One more, with the new trackside animations will pitboards be possible? Obviously a low priority but would be great for imersing ourselves, specifically in the older series.
We have talked about pitboards, and we definitely want to do them--it will PROBABLY not make the initial release, but I can't say for certain yet.
As for the packaging system, we will give out more information on that once the format is final for release and we know exactly what baseline features it will and won't have. It will probably SEEM a bit limiting at first (again, depending on what makes the initial release), but we will be expanding on it post-release (word according to Gjon
). The idea for the release is to at least get a stable system in place that accomplishes our two primary goals--no online mismatches and no cheating due to local file changes. Once we get that then we can build on it to accommodate the various special case needs that mod teams and leagues may require.
We know that rF's strength is the ability to mod it. We'll probably have to ask for a bit of patience for rF2 as we start with a solid base and then expand it outwards into a more robust system. Again, it really all depends on what we have time to finalize for release. That said, I, Lo, and Luc will be around (as well as ISI support) to assist mod teams and leagues in doing what they want/need within the confines of whatever system we offer initially. And of course we'll be working with the community post-release to figure out in which directions we need to take the packaging system to achieve specific goals.
Again though, our main goal is to get people in to online sessions and racing without having to worry about if they have exactly the same files as what's on the server. If it's on your server list, and no mismatch is detected, then you know you can join that server and start racing.Once we accomplish that then we can make the system more robust and fluid.
With that in mind, let me take a minute to talk about the various community wishlist items. We have gotten SO MANY great ideas from the community--items that we'd already thought of as well as many that we hadn't. I know for certain that not everyone's idea is going to be implemented on the first go--there is just no way to do EVERYTHING that EVERYONE wants. Let's face it, at some point we need to lock down rF2 and get it out to you all. I hope this doesn't disappoint people, but I'm sure it will some. Again, just keep in mind that, like rF1, rF2 is not a short-term title. We will continue to expand and refine it and hopefully give it the same legs that the original had.
I think what we'll have when we release is a title that offers new features that take the racing environment to a new, deeper, richer level; and hopefully will give you an idea of the many possible ways we can expand on it from there...
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