The first Formula Renault 3.5 Championship started by SIMRACE247 has been cancelled in the wake of an embarrassing Round 1 at Estoril on Friday.
Server issues plagued Round Zero a week earlier, while round two was not an issue it became clear that the mod chosen is inappropriate for beginners let alone veterans of rFactor 2, not only the crashes but atrocious driving standards defy all we stand for in sim racing.
Furthermore, Studio-297’s rFactor 2 is now very tired a sim made by masochists for masochists as our driver Vladislav Zenkov describes it. As the most user-unfriendly online racing platform its survival is inexplicable amid far friendlier and equally immersive racing titles of which iRacing is the forerunner simply because of its highly active 140,000+ community.
rFactor 2 have long ago dropped the ball and the result is that it takes a team of people to admin a race from rules through to race direction which takes up far too much human resources whn on iRacing a few clicks launches you a race event or even a championship for a couple of dollars.
Furthermore, the sale of the platform to Motorsport Games may well end the era of free modding, render it obsolete as they did with the original rFactor as they pursue their future.
SIMRACE247 director Paul Velasco said: “It is with regret that we inform that the series we hosted with Advanced Simulation Modding Group (ASMG) proved to be unacceptable, far too error-strewn and time-consuming on rFactor 2 which is increasingly irrelevant and inappropriate for hassle-free cost-effective sim race organising.”
“We will continue to support the rFactor 2 modding projects of the ASMG team through our media network but will not be involved in any further race organising on the platform that disappoints every time one fires it up.
“Our drivers and team will focus on our iRacing projects which include the Sebring 12 Hours team effort, as well as a concerted four-driver presence in the 2021 Classic Indycar Series. All rFactor 2 driver activities are suspended for the team.
“In closing, thank you to Nick Stepanandko, Vladislav, Zenkoz, Elliot Simpson and all those that put in great time and effort in the first two rounds. However, going through all the remaining rounds will be an even greater waste of time we can ill afford in the constantly changing and evolving sim racing landscape.”
“We cannot promote a product we no longer believe in as it would be a disservice to our readers, pulling out is the right thing to do before the hole gets bigger and more embarrassing.
“We move forward with what we do best and learn to fight another day.”
That’s a very unfortunate turn of events. Working with rF2 for a while I definitely feel the frustration that comes with trying to get the software to work as intended. But it should be noted that Studio 397 is making headway towards the corrections that they have laid out. We’ve seen many of the fixes that were requested begin to show up and their new RC system is working as intended, finding issues and bugs prior to being rolled into current update.
Starting a new series on a new platform will definitely have a teething process regardless of the platform itself. I’m sorry to see that this initial attempt was seen as a bust due to the technical challenges and poor driver etiquette. Hopefully it will be a learning experience which will evolve into another attempt. rFactor2 is much like Fanatec: when it’s not working, it can be a struggle but when it’s working, it is VERY good. And you correct that it takes a dedicated team to run a league on the sim. I can say I’ve had the privledge of working with several dedicated teams that have done incredible work to put events and seasons together. And that effort is shared and recognized by the drivers. The teams know what it takes to make it work and give the effort the respect it deserves which makes for some of the most consistently phenomenal sim racing I’ve ever experienced.
My hope is that you’ll consider another attempt, maybe with a different, more accessible mod to “prime the pump”. Even if it’s later after some additional quality of life changes are made to rF2. But please don’t give up. Simrace24/7 representation on the platform would be incredible.