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

New car day!

Hello rFactor 2 fans, today we have good news for those who love lower powered open wheel cars in our simulation – joining our substantial collection of slicks and wings machinery this afternoon is a brand new addition to the fleet of free Tatuus cars in rFactor 2 – the Tatuus MSV F3-020 is here!

Tatuus MSV F3-020 | Steam Workshop | CLICK HERE

We know everyone loves free content, so once again the new Tatuus MSV F3-020 will be added to rFactor 2 as new content for no additional costs to owners of the simulation – joining the pre-existing T318, F4 T104, FT50, FT60, MSV F3 T106, PM18 and the USF 17 – lots of Tatuus cars!

Tatuus MSV F3-020 2020

Run exclusively in the BRDC British Formula 3 championship, the MSV F3-020 is a new take on the tried and trusted Tatuus formula – bringing the latest technologies and refinements to the core chassis and engine whilst still retaining the lively handling characteristics that have made the Italian manufacturer so popular across multiple national open wheel series. 

Launched in time for the 2020 racing season, the 020 benefits from a brand-new and bespoke developed Mountune 2-litre normally aspirated engine, capable of producing a healthy 230 bhp – an increase in power that coupled with advanced aerodynamic and mechanical grip improvements brings the MSV F3-020 much closer to official FIA F3 lap speeds. On the aerodynamic front, the 020 enjoys a substantially revised front wing structure over previous models, something that Tatuus have developed with the specific intention of introducing greater levels of setup variability for drivers – aided by the additional introduction of a Formula One style spinal fin, a two piece rear-wing and revised front splitter and rear diffuser. The subtle changes to the overall look of the car adds downforce and performance, as well as uplifting the visual aspect to a more modern aesthetic.

Under the skin of the new design, the Tatuus MSV F3-020 packs a six-speed sequential gearbox operated by paddle shifters on the steering wheel rather than a more traditional stick shift design, and unique to the BRDC British F3 Championship the car also features a limited-slip differential, helping amongst other new changes to differentiate this machine from the many other open wheel cars current on offer from the brand throughout the world.

The car comes complete with racing slick and wet tyres provided in spec compound from Pirelli,  4-piston front callipers and floating, grooved and ventilated discs with 2-piston rear calliper and fixed vented rear discs from AP Racing, and a twin wishbone suspension with two-way adjustable dampers. All in all – a very smart, punchy and compact race car that should easily allow our drivers to enjoy some fierce and competitive racing across the wide selection of circuits currently available within rFactor 2.

What the Professionals Say

Of course, here at Studio 397 we pride ourselves in producing lifelike driving experiences for our players and professional racers to enjoy, and the new Tatuus MSV F3-020 is no different in that regard, as we use our extensive knowledge of the rFactor 2 simulation engine and real world data from Tatuus to help us recreate the experience of pushing this virtual car to the limit out on circuit. 

Someone who knows all about how these cars behave on track is former British F3 driver Callan O’Keeffe. Having a broad experience of junior formula racing as well as a keen interest in virtual motorsport, Callan recently took the time out of his busy schedule to share some of his thoughts about the new car in the video below:

As always, we hope you enjoy this new car, and we look forward to seeing you all out on the track in the very near future! 

Tatuus MSV F3-020 – Available now in rFactor 2

New build day!

Great news, today we are delighted to release a new build update to the public branch of rFactor 2 – packed with a veritable feast of new and exciting improvements to the software that we can’t wait for you to try for yourselves!

If you are not a part of any existing beta program within rFactor 2, the new public build will download automatically the next time you restart your Steam client. This new build will be formed from recent improvements developed by the code team and the content of our current Release Candidate that we have been running for the last few weeks. For those of you who have been enjoying the current Release Candidate, thank you once again for your time reporting any issues that may have cropped up ahead of this public release – I’m sure you’ll agree we’ve had a pretty good run with this new build, and we hope you share our enthusiasm to get all these new updates finally out into the public domain for everyone to enjoy.

As this new update is quite frankly a pretty large one, we’ve taken the decision to delay our next RC build for a little while longer, so while the public ‘Opt-Out’ is now available, no new Release Candidate is scheduled for the next few weeks – fear not though, we are continuing to work on the next RC, so stay tuned for more information on that in a short while. 

Linked Sessions

As part of this new build, we are delighted to introduce a feature that we think will prove to be very valuable for our sim racing community, and one that we are extremely excited to get out into the public – Linked Sessions! 

Throughout the ongoing development of our rFactor 2 Competition System, we have always held the desire to run various different types of racing styles and formats, with an aim to produce an experience that our drivers find both interesting and easy to engage with for extended periods of time. As we’ve undertaken quite a substantial task to develop Competition System from scratch alongside the new UI, while maintaining and tweaking the core code to ensure it remains robust even in the more extreme situations, we’ve had to take pragmatic decisions on the timings of future feature improvements, both in terms of our capacity here at the studio and also as we gather the data and feedback from the community we need in order to make effective development decisions. 

One of the biggest things we planned on introducing to the CS during this first phase of development is Linked Session functionality, of which a first pass has been brought into the system as part of the build released today.

What are ‘Linked Sessions’?

Simply put, the aim of a linked session is to allow the player to remain within the same server and engage in multiple sessions without having to leave and re-enter / re-register, as is the case at present. So in reality, what this means is that from now on it will be possible for example to join a qualification session, then move straight into a race, into another race, another qualifying, race etc etc without having to exit at any point in the process. 

Although the convenience factor of this new feature is one of the key benefits from adding linked sessions, especially for those who want to experience prolonged multiplayer engagement in one sitting, the new code also opens up some incredibly interesting opportunities for us to have a look at different grid sorting options within the Competition System. With Linked Sessions, we can now explore the possibility of introducing reverse grids of different types – examples of which could be a top 10 reverse in one session, top 3 in another or full reverse grid – and any other variation of our choosing.

Additionally, we also now have the opportunity to incorporate different weather and time of day variations into a Linked Session, so in theory a player could qualify with an in-game time from say, 10am, race at in-game 1pm and in-game 4pm and then straight into a nighttime event. All within the same session, all immediately following on from one another. 

Another benefit to this new feature is that we can now carry Real Road settings from one session to the next, helping us fully recreate a progressive format where weather and track conditions continue evolving from one session to the next.

All in all, we think this opens up some very exciting possibilities for how players engage with the Competition System races, and of course we will continue to monitor and refine this new feature set over the coming weeks and months, as we work to ensure everything is behaving as expected, and to add further feature improvements as development progresses.

Build Update Notes

Steam Build IDs

• Client 7070526
• Dedicated 7070530

General

• rFactor 2 Build Bumped to 1125
• Added MetallicNoise.dds to Vehicle Common Maps so that it does not need to be packed with each car
• Updated Flag Stations so they will not assign to the Pit Path.
• Updated parsing of Flag Station Instances (cornerworkers, safetyworkers, digitalflags) so all instances are parsed and do not require any specific naming order.
• Added auto grouping of flag stations to the same point on track. Note: It is now recommended to only place Safetyworkers next to Cornerworkers or Digital flags to ensure a flag is waved or shown correctly.
• Made the distance to group flag stations together configurable (GDB: FlagStationGroupDist=30)
• Updated Yellow Flag and Blue flag logic to work correctly with flag station grouping
• Made the distance before and after an incident at which a yellow flag is waved configurable (GDB: FlagStationIncidentMinDist=20, FlagStationIncidentMaxDist=250)
• Fixed digital flags all flashing checkered the second a car finishes the race. Instead they now follow the logic of other flags and only flash progressively around the track as cars finish.
• Enabled chat command “/callvote nextsession” on a dedicated server to advance to next session.
• Removed Hide Cursor default assignment to “delete” key from controller settings. Note this does not affect existing profiles.
• Fixed cars showing up with the team name missing when using a custom team in multiplayer via the new UI
• Synced min/max ranges for options in the backend (playerbasefile) with the new UI’s default (JNIOptions)
• Added ability to specify slot using steam id for some chat commands
• Save steam id when a driver disconnects from a session
• SteamId is saved when somebody disconnects, so it appears in the result xml

Graphics

• Reviewed & updated all Cloud Textures
• Improved Lighting Calculations on Clouds and Atmospherics
• Fine-tuned and optimized rain particles (50% less particles now)
• Improved ModDev options with ability to force a specific cloud texture as well as set cloud cover at any point.
• Ensured that cloud textures are never loaded ad hoc, which would previously cause some stuttering online or in replays.
• Fixes for various issues that were present when the cloud update was previously released.
• Fixed an issue when saving PNG screenshots via the built-in game function where alpha information seems to get saved around the glows and glares, for example around the sun.
• Fixed an issue where Sunglare at dawn or dusk on ultra-wide or triple screens would be undriveable.
• SSR – screen space reflection implementation for wet road reflection
• Reduced Sky Exposure and rebalanced auto exposure for these changes
• Fixed issues with Night Time under-exposing.
• Enabled Auto Exposure adjustments whilst game is paused
• Slightly reduced TV Camera low-sun exposure levels
• Faster Exposure Adjustment on TV Cameras to reduce the noticeable fade when changing camera
• Fixed Differences in ToneMapper and Exposure in Showrooms vs In-Game
• Added Missing Ambient and Static Mappers to Default Showroom
• Fixed an issue where Static Mappers would not update after a game session time change
• Fixed some road objects not having wet weather reflections
• Improved Puddle Normal Maps
• Fixed some issues with how reflections work at the side of the screen.
• Improved blur and general tweaks to level of road reflections
• Fixed some car parts not reflecting (including enabling reflections on car headlights)

UI

• Load server lists (Internet, LAN, Favorites, Friends) asynchronously
• Added extra UI options for setting up steering wheel rotation settings (Rotation limit mode, max wheel angle mode, default max wheel angle).
• Ensured that appropriate settings are enabled/disabled with the right options.
• Readjusted Controller Calibrate layout so that all items fit without scroll bar
• Fixed Point to Point tracks wrongly closing loop
• Fixed unnecessary scroll bar on Display Options Screen
• Made it possible to sort the packages list by the installed column. Also made it possible to sort the multiplayer list by version while refactoring the table component config a bit.
• Fixed standings table alignment where long class names would cause problems.
• Replaced underscores in car class name with spaces and allow it to wrap to second if needed.
• Fixed bottom shadow sometimes being positioned wrongly in the lap history pop-up.
• Fixed an issue when losing a connection to the dedicated server that the network connection error dialogue would only show up when leaving a subsequent single player session.
• Added spectators to player list when in race monitor, and allow kicking/banning of them via the same process as kicking/banning an active player
• Updated event full-screen so only data that is needed for the elements being visible is fetched and updated.
• Fetch live standings in event screen with WebSocket instead of polling.
• Show total race time for race winner and the final gaps to winner for other drivers as they finish the race.
• Added start-up Wizard to assign basics controls at startup
• Fixed server join button not working if you clicked it on the outside of the “join” text.
• Fixed upgrade description not being visible with a long list of upgrades on the tuning screen.
• Fixed shadow positioning in packages table with only a few packages showing
• Fixed series list being empty if there were two series with the same name
• Added checkbox option to remember the password for a server.
• Your last selected server list type (Internet, LAN, Favorites, Friends) is now remembered on the multiplayer matchmaker screen.
• Removed useless scrollbar on options calibrate page when in an event.
• Added UI setting for toggling FFB strength direction between negative and positive.
• Added track type and length to track loading screen.
• Added disabling of “next session” button in single player admin controls when there is no next session.
• Made list layout the default layout on all pages that use it.
• Made changes to reduce time the light grey screen is shown, for example when leaving an event and returning to the main menu.
• Fixed the current selection (series, car, track) sometimes not loading in the main menu start and race screens.
• Made sky setting also affect the rain chance setting.
• Added showing raw range (min, max) for control axes on the options calibrate page.

Live stream overlay

• Class colors on text no longer working: No code changes; text color needs to specified with a “color” field in the custom overlay config.json along with the previous “backgroundColor” field.
• Added RPM, speed, gear and pedal inputs to the driver info overlay.
• Added error checking for endpoints failing when overlays folder does not exist.
• Added driver name options drop down to overlay control panel and updated overlay elements to use it.
• Added DRS active classes to battle box, extended battle box and tower overlay elements.
• Added DRS active text to battle box element.
• Fixed color swipe animation being positioned slightly wrong on some overlay elements.
• Fixed in-game panel toggling not always working.
• Fixed overlay not working at all if the configured overlay folder does not exist.
• Added prev/next buttons for season standings and in-race season standings elements.
• Added background color to control panel table rows when showing multiple car classes. The color is faded from the one defined in config.json for that class.

Modding

• Added a content error if a Cube Map is wrongly assigned.
• Added New AI Editor Methods for updating Cut Corridors including Finding, Normalizing, Setting to Corridor values, Setting to Collision Corridor values as well as setting if adjusting Corridors effects Cut Corridors.
• Added specific functions for Normalizing Corridors and Normalizing Collision Corridors.
• Fixed RealRoad errors loading Loch Drummond in ModDev
• IBL Road Shader: Made configurable the effects of the blue channel of a Road Detail Map. Now can enable/disable masking of the overlay function and the decal map.
• Added the ability to constrain a Camera to the Pitlane or the Main Track.
• Enable Trace logging by default in ModDev

The new build is available now and should download automatically the next time you restart your Steam client. The next Release Candidate build update is still under development within the Studio 397 code team – no new RC build will be deployed alongside this latest Opt-Out branch, however more information on what to expect as part of the new RC will be shared on the Studio 397 social media channels and website in the weeks ahead.

For now, enjoy the new build, and we will see you out on the track!

Release day! 

Following up on the successful and well-received release of our new Monza Grand Prix Circuit for rFactor 2, our development team have spent the past few weeks ironing out a few outstanding issues and community reported feedback, as well as waving the magic track development wand to introduce not one, but two brand-new layouts for the venue!

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

Monza is absolutely one of the most well known and highly respected racing circuits in Europe, and as we’ve said in previous messages, we are delighted to finally have the opportunity to bring this track to life within rFactor 2 – helping us continue in our quest to add the most relevant, exciting and high profile content possible to the simulation as we look to further flesh out and expand your racing experience within the simulation. Already we’ve observed some outstanding feedback and reaction from the rFactor 2 community about the track, which fills us with a  great deal of pride here at the Studio to see just how much many of you are enjoying the new release.

With that all said, we also recognize that as a regular host to Formula One racing and other International events, most of the attention around the Monza release would likely have been focussed on recreating similar experiences for yourself – namely the high speed Grand Prix layout of the track. As we spent the majority of our initial development time looking at bringing this layout to life within the title, we also recognize that many drivers would be, like us, excited to sample some other circuit variations that exist at Monza, especially as these different configurations also suit a wide variety of car types that are perhaps slightly slower than the traditional top level machinery that is often employed around the Italian venue. 

While we were out at the track earlier this year collecting the vast amounts of scanning data and reference materials for this project, we always had the intention to take some time out to look at the shorter variants of the circuit, with a view to bringing these into the main release a little after the full circuit goes live in the rFactor 2 Steam Store. Well dear reader, that day has come, and now it is time to share these two new configurations with the world… 

Monza Junior Circuit

In effect the smaller, national, circuit to the main configuration, the Junior layout at Monza has played host to a number of minor race events and series over the years, and continues to be a popular variation of the main circuit layout for lower powered machinery. Opened in 1958 and originally called ‘Pista Junior’, the shorter variation of the Italian circuit links the grandstand straight with the opposing back straight through a series of several curves, presenting at least one reasonable additional overtaking opportunity despite the tight nature of the new section of track. Ideal for smaller, lower powered machinery and touring car style vehicles, the Junior layout at Monza most certainly adds another very different dynamic to the Italian venue.

Monza Grande Circuit

One word. Fast. 

Utilizing the full circuit configuration just like the main layout, the key difference with the Grande layout is the removal of the T1 chicane at the very start of the lap. Without the need for cars to brake heavily into the opening Rettifilo right left, the speeds achieved on the Grande Circuit are seriously impressive. Foot absolutely planted to the floor from the exit of Parabolica all the way down into Variante della Roggia, this is as close to an oval as you are likely to get from a modern purpose build road course circuit. 

As well as adding these two new and very different configurations to our existing track release – at no additional cost – we’ve also taken the opportunity to further work on the track and add some additional refinements and improvements that have been possible to put together since the original release back on June 24th. In this new build update, our track team have spent some time working on AI behaviour at certain points on the circuit, as well as bringing a few visual tweaks to the various configurations and introducing some optimizations for different shadows and detail settings – a full change log of which can be found below:

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza v1.21 Update Notes:

• Added Junior and Curva Grande Layouts
• Updated Cut Detection on Main Layout
• Replaced a few tree types and some minor foliage updates
• Updates to road tyre marks
• Reduced crowd density in practice sessions
• Some optimization to Shadow and Detail settings
• Fixed road line decal clipping before first chicane
• Fixed AI car behaviour swapping lanes on rolling starts
• Slight adjustments to AI lines through Lesmo turns
• Fixed some minor lodding issues with Trees

We are sure you will have some great racing adventures on the main configuration and the two additional layouts of Monza we now have in rFactor 2, and we can’t wait to hear your tales of heroic overtaking manoeuvres and, more likely, frustrating T1 spins and crashes over the weeks and months ahead. Don’t forget, the new Autodromo Nazionale di Monza track is now active in the rFactor 2 Competition System, so if you fancy trying your luck against fellow members of the rFactor 2 community, make sure to pop over to the Competition tab in the rFactor 2 UI and sign yourself up for a race – just be careful under braking into T1!!

The Autodromo Nazionale di Monza is available now in the rFactor 2 Steam Store. 

Hello sim racers!

Following up on the major new KartSim release from over the weekend, we are delighted to today deploy a further complementary update to this awesome collection of content, as we look to continue fine-tuning and improving what has already proven to be a very well-received new release within our kart loving community here at rFactor 2.

KartSim Esports Pack | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

Available as a free update to the main KartSim build, the new hotfix deployed today addresses a number of reported issues from our community, ranging from visual tweaks to the behaviour of the karts themselves on the 10 tracks available across the European and UK KartSim Track Packs. 

In terms of the karts, this build looks at making further developments to the brand-new KZ shifter kart that some users have been reporting generates a crash to desktop situation. Although this issue hasn’t manifested itself across all players, the potential cause of the problem has been identified and should be repaired as part of this latest build, with further work on the kart also addressing a reported glowing parts problem when racing in nighttime conditions. Other kart updates include fixes for the Rental, X30 and X30 EU Mini Cadet, plus further AI development work at Whilton Mill, Glan Y Gors and Adria circuits that aims to reduce the tendency for the AI to take excessive curbs which can lead to destabilization, and in some extreme cases, flipping of AI controlled karts.

KartSim Hotfix Update Notes

IAME KZ EU 2021 v1.73

• Improved nighttime PBR shaders
• Improved compatibility issues

IAME X30 2021 v1.68

• Improved nighttime PBR shaders
• fixed tyre temp sensor bug

Rental 2021 v1.68

• Fixed UI Bug

IAME X30 EU Mini Cadet 2021 v1.73

• Improved night time PBR shaders

Kristianstad 2021 v114

• Improved AI

Glan Y Gors 2021 v130

• Improved AI

Adria 2021 v120

• Improved AI

Whilton Mill 2021 v120

• Improved AI

The new update is available now, and should download automatically the next time you restart your Steam client. The latest fixes are available free to players who already own the content, and will be included in the base KartSim installation for new players who purchase these items going forward.

KartSim is available now in the rFactor 2 Steam Store