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Released | Oreca 07 and GTE New Tyre Update

Released | Oreca 07 and GTE New Tyre Update

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Hello sim racers! 

Today is a good day for endurance racing fans in rFactor 2, as we release the first of our significant upgrades to some of our legacy content within the simulation. Following the considerable updates we have brought to the software in recent weeks, we have resolved to work hard over the coming months to uplift our existing offering to make the most of these new changes, and the first batch of cars in receipt of these improvements will be the Oreca 07 LMP2, and our raft of GTE cars from the likes of Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin, Corvette and BMW.

The new build, available today, brings with it full compatibility with our brand-new sound engine, a brand-new BOP, the latest generation tyres, introduction of engine and brake cooling and of course our new shift protection enhancements – thoroughly refreshing how these cars sound and behave within the software. 

Endurance Pack | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

These cars are ready to hit the track, but fear not, we’ve already started work on the next batch of content to receive these new changes – so stay tuned over the coming weeks and months to find out what comes next when we get a little closer to completion… 

Update Notes

Oreca 07 | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

The changes introduced to these cars are pretty significant in nature, and as such could introduce a very different feel and experience behind the wheel – be warned, you will likely need to do some work on any existing setups you have in place for these cars! 

All this said, please find below the update notes that form this new release: 

Aston Martin Vantage GTE 3.09

  • New Tires
  • New engine cooling parameters
  • New brake cooling parameters
  • Added Goodyear sidewalls
  • Added shift protection
  • Upgraded to new sound engine
  • +20kg, +7% aero drag
  • -6L fuel tank for standard package and -1L fuel tank for Le Mans package (refuelling time recalculated for 30s full tank refuel)
  • less sensitive aero to ride height change
  • Added LMV 2021 liveries

BMW M8 GTE 3.09

  • New Tires
  • New engine cooling parameters
  • Separate front and rear brake cooling settings
  • Added Goodyear sidewalls
  • Added shift protection
  • Upgraded to new sound engine
  • -10kg, +4% aero drag
  • -8L fuel tank for standard package and -3L fuel tank for Le Mans package (refuelling time recalculated for 30s full tank refuel)
  • less sensitive aero to ride height change
  • Added LMV 2021 liveries

Corvette C7R GTE 3.09

  • New Tires
  • New engine cooling parameters
  • Separate front and rear brake cooling settings
  • Added Goodyear sidewalls
  • Added shift protection
  • Upgraded to new sound engine
  • -5kg, +17% aero drag
  • less sensitive aero to ride height change

Corvette C8R GTE 3.09

  • New Tires
  • New engine cooling parameters
  • Separate front and rear brake cooling settings
  • Added Goodyear sidewalls
  • Added shift protection
  • Upgraded to new sound engine
  • -10kg, +5% aero drag
  • -6L fuel tank for standard package and -3L fuel tank for Le Mans package (refuelling time recalculated for 30s full tank refuel)
  • less sensitive aero to ride height change
  • Added LMV 2021 liveries

Ferrari 488 GTE 3.09

  • New Tires
  • New engine cooling parameters
  • Separate front and rear brake cooling settings
  • Added Goodyear sidewalls
  • Added shift protection
  • Upgraded to new sound engine
  • -5kg
  • -5L fuel tank for standard package and -4L fuel tank for Le Mans package (refuelling time recalculated for 30s full tank refuel)
  • less sensitive aero to ride height change
  • Added LMV 2021 liveries

Porsche 991RSR GTE 3.09

  • New Tires
  • New engine cooling parameters
  • Separate front and rear brake cooling settings
  • Added Goodyear sidewalls
  • Added shift protection
  • Upgraded to new sound engine
  • +10kg, +4% aero drag
  • -8L fuel tank for standard package and -1L fuel tank for Le Mans package (refuelling time recalculated for 30s full tank refuel)
  • less sensitive aero to ride height change
  • Added LMV 2021 liveries

Oreca 3.01

  • New Tires
  • New engine cooling parameters
  • Separate front and rear brake cooling settings
  • Added shift protection
  • Upgraded to new sound engine
  • Added LMV 2021 liveries

What’s New

New Tyres

Thanks to some detailed work and data sharing with Goodyear, we are delighted to today bring the very latest tyre specification to these cars, adding our latest understanding and development progress to a wider selection of content within rFactor 2. Using the same model as can be found on the recent new content releases and the Formula Pro and BMW Class 1, these changes should help migrate the behaviour of these cars into a far more realistic window of normal operating behaviour. 

Sound Engine Compatibility

Following our massive new sound engine release for rFactor 2 earlier this year, we have spent the last few months developing these cars to be fully compatible with the varied new features and options available to us as part of this update. Now taking full benefit from the sound engine, these cars sound absolutely incredible within the simulation, both from within the cockpit, and trackside cameras alike. 

Balance of Performance (BoP)

Of course, new tyres and new physics features will require a whole new Balance of Performance (BOP) to be undertaken, and this is exactly what has been completed for this new release. Developed over many weeks with painstaking attention to detail and many laps logged – these new cars should now race very closely together regardless of model chosen, with the obvious manufacturer differences that will become apparent on a track to track basis. All GTE cars now have their fuel tank capacities balanced against each other, so they are competitive on fuel consumption and refuelling during pitstops.

Shift Protection, Engine and Brake Cooling

An important element of many modern race cars and series, our new shift protection feature has been included in each of the cars that form the update today – forcing drivers to moderate their shifting behaviours and helping to add another element of realism and true to life characteristics for these cars. Also making its way from the latest update into this batch of content is the new engine and brake cooling feature we released back in the Q2 2022 update. 

The new update is available now, and should download automatically for those who already own the content within their rFactor 2 installation. 

rFactor 2 – Available now on Steam

Announcing Competition System | Season 4

Announcing Competition System | Season 4

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Hello sim racers, 

Season 4 of the rFactor 2 Competition System is ready to go – are you up for the challenge? 

This new season is an exciting one for all of us, as we look to mix things up a little with a brand-new series to join, as well as returning and expanding some fan favourites you have come to know and love over recent months. Developed with a view to offering racing opportunities for drivers of all tastes, we think this latest collection of events should provide some epic moments for our players, and we can’t wait to get out on track and go door-to-door with you all! 

Headline activity from Season 4 has to be the long awaited and welcome return of GT3 cars in the Competition System, and not just the cars themselves, but a brand-new series for you to get involved with! Please welcome into the world the GT3 Sprint Trophy, a dedicated Competition System series where drivers will be pitched into 60 minute races every Wednesday evening, on a range of exciting circuits from within the current rFactor 2 offering. These races should provide that GT3 hit our audience have been asking for, and with it, plenty of exciting racing opportunities – get your rigs ready, this is going to be intense!

Season 4

Dates | 27th June to 5th August.

Series | Rookie Cup, Open Wheel Sprint, GT3 Sprint Trophy, Touring Car Challenge, Race of the Season.

GT3 Sprint Trophy

Pre Qualification from 15th-26th June

Cars: GT3

Times: Every Wednesday at 20:00

Format: 10 minute Practice, 10 minute qualifying, 60 minute race

Rookie Cup

Car:  Alpine A110 Cup (Steam Workshop: CLICK HERE)

Times: Daily, at the beginning of every hour

Format: 10 minute practice, 10 minute qualifying, 20 minute race

Open Wheel Sprint

Car: Tatuus FT-60 (Steam Workshop: CLICK HERE)

Times: Daily, 30 minutes past every hour

Format: 10 minute practice, 10 minute qualifying, 25 minute race

Touring Car Challenge

Cars: Infiniti Q50, Toyota Corolla

Qualifying: 1x Hot lap split qualifying Monday 27th – Thursday 30th June / Laguna Seca

Race: 2 x Races every Friday 21:00 CEST

Hot lap qualifying: This sets the split for the season – points awarded each race will determine split for race 2-6

Format: Race 1 – 10 minute practice, 10 minute qualifying, 6 lap race / Race 2 – 10 minute practice, top 6 reversed grid, lap count track dependant – overall race time roughly 25 minutes.

Race of the Season – Hotlap Qualifying until 31st July

Car – Toyota Corolla

Track – Donington GP

Date: 7th August

Time: 21:00 CEST

Qualification: Hotlap competition to run 5 weeks through the season

Number of Drivers: 30

Race Details: 45 minutes, 1 x pitstop – upgrade

Live Steam: Yes – TraxionGG YouTube

Season 4 is set to be another great period of online racing in rFactor 2, and we are just as excited as you to get things up and running – see you all out on the track(s)!

Bahrain Headlines New 2022/23 Le Mans Virtual Schedule

Bahrain Headlines New 2022/23 Le Mans Virtual Schedule

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Get ready for some incredible racing action this year, as we announce the latest season of the Le Mans Virtual starting this September 17th with a brand-new track to rFactor 2 – the Bahrain International Circuit! 

That’s right, following an incredibly successful year in 2021, Motorsport Games, the ACO and rFactor 2 are back again for another season of the premier endurance racing online competition, mixing real world teams and drivers with elite esport stars of today, racing together over a five round campaign that ends in the now famous Le Mans 24 Hours Virtual over the weekend of January 14th and 15th next year – a welcome return to the toughest endurance racing series in the world. 

More Info | Le Mans Virtual Website: CLICK HERE

This season, the Le Mans Virtual Series will run with a prize fund of US $250,000 and is set to feature both the LMP2 Oreca 07, and the full roster of GTE cars available within rFactor 2. Mixing the world of real and virtual is one of the key points of interest within this series, and as such, in order to accommodate the often packed schedule of our real world drivers, for the 2022/23 season a change in the rules no means that teams must field at least one professional driver in their car during an event this season, rather than having to run the full campaign as was the case in previous iterations of the championship. 

The championship will again feature a five round campaign, with a brand-new track making its esports debut for round one, in the form of the Bahrain 8 Hours on September 17th…

Bahrain International Circuit

(photo credit: Motorsport Images) 

Laser scanned and built with incredible attention to detail, the Bahrain International Circuit is coming to rFactor 2 as part of the November 2022 Q4 content drop to the simulation! Set to feature in both the Grand Prix and Outer Circuit configurations, Bahrain has quickly established itself as a popular track amongst fans and drivers, and one that very often allows for some spectacular racing action – especially with GT and endurance racing machinery. 

More details on the track and preview screenshots will be made available in due course, so stay tuned to the rFactor 2 website, Discord, forum and social media channels to hear all the latest news first!

Le Mans Virtual 2022/23 Calendar

The 2022/23 Le Mans Virtual Series is going to be incredible, and we cannot wait to get the action started. With the addition of the new Bahrain Grand Prix circuit, we think the calendar this year is our best one yet – a true test of endurance esport racing skill and bravery – a championship not to be missed!

Le Mans Virtual 2022/23 – Coming soon to rFactor 2! 

Spotlight on… Dallara IR-18 INDYCAR

Spotlight on… Dallara IR-18 INDYCAR

North American open wheel motorsport is riding the crest of a popularity wave in recent years, as the premier NTT IndyCar Series continues to provide some of the closest, most hard fought and exciting racing anywhere in the world. Enjoying an influx of talented drivers and close competition on outstanding circuits, IndyCar racing is seemingly stronger than it has ever been, which makes the inclusion of the 2022 Dallara IR-18 IndyCar in rFactor 2 all the more exciting, and the subject of our latest ‘Spotlight on…’ feature article. 

History

Dallara IR-18 INDYCAR | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

IndyCar racing has had a tumultuous history since the difficult parting with the then CART championship during the mid 1990s, growing considerably from those early, difficult days into what is now regarded as one of the most challenging and exciting open wheel competitions in the world. 

Starting out life under the ownership and vision of then Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George, IndyCar as we know it today was created as an alternative power play breakaway from the established CART Series, splitting in two the main North American open wheel series, in what was at the time considered to be a risky, even foolish endeavour at the height of popularity for CART in the US. 

Those early years running under the Indy Racing League banner would go some way to proving the naysayers right, as many of the big name teams and drivers elected to stay with CART and their established series, rather than branch out into the then oval only racing category. One key ingredient playing into the hands of IRL would be the annexation of the crown jewel Indy 500 race, a bitter blow to rival CART, and an event that even a few powerhouse CART teams would find themselves looking to enter on a one off basis during the month of May. 

Despite firmly coming off as second best in the early years of the split, IRL would gradually gather momentum, and more importantly the teams and drivers, as CART (now called Champ Car), slowly began to fall apart at the seams. Dwindling grids, a disinterested public and the loss of major star names would put pay to the Champ Car era of US open wheel racing, with the two series eventually forming a joint collaboration in time for 2008 – finally reuniting US open wheel racing under the same banner, and beginning what would become a second shot at stardom for the IndyCar championship. 

The 12-year divergence of the two top open wheel championships in North America would end in fine style in 2008, as many of the top US teams and drivers returned to what would now be called the IndyCar Series – adding a strength in depth not seen state side since the final peak years of CART. A healthy 19 races would be lined up for the new campaign, eight to be contested on road and street courses, and 11 on oval circuits, including of course the Indianapolis 500. 

It would take several years for the wounds to fully heal within the category, however, by the time IndyCar introduced the newly updated DW12 chassis in time for 2012, following the tragic fatality of fan favourite driver Dan Wheldon the previous season, IndyCar was very much on the path to becoming the series we know today. The DW12, despite its rather dramatic looks, would prove to be a great addition to the championship, keeping the same close racing enjoyed prior to the update, while vastly increasing driver safety, especially on ovals. The DW12, in spec form from Dallara, would remain in service until the 2015 racing season, whereupon IndyCar opened up the opportunity for teams to introduce aerodynamic updates developed by Honda and Chevrolet respectively, the two active engine manufacturers of the category. These changes had an unintended consequence of disadvantaging Honda, who couldn’t produce the same performance as their rival Chevrolet, and following two years of development the specifications would be frozen for 2017, before IndyCar introduced a new spec chassis ahead of the 2018 season. 

Thus, the IR-18 was born. Still developed by Dallara, but offering a much more modern and aggressive design than the previous DW12, the IR-18 immediately proved to be a hit with teams, especially due to the cost saving measures introduced with the updated spec chassis and standardized safety components. 

In keeping with the modern trend of increased driver head protection, the IR-18 would be retro fitted with a cockpit safety device called the Aeroscreen for the 2020 season. Developed by Red Bull technologies and following a similar path as the Halo in Formula One, the key difference with the Aeroscreen is the fighter jet style full cockpit wraparound screen, something that has already proved to be a valuable addition to the series in the two short years it has been in operation. 

Technical Specs

  • Length: 5123.18mm
  • Width: 1943.1mm to 1917.7mm minimum (1917.7mm minimum and 1949.45mm maximum for ovals) measured outside rim to rim
  • Wheelbase: 2984.5mm to 3086mm
  • Engine: Honda HI21R Indy-V-6, Chevy IndyCar V6
  • Capacity: 2.2 litre (134.25 cubic inches) V-6, twin-turbocharged
  • Output: 550-700 horsepower, depending on turboboost pressure used at track
  • Transmission: XTRAC #1011 gearbox. Six forward gears, one reverse gear, Mega-Line Assisted Gear Shift (paddle-shift)

The Car

2022 Q1 Content Pack | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

Born of a desire to bring down costs, retain the spectacle of high performance racing and deliver a safe environment for the drivers, the Dallara IR-18 has, quite frankly, proven itself to be a huge success on all fronts – remaining the base chassis of the series throughout the current boom years, and providing solid foundations on which IndyCar continues to grow. 

Much like traditional single seat race cars, the Dallara runs with a gear shift paddle mechanism behind the steering wheel, allowing drivers to quickly move up and down the gearbox without the need to perform heel and toe shifts or use the clutch in any way. As for the steering wheel itself, although certainly a step forward in terms of technicality than the previous generation of car, it would be fair to say that a modern IndyCar is far removed from the likes of Formula One in terms of technical detail and adjustable in-race technology. 

The main wheel design in IndyCar features an LCD screen with various pieces of information presented to the driver, such as lap time, time delta and key temperature readouts – as well as the now standard shift light sequence and flag warning light configurations. In terms of technology, from here drivers can make a number of changes to the car on track, in particular with two IndyCar specific variables – weight jacker and push to pass. 

Weight Jacker

Used exclusively on ovals, the weight jacker (marked as ‘wedge’ in the control profile settings page in sim) allows drivers an opportunity to change the balance of the car throughout the course of an oval race. Basically, a weight jacker is a hydraulic ram that can be engaged from within the cockpit of the car, raising or lowering the car depending on driver preference. 

Traditionally, the ram is placed atop of the coilover spring, and when activated will create distance between the spring and damper housing. When activated on the right rear suspension, as is desirable due to the nature of ovals only featuring left-hand turns, the weight jacker will cause diagonal load to place more weight on the left-front tyre, which will transfer to a reduction in understeer for the driver. 

Conversely, retracting the ram will have the opposite effect, reducing diagonal weight on the left-front, and in turn reducing the oversteer faced by the driver. 

Push to Pass

As with weight jacker, Push to Pass is also circuit configuration specific – this time, only made available to drivers on road course and street circuit layouts. Essentially, Push to Pass is an overtaking tool developed by IndyCar to boost the power of the car for a limited period, with a view to helping drivers pull alongside a rival and perform an overtake. Unlike similar systems elsewhere however, in IndyCar, all drivers have free rein to use this feature at any point on the circuit, so although it can help the overtaking driver, it is just as powerful as a defensive tool to retain track position. 

Push to Pass is normally allocated to teams as 200 seconds of boost in performance, available throughout the lap/race, in any amount of deployment. Power wise, Push to Pass offers around 40hp additional performance.

On the visual front, one of the most immediately noticeable differentiators between the IR-18 and other open wheel cars is the inclusion of the dramatic Aeroscreen device – a relatively new safety measure introduced by IndyCar to reduce the likelihood of drivers being struck by debris out on track. Unlike the Halo used in Formula One and other junior single-seater championships, the Aeroscreen offers a wrap around protective ‘window’ that covers the full driver cockpit spectrum. Developed by Red Bull Technologies and featuring a screen produced by long time IndyCar sponsor PPG, the Aeroscreen has proven an effective means of protection for drivers since its introduction in 2020, although the additional weight high on the car has dramatically changed the balance and behaviour characteristics of the current Dallara machine, which has led to some significant changes in the competitive pecking order of late. 

Another interesting challenge introduced by the Aeroscreen is how the new device behaves in wet conditions – something that IndyCar has rarely had to deal with in recent seasons. Unlike the open nature of the Halo, and by the fact the Aeroscreen does not have anything like windscreen wipers for the drivers to deploy, the build up and run off of rain and spray from the track makes for an interesting challenge for drivers to overcome – another aspect that is unique to IndyCar, and another experience tool that anyone looking to hunt for good results in this car needs to be aware of when taking to the virtual track in anger. 

The Dallara IR-18 is a car we at Studio 397 are very excited to have brought to rFactor 2, and as you would expect, we have worked very closely with IndyCar to ensure this representation is as close to the real thing as possible. Lots of power, not much downforce and a thoroughly exciting driving experience, if you like open wheel race cars and aren’t afraid of a challenge, then this is one for you! 

Dallara IR-18 INDYCAR | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

Previous Spotlight Features

Dallara Ir-18 INDYCAR – Available now in rFactor 2

Spotlight On… Porsche 911 RSR GTE

Spotlight On… Porsche 911 RSR GTE

The next car we are looking at in our ‘Spotlight on…’ feature series is a machine that has been around the racing scene in various guises for a number of years, the mighty Porsche 911 RSR GTE. 

One of the finest driving experiences within rFactor 2, and a brutally effective car to take on the GTE competition within the sim, the Porsche 911 RSR GTE is certainly the type of car that keeps you on your toes! 

History

Endurance Pack | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

The fabled Porsche name is likely to be forever linked with the world of motorsport, most notably for the long-standing commitment of the German manufacturer to closed top endurance GT racing. Established by Ferdinand Porsche back in 1931, it wouldn’t take long for the Stuttgart company to find their feet in the racing world, initially as a small volume engine manufacturer before moving into developing their own racing machinery into the late 1950s. 

Early success would be sporadic for the German brand, with moderate racing results coming the way of the company in a wide variety of different classes, mostly running lower powered and lightweight machinery for a number of smaller teams and customer drivers. The big breakthrough victory would come on the famed Targa Florio in 1956, a result Porsche would quickly follow up on with a further eight overall victories at the Italian event over the next 14 years. In reality, it would be sports car racing where Porsche finally broke out of niche motorsport success, with the 1960s and 70s proving to be an incredible time for the brand, going on to prove themselves a dominant force in racing competition across the globe – nowhere more so than at Le Mans, fielding some of the most iconic motorsport machinery ever produced. 

It would be fair to consider the 917 as the car that started the ball rolling for Porsche at the top of the motorsport food chain. Designed by Hans Mezger and powered by the potent Type 912 flat-12 engine, the 917 carried Porsche to their first outright win at Le Mans in 1970, the same year the German giant conquered the United States and the popular Can-Am series. 

That 1970 victory, and the devastating effectiveness of the previously troublesome 917, would pave the way for Porsche to go on an incredible run of success throughout the 1970s, with Porsche cars racking up outright and class victories in many major sports car racing events, leading to what would become a golden period for the brand.  

Success for Porsche would continue well into the next decades, with multiple title triumphs at World Championship and national level, even branching out into the world of rallying with much success. 

Much like their enviable road going collection, perhaps the biggest success story would be achieved by the mighty reign of the 911 series of cars. Starting life over 50 years ago, the 911 has taken many forms over the following years, but one thing has remained firmly associated with the model – victory. From some of the most iconic cars in world motorsport, to seemingly being on the grid in every conceivable GT championship, the 911 always has a reassuring presence in any category, and has proven to be one of the most reliably fast, dependable and spectacular cars ever produced by the motorsport arm of Porsche. 

Recent years have seen massive grid numbers in the single make Porsche Cup series, as well as a fully refreshed and strengthened assault on top level GT endurance racing… which leads us nicely onto the subject of our spotlight focus for today… 

Technical Specs

  • length: 4,557 mm (179 in)
  • Width: 2,048 mm (81 in)
  • Wheelbase: 2,516 mm (99 in)
  • Engine:  Porsche MA1.76/MDG.G 3,996 cc (244 cu in) flat-6 naturally-aspirated
  • Power:  510 PS (375 kW; 503 hp)
  • Weight: 1,245 kg (2,745 lb)

Achievements

  • Constructors’ Championships: 1 (IMSA) / 1 (WEC)
  • Drivers Championships: 1 IMSA / 2 WEC
  • FIA WEC Wins: 10
  • IMSA Wins: 10

The Car

Porsche 911 RSR GTE | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

Built to compete at the forefront of grand touring specification endurance racing, the 911 RSR GTE is somewhat of a change in direction for Porsche, marking the first time the German manufacturer has produced a mid-engined racing machine. 

The car would make its first public appearance in the United States at the LA Autoshow in 2016, attracting considerable attention not only due to the mid-engine design, a significant departure from traditional racing machinery from the brand, but also for the aggressive aerodynamic styling of the new car – clearly seen courtesy of the large rear diffuser and smaller aerodynamic winglets that set the car apart from earlier iterations of racing 911’s. The new car, set to debut in at the 2017 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, had been made with eligibility for competition in the top classes of GT racing at the time, namely the FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the European Le Mans Series and of course the crown jewel of them all, the Le Mans 24 Hours. 

The 911 would come out of the blocks strongly during that debut season, with the Porsche GT Team fielding three WEC cars (2 in Pro, Gulf Racing in AM) and two cars in the GT Le Mans segment of IMSA competition in the US. Wins wouldn’t be particularly forthcoming during that initial season, with a sole victory the highlight in IMSA, but Porsche would end the year reasonably satisfied with the performance of the new machine, ending the year runners-up in the WEC driver standings, and often showing the raw pace of the car to be amongst the strongest – an ominous sign for their rivals should the manufacturer be able to put all that potential together for the following season. 

Those fears would end up being proven right, as the 2018-19 season proved to be a dominant one for Porsche in WEC competition. In a year that comprised of only eight races, the Porsche GT Team would secure three class victories and a further seven podiums across both cars, to commandingly secure both driver and manufacturer titles for the first time. Despite considerable success, Le Mans victory would again escape the team, an itch the German outfit are still to scratch with the new car. 

Over in IMSA, the 911 RSR would continue to run under the Porsche GT Team banner into 2018, and again, solid results would come the way of the two cars with three race victories and a further four podium finishes – however, in part due to both a strong field of competition and the fact that the squad often had bad days on track, neither car really looked to be in championship contention like their WEC counterparts. The #912 car of Earl Bamber, Laurens Vanthoor, Gianmaria Bruni and Mathieu Jaminet proving the most successful over the course of the season, albeit only coming home in fifth position overall in the driver standings, with the team finishing third of five in the manufacturers’ classification. 

Things changed significantly for the North American outfit the following season, as finally the team made the breakthrough they have been waiting for in 2019, with both cars proving to be very much the class of the field over the season, taking the top two steps of the championship in both drivers and teams classification come season end – the undoubted highlight for the car state side, as the following two years would prove much harder going against renewed competition from BMW and Corvette in particular. 

The Porsche 911 RSR in rFactor 2 has been built in close collaboration with Porsche themselves, and as such, we feel this is one of the best opportunities for sim racers to really experience what driving a modern GTE specification car is like out on a (virtual) racetrack. Initially launching to rFactor 2 as part of the Endurance Pack back in 2018 – one of the first major car pack releases for the simulation – the Porsche remains one of the finest driving experiences within the title. As with all Porsche race cars, it takes a certain type of driver to gather the most performance from the car, but when you get it right, the feeling is like no other!

Previous Spotlight Features

The Porsche 911 RSR GTE – Available Now in rFactor 2

Spotlight on… Daytona International Speedway

Spotlight on… Daytona International Speedway

One of the more recent track additions to rFactor 2, and arguably one of the most prestigious endurance racing venues in American motorsport – Daytona is every inch the iconic racetrack for both national and international level competition. 

Technically, the RC configuration at Daytona could be considered a ‘roval’ – part oval, part road course, but that distinction would be doing the circuit a massive injustice when taken into context of all the venue has to offer. Using considerable portions of the famed Daytona oval banking, the road course layout of this Floridian circuit has rightly earned a reputation as both an enjoyable track to drive, but more importantly, a venue that often produces great racing in a variety of different classes. Offering up a near perfect combination of corners and infrastructure that accommodates one of the biggest endurance races in the world – the Rolex 24 Hours – Daytona is THE traditional start to the season for sportscar racing fans, teams and drivers alike. Without a doubt, an exceptional place to race on the real or virtual tarmac.

Daytona International Speedway | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

History

Surprisingly, Daytona International Speedway hasn’t been around that long, in terms of some of the equally storied venues in world motorsport at least, having only officially welcomed the roar of racing engines for the first time in 1959, following two years of development in order to bring the Daytona Beach location up to permanent racetrack standards. Developed by NASCAR owner Bill France Snr, Daytona has been a mainstay on the NASCAR schedule since that first race in February of 1959.

Initially known as an oval venue, built specifically to allow NASCAR drivers of the era to run at significant speeds while offering great viewing opportunities for trackside fans, Daytona immediately proved to be a hugely popular addition to the growing collection of American circuits, attracting no less than 42,000 fans for the initial Daytona 500 event. That first year, NASCAR racing would be joining by the top level of open wheel competition in the United States with the popular Champ Car series hosting what would become the first motor race ever at the time, until tragedy struck and took the life of driver George Amick – Indycar would not return to the Florida venue. 

Daytona Pack | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

As well as proving to be a very popular and fast oval circuit, Daytona has also firmly established itself as a potent sportscar venue, with a significant portion of the land within the compound having been taken up to produce the Road Course configuration. Built at the same time as the main oval, the road course wouldn’t see its first competitive action until 1962, when the Daytona Continental 3-hour event played host to a number of national sportscar stars of the era. The Continental would change to a 1000km race the following season, before morphing into the Rolex Daytona 24 Hours in time for the start of the 1966 season.

The track, although simple in nature, has proven itself to be a fantastic venue for endurance racing over the following years, often marking the start of the international sportscar racing season. Somewhat testament to the foresight and engineering skills employed in the original construction of the track, little has changed in the intervening years at Daytona, with the only major renovation work occurring in 1973 and 1984.

For the ’73 season, Daytona introduced a new chicane to reduce speeds ahead of turn three of the oval layout, however despite the obvious safety improvements introduced with the corner, the new chicane was almost universally disliked by drivers, leading to further changes being introduced in the early 1980s – producing what is now known as the ‘Bus Stop’ chicane (now known as the Le Mans Chicane). 

During these changes, the circuit owners also took the opportunity to reprofile the first three corners of the lap, adjusted the layout of turns 1 and 2, while reducing the distance towards the third corner of the track and improving overtaking opportunities for drivers. T3, also known as the Rodriguez International Horseshoe, is now one of the clearest passing opportunities at Daytona, and despite it being an hairpin in nature, still retains a flowing nature respected by drivers.

Further, minor changes to the bus stop would be forthcoming in later years, however Daytona retains much of the same challenge and flavour as the original, 1959 configuration.

The Track

  • Opened: 1959
  • Road Course Length: 3.560 mi (5.729 km)
  • Turns: 12
  • Location: Daytona Beach, Florida, United States.
  • Race lap record: 1:33.724 – Álex Palou, Cadillac DPi-V.R, 2022

Key Corners

T1

The start to any lap is always an important time for a driver, as here you want to set the tone for the following corners and begin your endeavours around the circuit positively. Here at Daytona, Turn 1 is especially difficult for drivers thanks to the rapid approach speed from the preceding run out of the Le Mans Chicane, and over the famed NASCAR banking. 

Suboptimal tyre and brake temperatures will greet the drivers as they dive off from the oval banking and hunt for that important braking spot into the first corner, made doubly difficult thanks to the increasing radius of the approach and the need to deal with heavy braking whilst also fighting the steering to ensure the right trajectory is achieved for minimal tyre scrub and avoidance of locking the inside wheel. Top tip for this corner is to get the business of slowing down and positioning done nice and early, so you can fully open up the car on exit and maximize your speed down to the next big breaking event at the Rodriguez International Horseshoe.

Rodriguez International Horseshoe

Likely to be considered as one of the better overtaking opportunities presented to drivers at Daytona, the Rodriguez International Horsehoe is a deceptive corner when approached at speed. Faster and shallower than appears on paper, often leading to difficult moments in traffic should the overtaking car not hold a firm overlap or proves to be hesitant in their attempts to get past. 

Approached at high speed thanks to the blast through the small T2 kink immediately following the conclusion of the opening corner, T3 can easily catch out the unwary, and is another of the many corners here at Daytona that requires drivers to absolutely nail the corner exit in order to carry that speed all the way through the following straight before hitting the middle pedal again for a significant stop into the West Horseshoe bend. 

West Horseshoe

Another hairpin, another opportunity to overtake, and another corner that looks very different in reality to that on paper.

Key points to this turn has to be the bumpy nature of corner entry, another aspect that drivers have to firmly keep in mind when running long on used tyres, plus the deceptively high entry speeds that encourage late and committed braking in order to hustle the car into the apex and keep any determined rivals from hooking a nose up the inside in search of gaining track position. 

Trail braking and a late apex are optimal here to ensure the highest possible minimum corner speed, and maintain strong momentum and early acceleration onto the short straight that follows.

Le Mans Chicane

Yes, yes, for many, including me, this corner will forever be known as the ‘Bus Stop Chicane’. Taking its new name from another famous endurance venue, Le Mans, the chicane was originally installed as a way to help keep speeds in check following a long blast through the banking of the NASCAR oval. 

On paper this looks like the definition of a hastily put together safety measure corner, one that is very much out of sync with the flow of the Daytona Road Course circuit, however in practice, this part of the track could easily be considered one of the most memorable and spectacular aspects of the entire Daytona lap. 

Drivers arrive at the Le Mans Chicane on absolute full throttle before hitting the brakes hard on approach for the first left-hand turn. A good setup here, and plenty of bravery with the curbs reward the committed with a significant lap time advantage over their rivals – get it wrong however, and the Le Mans Chicane offers little in the way of escape from the infield barriers – leaving drivers with the difficult choice of exactly how much room for error they are willing to leave on the racetrack. 

Another key aspect to the Le Mans Chicane is the need to once again maximize your minimum speed and corner exit, as a near flat out follow-up chicane is all that separates drivers from this portion of track, and another long blast onto the NASCAR oval to start another tour of the famed circuit. 

T11 / T12

Speaking of blasts onto the oval, turns 11 and 12 are firmly into StockCar territory here, as drivers are left with nothing to do now but keep the foot firmly planted to the floor, and hope they managed to carry enough speed through the Le Mans Chicane section to help propel them through the final banked corners and into the start of another lap.

As with any oval experience, here it is critical to ensure you remain smooth and calm with your steering inputs, follow the fastest groove offered by the track and keep a firm eye ahead and on the mirrors to make your way through any potential traffic situations. A fast, a spectacular and a fitting way to end a lap of one of the best tracks in the whole of the endurance racing calendar. 

The last encounter before the end of the lap, the Ford Chicane is one of the more traditional types of corner to be found at Le Mans, yet much like the rest of the circuit, the seemingly simple nature of the configuration easily hides opportunities to both win or lose critical lap time if not attacked with appropriate levels of precision and commitment. Possibly one of the slower and more frustrating sections of this mammoth venue, the Ford Chicane is nevertheless an entertaining ride if done right, and oh so very easy to get it wrong and bounce over the aggressive curbing that lines the circuit, and straight into difficulty at the furtherest post of the track from the pit lane entry for good measure. 

The Daytona International Raceway in rFactor 2 offers the most recent version of this circuit in sim racing. Developed with the aid of detailed laserscanning technology, and featuring both the sportscar Road Course and oval configurations, Daytona International Raceway has very quickly risen to the top of many players ‘must have’ list of tracks for the simulation. Available as both a standalone item, part of the Daytona Pack and the mighty 2022 Q1 Pack featuring the 2022 NTT INDYCAR, Ligier JS P320 LMP3 and BMW M4 GT3 in the rFactor 2 Steam Store, if you want your endurance racing thrills, then Daytona is the track for you!

Daytona International Speedway – Available now in rFactor 2

Spotlight on… Circuit de la Sarthe (Le Mans)

Spotlight on… Circuit de la Sarthe (Le Mans)

Le Mans – the most iconic of iconic venues and a track at the very heart of endurance racing for almost a century. Having very firmly established itself as one of the most prominent race circuits in the world – mention motorsport to the general person on the street, and it’s highly likely that Le Mans will be the first name on their lips – such is the lore of this iconic venue in the public conscience.

Having hosted the famous round the clock classic each year since 1923, Le Mans has been the scene of near countless triumphs and tragedies over the years, playing host to some of the biggest teams and drivers in the world of motorsport throughout it’s 98 years of operation – from the titanic 1966 battle immortalized in the recent Ford vs Ferrari film, to the tragedy of the 1955 Le Mans disaster that took the lives of 83 spectators and French driver Pierre Levegh.

Circuit de la Sarthe | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

History

Le Mans is an interesting mix of public roads and race specific tarmac located in the Le Mans region of Sarthe, in France. Currently, one of the longest circuits in the world at an impressive 13.626 km in length, the track itself has undergone significant changes over its long and storied history, whilst retaining that essentially Le Mans vibe of incredibly high speeds and challenging sections of corners sure to test drivers and cars alike. 

Speed is very much the key to being fast at Le Mans, with upwards of 85% of the lap spent on full throttle and speeds easily surpassing 200 mph at the fastest points of the circuit, with heavy braking zones and difficult fast and flowing sections that require a deft touch behind the wheel – all while navigating through intense traffic and trying to keep your car in one piece for the duration of the full 24 hours – not a challenge for the faint of heart! 

The onset of war would mean Le Mans would take a decade long hiatus from 1939, only formally welcoming the sound of engines again from the 1949 season following considerable construction work to the circuit infrastructure. With the public appetite for high speeds and exotic cars undimmed through the absence of racing, the Circuit de la Sarthe would enjoy some of its most prolific adventures over the following years, until the tragic events of 1955 again brought the dangers of motorsport firmly to the forefront of public mind. 

That dark day in 1955 could push the event organizers to reconsider much of the circuit safety infrastructure, leading to several modernizations and revisions, particularly around the pit lane area and Dunlop curve portion of the track. These changes, although important, would not be the final modifications to come the way of Le Mans in the years ahead, with the 1960s and 1970s seeing multiple revisions as the track slowly looked to modernize following a spate of serious accidents and near misses throughout the early post-war period. 

rFactor 2 Track Expansion Pack | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

Further significant upgrades would come the way of the venue in time for the Group C heyday of sportscar racing in the 1980s, with various changes designed to reduce the colossal overall speeds of the circuit,  adding a brand-new chicane in 1987, followed by a further two new chicanes in time for the 1990 racing campaign. Although these changes would attract much criticism from drivers during this period, over time they have done little to detract from the undoubted spectacle the Circuit de la Sarthe offers both fans and drivers alike. 

Never afraid to bring modifications to the venue in order to ensure its ongoing place as the pinnacle of long distance racing, further dramatic improvements would come the way of Le Mans during the early 2000s, with dramatic reprofiling and rebuilding of the section between the former Dunlop Bridge to the Esses having been completely reworked into a new configuration of sweeping corners in time for the 2002 race – the final significant change that has occurred to the track aside from minor tweaks and improvements over the following years. 

The version of the legendary Le Mans circuit in rFactor 2 has been faithfully developed with the aid of detailed laserscan technology, producing one of the closest to reality and finest recreations of this hallowed piece of endurance racing tarmac in sim racing today.  Initially released to rFactor 2 on the weekend of the 2019 Le Mans 24 Hours, and having since been substantially updated to incorporate all the latest technology on offer within the simulation, the Circuit de la Sarthe remains one of the finest tracks available within rFactor 2 today – and a true test of skill for any endurance racing fan

The Track

  • Opened: 1923
  • FIA Grade 2
  • Length: 13.626 km (8.467 mi)
  • Turns: 38
  • Location: France
  • Race lap record: 3:17.297 – Mike Conway, Toyota TS050 Hybrid, 2019, LMP1

Key Corners

T1 / Dunlop Chicane

The start of the journey – the beginning of an odyssey into one of the most spectacular laps in world motorsport. Packed with spectators keen to catch a glimpse of their heroes and the scene of some of the most iconic shots from the Le Mans race, in theory this should be a relatively simple approach and braking zone, however as can be evidenced on multiple occasions in the past few years, get too enthusiastic here on the opening lap, and the next 24 hours might well prove to be more of a challenge than originally planned. 

Tertre Rouge

One of the more famous corners on the Circuit de la Sarthe, Tertre Rouge, is where drivers first encounter public roads around this dramatic circuit. Approached at high speed, danger is never fare away thanks to the ever present risk of running afoul of track limits on corner exit, a critical portion of the lap as here drivers will be desperate to maximize corner exit speed for the long drag down the following Mulsanne Straight.

Daytona Chicane

A big stop from high speed on uneven surfaces, the first major chicane to break up the Mulsanne straight, is an important one for a strong lap here at Le Mans. Often used as a prime place to negotiate your way through slower traffic, the relatively aggressive curbs and the need for a strong exit into the following straight do make this a tricky place to consider passing cars of similar speeds – however it is certainly possible, and without doubt one of the corners where drivers will be keenly aware that opportunities are there to be taken, under the right circumstances. 

When racing at night, this chicane is the first part of the lap that isn’t fully illuminated by trackside lighting, and can present a challenge to spot exactly where to place the car in the heat of competition. 

Mulsanne

Tricky. No other word can really do justice to the Mulsanne Corner, and many drivers have found out just how tricky indeed this turn is during the near 100-year history of the race. Approached at considerable speeds thanks to the long run from the preceding straight, here at Mulsanne drivers have to first navigate their way around the right-hand kink just before corner entry, before balancing the car on the brakes for a big stop into the tight Mulsanne hairpin. The key to gaining the most lap time is to remain brave and resolute through the right-hand kind, and spot your braking point with pinpoint precision in order to scrub off enough speed to make the hairpin apex, but without unsettling the car and pushing you out of the track boundaries. For added jeopardy, Mulsanne is followed by another sizeable flat out blast, so get this one wrong, and just watch that lap time advantage disappear. 

Indianapolis

Arguably one of the most difficult sections of track, the corner with the famous name offers a critical opportunity for drivers to make or lose time over the lap – with an ever present risk of suffering potentially race impacting damage should you skirt too close to the fine line between success and failure. 

Another corner that drivers approach at considerable speed, Indianapolis is incredibly narrow and surrounded by both gravel and barriers, coupled with a dangerous corner entry thanks to the proceeding high speed right-hander that requires drivers to brake, turn and balance the car all while setting up an optimal approach into Indianapolis. A real test of concentration, and a corner that has claimed its fair share of victims when tiredness creeps in during the dead of night. 

Arnage

For a track that’s famous for incredibly high speeds, Le Mans has its fair share of hard braking zones and tight, slow sections – Arnage firmly fitting into that category. A good opportunity to overtake, Arnage is also one of the most strategic corners of the lap, with the exit especially important to maximize lap time over the following straight. The slowest corner of the track and often suffering from reduced grip in comparison to the other sections of the circuit, again this is a place where drivers have to balance the desire to maximize speed while keeping the car firmly within the confines of the racing surface. 

Porsche Curves

Iconic corners on an iconic track. The Porsche Curves are pretty much synonymous with Le Mans, and likely to be THE corner section that most fans gravitate towards during a visit to this fabled race. Depending on the machinery underneath you, the Porsche Curves are either an exhilarating thrill ride of downforce and commitment, or a frustrating upward battle against the negative effects of understeer and burning too quickly through tyres and patience. Approached slower than you might expect when at the limit, good drivers can find significant gains by managing their speed and track position perfectly in this sector, with the most talented able to thread the needle in such a way that cars appear almost effortless as they glide through these wonderful sweeping turns. 

Ford Chicane

The last encounter before the end of the lap, the Ford Chicane is one of the more traditional types of corner to be found at Le Mans, yet much like the rest of the circuit, the seemingly simple nature of the configuration easily hides opportunities to both win or lose critical lap time if not attacked with appropriate levels of precision and commitment. Possibly one of the slower and more frustrating sections of this mammoth venue, the Ford Chicane is nevertheless an entertaining ride if done right, and oh so very easy to get it wrong and bounce over the aggressive curbing that lines the circuit, and straight into difficulty at the furtherest post of the track from the pit lane entry for good measure. 

You can purchase the wonderful laserscanned version of the Circuit de la Sarthe on the rFactor 2 Steam Store, either as a standalone item or as part of the Track Expansion pack, including legendary circuits Nürburgring, Circuit d’Azur and Sebring International Raceway. 

Circuit de la Sarthe (Le Mans) – Available Now in rFactor 2

Announcing Competition System | Season 3

Announcing Competition System | Season 3

,

Hello sim racers!

Welcome to Season 3 of the rFactor 2 Competition System! 

If you cast your mind back to early February of this year, we launched our new initiative to put together what we have decided to call ‘seasons’ of racing action into the Competition System – designed to offer up an opportunity for our players to easily review and access what we hope are a satisfying mix of different types of online competition within the simulation. In the period between first launching this new schedule and today, we have seen a wealth of exciting racing across many types of car, from our ever popular Rookie Cup events, to much more powerful and dramatic machinery in the form of the recent Dallara IR-18 2022 INDYCAR – all designed and run with a view to making pick up and play racing in rFactor 2 as easy as possible for our sim racing community. 

Now, as we sit here and celebrate the new Q2 2022 update and content drop for rFactor 2, it’s time to launch Season 3 – including a brand-new and very exciting addition….

The big headline for this new season is without doubt the introduction of touring car racing for the very first time, as we bring into the fold the exceptional Infiniti Q50 and Toyota Corolla GR Sport NGTC cars as part of the Touring Car Challenge events that will be held every Friday evening at 21:00 CEST. Running over the course of six races at some of the most exciting touring car style tracks in rFactor 2, this is one we cannot wait to see you out on the circuit and giving it your all for the race victory! 

If you don’t yet have the BTCC cars in your inventory for this new season, fear not, dear sim racer – we continue to have you covered with our range of events that exclusively use free to download content. The Rookie Cup returns with the Alpine A110 Cup car and a selection of free tracks, and the move to use the Tatuus FT-60 for our Open Wheel Sprint series is again another series where tracks and car are freely available within the Studio 397 Steam Workshop – so no excuses, get yourself out on track and join us in some epic online racing action!

Season 3

Dates | 9th May to 19th June

Series | Rookie Cup, Open Wheel Sprint, Touring Car Challenge, Race of the Season.

Rookie Cup

Car:  Alpine A110 Cup (Steam Workshop: CLICK HERE)

Times: Daily, at the beginning of every hour

Format: 10 minute practice, 10 minute qualifying, 20 minute race

Open Wheel Sprint

Car: Tatuus FT-60 (Steam Workshop: CLICK HERE)

Times: Daily, 30 minutes past every hour

Format: 10 minute practice, 10 minute qualifying, 25 minute race

Touring Car Challenge

Car: Toyota Corolla GR Sport / Infiniti Q50 (Steam Store: CLICK HERE)

Qualifying: 1x Hot lap split qualifying Monday 9th – Thursday 12th May / Donington Club

Race: 1 x Race every Friday 21:00 CEST

Hot lap qualifying: This sets the split for the season

Format: 10 minute practice, 10 minute qualifying, race length varies per track

As it is now the tradition for each new season of racing in the Competition System, to celebrate the end of S3 we will be hosting our scheduled ‘Race of the Season’ special event, where we put some of our fastest drivers together in a live broadcast race on the Traxion.GG YouTube channel, to see who can come out on top with the ultimate performance on the day. As always, this Race of the Season event will be open to anyone within the rFactor 2 community, and we will allocate a split to each driver based on their hotlap performance over the course of a five-week period. At the conclusion of the qualification competition, the top 30 drivers will be entered into a 45-minute race with a mandatory pitstop, and the first three drivers to the flag will earn a virtual podium spot – and the new Race of the Season trophy for their collections! 

Race of the Season

Car: Dallara IR-18 INDYCAR (Steam Store: CLICK HERE) 

Track: Laguna Seca (Steam Store: CLICK HERE) 

Date: Sunday 19th June

Time: 21:00 CEST

Qualification: Hotlap competition to run 5 weeks through the season

Number of Drivers: 30

Race Details: 45 minutes, 1 x pitstop – upgrade

Live Steam: Yes – TraxionGG YouTube

Formula Challenge

The best open wheel series in rFactor 2 is back with a bang, bigger, better and more exciting than ever before!

The Formula Challenge Series will be held on the Fridays in the same week as Formula Pro. Formula Challenge is the feeder series into Formula Pro, where drivers fight for a team spot in Formula Pro season 2. Drivers will qualify through the Competition System and will be sorted in splits for the season opener. Throughout the season, drivers will be able to move up and down between the splits.

The Formula Challenge car will have reduced power (bhp) and torque.

Hotlaps are closed, and the racing is right around the corner – get ready for awesome!

Season 3 is set to be another great period of online racing in rFactor 2, and we are just as excited as you to get things up and running – see you all out on the track(s)!

May Update Released | New Content Now Available

May Update Released | New Content Now Available

,

Hello sim racers! 

Here on it let Monday 9th of May be forever known as rFactor 2 Q2 Release Day! That’s right, you’ve been a patient bunch since our very popular Q1 2022 Drop back in February, and you are about to be rewarded handsomely with a hearty collection of fixes, improvements and new features – alongside a very tasty looking collection of fresh content to enjoy!  

Today marks the second of our four planned major quarterly enhancements for rFactor 2 this year, and we hope that you have the opportunity to sit down and enjoy some quality time out on the virtual racetracks with our new build update and content releases. What you see below you is the fruits of many hundreds of man-hours development time within the simulation, and we are really excited to see how our community react to the improvements that have been brought forward for this release – we want another record number of concurrent Steam users alongside this build! 

Although we are absolutely delighted with what have managed to pull together for this May update, the team are already pushing hard behind the scenes to make an even bigger and better splash with our August drop – rest never stays long in the world of racing simulation development! 

Before we get too excited about that, though, let’s take a few moments to go through some of the goodies that form part of the May Q2 Update in rFactor 2…

Key Highlights

New Sound Engine

A big part of this new update release is the introduction of a brand-new sound engine. A huge amount of work has gone into the new engine we will be using from now on, and it has allowed us to really step up a gear and bring forward significant improvements and enhancements, pretty much across the whole audio spectrum. Onboard and offboard audio should now be 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. 

New Wet Weather Update

This represents a big update to how wet weather conditions and racing behaves across the simulation. As part of this new build, 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. 

New Particles and Sparks

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. 

New Shift Protection, Engine and Brake Cooling

An important aspect of modern race cars, and race cars in general, is how the vehicle protects itself from agressive downshifting by the driver – basically preventing damage to the engine when using harsh and fast downshift techniques to leverage engine braking for increased ability to slow the car into corners. As well as the damage aspect, unrestricting this part of the vehicle behaviour can also lead to an unrealistic way of driving in order to gain laptime advantage, producing shifting techniques in certain circumstances that wouldn’t be possible (or advised!) in real life motorsport.

With the introduction of shift protection, we are adding another layer of realism to the driving experience in rFactor 2, something that has often been requested by our racing community. On launch, shift protection will be applied and ready to use with the new BTCC cars, with further updates set to be deployed to different content items over the weeks and months ahead. The same applies to the new engine and brake cooling features brought into the simulation as part of this new build update. 

Known Issues

  • Sparks cause performance spikes for some users running with uncapped frame rates they can be temporarily disabled by setting specialfx to low (This has minimal impact on other effects)
  • Toggling driver labels doesn’t work in VR
  • Driver labels don’t depth test when MSAA is turned off
  • Spotter may skip words
  • Some terrains may play incorrect scrub sfx

Steam Build IDs:

Client: 8703241
Dedicated Server: 8703245

General

  • Updated Safety Car added to Retail and ModDev. Old Safety Car removed.
  • Added a visual driving line feature, this can be toggled from settings.
  • Removed texture cache to simplify loading.
  • Added an option to set the amount of water on roads at the start of a session.
  • Increased the rate of RealRoad calculations by approximately x4.
  • Added a server option to disable faster real road calculations, as this adds approximately an extra 4KBps per client to server overheads.
  • Improved real road update rates. They’re now separate per real road property, with wet road having a higher update rate.
  • Minor update to default weather conditions for different profiles (Rainy/Overcast/Sunny etc).
  • New algorithm for wet road calculations effecting how quickly surfaces get wet and dry, taking into account drainage, humidity, ambient temperature and sky weather conditions.
  • Updated tyre grip calculations on rubbered in areas when surfaces are wet.
  • Updated how road and rain conditions are reported. Old percentage values now snap to a set percent for each tyre of condition, masking the true absolute condition in the game. The Default HUD has been updated to show a text description.
  • Corrected Rear Flap System default wet weather disable point to work with new weather ranges.
  • Fixed an issue where Cameras constrained to specific paths would not work correctly in replays.
  • Extended Freelook mode to allow control via joypads as well as adjustments of exposure, aperture, sensor size and focus.

Graphics

  • Added spark effects.
  • Decreased interval of Static Mapper updates from 5 minutes to 10 seconds. This should result in smoother lighting changes at dawn / dusk and as weather conditions change.
  • Corrected Sky Colour to remove Cyan effect.
  • Slight adjustments to exposure for sky colour adjustments when sun at it’s highest.
  • Minor Atmospheric Corrections, including linking AirMass to AirPollution.
  • Reducing fog brightness slightly.
  • Reduced Exposure a touch when the sun is around 10 degrees of altitude.
  • Improved cloud selection at different weather settings.
  • Minor cloud texture improvements.
  • Fixed an issue where Clouds would disappear at really high altitudes.
  • Fixed issues with lighting interpolation in sky rendering at Dusk/Sunrise, which would result in jumps in lighting values.
  • Fixed puddle splashes not setting when rain drops are not used (set to off or scene viewer).
  • Fixed lighting on spray during wet conditions, and tweaked particle profile.
  • Updated reflections on PBR Road and Curb Shaders.
  • Updated Rain Particle settings and fixed rendering on ultra wide screens.
  • Passed through particle settings refining Spray, Dust, Smoke and more.
  • Fixed an issue in VR where the scene would over exposure.
  • Fixed an issue in VR where replay mode would not render correctly.

Physics

  • Implemented enhanced cooling system for oil & water. This includes new parameters in the .hdv file. The new model includes:
    • Direct heat transfer between water and oil.
    • Oil radiator.
    • Switchover Thermostat.
  • Separated front and rear brake ducts.
  • Added configurable gear shift protection.

AI

  • Added AI Dry Tyre strategy (Random Dry Tyre in Practice, Softs in Qualifying and try to pick an appropriate tyre for race strategy in race).
  • AI now check if to change Tyre Type just before the pit road entry rather than at the start of the lap.
  • Fixed various issues around AI Tyre Selection when session changes and weather changes – such as not switching to wet tyres when it was dry before but now is wet.
  • Fixed an issue with calculating road conditions when changing session where they would not fully compute.
  • Fixed an issue where cars that don’t allow pit stop refuelling would run a full tank in practice and qualifying.
  • Prevent AI from leaving pits in closed session.
  • Fixed an issue where if there was a set of valid wet tyres, intermediate tyres would default to dry tyres.

UI

  • Always show official sticky servers in the server list even if filters are active.
  • Enabled “Restart warmup” button also when event is in race session.
  • Updated button layout in session controls and setup summary.
  • Added fading out of screen when leaving event or replay.
  • Added condensing of tire name when too long to fit in event standings table.
  • Added help text when hovering over various settings.
  • Added music to showroom.
  • Changed breaking of long chat lines so they only break on full words.
  • Fixed getting stuck in assign control pop-up after assigning tab key.
  • Disabled user text selection everywhere except in text fields.
  • Added highlighting of assigned control key values when hovering over with mouse.
  • Improved transition between different profiles in graphics and gameplay settings menus.
  • Refined styling of car classes in event screen.
  • Refined styling of car classes in fullscreen standings ticker.
  • Disabled “Default max wheel angle” setting when “Max wheel angle mode” is set to automatic.
  • Disabled “Steering wheel range” setting when “Range set by vehicle” setting is enabled.
  • Hid the car selection list when the drive/spectate pop-up is showing when joining a server directly with a join link.
  • Changed searching for cars and tracks so that the list scroll position is kept at the top after search (clearing the search text will scroll to the selected item).
  • Enabled car selection on server during a practice session.
  • Made it possible to add multiple custom graphics profiles.
  • Made it possible to add multiple custom gameplay difficulty profiles.
  • Always sort “All Tracks & Cars” to the top of the list in singleplayer series selection.
  • Added fallback image for showcase tile in case the actual image cannot be loaded.
  • Updated showcase, news and store tiles background image positioning and scaling.
  • Added option to expand server chat window to full height.
  • Setup notes for the highlighted setup (the one you clicked on in the setup list but not yet loaded) are now shown on the setup summary page.
  • Setup notes can now be typed in the setup summary page (the setup still has to be saved to save the changes).
  • When saving a setup, the folder for the current track will be selected by default (instead of the folder of the loaded setup).
  • Removed automatically expanding all found items in car and track selection after search.
  • Added highlighting of selected opponent filters.
  • Fixed multiplayer screen with drive/spectate pop-up showing too soon when using +connect to join a server, and if and when content install is still in progress.
  • You can now select car upgrades directly from the car selection screen without going to the showroom (both in singleplayer and multiplayer).
  • Disabled singleplayer grid position setting if qualifying is enabled.
  • Added two new gearbox graphs:
    • Top speed per gear
    • RPM after upshift
    • The existing graph, gear spacing, is kept as a third option
  • Fixed occasional blank page in the first launch wizard when going to the exit screen and back.
  • Reordered difficulty settings and sliders.
  • Singleplayer RealRoad settings are now enabled only when the weather preset is set to “Scripted”.
  • Renamed “Steering effects strength” setting to “Force feedback direction”.
  • Singleplayer “Race Laps” and “Race Time” settings are now disabled/enabled based on the “Finish Criteria” setting.
  • A singleplayer session can now also be enabled by clicking on the disabled session button in quick event.
  • The “Drive” button now changes to a “Next session” button when session time runs out in singleplayer.
  • Skipping the first launch wizard now takes you to the content selection page, instead of skipping the whole wizard. You can also skip the content selection from there.
  • You can now skip the first launch wizard from any page.

Modding

  • Added IBL Visualizer Debug tool to Scene Viewer (already present in ModDev).
  • Added Texture UV Mip Debug tool to Scene Viewer (already present in ModDev).
  • Added AI Vocal Strategy Player File debug option for Mod Dev (Pit Strategies, Tyre Changes and when selected what they are doing – can be expanded in future).
  • Fixed overcast preview mode (note: this is not exactly the same as in game).
  • Updated sample wet masks at Loch Drummond.

Sound

  • New Sound Engine
    • New 3D rendering.
    • Vastly increased amount of simulataneously playing effects.
    • Environmental effects and filtering system.
    • Proper cockpit filtering.
    • Autodetection of open and closed cockpits for environment effects and filtering.
    • Sound effects such as skid, kerbs, gravel, wind, suspension and many more now work online and in replays.
    • Support for full surround sound setups.
    • HRTF support (Binaural headphone experience).
    • Vastly improved VR experience.
    • Backwards compatible.
    • Many new sound effects.
    • Support for trackside broadcast microphones.
    • Every car causes audible ambient noise around the whole track.
    • Brand new, modern, customisable file format with much more freedom for audio designers.
    • Improved debugging tools for dev mode.

New Content

As has now become tradition here in rFactor 2 land, the latest major public build release for the software comes complete with a healthy collection of new premium content for our players to enjoy – and for this quarter, we have decided it would be a good time to stray away from the beaten path a little, and offer up something a bit different to the types of content we’ve been producing in recent months. 

One of the big things our community have been asking for of late is more tracks, all in laserscan precision of course, and with this new May release we are delighted to release not one, not two but THREE brand-new and very exciting circuits to the title. From the world-famous twists and turns of Laguna Seca, to fan favourite British tracks that compliment our new BTCC cars very nicely indeed, we think this month we really have brought a very fresh and exciting set of content to the title. 

Our three new tracks and the BTCC cars are available today within the rFactor 2 Steam Store. As usual, you can buy the new content both as individual items, or if you want to save a little money, check out the pack details below: 

BTCC Car Park 1 | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

Touring Car Pack | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

Q2 Complete Pack | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

Cars

British Touring Cars

Toyota Corolla BTCC | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

The best of tin top racing the UK has to offer, the introduction of these two outstanding British Touring Car machines is a very welcome addition to rFactor 2, and just the very start of our quest to bring the full 2021 / 22 British Touring Car Championship field to the simulation this year. 

Initially launching today with the car of reigning champion Ash Sutton in the form of the Infiniti Q50 (V37), as run by Laser Tools Racing, and the potent Toyota Corolla of Speedworks Motorsport, these two cars are a perfect way to experience how top level touring car action can feel within rFactor 2 – and trust us when we say, these two racers feel nothing short of outstanding out on the circuit. 

Infiniti Q50 (V37) BTCC | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

Somewhat unique to touring car racing, the BTCC features both front and real wheel drive machinery on the same grid, which presents a very interesting opportunity for us to begin our BTCC journey with two very, very different driving experiences. Keeping the traditional front-wheel drive in the Corolla, drivers will need to adapt their driving style significantly in comparison to the more usual real wheel driven machinery found in modern motorsport. Torque steer and a need to understand how to best balance the car on brakes and throttle application will be key to unlocking the most laptime from the Corolla, whereas in the Infiniti, although a real wheel driven car, the fine line between grip and dancing over the edge of adhesion is never far from the drivers mind – which is, to be fair, a wonderful place to find yourself when you are out on the virtual racing circuits of the world. 

Tracks

Donington Park

Donington Park | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

You can’t help but think anything other than THAT lap from Ayrton Senna in 1993 when you stir up thoughts of Donington Park, and now you too can recapture the moment in the simulation with this new track addition! As one of the most iconic tracks in British motorsport, with a history dating all the way back to pre-war racing adventures, Donington has to be considered a jewel in the motorsports crown, a fast, technical and exciting lap that works perfectly with a wild array of different car types and weather conditions. 

Known for its highly exciting undulations, not least of which is the dramatic drop through Hollywood and into the Craner Curves, before drivers need to hold on tight for a massive commitment into the deceptively fast Old Hairpin section at the foot of the hill – Donington Park has a little something for everyone within its modest 2.498 mile configuration.

Brands Hatch

Brands Hatch | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

Small, but oh so very mighty! Brands Hatch – in either the Indy or the full Grand Prix configuration – is a sure fire way to test a driver’s skills and reactions, thanks to fast corners, uneven road surface and a distinct lack of run off area even in the fastest sections of the track – this is one venue that you need to be absolutely confident in your own ability and of the car underneath you, otherwise get ready for an appointment with those unforgiving trackside barriers. 

The second of our two British circuits coming to rFactor 2 in this release, Brands Hatch is another very recent laserscan from the track team here at Studio 397, having been undertaken late in 2021 around the time of Donington Park, marking these two circuits out as the most recent and detailed replications of their real world counterparts in sim racing currently. Available now in both Indy and Grand Prix configurations, this is certain to offer both a challenge and pleasure in equal measure. 

Laguna Seca

Laguna Seca | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

From the rain and dark skies of Great Britain to the endless summers of California, the next new track available today as part of our May 2022 update is one that for racing game fans will need no introduction – Laguna Seca! Very different in terms of visuals to our first two tracks this quarter, Laguna retains quite a bit of the character from Donington Park and Brands Hatch, in that the circuit carries significant old school vibes, while producing a layout that ensures drivers have to be very much in touch with the balance and feel of their car, should they wish to avoid leaving time on the table, or worse yet, heading off onto the unforgiving sandy run-offs that line this iconic circuit. 

Featuring probably one of the most memorable corner sections in world motorsport, the famed ‘Corkscrew’, Laguna is a firm favourite of drivers and fans alike, and a circuit that should very much act as a venue of choice for our drivers in all manner of racing events and competitions. 

Competition System Races

Alongside the new build update and content drop comes the debut of a new season of racing within the rFactor 2 Competition System. Building on the momentum established through our first two racing seasons, for this new release we see a welcome return of the Rookie Cup using the wonderful Alpine A110 Cup car from the Enduracers Modding Team, a free and fully licenced community mod. Alongside the Rookie Cup and keeping with a theme of low power, high thrills racing, we see the Open Wheel Sprint back on the calendar and now utilizing the Tatuus FT-60, as well as a brand-new series for the freshly released BTCC cars – the Touring Car Challenge! Sure to be an exceptionally popular addition to the rFactor 2 Competition System, we think Season 3 is set to be the best yet!

Season 3

Season 3

Dates | May 9th to June 19th

Series | Rookie Cup, Open Wheel Sprint, Touring Car Challenge, Race of the Season.

Rookie Cup

Car:  Alpine A110 Cup (Steam Workshop: CLICK HERE)

Times: Daily, at the beginning of every hour

Format: 10 minute practice, 10 minute qualifying, 20 minute race

Open Wheel Sprint

Car: Tatuus FT-60 (Steam Workshop: CLICK HERE)

Times: Daily, 30 minutes past every hour

Format: 10 minute practice, 10 minute qualifying, 25 minute race

Touring Car Challenge

Car: Toyota Corolla BTCC / Infiniti Q50 (V37) BTCC (Steam Store: CLICK HERE)

Qualifying: 1x Hot lap split qualifying Monday 9th – Thursday 12th May / Donington Club

Race: 1 x Race every Friday 21:00 CEST

Hot lap qualifying: This sets the split for the season

Format: 10 minute practice, 10 minute qualifying, race length TBC

Race of the Season

Car: Dallara IR-18 INDYCAR (Steam Store: CLICK HERE) 

Track: Laguna Seca (Steam Store: CLICK HERE) 

Date: Sunday 19th June

Time: 21:00 CEST

Qualification: Hotlap competition to run 5 weeks through the season

Number of Drivers: 30

Race Details: 45 minutes, 1 x pitstop – upgrade

We hope you enjoy our new build update and content release, and we look forward to hearing your reactions over the course of the weeks and months ahead. Here at Studio 397 we continue to push as hard as possible to help rFactor 2 achieve the full potential we all know it is capable of achieving, and we are looking forward to sharing this exciting journey with you all for many years to come. 

See you on the track! 

May 2022 Q2 Content Drop – Available now in rFactor 2.

Announcing Laguna Seca

Announcing Laguna Seca

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Running to a total lap length of 2.238 miles (3.602 km) and featuring one of the most spectacular and dramatic corner sections anywhere in the world – The Corkscrew – Laguna is always good for a fun time on track, even if it can occasionally be a touch difficult to (cleanly) find a way to overtake a rival. 

Coming to rFactor 2 as part of the 2022 Q2 content release this month, let’s take a look at what is needed to navigate a lap of this famed Californian track.

The Track

T1

More of a gentle kink than a corner of any real significance, Turn 1 nevertheless provides an interesting obstacle for drivers to overcome on the run down into the Andretti Hairpin. In isolation, T1 is but a simple full throttle curve to the left, however the placement at the very start of the steep descent into Andretti, and the fact that drivers here will find themselves partially unsighted as they begin to drop downhill and search out the braking point for T2, make this a corner that works very well in the context of the wider lap, whilst also providing an element of jeopardy when all a driver really needs at this point is to build confidence before hitting that middle pedal in anger for the first time further down the road. 

Andretti Hairpin

A famous corner with a famous name, the Andretti Hairpin is probably the easiest opportunity for drivers to effect a successful overtake here at Laguna Seca, as well as being a key opportunity to win or lose lap time. Thanks to its placement at the bottom of the steep hill running from the start/finish line and through T1, the Andretti Hairpin is approached at high speed, with the car just beginning to settle down on the racetrack before the long braking zone approaching the corner. Hard on the brakes and easing off into the apex, here drivers have multiple choices of racing line through what is more of a double turn than a traditional hairpin – go for mid-corner speed, defend the inside line, or carry as much pace out of the turn and up into T3 – difficult choices, with no real correct answer. 

T3

Launch cleanly out of Andretti, and the next challenge faced by a driver at Laguna Seca will be the rapidly approaching right-hander of T3. Here, the open nature of the turn and lack of significant trackside reference points often encourage drivers to commit too much speed into the apex, which inevitably forces the car to transition quickly to mid to exit corner understeer that can easily push you out onto the rough surface on corner exit, and giveaway significant portions of lap time along the short following straight. 

T4

Similar to T3 but much, much faster, the fourth corner at Laguna Seca is very much car dependant. Enough grip and downforce underneath you, and this can be a pretty straightforward event, however if you are lacking that bit of road holding from the tyres, it may well be the case that here a driver has to be slightly cautious with their approach speed, potentially scrubbing a little speed on entry to ensure mid and corner exit have been maximized for the following run down into T5. Be cautious not to let this corner fool you into taking too many risks, as although it requires high speed and driver commitment, it is far easier to get things wrong than doing it right.

T5

Turn 5 is a peculiar right-hand corner, as it features a moderate amount of banking that allows committed drivers to really push hard and late into the turn, giving you the opportunity to really finely balance the car throughout the corner and prepare yourself adequately for the uphill run into Turn six and the Corkscrew that follows. 

Because of the nature of the banking and corner layout here, a driver must use the full width of the road on the run into T5, and it is advisable to hit a late apex to help maintain as much momentum as possible for the following uphill section. As is often the case here at Laguna Seca, carry too much speed, and run the risk of putting your car out of track bounds and into the loose on corner exit, which will both hurt the tyres, and really punish your momentum and thus overall lap time. 

T6

Certainly not as well known as the famous Corkscrew, but arguably more challenging overall, T6 is where a lot of your lap time can be won or lost here at Laguna. Approached blind thanks to the gradient in which it sits, this is a corner that should be attacked with nothing short of full commitment. Positioning the car well in advance of turn in, drivers have to take a leap of faith that their calculations are correct as you charge toward the apex, complicated somewhat as the track falls away from you not unlike a rollercoaster at corner apex. While at your most vulnerable at this point as the car tries to settle down and fall back under control, the driver will need to be searching for the very important point of where to hit the throttle pedal hard, as it’s a long and uphill run from here into the Corkscrew section of corners.

T7/Corkscrew/T8a

Alex Zanardi. For those of us old enough to remember, do we need to say any more? 

Despite being famous for THAT pass in the 1996 Cart race at Laguna, The Corkscrew has long been regarded as one of the more dramatic and challenging sections of track anywhere on the US racing calendar. On paper, this should be a strong candidate for a good passing opportunity, however in real terms it is perhaps best that drivers adopt a safety first mentality here, as the Corkscrew presents plenty of opportunities for things to go wrong in a very spectacular way indeed. 

As one can imagine, this corner requires a healthy amount of hard braking on approach, made doubly difficult by the fact the track is far from smooth on corner entry, requiring drivers to think about how the car and weight is behaving underneath them as well as picking out the best line on which to attack the turns. 

Best practice is to begin the braking phase here a little before the hump on the approach into the turn and make sure you straight line the entry to be as far right as possible on the approach, to give the car as much breathing space as possible for the first left had part of the wild and wonderful dip through this sequence. Once into the Corkscrew itself, let the car roll through the turn and concentrate on making sure you have the right speed and positioning whilst avoiding those danger curbs, then hard on the gas on corner exit as the elevation once again starts to rise into T9.

T9

Another very fun, and somewhat tricky corner to handle, T9 offers up a multitude of racing line opportunities depending on the driver, setup and car in use. Blind on corner entry, some drivers prefer to hug the inside line and leave plenty of wiggle room on exit, while some favour either a mid or outside line for a more constant and smooth arch through the turn. Whatever line you decide works best for you, just remember to hold patience in check when getting back on the throttle, as once again T9 is the type of corner that can very easily suck you into running out of road on exit, quickly putting you into the rough and potentially losing a significant amount of time. 

T10

The penultimate corner of the lap is a little more straightforward than the last few corners we’ve had to deal with, and in the correct rhythm can be incredibly satisfying to nail perfectly on a fast lap. Very high speed, a bit of jockeying to make sure everything is micro corrected and on the right line and plenty of curb on corner exit to maximize the racetrack – lots of fun, and almost within sight of that start finish line!

T11

The final challenge of the lap, a relatively simple hairpin left-hander and another great opportunity to overtake if done correctly. As always with a corner that precedes a long straight, here it is very important indeed to make sure you take the maximum amount of speed out of the turn on corner exit, otherwise you will be compromising not only the lap you are on, but the start of your next lap as well. 

May 2022 Announcements So Far

Donington Park Grand Prix Circuit

Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit

BTCC Infiniti Q50 and Toyota Corolla GR

We are understandably delighted to be bringing this wonderful track to rFactor 2 this month, and we cannot wait for you all to get your hands on it and find out just how much fun Laguna Seca in rFactor 2 can be 2. While we are waiting, don’t forget to stay tuned to the Studio 397 social channels and forum in the coming weeks as we reveal more new and exciting content and features coming to the simulation in the Q2 May drop!

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca – Coming soon to rFactor 2

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