A little more than a week ago, first screenshots of rFactor 2 created quite a stir in the sim racing community. Even though the shots were warmly welcomed, most main questions about the successor to rFactor still remain unanswered.
Gjon Camaj is slowly shedding some light on several things by releasing interesting updates on Twitter. If you´re not following the rFactor 2 tweets, here are some facts you may have missed: rFactor mods will theoreticly be compatible to rFactor 2 as ISI encourages modders to convert their created content. Even though no details on the required procedure have been given, Camaj points out that converting the mods won’t be a drag & drop process.
Another interesting update mentions a new rights management system. Does anybody have any clue what this might be about? It could be that ISI is preparing the new title for paid content. Even though there have not been any pay mod and just a handful of pay tracks for rFactor, this may be because of the current lack of a copy-protection system for such content. Also mentioned is multi-head support for more than three screens as well as work on the new UI.
This is badly needed as rFactor probably has the worst UI of all simulation titles currently available. The final update confirms another much requested feature as fine-tuning work on driver animations are mentioned. No more fake arms, glued to the steering wheel 
F1Racer
March 14th, 2009 at 01:13
Hmm the rights management thing is interesting. Wonder if it allows mod authors to protect their work when they put it into rF2.
Racing_Slippers
March 14th, 2009 at 01:59
The Twitter updates reminds me of when my sister once laid a trail of crumbs for our Collie dog, and, as if by magic or robotics, every crumb was eaten, in turn, developing into a kind of compulsive rhythm, gobble shuffle swallow (loudly), as she rapidly worked her way around the house and out into the garden, a picture of concentration as she followed her plotted course to the final prize of a small bowl of milk… we laughed helplessly, but in a kind of very loving and slightly guilty way.
Can hardly wait for rF2 and I HAVE subscribed to the twittering
xilix
March 14th, 2009 at 02:11
I’m diggin’ the whole rights management thing. Modders need this so badly. Though, just like anything else, I doubt it’ll be secure enough to deter thieves. If someone wants your content, they’re going to get it, which doesn’t really bother me, but what DOES bother me is when people try to pass off your stuff as their own. In a perfect world there would be a way to put a stop to this, but unfortunately that’s just not the case.
The way I put a stop to it, is I simply stopped making my content public.
Sad but true, there is an obscene amount of mods on my drive that only me and a few others have. And it’s all because of you jerks who treat modders as if they owe you something, and as if they don’t have a right to their own content.
superapex
March 14th, 2009 at 02:15
The digital rights system sounds like another case of “too much”. I can envision that the rights system would allow a user to purchase access rights to a particular mod or track. Perhaps a mod developed by and sponsored by a major racing series would pay for a license to sell their content. This would essentially mean that any other mod of that particular series that didn’t receive an official license would be shut out. In my opinion, the concept of digital rights sounds like it could be an inhibitor to modders not an asset. I hope ISI is not shooting themselves in the foot with this one.
superapex
March 14th, 2009 at 02:23
One thing that I have not seen mentioned about rFactor2 is the mod deployment feature that was blogged about at one point. It was determined that the biggest issue with online racing in rFactor was mod or track mismatches. Apparently one of the devs proposed allowing the host server to point the connecting client to a second server whose sole function was to serve the files necessary to connect to the hosting server. This would allow a client to connect to a server running a mod and track they didn’t have, when the server recognized there was a mismatch, it would send them to an entirely different server for the files in order to eliminate any host server lag. This sounded like a brilliant solution at the time but I’m now wondering if that was someone’s pipe dream. I lot of recent FPS servers allow you to download content from them when you connect if you don’t have that particular mod(COD,CSS) This solution sounded better as it wouldn’t impact the clients already connected to the server.
flips
March 14th, 2009 at 02:27
I like the built in support for 3 head display. Hopefully that means it will be bug free.
GeraArg
March 14th, 2009 at 05:43
rFactor 2 really need a anticheat like PB.
S.Moss
March 14th, 2009 at 09:38
You say rFactor has the worst UI. It may not look the best, but its the easiest to customize which is what rfactors about
its also the easiest to navigate too.
snowy
March 14th, 2009 at 11:13
I was just about to say exactly the same thing. Of all the UI’s I know of in sim racing rFactor easily has the most comfortable, least confusing interface. Almost without exception the others are too flash, too consol like, too labyrinthine. For instance if you want to make a change in GTR Evo you are required to spend at least the next half an hour clunking through menus to get to a greyed out button.
Ryan Gilmore
March 14th, 2009 at 13:26
@GeraArg – the worst thing they could ever do is bringing in punkbuster. Its one of the worst anti-cheat. But an inbuilt anti-cheat system would be cool :)
stabiz
March 14th, 2009 at 13:47
I agree, the UI in rFactor looks like something I could make, but it works like a charm. The UI in GTR2 is clunky, but particularly the UI in Evo is the least user friendly ever.
Uff
March 14th, 2009 at 15:04
+1 for rF UI for me too.
Maybe I just got used to it, but I still prefer it over GTR 2 and GTR Evo versions.
Well, if they say that it will be better… than I trust ISI: let’s wait and see!
ermax18
March 14th, 2009 at 15:51
The part about load time that is in the Twitter page now sounds cool. Just look at how fast Live for Speed loads. I can run it and then be on the track driving in 10secs. Then when I am done just hit Alt-F4 and instantly the game is closed. I just timed it on my laptop. Who knows how fast it would be on my real gaming machine.
divxx
March 15th, 2009 at 01:06
I’m glad I’m not the only person to be a bit perplexed by the UI comment. rF is simple and straight-forward (as much as it can be since there are so many customization options). By comparison Evo and its relatives have options that you have to select again and again on page after page before racing.
ermax18
March 15th, 2009 at 13:51
I am sorry but the UI sucks. Once you figure it out it is ok but it could still be WAY better. There are so many things in the GUI that aren’t intuitive at all. I bet there are elements of the GUI that some people here don’t even know about.
A few things that come to mind are:
Send a setup to a specific driver rather then broadcast it to everyone.
Bookmark a server so you don’t have to hunt it down on the list every time.
Turn spectator mod on and off.
Sure you can find these things but you would be amazed at the number of people that don’t even know these things are possible because the GUI sucks.
domd
March 15th, 2009 at 14:55
The UI does indeed suck, it looks awful in hi-res as well and takes ages to load. I would go for a minimalist approach with options on rollovers, but keep it light. Using the Simbin games as benchmarks isnt great as their UI’s are also pretty bad.
Mr. A
March 15th, 2009 at 15:14
What I would like is a UI similar to the UI in Netkar pro (less game-ish). But something like that might scare off more casual gamers I guess.
AeroMechanical
March 15th, 2009 at 19:13
Apparently NKP is going to be changing to a web interface along the lines of iRacing in a future version.
I wouldn’t mind seeing something like that in rF2. It could provide for interesting options in terms of integrating community functions like clicking on a mod link at rFC and have it automatically install, etc. It would also be easier to learn for new users because most everyone has experience with a web-browser, and would still provide the less game-ish interface a lot of people want, using elements from the Windows GUI for speed/familiarty and making it so that you don’t have to actually load the sim proper to configure things or browse servers.
Anyways, I think that is the way the wind is blowing for program interfaces in general.
Montoya
March 15th, 2009 at 19:27
I agree, iRacing’s interface is really great. It looks very sleek and it works well.
I would love to have something like that for rFactor 2, the track selection screen in iRacing with all the info and stuff is really neat – Imagine having something like that for your rFactor track database.
domd
March 15th, 2009 at 21:28
I guess it would be boring if we all liked hte same thing, but i think iracing interface is awful. Its badly laid out and all server-side which makes it very slow to navigate, half the options are within the sim and half are outside. NkPro interface is also dire. LFS is probably one of the easier to use but ugly as sin. Unreal tournament 1999 probably had the most functional and simple to use menus i have ever seen.
tezuka_18
March 15th, 2009 at 22:07
superapex, I agree.
The way Valve handles mis-matches with its FPS games should be looked at by ISI.
Peter
March 16th, 2009 at 21:51
All I really want from the user interface is something clean and simple.
GeraArg
March 17th, 2009 at 05:24
From twitter
“Gone are the icey-smooth racing surfaces of the past. New tracks feature physically modeled bumps, dips and micro-deformations.”
Sounds GREAT!!!!
ermax18
March 17th, 2009 at 19:18
GeraArg, good news. Maybe they went with something similar to iRacing where the 3D model is silky smooth for performance reasons but the surface that the suspension rides on has more detail. But I thought rFactor already did this with the TDF file. I am not a track builder though so I could be wrong. Not all rFactor tracks are silky smooth though.
GeraArg
March 17th, 2009 at 22:47
“I’ll try and get a real time reflection shot.”
GeraArg
March 19th, 2009 at 00:41
“Bumps modelled either from scanned data, Max script or hand created. Depends on the ref data and desired output.”
“Not sure proper bike physics will be available for the initial release.”
The Lonely
March 19th, 2009 at 11:10
Modelled bumps aren’t new, they’ve been included in most of my tracks, however bad car suspensions often make them feel worse than they are.
If all tracks have bumps modelled then lots of the cars available for rf1 when they start getting converted will need quite an overhaul I expect.
secretagent
March 21st, 2009 at 07:48
What I take away from the UI comment (which should be re-named UX actually), is that it will be clean, yet much more functional. Instead of scrolling through tons of mods, there may be a better solution on the horizon.
el_chupacabra
March 23rd, 2009 at 16:29
New screenshot here :
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2683/19/50/754293424/n754293424_1495995_2069100.jpg
el_chupacabra
March 23rd, 2009 at 16:31
New screenshot at rF2 facebook group !