rFactor 2 Q4 Content Drop adds four new tracks and two new cars

Sim racers rejoice: the wait for the next major rFactor 2 update is over.

The final content drop of the year, the rFactor 2 Q4 Content Drop and update is now live on Steam. With four new tracks, two new cars, and AI behaviour improvements, it's a massive update.

New cars and tracks

After the Q3 Content Drop brought officially-licensed BTCC cars to rFactor 2, the Q4 Content Drop adds the BMW 330i M Sport BTCC to the roster. The rear-wheel drive touring car joins the previously released Infiniti Q50.

You can race the BMW 330i M Sport at the newly added Croft and Thruxton circuits, which join the growing list of BTCC circuits in rFactor 2 including Brands Hatch and Donington Park.

These beloved British racing circuits are a welcome addition as they rarely appear in racing games. Benefiting from a new laser scan, Studio 397 claims rFactor 2’s digital recreation of Croft is “the most accurate and up-to-date version anywhere in sim racing.”

With the official BTCC game delayed until 2024, rFactor 2 is becoming the go-to game for BTCC fans.

In addition, the Vanwall LMH endurance racer also makes its rFactor 2 debut in the Q4 Content Drop along with the Bahrain International Circuit. Notably, this is the first laser-scanned version of Bahrain, making it the most accurate recreation of the track you’ll find in a sim racing game.

For Formula E fans, the fourth and final circuit included in the rFactor 2 Q4 Content Drop is the fast and technical London E-Prix circuit, complete with an indoor section at the start of the lap.

Furthermore, the Q4 update makes some substantial improvements to the single-player AI behaviour. This is one of the most frequently requested updates from the community. AI opponents now have “more controlled and believable behaviour on the track” to create a “more balanced and realistic racing experience.”

Erratic AI is also now a thing of the past as the update makes AI opponents accelerate and brake more realistically with “smoother and more controlled behaviour.” This should radically improve offline racing against computer-controlled opponents in rFactor 2.

For a full list of changes, improvements, and new content, check out the rFactor 2 Q4 2022 update patch notes below.

rFactor 2 Q4 2022 Update Patch Notes

General

• Enabled Alt+F4 and X closing the game
• Fixed a rare crash when changing cameras
• Fixed game crashing with “null” in controller.json
• Fixed game crashing when pressing escape to monitor
• Added Key Assignment to toggle Freelook Mouse Control
• Improved package install speeds
• Updated DRS regulations to be restricted in all zones by default and not allowed if there are no drs zones.
• Added RFM parameter “RearFlapNoZonesAllowed” to allow DRS when no zones are available.
• Fixed online temp car not lighting correctly at night.
• Improved visibility of pitbox marker at night.
• Fixed anonymous steam IDs being reported in the results.xml when players left the server before the file gets written.
• Sped up Race Event creation in MAS Tool regardless of size/age of pkginfo.dat
• Fixed premium content unavailable offline

Track Limits

• Added Relaxed Track Limits Mode
• Added Penalties Only display mode
• Added Test Day support for GDB Settings (via Practice settings)
• Increased penalties for passing illegally and increased time to return place.
• Made it possible to change modes in Dev Mode
• General improvements to pit lane, removing unnecessary reports inside the pitlane, and fixing pit exit line cut detection if content is setup correctly.
• Reworked Track Limits dialogue to use HUD Font and add indicator strip
• Updated track limits display, showing all warnings and penalties via messages.
• Fixed AI editor adding connections from pit lane to main path where the game should not (in some cases due to waypoint locations)
• Fixed an issue where going off track again before penalization would not continue the investigation.
• Added ability to configure Track Limits display in HUDs, but fix to set display if not configured.
• Added “HUD” option to Display position options for Track Limits Info, when set at this it will be placed where the HUD configures. You can manually adjust the position otherwise.
• Added sample parameters to default HUD
• Removed loose fonts from ModDev and fixed font loading from mas files
• Added HUD editor support for Track Limits element

Headlights

• Added Headlight Pulse. Defaults to J key. On activation headlights will pulse 4 times for a second. Previous headlight state is retained and this will not cause issues with headlight requirements.
• Set Auto Headlights to turn on at night even if not required.
• Fixed an issue with Headlight assignment not being kept after a driver swap.
• Fixed Max Headlights PLR value not being respected
• Updated Headlights to be culled based on the position of selected vehicle. Note in Freelook mode to make sure you have selected the vehicle you are focusing on if you are having issues with the headlights not being rendered.

Graphics

• Improved in Game Exposure in VR
• Fixed omni lights being falsely applied to objects with Omni not enabled
• Added ability to set an emissive map on the Terrain shader. Intended for baking distant lighting into terrain.
• Fixed delta not resetting correctly after a driver swap
• Fix crash when trying to display the game in borderless on a third monitor with a different solution than the first.
• Fix using the resolution of the first screen when displaying on any other using borderless.
• Fixed a crash when changing monitor when in fullscreen.
• Fixed changing resolutions in windowed mode.
• Fixed reverting resolution picking the wrong resolution to revert to. Used to pick the first with the same width.

UI

• Settings across the UI can now be adjusted more quickly:
• Right mouse button: 10x multiplier
• Middle mouse button: 50x multiplier
• Holding down left mouse button:
• 5x multiplier after 2 seconds
• 10x multiplier after 4 seconds
• Greyed out setup settings (including the name and value) that cannot be adjusted
• Fixed camber setup setting description
• Ambient and track temperatures in the event screen are now shown in Celsius of Fahrenheit based on the selected units
• MultiView monitor side angle setting has been limited to 90 degrees in graphics settings
• Updated refreshing of setup list
• Fixed subscribing to “All” content collection in the First Launch Wizard
• Fixed setup settings becoming greyed out when one of the step values is “N/A”
• Fixed multiplayer admin session controls
• Fixed setting next race length (note: new race length will be displayed after switching to another session, e.g. practice → qualifying)
• Fixed restart race button being disabled during a race session
• Fixed showing percentage for the singleplayer “Race time” setting when “Race criteria” was set to “% Track Time” or “% Track Default”
• Fixed “Torque split” setup setting description typo (read wheels → rear wheels)
• In multiplayer session controls, fixed selecting spectators when there are more than one
• Fixed selecting driver/spectator in multiplayer session controls when there’s a driver and spectator with the same name on the server
• Fixed not being able to delete the first replay in the list

AI

• Fixed erratic throttle and brake inputs
• Fixed waypoint lookahead to fix jerky steering motion
• Fixed an issue with driveline noise that could cause AI to brake partially off track and spin, or cut too much
• Fix for problematic behaviour introduced in RC where AI would lose track of the target waypoint or get stuck driving the wrong way.

Physics

• Refactored engine code

Sound

• Minor fixes
• Fixed an issue with sounds disappearing (other, similar issues still exist!)
• Fixed a rare crash when loading AI cars using the new sound system
• Fixed issue with sounds disappearing

Live stream overlay Modding

• Added the ability to animate any maps UVW via Scroll and Step options on IBL Standard and IBL Standard Blend shaders.
• Fixed buggy background on telemetry debug screens in ModDev.
• Added OnScreen ModDev Tweakbar for debugging Car Cockpit readouts and debugging of LED values.
• IBL Road Shader: Added the ability to blend out alt normal map via RDT.b
• IBL Vegetation Shader: Added optional detail map with extended blend options.

Known issues

• Skip updates button on package install is unresponsive
• Going off track and returning on track with a return pass message visible will reset the counter to 5 seconds
• There are some issues around track limits violations being converted into time penalties if you finish the race before the violation is evaluated.
• Transmission sounds don’t play correctly
• Setup list doesn’t work correctly in mod dev