Motorsport Games Australia ha rilasciato un nuovo aggiornamento per KartKraft che aggiunge un nuovo bodykit per i KartKross e porta con sè anche un notevole miglioramento al motore audio del gioco, che dovrebbe restituire dei suoni più fedeli e realistici.

L'aggiornamento è già disponibile per il download su Steam, in caso di problemi è consigliato un riavvio del client. KartKraft è disponibile in early access su Steam al prezzo di 24,99€: se siete interessati all'acquisto questo è il momento migliore per farlo, perchè il gioco raggiungerà molto presto la versione definitiva ed andrà incontro ad un aumento di prezzo!

Kunos Simulazioni ha appena rilasciato tramite Steam il nuovo aggiornamento per il suo Assetto Corsa Competizione.

L'update porta il simulatore alla versione 1.8, con un upgrade del motore grafico Unreal Engine, l'implementazione della DLSS di NVidia ed FSR di AMD, updates vari a fisica e gomme e la nuovissima BMW M4 GT3 2022 come DLC aggiuntivo gratuito! Qui di seguito il lunghissimo changelog con le tante novità implementate.

Per discussioni e commenti fate riferimento al forum dedicato in italiano.

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ACC v1.8 major update is out now on Steam, refresh your Steam client in order to download and install the update!

GENERAL:
- Updated project to Unreal Engine version 4.26.2.
- Added Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe 2021 season as bonus content with all entries, liveries and drivers and championship season.
NOTE: certain entries are subject to DLC ownership.
- Added all-new BMW M4 GT3 as bonus content as part of the 2021 season.
NOTE: as with any major update, game menu settings (stored in menuSettings.json) will likely reset on first initialization.
IMPORTANT: reloading of Video presets will be necessary.
IMPORTANT: it is strongly suggested that custom engine.ini modifications and other third-party plugins (graphics or controllers) be removed before installing the update.

GRAPHICS:
- Added Nvidia Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) 2.0 support for compatible GPUs (RTX 20XX series or newer).
Please check manufacturer GPU driver requirements.
- Added AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) support for all GPUs.
Please check manufacturer GPU driver requirements.
NOTE: both DLSS and FSR are selectable and functional in Triple Screen and VR rendering modes.
NOTE: DLSS is a temporal sampling method with a proprietary antialiasing solution, while FSR is a spatial upscaling method that can be used in combination with other Temporal AA solutions.
NOTE: please read the ingame help texts in the Video Options to learn more about the functionality of each method's respective sampling, antialiasing and sharpening solutions.
NOTE: DLSS implementation includes a custom DLSS dll version by Nvidia, manually updating to generic version releases might result in regression of image quality.
- Added Temporal Antialising Gen5 option support.
Offers improved aliasing and clarity at a moderate performance cost. Optional over the existing TAAgen4 and KTAA implementations.
NOTE: only functional with Temporal anti-aliasing mode selected.
NOTE: FSR is incompatible with the Projection Correction view setting feature.
NOTE: it is STRONGLY suggested to remove other open-source or third-party implementations of any of the features above (such as via OpenVR etc.)!
NOTE: due to the large number of changes in rendering, it is STRONGLY suggested that custom engine.ini or third-party shader modifications be removed for this update!
- Added the new rendering mode settings to save with Video Settings presets.
- Fixed a limitation with Triple Screen rendering that did not allow Temporal Upsampling to be used in combination with it.
- Updated global lighting and exposure on all tracks to follow Unreal Engine version changes.
- Updated visual tonemapper presets to follow Unreal Engine version changes.
NOTE: the updated tonemapper settings might produce slightly more saturation and contrast than in earlier versions, adjust per taste.
- Revision of various track-related shaders to follow Unreal Engine version rendering changes.
- Revision of various car-related shaders to follow Unreal Engine version rendering changes.
- Skybox revision to suit Unreal Engine version rendering changes.
- Optimized light emitters at Nurburgring for improved performance.
- Reduced bezel gap artefacting appearing along the bezel lines in Triple Screen rendering mode.
- Reduced SSAO and SSR artefacting around the bezel line in Triple Screen rendering mode.
- Updated TV, cinematic and free cameras to use the new Unreal Engine cameras with improved DOF effects.
NOTE: this is a global change, old cameras are deprecated.
- Updated CinemaHUD to use the new and improved DOF effects.
- Improved blurred wheel rim shader.
- Improved car spray effect, especially in light/medium wetness situations.
- Improved raindrop effect rendering logic to follow the updated spray effect.
- Improved rainfall shader appearance in external cameras.
- Car headlight shadow bias tweaks to prevent lights penetrating walls on close distance.
- Updated track HLODs.
- Added rotary switch animations, available with select cars.

GAMEPLAY:
- Added Open season, merging all game content into a "sandbox" season featuring grid customization.
NOTE: individual official seasons remain playable with no change to their earlier functionalities.
- Added opponent grid mixing option to Custom Race Weekend and Quick Race game modes in the Open season.
Use the grid mixing sliders to set car group prevalence in the grid.
GT3 car group has an additional setting for preferred generation of opponent cars (all, pre-2019 or new-gen).
- Added Open series championship mode with grid (car groups) and track lineup customization.
- Fixed multiclass championships not splitting points per car groups.
- Automatically generated custom cars are now grouped into teams both in single-make custom mode and Open series championship.
- Reworked driver assignment system to support custom-generated grids and various driver count requirements.
- Standardized entry and team ID system across the whole game content in support of the Open series grid generation and championship.
NOTE: it is recommended to restart ongoing championships, continuing pre-1.8 saves might not bring full functionality.
- Removed entry duplication between the 2019 GTWCH and IGT seasons.
- Fixed potential rule inconsistencies between official sprint and endurance game modes when played via Single Player and Championship.
This also fixes inconsistent auto-selection behaviour of the MFD in these sessions depending on game mode.
- Tweaked AI logic for strategic decisions reacting to weather changes.
- Fixed a potential issue with AI pitstop status when loading a saved game, causing cars to DNF.
- Improved AI genome at Bathurst, Barcelona, Laguna Seca and Kyalami to reduce the chance of unforced driving errors.
- Improved weather model: variability (=randomness in MP) now affects the variation and frequency of weather cycles:
Higher variability will now produce larger variation and less predictability in the length of individual weather cycles (time between peaks).
High variability might produce both fast changes or prolonged weather spells (or both combined) within the same weekend simulation.
Low variability will produce more even weather cycles, akin to the pre-update model.
- Revised skewed track limit definitions for Oulton Park that prevented correct gain calculation.
- Revised pit speeding thresholds that were often too permissive, both on pit entry and pit exit.
- Fixed invalid lap being eligible for personal and session fastest (purple) lap in race sessions (also in Multiplayer results).
- Overhaul of track limit warnings on wet track with its own dynamic, gain-based reference system.
- Added measures against irregular driving before the green light in Hotlap and Hotstint game modes.
- Fixed an issue with the Ferrari 488 GT3 (both versions) that resulted in an inconsistency in pitstop position versus other cars.
- Replay: revised replay tyre rotation matrix calculation to avoid misalignment between tyres and rim (and reduce disk space).
The improvement is backwards-compatible, while newly saved replays should occupy less disk space than before.

UI:
- Revised season selector header in Single Player menu.
- Added GTWCHEU 2021 season selection in Single Player.
- Added Open series selection in Single Player.
- Revised car selection page, added filtering per series lists.
Applies to both Open series and Multiplayer car selection page.
- Revised CinemaHUD interface and integration with DOF controls.
NOTE: DOF mode defaults to disabled when Free (F7) camera is toggled.
- CinemaHUD now toggles off when switching to non-free/F7 camera.
- CinemaHUD now hides automatically when entering garage page or exiting replay.
- Added coloured session labels in Replay menu.
- Added option to constrain the aspect ratio of TV cameras in wide or triple screen rendering modes to 16:9 (the centre of the screen) - find in General Options.
- Added session fastest (purple) lap holder indicator in standings, leaderboard and timer widgets.
- Updated MFD pit strategy (auto)selection logic:
Instead of automatic strategy increment after each stop, the strategy selection now does not change automatically but rather autoselects the next clean tyre set on the last active strategy.
When all tyre sets are used, the selection goes to the least used set. Manual selection override is still possible via the MFD. With this there is no longer need to preselect pitstop tyresets on the setup strategy page.
- Added pitstop indicator and session fastest lap on the leaderboard HUD overlay.
- Finer step increments for certain Video settings (exposure gain, image contrast, saturation).
- Showroom: ESC/back restores UI opacity when UI hidden by middle click instead of directly exiting.
- Showroom: added stance/camber to showroom cars and potential fix to precision error leading to inconsistent wheelbase when losing/regaining application focus.
- Statistics page: added option to clear personal best laptimes for a given car/track combination.
WARNING: this operation is permanent and cannot be undone.

PHYSICS:
- Physics engine optimizations: variable component tick frequency, optimized multithreading.
It results in smoother single player performance with high number of AI and fewer spikes due to overloading single cores on heavy calculations (such as simultaneous collisions).
Might not result in outright maximum fps gain, but a signfificantly lower single-thread occupancy and late steps can be expected, particularly with larger grids.
- 400hz physics refresh rate.
- Improved FFB.
- Improved tyre flex.
- Improved camber simulation, especially on high positive camber values.
- Improved Outside, Mid, Inside tyre heating relative to camber.
- Improved Outside, Mid, Inside tyre wear relative to camber.
- Improved camber gain simulation, affecting slip angles and forces. Evident with high camber values over kerbs and longitudinal bumps.
- Improved surface flash temperature tyre simulation. Wider range of heat generation.
- Improved heat generation in extreme conditions (burnouts, donuts).
- Improved heat generation relative to tyre pressure.
- Improved core temperature retaining. Tyres dissipate heat significantly slower now, no need to wait right until the last moment to go to grid.
- Completely revised and improved combined grip simulation.
- Completely revised and improved tyre vibrations at high speed and high slip angles.
- Improved slip angle/ratio simulation relative to cold and overheating tyres.
- New viscoelastic rubber friction model.
- Improved dynamic tyre characteristics in various temperature conditions.
- New rubber bumpstops damping simulation.
- Implemented bumpstops damping values for all cars.
- Improved engine throttle simulation.
- Improved launch control.
- Improved rev limiter behaviour (soft limiters on some cars).
- Improved traction control simulation.
- Improved brake ducts heating influence simulation.
- Improved rain tyres behaviour (note: not necessarily easier).
- Improved the simulation of brake efficiency and power.
- Improved track grip simulation on and off the racing line.
- Improved ambient vs. track temperature delta.
- Added a condition that simulates mist and dew during the night in certain temperatures.
- Improved certain track condition simulation, including the speed of puddle formation.
- Fixed Lamborghini Huracan GT3 and Huracan GT3 Evo front steer rod geometry.
- Fixed excessive rear bump steer on the Nissan GT-R GT3.
- Fixed excessive rear bump steer on the Lexus RC F GT3.
- Fixed an issue with setup boundaries.
- Added dedicated 2021 GTWCHEU season BOP for participant tracks.
- Added Open series BOP (currently matching the 2021 season BOP), functioning as a moving BOP with the latest seasons. Most importantly it also serves as the basis of Multiplayer BOP.
- Added 2021 British GT season BOP using the latest DHE tyres when a British GT-exclusive track is played through the 2021 season or the Open series (or Multiplayer).
- Updated IGTC BOP to use the latest DHE tyres when IGTC-exclusive tracks are played through the 2021 season or the Open series (and Multiplayer).
- Additionally, updated Mount Panorama to the latest available BOP when played through the 2021 season or the Open series (and Multiplayer).
NOTE: the original IGTC and British GT seasons in Single Player continue to use the original 2019 BOP with corresponding tyres that the original DLC packs recreated!

CONTROLS:
- Updated wheel manufacturers' SDKs.
- Added Thrustmaster SF1000 display support.
- Added Damper option under FFB settings - controls how much damping is allowed through the wheel driver's DI Damping setting.
- Increased FFB frequency steps to correspond with the global physics frequency update.

MULTIPLAYER:
- Revised car groups, merging the CUP and ST groups into a single GTC group for matchmaking and server filtering.
Note that CUP and ST remain represented as separate subgroups on the track map, leaderboards and results.
Results dump now also includes car group to allow better filtering when parsed.
- Stats: revised and merged grouping of statistics per race track.
Note that tracks are only separated per season where an older season might produce faster laptimes due to higher track grip (such as the fresh asphalt on Silverstone 2018).
- Stats: fixed an issue that had a tendency to generate unrealistic personal best laptimes.
Note that pre-1.8 incorrect PB laps can be cleared manually on the Statistics track breakdown page.
WARNING: this operation is permanent and cannot be undone.
- Multiplayer track seasons are now deprecated and all track configurations point to the Open series (currently matching the latest, 2021 season, see Physics notes).
Note for admins: the old season suffixes in the server configuaration will remain there for legacy functionality, but they will no longer create a difference in track/BOP version!
Server track configuration (event.json) should use the non-suffix version in continuation, e.g. "misano" instead of "misano_20XX".
Note for users: no matter the server config, Multiplayer will always use the latest Open series configuration from Single Player.
- Further revised final corner penalty thresholds with the widget formation type when the back of the field is likely to receive the green light inside or coming out of the final turn.
- Ratings: fixed an issue that could erroneously produce 100 (or 00) CC rating at Spa.
- Protocol change - old server versions are obsolete and will not register on the backend.

Sim racer, abbiamo in programma una serata emozionante! Stasera alle 19:00 CET, preparatevi per un evento di anteprima livestream di Assetto Corsa Competizione! Saremo affiancati da creatori di contenuti, beta tester, piloti reali e sviluppatori mentre daranno un'occhiata alla nuovissima BMW M4 GT3 2022 in Assetto Corsa Competizione, nonché all'aggiornamento v 1.8, in arrivo domani su PC.

Ecco una manciata di quelli confermati che saranno in pista questa sera:
Aris.Drives
Dave&Cars
Jardier
MrGit
Nils Naujoks
Jack Noller
Robbie Montinola
David Perel
Ryan "RyRy" Gill
Denise Pope
Steve Worrell
Amos Laurito

KEYNOTE EVENT

Inoltre, nel caso ve lo foste perso, unitevi a noi su Facebook o YouTube il 24 novembre alle 15:00 CET per un aggiornamento su Assetto Corsa Competizione su PC. Un importante aggiornamento v 1.8, che include la BMW M4 GT3 2022, un aumento delle prestazioni grafiche, l'evoluzione del modello fisico e altro ancora! Faremo anche un tuffo negli Esport e nella crescita della community di sim racing.

Con qualche giorno di ritardo Reiza ha rilasciato la seconda parte del Development Update di Novembre, che sarebbe dovuto arrivare in concomitanza con l'aggiornamento 1.3, che verrà rilasciato entro la fine di questa settimana a causa di un grave bug trovato poche ora prima che l'aggiornamento fosse rilasciato.

In questa Parte 2 il team ci racconta degli aggiornamenti riguardanti la fisica e il force feedback in arrivo con l'aggiornamento 1.3, che dovrebbero migliorare l'esperienza di gioco in maniera significativa, il team ci parla anche degli aggiornamenti alla IA, con l'opportunità di poter cambiare i nomi, le livree e le personalità dei piloti dell'intelligenza artificiale. C'è spazio anche per la beta pubblica del Multiplayer Rating System che andrà live con l'aggiornamento 1.3: il team sta inoltre lavorando con servizi terzi per offrire una maggiore integrazione con il sistema di Reiza. Si parla anche di nuove case automobilistiche in arrivo, prima su tutte la Nissan che vedrà varie vetture riprodotte nel simulatore poco dopo l'arrivo dell'update 1.3

Ultimo, ma non per importanza il DLC Racin' USA Parte 2: dopo aver esplorato il mondo dell'endurance statunitense con la parte 1, questo secondo DLC si concentra su quello che è stato il periodo d'oro delle monoposto a stelle e strisce. Il DLC includerà svariate Indycar e Champ Car di Reynard, Swift e Lola direttamente dagli anni 90, con tre circuiti iconici. Le auto saranno chiamate "Formula USA" e saranno suddivise in 3 generazioni: la Gen1 sarà composta dalle vetture della stagione Indycar 1995 (l'ultima prima del famoso split tra ChampCar e Indy Racing League), la Gen2 sarà composta dalle vetture del 1998, stagione dominata dal nostro Alex Zanardi, mentre la Gen3 si concentrerà sulle vetture della stagione 2000, che rappresenta il picco delle ChampCar per quanto riguarda le prestazioni delle monoposto.
Due dei tre circuiti sono già stati rivelati: si tratta di Watkins Glen e del circuito cittadino di Cleveland, mentre il terzo rimarrà avvolto ancora nel mistero per qualche giorno.

Watkins Glen, il circuito di Cleveland e le vetture di seconda generazione verranno rilasciate qualche giorno dopo l'aggiornamento 1.3, mentre le restanti monoposto e il terzo misterioso circuito arriveranno prima di Natale. La terza parte del DLC vedrà la luce nel 2022: originariamente previsto entro la fine dell'anno il ritardo servirà ad aggiungere più tracciati di quelli inizialmente previsti. La terza parte del DLC porterà con se anche le spec oval delle monoposto

Maggiori informazioni a questo link

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Greetings everyone!

Part 2 of our November Development Update has finally arrived with some fresh good news for Automobilista 2 in our final development sprint of 2021!

And what a run of weeks it has been so far - not only have we managed to hit some of the important developments we had planned for the month, we also managed to find and are in process of resolving some other significant issues along the way - in fact our plan had been to publish this article already with our first big game update of November, however spotting a rather sizeable physics issue just a few hours before the update was meant to be deployed has forced us back to the drawing board for a few more days - the new Automobilista V1.3 update is expected to arrive towards the end of this week.

On the plus side, V1.3 will now pack even further value to what is already a landmark update for AMS2 - so let´s get into some of what we have been working on these past few weeks!

AMS2 Demo With VW TSI Cup by Acelerados Now Available

Our collaboration with Volkswagen Brasil and the Acelerados Channel has come to fruition this past week with the release of the AMS2 Demo featuring the new VW TSI Cup, bringing the VW Polo & Virtus production cars to AMS2 - more details on this release here.

The delay on our new game update unfortunately has meant the addition of these cars to the main game have also been slightly held back - do look forward to their arrival later this week however with the release of V1.3!

The Big Physics Overhaul of AMS2 V1.3
As touched upon in Pt1 of the November Dev Update, physics & FFB are receiving a pretty substantial overhaul this month similarly to what happened earlier in the year in the V1.2 dev cycle, maximizing further knowledge of the Madness tire & driveline models we have gathered in recent months.

Beginning with the latest finding - the issue spotted just this weekend forcing the delay of the update is nothing more than a simple syntax error that resulted in some of the tire models in AMS2 using components that didn´t belong to them. This error - the type you hope not to spot years into the development of the sim - is nevertheless the type of thing that can happen when you are working on someone else´s technology, and part of a learning curve that sometimes can stretch longer than one would have preferred. The silver lining here of course is that spotting and correcting this error will lead to even further progress to what was already proving a very extensive revision of all tire models in AMS2, which combined with the driveline developments have already led to all cars driving substantially better than the current release to one degree or another.

On to the driveline developments: as with tires, we have been constantly learning more details about the complex driveline system in the Madness Engine - a physical model based on masses, friction coefficients, stiffnesses and pairings, which if not configured correctly for each car can easily result in various handling issues.

The first major development here is fine tuning clutch LSD disc friction coefficients to eliminate the infamous "sticky" behavior of the differential on some cars, which could lead to the car balance suddenly changing mid-corner; the differential operation is much smoother now, remaining closed when it should, and opening immediately and yet gradually based on your effective locking amount from preload, ramp angles and amount of clutches.

The second important improvement was made to the clutch engagement formula itself - thus far, preload setting in LSD diffs had far too much importance and ramp angles relatively very little. Reason for this laid on a bug in the underlying mathematical formula combining forces from these two setup factors. With that legacy bug corrected, it´s been possible and in fact necessary to update all default differential setups to more sensible ones.

One neat example is the Caterham clutch LSD that could now get inspiration from a real-life Titan LSD designed for Caterhams: a 30/90 ramp configuration with preload adjusted for each driver's needs. This maintains the Caterham's trademark throttle steer character, while users will remain able to fine tune preload to suit their lift-off behavior tastes.

Furthermore on the driveline topic, we have been literally "flexing the muscles" of the engine by introducing driveline elasticity - with multiple moving parts between the engine and driven wheels (each with its own finite stiffness) the forces applied on these parts can be immense, as gearboxes multiply engine torque - one can often hear these dynamics at play on real onboard videos as engine noise and transmission whine oscillating as the whole driveline acts like a giant spring under changing loads.

We have revised stiffnesses and driveshaft weights in multiple classes, and in multiple points in their drivelines. This creates an immersive and organic effect that fully depends on what is going on in the physical simulation. If you stomp on the throttle in 1st gear, you will hear revs jump up as the driveline tenses up. Lift suddenly, and the driveline releases its tension audibly. Driving over bumps the engine and transmission noises will oscillate smoother than before as the connection between tires, gearbox and engine isn’t as direct.

This isn’t purely for immersion purposes either, as a slight delay in response between driven wheels and engine can have subtle effects on handling - it means for example that tire slip and engine RPM aren’t the only buffers for sudden forces, which can also dampen some sharp jolts in bumpy braking zones.

In the video below comparing a lap with the Mercedes AMG GT3 around Nürburgring in V1.2.5.1 vs the current AMS2 Beta overlayed with wheel speed telemetry, you can see and hear the subtle but noticeable results of the developments described above:
 

All of these substantial physics developments along with some adjustments in setup options have also led to a big revision of default setups on all cars - so further good news is default setups being as reasonably well adjusted as they can possibly be as universal baselines for all tracks and controller types.

It does also mean however it will be critical to reset all your setups one more time upon deployment of the next update - failure to do could result in some very odd setups that will most definitely spoil the cars´ handling.

A small price to pay hopefully for what is all around a really big step in the AMS2 driving experience - while physics development remains always an ongoing process for anyone serious about simulation, in V1.3 the physics will have reached a level of maturity that we are confident to represent our very best work in this area to date.

Force Feedback Developments in AMS2 V1.3
AMS2 V1.3 will also introduce developments in the game Force Feedback, with the addition of a new "Default+" profile, parallel to the existing "Default".

FFB can be a somewhat subjective matter - while generally steering FFB in-game should resemble certain traits from real world vehicles - self-centering steering wheel, resistance buildup with more steering angle & ramp up of forces with tire load - in race sims that is somewhat restrictive and often leaves us missing the actual feedback we get in our bodies on a real car through its lateral and longitudinal acceleration. Through FFB one hopes to convey some of that mixed in with the usual steering forces, and the way to do that is where things get subjective.

With the new "Default+" profile we have what we believe to be a good compromise, adding further useful information to what you get on the Default profile.

Aside from additional info provided in Default+ , we also did a lot of work on damping, which is inherent to any steering system and something we strongly advise to be used to some degree as it now doesn´t take anything away from the feedback, instead works in sync with the vehicle you drive - it depends not just on steering velocity, but vehicle velocity, lateral acceleration, tires slip, oversteer. All of that is taken into account on damping, so it is usable and helpful instead of simply providing viscous-like resistance to wheel turning.

While the Default+ is, given FFB´s subjectvity to taste the usage of custom FFB profiles will remain an option, with some interesting and popular work being developed by @Karsten Hvidberg and company you may also want to check out.

We had in fact planned to add one of these profiles as a third default option in the game, however we found out that the memory load from FFB system is raised considerably by its presence if there is another profile present in the "custom" slot, leading to glitches.

We do encourage our users who may still be looking for something beyond what our default profiles are offering to give these a try checking out the Automobilista 2 Custom Force Feedback - Overview & Recommendations thread.

AI Development in AMS2 V1.3
AMS2 V1.3 will bring yet another big step for the AI, with an extensive calibration pass to not only match recent player physics development, but also solving several track and car specific performance discrepancies from the current release.

Driver personalities have been extended with some initial parameters defining an AI driver´s ability in managing tire wear, racing in wet weather & cooperating with blue flags.

Furthermore, V1.3 will introduce the option to mod AI driver names, livery assignments & personalities - you can read more about this new feature on this topic moved from the beta subforum for those looking to get an early understanding of how to go about it.

Multiplayer Rating System Hitting Public Beta in V1.3
Last but not least in our big list of V1.3 features is the introduction of the driver profile page alongside the long-awaited Multiplayer Rating System - albeit in Beta stage in this initial release.

The system is heavily based on the legacy system featured in Project Cars 2 with several adjustments - more details about it to be shared in a dedicated thread shortly before release.



We are also working with third party Multiplayer services to best integrate our system with theirs, which should hopefully see the arrival or organized scheduled races in AMS2 in the not-so distant future.

Furthermore, we have also been collecting some valuable feedback from the community for further Multiplayer development, some of which we are pushing to deliver as we progress through the public beta of the MRS - not everything will arrive in a matter of weeks, but we do hope to be fulfilling at least some common requests in the near future.


Racin´ USA Pt2 Arriving Soon!

As previously announced, the second part of the Racin´ USA Expansion Pack is due to be released shortly after V1.3 and before the end of this month.

This time, we will explore what many consider to be the golden years of American single seater racing, as Racin´ USA Pt2 will feature a number of Reynards, Swifts and Lola Indycars & Champ Cars from the 1990s, along with three iconic road courses.

The cars will make up what we will call the "Formula USA" class in the game, in three generations - Gen1 will feature models from the 1995 Indycar season (the last before the series infamously split), Gen2 will have models from the 1998 season when Alex Zanardi reigned supreme, with Gen3 featuring models from 2000 - the performance peak of the Champcar era, enabling historical feats such as Gil de Ferran´s closed course record average speed.


The 3 tracks to feature in the pack will be Watkins Glen (which even though was not raced by these cars during the 1990s, is still one the greatest road courses in the USA fully warranting its place on the pack); the unique Cleveland temporary road course, set on the Burke Lake Front Airport with a fast, flowing and very bumpy layout serving as stage for some memorable wheel-to-wheel battles; and the third one remaining under wraps for a few more days as we finalize some licensing requirements.

Racin´ USA Pt2 itself will be a slightly staggered release - the Gen2 cars along with Cleveland & Watkins Glen will be released at the end of this month, with the remaining models and the third track arriving just before our Christmas wrap-up; there will be further additions to this pack later on in 2022, as the arrival of Racin´ USA Pt3 will introduce oval tracks to Automobilista 2, which will see all Formula USA models in Pt2 receiving their oval spec variants.

While Pt3 of Racin´ USA will take a bit longer than originally planned into 2022, the delay will see more tracks being added to the package than originally planned - at no extra expense for those who already bought the full Racin´ USA Expansion Pack!

Price for Racin´ USA Pt2 will be the same as Pt1 in your local currency.


New Manufacturers Joining the Party!


We are happy to confirm we´re in the final stages of licensing arrangements with Nissan, which should see several models from the brand coming to Automobilista 2 if not already on v1.3, very soon after.

There are at least two more major manufacturer deals we are looking to wrap before the end of the year, all of which leading to various existing classes in the game being expanded with new competitors over the course of 2022 - watch this space!


This covers the main topics we had to bring you on this Dev Update, even if not quite all we have in store for the remainder of the year - we will cover these remaining goodies in our final Dev Update of the year early on December, by which time you will all hopefully already be enjoying AMS2 V1.3 & Racin´ USA Pt2!

Kunos Simulazioni ha appena annunciato il prossimo arrivo, mercoledi 24 Novembre, del nuovo aggiornamento per il suo Assetto Corsa Competizione.

L'update porterà il simulatore alla versione 1.8, con un upgrade del motore grafico Unreal Engine, l'implementazione della DLSS di NVidia ed FSR di AMD, updates vari a fisica e gomme e la nuovissima BMW M4 GT3 2022 come DLC aggiuntivo gratuito!

BMW SIM Racing is raising its game with a brand-new car on @AC_assettocorsa – the BMW M4 GT3.

It is available from 24th November. Watch out! #BMWSIM #BMWSIMLIVE #WeAreNotPlaying #AssettoCorsa #beACC #AssettoCorsaCompetizione pic.twitter.com/hetUq9sqmA

— BMW Esports (@BMWEsports) November 20, 2021

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We have a big week coming up in the land of Assetto Corsa Competizione on PC and we’re here today to tell you more! Get those race boots and race gloves ready, we’re going racing again!

UPDATE V 1.8 COMING NOVEMBER 24TH

Firstly, we’re excited to announce that Update v 1.8 is launching for PC on November 24th. The team at KUNOS have been working flat out behind the scenes to bring an update to game that improves your sim racing experience in a multitude of ways. Here’s a rundown of what you can expect, but stay tuned for the full changelog next week:

* BMW M4 GT3 2022 as free DLC
* Unreal Engine update (v 4.26)
* NVIDIA DLSS implementation
* AMD FSR implementation
* Physics engine and tyre model updates

FREE BMW M4 GT3 2022 DLC

As mentioned above, our latest PC update also brings the highly anticipated BMW M4 GT3 to Assetto Corsa Competizione. Thanks to this collaboration with BMW, we're excited to introduce this ultimate GT3 weapon to our sim racers!


 

KEYNOTE EVENT

Join us on our Official Facebook and YouTube channels on November 24th at 15:00 CET for a glimpse at our next Assetto Corsa Competizione update on PC, a look at the power of community and engagement, the importance of Esports, as well as a deep dive into our next major update. Be sure to pre-register early next week!


 

INFLUENCER LIVESTREAM PREVIEW EVENT

Mark your calendars, we’re going racing! On November 23rd, the eve of our next major PC update, we’re taking to the track in our next Influencer Livestream Preview Event. We’ll be joined by YouTubers, beta testers, real drivers and developers as they check out the all-new BMW M4 GT3 2022 in Assetto Corsa Competizione, as well as Update v 1.8.


 

THANK YOU

Let’s take the chequered flag at this point and say a big thank you to our amazing sim racing community for their continued support. It honestly means the world to the team here at KUNOS Simulazioni and 505 Games. We have a lot going on behind the scenes and we can’t wait to take you on this journey with us.

Reiza Studios ha appena rilasciato una versione demo gratuita del suo Automobilista 2. Il dimostrativo - scaricabile tramite Steam - ci permette di provare la nuovissima Volkswagen Polo & Virtus TSI 1.0 in varie modalità, sulla pista del Autódromo Velo Città (3 layouts). La nuova VW TSI Cup sarà disponibile anche nel gioco completo - sempre gratis - a partire dalla prossima settimana.

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Automobilista 2 Demo Featuring VW TSI Cup

We are thrilled to release our latest project developed in partnership with Volkswagen Brasil & Acelerados - The Volkswagen TSI Cup by Acelerados introduces the Volkswagen Polo & Virtus for Automobilista 2, and is also a standalone free demo for those who do not yet own the game.

The AMS2 Demo is now available on Steam from the Automobilista 2 Store Page.

Please note the update including these cars to the main game will be released this weekend - for the moment the cars are available only in the demo, which due to how the apps are configured on Steam cannot be installed in parallel to the full game.

The Demo currently features:
- Custom Event / Test Day / Time Trial Game modes
- Volkswagen Polo & Virtus TSI 1.0
- Autódromo Velo Città (3 layouts)

This however is not all - more to come here!

The Acelerados channel is doing a series on the making of the demo leading up to the competition that will be promoted by Volkswagen using the Automobilista 2 Demo - you can watch the first 3 episodes of the series here.

 

E' disponibile una nuova patch per iRacing, la quarta della build corrente. Con la Stagione 4 2021 ormai prossima alla chiusura è lecito aspettarsi che questa sia l'ultima patch per questa stagione per concentrare gli sforzi sulla build della S1 2022 che dovrebbe includere anche la Mercedes AMG F1 W12

Ecco il changelog completo:

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2021 Season 4 Patch 4 Release Notes [2021.11.10.03]

This Patch contains some updates and fixes for the 2021 Season 4 Release.

iRACING UI:

--------------------------------------------------------------

AI Racing

• Fixed an issue where “Disable Damage” was not working in AI Seasons.
• Fixed an issue where the information bubbles shown near the top of the AI Seasons page were slightly misaligned.

League Racing

• Resolved an issue when editing a future League Session where the "Starting Grid" was not loading previously gridded drivers properly when attempting to edit the existing Grid.

Search Bar

• Various additional nicknames have been added as search criteria for a variety of cars and tracks.

Race Results

• Fixed a bug where, when filing a protest from the Results page, drivers from the sub-session failed to populate the dropdown list.

SIMULATION:

--------------------------------------------------------------

Telemetry

• Fixed an issue where the telemetry logging for the ABS driving aid would stop if the current car was not equipped with ABS brakes.

CARS:

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Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992)

• Fixed an issue where the steering animation did not correctly match the wheel lock.

[Legacy] Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (991)

• Fixed an issue where the steering animation did not correctly match the wheel lock.

[Legacy] Pro Mazda

• iRacing setups have been updated.

TRACKS:

--------------------------------------------------------------

Charlotte Motor Speedway

• (Roval) - - Patched a seam near Turn 4 and pit lane.

Hungaroring Circuit

• Fixed an issue with the loading screen between Practice and Race.

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

• (Oval and Alt Oval) - Vehicles will now load with road course tires at these track configurations.

Nürburgring Grand-Prix-Strecke

• Level-of-Detail settings have been adjusted for some light poles to prevent visual popping as the camera changes distances from these objects.

Phoenix Raceway

• Lightmaps have been updated.

Torna il blog tenuto da Studio 397: ufficialmente rinominato "The rFactor 2 Blog" non sarà dedicato esclusivamente al Competition System ma affronterà di volta in volta vari aspetti del simulatore. Questo appuntamento è dedicato alla prima parte delle domande relative alle vetture di rFactor: fisica, grafica, novità in arrivo, possibilità di vedere un giorno una determinata auto o una determinata classe, è tutto in questo blog. Mercoledì prossimo verrà rilasciata la Parte 2

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Arriving much later than originally planned, we have a massive Q&A session this time, and we would like to start by thanking everybody for taking the time to submit all these questions! We decided to split the list in half, with the second half arriving next week.

Before we get started with those questions though, we would like to address a question that has been asked quite a few times in these past weeks. A lot of you are wondering what our involvement is in the just released NASCAR 21: Ignition game and how this affects our ongoing commitment to rFactor 2.

We were already involved in the development for over two years now, so way before the acquisition. Over time the team working on the NASCAR game, although sometimes varying in composition, has been roughly the same size. Still some of you observed that updates to rFactor 2 have slowed down over the last few months. This is due to the fact that we’ve had a few developers leaving Studio 397 and even though we are actively looking for new people, this is a process that will take some time.

That said, there are certainly a few longer-term developments that are still being worked on, but are not yet in a state that we feel comfortable revealing them, and we are also looking at backporting a few of the developments from the NASCAR game back to rFactor 2. On that note, let’s move on with the first half of our questions about cars.

Q&A

• As this time is about automobiles, will the Lamborghini be included in the GT3 in future? Thank you!
  juanchioooo

Good question, and I would be rich if I could predict the future. The main reason why we did not add this car to the pack yet is licensing cost. Of course, that might change over time. If we get a better deal, we’ll consider it.

• When will the car descriptions for some cars get fixed so that all available liveries can be selected? For example, try selecting AUDI GT3 2018 #1 and AUDI GT3 Evo #1 and check loaded cars (there are a couple other issues with official car description as well). Thing is, this is absolutely easy fix but has not been done ever since cars have been released, and we are talking about paid content here. 
  Tomislav Leskovic

I’ve passed this on to our QA department for validation, and I’m sure they will address these.

• Is there a plan to provide correct car displays (edit: with displays I mean the dashboards of course), with correct data? 
  Tomislav Leskovic

We are still rather limited in what we can show on dashboards and in the digital displays. I think you can see that more recent displays are better than the older ones, but we need to overhaul the code that renders these to really add data like wheelspin indications, multipage displays, etc. I’m sure you are aware that there are some great third-party tools out there such as SimHub that do a great job, and I would certainly recommend taking a look at those.

• When will the opportunity finally be given to select the vehicle opponents in the UI that I want and then save them? In RRRE a matter of minutes, in rF2 currently, well ….
  memoNo1

The best way to save those is to create a new series (rfmod) but I’ll admit that is a lot of work to just select a few opponents. The opponent selection is a part of the UI that we ported straight from the old UI, but we know we need to overhaul it completely to make it more useful and user-friendly. I don’t have a timeline for it yet though, so in the short term, making your own series is probably your best bet.

• In the Tracks Q&A, you mentioned how the suspension can be bent and damaged. However, this damage can only occur as a result of impact from a wall or another car. I would really like to see the track itself have an effect on suspension damage – it would mean drivers actually have a reason to not hit certain curbs too hard, improving racing. It would be so cool to see in esports too. 
  doddynco

Noted, I think it’s an interesting improvement that we should consider.

• Could we see the implementation of maximum stresses to suspension components in the chassis file? Some lines are still in the Chassis file ‘MinForceOrTorque0=’ ‘MaxForceOrTorque0=’ ‘Breakability0=. 
  doddynco

I don’t know to be honest.

• What about legendary cars, like the 70´s and 80´s DRM Gr. 4 and Gr. 5 Cars? Any chance to drive a beautiful BMW CSL for example in top quality? 
  Ralph_Raccoon

A while ago we helped the DRM Modding Team to explore the possibility of porting over their cars to rFactor 2. Unfortunately, at the time, they concluded they did not want to go ahead with the project. Licensing wise, these cars are a bit special too, being custom-built mostly. I guess as a community, you could kindly let this team know that you would still appreciate a port. We would certainly try to help (again).

• In-car dashboards and their limitations. What is the biggest obstacle in upgrading that? 
  Paweł Andrzejewski

The development time needed to update the code. As you might have read in the intro to this Q&A, we are a bit light on developers at the moment, but even before that, there have been more important things that we have prioritized over this. Obviously, another consideration is the work we would have to do to update all cars to take advantage of any improvements we make.

• What’s left in the tank for the Formula Pro? As was said it’s not the final release, so I’m curious what will be updated. 
  Paweł Andrzejewski

We’re not ready to share all the details yet, but we are considering for Formula Challenge a slightly slower version of the car (less horsepower and less downforce) as well as some upgrades to the Pro car, possibly a “push to pass” system as well as visual upgrades.

• How do you rate the cooperation with Goodyear? Are you going to update tires in your content based on that experience? 
  Paweł Andrzejewski

We are extremely happy with our collaboration with Goodyear, and we are working on updating several tires based on the data and feedback we get from them.

• Will you update tyre database based on the effects of this cooperation? 
  Paweł Andrzejewski

I think that would be a good idea next year, to provide a new set of baseline tyres for different types of cars. It’s a bit too early right now, as several types of tyres are still being developed.

• How about extensions to the car adjustments like differential, more TC options as well as a possibility to tweak them while on track?
  Paweł Andrzejewski

We’re working on a few right now, but we know we also need an updated TC (and ABS) system to be better aligned to the modern systems found in various GT cars.

• A mapping for flashing lights would be very appreciated as well!
  Paweł Andrzejewski

Yeah, most people right now solve that by programming a macro for this using a third-party tool, but I agree we could add this as a mappable control going forward.

• Considering the new Goodyear tyre model is already in the M4, Formula Pro and a few others that I have forgotten, which cars will be the next ones to get the new model? GT3s? Tatuus’? Or maybe will a new car/cars be released before any other content gets the new model? 
  VirusGR42

Next car to get it is a new one which we will release soon!

• Last blog said that a track may take around 3 months to complete. On the other hand, how much time does a car take to be made from the green light to begin (assuming after licence has been acquired) until completion? 
  VirusGR42

Right, let’s take as a starting point that we have a licence, the appropriate CAD models and all the physics data that we need as well as some sound recordings then typically we can do a car in about 4-6 weeks. We do calculate 2-4 weeks extra after that as cars and liveries typically require sign off from the licensor and teams, which typically takes a few iterations.

• Additionally, what is the sort of testing process do they go through, and how long is it (I guess they are also tested by manufacturers?)? 
  VirusGR42

The length of testing depends a bit on the type of car and in some cases also involves “balancing the performance” for the class it is in. Typically, we try to leverage the time it takes for final approval of the car and liveries to do the testing, so 2-4 weeks. Interestingly, most cars we licence do not require the licensor to test the car. Typically, such approvals focus mostly on getting the visuals right. That said, there are cases where this is definitely different. Radical for example provides a lot of feedback, often early in the process, and our collaboration with BMW on the M2 also involved several of their test drivers providing valuable input.

• In terms of car series, everything seems to be either GTE or GT3. How about some other full series cars, maybe even older touring cars, or something to run with the civic from 2013? 
  Andy Bonar

Those are definitely the big ones, and to be fair also the ones the community were asking about a lot. We are considering a few possible other “tintop” series at the moment.

• Do you see yourself coming down under to implement any of these cars as most sims do not cater for much from the Southern Hemisphere & this could be a good market base: S5000, TCR, Aussie Cars, V8 Supercars, HQ’s, Aussie Ute, Super 2, Super 3, Toyota 86 Race Series, Touring Car Masters? 
  Binny

We recently discussed the S5000 but decided against it. In other news, there is at least one series in your list we are seriously considering right now.

• I find it really quite immersion breaking to see those standard helmets on each car – especially for full series content – that’s one of the reasons I enjoy the Formula E so much. Can you please consider adding more helmets, or even better, real life correct helmets, in future content please (where appropriate).
  SiC58

Noted. We don’t always do this as chasing licences for all the helmet designs and (personal) sponsors can be quite time-consuming, but we will consider adding more helmets going forward.

• Also, are you going to implement a minimum standard for modding as some cars and tracks are very bad when it comes to racing rain, night ect.. I see people commenting loss of FPS is bad.
  Binny

Unlikely, as we don’t have time to review and provide feedback on all modded content. Anything that is in the workshop, we would encourage people to review and leave comments though so others in the community can judge this content based on feedback. We do try to provide more and more information for modders on how to properly develop content.

• Is there any hope, that fans of historic racing will get stuff like a Group C DLC, a Historic GT/IMSA DLC or a 90s GT1 DLC? Given that there are already cooperation’s with manufacturers like BMW, Porsche, McLaren, Mercedes, Nissan, Chevrolet, Panoz or even Ferrari there would be a fantastic opportunity to showcase historic endurance racing within rF2 as a counterpart to the modern endurance racing, that is a trademark of rF2. And I guess I am not alone in thinking that the M1 Procar would have been the perfect fit for the legends trophy. 
  hitm4k3r

Let me tell you a little story. You may or may not know that some of us at Studio 397 in a past life were involved in the GTP mod for NR2003. In the year prior to starting Studio 397 a few of us had the plan to create a paid mod for rFactor 2 featuring these Group C cars, officially licensing and building them. We were actually about halfway through that project when we continued the development of rFactor 2 and had to put this on the back burner. Ever since, we’ve been discussing if such a series would make sense. I personally still think it would! And the M1 Procar, yeah, that could be a good “cup” series by itself.

• Could we maybe get just a tiny visual update for the historic F1, F2 and F3 cars (please …) ? Or in other words: have you considered reaching out to the guys who developed the 1967 F2 mod? How about a real licenced Matra, Honda, McLaren, Brabham or Ferrari to update the late 60s car roster? 
  hitm4k3r

We’re certainly open to starting a dialogue if there is anybody from the community that wants to upgrade these cars.

• Have you considered voting for the next DLC cars or DLC themes, as Kunos did it in the past? 
  hitm4k3r

We did consider this, but we’ve never done it, obviously. My concerns here are that we might not get enough people to vote to get a good representation of our user base and that if we do, we might end up without any clear winner (ask people about their favourite car or track now, I’m sure there won’t be any consensus). So whilst I’m not saying we should ignore what people want, I will argue that probably everybody wants something different, and that is fine.

• When will we see a proper hybrid system developed in RF2? Is it already in development? 
  RNeves

We’ve always said that we will build such systems if we need them for any cars we license. So far we have not done that, so there is no such system in development right now. Given the licences that Motorsport Games has acquired though, it’s certainly possible we’ll do this next year. I am not allowed to speculate on that though.

• When will we see tyre punctures in the game? 
  RNeves

I’m not sure yet. Code wise, due to tyre wear, there is a spot in the code that states when the puncture should occur, but it has not been implemented yet. This is one of many physics features we would still like to add. It’s had a fairly low priority, as typically way before you reach this point you will come in to pit for tyres anyway. That said, punctures could also happen from running over stuff or hitting sharp edges of curbs, so I’m definitely not saying we won’t implement them at all.

• Are you planning on developing vintage car classes like Group C, DRM, GT1 or something along these lines? 
  RNeves

I’ve touched on Group C and DRM earlier in the list of questions. We did not have much discussions about GT1 cars. I guess they are still a bit too modern to be vintage!

• Have you ever considered outsourcing car updates to external modding teams, such as ASR, Schumi’s or Tchachalowski? 
  Delzimar

We have sometimes outsourced car development to external modding teams, Enduracers being an example. We’re in contact with some of the ones you mention, and we actually tried to work with ASR a while ago, but back then we could not reach a business agreement with them.

• Sadly, rFactor 2 has quite a disparity of quality between some content – think the awful Porsche GTE for example. This really spoils the sim in my opinion. Can we champion for a thorough refresh upgrade to this car, and paid DLC in particular, as a matter of urgency please?
  SiC58

You’ve certainly brought it to my attention again. Noted.

• This is kinda on the cars’ topic, so I’ll go with it… setups. Default setups in rF2 for the most part are not great. Sims like ACC have a really good feature where they come with a default Aggressive and stable setup, and rain. This would be a major improvement to rF2 if you could implement something like this – please, can I implore you to think about this and add it in soon?
  RangoliniGustavo

Do you think this is true for our more recent cars as well? For the record, I like the idea of providing more than one setup.

• Where is the GT3 BOP from GT Pro? We need a new BOP!
  Rici Migali

Good question. My initial answer is that I do not know and obviously I’m not going to leave it at that and discuss this internally. I agree that we should release such improvements going forward.

• I find it upsetting that historic content in rFactor 2 is sadly neglected. Please, please, please add more historic cars and tracks to the game!
  Lennon Acton

Quite a few people have made the case for more historic content. We are reviewing some ideas in this area.

• Would love native MOTEC / telemetry support in rF2.
  Lennon Acton.

I personally agree, but other priorities so far have prevented us from completing this development. It’s not cancelled, but it was put on ice. For now at least.

• Appreciate this is a super minor thing, but… can we please have a graphics update to add the old school ‘Sticker Tyres’ for new slicks (like in 90’s F1 where they came out of the pits with stickers on the tyres that eventually wore off)
  Paul Jeffrey

It’s a great idea and I believe we have most code in place to do this. You might have seen that we can render tyre wear on those cars. We might or might not have to tweak that a bit for these stickers.

• Sorta cars, sorta UI. The way rF2 represents car choices in the UI list is mega confusing to me – any plans to look at and improve this going forward?
  SKaine

Assuming you mean the way we order the cars in a hierarchy is what is confusing you, do you have any suggestions on how we should improve this? From a personal point of view, I’ve seen it is very hard to come up with a single, consistent hierarchy that works for all types of cars. For example, sometimes you want to group them by class, sometimes by make, sometimes by series, but never have I found a single way that works best for all the different sorts of cars we have, so I’m very much open to suggestions here.

• Still on the sorta cars, sorta not topic – ‘Self in Rearview’ rarely works, and I think it is super immersive to see bodywork in the mirrors (like in the F1202X series) – will this be improved in future, or even better, added into the default instal of rFactor 2?
  SKaine

If you’re talking about cars we’ve produced, I’m happy to get bug reports for such cars as I believe it makes sense for us to support this.

• I still love the golden oldie cars like the Skip Barber and especially the historic EVE formula cars. Are these going to be updated to PBR at some point? I really think these cars are far, far too good to let slide off into retirement.
  Luke Stanton.

A few people in this Q&A have made a case for this, so we’ll explore our options.

• Is S397 interested in boosting up manual transmission simulation? 
  mantasisg

This is a tricky one. The simple answer would be yes, but the more complicated one is that we would really like to improve both the software simulation and the hardware here. We feel the current way that particularly H-shifters interface with ours and other simulations is inadequate to provide a really good implementation. We would love to have ways to ensure that the layout of the H-shifter is correct, and also the feeling when shifting with and without clutch, the grinding of gears when you mis-shift and all things like that. The simple “on/off switches” that are now used per gear simply don’t allow any of this. That said, there are still a few things we could do, even for the current generation of hardware.

• Is S397 interested in revising solid axle simulation? 
  mantasisg

See below.

• In addition to this question, can S397 confirm that something is not right with how solid axle ultra chassis simulation works right now ? I have worked on many cars with it for rF2, and I think something is not right about things related to body pitch and probably roll too. 
  mantasisg

This is a question I will need to ask our physics team. It might be best to send us an e-mail directly with the problem you are seeing and what you would expect. Maybe with an example car that we can look at ourselves. If there is something wrong there, we would be happy to address it.

• Is studio happy about recently made improvements in how studio builds tires, such as for BMW, FPro and new Tatuus car ? And does it seem that simracers welcomed the differences ? (I did btw!) 
  mantasisg

We are certainly happy with this direction as well, and mostly we had good feedback about them from the community. Obviously, we’ll keep looking for further improvements to the model and data.

• What is the root problem of interior windshields responding to light in a reversed way, which makes for big troubles during night ? The dirt textures, and baked in interior reflection texture on inner windshield is a massive immersion boost, is this high on priority list of future graphical improvements? 
  mantasisg

I would say this is fairly high on the list, and our main problem is how headlights respond to these dirty windshields at night. In the past those could blind the drivers completely, and we did not want to negatively impact players that way, which is why we removed them until we’ve improved that situation.

• When will the glass shader on cars be updated to reflect the sun? 
  Balazs Magyar

When we have fixed the issues at night is the simple answer. The reason why we’ve made the glass completely transparent is that otherwise at night, with lots of headlights from behind, it was becoming hard if not impossible to see. So once we address that, we can bring back dirt and other imperfections.

• Also, better tire shaders would also be nice. Are they car specific? 
  Balazs Magyar

Yes and no. We have generic shaders, so people can in theory pick any shader and apply it to a tyre. In more recent cars, I believe we use the same shader (and it could even be named explicitly for this, I don’t remember). We’ve made a few improvements more recently already. I think internally, the USF-2000 was the first car to receive those (an update that was released fairly recently).

• Do you see any benefit in going after Vintage licences? The heritage back catalogue of Williams F1 for example. Having rFactor 2 be a way to archive these pieces of machinery that may not be able to run in real life for too much longer. 
  Woodee

We never really approached it from that angle to be honest. It’s certainly an interesting idea to preserve such cars digitally in a simulation. It would be worth exploring to see if we could somehow work with manufacturers to make this happen.

• Why the rain visual was not implemented on cockpit view for open wheel cars? Could we expect something to be done about that? I have the same question for the mirrors too (Exteriors / back cameras). 
  Spyro

I’m not totally sure I get the question, so my apologies if I answer it wrongly, but I am wondering what parts of open cockpits you are talking about? Mirrors typically don’t get wet while driving. Windshields to, and we should have that modeled. In fact, we will even add some new technology soon as you might have heard. Or are you maybe talking about the raindrops on a “visor” of a helmet?

• Also, I know that some drivers disable on purpose rain drops to avoid having rain on their windshield. It gives an unfair advantage and no wipers movement on exteriors cameras (weird on live broadcast). Could we have a workaround, like static rain texture appearing on the windshield for this case? 
  Spyro

Yes, that is a good suggestion. I think that is what we should do for this case.

• Also, as mentioned on other posts, I would love to see punctures implemented… 
  Spyro

Agreed, it’s missing completely right now. From wear, but also from driving over sharp objects and/or curbs.

• Are there any plans to allow the option for cars to have an adjustable Weight-Jacker while on track? Something similar to how the anti roll bars and brake balance work with assignable buttons. This would add to the immersion of IndyCars new and old. 
  DiggerHawk

Yes. Probably in early 2022!

• Hi and thanks for this kind of interaction with us. What’s your statement about onboard adjustable differential lock? Would it be so hard to implement that would be months-years away, in case it’s planned to be added? 
  Javibeza

It is currently not planned, but conceptually I don’t think it would be hard since we already have diffs that are adjustable in the garage and typically changing them while driving is mostly a matter of having controls mapped to allow that.

• Is it planned to implement KERS and hybrid technologies? 
  lagg

We’ve always said we’ll do that when we build cars that need it. I can’t disclose anything about that yet. We would like to implement a generic system for hybrid technologies. It’s a big job (as there are quite a few different types of hybrid systems).

• Forgive me for not being too good on the technical, so this might already be in the sim, but can rFactor 2 simulate turbo lag like we would see in 80’s F1 cars? If no, is this something that might be on the agenda for the future?
  Frankie

We can already simulate a turbo, and our simulation includes turbo lag, so we could certainly simulate an 80’s F1 car or anything else with a turbo.

• Also speaking of technical stuff, it’s long been known rF2 has difficulties with tire pressures and running minimum possible – again, is this a known issue within the Studio, and are plans afoot to rectify it as this has a huge impact on the realism aspect of the game.
  Frankie

This is something we are trying to fix as part of our partnership with Goodyear. We are certainly aware about it and some other “techniques” for going fast that should not allow you to go that fast.

• Final one from me – driver animations. It has bugged me since forever – will rFactor 2 ever have driver animations, so we can see gear shifting, for example?
  Frankie

Let’s focus on gear shifting, as that is something that is missing for a reason. The reason being that we can’t really do such animations in real time. The first time we hear about a shift is when you press the (H-)shifter button. Obviously before that time, you already moved your real hand and fingers, but we don’t know that. So if we had to start an animation, we would be way too late, and we decided that playing such an animation “too late” does not make much sense.

• Do you intend, in a general way, to improve the overall sounds and sound effects in RF2? In particular: When are you going to implement the “scrub” function in the “SKID SOUNDS” part as well as the temperature effect on the brake hiss? 
  philman

We are looking into this, and I will pass on the specific improvements you mention to the sound team.

• Still on the subject of audio, do you intend to make the echo and reverberation of sounds appear according to the configuration and topology of the circuits? 
  philman

This is an interesting, and complex topic. Probably the best way to model sound is to have it rendered in a 3D world, where all the reflections you would get because of the surroundings would be accurately calculated. We have not seen a system yet that can do this without significant computational effort. That leaves us with some simpler tricks, such as the one we already use when you drive through a tunnel or close to a solid barrier. We are certainly following technology here as the full effect of, for example, standing at an F1 race at Spa and hearing those cars accelerate and shift gears in the distance is quite a unique experience. One we’re not close to replicating! That said, we are still in the R&D phase for any possible improvements, so I don’t have any details yet.

• The last builds have made huge progress in RF2 in terms of headlight and headlamp reflection on wet roads, even if everything is not perfect yet. Do you think it’s possible to improve this subject and to extend it to dry tracks? 
  philman

The simple answer is yes. Especially at night we can still make big improvements, but some things we do will probably also positively influence how things look during the daytime.

• Also, the power of the headlights of the cars at night seems to be really too low compared to the reality: is it also possible to improve things? 
  philman

We had to balance them a bit to get the best out of the technology we have for them right now. So partially see my answer above. Better technology is needed to give us more freedom here.

• Is it possible to publish the TGM files of the tires of the GT3, GTE and LMP2 cars? 
  philman

We’re considering releasing a new set of “generic” tyres as a database for people to get started. We want to be a bit further ahead though in our improvements based on our collaboration with Goodyear.

• What’s about PTP? 
  memoNo1

Expect an update about that in 2022!

• Will the Porsche GTE receive an update as the interior is nowhere near the level of the Ferrari GTE. 
  r00b Driver

We are aware of this. We’re not yet sure if and when we will do this though. As you know, there is also a newer version of this car available in real life.

• Do you intend to improve the sounds of the cars? You only have to play ACC or R3E to know how better sounds increase immersion. 
  r00b Driver

We are certainly aware that our sound engine and the way we use it has plenty of room for improvement. We’re exploring our options here currently.

• Do you plan to implement a downshift protection that doesn’t allow to downshift if the revolutions are high? 
  AlexHeuskat

Yes, for cars that have such a mechanism, we intend to add it.

• Is a night PBR update planified, about the car reflection by night, it’s not really beauty, and with the lights, it’s not at the ACC level at all, even AMS2 is far more beauty, the night immersion needs a really long work. 
  AlexHeuskat

For sure this is a weak spot currently and something on our list. The type of rendering engine we are using in rF2 is a forward rendering engine. ACC uses a deferred rendering engine. Both have strong and weak points, and the trick is to try and work around those as best as possible.

• Smoke update ? I think yes, with dust particles… 
  AlexHeuskat

We’re researching some ideas in this area, but it’s too early to show or commit to anything here. And yes, we’re not forgetting sparks.

• Are 3d grass + flowers planified? I like the AMS2 grass (and trees). 
  AlexHeuskat

Those really need better support in the graphics engine to be done well, so it’s a coding effort first, and then we need to find a good way to do this that does not put a big burden on artists upgrading existing content.

• About the tracks, you release more cars than tracks, maybe can you put more resources on the tracks team maker? 
  AlexHeuskat

Our track team is more than twice the size of our car team already! Fact is, a track takes way more time than a car. I think we have a reasonable balance right now, but I’ll make a note of your feedback.

• About the AI update? We arrive soon at 1 year after the UI update release….do you have plans for the AI update? Or maybe you can start with an AI selection feature, it’s still a nightmare to choose the AI liveries. 
  AlexHeuskat

We’ve spent some time on the AI recently for the NASCAR game, and we intend to bring that back to rF2. The “opponent selection” is something that keeps coming up. I agree, the current UI (which is a straight port from the old UI) does this all wrong, and it’s very awkward. That will need a full redesign. Your only workaround now is to create your own series (rfmod) and pick the cars there.

• Really loving rF2 especially recently. One question I have had is that would you guys be able to create an option to be able to turn the virtual car dash display on or off, so for anyone with a real life display mounted to their rig, can drive using their dash only and without the one on the screen. Maybe saves a tiny bit of fps too with the virtual car display screen hidden???? Anyway, thanks for your time. 
  Connor Clifford

I did not test this, but I would argue the performance gains would be quite minimal. You can try this for yourself by using a “hood view” for example. I have a virtual dash myself, and it’s mostly in front of the car dash already.

• If I count correctly, the cars made by S397 in the last 5 years are approximately 55 cars. When the improvement of the current tire model thanks to the Goodyear data is ripe enough, one of my greatest wishes for rFactor 2 is that all, yes all of these 55 S397 cars are updated to the tire model which is improve (Formula Pro, M4 class 1…). Is this something that can happen (that would be fabulous)? 
  pilAUTO

This is certainly something we are discussing. Without going into details, when we model a tyre we always use a combination of data we have and data we need to take an “educated guess” on. Recent experiences have shown that some of those guesses (not surprisingly) were not completely accurate, so it makes sense to go back and correct such inaccuracies.

• I want S397 to make some very realistic FWD and 4WD/AWD cars (upgrade the transmission for 4WDs), not a lot. 
  pilAUTO

There are some FWD ones coming and this year we did an AWD one (eX ZERO). I’m sure we will do a few more going forward!

• I dream of a very realistic “street car” (supercar) made by S397, just one, not 2 or 3 !! Can this happen? 
  pilAUTO

So far we’ve always said that our focus will be on race cars, not street cars. That does not mean we will never do a street car. I’ve seen quite a few community based street and track day cars being done.

• In addition, can you list the improvements and new functionality in the physics of the cars say in the 18 months, that would be great and of course that would not be a commitment but more evoke your projects in the matter. 
  pilAUTO

There are a couple of new cars in development that require some smaller new features. I’ve hinted at a few of those in my answers. We really have not finalized our plans for next year, so I do not want to look ahead for 18 months right now. Obviously there are a few topics that keep coming up: hybrid support, tyre model improvements, weather effects and our drive train. I’m probably forgetting a few now.

• What about a rf2 paint booth for cars like iracing has? 
  Binny

We are looking at a better way of supporting custom paint jobs. One that also works better with our competition system. That’s not the question you have though. We’re looking at options to make painting your own livery easier. I think a strong point of the new NASCAR game is actually its paint booth. Maybe over time we can adopt something similar alongside what we have now.

• Cold tires… Now, I think almost rF2’s tires has great grip on cold temp. Have you planned cold tires? I want to spin on 1st corner after pit out. 
  yashiman

When our tyres are cold they are less grippy, so you should already experience this effect. Unless you’re driving a car that is using tyre warmers so they are at temperature from the moment you leave the garage.

• Modding. I think it seems that AC is easier to make car mods, and only AC mods are being made in Japan. The behaviour of rF2 is great, so I don’t think there is any need to twist this, but the spreadsheet may be too high level for all but the most experienced. Are there any plans to provide easier-to-build tools or a base vehicle for beginners? 
  yashiman

We intend to keep improving our documentation, and we might release a few more examples. We have no plans currently for a “simpler spreadsheet” although I know some in our community (such as Niels Heusinkveld) have experimented with this, and I’ve seen some great results from those.

• Bug report form. This is off the theme of “Car”, If my remember is true, you mentioned in your CS blog or roadmap that you were going to create a “bug report form”. Although the parent company has already changed and the structure is different, bug reports are still scattered around the forums and discord. Do you have plans to create a form yet? 
  yashiman

Still being worked on, but I don’t know the exact status.

• The rFactor 2 blog is fantastic! Thank you. 
  yashiman

Thank you for your kind words, and for supporting rFactor 2. As you can read from the many questions and answers, I really try to explain everything we are doing and not doing. These sessions do provide valuable input when it comes to prioritizing what we do next!

• I know the question has already been asked about how long it takes to build a new car, however, I’d like to know how long it usually takes to update an existing car to the latest PBR shaders please?
  Louie

That first question has been answered above. Updating a car to PBR shaders depends a bit on the actual car, but it’s typically a job that will take a few days, depending on how many shaders were used before and how they were mapped to different elements of the car.

• I can’t speak for everyone, but I do know a lot of us would strongly preference more pack releases than single cars in future – I find loose cars (fine if a cup series) aren’t that engaging as a customer – we want others to race against!
  Louie

I can only agree with you, and we try to release series that involve multiple cars in a class as a pack. We make exceptions if a car runs in a “cup like series” because in those cases a pack makes no sense (unless you start to bundle cars and tracks maybe).

• Often the default S397 liveries with new releases are… a bit unimpressive. Any chance for future if you could work on more detailed and realistic designs please? Maybe even consider letting the community submit ideas?
  Louie

We have done livery competitions and in some cases we have included liveries later as upgrades (remember the Le Mans Virtual 24h last year for example). Sometimes it’s a chicken and egg problem though. If we do not release the car yet, the community can’t make liveries yet. Once it’s out, it’s too late to make the initial release, and we can only do so in a later update.

• In real life, drivers very often have a track map on the wheel or dash – something that some S397 cars have – however, what I would like to know is if you could make that dynamic, so it shows the correct map for the track you are driving on please?
  Louie 

Some cars have it and the correct map is loaded from the track you are on, if available. So the feature does work if the car actually puts it somewhere on the dash or wheel and the track actually provides an image.

• Please, please, please, please, please can you add Caterham to the car list in rF2? Thank you!
  ShadowFlopper

I know at least one colleague at Studio 397 who will instantly back you up on this car!

• Car question #1: How much of work is it to refresh or re-export the textures on older content, like GT2 and GT1, and Corvette street cars? There are some purple/greenish compression artefacts all over the interior and headlight halos, and tail light halo textures are flickering on some cars.
  vmgn021

It depends on the car actually. For some we never got the full source files (in photoshop) so in those cases we would have to redo them from scratch. In other cases we could. We’re actually considering such a pass next year, as compression techniques have been improved, and we could see some nice gains by doing this.

• Car question #2: Have you considered licensing historic cars? Although there is MAK Corp 1991 endurance car mod already, I would buy official Mazda 787B DLC in a heart beat. 
  vmgn021

We have, and we did license a few over the years, such as the different McLaren historic formula cars. And you’ve just mentioned a personal favourite of mine! 

• Have you planned to make easier the creation of the icons of the cars/skins? At this moment is not possible to create an icon with transparent background as before. This makes the task much more difficult if you want to get a good result. 
  lagg

Let me show you a little trick in “dev mode”. First make sure in your player file you have enabled “Screenshot Depth Alpha”: true and selected PNG as the format “Screenshot Format”: 3 and load up your favourite car in the showroom. Now press the ‘1’ key on your normal (not numeric) keyboard. The background will go black. Make a screenshot! You’ll find that it has a nice alpha layer with soft, blended shadows. An and you can press ‘2’ to enable the rendering of the environment in the showroom again.

• Would it be possible to add a bunch of information about the cars into the UI? Stuff like what type of gearbox they use (sequential / h-pattern etc) and other useful things?
  ShelbySr

Certainly that would be possible. We already added a bit, but there’s a lot more we could add.

• I’m not proficient in modding my instal, so any options and filters you can add to improve the car selection process would be very much appreciated please.
  devicemanagerKiNg

A personal favourite of mine in the new UI is the search box. Typing a class there or a brand typically gets me to the car I like to drive quite quickly.


Stay tuned for Part 2 next Wednesday!

Con un video appena pubblicato su Youtube, la NVIDIA annuncia una gustosa novità in arrivo per gli utenti di Assetto Corsa Competizione dotati di schede video con GPU GeForce RTX: il prossimo supporto alla tecnologia NVIDIA DLSS.

La Deep Learning Super Sampling è una tecnologia di rendering IA all'avanguardia che aumenta le prestazioni grafiche utilizzando processori IA Tensor Core dedicati sulle GPU GeForce RTX™. Il DLSS sfrutta la potenza di una rete neurale di deep learning per aumentare i frame rate e generare immagini belle e nitide nei giochi. Come potete vedere dal trailer sottostante, il miglioramento grafico e soprattutto in termini di frame al secondo è davvero notevole ed in taluni frangenti addirittura impressionante!

Non resta che attendere il prossimo update...

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Experience the hyper-realistic racing sim Assetto Corsa Competizione with NVIDIA DLSS for up to 2X faster performance at 4K.

Assetto Corsa Competizione, the official GT World Challenge video game, allows players to compete against official drivers, teams, cars, and circuits reproduced in-game with the highest level of detail, delivering the most realistic simulation of the GT3 championships. Coming soon with NVIDIA DLSS.

Codemasters ha rilasciato un nuovo aggiornamento per F1 2021, portandolo alla versione 1.13.

Questo nuovo aggiornamento porta con sè il nuovo circuito di Jeddah, in Arabia Saudita, penultimo appuntamento del mondiale di F1 in programma il 5 Dicembre. Per l'occasione lo studio inglese ha anche pubblicato un video hotlap per mostrarci il circuito

Con l'update 1.13 fa inoltre il suo ritorno la livrea classica Red Bull e sono presenti due nuove opzioni: l'opzione per abilitare o disabilitare la simulazione della temperatura degli pneumatici in pit lane e la possibilità di poter correre un Grand Prix con prestazioni identiche.

Ecco di seguito il changelog completo:

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Hey drivers,

Patch 1.13 is out now on all platforms. Check out what's in this patch below:

New Content

• Jeddah has been added to the game
• Added option to enable or disable Pit Lane Tyre Temperature simulation so cars that box closer to the pit lane entrance are not disadvantaged by colder tyres as they exit the pit lane.
• 2021 Red Bull has been reverted to their traditional livery with a visual update to closer match the real season
• Added option to disable driver moves in career
• Equal performance has been added to Grand Prix mode using F1 2021 cars

 
Online

• Users kicked from a session due to the timer running out are no longer banned from the session
• Host-spectators will now correctly see the race starts lights go out at the same time as racers

 
General

• Addressed an issue where the “Advance” button could disappear from a career save
• R&D progress history screen now looks correct with the increased number of available tracks
• Victory VO can now correctly be previewed within the item store
• Addressed an issue where users could go out of world in photo mode on Imola
• Fanatec CSL DD pedals now have the correct brake and throttle thresholds
• DRS white line has been adjusted on Imola to match the activation point
• General stability improvements
• Various minor fixes