Welcome to our end of year Roadmap!
When we look back over the past 12 months we are incredibly proud of what we have achieved, additionally we are grateful of our ever-growing community who continue to support us.
Now with Christmas on the way let the sales begin! rFactor 2 is currently half-price, so make sure you get involved if you haven’t already right here http://store.steampowered.com/app/365960/rFactor_2/ If you were interested in the Formula E Energize Pack or the GT3 Power Pack, look no further, we have created a bundle for a limited amount of time – check it out here http://store.steampowered.com/itemstore/365960/detail/2000/
Over the past few months we have been working heavily on improving the graphics engine in many ways, so let’s look at a few updates:
Lighting:
Our lighting has been transformed, reflecting the environment, this is called IBLA – Image Based Lighting and it substantially improves the overall lighting in our graphics engine, creating a richer, more realistic view. This technology will help us improve and develop the engine and bring in new elements.
DX11 is now Go!
We are now bringing our DX11 as the default build people will see for the first time. With that we will be no longer supporting DX9, in fact, this is our last official supported version of DX9 – already you will not receive some of the visual benefits, such as the windscreen effects and moving wipers. Removing DX9 will allow us to concentrate on one build and enhance it – it also means new users see rFactor 2 in the correct light!
We do recognise that many draw to screen plugins are affected, however, our intent it to bring in tools to allow new ways to show data on screen without impacting stability or performance. Shortly we will have an update for the HUD which will provide access to additional data.
Cache folder:
Ever since we migrated rFactor 2 to Steam, we’ve been getting a lot of user feedback about the implementation of our “cache” folder and how it holds a lot of components that not everybody wants installed. Because it came with the base install, there was no good way to delete that folder as Steam would simply download those files again if you did. We’ve now removed that folder completely. On first launch we will still subscribe you to all Studio 397 content, but you will be able to unsubscribe from any item you don’t need.
Rain:
Our rain is still work in progress in many areas, however we are pleased to to bring a significant change, creating more atmosphere in and out of the car. We have converted much of our content to incorporate rain, however there is still work to which will go into early 2018.
Cars:
Our cars now simulate rain effects, including wiper animations and spray. There are different levels of detail which affect the windscreen which the ‘Rain Drops’ option in the display menu will control. These effects include water on the windshield as well as the car body with ripples dependant on your speed.
Tracks:
Tracks now have additional reflections, with the real road being redone. Kerbs also reflect correct in wet conditions and now on some tracks we will start to see dynamic puddle buildup, based off research and CAD. Currently these effects do not affect physics, however we intend to build that in as well.
To see the full release notes click here https://www.studio-397.com/2017/12/december-2017-release-notes/
3rd Party Content
We have mentioned this a few times before and now are starting to build the framework to allow creators to potentially license products. Our ambition is to help legitimise creators within our community and promote their incredible work. Our first venture will be with Kartsim, who have created a super realistic Karting platform and laser-scanned kart tracks – stay tuned for more info.
Final note
As we said before, thank you so much for your continued support! We are super-excited about 2018, with lots of new features and content coming – not only that with the world looking at sim racing as a bona fide esport we are in a great position to bring you not only great competition infrastructure, but the events to go with it!
