Need VERY basic help to get started

Hello, and thanks in advance. First off, it is impossible to overstate just how much of a newbie I am - I've never even played a single video game in my entire life. I've recently built a fairly high end sim using Fanatec components (DD1 wheel base, Podium hub, R300 wheel, and Clubsport V3 pedals), and I've purchased rFactor3 through Steam. My immediate goal with this endeavor is not to go sim racing, although I've sure I will want to do that eventually, but to use my sim to learn Atlanta Motorsport Park, which is only available in rFactor2, in preparation for taking a 3-day race school at the track in March.

Unfortunately, I'm completely lost, and don't even know where to begin. The screens described in the videos I've watched don't resemble the ones in my copy of rFactor2. I basically need instructions that walk me step by step literally from the absolute beginning of opening up the game, to selecting the track (I'm only interested in AMP at the moment), the car (ideally a Radical SR1, which is what I'll be driving in the class and the race series), the baffling array of entries in the Setting screen, etc. Basically, I'm getting a little desperate looking for help to convert what is currently a $6000 coat rack to a functioning driver training tool. Thanks in advance.

 

Read this post and the next before trying anything. I FORGOT several steps. lol.

The reason the screens loo different is the result of a 4 year project to create a new USER INTERFACE. (Ui)

rFactor 2 (rF2) runs through another program called STEAM. So the first step is to register and download Steam.
When you start Steam it will find all the compatible games on your computer. Find the rF2 icon on the library tab. Press play. If your system is configured properly a grey box will appear with 3 choices . Choose the top option and load rF2. this will take several minutes. Wait for a grey screen to appear, shortly after that the main menu should appear.
Click on the word RACE located near the top of the screen Then choose single player. From there you can choose a car & track. There is a Radical but probably not the one you want. Select the car and track then click on the word RACE which is located near the bottom of the screen
Then wait. New tracks loaded for the first time take longer to fully load. This will eventually get you to the garage. If you read my 2nd post and properly calibrated your wheel, press the DRIVE button. You will find yourself in the cockpit, in a garage or pitlane with a dead car. Choose the two keys you assigned for ignition and starter. press the ignition and then press the starter. Off you go. Once you reach the end of pitlane, press the button/key you assigned for the pitlane speed limiter. Otherwise you will be stuck at 80kph.

 

My phone screwed up, so here is the REST of the STORY

rF2 is a very old program that is undergoing a very fundamental rebuilding. This will often cause all sorts of conflicts and errors, but we will assume everything works first time, for now. Basic thing first. TURN ON YOUR WHEEL. rF2 will rarely find a controller/wheel if it is not powered up first.
(I forgot to add this part above)
You have to configure your wheel for it to work with rF2. Click on the gear shaped icon near the upper right of your screen, then choose the CALIBRATE option. Move your wheel all the way to the left and HOLD IT THERE, you should see a dark grey triangle match your wheels movement. While holding the wheel, press on the SET MAX L box below your wheel graph. Center the wheel and turn it all the way to the right and HOLD IT THERE. While holding the wheel to the right, press on the SET Max R button. Return the wheel to center, make any tiny correction to perfectly align the wheel at the center and press the center button.
Repeat this process for the gas pedal and brake pedal and clutch pedal. Press and hold then press Max and release. Then press minimum. Repeat for each pedal. Now look at the bottom and choose the ASSIGN option. Click and choose options for Throttle, brake, shifting, and steering. Also choose keys/buttons for the ignition and starter and Pitlane Speed Limiter. That should be enough to at least get you on the track. Click on the left pointing arrow on the upper left, that will take you back to the main menu, This is where you click the word RACE below your car and track selection and off you go.

 

SoI´m guessing the videos you saw are old, like by a year or more... the screens look the different but mostly have the same options...
first thing first, set up your wheel and pedals; got to the main menu then click in the gear icon then go to calibrate and assing: (click on the images to enlarge them)


There should be a profile for your wheel in assign, if not set up all the buttons manually. Just make sure you remember where the speed limiter is, or else you´ll be stuck on the pit limiter speed all day long

then, make sure you are subscribed to the car and track in the steam workshop:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=950759997&searchtext=radical
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=950759997&searchtext=radical

 

now go back to the main menu, then on the race section, click customize:


go to sinlge player, the higlighted areas below are where you choose your car and track. make sure you´re on "all tracks and cars " above

 

Next go to session settings. I´d start with just a practice session:

Pro tip: keep flag rules on none, they don´t work well currently. And maybe mechanical failure off, you can always toggle it on or off whiule driving with one of the F keys.

Now click on the "practice" square down below, It will take you to this screen:

keep weather on scripted, choose a reasonable time and time scale at normal so it doesn´t get too dark too soon (rf2 takes sunset info depending on the real world seasons and location of the tracks, so right now it might get too dark realitvely early in atlanta, idk)
realroad basically lays down rubber on the track as you drive, might want to try a medium preset and 1x

Now go back to the race menu and press "race". Wait till the car and track load up (it always takes longer the first time you load each track)

no. 1 is the session settings; if you ever set up practice + qualifiying or race, you can jump to or restart a session there
2 is the settings again, if you need to change the controller assignments or graphics
3 is the setup for the car and drive to go out on track. Have fun.

 

Thanks very much!!!!! I just saw your replies, and it will take me a little while to digest it all, but I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your help - you guys are the first ones to reply out of the several forums on which I've posted my cries for help. I will go through your replies in detail after dinner, and follow up with any questions, of which I'm sure I will have several.

One thing right off the bat that is really bugging me is that when I open my copy of rFactor2 (which I did purchase through Steam after I downloaded Steam on my PC, and looks exactly like the screen shots Mitch9 posted), it automatically goes into full screen mode, which I can't figure out how to change - I've tried all the function keys on my keyboard, and none of them change the display. Other applications, like my internet browser (I'm using Edge) all allow me to minimize the screen. This makes it very difficult to toggle between rFactor, and the instructions you've posted for me - I literally have to exit the game to be able to access a different application. Any ideas how to fix this? Thanks again,

 

Go to settings - display - set whatever option is fullscreen by default to either borderless or windowed, as you prefer -

 

Thanks - the (apparent) control of the display is actually, and counterintuitively, located in the Graphics men, as opposed to the Display menu, which would make more sense. The Window Mode was indeed set to Full Screen, so I toggled it to Windowed, pressed the Apply button, and nothing changed - the display is still stuck in Full Screen mode. Pretty frustrating, actually. Is this normal? Anyway, I'll ignore this issue for now, and just try hopping between the computer I'm typing this on, any the PC that drives my simulator, and try to work through instructions this way.

 

Not related to the excellent help you've supplied, but sunrise and sunset will occur at the same time in the game regardless of the date of when you're driving IRL. It's based on the date that's hardcoded in the .gdb file for the track.

Note that I'm pretty sure that rF2 will always be "fullscreen" regardless of that setting and you should be able to switch windows by pressing alt-tab. But that may not work if not set to borderless or windowed.

 

Because (thankfully!) so many people replied to my cry for help, I'm going to have to respond with my questions to the individual responses, which will get a little messy. So here's my first response to Mitch9: My wheel base (a Fanatec Podium DD1) shows up under the Controller heading, and it's also listed under the Configuration heading. So I selected my wheel base under the Configuration heading, and hit Save, but nothing happened. Does this mean my wheel base was already saved? And I'm not seeing any selection to set up my pedals (Fanatec Clubsport V3 in my case).

Because (thankfully!) so many people replied to my cry for help, I'm going to have to respond to each individual response as I have questions or follow-ups, which I know will get a little messy, so please bear with this, and my overall supreme ignorance. I'm sure this will all make sense as I dive into it, but it's definitely a big blur at the moment.
So here's my first response to Mitch9: My wheel base, a Fanatec Podium DD1, does show up under the Controller heading, and it's also listed under the Configuration heading. So I selected my wheel in the Configuration section, and hit Save, but nothing happened, at least as near as I can tell. Does this mean my wheel base was somehow automatically saved (detected by rFactor2 perhaps?). And I'm not seeing any selection to set up my pedals (Fanatec Clubsport V3). Thanks - I'll next try your links to select the car and track.

 

Oops - sorry about the double post - I'm moving between two different computers, and didn't think my first response had already posted.

 

Actually, for me and most people in my team, when you are in fullscreen, alt tabbing will still keep the game in front of every other window, which I think is what the OP is experiencing. So changing it to borderless looks the same but let's me alt tab

 

Mitch - Again, thanks VERY much - without your step-by-step instructions, I would have been lost forever. I'm amazed these steps aren't posted anywhere where they're readily available.
I was able to select the Radical SR3, and Atlanta Motorsports Park. It's getting late, so I'm going to hold off taking my maiden voyage until I get home from work tomorrow night (I'm in Austin, Texas, so Central time zone). These are probably minor points, but I'm not quite following your comment on "choosing a reasonable time scale at normal so it doesn't get too dark too soon." Are the sessions done in real time? That would be a problem, since I would plan to do most of my sim driving during the week at night. Could you pleases elaborate a little on how the game decides when it gets dark (I assume that's what you were trying to convey). Thanks.

 

Sorry Nagy, I didn't see your response to me. Try, when launching rf2 in steam, selecting launch graphics configuration or something like that, and set it to windowed there

 

mmm no, you have to click on load; save is for when you make a change in the button assignment.
For the pedals, make sure they´re assigned by clicking on throttle/brake/clutch and press the corresponding pedal when promted:

now´s the time to click on save. You can also check if they´re calibrated properly on the calibrate screen.

No, sessions don´t happen in realtime using the local time of the track; the game runs its own clock. So, in the session settings, you can choose the time at which each session starts, the time scale and total session duration (practice time):

as you can see above, start time says "2:30PM"; if I loaded the game right now, I would be driving at 2:30pm, full daylight, even though its midnight where I live.
The time scale refers to how quicky time passes in game; normal time scale means 1 second is 1 second; 1 hour will last 1 hour and so on. Now, if you choose to accelerate time by, say 30x, you could drive from sunset to sunrise in 10-15 minutes or so.
You can also set the time scale to "none" so it´s always 2:30pm (or whatever start time you selected) regardles of how long you actually play the game.

I might be mixing up my sims here then

 

Hmmm... It's not responding as you're saying. When I select the Podium DD1 wheel base in the Configuration and hit Load (which is what I think I meant to say above - I said Save by mistake), nothing happens. But when I select Save, a message pops up confirming the profile name to be the Fanatec Podium Wheel Base DD1.
As far as the pedals, I'm not following what you're saying at all. When I click on any of the pedals (throttle, brake, or clutch) in the Controls section as you show in your screen capture, nothing happens. There's just a column to the right of the label that says JOY1 Y- for the throttle, JOY1 RZ- for the brake, and Q_KEY for the clutch, which are similar, but not quite identical, to what you show in your screen capture. Am I supposed to toggle between selections when I click on the items in the list? And what about all the other items under the Control section?
Would it be more efficient for you to walk me through this stuff on the phone? It would probably take all of five minutes. I'll try to send you a PM (assuming this forum allows that) with my number. Thanks.

 

Whenever you SAVE any preconfigured profile, Give it a new name. Saving Podium DD1 without loading it first could result in everything being erased.
MyWheel, PodDD1, anything but the exact name you started with.

 

I see I didn't understand your instructions, but I'm still confused. Here's exactly what happens when I select throttle/brake/clutch under the Controls section:
When I select Throttle, the following message comes up: Press key or controller (ESC to skip) - throttle. So I press the throttle pedal, but nothing happens.
When I select Brake, a large dialog box comes up in the middle of the screen, with the message "Assign Control" in light gray letters. Nothing happens when I press the brake pedal.
When I select clutch, I get the exact same dialog box as when I select Brake.
I wouldn't say I'm actually getting prompted to do anything when I select any of the pedals.
I am so lost.....

 

I just saw your response, but as usual, I'm not following. As I said, when I select the Podium DD1 wheel, and then select Load, absolutely nothing happens. Well, not exactly nothing - when I hover over the word Load with my mouse, the background behind the word "Load" turns white, but when I actually press Load, nothing happens. So I'm not understanding the concept of what loading is supposed to do.
Did I royally screw myself over by pressing Save without giving it a new name?