Catching up on the news from Studio 397, the latest rFactor 2 build includes McLaren F1 updates for three classic examples, and a well-known new team member.
First up is the familiar name of Rudy van Buren. The winner of the first McLaren World’s Fastest Gamer competition in 2017, van Buren has since become a simulator development driver for Mahindra, competed in real world motorsports, and will now be involved in the development of rFactor 2. So that should help with future development.
Back to the present, and the latest rFactor 2 build, which follows the release of the development roadmap for 2020, and the public beta release of an updated user interface.
The latest rFactor 2 build 1117 includes:
The 1993 McLaren MP4/8, the 1998 McLaren MP4/13 and the McLaren M23 are all updated to the new materials, with the updated templates for skins in the corresponding folder of your rFactor 2 install.
Studio 397 go on to list the other areas covered:
Physics
Still on cars but on to physics improvements, where Rudy and the physics team have already been working hard to help iron out some of the outstanding issues.
This week the focus was on the reported “bounciness” of the BMW M2 coming off curbs. These improvements were made in a few areas – we started with optimizing stiffness for the updated tyres. That allowed us to also improve dampers’ characteristics, making the car more stable and with better response over kerbs, as well as the ‘stick-slip’ effects coming from tyres, when sliding.
Along the way, we also made improvements to differential response on power and coast, so it’s now a better match to the dynamics of the car and at the same time, more closely follows the updated data we got from BMW.
BMW M2 CS Racing
v1.39
- Slightly softer steering links to reduce vibration
- Slightly lower center of gravity to match the data
- Tweaked differential locks and preload (higher)
- New default front camber set to -3.0 deg
- Readjusted dampers
- Reduced the bounciness over curbs
- Fixed opponent classes filtering. Each class can now be run separately, single player and multiplayer.
Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
v1.31
- Fixed opponent classes filtering. Each class can now be run separately, single player and multiplayer.
Nürburgring Nordschleife (2018)
v1.51
- Adjusted fog and haze settings for more visibility.
Broadcast Overlays
In other news, this past couple of weeks we have also been hard at work on revamping the broadcast overlays. Hopefully we will have something to share real soon. More on that next week!
Changelog New UI Public Beta
- Fixed micro stutters in the new UI, that were more prominent in VR.
- Added network settings in the UI options.
- Fixed a memory leak while in tuning/showroom
- Added new showroom full screen mode, side bar will auto-hide when lock icon is released.
Known Issues
- After content install in VR rFactor 2 does not restart. A workaround for now is to restart manually.
- There is still a black band on the bottom half of the track loading screen.
- Unrelated to UI, but we are also aware of the erratic throttle behavior of the AI cars, and we are looking into that.
- Parc Ferme is not working in the new UI.
Work in Progress
- Add skin download progress bar while on a server that allows custom skin transfers.
- Config tool sporadically fails to launch up after clicking PLAY for setting graphics resolution, VR or post effect levels.
- Team creation in the showroom is missing.
- Material editing in the showroom is missing.
- Forced setup and/or upgrades.
- Car (re)selection when on a server.
- Resume from replay.
- Sporadic ‘white screen’ when leaving an online session.
To play rFactor 2 on the PC, you’ll need to first purchase it from Steam. You can then subscribe and download the McLaren MP4/13 here, the McLaren MP4/8 here, and the McLaren M23 here.
The BMW M2 CS Racing is available to buy via Steam for £4.18, and the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup is available for the same price. The Nurburgring track will cost you £10.03.
Check out our rFactor 2 car list to see all vehicles currently available, and our rFactor 2 track list for every location you can race in the game.
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