rFactor 2 will introduce various improvements to the modding-friendly simulation including weather, driver animations and a refined graphics engine. ISI has not announced a definite release date yet, the company is still aiming to release their newest title by the end of 2010 though.
For almost a year, no new tweets have been published on the official rFactor 2 Twitter account. Now, Image Space Incorporated has broken the silence, tweeting about the progress of rFactor 2’s new tiremodel:
Installing a new state-of-the-art physical and thermodynamic tire model, this will make driving much more intense.
Following the rainy cockpit previews released a few days ago, Image Space Incorporated has now released the first ever moving footage of rain in rFactor 2!
The short video shows the experimental rain effect in use with an open-wheeler, ISI points out that the effects are still work in progress, especially the droplets. Another preview video showcasing their progress will be able at a later date but for now, enjoy the first ever rain footage of rFactor 2 below.
rFactor 2 will introduce various improvements to the modding-friendly simulation including weather, driver animations and a refined graphics engine. ISI has not announced a definite release date yet, the company is still aiming to release their newest title by the end of 2010 though.
Image Space Incorporated’s Scott Juliano has posted an interesting status update on rFactor 2’s track progress in the ISI forums, explaining some of the work left to do on the simulation’s circuits.
Hi all. Just thought I’d take a couple of minutes to get you all up to date as to the current state of the tracks that will/should/may be included with rF2.
All but two of the tracks have gone through their second (Beta) art pass. This is mainly to get all the tracks to a common visual level. Normally what happens during development is that you learn and refine your procedures and techniques as you go, and so the later art ends up looking much better than the earlier. Obviously we don’t want to ship things in that state, so we take some time to even everything out.
Once all the tracks have received this second pass they will all get one last pass before entering Beta testing. This will make sure they all have all the new features and elements that came online during the second pass, and any final glitz we can manage to squeeze in. We’re talking days per track here, not weeks…
Finally, once that is done, and depending on how much time we have left before Gjon decides it’s time to ship, we may be able to even add another track to the final list.
And then of course, in typical ISI style, we have a number of tracks that we’ll be adding post release to keep you all busy….
So, that’s where we are and generally where we’re going. Luc Van Camp (SLN) and I still have a lot of work to do, but we’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel now. Check back from time to time and we’ll try to drop a note and let you all know what we’re up to when we can.
So far, no list of circuits available in the upcoming title is available. The released preview material has revealed several real life circuits though, including a 1967 version of Spa Francorchamps, Estoril, the Palm Beach Raceway kart track among several fictional tracks.
rFactor 2 will introduce various improvements to the modding-friendly simulation including weather, driver animations and a refined graphics engine. ISI has not announced a definite release date yet, the company is still aiming to release their newest title by the end of 2010 though.
Image Space Incorporated’s Scott Juliano has released a new update on rFactor 2’s tracks, talking about a new licensed track that could be included in the upcoming simulation:
Well, it’s been a couple weeks so I thought I’d drop in and give you all another update. We just completed the second pass on yet another track, so only one to go now. Of course, the last one is the mother of all tracks in rF2, so Luc and I will have our work cut out for us for the next two or three weeks. Anyway, I grabbed a couple quick screen grabs tonight of the track and sent them on to Tim, so perhaps he’ll put those up tomorrow….
In other news, a new track license opportunity presented itself today. If we can work out the details and secure it the track will make a great addition to rF2. Licenses usually take a while to sort themselves out, so if we can’t get it in time for the initial release, we can certainly include it in a post-release update as we did with Lienz and the IBM tracks for rF1. Either way, I’ve got my finger’s crossed for this one…
Lastly, Gjon and I discussed today a new track for you dirt lovers out there. Gjon is very keen on getting proper dirt physics in for the initial release of rF2, and this could be the other track Luc and I build if we have time remaining before release. Again, if not, it will make a fine post-release addition. The new dynamic road features should fit very well with dirt racing assuming we get the controllability over it that we want in each track’s .gdb file.
Furthermore, ISI has released two new previews, showing off the Quebec karting track.
rFactor 2 will introduce various improvements to the modding-friendly simulation including weather, driver animations and a refined graphics engine. ISI has not announced a definite release date yet, the company is still aiming to release their newest title by the end of 2010 though.
Scott Juliano of ISI has published a new report on the progress of rFactor 2, mainly discussing track development, rF1 track conversions, a possible new track, particles and AI.
Quote:
Read it all below:
So, let’s see. We finished the second pass on the last of the tracks, which was historic Belgium. When you saw the video, static crowds hadn’t been added yet, which they are now. We’ve started making the last pass on these tracks, which involves up-sizing textures when and where we can–where it makes sense to do so–as well as adding little pieces of glitz art. Do remember, we are trying to simulate large grids at good frame rates across a variety of machines–even with graphic options there still has to be give and take. There really IS only so much GPU and CPU bandwidth to go around
I also just finished reworking all the car/terrain reaction VFX. If you recall in rF1 our particles were… well, you know (I mean, they weren’t BAD [well, the fire was]), but they weren’t great either). Well, I’m glad to say that they are no longer “well, you know”. The programmers added some elements so I can control the particles better. So now we can get gravel kicking up and falling back to the ground as you traverse over a sandtrap, or grass and chunks of dirt that get kicked up when you spin the tires while offroad. All the skids have had a make over, as well as dust and various car smoke. OH, and our fire now looks like fire
I’ve also created particles for new features that HOPEFULLY can be added before we release. If not, they are there for us to implement in post-release updates.
Um, let’s see…. I also just finished adding first pass, animated team members to the pit area on one of our tracks (as a test to see if it’s worth it). These include some guys standing around talking, as well as people sitting at the telemetry stations going about their business. These aren’t really meant to directly interact with the cars–they’re just there to give the pit lane some life. For a first pass, it actually does what I intended–the pit lane doesn’t look like a barren wasteland devoid of people any more. Obviously we can’t have hundreds of crew members walking around (well, not unless no one would mind the game running at 5 FPS), but it’s FAR better than none at all…
Luc has been doing some work on a rF1 track “update” that should be included with rF2 in what we’re calling the “mod” section (more on that later). The purpose of this track is to show you how any rF1 track might look with just enough work done to it to get it running in rF2. And he’s roughing out some documentation of the procedures involved (which we will expand on post-release for you modders out there). The idea is to show you all that it will take SOME work to get an rF1 track up and running, and a bit more work to get it running with the ability to use new features, but none of this work should be too difficult.
Our Post FX work is progressing and hopefully we’ll have some early shots to show of that when we think it’s okay to do so (see, even WE have standards when it comes to WIP screens)….
And finally, Gjon and I spoke today about adding another historic track to rF2, HOPEFULLY for release. It seems reasonable to do it in the time we think we have left, but it is a track NOT to be taken lightly from an artist’s point of view. No, I won’t tell you what it is–it’s a surprise (and I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up in case it doesn’t make initial release). If it doesn’t make it then it’ll be a great addition to our first post-release update. I will tell you that I’m very excited to be working on it though…
I’ll see what I can do about getting some quickie screen shots of the new FX or something in the next few days for Tim to put up….
Anyway, that’s about it for this update–think I’ve used up my allotment of virtual ink for this one. OH, I will add one more thing. The AI programmer has been doing a good amount of work in that area lately. The AI is not quite where we want it yet, but I can honestly say I’m having FUN racing the AI now, and I could never say that about rF1 AI. They are challenging, and a lot smarter about who is around them on track. Again, there’s still work to be done, but even at this stage the difference is night and day, so kudos to him
And that’s it from me for now. Oh, and for those that celebrate–have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!
something about that image looks very flat.. doesnt have the 3d look to it like say f1 has.. Not sure what it is really, prob textures hmmm,, not impressed with that last shot though
something about that image looks very flat.. doesnt have the 3d look to it like say f1 has.. Not sure what it is really, prob textures hmmm,, not impressed with that last shot though
Starting out at full wet at the start of the session and scheduled to get lighter then stop raining about half way through, this is obviously a lot less random than most races racers may do when the product is released. Things to watch out for include clouds and shadows shifting (according to wind and sun direction), light coming and going according to the clouds moving overhead, the wet reflectiveness going away, the rubber build up and eventually the marbles, too. Things to note are that this is work-in-progress.
The laps to create the dry line were done with AI. When a human is driving (or the AI decides multiple lines work) where you drive actually determines where on the track is dried or rubbered in. You can see a dry and then rubber line starting to build into the pitlane as well as around the race track. There was also two incidents going into that turn which created additional skidmarks on the apex and just outside of the apex during the 1hr 30mins the footage was captured from. Usually I captured each 5 seconds just after a pack of cars had passed, the racing line would get partially wet again shortly afterwards before the next group.
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