Hello sim racers!
The final day of the year is about to roll around, and with those last dying embers of the 2022 almost in the rearview mirror, we thought now is a good of a time as any to have a quick look back on what has, quite frankly, been a fantastic 12 months for rFactor 2.
This last year, we at Studio 397 have worked exceptionally hard to both increase our rate of development, and continue to offer a healthy stream of new and exciting content for our users to enjoy – and hot dang, that’s been a successful mission!
In terms of the general development direction for rFactor 2, this year we instigated a new and much more ordered update release schedule, pivoting from a somewhat haphazard approach of recent years, to scheduled, quarterly plans that both help us resource, and sets a clear expectation to the community about when new things for the simulation can be expected. We think this quarterly release cycle has worked even better than expected, and we are of course delighted to see our community appear to be pleased with the new structure as well. The quarterly release cycle (Feb / May / Aug / Nov) is something we plan to continue into 2023, as well as the Release Candidate build program we have used for the last couple of years.
In terms of the simulation itself, although rFactor 2 has been out for a number of years now, I’m sure you’ll all agree that the level of progress we have enjoyed in the last couple of years has been nothing short of outstanding, with many fundamental improvements and advancements having been brought on stream in recent months. Does this mean we’ve achieved everything we want with the software, or that we are happy with the current feature set and development? Far from it, we recognise we still have a long way to go in order to push rFactor 2 forwards, and already the early plans for the simulation into 2023 are looking very good indeed – Q1 should be a popular one for our current and future fans!
We remain passionate, committed, excited and determined to bring great things to rFactor 2 in the future, and just like our incredible community, we are highly motivated and excited for 2023 and all that it will bring to the simulation.
Now, seeing as 2022 was pretty packed with goodies, let’s have a look at a few key highlights from the year that’s about to close…
New Content
Number of Cars | 13
Number of Tracks | 9
An unprecedented number of content items came to rFactor 2 this year, and perhaps more significantly than the sheer volume, 2022 proved to be a great year for us in terms of the scale of licences we managed to sign for the simulation. You wouldn’t have to look back far to see a time when some of these licences would feel like nothing short of a pipe dream, so to sit here at the end of the year and reflecting on what we have achieved, not to mention what we already know is coming in 2023, is an incredibly satisfying experience for the studio.
The first of these big licence agreements has to be the introduction of both the often requested Daytona International Speedway, and of course the ridiculously impressive IndyCar championship – two of the best US motorsport has to offer. Both IndyCar, in extension to our relationship back in 2014 with the DW12, and Daytona, proved to be massive additions for a small studio such as ourselves, and with these new relationships, we look forward to working closely together well into the future.
Another big one for 2022 has to be the British Touring Car Championship, and the full 2021 and 2022 grid represented in particularly strong style. As well as this being a great opportunity to partner up with a big brand such as the BTCC, it also allowed us to do something we haven’t done in a very long time – develop a robust front-wheel drive experience within the simulation. We appreciate that the trend of racing fans is to preference a rear driven car, however I’m sure many reading this will agree, the added challenge of learning to master front-wheel drive is a unique and satisfying experience, something that we know a lot of people have taken the opportunity to enjoy with these new cars.
Build Updates and Features
Number of Core Build Updates | 6
2022 has also proven a very fruitful (or should that be hectic?!) time for our code team here at Studio 397, as we’ve pushed exceptionally hard to bring a huge number of improvements and additions to the simulation. rFactor 2 at the end of 2022 is a very different, and much improved product over the one we closed out 2021 with. It would be, quite frankly, near impossible to list the full set of changes that came the way of the title over the last year, however, for the benefit of this feature article, we’ve attempted to pull together a few highlights from the year – just in case you might have missed or forgotten them in all the excitement we’ve just been through!
New UI
More Details | Announcement Post: CLICK HERE
With such a substantial rebuild of the entire rFactor 2 UI experience, below you will find a brief bullet point list of some of the key areas that have been improved or expanded upon when we launched this new build. Please note, these are just some areas of change, as the new UI fundamentally affects the entirety of the rFactor 2 user journey – with some aspects of the new 2022 UI Update adding substantial changes and improvements over the previous UI release.
- Brand-new audio and visual design across all pages.
- Main menu improvements for clearer navigation, more call to actions and an easier layout to understand for new users.
- All single player related functionality brought together into one area with cross navigation from, and to, any page in this area in order for optimized user flow.
- Enhanced layout of every page to improve user flow and simplify interaction.
- The settings menu has undergone a big update with clearer navigation, an easier layout and simplified user flow with fewer pages.
- The setup area has undergone a big update with clearer navigation, an easier layout and simplified user flow with fewer pages.
- Event screen optimizations and user flow improvements.
- 2 brand-new showrooms.
Real Road 2.0
More Details | Announcement Post: CLICK HERE
This was a big one for us in 2022, and a key element of further developing our immersive simulation experience in rFactor 2. With this update, we took into account various factors present within a real world track surface and applied that into how our previously static track surface behaves. What does this mean? Simply put, our track surface (on all tracks) now has an element of dynamic functionality, where the surface temperatures, and thus the behaviour and levels of grip they give up, will change and can be influenced by varied factors. These temperature changes can be influenced by things such as geographical location, cloud cover, time of day, ambient temperatures and heat transfer from cars running over the surface of the tarmac.
As a driver, this means each circuit will offer up varied levels of grip, and produce varied amounts of tyre wear, depending on the factors stated above. Furthermore, this opens up the opportunity for us to now expand how wet tracks dry (or dampen) over time, with covered areas less likely to change surface behaviour as quickly as those open to the elements.
New Sound Engine
More Details | Announcement Post: CLICK HERE
A brand-new sound engine was a massive boost to the simulation earlier this year, significantly enhancing the audio experience of the software and really helping to put our drivers firmly in the heart of the racing experience. Onboard and offboard audio have been significantly enhanced from what our players are used to hearing, with a much richer, more detailed and immersive output possible with this sound engine change.
Another major improvement of our new sound engine is the ability for us to now properly filter between different types of car style within the sim. With this new release, the simulation can now automatically detect when the player is using an open cockpit car in comparison to a close cockpit machine, and adjust how and what audio effects are played back to the driver – allowing us the scope to really up the immersive aspect of the different types of car, and tailor the audio experience to best represent how things would sound within a real racing machine of the type you have chosen. As an additional benefit, we can now support HRFT, which as well as significantly improving the audio experience for headphone users, will also greatly enhance how drivers using Virtual Reality will be able to recognize and interact with the placement of sounds within the simulation environment – yet further increasing the immersive experience of the title.
Wet Weather Improvements
More Details | Announcement Post: CLICK HERE
This represented a significant update to how wet weather conditions and racing behaves across the simulation. Here, we have reviewed our wet conditions in rFactor 2, adding a raft of improvements that should make for more immersive and realistic racing in wet conditions, from how the rain falls and dries on the circuit, to how the AI choose their tyres and manage the wet conditions. Drivers will now have to pick the best and most grippy line in all conditions out on the track, and the AI should behave in a realistic and believable way in terms of tyre choice and strategy. It is also worth noting here, users can now select the level of wetness on the track before the session, allowing players to dictate the track surface conditions to their own preferences.
In-Game Store
More Details | Announcement Post: CLICK HERE
With the way things have historically been configured to utilize the existing functionality within the Steam Store, we quickly realized that in order to translate our desires for a more robust experience into reality, we would have to go a little further than simply fine-tuning the existing feel – and so, the brand-new rFactor 2 Steam Store was born!
- Consistent, clear design with ease of navigation.
- Clearly shows owned content.
- The store will calculate the best deals, based on owned content and items within the basket.
- Under each content heading, the store will dynamically present you with content you don’t own at the head of the page.
- When reviewing the basket, the store will show similar, relevant items.
- When collecting single items, the store will recommend packs when they are cheaper.
- After purchase, content gets downloaded and installed right away.
Track Cut System
More Details | Announcement Post: CLICK HERE
Having reviewed the limitations of the previous iteration, this new system has been developed to both closely mirror how real world circuit racing penalties are applied, whilst also providing a more robust, fairer and clearer way of dealing with on track infringements by drivers. The new cut track and penalty detection system has been optimised for both non race and race events sessions, with appropriate weighting of infringements and penalty issuing developed in accordance to the type of session in which those infringements are collected.
In terms of track cutting, for the purposes of this new system a track cut is defined as leaving the legal bounds of the race surface and re-joining it and gaining a lasting time or positional advantage from it. The system has a number of parameters in which to calculate the severity of the cut, and what type of penalisation will be awarded.
Once drivers re-join the track, the system then takes some time to consider the situation and to see if the driver is trying to correct for their errors, under control or even going quick enough. This will help reduce false detections and receiving warnings for making a mistake
Sparks
More Details | Announcement Post: CLICK HERE
Anyone who likes themselves a good motorsport picture has probably seen an early 90s Formula One car kicking up a rooster tail of sparks from the undertray at any given circuit, those types of pictures are firmly embedded in the minds of racing fans, and now you can recreate this for yourself in rFactor 2! The team here at Studio 397 have worked exceptionally hard to not only bring these features to the title, but to ensure they interact properly with the types of cars we have in this simulation, showing off the sparks, rain spray and off track debris kicking up, while also ensuring they behave in a way that is accurate and interacts with the shapes and styles of cars that produce them – another very important step in our quest to continue building upon our aim to mirror real life as closely as possible.
AI Improvements
More Details | Announcement Post: CLICK HERE
Yes, we admit this has been a little while in the making here in rFactor 2 land, but this release was a great first step towards offering a substantial improvement to the way the AI responds in game – from more controlled and believable behaviour on the track, to the abolishment of the frustrating on and off throttle pedal control – literally a game changing fix and improvement to the core offline racing experience!
- Eradicated erratic throttle and brake behaviour.
- Smoothed out steering inputs and car control.
- Improved AI ability to adhere to racing surface and avoid unnecessary off track excursions and spins.
Traction Control and ABS Improvements
More Details | Announcement Post: CLICK HERE
The new ABS functionality utilises the same ABS onboard map as the original implementation, however, with these new developments drivers will be exposed to a much more accurate and realistic set of behaviours. Under heavy braking, when the tyres start locking up the ABS will activate and releases the brakes on an individual wheel basis, until grip returns and the ABS turns off again and brake pressure returns – exactly mirroring the mechanical functionality of real world ABS behaviour. ABS working hard? Expect quite a jolt through the force feedback!In terms of traction control, in this new build we now have three onboard TC maps, these are as follows:
- Onboard TC
- Power Cut TC
- Slip Angle TC.
The power cut TC controls how much power is cut when TC activates, with a higher map value simulating a higher level of power reduction. The slip angle TC controls how much lateral (side) slip a car can have before TC kicks in, with a higher map allowing less slip. Not all cars have these two settings, so one or both of these may be disabled, in which case they are controlled by the main “onboard TC” map. Next to this, the onboard TC map also controls the longitudinal (forward) slip the driven wheels can have before TC kicks in, again a higher map means less allowed slip.
Furthermore, additional dashboard ABS/TC lights will be introduced to cars with these features enabled.
Looking Ahead to 2023
With the year over, don’t for one minuite think this means the team at Studio 397 will be taking their collective feet off the gas – far from it, as 2023 is set to be another year of significant change and improvements – with quite a big surprise set to be announced towards the middle of the year ahead…
It would be fair to say that each and every member of the team here at Studio 397 are massive fans of real and virtual motorsport, and I think that often shows through in the commitment to quality and diversity we bring to rFactor 2. From big licences, to continued and enhanced development of the core code within the simulation, we remain firmly focussed on bringing our players the best driving and racing experience we possibly can, pushing the boundaries of what we thought was possible to achieve within this software.
2023 plans are already very advanced for the future development direction of rFactor 2 and Studio 397 projects, with plenty of exciting things in and around the world of this simulation lined up for you all to enjoy in the coming 12 months and beyond. A lot of what we have planned, even at this early stage, are shaping up to be very exciting for sim racers the world over, and we cannot wait to go on this journey together, and share what we hope will be another year of great developments and enhancements to our favourite hobby.
Final Thoughts
On a personal note, I wanted to take this opportunity on behalf of Studio 397 to thank all our fans, both new and old, for sticking with us and continuing to enjoy the rollercoaster ride that is rFactor 2. This past year has been an eye opening experience for us all, as we buckle down and continue working exceptionally hard to bring bigger, better and more important improvements to our favourite racing simulation. The journey isn’t always the easiest one to take, and from time to time we make the occasional misstep, but as in everything in life, the most important thing is always to take all of that collective experience, both good and bad, and feed that into our future learnings to continue to improve and progress going forward.
From new ways of working, further integration into the structures within Motorsport Games, new staff and different roles and responsibilities througout the team, I think we at Studio 397 have worked incredibly well over the course of the past 12 months, and that work continues to put us on a fantastic trajectory for the future – a future that is, in my humble opinion, an incredibly bright one, and one that should continue to bring joy to sim racers the world over for the foreseeable future.
TLDR? I’m pretty stoked for 2023, and I think you all should be too!
Have a great and safe New Year celebration, and we will see you all on the other side in 2023.
