Release

Hello sim racers, 

Just before we all scurry off and do festive things over the next few days, it’s time to carve out a bit of space and get yourselves on your racing rigs – our special (and surprise) holiday season DLC drop has arrived!

Two brand-new cars make up this new release, as we continue to add to our British Touring Car Championship offering – and introduce the 2022 BTCC season to rFactor 2, as well as adding a car that plenty of you have been asking us about in recent months – the beautiful Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 992 – developed with help from rFactor 2 ambassador and real world Porsche cup driver, Rudy van Buren!

We’ve found it exceptionally difficult to keep our lips tightly sealed about this drop these last few weeks, as we know you probably didn’t expect it having become accustomed to our new for 2022 quarterly release schedule, but we just couldn’t help ourselves than to put this together, as it feels wrong at Christmastime not to put something exciting under the tree, doesn’t it?

With this final release of the year, we’ve managed to really pull out the stops and make a mammoth effort to put our resources into expanding our 2021 and 2022 British Touring Car Championship field into rFactor 2 – a licence and content that we are exceptionally proud of, and cars that we see seem to have been well received by our sim racing community. We really hope you enjoy these extra additions, and we look forward to signing off from 2022 positively, with much more to come in the new year!

BTCC 2022 Season

BTCC Update | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

A free update to anyone who owns the respective 2021 BTCC car(s), the 2022 update introduces every team, driver and livery of the 2022 British Touring Car Championship season for the cars released thus far, plus a promise to include the 2022 season liveries on the upcoming BTCC content – 32 official liveries to adorn the eight car models that make up the 2022 field.

As well as all the drivers of the current BTCC season, the 2022 update also adds a revised tyre model and full Balance of Performance across the grid, making the art of not just driving, but winning, in a BTCC car all the more exciting and enjoyable out on the track.

Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992)

Porsche GT3 Cup 992 | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

Developed in conjunction with both Porsche themselves, and real world Porsche Cup driver and World’s Fastest Gamer winner Rudy van Buren, the new Porsche GT3 Cup 992 is an incredibly exciting car on which to tackle the various race circuits available within rFactor 2.

Producing a driving experience that is sure to keep drivers on their toes like only a Porsche Cup car can, this is a brutal yet engaging vehicle that offers up a little something for everyone – whilst making that stunning Porsche noise that we’ve all come to love in recent years.

Built with supreme attention to detail – a lot of you have been waiting patiently for this one, and we are pretty sure you will all find it has been very much worth the wait!

BTCC Vauxhall Astra

Vauxhall Astra BTCC | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

The venerable Astra is now coming to the end of its competitive lifecycle in the British Touring Car Championship, however despite its advancing years and lack of development in recent times, the car remains an exceptionally enjoyable front-wheel-drive racer, and one that remains very popular with fans of the sport – something we expect will transfer to the virtual version in rFactor 2.

Shorter in wheelbase than many of the British Touring Car field, the Astra offers a different and more lively driving experience than most NGTC spec cars – something we think will be enjoyed a great deal by our community once you get used to the new driving experience.

Content Updates

As well as the new goodies to enjoy, we’ve also got a bunch of free updates to existing content within the simulation. From the substantial improvements to the StockCar 2018, to the more housekeeping changes brought forward to some of our existing tracks, these updates are all aimed at bringing together a more coherent and improved experience in rFactor 2 – something we’ve thoroughly enjoyed achieving throughout 2022, and look forward to more of the same into the New Year and beyond!

Below, please find details on the various content updates that have been released as part of this end of year release:

Bahrain v1.11

• Fixed Track Limits GP layout T10 exit
• Optimized Visgroups
• Animated night visuals on Sahkir tower
• Fixed DRS on alternate layouts

Daytona v1.17

• Various minor performance optimizations
• Improvements to Road, Grass and Water materials
• Fixed Oval layout camera clipping

Sebring v1.15

• Fixed Pit Exit Cut Detection on full circuit layouts
• Fixed various minor issues
• Fixed Rolling Start Issues
• Minor Optimization
• Minor Gap Fixes

Nordschliefe v2.43

• Updated pit lane cut corridors, pit exit cut detection on all layouts.
• Reviewed fast rolling starts, all layouts
• Don’t render Ferris wheel on low track detail setting

Circuit d’Azur v1.19

• Fix for orange ambient online
• Optimization and fixes to Track Detail settings
• Minor LOD optimizations
• Minor optimization to reflection mappers
• Updated Water materials
• Minor updates to road and terrain materials

Laguna Seca v1.21

• Reviewed cut corridors in pitlane (around rear path connections)
• Fixed terrain gap outside of final turn
• Curb Collision Fixes T7 & T9

Botniaring v1.07

• Fix for black raindrops on car windscreens when raining

StockCar 2018 v2.25

• Updated 3D models (flaws/rain effects).
• Updated liveries & Paint Templates.
• Updated brake torque.
• Updated aero package.
• New shaders applied to all objects.
• New digital dash.
• New sounds added for new sound engine.
• V2 tyre update (52 Compounds).
• Added wipers for road course wet weather racing.
• Updated all default setups.
• Implemented RCD Talent file.
• AI improvements (all tracks they run on).

Caterham Academy v1.11

• Fixed windshield looking milky when crashing the car
• Fixed rain not clearing windshield

Vanwall LMH v1.13

• Added a bop upgrade
• Fixed tire wear
• Added shift protection
• Added some more gear ratios
• Changed rev limit to 9100
• Fixed rear brake calipers being on the wrong side

BMW 330 v1.17

• Added 2022 teams
• Added new tires
• New engine cooling
• New water/oil radiator settings
• Added 5kg weight penalty
• Updated tire textures and materials to match other cars
• Removed alcohol sponsors

Ford Focus v1.31

• Added 2022 teams
• Added new tires
• New engine cooling
• New water/oil radiator settings
• Updated tire textures and materials to match other cars

Hyundai i30 v1.31

• Added 2022 teams
• Removed generic liveries
• Added new tires
• New engine cooling
• New water/oil radiator settings
• Updated tire textures and materials to match other cars

Infiniti Q50 v1.37

• Added 2022 teams
• Added new tires
• New engine cooling
• New water/oil radiator settings
• Added 4kg weight penalty
• Updated tire textures and materials to match other cars

Toyota Corolla v1.47

• Added 2022 teams
• Added new tires
• New engine cooling
• New water/oil radiator settings
• Added 2022 teams
• Updated tire textures and materials to match other cars

rFactor 2 In-Game Store

rFactor 2 In-Game Store | More Details: CLICK HERE

Don’t forget, this August we brought online the brand new, and in-game rFactor 2 Store – where players have the opportunity to quickly and easily see what content is available within the simulation, and to easily identify the very best purchasing options and sale offers on every item available for rFactor 2.

Presented in a much more streamlined and intuitive design than the default Steam Store, with added simplicity to help you understand which items are already within your Steam inventory, the new rFactor 2 in-game store really is the best way to browse and purchase content within rFactor 2!

The final release of 2022 is here – new cars, new season update for the BTCC and lots of fun to be had – thank you to everyone for making 2022 a fantastic year for rFactor 2 – enjoy the festive holidays, and see you out on track!

rFactor 2 Q4 2022 Bonus Drop – Now Available!

Hello sim racers! 

New (Release Candidate) build day! 

Featuring the latest developments and improvements created by the team at Studio 397, the July 2022 release candidate can be accessed via your rFactor 2  Steam account, under the release candidate branch option.

In this latest build update, you will find significant improvements to the gameplay experience of rFactor 2, ranging from our new anti-lock brake system and traction control behavioural changes, some clever new track limits functionality, right the way through to enhancements we have made to our dynamic track experience – changes that we consider substantial enough to provisionally label as Real Road 2.0.

These developments have undergone heavy testing by the internal Studio 397 development team, however, this release candidate has been made available for those of you who wish to get an early look at the future of rFactor 2, and to help us further iron out any unexpected issues ahead of the full public release in August. Changes of this scale will alter the way cars and tracks behave in the simulation, so let’s take a look at the new change log, and some key highlights from this new build.

Update Notes

General

• Updated Track Limits System taking into account many factors to award warning points for infringements, with drivers given a short amount of time post cut to give up any gained time or positions in race.
• Ability to set Track Limits to None/Default/Strict
• Ability to configure number of Track Limit Points before a Drive Through during race sessions.
• Improved calculation of infringement during time off track, taking into account, time gained, distance travelled, throttle application, time off track, speed differentials, positions gained during race, wall riding and more.
• During all sessions invalidate current lap and sometimes next lap, based on how close to the end of the lap and the size of the infringement.
• During race sessions earn warning points, if 3 points are acquired in one go, or you pass the cumulative point limit threshold (5 by default) a drive through is given. The size of penalty increases for extreme cuts.
• Pit Lane Exit violations are now logged and penalized accordingly (May require content updates)
• Wrong Way Driving calculations have been tweaked to be more lenient when far from the track.
• Strict mode intended for eSports, has harsher thresholds and invalidates all off track laps in non-race sessions.
• Improved logging options and ModDev options for analysing cuts.

HUD

• Added current Track Limits points to Penalties MFD Page in Race Sessions.

Graphics

• Driver labels now correctly depth buffer regardless of display mode

UI

• The first launch wizard controls configuration can now be re-run from the “Calibrate controls” page
• Moved “Electronics” setup settings (TC and ABS) under the “Engine” heading, which has been renamed to “Engine & electronics”
• Fixed damage multiplier setting description in singleplayer session settings
• Moved damper setup settings to their own tab
• Fixed sporadic empty car list on server join
• Added “Track Limits Rules” singleplayer setting
• Added “Track Limits Points Allowed” singleplayer race setting
• Added Tender Springs to suspension setup page

Physics

• Dynamic track temperatures based on weather conditions and cars driving on track
• Added improved anti-lock braking and traction control systems. (Only available on the TEST version of the McLaren Senna GTR)
• Added Traction Control Power Cut map to control the amount of TC to apply. (Only available for the new TC)
• Added Traction Control Slip Angle map to control the target (maximum) slip angle before TC activates. (Only available for the new TC)
• Added ABS/TC dash LEDs which show the amount of slip and show when the systems activate
• Added Tender Springs functionality (Only available on the TEST version of the Porsche 991 GT3 Cup)

Networking

• Cars that lag too much or teleport will have collision disabled for 5 seconds.

Sound

• Fixed loops not restarting correctly
• Fixed loud audio spike when loading into multiplayer sessions
• Fixed random shift sounds in the garage
• Separated TC and Pit Limiter events
• Fixed audio loop points
• Fixed spotter and start lights not playing or being delayed
• Fixed game startup without audio device or with +nosound enabled
• Performance: Sound system now uses another thread, eliminating random frame time spikes and improving game performance

Modding

• Batched loading warning pop up messages together for fewer popups (Dev Mode/Scene Viewer)
• Added warning popup for assets exported with default LOD Out for optimization debugging (Dev Mode/Scene Viewer)
• Added cancel button to show no more messages that session (Dev Mode/Scene Viewer)
• Fixed various content issues with Showrooms and Joesville (Dev Mode/Scene Viewer)
• Added Sideview_UI showroom to ModDev for UI screenshots of cars.
• Fixed an issue in MapConverter where it would crash with textures named *_M_<type>.TGA

Known issues

• Tender Spring setup description is missing
• Cut Detection is presently very strict on turbo cars (under investigation)
• Ambient temperature can be set arbitrarily and might not correspond to weather conditions at the track location. This can cause track temps to be very different from the ambient temperature.
• There is no feedback for players when their collision gets turned off (due to lag).
• One dash LED which indicates ABS/locking does not turn on when locking wheels
• Certain car/track combos may not have any sound if the number of effects is low
• Driver labels do not toggle correctly in the monitor

Real Road 2.0

Essentially representing how the track behaves and interacts with the virtual world around it, the rFactor 2 Real Road system has undergone significant development for this new build. Now featuring track temperatures that change dynamically based on both weather conditions and the cars circulating and driving over it, Real Road 2.0 offers a major uplift to the realism levels of rFactor 2.

As part of this feature enhancement, track temperatures can be affected by a number of variables such as time of day, cloud cover, ambient temperatures, geographical location of the circuit and the act of other vehicles circulating, and warming the tarmac. Track temperature will initialise at the beginning of a session based on the weather conditions set by the player, and will dynamically change over the course of track running. Based on these interactions and atmospheric conditions, the track surface temperature will change and influence car and tyre behaviour over the course of a session. Furthermore, temperatures can also be heavily influenced by differing levels of shade on the racing surface – meaning that parts of the circuit under the cover of shadow will remain cooler and heat up at different rates than tarmac exposed directly to the sun’s rays. 

The addition of dynamic track temperatures is something our community here at rFactor 2 have requested for a long time, so the introduction of this feature set into the title is a very pleasing moment for the team here at Studio 397, and one we are looking forward to sharing with you all as we refine and improve in the months ahead. 

With these changes in effect, our drivers will be exposed to another major variable of the on track experience, so be prepared to adjust both your driving style and tyre choices over longer stints – further expanding the immersion experience within rFactor 2.

UI Improvements

The development of our latest iteration UI is an ongoing project, one that is likely to continue to develop and mature into the immediate future. Following the major UI refresh we deployed towards the end of 2021, our main goal in the short term is to ensure a robust and clear user journey within the sim, fixing any outstanding issues that present themselves, and making further small steps forward in order to comply with the latest technical developments that release for the simulation. 

As part of this latest Release Candidate update, we have taken the opportunity to deploy some more fine-tuning upgrades to the UI, addressing a number of issues identified since our last update, and adding support for the new features that have been introduced within the latest build. 

Although only minor changes, it is worth pointing out a few of the key differences in this RC build, compared to the version players have become accustomed to in recent months. 

In order to accommodate the new ABS and Traction Control changes introduced today, we have moved the “Electronics” setup settings to the newly created “Engine and Electronics” heading, renaming the section formerly known as “Engine”. Furthermore, the UI now displays the surface temperature data on the header of any track session, pulling in the new parameters for our dynamic track system introduced as part of this build. 

ABS and Traction Control

Another sizeable development that will come on stream as part of this release candidate build is the introduction of a major revision to our ABS and Traction Control simulation. For this July RC build, we have substantial reworked these two important electronic features of modern race cars, significantly expanding their behavioural characteristics in line with their real world counterparts, and adding a wealth of feature enrichment functionality.

The new ABS functionality utilises the same ABS onboard map as the original implementation, however, with these new developments drivers will be exposed to a much more accurate and realistic set of behaviours. Under heavy braking, when the tyres start locking up the ABS will activate and releases the brakes on an individual wheel basis, until grip returns and the ABS turns off again and brake pressure returns – exactly mirroring the mechanical functionality of real world ABS behaviour. ABS working hard? Expect quite a jolt through the force feedback!

In terms of traction control, in this new build we now have three onboard TC maps, these are as follows:

• Onboard TC
• Power Cut TC
• Slip Angle TC.

The power cut TC controls how much power is cut when TC activates, with a higher map value simulating a higher level of power reduction. The slip angle TC controls how much lateral (side) slip a car can have before TC kicks in, with a higher map allowing less slip. Not all cars have these two settings, so one or both of these may be disabled, in which case they are controlled by the main “onboard TC” map. Next to this, the onboard TC map also controls the longitudinal (forward) slip the driven wheels can have before TC kicks in, again a higher map means less allowed slip.

Furthermore, additional dashboard ABS/TC lights will be introduced to cars with these features enabled.

In order to test out these ABS and TC changes, we have implemented these changes into the McLaren Senna GTR as a special test item that has been released at the same time as this build. Much like with the audio engine improvements, engine and brake cooling update and shift protection features, these enhancements will be rolled out to additional cars over the course of the weeks and months ahead. Please note, these changes are currently only available on the TEST McLaren Senna – further cars to be updated in due course. 

Track Limits

For this release candidate build, we have completely reworked the way track limit infringements are calculated within the software, with the aim to make a more robust and fairer solution for all users. Within this latest build update, we have developed functionality that allows our users to set three types of track limit settings: None, Default and Strict. These setting can be applied to both single player and also on a multiplayer server.

These settings link to a threshold for penalties and warnings for infringements. In non-race sessions, the penalty invalidates the current and sometimes following lap, depending on the strength of the cut. In a race event, drivers will be allocated penalty points. Once past a certain point threshold, which can be manually configured, the system will issue the offending driver a drive-through penalty.

In a race session, If the number of points earned in a single incident exceeds three points, the offending driver will be given an automatic drive-through penalty. In cases where penalty points are accrued in separate incidents, points are added to a tally, until the driver reaches the set amount of configured points, whereupon a drive-through penalty will be given.

If a driver finds themselves significantly exceeding the penalty points tally, for example via large cuts, the system will issue a stop and go penalty, with the stop time variable dependent on the severity of the cuts.

In order to help better inform players of the penalty point status, a new Driving Standard Dialogue will show when a driver is at risk of an infringement. In order to avoid a penalty, the driver will be offered a brief opportunity to slow down whilst the situation is calculated, however the required level of slow down will not be displayed.

If drivers perform an illegal overtake whilst off track, a dialogue will issue a warning to the offending driver, and recommend they give back the place, with a short period of time allocated for the driver to comply. The system will ignore cars that are off track, driving slowly, in the pits or have DNFd.

The new system also offers a considerable reworking of other track based infringements, such as wall riding, passing while under investigation, pit exit violations and driving the wrong way on track.

Tender Springs

A tender spring is an additional spring, usually much softer than the main spring and is used to alter total spring stiffness, usually up to a certain point in suspension travel, after which tender spring is fully compressed (bind) and does not compress any further – from that point any additional compression is provided only by the main spring and stiffness of the suspension from that point onwards comes only from the main spring. If a tender spring is of a relatively low spring rate (10-20N/mm for example), its typical usage would be, when the main spring is not long enough to cover full stroke of the damper. In such a case, at full rebound, the main spring would become loose. Having additional, very soft tender spring provides enough of length to keep the main spring correctly seated at all times. Such a soft tender spring is called ‘helper’ spring and it fully compresses under static load of a car.

At present, this feature has been added to the Porsche Cup car, found under the TEST heading in the car selection screen. Where appropriate, Tender Springs will be added to further content in the weeks and months ahead.

These new features form the main highlights of the July 2022 Release Candidate build of rFactor 2. Further changes can be found in the update notes log above, and make sure to stay tuned to the rFactor 2 website and social media channels in the coming weeks to find out about all the new and exciting content and improvements that are coming the way of the simulation this August!

rFactor 2 – Available now on Steam

Hello sim racers! 

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

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

Endurance Pack | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

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

Update Notes

Oreca 07 | Steam Store: CLICK HERE

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

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

Aston Martin Vantage GTE 3.09

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

BMW M8 GTE 3.09

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

Corvette C7R GTE 3.09

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

Corvette C8R GTE 3.09

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

Ferrari 488 GTE 3.09

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

Porsche 991RSR GTE 3.09

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

Oreca 3.01

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

What’s New

New Tyres

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

Sound Engine Compatibility

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

Balance of Performance (BoP)

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

Shift Protection, Engine and Brake Cooling

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

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

rFactor 2 – Available now on Steam

Hello sim racers,

Studio 397 are delighted to confirm the latest Release Candidate build of rFactor 2 is now available to download.

Ahead of our upcoming 2022 Q2 Content Drop and update, we have deployed our traditional Release Candidate build in order to give you early access to the proposed changes and updates coming to the simulation next month. In this latest build, we have a number of significant developments aimed at improving the ongoing experience of using the simulation, a few details of which can be found below.

Release Candidate Notes to Consider

Sound Engine

This is a big one, an entirely new sound engine has been developed for the simulation, and in this Release Candidate, we encourage you to check how this behaves with our current content selection. Please note, the sound engine is a global update, so you should hear improvements immediately, however we will deploy specific updates to cars going forward, in order to fully benefit from the improvements this new engine has introduced. The first of those car specific changes will be included with the new content that forms part of the 2022 Q2 Update and Content Drop.

Shift Protection, Engine and Brake Cooling

As these are new physics features, we wanted to use the Release Candidate as an opportunity to ensure these work as designed for all our users. As such, you will find a new category within your car list called ‘TEST’. Under this heading, we have added the Dallara IR-18 (v0.93) and Formula Pro (V0.93) cars that have all these features included – these updates have only been applied to the content under TEST for the purposes of this Release Candidate, and the standard version of these cars will remain within your install.

Wet Weather Update

Here we have considerably reworked how wet weather behaves across the simulation, from how the rain falls and dries on the circuit, to how the AI choose their tyres and manage the wet conditions. We encourage you to have a look at these changes during the Release Candidate phase, and report any inconsistencies in the expected behaviour of both the weather itself, and the way the AI interact with their tyre choices. Worth noting here, users can now select the level of wetness on track before the session, allowing players to dictate the track surface conditions to their own preferences. 

Release Candidate V1.1128 Update Notes

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General

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

Graphics

• Decreased interval of Static Mapper updates from 5 minutes to 10 seconds. This should result in smoother lighting changes at dawn / dusk and as weather conditions change.
• Corrected Sky Colour to remove Cyan Effect
• Slight adjustments to exposure for sky colour adjustments when sun at it’s highest.
• Minor Atmospheric Corrections, including linking AirMass to AirPollution,
• Reducing Fog Brightness Slightly
• Reduced Exposure a touch when the sun is around 10 degrees of altitude.
• Improved cloud selection at different weather settings
• Minor cloud texture improvements
• Fixed an issue where Clouds would disappear at really high altitudes
• Fixed issues with lighting interpolation in sky rendering at Dusk/Sunrise, which would result in jumps in lighting values.
• Fixed puddle splashes not setting when rain drops are not used (set to off or scene viewer)
• Fixed lighting on spray during wet conditions, and tweaked particle profile
• Updated reflections on PBR Road and Curb Shaders
• Updated Rain Particle settings and fixed rendering on ultrawide screens
• Passed through particle settings refining Spray, Dust, Smoke and more.
• Fixed an issue in VR where the scene would over exposure
• Fixed an issue in VR where replay mode would not render correctly
• Driver labels now work in VR
• Sparks!
  • New behaviour archetype concept in the rF2Particles.pcd file.
  • New sparks archetype that brings:
    • Particle movement and camera movement based motion blur that can be clamped to a target camera refresh rate (shutter speed)
    • Movement behaviour based on airflow estimations around the car.
    • Terrain and car underbody collisions.
    • Additional light emission from particle. 
• New sparks particle effect that gets activated when undertray points of the car scrapes on the ground.
• Backwards compatibility with existing cars and tracks.

Physics

• Implemented enhanced cooling system for oil & water with new parameters in the .hdv file The new model includes:
  • Direct heat transfer between water and oil
  • Oil radiator
  • Switchover Thermostat
• Separated front and rear brake ducts
• Added configurable gear shift protection
• New algorithm for wet road calculations effecting how quickly surfaces get wet and dry, taking into account drainage, humidity, ambient temperature and sky weather conditions.
• Updated tyre grip calculations on rubbered in areas when surfaces are wet

AI

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

UI

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

Modding

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

Sound

• New 3D Sound Engine
• Increased amount of simultaneous effects to 256
• Environmental effects and filtering system
• Proper cockpit filtering
• Autodetection of open and closed cockpits for environment effects and filtering
• Sound effects such as skid, kerbs, gravel, wind, suspension and many more now work online and in replays
• Support for full surround sound setups
• HRTF support (Binaural headphone experience)
• Improved VR experience
• Backwards compatible
• Many new sound effects
• Support for trackside broadcast microphones
• Every car now causes audible ambient noise around the whole track
• Brand new, modern, customisable file format with much more freedom for audio designers
• Improved debugging tools for dev mode

Formula Pro V0.93

Added TEST version which includes shift protection, push to pass, and engine cooling and brake duct cooling split

Dallara IR-18 V0.93

Added TEST version which includes shift protection, engine cooling and brake duct cooling split

How to Access Release Candidate

To gain access to the Release Candidate build of rFactor 2, right-click on the rFactor 2 link in your Steam Library, go to ‘Properties’ and under the Betas tab, make sure you select ‘Release Candidate’ from the drop-down list.

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 – This 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.

We hope you enjoy the new RC, and we look forward to hearing your feedback ahead of release. Should you have any issues, or wish to report any unexpected behaviour, please post any detailed reports on the bug reports section of the forum, over at Studio-397.com.

Happy racing!

rfactor 2 Release Candidate – Available Now!

Hello sim racers.

Studio 397 are delighted to continue our ongoing co-operation with the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, as we today make available all the teams, cars and drivers of the current Formula E season in rFactor 2!

Formula E Pack | rFactor 2 Steam Store: CLICK HERE

The final season of the current ‘Gen2’ rule set is underway, and following many dramatic moments already this year, rFactor 2 players are in for a treat as we recreate all the thrills, spills and drama of the current championship campaign within the simulation. Featuring the full cast of 22 drivers across the 11 official teams of the season, including the final year of competition for the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team, the reigning drivers and constructors champions, Season 8 of Formula E already looks set to play out a classic year – one you are now able to enjoy in virtual form from the comfort of your own home! 

Updated Power Rules

For Season 8, Formula E have introduced a raft of new power rules within the championship, making the current series of the category the fastest yet in the brief history of Formula E. These power output changes have been applied to the new season pack within rFactor 2 as well, subtilty changing the handling characteristics of the new car, introducing an even larger requirement for our virtual drivers to think strategically during races on the various street circuit tracks on which these cars race. 

Practice: 250kW

Qualifying: 220kW

Race: 220kW plus 30kW extra during x2 ATTACK MODE segments  (up from 200kW in 2021/22)

Accelerate Esports

Formula E Accelerate | More Details: CLICK HERE

In addition to adding the Formula E series to rFactor 2, Formula E will launch its Accelerate esports series which will be powered by rFactor 2’s in-game competitions platform. Additionally, rFactor 2 will power the Formula E Gaming Arena at future races and events, allowing players to experience the thrill of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in venues all around the world, including Rome, Berlin and New York City.

Formula E is all about accelerating change, for this reason we want to give more accessibility to our sport and push the boundaries of what is possible both on and off the track

Kieran Holmes-Darby, Gaming Director at Formula E.

The partnership between the two brands further builds upon the foundation that was previously set when Motorsport Games conducted the ABB Formula E Race at Home Challenge esports event for the FIA. The series of esports events, which served as a temporary replacement for the suspended 2019–20 ABB Formula E Championship season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, created a fantastic viewing experience for new and existing fans of the sport.

Update Notes

Formula E Gen 2 v1.01.

Added Formula E 2022 Liveries.

Rome E-Prix v1.17.

Fixed AI hitting pitwall at exit. All new trackside ads.

Formula E Season 8 – Available now in rFactor 2