What are your predictions regarding rFactor 2 pain index, meaning all the fiddling with wheel settings, plugin problems, config files, multiple installs, basically all the "noise" that rf1 had that made it as much of a hobby as a game. So, for example, my perception of the amount of time I spent researching, troubleshooting, tweaking graphics performance, slogging through website for online leagues information, etc. etc. etc. to be 75% and this is NOT all bad because often about improving the experience but maybe half of the 75% WAS bad and in many cases also avoidable with better design, interface, communications, etc. For example, and this is not a criticism just an observation, I have never done anything but race in NKP. 100%. No tweaking, fiddling with force feedback, slogging through Internet forums and google research, etc. just plain racing. Please don't start another discussion of rFactor vs. NKP I am just usingasan example of what I am asking. So what are your predictions? Will my 75% become 50%? What was your percentage of non-racing time spent with rf1? Would do you expect yours to be with rf2? I should do a poll! Also I must say that I am growing weary of simracing "overhead" in general and so have been focusing more on rf2 and offline racing and have completely discontinued fiddling with things that don't work where I can. For example, GSC out of nowhere started popping up the license activation window and I entered my activation code and it rejected it so no more GSC.... Not worth it. Only sim racers would put up with barriers at every turn (no pun) but I am done and only having fun and have a life outside of sim racing.
Well...apart of the problem solving procedure for specific hardware, I think those percentages are totally subjective. Depends on your approach to the sim. There are guys who're searching all the time for the best performance in graphics...or the best car performance on the track..or both, so more anal we're more time we've to spend to find the way. About the "noise" depends on your skills. If you do multiple installs..or you messed up your files with dirty installations, 3thd party plugins, config files personalization etc...it's not about the game itself so it's not predictable, like any other piece of software out there... Honestly I never had particular problem with rF1 nor with rF2...but more open the platform is (like ISI titles) more you can get issues working inside it. My personal percentage (as a user not as a modder) could be less than 20% so i can't vote.
I voted 20%, but that is more than actual time spent playing with the game rather than playing the game. I have spent a few minutes here and there messing with it, but that is very little time compared to the actual playing time. More like 2%, probably.
Using rF2 for an average 1h per day, means 365 hours per year, and i have played rF 6 years, say 2200h 20% means 440h? It means more than 18 full days, 24h of 24h. Addicted users who play 2h per day, have to waste 146h per year to set the sim? Users who play 2h in the weekend, still have to spend about 20h per year? In 20h, people with average IQ can learn the basis for complex software! I think i have spent about 30 mins in rF (setting the FFB) and zero time in rF2 ... wait, i wasted some time in rF searching for the right version of a track, but in rF2 i hope the packaging system will reduce such waste of time! All in all, the poll is good for a laugh, nothing more.
Ah ah...you're right. If we consider the ENTIRE amount of time spent, from the first installation until the last day...percentages have to be near to zero...unless you're re-doing everything (re-installing, re-buy, re-setup graphics, re-setup wheel, FFB etc...) every single day. LOL....
Surely ISI are going to do some work on rf2 just before gold to reduce amount if time messing & fiddling will they not?
Don't get me wrong, Max, as this is not meant as critical. Allow me to break time down further... 1. Initial install & setup. Identifying system requirements, PC, wheel & other hardware research and purchasing decisions (many of which are ongoing with upgrades to hardware, rig, etc., paying for software, downloading, internet and forum research and experimentation regarding best settings and performance, impacts of software updates, activation issues, issues with new mods, understanding new plugins, etc. etc. 2. Searching for new content, downloading 100 mods or tracks for every good one, finding leagues matched to your interests and time zone, translating and decoding mysterious and poorly organized league web pages and mod versions, etc, etc etc. 3. Testing cars, plugins, tracks, setting up cars, etc. etc. 4. Etc. everything BUT racing (practice counts asracingtome) 5. Racing Admittedly, I am blending two concepts. I am asking a general question about all non racing time but I am asking it about rFactor 2 so not all is addressable by or should be addressable by RSI and I am also curious about anyone like me who will NOT be investing time like I use to with rf1. So please this is not critical but I will say that anything ISI or others can do to streamline user interface and league organization or content management like central mod repository or documentation, etc. etc. will be much appreciated of course so poll should make sense now and if < 20% then select 20% please.
I sure hope so. Does anyone know where AC stands on eliminating all this friction? I strongly believe that accessibility is an enormous opportunity for differentiation so if AC is plug and play, nails online and AI and has other goodies to make my life easier then that will be a factor. It is no secret that rF1 was criticized, right or wrong, by many with regard to packagin, presentation, interface, frustration, etc. and I have to think many, many people just threw it it the trash. Rf1 has been getting good buzz in forums still and I will see a comment about someone having a copy that came with a wheel and that they are going to "give it a go" and I think it is impossible to "give rFactor 1 a go". Hopefully it will be possible to give rf2 a go.
I don't really understand this thread. I think someone buying GTR2 or GTL or rF1 for the first time would take 10x as long as rF2. Ever looked at the download sections at NoGrip? It would take a week to go through all those downloads. When rF2 goes gold, there won't be much "pain time". Fanatec and Thrustmaster users can jump straight in without any fiddling of the .ini files and there will not be 100's of mods and tracks. The gold release, we aren't going to have to install all those ISI mods and updates. It's going to be one package from what I can gather from Tim's posts. I think you're making it more involved than it really is. When I first bought rF1, there was already 100's of mods and tracks. I played the stock content for a month before I even thought about mods. And one big thing you are forgetting: rF2 will have much much more stock, licensed content than rF1 had. ISI stock content is going to be why people buy rF2, not the promise of mods like rF1. ISI stock content will be the focal point and the selling point.
What is this poll aiming at? Lol! When you like a sim you enjoy every part of it? Otherwise you buy a console!
Then there is us modder weirdos, rF2 average time per day must be something closer to 5 hours, but even rF2 is open 12-14 hours day when doing modding, which is very often with current economy, it also is lot of double checking, research, ton of reading etc. so it is bit less actual driving. Racing? None.
Didn't you say your going to make the gold version purely an .ini controlled program with no instructions or GUI? as that's what most people in the forum are asking for, maybe I'm thinking of someone else or have got that completely backwards I would have thought that most people would realize that Beta means not final and things will be added and improved on from feedback received from beta users, the point of a beta is to find things not working as well as wanted and improve on these prior to going gold. Most would agree there is room for improvement in this aspect of RF2 and Tim has said many times this will be improved before going gold. You will always need to spend a little to customize the game to work best for your hardware but if someone is spending those sort of percentages of time setting things up then they have some major issues. The first week may take a larger amount of time to get things running at their best but once things are done you dont need to redo it every time you load the game.
Anyone remembers gaming at time before DOS4GW ? Ah the memories of XMS, EMS, of course config utility needed own tweaking and there you had to set IO addresses and interrupts of sound card, which were set by placing jumpers to sound card properly. I often wonder that modern day gamers would perhaps not be able to even start those gems, there really was no any manuals for getting that 4kb of more ram available, everything was done by typing commands which were not told by game manuals as it was your responsibility to get your system to have correct memory configuration to meet requirements of that game. No internet to search help either and most did not even had a computer at home. Could ISI make rF2 for dos instead of windows, that would certainly get attention of media?
