rF2 vs rF1 online activity

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by stonec, Aug 10, 2015.

  1. stonec

    stonec Registered

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    Few years ago I thought rF2 was about to surpass online activity of rF1 easily. I was under the impression it had by now, but then I had a look at the matchmaker. rF2 has a pathetic 50 players online and rF1 well above 100. It could be co-incidental, but such a big gap is not explained only by coincidence I think. It seems more leagues are back to using rF1 than around half a year ago. Perhaps ISI should conduct a study from drivers and league admins why they prefer to stay with rF1. I think the following statement I heard today pretty much sums it up.

    [About Race of Champions event]: I would have wanted it to be in rF2 but apparently not enough ppl has it. So the options were rF1 and AC and I voted rF1

    Imo it's ridiculous that people prefer a 10 years old sim without even proper wheel adjustment options next to this. Clearly something should be done.

    View attachment 17574 View attachment 17575
     
  2. Nuno Lourenço

    Nuno Lourenço Registered

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    Main reason - with rF1 pseudo simracers play for "free"

    Second Reason - Vmods system is a horror to the community since day one. I don't get how ISI did not see that since day one.... Is unreal the time that drivers need to loose just to be able to enter a server.....

    Third reason - This one is related to the first one too. rF2 being not "free" it sould be appealing in all ways to be able to match the pseudo simracers in Asseto Corsa for example and that is not appening. The real simracers choose simulation and pseudo ones choose graphics and content variety.

    Fourth Reason - Lot of people still not be able to play rF2 at decent graphic settings because they still using outdated hardware and in low graphic conditions I'm convinced that rF1 looks better than rF2...

    Conclusion - I doubt that you will ever see rF2 with same amount of drivers that you see in rF1
     
  3. cosimo

    cosimo Registered

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    rF1 is ugly and old. I never managed to get online. FFB is poor. Graphics is poor.
    I mean it was great when it came out, but it's now many years ago.
    I can't understand why people still play it. Maybe they're just used to it?

    Modify files manually? Download .exe files to install mods? No thank you.

    And yes, guess which one I tried first, rF1 or rF2? :)
     
  4. Guimengo

    Guimengo Guest

    A lot of folks have PCs incapable of properly running rF2. A lot of folks are satisfied with rF1 because it has the content they desire (thousands of people still partake in NR 2003 leagues). rF2 costs a lot more - of course - and the additional cost to play online is prohibitive, even if it means free DLC. I do know of a few folks with rF2 who had their online year expire and just keep the game in single player, if they play at all.

    One bit of personal observation, I do not understand league servers remaining locked outside of official sessions. That is not exclusive to rF.
     
  5. Miro

    Miro Registered

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    I am not sure Vmods are really a problem anymore, must admit tho I am not racing on many servers online. But those where I do, I have no problems.
    GetMod works perfectly for me in the league. Press race and get a coffee instead searching the net for components and right versions.

    When I host privately for fun I use the experimental dedi mode. Pick car, pick track and off you go. Sure it is limited currently and would badly need more options for hosting but it works and there are workarrounds for that. If you are aware of them setting up a perfectly wokring server is a matter of seconds and joining is not a biggy aswell. We are using official conntent mostly which helps a bit I guess.

    However I think online racing could still be made "sweeter" for people to join by making it more accessible and attractive to join, for example in the UI with more filter options or bringing the online part of rf2 in the UI more to the foreground so a user can't really "ignore" it. If it would be up to me I'd make the matchmaker the first thing you see in the launcher :D. If you wonna see the news you'd have to click a button. Also I'd seperate the servers with official content and unofficial content.

    Even if I want to do some pick up racing which is ment to be for fun I'd need some goals. In iRacing you have some sort of goals aswell.
    Be it either the champoinship you are participating in, your known "enemies" you race, safety rating or keep/improove your irating etc.

    For a simple pick up race with randoms without goals I'd not really waste my time anymore especially if it is not with conntent I enjoy to drive.
    Just not worth it, I rather prepare for a league race then or drive something offline I enjoy.
    Well I would actually race if I knew there is something I enjoy driving with more people (which is the case for iRacers I guess) but the past has lernt me that is not the case so I do not really bother anymore.

    IMO it needs a bigger change at once. For example UI change, new conntent, quick hosting options expanded and maybe some weather effects gfx blabla improovements at the same time so more people at the same time check it out again. I fear step by step improovements are just not gonna cut it anymore but who knows...
     
  6. simforlife2

    simforlife2 Registered

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    because of crack and hardware
     
  7. patsax95

    patsax95 Registered

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    I have hard time believing that outdated hardware would be a big reason. Just look at how popular ac & pcars are, and those games are at least as demanding as rf2 is. And tbh you don't need that good of a PC to run rf2, I have a 4 year old system with a gtx 660 and i'm able to run rf2 on pretty much maxed settings.
     
  8. simforlife2

    simforlife2 Registered

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    rf1 the public are not gamers, has basic hardware for the undemanding game with a GT8880 is already sufficient , public pcars and Asseto are not only common but simracers players
     
  9. DurgeDriven

    DurgeDriven Banned

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    So you say :rolleyes:


    Go toddle off with your rF lol
     
  10. Ronnie

    Ronnie Registered

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    Well I can share a story with you if you allow me. It will be a longer story so bear with me, please.

    Years years ago around 2007-2008 I started racing using rF1 and joined a polish league that for a long time had a really good run of having even 200-250 active members racing both GT and mostly F1 20/80% ratio in F1 favour. It was so many people that we had to split official races into even 6 almost simultaneous races with up to 24-26 drivers each (3 were taking place at the same time +-30 min or so, 3 were waiting for the rest to end). Which all were ranked based. You were starting at the very bottom and you advance as you win, perform well in lower tier races. Competition on the highest level in A race which was the at the top of ladder. People on the server at almost all times. There wasn't a moment when you couldn't jump a server (we had like 4-5 of them) and do mini races (5 laps sprints), fulls (somewhat training full distance races before official races). All the structure in the league was there. Online monitor on the website with live timing. Leaderboards with times, stints etc. It's been like this for many years. When around rF2 was released in January 2012 I jumped from rF1 but many still stayed with the predecessor for many reasons which some of them you Nuno pointed out. Then the league that I was a part of before rF2 came out slowly started degrating due to internal problems with admins and so on. New league was created by many users of the previous league and even then they still went with rF1 just to switch it for rF2 at some point in 2014. It's a small group now. 20-25 people meeting at official races and to test together from time to time.

    Many people from the old large league went in different directions. Some stayed with rF1 but different league, some went to iRacing, some went to AC, some other sims or games if you want to call some of them that way. I had a long conversations with people I've known for years why they didn't sometimes give it a proper chance. Not talking about sticking with it for longer than 30 min and bugger off. Some even refused to try it out entirely purely because someone told them it's not worth it, it's crap and so on (or based on pics/vids seen on internet). After hours and hours of talking to dozens of people I was really upset. 70 % of the reasons were bullcrap that they heard somewhere, 20 % were impatient people that couldn't bother themselves to tweak and fiddle with settings, options to make the experience as they wanted it to be. They expected and wanted things to be ready from the get go without messing around and "wasting time" as they said. 10 % were legit problems like not good enough PC or they truely spent lots and lots of time to make everything work as they wanted, they asked for help, they read manuals on forums but still couldn't get what they wanted or they decided to wait for certain feature/features to be in more complete state to completely jump into it.

    Nuno your points are very much true. I know lots of people who refused to pay for rF1 and used cracked version so paying for rF2 wasn't a solution for them. Many of them who bought were put off by how much different it is to rF1. FFB, real road tech that made "living hell" for many because they were so used to perfect conditions at all times in rF1 and them comparing times and boasting around that seeing so many variables and tracks at green state each time they didn't have rubber saved made them go ballistic sometimes.

    It is frustrating to see many buddies from the past that spent time with me, long days and nights, showing what they truely were looking for. And mostly it was minimum contribution, workload with anything. Setting up a server, racing, making setups. Everything had to be served on a silver platter and when rF2 asked for some of their time to make it suit their needs they turned around and said nope nope nope nooooope.

    Devs are aware of this. They know that hardcore simracers aren't a common sight. Sim racers that are willing to devote, dedicate their time and effort to fully enjoy the experience instead of looking for a quick, easy reward that doesn't require any work.

    My guess is that rF2 can expect a HUGE boom with new users coming in when it is as "stupid-proof" as possible. When everything shall be done within moments from clear, easy UI, no advanced tweaking needed. When few major series come to rF2 with everything supporting it's racing like upcoming Stock cars, which we all can see ISI is trying to get everything that they can right and implemented before giving away the car... You can only make first impression once. They seem to know that and good first impression is top priority I'm guessing. To get that they are working on everything that is needed to fully support it. I'm very pleased to see this. VERY. Then we need to get few other series that are popular worldwide or nationwide and again get all the features to work 100% with it to get the full impression and enjoyment. Then we have construction, sounds, graphics refinement etc. It's an ongoing development and maybe at the begining of next year rF2 that we all know now won't look anything like it is right now in many aspects. Backend too.

    I could make a conclusion of the thoughts but it would be just repeating myself from above so I will just say that rF2 CAN have a future where everytime you open matchmaker you see lots of full and semi-full servers it just needs to make steady jumps towards what they seem to know and understand and sooner or later rF2 won't be that weird nerd that everyone was making fun of and liked by only a few people that cared for more than just how cool, good looking one was and start being ugly duckling that transformed itself into a swan that everyone looks and whispers wow. It's all about dedication and patience. ;)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 10, 2015
  11. stonec

    stonec Registered

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    Yeah it's not about hardware. That would explain why some people stick to rF1, but not why those people are willing to race rF1 & AC but not rF2.

    I agree the only thing badly wrong with rF2 itself is the online lobby / rfmod / autodownload / "whatever you call it" system. The lobby system of rF1 is better, it includes chat and more session information. But that has been said a million times, even ISI agrees with this if you read the 2014 Q&A. I think another reason is failed marketing, especially the transition from beta stage to evolving product stage. Although you would think 2 years later people would have got past thinking of rF2 as beta or unfinished, but clearly that's not the case.
     
  12. Domi

    Domi Registered

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    Paying for the current online system makes no sense, and it's acting as a vicious circle; there are few players online --> players stop paying for online suscription because can't find races --> there are even less players. It makes no sense to release very high quality cars for free and pay for a service that brings nothing to the user experience.

    When everybody praises your game and nobody plays it, you must be doing something wrong.
     
  13. Ronnie

    Ronnie Registered

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    You have a point actually to think of it. However that is only valid when talking about random pick-up racing seeking users. Of course that a regular AC guy (slowly is starting to look like rF2 nowadays from time to time), iRacing guy coming to rF2 would expect easy access to any random server and at least a dozen people to race with.

    However I would guess that 70 % of people that own rF2 and still regularly use it are members of a league or a club of some sort that create meet-ups on servers.

    So this statement is true to the rest, these 30 % of them. However with more user friendly experience for those who want to focus solely on pickup races people wouldn't give up on rF2 because of lack of people when accessibility is way better. That way encouraging people to hop into rF2 and seek for such an opportunity.
     
  14. Eddy

    Eddy Registered

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    This i can totally agree with Guimengo. having said that i do understand that they don't want 'crashracers' in their server where their league members are training and trying to set up their car for the official event. but then again i think most of the real sim racers here playing rF2 are setting up their car off-line even before joining a server.
    But for league's to attract people i think it would be good to every now and then set up an event open to everyone.
    Example for this was Rich Goodwin's league last year, open races for everyone...very successful. Or an other example the by hardtohandle (Legends league) initiated league alliance with Ari Antero's Fun to race and *blush* don't remember the third league's name. But i participated in a few of these races and they had a great turnout and good clean racing from top to bottom.

    When i look at how many active forum members we have got here...well i think it must be possible to have a nice on-line experience even now. But for some strange reason everybody (me included) stays in his own man cave enjoying his hobby alone. Well with the AI :rolleyes:
     
  15. Liquid4653

    Liquid4653 Registered

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    Tracks are one of the problems in rF2, there simply isn't enough because of the hoops you have to jump through to get them in rF2 properly, but rF1 has so much track content that leagues can run where they want pretty much which is essential given a lot of leagues replicate real life series and locations.
     
  16. jpalesi

    jpalesi Registered

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    This.
    I'm in a CART 1998 championship currently in rF1, and I can't do the same in rF2.
    If I want to a DTM 1988 championship, or ATCC 1986, TCL and the tracks are in rF1. If I want to do an USAC 1973 race, it's still in rF1, etc...
     
  17. Ronnie

    Ronnie Registered

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    Lack of tracks isn't as big of a problem. It could always be better but if you look for long enough you might find many, many tracks that you want. What's funny that sometimes tracks that you like but weren't updated for a while get updated "locally" and distributed to certain people so when you see a server with xyz track and 123 car you get all happy because you have that but once you hit join, it shows that track xyz that you are using is v1.04 while they are using v1.05 and you can't find v1.05 anywhere online and get mod isn't set up properly on that server. Happened more than few times to actually mention it. :) Doesn't happen with bigger, more mainstream tracks but with the rest.. it depends :)
     
  18. simforlife2

    simforlife2 Registered

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    has much rf1 content but not all have quality including tracks, rf1 also has many conversions and lived it and modders , now the ISI original content to rf2 is much better than rf1
     
  19. Eddy

    Eddy Registered

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    Do you really think so Liquid4653, imho we have got lots of tracks some good some bad. biggest hurdle in my opinion is the league joining thing (register...remember pass word....rules and regulations etc. etc.)
    Being a Dutch guy i looked at SRVN, they are well organised. streaming their races. Lots of things going on. But then i looked at the lap times these guys are doing......ohw my i'm way off the pace of those guys, and don't think i ever are going to be fast enough to even dare to join their league. So till this point it stopped me from joining their league. And many others for that matter.
     
  20. Liquid4653

    Liquid4653 Registered

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    I do Eddy and tbh if you look at the tracks and do not include poor conversions and wips and only have fully completed rF2 tracks listed, it's not as many as you think.

    I don't understand why joining a league is such a big deal, hardly difficult.

    Competing with alien drivers however and not being one of them performance wise is not an ideal situation tbh, but there are many different driver level leagues around, or there were on rF1 in the day, I cant comment of rF2 league availability as I don't have the time these days to be in a league sadly. If your a clean driver im sure these leagues would be happy to have you fella and it will make you a better driver.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 11, 2015

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