This week feels like it has gone by in a flash, with a lot of things going on behind the scenes. We’ve been working mostly on some enhancements for GT Challenge as we already outlined last week. This work is still ongoing, whilst we are also discussing some other session related changes with some of the other developers within Studio, but those things are probably better addressed in the upcoming roadmap.

We have just finished deploying a couple of new series that will be starting shortly after we publish this blog. Hopefully you will enjoy the combinations we’ve picked! That said, let’s look at a few of the questions that have been asked earlier this week.

Q&A

Will we be able to spectate CS anytime soon?

Bartchelin

It is still somewhere on our list, but not very near the top yet. Hard to estimate when this will make it in. We first would need to create a UI that shows all running splits of a session that is currently live, and then a sensible way to choose the one you want to spectate. What is your intention? Do you want to follow the race of a friend?

 Just because I like interesting facts, I thought I read that more resources were being put on the UI development itself again (correct me if I am wrong). How much % of all work currently is bound to the competition system, compared to the rest of the sim?

Remco Majoor

I’d estimate we have roughly 30% of our development resources working on competition system features. The other 70% are working on UI, some core features and some graphics improvements. These things do change over time though.

As an idea, what could be great is a pop-up that appears if you are in solo practice to say that the CS you are registered start in 5 minutes.

Alpha User

That is already in our designs. At the top right of the screen, there is this “message” icon. Right now that mostly just shows chat messages when you are in a server. When everything is implemented, that will also feature notifications (and those will make that icon flash) while you are in other parts of rFactor 2. Possibly even when you are driving.

In terms of the early life of the Competition System, would you consider yourself pleased with how development is progressing from a technical point of view?

Paul Jeffrey

In terms of stability we are at a point where we are happy that the basic features are working well. Both for users and from a “management” point of view. This is also why we thought it was time to start adding features, like running GT Challenge, in the system. As a side effect of that we will add a lot of flexibility in terms of chaining a couple of sessions which means we can also start running qualification sessions in front of races to set the grid for a split, and many other things.

What would you consider to have been the largest technical challenge in developing the Competition System so far?

Paul Jeffrey

When we launched at Christmas we hit a little speedbump, quite literally as there was a performance bottleneck we had not identified during internal testing. After that, I don’t think we hit any further technical challenges. A lot of time before that had gone into preparing for this, overhauling the whole UI to be web based and in general spending a lot of time in front of virtual whiteboards to flesh out designs. Going forward our challenge will certainly be to add a ton of features whilst keeping the system simple to maintain. We feel strongly about creating a very diverse offering, and to keep things fresh not just by adding new content, but also by adding new formats.

If you could roll back time to the beginning of this process, what would you change in terms of development up to this point?

Paul Jeffrey

I’m very much a believer of taking an incremental and iterative approach to developing such systems. Between the time we launched an early prototype for the first World’s Fastest Gamer competition and now, it’s probably fair to say we tried out quite a few different ideas. Some worked well, others were rejected and one thing we learned along the way was that we needed to make sure that our administrators could quickly create and modify competitions. In some early prototypes, making certain changes was problematic, so that is something we had to change and if I had to do it all again, I would emphasize this more from the start.

As a sim racer yourself, what part of the Competition System, either in its present form or a future shape are you most excited about?

Paul Jeffrey

I like how quickly you can now jump into a session and join the action. Once you’re signed up, all the content is there, and it’s really super easy to get involved. In recent weeks I’ve really been much too busy to jump in a lot, but earlier in the year you could regularly see me competing. What I’m also looking forward to is a feature that we are still fleshing out. I’ll call it “social matchmaking” for now and its focus is on allowing you to race with your friends (and possibly make new ones) instead of purely matchmaking based on skills. I think we are (one of the) first to feature that, and I think it’s really important. The social aspect of our community is important and whilst we are also all here to compete, many of us will not ever be world-class drivers. And that is fine. We should make sure competition is fun at all levels and this is one of the features that I think will help with that. If you and your friends want to jump into a race together, you should be able to for example.

We’ve seen the GT Challenge Series has been migrated to the Competition System now, how has that been from an implementation point of view, and has the move to bring GTC opened up the possibility for new and different feature developments to trickle into the main Competition System platform?

Paul Jeffrey

You should really ask Marian, one of our core developers on the competition system, how this experience was for him as he did most of the heavy lifting here. I think once we aligned on the exact format we wanted to have with Jimmi, our initial designs for this worked rather well. I think the biggest side effect is something I briefly touched on earlier, being able to sequence specific sessions within a split. That will have many more uses in future competitions for sure. Another thing we’ve been working on in this context is the integration of our broadcast features and overlays with the competition system. That will take a bit more time before we can make it available to anyone, but the first steps there look very promising.

Longer term, does Studio 397 have any intention of implementing some kind of streaming features within the Competition System, to allow either centralized or even potentially community powered streaming of races?

Paul Jeffrey

We would certainly like to facilitate streaming, and not just in the competition system. Integrating the broadcast overlays into the game was a first step. We are still debating on what future steps would really help people stream races. So maybe a question to the community here: what would you like us to develop to make streaming easier?

Do you have any data on the popularity of the different car classes in terms of participation? I’d be curious to know which of the car / track combinations offered so far in the system have proven to be most popular with the rFactor 2 community.

Paul Jeffrey

We do have all of these statistics internally. We’ve seen some interesting things in this data. Let me share some highlights. First, in terms of “most popular series” I think both the Tatuus and the Alpine rank very high. Both are what we would call “entry level cars” which is not in any way dismissive. In fact, I personally enjoy both of those cars a lot and enjoy the close racing they bring. Another insight is that we don’t really see much difference in terms of popularity if you compare free and paid content. We have always maintained that we will continue to provide both. This shows that, so far, seems to be a good choice. Going forward I think we can prepare a little presentation and share some more of this data, maybe in a few months.

In the future, will there be license classes to where you can’t drive certain cars without reaching a certain level of license? For example the faster cars like the Dallaria or DPI?

Kaashif Iftikhar

This is planned as a feature that we can configure for certain competitions. We can set “entry criteria” and those can include a specific minimum rating or license. When building a pyramid of racing, it makes sense to leverage this feature to create some form of “pro” series (or drivers). At the same time we recognize that if you just bought the latest DPI car, you also want an opportunity to race it online, even when you are just starting out, so there might be another competition featuring the car with no such limitation.

Could you in the future add competitive servers like RaceRoom did? I thought it was a cool idea, and it has attracted a lot of people to run every day in the simulator.

Luis Pereira

Yes, that and other ideas that attract enough people to be worthwhile are definitely on our radar.

What would good look like to you for the Competition System in 6, 12, 18 and 24 months time?

Paul Jeffrey

I think the high level roadmap we shared at the start of the year is pretty much still the order in which we would like to do things. I think in a few months from now we will sit down, look at that roadmap again and try to align it again with the things that are happening. High on my list right now is to make sure the system is safe and fair for everyone. I’m pretty happy with the overall driving standards, but obviously we’ve also seen cases that need to be penalized.

 Do you have plans to implement such things as different start types (rolling, standing etc) and also maybe a full formation lap ahead of the green flag?

Paul Jeffrey

We certainly do. In fact, I believe we had a brief discussion about exactly this topic earlier today.

 I think it could be quite cool to showcase some of the best performers on a regular basis within the CS system – do you have any plans to highlight to the community drivers who have achieved particularly good results / performances in a given month – say via the roadmap, or social messages for example?

Paul Jeffrey

I had not thought about this exact idea, but I like it a lot.

Is it intended that the number of participants in the split will also influence the points? If the split has only 3 participants, I will be the last to finish third and receive many points. In a split with 20 participants, third place is logically worth more, but I currently receive the same number of points.

Christian Wolter

You don’t get points for where you finish in a split (in most of our competitions). We look at your results from every session within the event, and rank you accordingly. Based on that ranking you get points.

Do you have a plan for a big series (or collaboration) of 3 to 6 months like VEC (Virtual Endurance Championship) or GTR24h? If it is realized, please consider the time difference with Asia / Oceania. I think the number of entries from those region will increase.

I_Bellett

Obviously with VEC being run by Jimmi (and a bunch of other hard working volunteers) we get a lot of feedback from him about what we would still need to do before this becomes a possibility. Same for GTR24h, who are also in close contact with us and no doubt following these developments with a similar interest. We would be stupid to cater only for the European (and/or American) time zones. That is not our plan, we want to give everybody such opportunities. The same would be true for “big series”, whichever those end up being.

Do you have any plans to create a page that visualizes race results and rating fluctuations?

I_Bellett

Yes. No time frame yet, but results and a lot of statistics are definitely planned.

Track update day!

This is something we have been looking forward to delivering for quite a while now – AI updates for the Circuit d’Azur track within rFactor 2. As a firm favourite of drivers and motorsport fans alike, even if the tight and twisty nature of the layout isn’t always an ideal combination to encourage much overtaking on the circuit – unless your rival makes a pretty substantial mistake, and with the barriers this close to the racing line, that prospect is highly likely over the course of a race distance, Circuit d’Azur has proven to be a popular inclusion to our track content within rFactor 2 since we released back in late 2019.

On the subject of making mistakes, it has become apparent that our AI drivers within rFactor 2 would be a little too prone to making unforced errors out on this track, and a select number of cars would make racing against computer controlled opponents at Azur more of a chore than a pleasure within the simulation. Of course, a track like this always presents challenges with such a wide selection of content as is available in rFactor 2, however we’ve taken the opportunity in recent weeks to firmly revisit the behaviour of AI cars in practice, qualifying and race conditions at this circuit, and we feel this new update is firmly a step in the right direction to allow AI to drive in a much more sensible way when in a race weekend. 

Of course things can always be improved further, especially once global AI behaviour parameters have been updated across rFactor 2 in the future, but for now we believe this latest release offers a substantially improved player experience, and we hope the many hundreds of laps completed by our development team provide you with an experience on this iconic track that you can enjoy when racing the many varied cars available within rFactor 2.

Azur | rFactor 2 Steam Store: Click Here. 

Circuit d’Azure V1.15 Update Notes

• Revised Cut Corridors
• Slightly safer AI lines between St Devote & Casino
• Improved Armco Barrier Collision Meshes
• Fixed lack of collisions on Media Centre in pit lane
• Fixed collisions in T1 run-off
• Regenerated real road profiles
• Fixed Starter Worker Safety Car Animation
• Fixed Some Illegal NoRainZones
• Fixed Wet Road in Tunnel
• Fixed some material errors
• Fixed issues with marshals/yellow flags online
• Updated Crowds
• Removed Driveable tag from unnecessary objects
• Slightly reduced rearview distance
• Improved AI Fast Path

The Circuit d’Azur track update is available now on Steam, and if you are hopeful of further track updates in the near future, stay tuned… we’ve got a couple of new ones set to appear in the very near future. 

Circuit d’Azur – Available now in rFactor 2.

New Update!

Stock Car fans rejoice, today is a good day for people who enjoy driving big cars that make lots of noise, produce great racing and have little in the way of braking efficiency. Yes, update day and the arrival of the SC2018x – a brand-new experience in the form of the little brother to our existing Gen 6 CUP car, with slightly less power, new handling characteristics and plenty of changes under the hood to keep our virtual drivers entertained on the various road and oval courses within rFactor 2.

SC2018x | Steam Workshop: Click Here.

Developed as a junior series to the main Stock Car 2018 category within rFactor 2, the SC2018x runs with slightly less power at 650 hp compared to the 750 horses pushing the original car, but this doesn’t mean that these cars are easy to drive, or offer a diluted experience behind the wheel – far from it, as these new machines are likely to produce just as close and intense racing as one has come to expect from this unique form of American motorsport.

Stock Car 2018 | Steam Workshop: Click Here

Promoting the ability to support close side-by-side racing, the SC2018x benefits from increased left side weight on the oval configuration setup, which results in a more driver friendly and stable experience when in proximity to other cars on track, coupled with aerodynamic updates to further refine and balance their behaviour in dirty air, makes these cars a perfect tool in which to race well into the pack on a busy speedway circuit without presenting any nasty surprises to the driver behind the wheel. 

From a visual perspective, the SC2018x also adds a number of new liveries compared to its Stock Car 2018 counterpart. Not only are these liveries a visual differentiation to the original car, but due to the nature of how livery designs work in this type of machine, the opportunity has been taken to rework the front headlight section of the cars to give them a visual differentiator to their bigger brothers. Although this effect has been achieved via the livery designs, it is planned to update the 3D model of the SC2018x cars in the future, although no timeframe for that upgrade is available at present. 

SC2018x Update Notes:

• New: 650 HP Engine
• New: More left side weight
• New: Templates created to give a different visual with the noses of the cars.
• New: All new paint schemes.
• New: Updated sounds (Inside and outside remixed).
• New: Dirty Aero update, balanced the downforce to react more in a more realistic way.
• Fixed: Smoothing issues on car bodies.
• Fixed: Aero in dirty air, increasing stability and reducing ‘loose’ car behaviour.
• Updated: Superspeedway draft package update.
• Updated: Default road course setup.

We appreciate rFactor 2 has a large and dedicated oval fanbase within the simulation, and we hope that this new car release provides plenty of fun and entertainment for our drivers out on the circuit, be it on the superfast ovals or one of the many challenging road and street course configurations currently available within the sim.

Whatever style of racing you enjoy most, keep the pedal to the metal and see you out on track!

SC2018x available now from the Steam Workshop.

New track!!

Hot on the heels of our Diriyah E-Prix release and sizeable Formula E content updates that dropped for the sim earlier this month, we are delighted to today offer another brand-new Formula E location to rFactor 2 – The Rome E-Prix!

A beautiful city and firm favourite of the well-travelled tourist, Rome is without doubt one of the most spectacular places in the world in which to visit – and should you find yourself in that part of Italy during a Formula E race weekend, you will be presented with a suitably dramatic venue to enjoy the drama of top level electric single-seater racing up close and personal. If spectating isn’t your thing, and you would rather experience the thrills for yourself, but you haven’t quite acquired the CV for a drive in the real series, then worry not dear reader – Studio 397 have you covered with the release of laser-scanned virtual recreation of this outstanding street circuit venue.

Rome E-Prix | Steam Store: Click HERE.

The Rome E-Prix Circuit clocks in at a little over 2.860 km in length, giving this particular layout the distinction of being the longest lap in the history of Formula E racing. The cars begin their journey from the start/finish line located on the Via Cristoforo Colombo, before winding their way through the beautiful streets around the Obelisco di Marconi, against the backdrop of the iconic Colosseo Quadrato. Consisting of 21 turns, the Rome E-Prix circuit is another fine example of how to mix many high speed sections with tight and complex sequences of corners, with a few 90 degree hairpins offering prime overtaking opportunities thrown into the mix for good measure.

Undulations are another variable that drivers will have to take into account on this new track, as several key corners are approached downhill and will require a delicate feel for braking input, not to mention the ability to adjust driving styles and techniques over the course of the race to account for changing track and tyre conditions, aligned with plenty of incredibly fast sections of circuit that require the driver to employ a laser-like focus as they thread the needle of pushing a Gen2 Formula E car between the unforgiving barriers that line this visually stunning venue.  

A firm command of braking technique should make the difference between a fast lap or certain disaster here at the Circuito Cittadino dell’EUR, with many of the 21 turns approached at high speed and often as part of an undulating piece of tarmac. The downhill slalom into the opening Viale dell’Industria section of corners represent a key example of where technical braking and a feel for car balance will be crucial to ensure drivers can both navigate this opening foray onto the circuit quickly, whilst keeping the car firmly under control and stable into the heavy deceleration zone for the tight left of turn three, and the following run up the Via della Tre Fontane.

Formula E Bundle | Steam Store: Click HERE.

Of course, the Rome E-Prix is a traditional Formula E circuit at its core, in the fact that the track is located very much in the heart of the surrounding city, so expect to see several historic and beautiful landmarks as you push to secure a competitive lap around this 2.103 mile circuit. In order to really bring the city street racing experience to life for our rFactor 2 players, our track team here at Studio 397 have worked exceptionally hard to accurately recreate many landmarks and distinguishing features in and around the Rome E-Prix track, so if you tire of pushing for those final few tenths of a second, take a moment to have a gentle cruise through the track and admire the beautiful scenery of what must be one of the more visually stunning venues on the Formula E calendar in recent years.

As with the real world ABB Formula E FIA World Championship, our Rome E-Prix circuit includes the exclusive ‘Attack Zone’ feature that plays a crucial role in the real world racing season. Allowing drivers the opportunity to gain additional performance for a set duration of time during the race by activating ‘Attack Mode’ and passing through the designated Attack Zone area on the circuit, this feature will be even more critical on the Rome E-Prix track, thanks to the many fast, swooping downhill sections that really allow a Formula E car to stretch its legs and edge towards its ultimate potential.

Don’t forget, the Rome E-Prix is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of Formula E content within rFactor 2. Players eager to find out what electric open wheel racing has to offer can sample both the original ‘Gen1’ car the current ‘Gen2’ machine, plus a great selection of circuits the likes of New York City, Monaco, Berlin and Hong Kong E-Prix – plus of course the brand new Diriyah E-Prix released earlier this month.

Diriyah E-Prix | Steam Store: Click Here.

The Rome E-Prix Circuit is available to purchase in rFactor 2 now.

For two weeks in a row we’ve skipped the competition system blog, first because we were announcing the “big news” and the next week because, well, I was enjoying a short holiday. That does not mean we’ve all sat still. New competitions have started, and we have just run the first round of GT Challenge. At the moment we’re still developing more code for that as the new season unfolds. As you know this competition format is not exactly straightforward, with splits based on results in the past two events, multiple races with reverse grids and participation points that are added to your finish position points. Technically it’s a nice challenge!

We are taking this opportunity to also enable a system that takes care of protests and the decisions from race control that are the result of this. Our short term goals will be to make sure the GT Challenge series runs smoothly. Once that is achieved we’ll look at a few new features, such as stewarding, safety ratings, and in general making sure the system becomes a safer place where people compete fairly!

That’s it in terms of updates and plans for now. Let’s continue with answering a bunch of new questions that came in over the last couple of weeks.

Q&A

Which tracks not yet featured qualify for the CS?

vava

Good question. I have not memorized all the tracks we’ve featured yet, but let me respond in more generic terms. Content needs to first all be licensed or totally fictional. The second criterion is that the content must be of good quality. Both technically and visually. So there are a lot of tracks that qualify, also in the community. Which ones would you like to see in future competitions?

 I think it would be a really cool thing if rF2 comp system had a driver budget cap when entering the series. Something that limits the amount of races you can enter and simulates the cost of damaged cars. For example, I had 1 bad race where I got minor suspension damage from another driver, but a few laps later couldn’t hold the car and ended up in a wall. I put that down to my own error in the end, if I didn’t go full pace with damage I could have probably finished. So say a written off car is expensive, and you cannot re-enter till the next round or if you have enough money from winning previous races that may cover the cost and allow you to race the same round again. Just trying to build some sort of career feel to the comp system and how you manage yourself for a series. Might even improve some drivers’ race mentality and be more likely to finish a race.

Bartchelin

I think this is a lovely idea. Years ago I was in a league that did these things. You started the season with a budget. You could win more money by finishing up front. Damage would cost you money to repair your car. Any money you had left you could invest in small upgrades that could give you an edge, such as a 2-second faster pit stop, 5 litres extra in your fuel tank, etc. I’ll put this on our ideas list.

Why don’t you guys extinct the qualy sessions, leave a server running the current content and use the best time for each driver to define the splits (something like what happened in gt challenge s2), people would use it to practice too?

 juninho tilambucano

We have not done that until GT Challenge as we wanted to try out some other formats too. In the end we’ll stick with what you, as a community, enjoy most. That might not be the same for everyone, but we can run different formats concurrently.

In the future we can see in the competition system mods that are chosen by S397, or as with the Alpine, will we have to not negotiate licences and things like that? (I make this query as this maybe increase the quantity and quality of mods in the simulator). I’ve been wondering this for a long time but since the users being tested are selected for the betas, I ask it as a curiosity.

Dazzer

I am not entirely sure if I understand your question, so feel free to follow up if I answer it the wrong way. Right now we can use any content that is licensed and where we can trace the intellectual property (meaning we know who made every single part of it). For the Alpine cars that Enduracers did, these conditions are satisfied. They have a license, they built the cars from scratch, and they are nicely done.

Will the competition system be more user-friendly? I still haven’t figured out how it works, so I’m not participating. When I enter, I download some file and that’s it. What should I do next? Either I haven’t found it, or there is no classic server join.

R.Noctua

I’m not sure if this is the best place to try and help you, but it sounds like you managed to sign up for a competition and the content needed to participate has been downloaded and installed. Your next step would be to register for a session. Registration opens 15 minutes before the actual session, so you might want to check the upcoming sessions to see when your next race is. If you still have questions, check out our discord or forums, there are many people there who can help you get started.

Are there any plans to incorporate features similar to iRacing’s Relative? The current Relative feature often feels inconvenient in races with multiple classes.

I_Bellett

Not really competition specific but something we would like to improve on going forward, yes.

The Competition System will still be free even after the acquisition by Motorsport Games? Or you’re planning to add a subscription system? Afaik wasn’t the parent company Luminis that allowed you to run servers at no costs?

The Walker

Let me first clarify the last part of your question, as that might be a misconception. Luminis did not allow us to run servers at no cost. The decision to make the competition system free for all users of rFactor 2 was made by Studio 397. And yes, we do have to pay for our servers. We did make sure we can run the system efficiently of course. Now, as to your first part of the question, since we are currently in the middle of this acquisition I am not going to make any predictions about what the future might hold, but I’ll repeat what has been said in an interview I recently did, where we said that it will be “business as usual”.

It has earlier been stated that besides the current rating system in the CS, there would be introduced some kind of safety rating as well.

Given the variety within the platform and the goals to utilize this, I think it might be interesting to expand this a bit further, so there could be a few different ratings related to different disciplines.

This could be ratings for performance in hot lapping, sprint races, endurance races, different car classes etc. Not that there should be 10 different ratings but maybe adding a few extra? Personally my performance in hot lapping and endurance racing is not that comparable for example.

Andi Kurtsen

The algorithm we have we can already apply to different sets of results. So we could use the same algorithm on just hotlaps, sprint races, etc. It’s an interesting idea to do so, it might make for some interesting statistics. Thanks for sharing that idea with us.

A question that many people are asking themselves, will there be a 24H of Le Mans with multiple splits that allow the ordinary user to participate, or will it be an event closed to invitations only?

Diego Barjollo

For several reasons I think it’s a bit too early to answer this specific question. Now if you ask me in general if we would like to include endurance racing into the competition system, the answer is yes. We are still working on support for entering teams of multiple drivers into the system, and everything around that. Same for multi class racing. So for sure in the future we will be running big endurance events on many of the iconic tracks in rFactor 2.

Will there be kart races in CS in the future?

EmanueleMarra15

Yes. We have some good content to do that, both free and paid, so that’s definitely on our shortlist.

When will the pilot statistics page be implemented?

EmanueleMarra15

I do not have a solid date on this, yet. My best guess is somewhere after we’ve added ratings, penalties and some form of marshalling and/or safety rating. We are collecting those statistics, we are still designing how to best show them.

Will there be a detailed guide on how the scores work?

EmanueleMarra15

We are still tweaking and validating the algorithms ourselves, so I think it’s too early to go into every little detail. I think I’ve tried to explain before how the system takes all the race data for a single event (so all sessions and splits run within that event) and tries to rate drivers based on those results. For every driver the result of that is a rating as well as a certainty of that rating. The certainty increases as we have more results for a driver. In case we are not sure, we will round down the rating. That is converted into a table and points are assigned in that order. Some people have concluded that “grinding” helps you get a better result. Up to a point yes, because we are more sure of your rating. Others have concluded that “only racing once” is helpful. Up to a point yes, because you might have been lucky in that race, so we overestimate your rating, but we round it down a bit because we’re uncertain. Still that might result in a better rating than you’d get when racing more. No system is perfect!

What’s the next big step for the system, For Example: A more detailed user profile with statistics? Multi-class? Public training server?

Stevy

After finishing some of the additions for GT Challenge and hotlapping, our next focus will be on (safety) ratings and a system for protests and penalties. All of the things you mention are also on our roadmap, but after the ones I’ve just mentioned.

Please, more free content in the competition system. Maybe free cars on many free tracks would be very nice.

Taris Henrique

So far I think we’ve always made sure to include competitions that were completely built on free content. We definitely intend to keep doing that as long as there is a demand for it. Are you looking for a specific series?

Today we are pleased to release a substantial collection of updates and improvements to four of our Formula E circuits within rFactor 2 – as well as some further tweaks and refinements to the current Gen2 car that is the star attraction of the ABB Formula E FIA World Championship this season.

The new release today is mostly about adding further refinements and improvements to the New York E-Prix, Hong Kong E-Prix, Berlin E-Prix and Lester Electric Docks test circuit, plus our current generation ‘Gen2’ Formula E car complete with the innovative and Formula E exclusive ‘Attack Mode’ functionality.  

Formula E Bundle | Steam Store: Click Here

By the time you read this post the new updates should already be live, and will download automatically to owners of the content next time you restart your Steam client. In further good news, all the updates released today are compatible with the current opt-out and Release Candidate builds of rFactor 2.

Gen2 Formula E Car

Introduced at the start of 2018, the second generation Spark SRT05e Formula E car offers a significant improvement in performance, energy efficiency and safety over the original SRT_01e used for the first four seasons of Formula E competition. Now capable of completing a full race distance on a single charge, whilst allowing drivers an increased power output of 250 kW for speeds of up to 280 km/h (174 mph), plus the introduction of the FIA mandated Halo driver head protection system, the latest generation Formula E car firmly positions Formula E as a modern, high performance, entertaining and relevant racing series for the years ahead.

Alongside the original Formula E ‘Gen1’ car, the latest ‘Gen2’ machine offers rFactor 2 players a challenging and interesting driving experience behind the wheel. As well as the relatively low grip all-weather tyres and the need to employ driving techniques such as lift-and-coast to maximize energy regeneration, the current iteration of electric open wheeler also makes use of the innovative ‘Attack Mode’ – an exclusive feature of the ABB Formula E World Championship. Designed to increase opportunities for drivers to overtake on the often tight and twisty street circuits used throughout the Formula E calendar, Attack Mode presents drivers with the opportunity to engage an additional 50 kW of power for limited periods of time during a race session, activated by driving through a specified ‘Attack Zone’ section of the circuit. When ‘Attack Mode’ is activated by the driver, the LED display on the Halo will flash blue until the mandated power boost period has been completed. 

The Gen2 Formula E car is available as both a standalone DLC alongside the original Gen1 machine, and as part of the wider Formula E Bundle DLC pack within the rFactor 2 Steam Store.

Following a period of further review and fine-tuning by our car team here at Studio 397, we are pleased to bring the following updates and improvements to this incredibly exciting to drive machine.

Update Notes

v1.37

• Updated liveries based on manufacturer feedback

Hong Kong E-Prix 

Hong Kong E-Prix | Steam Store: Click Here.

The very first official Formula E circuit to be released for rFactor 2 as part of our original Energize Formula E DLC back in late 2017, Hong Kong is the quintessential Formula E track. Located amidst a stunning city skyline backdrop and offering drivers zero opportunity to make a mistake thanks to the ever present threat of race ending contact with the unforgiving walls that line the circuit perimeter, Hong Kong has been meticulously recreated using detailed data to offer rFactor 2 players a unique and exciting driving experience within the simulation. 

To give it its full name, the Hong Kong Central Habourfront Circuit is a 1.860 miles (2.993 km) street circuit that comprises 10 corners and produces a lap time of slightly over 60 seconds. One of the shorter tracks on the ABB Formula E FIA World Championship calendar, Hong Kong can often be relied upon to produce a dramatic race, thanks in part to the mix of potential overtaking opportunities coupled with a long back straight and 90 degree hairpin turns. 

Update Notes

v1.83

• Fixed: Pit official SCN error.
• Fixed: Cut Detection Issues.
• Fixed: Minor Material Updates to Road Surfaces.
• Fixed: Various material errors.
• Minor Advertisement Updates.

Berlin E-Prix 

Berlin E-Prix | Steam Store: Click Here.

Beautiful Berlin – one of the most prominent tracks in Formula E folklore thanks to the historic decision to run no-less than six back-to-back rounds at the Berlin Tempelhof venue last season, in what was a challenging year for global motorsport due to pandemic related restrictions in place throughout the world. Now we hope that such a situation doesn’t occur again any time soon of course, and maybe drivers have pretty much had their fill of Berlin for the foreseeable future thanks to the strange end to 2020, but that doesn’t distract from the fact that our Berlin E-Prix in rFactor 2 is a fantastic street racing venue that represents one of the most action friendly layouts on the Formula E racing schedule. 

Debuting on the ABB Formula E schedule all the way back in the 2014-15 racing season, Berlin has been a mainstay in the series ever since, although not always using the same location and configuration during its 12 race history in the championship. The version found within rFactor 2, as currently raced in Formula E, weighs in at 2.250 km (1.398 mi) across 10 corners, with two particularly fast straights that lead to solid overtaking opportunities.

Update Notes

v.1.25

• Fixed :Closed terrain gaps, new rrbins, fixed lines mapping.
• Fixed: Hat collision on two objects.
• Fixed: Pitworker animation.
• Fixed: irradSpecular and refmap texture flag issues.
• Fixed: Cut Detection Issues.
• Fixed: Minor Material Updates to Road Surfaces.
• Moved Atmospherics to GDB file.
• Minor Advertisement Updates.

New York E-Prix 

New York E-Prix | Steam Store: Click Here.

The Big Apple. New York is one of the destination cities in the world, with iconic buildings, masses of people and as Frank Sinatra once sang, is long regarded as ‘the city that never sleeps’. Having very much established itself as a premium event on the Formula E calendar since making its debut in a double header race during the 2017 season, New York is certainly one of the more popular venues visited by the championship. As is somewhat typical of a modern Formula E track, New York is another healthy mix of high speed straights and tight corners, with 14 turns and three significant straights making up an interesting 2.374 km (1.475 mi) layout. 

On paper, the Brooklyn Street Circuit doesn’t appear to offer a challenge on the scale of something like our recently released Diriyah E-Prix venue, however once players drill down into the unique characteristics of the track, the need to really push for every last tenth on corner apex and exit really brings out the nuances and challenges of taking the most out of the 70-second plus lap time at New York – a beautiful venue, and a perfect showcase of how close and exciting racing on these types of circuit in Formula E can be. 

Update Notes

v.1.19

• Fixed: Pit officials animation update
• Fixed: irradSpecular and refmap texture flag issues
• Fixed: Set atmospherics
• Fixed: Cut Detection Issues
• Fixed: Minor Material Updates to Road Surfaces
• Reduced bumpiness in TDF
• Rdt balancing
• More safe cut settings
• Minor Advertisement Updates

Formula E Test Track

Formula E Test Circuit | Steam Workshop: Click Here.

Electric Docks. Also known as Lester, and something of an outlier in our Formula E content offering here within rFactor 2. Originally developed as a traditional street circuit, back in 2019 we gave the venue the Formula E treatment and the Formula E Test Track was born. Keeping many of the characteristics that made the track so popular, but adding in some Formula E specific layout changes to better suit the style of racing so well-loved in this electric open wheel championship, the Formula E Test Track has benefitted from a gradual evolution since it first entered the Steam Workshop back in April 2019, now reaching the point where we believe this circuit not only offers a great selection of corners to really test the ability of a modern Formula E car, but also produces some exceptional racing in both Formula E and a variety of different racing machines – a wonderful, and free, addition to the ever expanding roster of high quality tracks within rFactor 2.

Update Notes:

v2.19 

• Fixed: Much stricter track cut detection.
• Fixed: Camera at SF not able to see down pitlane.
• Fixed: various collision issues.
• Fixed: Start light issue.
• Fixed: Wall shadow issues.
• Regenerated RRBIN.
• FE Advertisement updates.
• Adjusted default session times.
• Updated Crowds.
• Added Digital Flags.
• Road Material updates.
• Reworked barriers around chicanes.
• Tightened up T1 Chicane.
• Revised Cut Corridors.
• Updated Advertisements.
• Replaced Tyre Stacks with TecPro.
  

As always, we hope you enjoy these new updates, and we look forward to seeing you out on the virtual racetracks of rFactor 2!

New track!!

Today we are pleased to present to you a brand-new laser scanned circuit to add to our ever expanding Formula E content within rFactor 2 – the Diriyah E-Prix Circuit.

Diriyah E-Prix | Steam Store: Click HERE

Diriyah E-Prix joins the four currently available official Formula E circuits within rFactor 2, offering players the opportunity to yet further enhance their virtual experience of racing in the world’s premier electric single-seater category.

Formula E Bundle | Steam Store: Click HERE.

The Diriyah E-Prix layout is a challenging 2.459 km round the houses track held on the streets of Ad Diriyah, a short distance from the centre of the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia. Having achieved the honour of hosting the very first Formula E race in the Middle East when making its debut on the calendar for the 2018-19 season, the circuit has born witness to some exciting moments in the history of the pioneering electric racing series. With a 10-year contract to host Formula E only two years in, the Diriyah E-Prix looks set to form part of the calendar backbone of the championship for a long time to come.

Like all street circuits, Diriyah is a tight and twisty venue. Comprising 21 corners and an average lap time in a Gen2 Formula E car of around 1 minute and 15 seconds. What makes this track particularly interesting is the high volume of long radius corners followed by blind apex turns, together with two long and wide straights that generally opens up more than a fair share of overtaking opportunities for anyone brave enough to give it a try – something we think our rFactor 2 community will very much enjoy! 

Diriyah is a little different to the usual Formula E venue, in that predominantly the circuit is located within a desert location that features some beautiful and typically Arabic architecture around the course, really bringing the culture of the region into the heart of the racing experience.

Thanks to the large working area available to the event organizers, the Diriyah E-Prix layout has been designed to maximize opportunities for drivers to dice wheel-to-wheel in their Formula E cars, presenting significant overtaking opportunities off the back of the two main straights – meaning racing is often fast and frantic and not for the faint of heart. Whilst overtaking opportunities have been well thought through by the event organizers, the circuit layout itself is also one packed full of exciting challenges for the drivers to overcome. Many high speed changes of direction will place an emphasis on a finely balanced car, however driver bravery and the ability to maximize corner entry speed around the often blind turns of the circuit are critical to putting together the perfect lap, as is a strategic use of the Formula E exclusive Attack Zone, located in a difficult part of the circuit and perilously close to the ever inviting walls…

The Diriyah E-Prix Circuit is available to purchase in rFactor 2 now.

New build day!

Today we are very pleased to release another new build update to rFactor 2, as we deploy the latest ‘release-candidate’ update to the simulation and transition our former release-candidate branch to become the main public ‘opt-out’ version of rFactor 2. 

The new build deployed today comes ahead of our next content release for rFactor 2 – the Diriyah E-Prix Formula E street circuit – which should be made available to purchase in the rFactor 2 Steam Store later this evening.

How build update branches work

We now have three separate branches of rFactor 2 for players to select, and depending on your individual requirements you may have a preference for the particular build you wish to use when launching rFactor 2. Below we will quick a quick overview of what each build is, ahead of looking into the detail of the latest changes.

‘Opt-Out’ – This is the main public build of rFactor 2, without any beta branches or additional early updates applied. This is the build that will be available as default. 

Release-Candidate – This build will always feature the latest updates and improvements that have been introduced by our development team ahead of main public release. Although these changes will have been reviewed by our test team here at Studio 397 prior to deployment, we will use this build branch to give our users the opportunity to opt into these changes early, and report any unexpected issues that may or may not occur before we launch to the main public ‘opt-out’ branch of the software.

Previous-Build – Our new ‘previous-build’ branch will contain a copy of the last public ‘opt-out’ version of rFactor 2, prior to updates being deployed, should any communities need to revert to the last known stable branch of the software for any reason. 

As we release new updates for rFactor 2, each branch will ‘move up’ to the next step of the branch ladder, from ‘release-candidate’ to ‘opt-out’ to ‘previous-build’, replaced by the respective new updated version. 

With that all out of the way, let’s move on to what new updates and improvements we can look forward to in this latest release-candidate build that has been deployed to Steam today. 

New release candidate build

In this latest update the development team here at rFactor 2 have been working hard to continue to address a selection of bugs and missing features from the current build of rFactor 2. Of course, this is very much an ongoing piece of work and will continue to be worked on by the team here at Studio 397, however we are pleased to report that plenty of progress has been made by the development team already in regard to our ongoing progress, as you will be able to see in the below update notes. 

March 4th Release Candidate Notes – release-2021-2 (Client Steam Build ID 6276424)

Changelog

General

• Fixed an issue enforcing physics upgrades
• Fixed an issue where custom skins would be allowed even when the server does not allow them.
• Fixed an issue where a custom skin would glow white after changing session if skin transfers are disabled. Also ensures other players see you with the default skin of your car.
• Fixed an issue where a series does not initialize correctly on first time use. This would manifest in not being able to select upgrades when joining a competition.
• Fixed an issue where FFB changes would not register until you go to the track for the second time.
• Fixed a crash to desktop during game load when the current selected series was uninstalled, however the install file remains in packages folder.
• Removed a setting that exited the game after leaving a server
• Added extra logging during the loading of content for debugging purposes

HUD

• Fixed an issue where the time remaining in a race session would not be shown.
• Message centre now displays same name/value as show in the garage screen when changing vehicle settings

Graphics

• Fixed an issue where secondary wet weather reflections would not show on roads. (The reflections from a damp road surface, rather than puddles)
• Fixed some issues which could cause graphical glitches in the skies.
• Fixed VR UI boundaries showing a faint black line when in game

UI

• Added driver and car info displays to full screen replay; steering, throttle, brake, clutch, speed, rpm, gear and g-force traction circle. This information will also be shown live for a driver.
• Fixed an issue where Wheel Loads were not shown in the UI
• Fixed an issue where the UI would run at uncapped FPS
• Fixed an issue where the refresh button in package management would not detect newly copied in files in the packages folder
• Fixed an issue where real road settings weren’t reset in the session settings screen if the user changes track.
• Fixed an issue where session settings would remain from a previously selected series
• Now automatically update the favourite server list on race screen after adding or removing a favourite.
• Fixed an issue where Tracks, Cars and other components would inherit the uninstall status of the last series.
• Fixed wrong driver name displaying in replay when there was a driver swap
• Fixed an issue where disqualified drivers could still go to track
• Fixed an issue when joining a server the ui would display invalid cars
• Fixed an issue where a server client mismatch was reported the wrong way around
• Removed language toggle from player profile

Modding

• Added reporting for driveable surfaces which are not defined in the TDF file in ModDev
• Fixed issues with using Vertex Colour in the Standard Blend Shader

‘Opt-out’ public build

As we have developed a new release candidate, with all the latest changes and improvements we have brought to the simulation, the time is right to now migrate our current ‘release candidate’ to the main public build of rFactor 2. This means that the default public branch of the simulation will automatically be updated to incorporate the changes from our existing ‘Release Candidate’, in effect turning the build that we released under the RC banner back on February 10th into the main public build of the simulation. 

For those of you wishing to review the changes that will form the main ‘opt-out’ build of rFactor 2 from today, please find below the update notes that originally formed our February 10th ‘release candidate’ build deployment:

March 4th Opt-Out Notes – release-2021-1

• We’ve removed the Max 2012 plugins as they no longer work, and provided the last working Max 2017 plugins. We have no intention to upgrade them any longer as we can’t get these versions of Max any more to test. Furthermore, we urge the modding community to upgrade to current Max versions.
• Fixed: Reflection mapper in Scene Viewer, so it renders from the same point as the user sees.
• Fixed: Bind a mouse click to any input control.
• Fixed: Issues with showroom performance.
• Fixed: Missing error prompt when textures are missing from content.
• Fixed: Issue with a white screen you get when you try to assign a control.
• Fixed: Visible damage sometimes corrupting car bodies, to properly fix the hotfix that temporarily disabled the visible damage.
• Fixed: Issue where clouds could show similar corruption as car bodies.
• Fixed: Showroom Upgrades not displaying which require MAS Files.
• Fixed: Glitch where “the lights would suddenly go off” when transitioning from light to dark at dusk.
• Fixed: Exploit where you could still set the FE car to use 250kW in the setup in a race when that setting is reserved for “attack mode”.
• Fixed: Overlays would not correctly follow the attack mode countdown timing.
• AIW Editor: Added new line smoothing option, and added soft selection for manual adjustments.
• Added an internal option to the player.json to turn off multi-threading in the UI. Defaults to “on”.
• Added code support, so we can detect a disabled Steam overlay, to warn you about why a shopping cart won’t show up.
• Changed how a dedicated server shuts down when asked so it no longer crashes with a non-zero return code.
• Pausing sessions in a dedicated server will now only pause the first one.
• Increased an internal timeout when talking to Steam to give it more time before we give up or retry.
• Scene Viewer Changes: Moved Web UI Port to 5396 by default and added support for up to 128 scenes in configuration file

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, we have also taken the decision to retain what was until today the main opt-out public branch of rFactor 2 – this will now become the ‘previous-build’ branch, and will remain active for players to select until the next time we deploy a release candidate build, whereupon the current release candidate will be migrated to the public build, and that current public build will then become the ‘previous-build’ branch. 

We hope you enjoy the new update(s) to rFactor 2, and we look forward to continuing to work hard behind the scenes as we look to further develop and improve the simulation in the weeks, months and years ahead. 

Today we are delighted to announce an exciting new chapter in the history of rFactor 2, as we welcome Motorsport Games as the prospective new owner of Studio 397 ahead of the commencement of a relationship that firmly secures the future of our market leading racing simulation.
Studio 397 have made great strides in the development of the highly regarded rFactor 2 racing platform since founding the company and assuming control of the active development of the software from Image Space Incorporated in late 2016. In that time, Studio 397 has introduced a number of significant improvements to the software as we strive to deliver an unrivalled simulation experience that best represents the rich and varied world of international motorsports.

Featuring the highly advanced physics engine, tyre model and a force feedback system widely regarded as class leading in the industry, much of the development focus of recent years has been focussed on important elements such as performance, graphical fidelity and the introduction of more modern technologies that allow the studio the opportunity to develop and enhance the gameplay mechanics of rFactor 2 long into the future.
It goes without saying that the initial strides we have made with the simulation have been as much about laying the foundations of our future development as they have been about bringing immediate tangible improvements to the software, and like all of us at Studio 397, we are sure the community would like to see improvements delivered at an increased rate than has been possible with our current development goals, resources and infrastructure.

Born from the desire to further our development objectives for the short, medium and long term future of our company, we look forward to welcoming Motorsport Games as the incoming new owners of Studio 397 – bringing with them a wealth of experience and shared mutual passion for the world of real and virtual motorsports. Both companies are incredibly excited to leverage this experience in order to lift the development of rFactor 2 onto the next level of progression that we know and understand our community deserves. What does the change of ownership mean?
In terms of the day-to-day running of Studio 397, business will continue as usual as we continue to strive towards deploying new updates, historic software improvements and interesting new content for our players to enjoy.

What the change of ownership to Motorsport Games does bring to Studio 397 is an opportunity to add more passionate and like-minded people to help support the rapid expansion of our core business aims. By way of this new arrangement, the management hierarchy are presented with an opportunity to take stock of our current strengths and weaknesses, and in partnership with our new owners consolidate those strengths and look to build core enhancements and depth within the team and knowledge base of the studio. Essentially, the new ownership will give us the tools, resources and capacity to improve, expand and develop our simulation at a faster and more efficient rate than ever before.

Will rFactor 2 continue to be developed?

The firm answer to that question is yes. We collaborated closely with Motorsport Games last year on various esports events, such as the highly successful 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual as well as the Formula E Race at Home Challenge. Both leveraged the rFactor 2 platform and we are discussing with Motorsport Games how to evolve the title so it can become the company’s go-to esports platform on PC. These talks are only just starting to take shape here at Studio 397, but rest assured we look forward to sharing many of our plans with the community in the weeks and months ahead.

Are other projects going to use the rFactor 2 engine?

Definitely. Core parts of our engine are integrated into the platform we’re building for the new NASCAR game as well as future games on console and PC. Motorsport Games already announced future products based on the Le Mans and BTCC licenses, so we are looking forward to creating a solid foundation here.

Closing remarks from our Managing Director, Marcel Offermans

Over the last couple of years we have already collaborated with Motorsport Games on its upcoming NASCAR game as well as various successful esports events leveraging rFactor 2. We are excited to join forces and see a bright future ahead.

As always, see you out on the track!

Motorsport Games and Studio 397 Official Press Release:

Motorsport Games Enters into Binding Term Sheet to Acquire Developer Studio397 and its rFactor 2 Simulation Platform

Studio397 brand and name to remain under Motorsport Games banner

Updates and iteration of rFactor 2 to continue under Studio397

MIAMI, FL —  March 3, 2021 — Motorsport Games Inc. (NASDAQ: MSGM) (“Motorsport Games”), a leading racing game developer, publisher and esports ecosystem provider of official motorsport racing series throughout the world, announced today that it has entered a binding term sheet to acquire Studio397 BV, the company behind the industry leading rFactor 2 racing simulation platform, from Luminis International BV. The acquisition will see Studio397 continue its work on rFactor 2 while also developing the physics and handling models for Motorsport Games’ forthcoming projects. Motorsport Games expects to utilize its resources and expertise to enhance the rFactor 2 offering, especially in areas highlighted by the racing community.

Studio397 and Motorsport Games have long worked in tandem, with rFactor 2 providing the simulation platform for the highly successful 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual race, as well as the Formula E Race at Home Challenge, both of which were operated by Motorsport Games. It is expected that Studio397 will retain its name and branding with the existing development team and management will remain with the studio.

“We have been working with the team at Studio397 for a long time on both game development and esports. This is an acquisition that, when completed, makes complete sense for all parties and we are delighted to have them agree to join the Motorsport Games family,” said Stephen Hood, President of Motorsport Games.

“Studio397 has a clear passion for virtual racing and together we recognised an opportunity to work as one team to advance the genre to the next level,” continued Hood. “We see this as great news for the sim racing community as we can now leverage the best elements of the rFactor 2 platform, combine it with our foundational use of Unreal Engine (developed by Epic Games) and layer in the additional components our talented teams have spent the last two years developing. Our aim was to start out with a product that had heart and soul. When the planned acquisition is completed, we can operate safe in the knowledge that another piece of an ambitious puzzle has been secured.”

“After growing rFactor 2 in the last five years, we are excited to take the next step with Motorsport Games, advancing rFactor 2 and integrating its advanced simulation technology into future projects. We share a common ambition to be the best at what we do,” said Marcel Offermans, Managing Director, Studio397.

“This planned acquisition is another clear signal of our intention to establish Motorsport Games as the leader in the virtual racing space. We continue to utilize the capital committed by our shareholders to aggressively pursue our goals,” added Dmitry Kozko, CEO of Motorsport Games. “Securing rFactor 2 and the expertise behind will be a huge advancement for us. We will bring our experience and knowledge to help maximize the potential of the rFactor 2 platform while also having exclusive access to its best-in-class technology for our future projects.”

“The level of simulation and the feeling of driving offered by rFactor 2 is second to none,” shared Fernando Alonso, Motorsport Games shareholder, Alpine Formula 1 driver and two-time Formula 1 World Drivers’ Champion. “I am delighted that Studio397 and rFactor 2 will be joining our Motorsport Games family and I am sure that we will enjoy a great deal of success together.”

This latest announcement from Motorsport Games follows a string of exciting developments, including the upcoming acquisition of KartKraft from Black Delta and announcements of forthcoming games based upon the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans and the British Touring Car Championship, in addition to the company’s existing NASCAR projects.

For more information about Motorsport Games visit www.motorsportgames.com and follow our social media channels: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Motorsport Games:

Motorsport Games, a Motorsport Network company, combines innovative and engaging video games with exciting esports competitions and content for racing fans and gamers around the globe. The Company is the officially licensed video game developer and publisher for iconic motorsport racing series including NASCAR, 24 Hours of Le Mans and the British Touring Car Championship (“BTCC”). Motorsport Games is an award-winning esports partner of choice for 24 Hours of Le Mans, Formula E, BTCC, the FIA World Rallycross Championship and the eNASCAR Heat Pro League among others.

For more information about Motorsport Games visit: www.motorsportgames.com

About Luminis and Studio397

Luminis International BV is a software and technology company with offices in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Our mission is to create exponential value for organizations by using software technology. With 200 colleagues we work with more than 100 customers, including major brands such as KLM, Nike and Bol.com. Luminis also develops cloud-based data solutions under the brands InformationGrid and MediGrid. In 2016 Luminis founded Studio397, aimed specifically at the professional race simulator market.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.  Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed forward-looking statements.  Words such as “continue,” “will,” “may,” “could,” “should,” “expect,” “expected,” “plans,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements.  All forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, many of which are generally outside the control of Motorsport Games and are difficult to predict.  Examples of such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to whether to Motorsport Games will be able to negotiate and enter into the definitive agreements with respect to the acquisition of Studio397 and its rFactor 2 platform, whether all conditions precedent in the definitive agreements to acquire Studio397 and its rFactor 2 platform will be satisfied, whether the closing of such acquisition will occur and whether Motorsport Games will achieve its goals.  Additional examples of such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to (i) Motorsport Games’ ability (or inability) to maintain existing, and secure additional, licenses and contracts with the sports series; (ii) Motorsport Games’ ability to successfully manage and integrate any joint ventures, acquisitions of businesses, solutions or technologies; (iii) unanticipated operating costs, transaction costs and actual or contingent liabilities; (iv) the ability to attract and retain qualified employees and key personnel; (v) adverse effects of increased competition on Motorsport Games’ business; (vi) the risk that changes in consumer behavior could adversely affect Motorsport Games’ business; (vii) Motorsport Games’ ability to protect its intellectual property; and (viii) local, industry and general business and economic conditions. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements can be found in the most recent registration statement on Form S-1 and current reports on Form 8-K filed by Motorsport Games with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Motorsport Games anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause its plans, intentions and expectations to change. Motorsport Games assumes no obligation, and it specifically disclaims any intention or obligation, to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by law.  Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and should not be relied upon as representing Motorsport Games’ plans and expectations as of any subsequent date.

Press:
motorsportgames@astrskpr.com

Investors:
Ashley DeSimone
Ashley.Desimone@icrinc.com

10 events, 10 teams, 20 drivers and wildcard racers – the 2021 World eX Championship is almost upon us, and just ahead of the track action we are pleased to introduce another exciting element to this genre defining new esport racing series – wildcard hot lap qualifications.

World eX Championship | More Details: Click Here.

In order to offer the opportunity to race with as wide of a selection of rFactor 2 players as possible, this season the World eX Championship will begin with an online hot lap competition to identify drivers from the community that will progress to the main World eX Championship racing season. Unlike other hot lap competitions however, this one will come with something of a unique twist… the aim of the game for our drivers is to set a competitive time, and whoever finishes the week of competition with the overall quickest lap time will immediately qualify for the forthcoming race. Furthermore, should that wildcard driver go on to win the race itself, they will immediately book a slot in the overall championship final – opening up a unique opportunity for drivers to significantly expand their opportunities to race and win in this exciting and innovative new esport racing series.

World eX Hotlap Competition – Starts Today

The excitement is set to begin today at the home of the British Grand Prix, as Silverstone in Northamptonshire plays host to the very first official action of the new season. Prospective World eX Championship drivers will be presented with the opportunity to set their best lap time at the British circuit from 12:00 CET onwards on Monday 1st March, with hot lap qualifications coming to a close at 20:15 CET on Saturday 6th March 2021. Once the hot lap session has been completed, the laps will be reviewed and the fastest driver who set a legitimate lap time will progress to the first race meeting of the new season and feature in the 90-minute #RacingForTheClimate Broadcast Show which airs on motorsport.tv and other channels on Thursday 11th March at 20:00 CET (www.rccoworldex.com/watch).

How To Register

Participation in the RCCO World eX Championship hot lap qualification sessions couldn’t be easier! All prospective racers need to do is have a copy of the rFactor 2 racing simulation, the RCCO eX ZERO 2021 car DLC and an active connection to the internet. The hot lap competition will be hosted within the rFactor 2 Competition System infrastructure 

RCCO eX ZERO 2021 | Steam Store: Click Here.

World eX Championship Schedule

At the conclusion of the hot lap qualification competition on Saturday 6th March it will be time to hit the virtual racetracks for the start of the very first RCCO World eX Championship – a brand-new, exciting esport racing series that is set to take in 10 dramatic racing venues around the world – from Grand Prix tracks to fan favourite circuits within rFactor 2.