One of the first previews of rFactor 2 way back in the 2010 – here’s a trip down ISRTV memory lane – was screenshots and video of Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. Deny it all you want (like I am) but 2010 was a long time ago – especially in software – and now the ISI Track Team is hard at work bringing Malaysia to today’s standards.
The primary update coming to the track is an improved tonemapper. Tonemapper makes sure everything on the screen appears to be in the same environment. In this case – and sims in general – the cars and track look like they belong together. When the car is in a sunny part of the track, the car is shiny and reflective. When it enters a shaded area, the car dulls properly to show that its in the shade.
I think its a critical factor (see what I did there…?) when it comes to the immersion of the title and some sims do it better than others.
I’ve added an image from rFactor 2’s Malaysia from 2010 below to compare with the new screenshots. Can you see the difference?
Yeah, nicely done. I know it’s hard for them to improve the look of this sim considering it’s running on an older version of DirectX but it’s nice to know they’re looking for ways to improve the overall look as much as possible. This game is never going to rival PCars (aesthetically, anyway) or AC, but I’m glad to see they haven’t given up on continuing to look for ways to improve it, none the less. Two thumbs up.
And, personally, I really don’t mind the way this sim looks. It shocks me that people that consider themselves sim racers take a pass on this title solely because of the looks. Their loss, as far as I’m concerned.
I just bought the lifetime pass for this game yesterday. I have mixed feelings on it. With my triples, it does look pretty good. Sound is great and if you have a Buttkicker it does feel great, after you turn up the cockpit vibration. Some still “arcade looking” gauges and such that I am trying to get around using with the Sensadigit gauge pack for my tablet but so far I can’t get that to work, it says it is communicating and my other two apps from same guy work brilliantly. Back to the game. The selection app for choosing cars and tracks is still a bit primitive. It will however recognize both of my button boxes, most don’t. It does offer some cars and tracks I don’t have in any other games. Still have a lot to try. Downloading the tracks and cars was a bit “clunky” they were all listed, but I could not figure out how to add all at once, so did it one at a time. So, now I am hoping they keep improving it. I was disappointed on how the name and nickname are set up. I want to change the name to my nickname and I am a bit lost on how to change that. Any ideas?