Hot off the heels of another monthly roadmap and our Zandvoort 2021 release, here’s the bi-weekly CS blog again! The last two weeks have been mostly spent continuing the development of ratings and the UI for it. We’re making steady progress and also taking the time to fix some bugs that were reported by the community in the different competitions that are running. Looks like we’ll need at least another month before we finish this, but we’re happy with the progress so far, and some performance improvements in the upcoming release candidate will also be helpful for the CS.
Again, the main part of this blog will be answering questions. We’ve got some interesting ones again this time, so let’s get started…
Q&A
Will the Fanatec CSL DD be fully supported out of the box?
neuvao
We are working with Fanatec, but it’s too early to make public statements at this point in time.
Would it be possible to develop an accessibility feature like the Racing Auditory Display (RAD) for blind racing enthusiasts?
Wardrone
I had to look up this system as I was not aware of its existence. You are talking about this one, right? We will have to look into this to see if it’s feasible to implement, so I can’t give you an answer right now.
I’m missing practice servers in CS, free for all, with timed rankings. Just before GT challenge there was a practice server but only for some hours.
Jeroen Goudeseune
Noted. We’ll start adding those over time. We currently lack the ability to run practice sessions (open ones too).
Have you thought about using the safety car in the CS? This is one of a few sims that feature the SC, so it would be cool to have it in use.
Fabian Balle
We have thought about it, but for now decided not to do it yet. That does not rule it out in the future though. Especially for oval racing, that would be a great feature to have.
When to go for a simple and effective race model? Hourly race for rookie series, for example USF2000 or -17: training 15mn > qualifying 10mn > race 20mn/ Alpine cup: training 15mn > qualifying 10mn > race 20mn. it’s simple and efficient Tried it! Is there anything stopping you from doing this format?
leseb64
Nothing is, we just need to start doing some.
Can we have a permit system in addition to the rating? (the famous carrot that makes the player want to and can have a goal!) Am driver > bronze/silver/gold and Pro driver Bronze/silver/gold.
leseb64
That’s one thing we’re considering, yes, a system that classifies drivers in different levels. We have not worked out the details yet, we first want to get the ratings in at this point.
Will there be a file or a section to see the replay of the online races?
leseb64
Eventually yes, we are holding on to all of those, we just lack the UI to download them into your replay folder right now.
Is there any update planned to vehicles like the StockCar 2018x or others cars that currently use Goodyear tyres in real life after the collaboration with this brand?
L0P3X
Yes, we are looking at upgrading more cars based on the data we have.
Recently we had the PBR update to the USF2000 car, after that release an official server was opened, any chance to see this kind of “Test servers” on CS as small competitions? (3 days or 1 week long, for example)
L0P3X
In the future, yes, those will move to the CS as well instead of us setting up a stand-alone server.
I tried to join a session Qualification (20 min) + race with the BMW M4, but I missed the start of the qualification by 2 minutes (Contents had to install itself). Could it be possible in the future to join an ongoing qualification session?
Spyro
That’s on our list to add. Open qualification sessions.
I wanted to chip in on the need of a voice chat feature, because seeing it for instance in iRacing is so much fun, and you do need to speak with other drivers during casual races (especially after incidents), and doing it via text chat is too convoluted. Considering that features that increase the fun/experience are likely to increase participation, I think this feature should be higher on the priority list. If you implement voice chat through established services (discord, TeamSpeak, etc.), it would be ideal if the rF2 user doesn’t have to install anything manually.
coasting&cruising
Noted. You make a good case for this, but we probably will keep prioritizing a few other features first. For the record, I think the chances are bigger that we’ll integrate with an established system than that we’ll “build our own” at this point.
I’ve really been enjoying the Competition System in recent months, and just wanted to say a really quick ‘thank you’ for the excellent work everyone continues to do with my favourite sim!
Vincent
You are very welcome, it’s nice to get positive feedback and as you know we are continuously working on further updates.
Do you have any plans you can share for future events similar to the recent ‘Summer Showdown’?
AxleSpin
One upcoming event or rather competition we have just announced, in partnership with Motorsport Games and ACO, the Le Mans Virtual Cup. That should be a major community event for us. Stay tuned as we’re announcing more information in the upcoming days!
Imagine you had a friend who doesn’t know rF2 and they asked why they should use the CS? What would be your answer?
TIG
I know that many people who start racing at first are hesitant to race online, scared that they might not be fast or good enough and that they could ruin someone else’s race. We should encourage people to take that step regardless. We all started this way. I think the CS offers a lot of opportunities to try out online racing and get better at it by racing a lot. You will also make new friends in the process!
I really like the idea of multi-class casual racing – how far away from having this in the Competition System would you estimate to be?
TIG
Probably not that far. We are first focusing on ratings, but racing with multiple classes only requires a few “upgrades”. We need to build the standings for such races, and things like split and starting position algorithms. So a few things to figure out. The next part of that would be to go to endurance races with driver swaps. That’s a bit more work.
Can we please have some oval racing in the Competition System schedule? If so, do you intend to add any more ovals to the base content?
Hebbletone
It’s still on our agenda to add more of that, and yes, we are entertaining the idea of adding another oval. Watch this space!
I love, love, love, looooove the 2013 Skip Barber. It’s about time it got a PBR update and added to the CS don’t you think?
ApexRacer
We’ve noted your suggestion! To be honest, there’s quite a few cars still on our list to do a PBR update for. We typically spend time on these in between projects, so it’s a bit hard to predict exactly when we will do each one.
Do you plan to add an in game penalty system for the Competition System?
Vince
Yes. For some competitions, our race control already hands out penalties, mostly after protests that arrive after each race. Obviously, we already also have commands to hand out in game penalties, and we are exploring the option to create an “automated steward” that will hand these out directly.
