New build is fabulous.. still horrible online though

As said, iracing tend to do one car/one track combo for a whole week. I think id prefer that over the track changing every 30 minutes.

 

Just an update that I have added all ISI tin top content to a server of the same name. People can jump on the server anytime, run whatever cars they want, vote to change sessions, tracks, etc. how they see fit. As long as you have ISI content you will need nothing more than the vmod which will download automatically.

 

Create a mod is fast and there is no need for multiple tracks.
The server admins take too tracks. they must act differently.
ISI is not relevant for me.

 

rFactor has a price tag of $84 dollars for lifetime license. That's very steep and should offer something. Currently the one year included in the $43.99 price provides little value as there's nothing online so the "free" year will run out before the user gets to enjoy. So

 

I think you should try running a few servers with only built in content, and of course charge a monthly yearly whatever fee to use those servers.

Run car / track combinations that the subscribers want.

Have varying race lengths with varying driver aids allowed.

The last several months I been using iRacing because I like the structure and obviously don't mind paying for it.

You don't need to go the full blown iRacing route, but for multiplayer I think you should offer something server wise that I can plan around.

Every time a new build comes out I download it and it's better then the last, but then I go to multiplayer and the joy suddenly ends.

This is a great sim but it needs easy to join servers for old fart dummies like me.

 

I agree, the way the online works is how HalfLife used to work online over a decade ago, if you didn't have the mod then you were screwed and had to wait ages either for it to download from the server or to get kicked as you didn't have the files.

I suggest a 'quick race' kind of feature like you would find on console games. If there are enough people playing it would just throw you into a race with people in it.

Obviously this has the potential for some really bad racing, but at least you can just jump straight in. You could add a warning to this option so people are fully aware that you and others may end up driving a car and or track they hadn't learnt yet etc.

Better still, stats on what cars and tracks you have recently played so people can see if you are familiar or not, almost like a small ranking built in feature. It would help people choose if they wanted to waste time racing you or not.

Aside from this, better filters to get a race that suits you would be an option to be coupled with the 'quick race' idea.

 

I think you (ISI) should host several servers. One for each vehicle you release with track/s suited to that vehicle, and I don't think you should charge any extra for that. You should think of it as an advert and a data gathering exercise. This would do two things, it would give new people a guaranteed instant online experience, rather than a variable hoop jumpy one, and by the popularity of the servers you would get an idea of the content that perhaps needed work or was a complete miss, and you may get a better idea on priority of improvements. I would even suggest staff members/ testers go on these servers and trade paint with us customers and report back on the experience, only a small percentage of people who try and don't like it then come on the forum and give you constructive criticism. It's just a win/win surely. You could even try talking to those customers in the chatbox (I would love to seeeee thattttt cconversatttion lol) ( you would get the joke if you had used the chatbox)

On a side note I think you (ISI) are missing an obvious flaw with the default control settings. Make the exaggerated yaw setting zero, not +25. I guarantee people have picked up and immediately dropped the sim because of that one simple thing.

On a second side note I think you (ISI) seriously underestimate the number of people now running 3 screens. To hear you don't even have a 3 screen setup to test, is to me bizarre. You should be optimizing this and multiview and really pressing on the ATi performance issues. I honestly believe these things are what is keeping the take-up of the sim so slow and costing you guys money.

On a personal note having stuck with it from the beginning, I think you have made an incredible piece of software, thanks.

 

I was a league/championship simracer before, but now I am more an occasional simracer.
For league simracers, just find a good league, then you have lots of fun and friends, I really recommend it!
But occasional simracers usually do not stick to schedules, so what works best for them is what iRacing provides: several races each day for various days of the week that are also part of a championship using some voodoo math to give scores, with some car/track/fixed-or-not-fixed-setups/oval-road combos (series) to select; they last 12 weeks with the same car, changing track every week.
Some just race a single race or some scattered races but don't care about the championship only just an occasional fun racing, others one race per week to keep up with the championship, and others various races in the week to really fight for the championship or just because they have more time; but the good thing is that they race when they want or when they can, they don't need to stick to schedules.
If ISI or someone else can provide such a service, then that type of simracer will show up, I think it will be beneficial for rFactor 2.
It needs software to be developed (scoring, rating) and things to be automated (race sessions), track and cars should be auto-installed (reliable hosting), etc.., there are initial costs involved and then maintenance/running costs.
If a third party doesn't do it (don't know if it would cover the costs of development and then running it), then maybe ISI should do it themselves or hire someone, because it will increase sales and the user-base I think (my opinion, I could be wrong), the cost of it could be covered up by additional sales of rFactor 2.
Just my opinion and suggestion, would love to see something like that for rFactor 2 some day.
Have fun!

P.s.: sorry to mention the approach and product of another company, but I am being positive and constructive here and I think it is the best way to show something that I think is missing and that maybe could be achieved by ISI or someone else using rFactor 2; explaining it without mention of the other product/company would be a tad more difficult.

 

Pretty much agree with all of this, but would also add that a lot of work should be going into Oculus Rift support as well as triple screens, as within months people will be jumping onto the Oculus Rift and dropping 3 screens in most scenarios.

 

The simplest solution i could think of for online fixings is to allow the server to serve up the needed rfcmp files that are probably in their package directory anyways. We can already download the rfmod files from the server packages directory - now have it also grab needed rfcmp files. The server should be aware of which rfcmp file provided the content in use ...

 

This is what I would like to see added to rF2:

- APIs to have better control over the server
- APIs to manage, build and modify packages
- A way to launch rF2 directly to a server, kind of like rF1 used to allow: +connect IPort +password "password"
- Some improvements to the plugin API (timing/telemetry)
- The ability to control the pit menu remotely for spotting and crew

If we could get those things then we could do a nice web interface similar to what iRacing has. What would also be cool is let people donate their servers to the system. Just register your server along with specs like bandwidth so the scheduling site knows how many drivers the server can handle. After that the website could remotely manage installed packages and host what ever Car/Track combo it wants. If we had a nice way to schedule events like iRacing does I think you could cover both pickup racers and league racers. You would also have stats and race results for everyone to see.

Icing on the cake would be improvements related to doing broadcasts. If they could give us some way to make custom HUD items that could be used to broadcast overlays. Like gaps display, standings, leader ticker, session time, ect ect. Then give us an API to toggle HUD elements and maybe even change their screen placement via the API. We should then be able to build tools to donate a machine for doing a broadcast and allow a remote user to control the broadcast overlays and change cameras/cars. I did something similar to this in rF1 but it was very hacky because the APIs weren't there to do it cleanly in rF1. rF2's plugin API at least lets you direct select cars and cameras now.

 

The only problem with directly serving content is bandwidth. rF2 already consumes a ton of bandwidth just for the simulation. rF2 servers can already redirect clients to a webhost to download each needed rfcmp. It is just a matter of putting a GetMod link in each rfcmp that you plan to host with.

 

Kind of off-topic, but I dont think this is true at all. Oculus isnt going to be NEAR as popular as some seem to think. It will have a small, niche userbase, but I dont think it will become the norm for gaming at all.

 

I agree. rFactor 2 has come a long way and is still improving with every build. When it comes to driving it is the best sim out there. Amazing job! I still get a lot of AI trouble though. Especially with more than 20 cars. For example, Howstons on Brianza or Spa (both ISI). They always seem to crash (default aggression) and the full course yellow will just stay in place for the rest of the race for some reason (maybe no SC?). That is quite frustrating because I love those combinations!

However, online it is still in it a disappointment so far. Some basic options are missing, like seeing the car that is being used and the current track. However, that I can live without for now The major problem is the lack of populated and diverse servers. All I see is ISR Meganes, the others are all empty. It is basically Clios or Meganes all the time. Don't get me wrong, I love those, but how about the Howstons? They are amazing! I get the feeling people are just not interested in those, but I can't believe that to be true. I know a lot of people feel the same way.

 

rF1 was the same way for pickups for a long time too. Meganes or race in a league. At least this go around the Meganes are actually fun to drive. Too bad we can't add a bunch of AI and have it show in the matchmaker in the player count. We could trick people into joining a non-Megane server. hahaha.

I totally agree with you about not seeing the car names in the matchmaker. With rF1 I would find a server with a car/track combo that I actually liked and join it and hotlap alone until someone else joined. Once there were 3 or 4 drivers people would really start to join in. In rF2 you have to join a server just to see what cars it is using. The vmod is rarely named in a way that hints towards what cars are included.

 

The VRS server running skippys at lime rock somehow manages to report 2 people even though they are AI.

 

I agree, it is a little frustrating having to sift through god knows how many sites hosting different versions of one mod, only to find you have
the wrong version or something.
Some of the sites hosting mods you have to register with, which again is another pain.
The appeal to people less or non-experienced with sim's is almost non-existant. This needs to change.
Im like a lot of people here, im not interested in leagues, I want to have a quick look at the server browser, pick a server and go.
Im not even that bothered by qualifying sessions, if it were up to me, i would get rid of them.
Everything just takes too long to setup and get into.
Then when you spend all that time messing about, you start the race, and everyone crashes at the first corner and leaves the server.
You've just wasted 30 minuites to an hour.
There is a terrible lack of information regarding the servers.
The whole interface is horrible.
Autodownload of mods needs to work 100%, thats the main fix i see.
Whoever deals with that, i dont know, but that would so almost all problems

I know live for speed didnt really contain mods, but something with that game was so much quicker.
if everyone crashed, people restarted the race and it litterally took 5 seconds for everyone to be back on the grid.
this takes a bit longer, and nobody seems to ever vote to restarted (im not sure how it works on rf2).

 

Just had a cracking howston/Mid Ohio event with our league. public server, running all week. sadly people only join in when our members are active on it which usually is on 3 specific days. The rest of the weeks it part of all the other redundant servers.

Announcing it in the league section on these forums don't seem to make much difference either.

So yes, Meganes are popular but populated servers are more important so it seems, and to increase that we do need easier/quicker access.

Agreed Noel, i'm also usualy wondering what kind of car a server is running and it gets tedious to have to join and find out you don't have them or want them.
At the minimum give admins the option to add text to the window where its says servername, mod ID etc etc. That way you can quickly select server after server and see what is up for real.
But then again, just as peeps don't name vmods logically, they would not be using that either...

 

Strange because I joined my server, added a bunch of AI and it still only shows 1 driver in the matchmaker.

 

I've seen several times a server showing 2/3 players, and when I join there's no one there. Must be some issue with how they report player capacity.