rFactor 2 Honda Civic Type R BTCC & Long Beach GP Street Circuit

The Q1 2023 DLC update is now released for rFactor 2. Featuring the Honda Civic Type R BTCC and Long Beach GP Street Circuit.

A fantastic car and track have been released in the latest Q1 2023 DLC update for rFactor 2, the Honda Civic Type R BTCC and Long Beach GP Street Circuit are now available. Not only that, the sim racing title has a whole host of fixes and adjustments have also been implemented.

Purchase content here: rFactor 2 on Steam

General

•  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.

About rFACTOR 2

rFactor 2 is a realistic, easily extendable racing simulation from Studio 397. It offers the latest in vehicle and race customization, great graphics, outstanding multiplayer and the height of racing realism. rFactor 2 features mixed class road racing with ultra realistic dynamics, an immersive sound environment and stunning graphics, perfect for top-level esports and a rich single-player experience.