rFactor: New Simulation Game of Choice

[RaychelSnr]

Operation Sports' Bob Nielsen checks in with an article discussing how rFactor is quickly becoming the PC Gamers choice for realistic racing through modifications.

"For years, Papyrus has held the throne for realistic PC racing games with their NASCAR Racing series. However, Papyrus is gone, and there's a new contender on the block - rFactor, thanks to the Stock Car Revolution and the NASCAR Simulation Series mods."

[Mr.Wednesday]

Nice read. Hope to see a future article on the new ARCA sim racing game.

[kneebon5]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mr.Wednesday

Nice read. Hope to see a future article on the new ARCA sim racing game.

i tried to get OS in for a preview but there just wasnt enough time.

Rfactor is great for racing online. Lots of different things, me and a few people go out race some formula BMWs then go run some offroad trucks, maybe a little bit of the dirt latemodels, and then some soapbox derby. People who dont have it and love road racing, it is what you need.

but as for stockcar mods, well after running ASR for so long, it just doesnt work out.

[pk500]

I agree with Kneeb. rFactor is a superb road racing game with bedrock online code. But it's coded for road racing and just doesn't translate to oval racing as well.

Mods like NSS and even the Champ Cars on ovals are fun, but they're not as realistic as games coded for oval racing physics, rules and racing such as ARCA Sim Racing or NASCAR Racing 2003 Season.

But rFactor is fantastic for road racing, with its strong physics, racing model, and incredible variety of available cars and tracks. I know the offline AI in rFactor gets ripped, but some of the newer mods have very good AI, especially if you turn down the AI aggression. Not as good as GTR 2, but still very playable and realistic.

That said, rFactor online with about eight or 10 other clean, hard sim racers? That's sheer sim racing bliss, baby.

Take care,
PK

[Chaos81]

Quote: Originally Posted by pk500

That said, rFactor online with about eight or 10 other clean, hard sim racers? That's sheer sim racing bliss, baby.

8-10? Nah, try 35-40, now THAT is sim racing bliss.

Thanks OS. Happy to see a sim racer get some much deserved props. Anything that helps scrape that thick layer of marketing film from the developers eyes which, from last weeks read, appears to drive the genre.

The success of rFactor and its staying power is a testiment that the racing genre is alive and well and that there is a market out there looking for the same 'realism' expected in your Madden, FIFA and NBA2K games. An entire segment of customers with a taste for something other than the flavor of the month fluff that marketing departments seem to gravitate towards.

[ramenite]

What makes rFactor popular, is that it's the race game that just keeps on giving. It was really set up to BE a platform for mods, which puts it at another level that other sims. There are fine mods for other games yes, but you can't buy one game, and get the top racing in F1, Spring Cup, Champ Car, V8 Supercars, Porsche Supercup, etc. Hell, you can even do rally cars.

I said in an earlier post in another thread that there's some that hang onto NRS 2003. There's some valid points to it. But overall, rFactor is where it's going. For Sprint Cup, the COT changed everything, and the physics aren't there anymore. NRS 2003's COT mod is new models, but the old car physics. They have truck series physics in the game, but that's just a band aid. NRS 2003 may be tops for some still, but it's a standing target now, and NSS and SCE are coming fast.

And for some better presentation in the game, you can get the TV Style plugin, which adds well, TV Style overlays on top. They have ITV's F1 style, FOX's Sprint Cup style, and MotoGP's style. The spotter plugin also adds in a much better spotter for both circuits and ovals.

[kneebon5]

The thing that is really cool about this is me, slizzle24 and choas81 did a 31 car 1 hour race saturday with guys from about every part of the world with no lag at all. The code for the online racing is perfect. The only thing is that you cant reconnect after a disconnect, but i have yet to lose connection unless my router messes or my internet provider messes up. This is over a 2 year period racing.


If anyone wants to check out what all there is for this game go to http://www.rfactorcentral.com/

look at the cars and tracks, its just crazy how many different things there are.