New content!

Great news for those in the community who look forward to racing in its purest of forms – today we are pleased to be able to bring to you the latest new machine from our expanding KartSim offering – the Tillotson T4 Series. 

The Kart

Tillotson T4 Series | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

Introduced in 2019 as a cost-effective entry level motorsport series for drivers new on the kart racing development ladder, the Tillotson T4 Series boasts an impressive 225cc Tillotson 225RS four-stroke racing engine, HW diaphragm carburettor, series specific tyres and a maximum rev limit of 6,500 rpm from the TPP-225RS engine. 

The kart runs on the European designed and built T4-C1 chassis, using many parts common with the much more expensive CIK karts, but with key design decisions introduced in order to ensure costs are kept to a minimum, and the karts themselves remain accessible to new and inexperienced drivers. 

Capacity: 225cc 4 Stroke
Power: 15HP
Engine Weight: 17 kg

• Overall weight 69 kg to reduce fuel consumption and provide a more nimble driving experience
• PVL Digital Ignition limited to 6,500rpm
• Tillotson HW Series carburettor calibrated for the TPP-225RS engine
• Engine is sealed, so no tuning is permitted—only adjustment to the valve clearance is allowed
• Up to 30 hours engine life without maintenance
• Billet CNC machined connecting rod/flywheel for improved strength and reliability
• New design Tillotson crankcase with extra support for the higher power output

Despite having been built with a view to offering drivers a cost-effective and easy maintenance point of entry into the world of racing, the Tillotson T4 Series still produces incredibly lively performance that shares many driving characteristics with more established categories. Drivers will have to work hard to keep up the minimum speed in these karts, and nothing but full concentration will do in order to run at the very sharp end of the grid – which we believe makes for a great combination to go racing with! 

Competition System Esport 

Want to earn a chance to race one of these karts in real life, during a World Championship final? If yes, this esport series is for you!

To celebrate the release of this exciting new vehicle into our ever expanding range of KartSim content, we are delighted to launch a limited time esport series run within the rFactor 2 Competition System. Featuring the Tillotson T4 Series kart racing on a selection of the highly detailed and meticulously recreated kart tracks within rFactor 2, from Saturday, September 11th drivers will have the opportunity to begin qualification for the very first official kart racing esport series within rFactor 2!

Hotlap qualification sessions ahead of two semi-final races on Saturday and Monday will be used to form the grid for Finals Day on Tuesday 14th September – a winner takes all sprint to the flag at Adria in Italy, where the biggest prize of a real world drive in the T4 Series World Championship is up for grabs! 

More details coming tomorrow on https://www.studio-397.com/ about how to take part in this amazing opportunity. 

KartSim Content

The Tillotson T4 Series is available now as both a standalone store item, and part of the wider KartSim offering in rFactor 2. Featuring 10 real world kart racing circuits and now 5 very diverse styles of racing karts, KartSim is the best way to experience the pure and unfiltered thrills of this highly exciting style of entry level motorsport in rFactor 2. 

To help players gather the content they want to play, KartSim content is offered in the following Steam Store packs:

KartSim Esports Pack

A great discounted package featuring all 10 of our consumer UK and European Kart Tracks and all of our 5 consumer kart models. Ideal for Esports competitions

Steam Store: CLICK HERE

KartSim Upgrade Pack

Already own everything, but want to add the four new tracks and three new karts released today? Grab the KartSim Upgrade Pack – a specially designed collection aimed to offer the cheapest and easiest way to add the new content to your growing collection!

Steam Store: CLICK HERE

KartSim Kart Pack 

This pack adds the IAME X30 EU Mini Cadet 2021, the X30 Senior 2021, the Rental, the IAME KZ shifter kart and the new Tillotson T4 Series to your rFactor 2 install.

Steam Store: CLICK HERE

KartSim UK Track Pack

A great discounted package featuring all 5 of our consumer UK Kart Tracks and all 5 of our consumer kart models. Ideal for Esports competitions. Pack includes Whilton Mill 2021, Larkhall WSKC 2021, Paul Fletcher International 2021, Buckmore Park 2021 and the Glan Y Gors venue, plus the IAME X30 EU Mini Cadet 2021, the X30 Senior 2021, KZ Shifter, Tillotson T4 Series and Rental karts.

Steam Store: CLICK HERE

KartSim European Track Pack

A great discounted package featuring all 5 of our consumer European Kart Tracks and all of our 5 consumer kart models. Ideal for Esports competitions. Pack includes Zuera 2021, Wackersdorf 2021, Kristianstad 2021, Alaharma 2021 and Adria 2021, plus the IAME X30 EU Mini Cadet 2021, the X30 Senior 2021, the KZ Shifter, Tillotson T4 Series and Rental karts.

Steam Store: CLICK HERE

We hope you enjoy the new Tillotson T4 Series kart, and we look forward to racing with you out on the track! 

Tillotson T4 Series – Available now in rFactor 2.

Would you like the opportunity to join an exciting and aspirational team of sim racing developers, working to expand and enhance the rFactor 2 experience?

As part of Motorsport Games, we develop both the rFactor 2 racing simulation and the core simulation technology that underpins all MSG games on PC and consoles. We are looking for people with a deep passion for racing simulation as well as motorsport.

Working remotely from home, potential new colleagues can expect to join a high performing and welcoming team here at the Studio, a collective of people who firmly believe in our vision to build upon and expand the rFactor 2 experience for sim racers and esports competitions around the world.

If you think you might like to join us in this exciting adventure, check out the current job openings below.

Job Openings

Backend Engineer We are looking for a Backend Engineer to join our team. You will be working on the rFactor 2 user interface and its integration with the core simulation. There are several parts to this backend. Some are integrated into the racing simulation client, others are part of the dedicated server and a third part of the backend is deployed to the internet. You will need a thorough understanding of C++ and Java, their threading and memory models and how they interoperate. More details

Graphics Engineer We are looking for a Graphics Engineer to join our team. You will be working on the rFactor 2 core simulation that consists of a client and a dedicated server. You will need a thorough understanding of C++, threading and memory models as well as experience with soft real-time programming and creating robust, long running applications. A good understanding of networking is also required. More details

Physics Engineer We are looking for a Physics Engineer to join our team. You will be working on the rFactor 2 physics engine, implementing new elements and optimizing existing ones. As a physics engineer we expect you to understand rigid body physics models, aerodynamics, collision detection algorithms, internal combustion and electric engines, various electronics that are typically used in modern racing cars as well as an in-depth knowledge of tyre models. More details

UI Backend Engineer We are looking for a UI Backend Engineer to join our team. You will be working on the rFactor 2 core simulation that consists of a client and a dedicated server. You will need a thorough understanding of C++, threading and memory models as well as experience with soft real-time programming and creating robust, long running applications. A good understanding of networking is also required. More details

UI Frontend Engineer We are looking for a UI Frontend Engineer to join our team. You will be working on the rFactor 2 user interface and its integration with the core simulation client, dedicated server and internet based backend. The user interface is web based. You will need a thorough understanding of Javascript and Typescript and the whole ecosystem of libraries and toolkits on top of that, specifically Svelte and AngularJS. More details

Senior Technical Artist We are currently looking for a Senior Technical Artist who can help the team move forward in multiple areas with technical developments within the area of creating motorsport environments. The successful candidate will support art pipelines, workflows, and processes to produce efficient art production and outstanding visual quality. More details

Senior Environment Artist We are looking for a Senior Environment Artist to join our team. The successful candidate will be responsible for creating high quality motor racing environments focussing on visual output, technical quality and a high level of accuracy to the real life counter part. Your technical and practical abilities will be well developed, and you’ll be able to grasp new concepts and programs quickly, as well as participating in R&D of new techniques to implement into the production pipeline. More details

Environment Artist We are looking for a Environment Artist to join our team. The successful candidate will be responsible for creating high quality motor racing environments focussing on visual output, technical quality and a high level of accuracy to the real life counter part. More details

Senior Prop Artist We are looking for a Senior Prop Artist to join our team. The successful candidate will be responsible for creating high quality props which are commonly found at Motor Racing circuits. The assets will focus on visual output, technical quality and a high level of accuracy to the real life counter part. Your technical and practical abilities will be well developed, and you’ll be able to grasp new concepts and programs quickly, as well as participating in R&D of new techniques to implement into the production pipeline. More details

Prop Artist We are looking for a Prop Artist to join our team. The successful candidate will be responsible for creating high quality props which are commonly found at Motor Racing circuits. The assets will focus on visual output, technical quality and a high level of accuracy to the real life counter part. More details

Junior Artist We are looking for a Junior Artist to join our team to help us put together the scene towards the end of production. Your role will mostly be related to the placement of assets to fill out the scene. We are looking for someone familiar with Motor Racing Simulations who has a keen eye for appropriate details on tracks, to ensure things are in the right place at the right time, as well as feedback to the team various issues or inaccuracies with the current production. More details

Welcome to the road to Le Mans. The Le Mans Virtual Cup is a new community driven esports competition in rFactor 2, designed in partnership with the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, the 2021 Le Mans Virtual Cup has been created to promote great racing for everyone, and open the opportunity for drivers to earn a place on the 2021 Le Mans 24 Hour Virtual grid this 15th – 16th January.

Le Mans Virtual Cup Forum | Full details | CLICK HERE

Set to run directly alongside the Le Mans Virtual Series, the Le Mans Virtual Cup starts on September 3^rd with open qualification for the first round of the season at the Monza Grand Prix Circuit. Joining via the rFactor 2 Competition System, drivers will have until September 12^th in order to secure a place on the starting grid, with points awarded on a per-race basis, across the full three round series and into the grand final at Le Mans in December.

Points will be awarded for finishing positions from the opening three races, with the championship order then determining who takes to the grid in our Super Final round at Le Mans on December 18th. The grid for this race will be formed based on championship order, and for the first 2 drivers across the line, a place on the grid at the main Le Mans 24 Hours Virtual event will be your reward!

Schedule

03 September: Monza qualifying starts

12 September: Monza qualifying ends

24 September: Monza race

—

26 September: Spa qualifying starts

05 October: Spa qualifying ends

15 October: Spa race

—

17 October: Nordschleife qualifying starts

26 October: Nordschleife qualifying ends

12 November: Nordschleife race

—

No qualifying – top 30 from championship advances to split 1. Please note several splits will be available and if x drivers from split 1 does not show drivers in split 2 will be moved up.

17 December: Finale – Le Mans

How to enter

“Qualification and races for each of the opening three rounds of the season will be held in the rFactor 2 Competition System, with qualification taking place in advance of the race at the end of the month. Drivers will be required to set a hotlap time on the chosen track for that round, with the drivers then invited to participate in the race for championship points, across multiple splits.

Further details and discussions can be found on the official Le Mans Virtual Cup page on the Studio 397 forum – LINK HERE.

Good luck and happy racing!

Hot off the heels of another monthly roadmap and our Zandvoort 2021 release, here’s the bi-weekly CS blog again! The last two weeks have been mostly spent continuing the development of ratings and the UI for it. We’re making steady progress and also taking the time to fix some bugs that were reported by the community in the different competitions that are running. Looks like we’ll need at least another month before we finish this, but we’re happy with the progress so far, and some performance improvements in the upcoming release candidate will also be helpful for the CS.

Again, the main part of this blog will be answering questions. We’ve got some interesting ones again this time, so let’s get started…

Q&A

Will the Fanatec CSL DD be fully supported out of the box? 

neuvao

We are working with Fanatec, but it’s too early to make public statements at this point in time.

Would it be possible to develop an accessibility feature like the Racing Auditory Display (RAD) for blind racing enthusiasts? 

Wardrone

I had to look up this system as I was not aware of its existence. You are talking about this one, right? We will have to look into this to see if it’s feasible to implement, so I can’t give you an answer right now.

I’m missing practice servers in CS, free for all, with timed rankings. Just before GT challenge there was a practice server but only for some hours. 

Jeroen Goudeseune

Noted. We’ll start adding those over time. We currently lack the ability to run practice sessions (open ones too).

Have you thought about using the safety car in the CS? This is one of a few sims that feature the SC, so it would be cool to have it in use. 

Fabian Balle

We have thought about it, but for now decided not to do it yet. That does not rule it out in the future though. Especially for oval racing, that would be a great feature to have.

When to go for a simple and effective race model? Hourly race for rookie series, for example USF2000 or -17: training 15mn > qualifying 10mn > race 20mn/ Alpine cup: training 15mn > qualifying 10mn > race 20mn. it’s simple and efficient Tried it! Is there anything stopping you from doing this format? 

leseb64

Nothing is, we just need to start doing some.

Can we have a permit system in addition to the rating? (the famous carrot that makes the player want to and can have a goal!) Am driver > bronze/silver/gold and Pro driver Bronze/silver/gold. 

leseb64

That’s one thing we’re considering, yes, a system that classifies drivers in different levels. We have not worked out the details yet, we first want to get the ratings in at this point.

Will there be a file or a section to see the replay of the online races? 

leseb64

Eventually yes, we are holding on to all of those, we just lack the UI to download them into your replay folder right now.

Is there any update planned to vehicles like the StockCar 2018x or others cars that currently use Goodyear tyres in real life after the collaboration with this brand? 

L0P3X

Yes, we are looking at upgrading more cars based on the data we have.

Recently we had the PBR update to the USF2000 car, after that release an official server was opened, any chance to see this kind of “Test servers” on CS as small competitions? (3 days or 1 week long, for example) 

L0P3X

In the future, yes, those will move to the CS as well instead of us setting up a stand-alone server.

I tried to join a session Qualification (20 min) + race with the BMW M4, but I missed the start of the qualification by 2 minutes (Contents had to install itself). Could it be possible in the future to join an ongoing qualification session? 

Spyro

That’s on our list to add. Open qualification sessions.

 I wanted to chip in on the need of a voice chat feature, because seeing it for instance in iRacing is so much fun, and you do need to speak with other drivers during casual races (especially after incidents), and doing it via text chat is too convoluted. Considering that features that increase the fun/experience are likely to increase participation, I think this feature should be higher on the priority list. If you implement voice chat through established services (discord, TeamSpeak, etc.), it would be ideal if the rF2 user doesn’t have to install anything manually. 

coasting&cruising

Noted. You make a good case for this, but we probably will keep prioritizing a few other features first. For the record, I think the chances are bigger that we’ll integrate with an established system than that we’ll “build our own” at this point.

I’ve really been enjoying the Competition System in recent months, and just wanted to say a really quick ‘thank you’ for the excellent work everyone continues to do with my favourite sim!

Vincent

You are very welcome, it’s nice to get positive feedback and as you know we are continuously working on further updates.

Do you have any plans you can share for future events similar to the recent ‘Summer Showdown’?

AxleSpin

One upcoming event or rather competition we have just announced, in partnership with Motorsport Games and ACO, the Le Mans Virtual Cup. That should be a major community event for us. Stay tuned as we’re announcing more information in the upcoming days!

Imagine you had a friend who doesn’t know rF2 and they asked why they should use the CS? What would be your answer?

TIG

I know that many people who start racing at first are hesitant to race online, scared that they might not be fast or good enough and that they could ruin someone else’s race. We should encourage people to take that step regardless. We all started this way. I think the CS offers a lot of opportunities to try out online racing and get better at it by racing a lot. You will also make new friends in the process!

I really like the idea of multi-class casual racing – how far away from having this in the Competition System would you estimate to be?

TIG

Probably not that far. We are first focusing on ratings, but racing with multiple classes only requires a few “upgrades”. We need to build the standings for such races, and things like split and starting position algorithms. So a few things to figure out. The next part of that would be to go to endurance races with driver swaps. That’s a bit more work.

Can we please have some oval racing in the Competition System schedule? If so, do you intend to add any more ovals to the base content?

 Hebbletone

It’s still on our agenda to add more of that, and yes, we are entertaining the idea of adding another oval. Watch this space!

I love, love, love, looooove the 2013 Skip Barber. It’s about time it got a PBR update and added to the CS don’t you think?

ApexRacer

We’ve noted your suggestion! To be honest, there’s quite a few cars still on our list to do a PBR update for. We typically spend time on these in between projects, so it’s a bit hard to predict exactly when we will do each one.

Do you plan to add an in game penalty system for the Competition System?

Vince

Yes. For some competitions, our race control already hands out penalties, mostly after protests that arrive after each race. Obviously, we already also have commands to hand out in game penalties, and we are exploring the option to create an “automated steward” that will hand these out directly.

Hello sim racers, 

Today is a day of Zandvoort celebrations, a day to bask in the glory of all things Dutch Grand Prix as we release our massive new build update for the 2021 Zandvoort Grand Prix Circuit within rFactor 2 – completely rebuilding the existing track to better conform with the latest changes and layout design ahead of the return of the Dutch Grand Prix to the Formula One schedule following an absence of 36 years.

Zandvoort 2021 | Steam Workshop: CLICK HERE

For a long time, Zandvoort has been the premier car racing circuit in the Netherlands, having played host to a wealth of National and International grade events since last hosting Formula One racing in 1985. Thanks to the unique beachside setting and a range of technical corners and interesting sectors, the circuit has remained a firm favourite amongst drivers and fans alike, despite often producing processional racing in part due to the narrow racing surface, and lack of significant overtaking opportunities. 

With interest in Formula One racing in the Netherlands having exploded in recent years thanks to the rise of Dutch star Max Verstappen, and with the FIA keen to find a way to accommodate the incredible levels of support for the 23-year-old Red Bull driver, it was always something of an inevitability that the Dutch Grand Prix would return to the schedule sooner rather than later. However, without any real serious options to host a race on the existing track infrastructure at Zandvoort, and with Assen firmly considered a bike racing circuit, the Dutch authorities found themselves forced to introduce considerable changes to the venue in order to be able to successfully host the long awaited return of Grand Prix into the future.

What’s new in this build?

Unfortunately, due to the ongoing global pandemic, the return of the Dutch Grand Prix has had to be delayed for a further year into 2021, which has given us here at Studio 397 the perfect opportunity to revisit our free Steam Workshop track ahead of the big event, with a view to bringing the track up to par with the quality of our more recent releases. Initially planned as a full PBR graphics refresh, once we got started we quickly realized the potential existed to look again at the core fundamentals of the way we originally build the first version of the circuit, and the closer we looked at the existing build, the more opportunities for improvement we found – leading us to practically rebuilding the entire track to include more details, more accuracy and an overall better wholesale performance and driving experience than would have been possible if we simply applied PBR treatment to the existing model. 

Night Lighting and configuration improvements

The track team here at Studio 397 have worked wonders with this new build, adding significant amounts of new and improved detail around the whole of the 4.259 km venue – from the smallest touches to more signifiant and obvious improvements that best reflect how the circuit looks now the layout changes have had time to establish themselves in the real world. Night lighting has been reviewed thoroughly, and offers a great endurance racing experience for drivers looking to get out on track once the sun has set. Additionally, we’ve spent plenty of time sifting through tons of data and reference materials to ensure the actual layout and corners are as accurate as possible to the real world venue, something we have been able to review and adjust now thanks to the ‘new’ Zandvoort having been open to the public for an extended period of time – a luxury we certainly didn’t have at the point of our original release!

New layout – Zandvoort National

One of the immediately noticeable changes for this new update is the introduction of a brand-new layout, as we bring to the simulation the shorter National configuration for the first time. Used primarily for local level small scale events, the National track offers a compelling experience for cars with lower overall performance, adding additional overtaking opportunities with the introduction of a difficult hairpin right connecting the first and third sectors, whilst missing out the fast backstretch of the Grand Prix Circuit that incorporates the Shelvalk – Mastersbocht – Bocht 9 – Bocht 10 complex of corners. 

New trackside Assets 

For both the Grand Prix and National layouts, the track team here at Studio 397 have worked hard to introduce a full race weekend vibe to the track, from adding an array of new trackside furniture, spectator setups and support worker assets, to generally bringing about the race weekend feel that was lacking from the original release, the changes introduced today as part of the 2.50 build update should add together to vastly improve the overall ambience and experience of running on the circuit in a simulated race environment. 

New PBR shader update

Anyone who has been around the world of rFactor 2 for a while will surely be fully aware of our PBR (physically based rendering) shader technology by now. Having committed to using this technology for all new content releases over the last couple of years, we have also remained hard at work reviewing and updating our expansive collection of existing content, with what we believe to be very impressive results as we uplift the visual aspect of rFactor 2 to modern standards. 

As can be evidenced by the recent update of our USF2000 or the Sebring International Raceway track, adding PBR shaders marks a significant improvement to the visual experience within the simulation – and with this latest Zandvoort release, that improvement is immediately noticeable to the end user. Simply put, we have reworked every aspect of the circuit and surrounding scenery with the latest PBR materials, which has produced a greatly increased level of graphical appeal across the full weather and time of day spectrum within the simulation. We believe that Zandvoort has turned out to be one of our very best looking tracks following this update, and we can’t wait to see what you think about the visual changes! 

New pit buildings and grandstands

Alongside adding PBR materials to the track, we also took the opportunity as part of this build update to completely rework some of the more substantial trackside buildings that make up the unique image of Zandvoort. Developed from scratch, our track artists have created a completely new set of pit buildings to match the current Zandvoort venue in real life, replacing the original structures with an all new build. Additionally, new grandstand structures have been created and inserted into the surrounding areas of the venue, with new spectators and trackside vehicles added into the scene for an immersive race day experience. 

Zandvoort 2021 V2.50 Update Notes:

• Complete update and rebuild of Zandvoort to track state in July 2021, including curb colours and reported DRS zones at the time.
• Any adjustments since July 2021 will be addressed in a post release update.
• Major rework of terrain to conform to point cloud data.
• All major assets rebuilt from scratch including Pit Building, Grandstands and more.
• Barriers remodelled and updated to the latest state.
• Added various grandstands and props to simulate a reasonably large event.
• All new foliage objects and materials.
• All latest new PBR materials.
• Added new spectators, marshals, rescue vehicles, generic vehicles, tents and more.
• New Night lighting Configurations including lit up Grandstand, Pit Building and Town Centre.
• Added 2021 National Layout.
• New Camera Files.
• New AI Files.
• Packed extra files for upcoming loading optimizations.

As we are sure you will be able to tell from this release post and the videos embedded within the article, we are justifiably proud of the work we have undertaken to uplift this circuit to 2021 standards, and we feel that as a predominantly Dutch company ourselves, we now have a version of our home circuit that we can be rightly exceptionally proud to call our own, and one that we truly believe will be loved in equal measure by our many members of the sim racing community. 

We cannot wait to see your reactions once you get out onto the circuit for yourselves, and we hope you have as much fun racing the track as we did building it! If you aren’t one of the lucky ones able to secure a much sought after ticket to the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix, fear not, as racing around this track in rFactor 2 is the next best thing!

Zandvoort 2021 – Now available for rFactor 2 on the rFactor 2 Steam Workshop.

Hello sim racing fans, 

As a predominantly Dutch company, here at Studio 397 we are understandably delighted to welcome the return of Formula One racing to the Zandvoort Grand Prix Circuit this year, and we fully anticipate the atmosphere trackside will be something to behold as we cheer on local hero Max Verstappen and his Red Bull team. 

In order for Formula One racing to have a suitable facility at Zandvoort, the track owners have undertaken a significant program of work that has touched upon nearly every aspect of the beachside venue, from infrastructure improvements to changes to the circuit layout itself, presenting one of the biggest updates to the track since it reopened in its modern configuration all the way back in 1989. Those changes produced the layout we have become accustomed to in recent years, before further significant upgrades came on stream ahead of the planned return of Grand Prix racing in 2020 – until a certain health crisis delayed things for another 12 months. The major redevelopment work at the track has now been completed, and the return of Formula One racing is right around the corner – presenting a perfect opportunity for our track development team here at Studio 397 to update and refresh our version of Zandvoort to ensure we remain firmly in keeping with the new, current layout and styling.

New corners, re profiled sections of track, run-off upgrades and freshly laid tarmac all make for a very different, but still uniquely Zandvoort experience in 2021, one that we couldn’t wait to revisit and improve upon to ensure rFactor 2 has the most accurate and detailed representation of the circuit anywhere in sim racing. Although our original pass of the track represented a strong initial effort at bringing a modern Zandvoort to the software, we were aware that the time constraints around release and the simple fact construction work at the circuit was still very much underway would mean we left room to improve in our first release, something we have significantly built upon for this new update. 

We originally deployed the 2020 version of Zandvoort to rFactor 2 back in May 2020, well in advance of the resumption of racing at the new configuration, and since then we have gathered significant amounts of new data and reference materials for the track.  From the graphical uplift to the visuals with our PBR shaders, to having spent considerable time completely reworking the circuit layout itself, this new 2021 Zandvoort represents a massive step forward for the track, and one we cannot wait to share with you all once it releases ahead of the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix! 

Zandvoort 2021 Update – Coming soon to rFactor 2.

Welcome back to this blog after its author enjoyed a short holiday! We have a lot of questions to answer below, but let’s first take a look at where we are development wise.

We’re currently working on a bigger UI update that is a prerequisite for adding ratings. There’s not that much to show yet, but it will basically give everybody a historic overview of all past competitions and it will make those available for the ratings calculations.

In the meantime we are also looking at a few new competition formats based on the linked sessions we’ve introduced, as well as a few smaller bug fixes related to issues we’ve found. In fact some of the questions below have triggered a few more ideas that we will test.

In general, the upcoming months will see us doing a lot of competitions and esport in rFactor 2. Not all of it is finalized and confirmed yet, but I am confident there will be something to race for everybody! In parallel, we are also getting ready for our next release candidate, as well as preparing to ramp up development in general. I wish everybody a great time on the track, and on that note, let’s go over the long list of questions together.

Q&A

It’s imperative you start to run “standard” series, like every other online sim does. Those should be: Porsche Cup, BMW or some other touring car, F4/F3 single-seaters, possibly F1 historic, GT3 (maybe fixed and open). We need to start building participation numbers! And the only way to do that, is to offer something people know is always going to be there, bread-and-butter events and series?

burgesjl

I can only agree. The reason we have not committed to these just yet is that we are trying out a few different things. But recurring series that people can compete in all year long are definitely a thing we should focus on.

It’s been a while now since we’ve seen a big feature addition to the CS – what’s next on the list, and when do you think it will be available? 

Jacko

The latest big feature we’re adding has been linked sessions, and as I’m writing this, we are still tweaking support for that. Next on our list is ratings. To enable those, we need to ensure that people can browse the old competitions, as we obviously need these historic results to calculate them. So this will be a feature that’s done in a few steps.

Do you plan on something like a series in future where people can vote for the next track themselves, from say a full list of rF2 content?

bassBloud

If we were to implement this, we would probably allow you to select any of the tracks in a series instead. This might be an option we add a bit later. It certainly sounds like it’s worth a try!

Guys, we really need a tool or web page to see results and upcoming events. It’s been spoken about before but when is this going to happen?

Unknown

It will probably take a little while. The overall plan is to provide the full rFactor 2 UI via a web page as well (obviously it would adapt to this situation, we’re not re-implementing the rF2 physics in a browser).

Can someone explain to me what Marcel means by << our implementation of “linked sessions” ? I think I have missed something on the last roadmaps.

Diego Barjollo

Certainly, it was explained in the July 2021 roadmap. If you have any further questions, let us know!

Is it possible to enter a qualifying event more than once? 

Mario Saliba

Yes, such events are set up, so you can join as many sessions as you like. Your best time overall is what counts, and you can look at the standings page to see where you are overall.

Regarding content for the CS, do you plan on licencing any specific new cars that are a bit lower powered as sort of an entry level type vehicle?

867RpR

Not specifically, no. We feel we already have quite a few cars that are great to get started with (both GT style and open wheelers). Do you see any specific “gaps” that you would like us to fill?

I’d love to have a chance to download the server replay file at the end of a session, if that can be accomodated? 

SiC58

That is planned. Rest assured, we are keeping those internally already.

Any chance we can have more night races in the CS? 

SiC58

We certainly can. Would you want to have a whole competition with night racing, or just some variation in existing ones?

Ages ago you mentioned a potential series or two with Formula E content – is this still on the cards, any ideas when? 

TJG04

That was probably earlier this year. I guess that’s ages ago in internet time. With the Formula E season coming to an end last weekend, this is a good time to run a series. I’ll discuss this with Jimmi.

I’d like to see some kind of indicator within the CS that shows when a Dev is racing or a friend or someone I’ve picked – would be cool to have a chance to go up against the rF2 staff and race them!

Jack Dobby

Noted. It’s a great idea and most of it is planned (not specifically the “dev” aspect, but certainly friends).

With Formula Challenge in the CS now and GT Challenge and BMW previously, do you plan on migrating all the main esport series into the system?

Boxboxbox

That is certainly our end goal. Behind the scenes we are adding the necessary features to do broadcasts, have live stewards, etc.

Are you planning on doing some real quick fire races where you’re one and done within 30mins? I’m talking 10/15min quali for a bit of practise then throw down in a quick ten or fifteen minute race, and then you’re thrown in to the next quali to refine your angle of attack?

smithaz

We’ll start experimenting a bit more with these now that linked sessions are in. That allows us to run more sessions in a row, mixing qualifications and races and doing various different types of grids.

If there are races or qualifying over several days or sessions can we join multiple and if so what result is used – for instance the best result or most recent? 

neuvao

You can join as many sessions as you want in such cases. For qualification type sessions, your quickest lap time in any of those will be used. For race type sessions, we have a points system that internally uses ratings to determine who was best, even for people that have not directly raced each other.

When the competition leaderboard system is developed, will it be accessible via some sort of API or other plugin so it might be pulled into other databases (XML, live feed, etc)? Thinking of using it as ranking in other servers or cumulatively with other sim performance. 

Ross Smith

We’re still looking at our options here and have not formalized any public API yet. Sounds like your main interest is driver performance, so getting access to a driver rating and possibly other stats. I’ll make a note of that.

motorsport.com has published an article about the upcoming Virtual Le Mans this winter. The article contained a rough overview of the event and the text “Alongside this, there will be races open to the public, so everyone can enjoy.” Is this a big event using the competition system?

 I_Bellett

We’re discussing various different options right now. You can be sure there will be races for everybody to enjoy as part of this alongside the top level competition.

The schedule for the GT Pro / GT Challenge / BMW SIM M2 CS Racing Cup has been announced. Do you have any plans to update each vehicle accordingly?

I_Bellett

In general we’ll keep improving (these) cars.

When Formula Pro was released, a collaboration with Goodyear was introduced. Can they spread to other vehicle content? 

I_Bellett

The lessons we’ve learned from the data we will certainly use to improve other similar tyres.

Many people including me had major problems joining the opening round of Formula Challenge because of skinpack updating. Why this content check can’t be made asynchronously while waiting for session to start? This would give us up to 25 minutes to fix an issue instead of 10.

Paweł Andrzejewski

If you’re already subscribed to content (in the workshop) then that content will automatically download and install when you start rFactor 2. So in most cases it actually will update ahead of time. Before an important race you should plan some time to do updates though.

A follow-up to the first one. I know Jimmi made an effort to announce widely on Discord that we need to verify files with Steam. But how it happened we got downloaded a corrupted skinpack? 

Paweł Andrzejewski

Verifying triggers the update process on Steam, so that is good advice. I will speak to Jimmi as to why the download could have been corrupt. That should not happen.

If I remember correctly, during the GT Challenge S3 we ran into problems like wrong grid setup, wrong session times and servers crashing. This made me drop the championship because it was more a frustration than an entertainment. I really wish that Formula Challenge and GT Challenge S4 will run flawlessly. However, like GT Season 3 it seems the competition is still lacking some basic polishing. During the Formula Challenge, on the first day there were at least two failures: servers not booting up and wrong server setup (track rubbering up) plus no formation lap in race and mentioned skinpack corruption. Are there any actions being taken to ensure such things doesn’t happen again? 

Paweł Andrzejewski

We are for sure learning from these experiences. I can’t promise we won’t make any further mistakes though. I would hope that your experience is mostly pleasant. If not, please keep pointing out what we need to improve.

There are new announcements of brand exclusive games like Indycar, WEC. What are the chances that any possible physics engine updates will also be implemented into rFactor2 as well? What role will the Competition System, which was announced as a multi-platform one, play in all this? 

Paweł Andrzejewski

Since these games are based on the rFactor 2 physics engine, you can expect improvements to also be part of rFactor 2, whenever they make sense. The role of the competition system is still being discussed and explored.

Can the Formula Pro be called a semi-fantasy car? Besides the tires, it hasn’t been build in real life. Does it mean we can expect more not 100% real content in the future?

Paweł Andrzejewski

Right now we have not planned anything, but we certainly would not exclude the possibility. Not too long ago, we collaborated with RCCO to make the eX ZERO, which is a similar car design that could be made in real life but is not.

Has there been a solution to the “Invalid Server Details” when attempting to join a Comp. System server? I’ve attempted to join a couple races with the content downloaded, and restarted the game, but it only gives me that error and no specifics.

Gary Walker

It’s typically because you have some conflicting content installed. We know we need to try and improve our analysis of what is wrong at such a point, so we can give you some more useful advice. For now, for “power users”, I would advise you to use ModMgr to check out what might be wrong. Start with the rfmod and see if that is installed correctly. If not, you might learn what dependent rfcmp is missing and fix that yourself. For normal users, be careful when installing third party content, especially if it extends or modifies stock content.

Considering the Challenge series are quite popular, contrary to the hourly races atm. Is there maybe something in making a few more Challenge series to see how that pans out? Maybe it could start a more consistent player base online if there are more people certainly racing at a few moments a week compared to hourly races which you aren’t sure of will even have a few participants.

Remco Majoor

Definitely something we can try. We’ll take a look how we can fit these into the upcoming competitions the rest of the year!

On the challenge/pro note. What are the possibilities of having a ladder series, definitely with the open wheelers? You have formula 4, 3 and the pro. Since the Formula Pro is a very difficult car to drive and set up, maybe make the formula challenge use F3 cars, and make the now split 1 the road to pro championship with the Formula Pro car

Remco Majoor.

That’s something for the future. To have a ladder, we need some form of qualification mechanism, such as having to compete at least one full season in the lower class and finishing in the top 10 or so. It makes sense to have several of these ladders, leading up to the “pro” competitions.

I believe that each CS series could be set up in such a way that short races during the week would establish the splits for a longer race on weekends (with more ranking points). Obviously, not everyone will end up participating on the weekend splits, but this would please both crowds: casual/pick up racers and more committed competitors.

Vava74

I like this idea. It might require us to build a few extensions to how we currently do the standings, but I will see if we can make this happen to test out the format!

Why do I need to purchase all cars and tracks to participate in series, even if I plan to race one race on one track?

Karlis Vitols

We’ve done that to keep things simple. If you sign up and subscribe you know you will have the content for all the sessions. Also, we would like people to commit to racing the full series, not just a few races.

Are there plans to put results on some pages (like last year) so you do not have to open Steam, open rF2, go to competition to see lap times?

Karlis Vitols

I’ve elaborated a bit on that above.

Do you plan on adding hot lap events with fixed setups in future?

Karlis Vitols

Yes.

Why do I need to download everything I already have, once more, to participate in competition? My game size increases with every series I sign up for. Why is that?

Karlis Vitols

I don’t believe that is the case. Can you elaborate what you mean? Competitions should use the existing workshop items (and paid content in some cases).

Not directly related to the CS, but are you planning on redoing the in game HUD? As the CS may attract new people, they might be thrown off by the lack of information and bugs the current system has. Compared to the competition it’s simply way to 2005. But seeing the new broadcast overlay, I’m confident you could do a better job with the HUD.

St54KeV

It’s under discussion but we have no clear design or plan yet. Like you say, much of the underlying technology to do it is available and visible in the broadcast overlays.

Megane Trophy or any ISI old content that is still licensed or can be used would be great to build up more content to the comp system, would also provide content everyone enjoyed racing when they 1st come to rf2. Is all licensed content being used in BETA stage ? If not, why not ?

Binny

There are still a lot of pieces of content that we have not used yet. That does not mean we won’t.

Not a question, but I would want to suggest a Single-brand Cup Series for the CS consisting of 8 weeks of races in eight different circuits with a specific car. 25 minutes races every hour during a week. The circuits and the car will be chosen by community vote. The options to choose would be the 61 cars and 29 circuits that appear here Cars & Tracks – Studio-397 excluding Electric Cars, the Karts and the circuits that use them. Each of us could vote for 8 circuits and one car in a poll, and the most voted ones would be the chosen ones. Every two months, after the Series ends, there would be a one-week break, in which the tracks and car for the next 8 races of the Series would be voted.

Diego Barjollo

I will discuss internally if we can do that. Do you happen to know a good web application to create such a poll?

We need an actual Relative, not the Standings that we have now. To really know who is ahead and behind you, how far, and if they are lapped cars, other category, etc.

Alejandro Diaz Reina

Right now, the only solution for that is to use a third party application like SimHub. But your request is noted.

When loading a session, it could be possible to load the cars “behind the scenes”? It is pretty ugly seeing cars overloading at the same spot, and when all the cars are loaded, the camera change to the pit lane. It is not possible to do this during the circuit load, or something?

Alejandro Diaz Reina

We’ll take a look at making this a bit more elegant. I agree it does not look too good right now.

Are there any plans to add more server text commands, especially for kicking/banning etc?

guenther

Feel free to send us a list of suggestions. We will consider them.

I prefer a quick qualifying before a race session comes up instead of this modus which is currently implemented. Any plans to change this?

Patrick Schumacher

Linked sessions allow this. So we can do both variations.

A real killer in participating in the M4 league have been those rainy conditions to me. At Indy, I experienced one of my personal best Online-MP events over all sims, but I stepped out with the next two wet races. It really wasn’t a pleasure. Does it not make sense to keep the tracks dry or minimize wet races to 1 in a series in this early status of the CS? I believe that would help to keep more people in.

Patrick Schumacher

Noted. I’m not sure what the best way is to please everybody here.

Why don’t you guys give a nominal prize for winners of each competition? Something like 50 euros for the winner and 25 for p2 and p3 seems like a good motivator, but also giving them once a month won’t break the bank, but it also gives some incentive to try. Alternatively, you can give DLCs for the winners, because right now, there are bursts of hype, and then it goes away after a week or two

Timotej Andonovski

A few of our premium competitions have prizes. I’m a bit hesitant to give out prizes everywhere. I mean we are all supposed to enjoy racing right? It’s not a profession. So would offering people a bribe (money, free content) really help? I do get your point though.

After the USF2000 update, Christopher set up a server with short practice, qualy and a race so everyone could check it out. Could something like this be implemented into the CS as some sort of “playground” because some people might only check the CS and if there is no race at this particular moment they might just do something else.

Fabian Balle

We can certainly set up linked sessions to do something similar. I think it’s a nice idea to do so for new content releases, and in general as a fun and simple way to race at any time.

New update! 

Small but mighty. Olden but golden. Weird but wonderful. Call it what you will, the USF2000 in rFactor 2 has proudly flown the flag as one of the most entertaining entry level open wheel cars within the simulation for a number of years now, helping the community produce countless hours of entertainment and racing excitement right from the very first time the car joining rFactor 2, all the way back in 2016.

As a mainstay within the title, and quite frankly a car that we at Studio 397 absolutely love to drive, we just couldn’t allow this classic to grow old and eventually slip off into sim racing retirement following the release of new chassis’ within the USF series. Oh no, she’s far too good for that we feel, and the best way to breathe new life into an existing vehicle…? A full PBR update refresh.

USF2000 | Steam Workshop: CLICK HERE

Our art team here at Studio 397 have really gone to town with improving the USF2000 for this new update – practically every single part of the original car has been reviewed, updated and enhanced over the original 2016 release. New textures have been applied to pretty much every piece of the car and driver you can see, especially important when the car has much of the engine and gearbox on display due to the unique way the rear bodywork folds over the internals (or not, as is the case with the USF). As well as texture upgrades, the art team have also applied our latest PBR shader technology throughout, with PBR enhancements having been applied to both the car itself and the many liveries that come included with the 2016 season. All in all, the USF2000 now finally looks just as good as she drives!

In terms of the driver, we have included the new driver model and driver animation into this update, substantially improving the visual aspect of how the driver is represented within the cockpit of the USF2000. Additionally, we will be running a server later this evening featuring the newly updated car and a host of free tracks from within rFactor 2, so if you fancy taking on the challenge of such venues as Lime Rock Park, Portland, Indianapolis, Atlanta Motorsports Park and the Silverstone International Circuit, make sure to stay tuned to the rFactor 2 Social Media feed to find out when servers will be online!

USF2000 v2.24 Changelog:

• All materials converted to PBR
• New chassis textures
• New engine textures 
• New gearbox textures
• New cockpit textures
• New steering wheel textures
• New tires textures
• New brake callipers textures
• New brake disc textures
• Updated rims and blur textures
• Added new driver model and new driver animation
• Added new helmet
• Added new helmet skins
• Converted all car skins to PBR
• Updated LODs
• Added all new gloves

This latest update will of course be available as a free download to anyone who has already subscribed to the car on the rFactor 2 Steam Workshop. We remain proud of our ambition to offer a healthy mix of free and paid premium content within rFactor 2, and we hope that as one of our older free car releases, the mighty little USF2000 continues to provide spectacular and exciting racing action for our rFactor 2 community for years to come!

The USF2000 – Now available to download from the rFactor 2 Steam Workshop.

Update time!

Welcome to a brand-new week here in rFactor 2 land, and to get you all off on the right foot, what better idea than to have ourselves a nice little update release! Yes, today marks not only the new V0.99 Formula Pro update, but also a much more minor, but still useful, addition of DRS zones to two of our more popular tracks within the simulation.

Formula Pro V0.99

Back at the very start of July we released our new Formula Pro open wheel car with a promise of more to come in anticipation of a full V1 release. Well, since our initial ‘shake-down’ build deployed on July 1st, we’ve been absolutely astounded at the reaction from our community for this new machine. First and foremost, thank you to everyone who has shared kind words on our latest work, and to those of you who have taken the time to offer detailed feedback on how we can further improve the experience within what is now the highest performance official vehicle within rFactor 2.

Formula Pro | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

As promised back then, we’ve spent the weeks following release looking at how we can make improvements to the Formula Pro, as well as running our exceptional Formula Pro and Formula Challenge Esport series with the new car (check out the racing so far, HERE). We still have a lot of very interesting and exciting ideas to bring forward to the Formula Pro in the future, what you see now is very much the base of bigger and better things, but while those developments are cooking away nicely in the background we still want to continue reviewing, testing and gathering feedback from both our community and professional esport drivers. Plenty of additional laps later and that feedback has proven an invaluable source of data for the car development team, enabling us to develop this new V0.99 build and improve a couple of areas related to both the force feedback behaviour, and how tyre life impacts performance on track with the three Goodyear tyre compounds available with this car.

Formula Pro V0.99 Update Notes

• Reduced FFB vibrations
• Greater tyre degradation spread. (more degradation on Soft, same on Medium, less on Hard tyre).
• Slight step increase in degradation per compound.

The new update has been allocated the V0.99 build reference number as we continue to work towards the V1 base release of this car, so stay tuned over the next weeks and months for more exciting news and developments that we look forward to being able to share with you all fa little further down the road. 

DRS Zone Track Updates

Indianapolis | Steam Workshop: CLICK HERE

As well as the new Formula Pro build, we have also taken the opportunity today to add additional DRS zones to the Silverstone and Indianapolis tracks already available within the simulation. For Indy, the original layout within rFactor 2 is from the 2013 season, a time long after Formula One last visited the circuit, and as such we shipped the track and subsequent build updates without the DRS feature being activated. Since we recently upgraded the track with our new PBR technology and brought the 2020 configuration to the sim, we thought it would be a good time to introduce DRS in order to add another element of strategy for our players to enjoy – especially considering we now have both the Formula Pro and the BMW M4 Class 1 that utilize this feature. 

Silverstone Circuit | Steam Workshop: CLICK HERE

DRS Track Update Notes:

Indianapolis v1.12

• Added DRS Zones to 2020 GP Layout

Silverstone v2.13

• Added missing second DRS zone to GT Layout

Both the Formula Pro V0.99 and the DRS zone updates to Indianapolis and Silverstone are available now, and should download automatically the next time you restart your Steam client. 

Formula Pro – Available Now in rFactor 2