Update day! Today marks a very pleasing day for us here at Studio 397 – after a considerable amount of work behind the scenes, we present to you what we consider to be a rather substantial new update for our Nürburgring Nordschleife track in rFactor 2.
Busy as we’ve been with the recent developments on the GT3 BOP and physics front, not forgetting of course the 2020 Bentley Continental GT3 and Ferrari 488 GT3 EVO, we couldn’t let the one-year anniversary of our most substantial track release pass without some additional love from the studio – and now, 12 months on from bringing this great venue to the rFactor 2 public, we’ve given all layouts a substantial refresh in terms of both visuals and optimization – and the results are, if we do say so ourselves, rather pleasant indeed.
So, what’s been happening behind the scenes to make this new update possible – and what does it mean for the end user?
In short, it means a more optimized track with prettier visuals. Two very welcome things on what is by far and away the largest and most demanding layout within rFactor 2.
Nürburgring Nordschleife | Steam Store: Click HERE.
In real terms, the development team have been working incredibly hard behind the scenes to add all the latest PBR shaders and lighting balances to the track for this new upgrade, bringing the Norschleife itself and the various additional layouts of the venue bang up-to-date with the latest visual developments within rFactor 2.
When we looked at the circuit in detail, we decided to revisit much of the surrounding trackside furniture to give things a little refresh and bring them closer to its real life counterpart. This means items such as emergency support vehicles around the venue have been updated, as has the addition of new crowd and public vehicle models dotted around the many popular campsites. Talking of being out in nature, we’ve also planted plenty of new trees to ensure the experience is as closely matched to that of driving through the 20+ km circuit in real life as possible.
Oh, and we added support for up to 90 vehicles on all Nordschleife layouts using the Grand Prix pit lane… so we doubt you’ll have time to admire the scenery when that many cars are out on the track!
Now I’m sure you are thinking all these wonderful sounding changes are going to grind most PC’s to an absolute standstill… well, we’ve also worked very hard to bring a new optimization pass to the track as well, so not only does it look much better than it has ever done before, it also has further optimizations too – something we are sure will be well-received by our rFactor 2 community.
The Nürburgring Nordschleife really is one of the most spectacular circuits in motorsport, and now it looks better than ever following this update – we hope you enjoy it!
Changelog
- Comprehensive & Extensive PBR Update to the entire Circuit
- New Textures for Roads & Terrain
- New Features on Roads such as dust and improved real road dynamics
- Reworked outer terrain materials
- Reviewed trees and treeline objects, materials and placement
- All new crowds
- Reviewed night-lighting
- Further optimisation pass
- Added “Grand Prix No Chicane” Layout
- Added Support for up to 90 vehicles on Nords layouts using GP pits.
- Added New Support Vehicles
- Various General Fixes
- Extended white line on layouts using the GP pit exit so cars can merge safely further down
- Moved tire barriers in that slightly blocked pit entry transition on 24H layout
GT3 AI BoP Updates and Minor Fixes
While the track team was hard at work on the new version of the Nürburgring Nordschleife, part of our team responsible for cars and AI went back to our GT3 lineup to fix some minor issues as well as balance the AI for all those out there that love some single player action.
Quite a list, so all the details can be found below! And yes, the Ferrari GTE also sneaked into the list while we we’re at it 
AstonMartin Vantage GT3 2019
v1.77
- AI: More forward downforce
Audi R8LMS GT3 2019
v1.51
- AI: Added slightly more grip
Bentley Continental GT3 2020
v1.11
- Adjustments to aerodynamics to reduce excessive front lift.
- Fine tuned to ride height sensitivity.
- Fixed cams
- Updated brake disc materials
- Adjusted cokcpit AO
- Fixed shadow in showroom
- AI: Added grip, especially front end
Callaway Corvette GT3 2017
v2.91
- Fixed wet tires starting temp
- Adjusted collision mesh
- Adjusted lower LODs (removed endurance light covers)
Ferrari 488 GT3 2020
v1.29
- Fixed onboard cam clipping the curbs
- Adjusted bonnet cam
- Fixed clipping TV cams
- Adjusted rev lights on the rev limiter
Ferrari 488 GTE 2020
v1.83
- Fixed onboard cam clipping the curbs
- Adjusted bonnet cam
- Fixed clipping TV cams
- Adjusted rev lights on the rev limiter
- AI: Slightly improved pace
McLaren 650S GT3 2017
v2.77
- AI: Reduced understeer
Mercedes AMG GT3 2017
v2.87
- AI: Reduced spinning in certain situations
- AI: Reduced understeer
- Adjusted collsion mesh
Porsche 911 GT3 R
v1.69
- Added speedo to dash
Radical RXC GT3 2017
v2.77
- AI: Slightly slowed down
Latest rFactor 2 Build Update
Steam Build ID Client 5694072
Dedi 5694077
- Fixed some cars showing all white in the showroom
- Fixed cars showing in the list that shouldn’t be there at server join
- Fixed chrome material not working in the showroom
- Fixed an issue that could cause a client to load an old version of a track when joining at server join
NEW UI Only
Steam Build ID Client 5694164
- Added real descriptions for cars and tracks in the content selection list
