rFactor 2 January 2023 Release Candidate Available

If you want to try out the latest improvements and changes from Studio 397 for their racing sim, try downloading the rFactor 2 January 2023 Release Candidate available via Steam.

You’ll need to go into the game in your Steam Library, click on Properties, and look under the Betas tab to find it. But it’ll give you access to the newest updates ahead of the main public release, and potentially report any unexpected issues you may discover.

rFactor 2 January 2023 Release Candidate Change Notes:

• Client: 10369103
• Dedi: 10369112

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.

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

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 to be added

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.
• 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).

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

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

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

Known issues

• Workshop / store item headers are named incorrectly
• Installing items from the content page requires a second request to install via the “updates” page
• Cancel updates button is unresponsive
• Motion blur does not work without SSR set to medium or higher
• If your game is stuck on checking for updates, please delete try deleting userdata/player/localstorage folder

Keep up with all the latest rFactor 2 updates and news, here. Or check out the full rFactor 2 car list, and the rFactor 2 track list. Along with downloading the demo version for free via Steam, or buying rFactor 2 for the PC.