Latest Roadmap Update - February 2018!!!

I'm very happy with the way in which rF2 is being developed; Studio 397 have been making solid progress since taking over from ISI.

Ecstatic read more official cars are coming. Another Corvette in the form of the C7.R GTE/GTLM and another car pack based off the Feb blurb is great as is the Norma M30 LMP3.A laser scanned Sebring is a great addition for the newer cars; I'm presuming it'll be a paid-for addition.

HUD & UI, Community & Competition all welcome.

The addition of KartSim is a very interesting development. Makes me wonder what else is cooking in the background.

 

Same for me when it comes to cars/tracks except for the karts.
Im an average fan so I like F1/F2 and thats it. Only bought the DLCs out of curiosity. People are not happy but for me the wait is even bigger. The last F1 in the game is from 2 formulas ago.
Just hope the karts are very different from the current ones.

Come to think of it this situation maybe stems from ISI policy of no DLC.
DLC is the only way like Kunos showed.

 

Nice rig man. Got Oculus 3 weeks ago and it's flipping amazing. Been trying all the different track and car combinations all over again in rf2 and the immersion blows my brain. Fell in love with rf all over again lol.
Bring on the performance update .

 

Content:
Ok while Kunos revealed ACC with a hole! series and hole tracks with very good grafics (ok, i dont like this blurr shit but even AC was already ahead), the rF2 roadmaps show 3 cars, one track, every piece now to buy on its own? Or will it for gods sake, after 300 years of rFactor, now a complete series build up? The only thing that i can image that ACC wont drive over rF2 for 99,9% news sites (and sales) is in 2 month a hole 24h series is teasered by you.

So the time to sell an "addon" wont come back? Only keeping this "DLC" Bullshit like all other racinggames and staying average? I dont like this and thats why i only bought 1 assetto dlc, no RR, no iR...

 

The basic approach for content addition should be fairly clear by now.

For cars, it is best to sell them in a 'pack' - like the GT3 pack. We know they intend to sell the new Corvette as part of a pack, presumably of GTE cars (but maybe include some prototypes as well). Where the series is single-make, they'll sell each car individually; the Tatuus formula car may be done this way. They might, in that latter case, decide to create an 'open wheel pack' if they include the F4, USF2000, Pro Mazda and regional F3 variants of that basic chassis (and I'd hope they do) - but also understand, that is technically 4+ licenses they might need to sign. SRO GT3 is about the only single-class series; there are some that offer GT4-only, but many have multi-class and that makes life a bit more difficult. I'm thinking here of US-based PWC, IMSA-sanctioned series and even ELMS. You might, for example, say 'offer a TCR pack' but then you look at how that is incorporated in different series, its standalone in WTCC, part of the TC series in PWC (multi-class) and part of Conti Tires in IMSA (also multi-class, but different class sets than PWC since that adds GT4). It probably makes best sense to do a GT3 pack, GT4 pack and TCR pack and then allow people to mix-and-match across those classes, rather than try to replicate specific series (and that also avoids licensing issues+cost).

For tracks, this is even more difficult. Whilst it might seem logical to do a 'track pack' for say SRO GT3, the fact is most tracks are shared across series. Rarely is a track associated with just a single series; although the Formula E tracks might be, and the upcoming Kart tracks. Maybe you could come up with regional packs e.g. North America, Europe but now you still get into trouble when you've released a pack with X tracks and now you release another one; does it get added to the pack 'for free' or do you charge individually for it? What do you do if track 'Z' is included in two packs, and you already own it as part of pack 1 and now want to buy pack 2, do you get a discount or have to somehow credit for stuff you already own? It becomes a minefield of considerations, so its best to be simple: one track, one price.

So the approach for cars is to offer them in packs where feasible, but for tracks, its best to offer them individually. That runs a few risks, especially if you have an iRacing-pricing of $15 per track vs an R3E-pricing of $5 per track. But, it would be nice to see a 'statement of direction' from S397 about this.

 

Maybe the ACC racing series license has to do with the fact that the studio is not independent anymore.
Just like Atari with GTR2.

And the cars in AC are sold in a manner that it only makes possible to have a mini "series" by buying several DLCs to collect the cars. Thats the best way because it optimizes profit and thus keep the game going.

Furthemore AC doesnt feature rain and weather and not even racing rules because that would undermine the sales of a future product.

 

Right, @caravan_driver. I think if you wanted to create as full an SRO GT3 series as you could using AC content, you might have to buy 4 DLC packs. Because their packs are often structured by brand ('Ferrari pack' which includes road and race cars, 'Porsche pack') in order to get all GT3 content you have to buy multiple packs. It makes sense for a manufacturer to sign that sort of license to promote itself, and it depends how you want to use the title as to whether it makes sense to buy it that way [and in this case, to race online with a class and cross-brand, its the worst option]. As you state, this structure maximizes revenue in the sense that people feel a need to buy all packs (and could be one piece short of competing, forced into buying the full pack). This is the problem with bundling; it works when you have say 10 pieces and want 8 of them, but doesn't work when you have 10 but only want 2. Think of your cable TV bundle; its a bundle of bundles by different networks, but you pay full rate for only about 20% of what you actually watch. If you don't watch sport, too bad, you get the ESPN channel bundle whether you do or not.

People want packs, but not forcing to buy excess of unused. So the best pack/bundle structure depends on what you want. There's no 'right' answer, just some that have greater or lesser benefits/drawbacks based on your use case. Selling as individual pieces actually minimizes the negatives.

 

The only negative is the soaring cost of content, ala iRacing.

 

Ridicolous.

 

Soaring ?

 

After reading all this I will add my 2 cents...rF2 needs an identity!
Being a modding platform isn't enough right now, after years of slow development rF2 lost his momentum and needs to offer something in order to attract people. Once people get used to it and fall in love with his strength (physics, ffb...) numbers will increase and modders will come back too (lately we see a lot of movement). I really appreciate what S397 is doing but there is a desperate need of order and focused content.
I mean, remove all the content you lost license (leave it as ISI workshop item and no auto subscribe for them), fine tune the released content (I am looking to you Radical), don't release half content packs (GT3 pack is good but where is the other half of the grid? GT3 pack 2 is needed) or still unfinished tracks, hire some guys (like Patrick Marek which did a great job on fictional PC cars) and bring back the fictional rF1 content (reworked and updated) and give full access to it, this way modders will have some good starting points (as examples, if we lose skippy, took that rF formula trainer and put physics on it, same for Marussia, take physics and put it on a fictional formula car, something Reiza is good at), release simple skin packs (at least 10 skins for each car) like you did for Mecca (color variations of basic paint) and put the official skins as workshop items (because a lot of people doesn't like to race a grid of gt3 cars with skins from different series), sort the workshop in a better way (right now is a mess we should be able to download skins, tracks, etc as well listed objects), etc etc
I can still go ahead for long time...I know S397 has a plan but this looks a little messy from external view...and right now for newcomers is difficult to be hooked by rF2...

In memory of good fictional content...

 

Amen!

 

Being a mod platform can still be a thing I believe. AC has no identity either, but they got those modders because it's easier to get your cars in game there (AFAIK) and also it looks better. You are talking about modding it means artistic choices, artists will obviously want their stuff to look better (at all times, not only in screen shots with low sun...) and AC does that better overall. Physics is another department, rF2 scared people away in part. Inb4 useless discussion about how realistic the tire model is and bla bla bla, people left, that's all what matters.
I would like to depend less on mods tho so full licensed series and tracks would be amazing. And a strong 3PA project to bring tracks to the game with good quality and performance too, those that wont be licensed for whatever reason
I actually wonder what were the so important licenses rF2 had that S397 decided to not drop it and rebuild it as a new game with all the stuff fixed, etc. I can only see Silverstone as something that was worth it and it's not enough. But now they added more so too late to change lol

 

There could also be argument for modded content being a reason that kept people away,because of the varying quality.
No harsh intention meant by that to any of the modders,but that’s one of the reason I here from folks in other games forums.
Ac has a huge amount of official content,so mods are and added bonus,but I don’t think mods can carry a game on their own

 

If they released GT3 pack #2, people would be demanding GT3 pack #3. There is no argument for why you can't have a full grid with five different manufacturers, and besides it is just going to be exponentially more difficult to perform BoP the more manufacturers you add. And regarding Lienz, I agree it's a great track, but Marcel wrote a couple of days ago in another thread that the whole track would basically have to be rebuilt for year 2018 standards. I reckon the rF1 version is about 15 years old, so it's useless as such.

I'm personally quite happy with the progress and release schedule of content, IMO S397 has met their targets there. The UI and multiplayer interface are the main issues at the moment.

 

Wait, I will try to be more clear...you can have a full grid with only five different manufacturers...but you can't mimic a full GT3 championship...

 

Isi reputation on physics department, along tire model, real road dynamic wheather make rf2 an unique sim in the market unquestionable better than any other (maybe too complex and some never worked right). They do not wanted to loose this neither the few, but passionate, user base
But now other titles is getting there with dynamic road conditions, dynamic weather, night/day cycle. And s397 "updated" Physics and tires so now rf2 become more like other titles in physics department with worse graphics. At the moment it feels like a transition to other titles standards in graphic, UI and multiplayer. Probably soon, few months after new ui and fps performance improvements and other details they will end rf2 and make their "new" sim

 

Yes, official licenses should be the main way, with modding being a support to bring stuff that is unlikely to see licensed. Tho I disagree that AC has a "huge amount", at least the relevant content...

 

i think theres some good content already in rf2, just needs updating to newer standards. For me rf2 weakness is its tracks, it really needs some more bigger venues and s397 content.. I really am sad to see the likes of Matsuzuka and bathurst not be updated to new standards. we need th tracks - I'm sure the modders would give permission - if s397 would consider doing the work. I assume there're fat too busy!

If you're looking for big GT/f1 like venues, you only have silverstone, malaysia, portugal and indy. zandvoort isn't finished,! We need some more guys!

 

Many things are moving that were not my expectations, and the delays (real, sorry S397) suggest that the next releases will be rather fantastic.

Nevertheless, for me, for rf2 to be made an identity again and attract more simracer, I do not think it is by adding skins, displaying necessarily complete grids, abandoning sports cars-supercars / skip barber etc etc that S397 will arrive there (I have not quoted all your suggestions).

For me to get there, RF2 and S397 must stand out while retaining their identity.

What is the main feature of their identity?

The overall realism of the simulation has a level almost unattainable by other simulations.

Stand out ?
- Exactly reaching an extremely high level of realism, very close to professional simulations (not only the engine physics, but also its speed of execution, the realroad, the humidity of the track , etc etc etc.
- Associated with a car content + circuit (especially car) which allows to exploit the quintessence of the realism offered by the simulation (which implies : great talent of the team at Borda and the team of content [no problem above .......], real accurate data of cars, real data of precise tracks and well transcribed or very detailed fictional tracks [many surfaces with different grips, bumps and irregularities, etc .. .. creating an algorithm to semi-automatically create these details for fictional tracks would be nice]).
- For the rest, we should continue the progress in all areas by prioritizing, but "devil" it is not a priority :
Reducing the means on these things would allow to save a lot of work time for the essential of which I spoke upper.

I am personally extremely disappointed by the almost non-existent progress on these subjects (from what the user can see, since no real communication has been available for a year or more.) (Yes the new tires on 7 cars, and the others ? There is nothing new for the end user in terms of realism [not to confuse realism and immersion]).