore and those are the people that gave up on rF2 years ago. Modders with years of combined experience and no how. Gone! Why is it that rF2 and ISI are getting a dumb rap from sim racing websites? Jess, I don't know! ???
That's the $64 question. Why do some youtubers focus on rF2s bugs and setbacks when they would never mention the bugs and setbacks of their number one game? Who knows....heck, there are quite a few users on this forum who only focus on the negatives. Start a "great job ISI" thread and the usual suspects will post a negative spin on it. It's not surprising the devs seem to avoid this place at times.
lol well I got to chuckle. I said 3 years ago in this regard Thing is back then I got roundly criticized and ridiculed for it. lool
How long on average do you think it takes a rF2 novice to work through, mod manager and all the rest offline let alone online. We been at it for years hehehe and you want them to do all this, find a car, track and room suits them, have productive laps and find "that thing that makes rF what it is" in 7 days. Tall order for newbies. Personally I think the best time you could have had a paid trial online was back in Build60. There was less cars and tracks, rooms were condensed = more action, atmosphere, setups, help. Lastly I don't think people should be getting it for free. AC, pCars, SCe, iRacing and the rest don't need to give free demos. Either way I think a month timed online demo for small outlay would entice more, what iRacing charge 10 dollars.
Don't be so silly Durge of course people should get a taster for Free! I agree the Refund Option could be longer, 7 days for a complete newbie is not long enough to experience what RF2 truly offers, although I'm not sure if there are any legal implications that factor (pun intended) into the time frame of course, that could be an issue. All depends again if RF2 goes to Steam, which is a whole new ball game.
Okay whatever keep the offline 2/3 cars demo fine as well no problem. No matter I still think a month paid online full trial would be a way to get more people, well, online...simple as that . So every other developer and me are silly ? Who else gives it away for free, I will sign up. Thanks for the insightful input but. lol Way I see it a free demo cheapens it and tell me when have you ever heard people that onlined it whinge about it, all these reviewers race Ai or demos !!!. So what ? Do more drivers that buy it and try online for a month get refunds ? .......... I don't buy it. lol
Still currently the biggest problem isn't negative reviews but lack of any reviews. If I google on product I want to find some opinions on it, I can't. Couple of text reviews on three years old beta, one sad ISR review. If the product was on Steam, it would at least have user reviews there and a solid metascore number. In lack of better reviews you are now directed to random useless videos as "Why rFactor 2 makes me sad [Mini rFactor 2 review]".
again you're confusing text, a Demo should always be free and if one is available that's a good thing so not quite sure why you're against that. How a free demo "cheapens" it is beyond me, it's the same Build, same Cars, same tracks as found in the full version....how is that cheapening it exactly? A longer refund option can give the user a chance to properly see the full game as opposed to just the Demo content (which they may not be interested in).
No need for more than a week. Took me about 10 seconds to realize something special was going on. After 5 laps in the 60s F1 I suspected no two laps would ever be the same. After a day I was sure that was the case and nothing else would ever be as meaningful. Quit fiddling and just drive...
I think you need a even keel on any discussion. rF2 like every other sim has it's good and bad. Today here, we're on the rF2 forum so we talk rF2. It's not about compared too! It's about hearing the good and bad so you have a fair amount of positives and negatives. I wont tell people not to buy rF2. As a driver, end user it's a great realistic sim. Well realistic as a PC game is always in debate but among the others in this area rF2 is leading the pack. Others will argue. In saying this, it has to many issues (though improving) for people to enjoy it. DD mentioned the fact that a lot of us get rF2 and can work it out because we've been doing this stuff for years. I agree with that. think a lot of us scratch our heads when a newbie comes on with some really noob question. How is it that hard to understand? Then earlier on at least some of the answers they got from the so called experienced confused even me! I wasn't surprised when that guy disappeared. Then there was "I know better" arguments. Your way is wrong! I'm right! How could a newbie work with that? How this is now I don't know. I don't get that deep into this forum anymore and haven't for over a year. When you look through the threads that interest you the one thing that is most noticeable is the names of the majority of posters. There's roughly 5 prolific posters and around 10 that show up regularly. Take it how you like. It dose say a lot to most who notice this trend. These people for the most part are bias to rF2 and will argue the point. We all hate the term, "fan boy" I'm sure but when the shoe fit's. Right? You can be a advocate for rF2 but you need to have a open mind and except when there's problems to. Glassing over them with the usual gloss doesn't help anyone.
Good for you, but not everyone will decide in 10seconds, you have to think about those that may need longer. That was it, knew that was something that prevented it! Shame really, if not 30-days a 14-day Refund option would give users a much better grasp. Can you expand on the bolded bit more please? not quite sure what you mean by "it has to many issues...for people to enjoy it" As for the rest, yes there's issues with the game but show me a game or piece of software as technical as this that hasn't! Some aspects annoying yes, others not so much and you can live with them and just Get On And Race which is perfectly achievable and has been for ages now.
Cannot say I read all here, but I can comment in OP's post that , yes, reviews are terribly important, its your introduction to a software you want to know whats about. You all maybe think that since you are fans of a certain field of software, you should know what its all about. It doesnt happen this way. Everytime I am looking for a software, be it racing, flying, drawing, trolling, I always search at the web for "best at" and then when software is in "best at", I search for reviews. I spend a week on average searching for reviews before I go for it. Simple as that and I think every sane person should do it. So, I really dont know what ISI can do about it, but reviews are fundamental for advertising a project imho.
You've basically answered it yourself but your looking at it as a experienced user and you don't have problems you can't work out. It's easy for you to gloss over it. I made that point in the same post. Think as a newbie who knows far less.
