rFactor 2: Q1 2023 Update - New Cars, Circuit and Quality of Life Improvements


rFactor 2's Q1 2023 Update has gone live now for players around the world. The first update put out by developers Studio 397 this year is a big one, with loads of content and gameplay improvements available.

There are new cars, tracks, and a whole lot more to enjoy in this patch, let's dive in and see what's in store for one of the best sim racing games out there!

Release trailer

Studio 397 isn't messing around when it comes to rFactor 2. Another new update has gone live for all players on PC and there's so much content to go through.

The 29-second content trailer goes over the new cars, circuits and features that are available now:

New cars

The first new car coming to rFactor 2 is the Honda Civic Type R BTCC straight from the 2021 British Touring Car Championship. This is the hottest of hot hatchbacks is rapid and will give even high-sports cars a run for their money.

The Honda Civic Type R BTCC is available on the Steam Store for £4.44.

Honda Civic rFactor 2
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Credit: Studio 397

Hybrid BTCC cars from the 2022 season are also available as part of the Q1 2023 Update.

New Circuit

A new circuit is coming to rFactor 2 as well, and it's a big one!

The Long Beach Grand Prix Circuit from Los Angeles, California is now in rFactor 2. This is one of the most high-profile circuits in the USA and is home to IndyCar races and a whole lot more.

rFactor 2 Long Beach
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Credit: Studio 397

It's high-speed and narrow, with all mistakes punished by the unforgiving concrete barriers that line the outline of the circuit. The Long Beach Grand Prix Street Circuit is available now on the Steam Store for £7.99.

Gameplay improvements

To help the immersion for GT3 cars, there's now a new and updated tyre and physics model for these cars. Studio 397 has released another trailer covering the main highlights from for the quality of life of rFactor 2:

The rain will look even prettier, with new and updated wet weather graphics. The Content Management System has also been given an overhaul, so going through and organising your cars, tracks and parts will be easier than ever.

We should also give a mention to the updated cinematic cameras now in rFactor 2 as well. It's also been confirmed that you can race against content you don't own.

Full patch notes

If you want to get the full low-down on everything that's coming to rFactor 2 in this latest patch, Studio 397 have you covered. The full patch notes are listed below if there's anything in particular you're looking for:

  • Track Limits: reduced sensitivity to switching paths, such as near the pit lane entrance, and reduced strict penalty points for an invalid pit lane to main path change from Drive Through to 1 point.
  • Vehicle option for brake repair in a pitstop
  • Added “+VR” command line option to launch the game using VR. Added new steam option when starting game.
  • Added “Steam Matchmaking Broadcast” option to Multiplayer.json. This will allow the server to be hidden from matchmaking. Current matchmaking status will be shown on the Dedicated Server UI.
  • Reworked controller and keyboard controls to default to a new, improved steering sensitivity filter that simulates vehicle forces
  • Replaced inaccessible steering rate configuration with steering aggression slider to control how aggressively the new controller filter allows turn-in
  • Reworked steering configuration page to replace wheel-only settings with non-wheel relevant settings when a non-wheel device is in use
  • Reintroduced adjustable steering rates
  • Added selection for gamepad steering filters
  • Made both steering filters adjustable independently
  • Added snappiness slider to steering rates configuration – 0% is original behaviour, higher % is more snappy without having to increase steering rates
  • Made new steering sensitivity filter more direct
  • Server keys are now machine independent and can be shared between any machines

Track Limits

  • Scale certain factors of scoring down when we go less than a third of the track width off track.
  • Fixed a rare possibility of cuts not being scored.
  • Added extra data to logging & ModDev Debug mode

Cinematics

  • Added soft blend when changing selected vehicle
  • Added ability to hold current camera
  • Added ability to pause car tracking. Pressing the SHIFT key whilst this is enabled will reset tracking to the closest point the tracking is paused at.
  • Added camera group tracking for cars traveling close together, by default in race sessions only.
  • Allow the previous laps S/F line camera to remain valid when using cycle method. This allows for different cameras over the start finish line.
  • Reduced strength of shake effect on cameras with this enabled.
  • Allowed zooming in / out / reset on TV Cameras with out any extra modes being enabled. Optionally allowed this to persist after changing cameras.
  • Added acceleration and deceleration to Freelook for smoother movement.
  • Added the ability to load custom cameras from Userdata\Cameras
  • Added auto calculation of spectator camera directions to the nearest waypoint to the first activation location.

Photo Mode

  • Split out from Freelook camera adjustments (aperture, exposure, focus) options to a separate Photo Mode.
  • Photo Mode allows configuration of visual settings, in addition to the usual Freelook options. However is not available when driving.
  • UI accessible from replay screen, with full configuration options and key hints.
  • Renamed all controls to FreeMove/FreeLook/FreeLens as these are not accessible in the full Photo Mode.

Physics

  • New electric motor implementation (used for btcc cars) including
  • Electric Motor map
  • Added to onboard controls (not in gui yet)
  • Regeneration map
  • Added to onboard controls (not in gui yet)
  • Push to Pass map
  • Added to onboard controls (not in gui yet)
  • Plugin API updated to include physics output (also see plugin example):
    • Battery charge
    • torque
    • rpm
    • motor temperature
    • water temperature (if applicable)
    • motor state (inactive, propulsion, regenerate)
  • Updated p2p system with new options to accommodate btcc:
    • time limit per lap
    • minimum gear activation requirement
    • minimum time between activations
    • turn off when crossing start/finish
  • Fixed bug where SteeringInnerTable wasn’t always properly applied
  • Fixed bug with reading brake maps from hdv/engine files. It now reads definitions with less than 11 entries again.
  • Fixed visual steering lock mismatch at low speeds when using non-standard steering lock in the vehicle setup
  • Fixed temporary boost not taking into account session boost limit

Graphics

  • Improved visual progression of wet road with a more linear progression.
  • Added new IBL Water Shader which uses SSR for more accurate reflections.
  • Added motion blur.
  • Fixed various stutters with cloud movement in replays and online
  • Live TV Screens: Added option to disable, Fixed aspect ratio when running non 16:9 resolutions, Improved shader visually.
  • Forced use of high power GPU on devices with multiple GPUs (i.e. Laptops).
  • Tweaked PostFX profiles for more realistic depth of field on broadcast cameras

AI

  • Improved management of Driver fuel calculations, making sure that we only update when a fully valid lap has been completed.
  • Fixed error in default calculations which would mean with fuel scalars, AI would not add extra fuel to tank
  • Improved logic for cars leaving pits in practice and qualifying sessions. Encouraging AI to use up all laps, and making sure they attempt to set a lap time in short sessions.
  • Fix for AI being prevented from passing when pitting in on a race lap
  • Fix for AI running into the back of other vehicles

HUD

  • Cockpit Display now shows Brake Bias correctly as the bias to the front in whole percent.

UI

  • Fixed being able to set race laps to below 2 in single player session settings.
  • Fixed the singleplayer quick event page layout being broken sometimes on page load.
  • Added new “Cinematic cameras” tab in Settings → Assign controls
  • This tab holds new cinematic settings along with previously existing assignable controls
  • Renamed “Cameras & seat” tab to “Driving cameras & seat” and re-organized the assignable controls
  • Made the hitbox for checkboxes in the content screen table slightly bigger
  • Fixed the ‘Default’ FOV setting showing as ‘9’ instead of ‘Default’
  • Corrected various camera control help tips

Package Management

  • New system to allow store items to be unsubscribed / resub scribed through the UI
  • Packages can be download in the background without blocking the UI
  • Packages in the content management are grouped by workshop or store item
  • The install UI can be minimized when downloading content
  • Package states now show as orange when an operation is in progress
  • Content you don’t own can now be installed from the content management page
  • On the cars and tracks lists, greyed out cars and tracks that you do not own and added a button to access the store page for that item
  • You can spectate on any race even if you don’t own anything assuming the content is installed
  • You can only race in cars that you own on tracks that you own
  • When joining a server cars you do not own will be grayed out
  • When passenger swapping you can only ride as a passenger in vehicles you own you should only be able to select those vehicles you own
  • Added information about required content to join the server on the join error page
  • Greyed out entries with cars you do not own in the spectate popup
  • Disabled “Resume” replay button for entries with car you do not own

Modding

  • Added PBR Debug Tool for Mod Dev and Scene Viewer. This allows artists to debug the component outputs of the PBR pipeline.
  • Added IBL Water Shader which uses SSR for reflections
  • Fixed occasional glitchy car tracking in camera editor
  • Updated ModDev to load RCD files from Vehicle folders
  • AI Editor Improvements:
  • Allow the removal of multiple paths in one go
  • More consistent AIW path adjustments
  • Fixed editing of pit paths wp positions
  • Fixed updating of path positions when editing waypoint positions
  • Added fuel to various ModDev debug screens (Driver and Vehicle screens)
  • Added new cockpit elements:
    • BoostMotorTempDigit
    • BatteryLevelDigit
    • P2PActivationsThisLap
    • P2PActiveTimeThisLap
    • P2PACTIVE_LED
    • P2PAVAILABLE_LED
  • Improved ttool perfomance significantly. It’s now more than twice as fast. The checksum will differ, but results are the virtually the same.

Known issues

  • Cancel updates button is unresponsive
  • Driver labels are sometimes out of position on screen or sort incorrectly with certain transparent objects
  • Motion blur is disabled for cockpit cameras
  • Booting in offline mode can cause premium content to display as pending uninstall in the content management screen, returning to online mode restores the correct display
  • It is not possible to take a pit stop when pitlanes without a boundary do not have a clear break in the cut corridors between the pitlane and the main track.
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