After extensively playing Rf2 the last few days, I want to write this massive post, covering every single aspect of Rf2.
Physics
There has been a lot of debate about the handling of the cars, especially at the rear. I was highly critical of this at first. For those of you who are using Fanatec Porsche wheels – I’d advise you to throw them away and get a Logitech wheel...
I should justify the above statement – I had a g25, and bought a Fanatec gt3 rs v2 wheel in anticipation of Rf2, my excitement for the game was bursting out of every orifice (sometimes literally). However the Fanatec wheel does not rotate as freely as a G25, and simply does not allow you to react quickly enough to the flood of FFB information coming from RF2. At first, I thought this was the games fault, and not my wheel – then I did back to back tests with my G25. With the g25 I could literally dance with the megane, and could drive the FRenault with no problems at all. With the Fanatec, I felt myself getting into tail slappers and drifting all over the place, because you couldn’t make precise small movements with the Fanatec. (And yes, I had Fanatec set up as free as possible, 05 on drift mode).The clubsport pedals however – are brilliant – a very useful addition, and allow you to be MUCH more precise on braking. I advise anyone to upgrade the pedals.
So – I just wanted to get that out the way.
Simracing games have always been harder than real life. This is because you don’t get as much information going to your body as you do in real life. To prove this, as objectively as possible, I’ve posted 2 videos of me driving. Track conditions were oily and wet – it had stopped raining for about 3 hours by the time we got on track – and this was on a very cold November morning. It was damp and slippy everywhere. Both cars were on slicks, and these are a link to the cars:
http://www.palmersport.com/palmerjaguarjp-LM.aspx
http://www.palmersport.com/formulajaguar.aspx
You will notice how sideways I can get the cars, whilst still maintaining speed.
JPLM video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=his6nXTkBYA
At 0:06 – I am sideways at fairly low speed, yet can feel enough to keep my foot flat to the floor, bouncing off the rev limiter, and using the steering to counter steer. You cannot do this in any sim game.
AT 1:50 – I get the car very sideways again, approaching 80mph (about 130 kph). Bear in mind this is on slicks, on a damp track with wet patches everywhere. Yet I could still maintain the speed
At 2:04 – this shows what low speed grip is really like, and how progressive it is. I’m fighting the car through the hairpin, go wide on the exit onto an even less grippy surface, yet can still apply full throttle and control with steering. It is impossible to do this in Rf2, and very difficult in netkar pro.
AT 3:19 – again controlling at high speed, notice the amount of fine adjustments I’m making to try and maintain the speed through the corner. It was so slippery that these adjustments were needed if you weren’t scared and were going for lap time.
Formula Jag video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--yX8vrlLmI
At 0:19 – so this is the single seater, in the morning when track conditions were at their worst. At this point in the video, you can see me get this thing completely sideways – look how much counter steer I’m putting into the wheel, whilst still being able to maintain speed. This is a great example of truly how progressive the rear-end is on real race cars, and on any car for that matter.
So what’s the point of me showing you all this?
- It proves that there are some aspects of Rf2 that are superb. The feeling from the FFB allows me to, at high speed, control the rear with small precise movements.
- RF2 is still way more difficult than real life – because in real life you have feeling coming through your bum, your body, the g-forces and the balance in your ears.
- The low speed grip in RF2 is fundamentally flawed. In this aspect it is still similar to Rf1. AS the videos show, the lower the speed the more grip you should have! In real life, the slower you are going, the harder it is to turn the steering wheel, and the weightier it feels. You can feel a ‘block of grip’. There is nothing like this in Rf2.
- It is not just rf2, but in all Sims, you cannot dream of being able to go full throttle, so you’re bouncing off the rev limiter, spinning the rear tyres, coming out a low speed corner and counter steer, without spinning out. In real life, you can do this easily, as the videos show. In fact it’s not hard to find this being demonstrated in F1, over and over – especially at Monza coming out the chicanes.
In conclusion – I think the physics at high speed are excellent. I can balance the cars with a combination of all the 3 things (brake, throttle, steering) like I can in real life. The low speed grip however is still way off the mark.
FFB
Oversteer: Rf2 conveys this very well. It feels ‘meaty’ in oversteer, and, especially with the megane, you can get some drifts going. Points where in RF1, you would not make the corner as you’d slip out – with RF2, you can rely on your instincts, drive off the feel, and literally go round the apex sideways and still straighten it up. Sometimes when I’m completely sideways, the FFB has allowed me to make massive oversteer corrections, sometimes having to remove 1 hand in order to turn the wheel enough the other way, but sub-consciously. The weight transfer FFB is conveyed much stronger, and much more precisely than in any other game – I’d say it’s on par with netkar pro, but a better feel of ‘texture’ in the tyres.
Understeer: This is an area where all simgames suck. This becomes most apparent driving the 60’s grand prix cars at Spa. Because there is Zero feel of front tyre grip, you have to ‘learn the game’. Learn the entry speeds for every corner. If you’re outside the threshold, you understeer off. Inside it, and you’ve taken the corner too slow. In real life you can specifically feel understeer in your hands. It comes across as a kind of pulsing slow vibration, a feeling that the front tyres are starting to ‘scrub’, ‘wash out’ against the surface of the tarmac. In Rf2 (and in all simgames) there is no information of any kind conveyed for front-end grip.
I noticed in RF2, in the FRenault cars, if you turn in more than the front wheels allow – the steering goes slightly lighter. This is very similar to the FFB in the Sabin games, in that respect. This is at least a step to conveying the hint of some understeer, though it’s very subtle and ultimately unnoticeable when driving with slight aggressiveness. I wish that they would program into the FFB maybe some sort of vibration to convey front-tyre-slip. This would be the single biggest improvement in the game, and make it absolutely amazing to drive, as you could finally, on feel alone, turn into the corner, knowing how much grip there is available, without having to learn anything.
Braking: The feeling you get braking is excellent in rfactor. You’ll notice in the videos I posted, under hard braking into the 1st corner, I am making adjustments to the wheel constantly right up to the apex, as I can feel the load transfer shift from front to back as the speed drops. I find myself making similar corrections in RF2.
SO that’s the 2 most important aspects of any simracing game out the way. How about the rest?
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Originally Posted by CdnRacer
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