RaceRoom Racing Experience News

Hello everyone,

In these difficult times of quarantine and lockdowns, it's very important that we take care of each other. As a racing game providing entertainment, we thought temporarily opening the gates and letting you all enjoy the RaceRoom content without worrying about the next paycheck was the best we could do. Starting now and for a minimum of five days, all the content in RaceRoom is freely accessible.

In addition to that, we are throwing a #RaceFromHome event this saturday, with all kinds of motorsport and simracing personalities. It will be streamed on Youtube and you can already set a reminder here -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEmjSXMPLdk
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for regular updates on the confirmed participants!

Later today, around 20.00 CET, RaceRoom devs from Sector3 Studios, including yours truly, will be hanging out on the RaceRoom Discord to chat and race on the ranked servers. See you all tonight!


Please take care of your loved ones as well as vulnerable people around you. You may very well have elderly neighbours scared of going outside from what they see on the news. Please take precautions to not spread the disease to them when reaching out.

While you are not using it, your computer can also help make a difference: please make sure to check out Folding@Home ( https://foldingathome.org/ ). It is a distributed computing project simulating protein dynamics, which helps scientists figure out new ways of curing diseases. They have recently dedicated resources to covid-19.

See you on track, and most importantly, stay safe, everyone!

J-F Chardon

[h2]A race night exclusive to the top-ranked players in RaceRoom ![/h2]

Since the December update, we have had ranked servers up in the multiplayer lobby for drivers to race each other and climb the rating leaderboard. To recognize those who have hit the servers and improved their driving, and therefore rating, we will be putting on an invitational event for our elite to battle it out!

On 17th March 2020 at 09h GMT, we will take a snapshot of the current rankings table and invite the top 30 drivers to the Ranked MP Invitational on 24th March 2020 at 19h GMT!

Drivers have between now & 17th March to hit the ranked servers (marked with an R in the multiplayer lobby) to improve their ranking and make it into the top 30 to be eligible for an invite to the showdown event.

[h2]How can you participate?[/h2]
- In the Multiplayer lobby, use the filter to show "Only Ranked" servers
- Race on those servers and improve your rating, you will find the ratings list at http://game.raceroom.com/multiplayer-rating/
- If you make it into the top 30 before the 17th March, make sure you have a valid email address associated to your account as this is how you will receive the invitation

The race will be streamed on YouTube and you can already set a reminder:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Schedule
- Now - 17/03/20 | Drivers eligible to improve their ranking
- 17/03/20 @ 09h GMT | Top 30 drivers will be contacted and invited to the showdown event. (Make sure a valid e-mail address is added to your account!)
- 24/03/20 @ 19h GMT | Ranked MP Invitational

The evening will consist of 3 races:
- Race 1 | WTCR @ Hungaroring
- Race 2 | GTR4 @ Laguna Seca
- Race 3 | GTR3 @ Silverstone

Each race will consist of:
- Practice | 10 mins
- Qualification | 10 mins
- Race | 20 mins

Server setup
- Flags | Visual only
- Cut rules | Slowdown
- Damage | Full
- Mandatory pitstop | Off
- Wrecker prevention | Off
- Fixed setup | Off
- Tyres | x1
- Fuel | x1
- Time of day | Afternoon
- Daylight progression | x0
- Max incident points | 30
- Server Driver Assist Settings:
Driver Assist Transmission | Free Choice
Driver Assist Steer | Forced Off
Driver Assist Traction Control | Forced Factory Default
Driver Assist Autopit | Free Choice
Driver Assist ESP | Forced Off
Driver Assist Brake | Forced Factory ABS
Driver Assist Raceline | Forced Off

Car Choice

Drivers are free to use any car in the stated class for each race.

Reserves

If, for any reason, any of the top 30 ranked drivers cannot attend the showdown event the next driver(s) on the ranking table will be invited to fill the vacated slot.

Broadcast

The Ranked MP Showdown event will be streamed LIVE with commentary on our YouTube channel -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1tfXRTOOQo

Incident Submission

Any driver who feels they have been the victim of unfair driving or would like the stewards to look at a particular incident must submit the incident HERE by 07h GMT on 26/03/20.

Prize

The prize pool for the ranked MP Invitational will be 3500 VRP! The split being:
1st place overall | 2000 VRP
2nd place overall | 1000 VRP
3rd place overall | 500 VRP
Rules

All drivers must adhere to the rules as set out in the RaceRoom General Competition Rulebook.
Time penalties will be handed out in case of incidents.

The Zhejiang International Circuit is now available in RaceRoom. Scheduled to be used at RaceRoom events taking place throughout Asia (and China in particular), this Chinese racetrack is now available in the RaceRoom store.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Update details:[/h3]
Download size = 312 MB
Client version = 0.9.0.923
Client BuildID = 4695656
Dedicated server version = 58.0.1083
Dedicated server BuildID = 4695721

New Content: Zhejiang International Circuit

[h2]Changelist:[/h2]

• Reputation - Incident points cooldown has been increased from 3 seconds to 4 seconds to limit escalation after being pushed out of the track.
  
• Reputation - Player now receives one incident point for invalidating a lap.
  
• Reputation - Just after a 4 seconds cooldown, we are now ignoring further incidents for track object collisions, going off-track and losing control until the car has rejoined the track.
  
• Option - The headrests of the cockpit seat were reportedly annoying for VR users as the camera was clipping through, so we added an option to toggle the rendering of the driver seat.
  
• Controllers - Added a profile for the Xbox gamepad when connected through bluetooth
  
• Controllers - Thrustmaster and Logitech wheels - Tweaked force exponent, max output and front wheel grip exponents to increase FFB feel in subtle effects
  
• Fixed controller profiles for Bodnar cable and Fanatec CSW 2.5 to prevent some detection issues.
  
• Fixed controller profile for the Thrustmaster T500 that was missing lines for Flatspot effects
  
• Fixed Car Setup menu that wasn't hiding the differential settings for cars that do not allow changing them.
  
• Fixed Car Setup menu not saving the differential setting for frontwheel driven cars
  
• Fixed puffs of smoke and brake marks left by players with high latency
  
• Fixed blinking of high latency opponent cars in multiplayer. It will now only cease to render the car if the opponent's latency is consistently above 1 second.
  
• Fixed AI control in pitlane that could sometimes accelerate the car above the pitlane speed limit.
  
• Fixed free flight camera that wouldn't work under certain conditions in the race monitor.
  
  

[h2]Content updates:[/h2]

• Smoothed revlimiter and pit speed limiters logics for a selection of cars that were problematic.
  
• Red Bull liveries that were urgently replaced last update now have an updated image in menu and website.
  
• Audi TT cup - AI tuning
  
• Audi TT VLN - Added more gear ratio options
  
• BMW M3 GT2 - Fixed the rear camber that was asymmetrical in default setup
  
• BMW M6 GT3 - Fixed two esport liveries that had swapped renders in menu.
  
• Canhard R52 - Fixed Launch Control that was wrongly available for this car
  
• GT4 cars - AI tuning
  
• KTM GT4 - Tweaks to damage, tweaked its clutch for better standing starts
  
• Porsche 934 RSR - Added more gear ratio options
  
• WTCC Chevrolet Cruze - Fixed a wrong tyre file
  
• WTCC 15/16/17 - Updated suspension to improve toe control
  
• Imola - Modified cut corridors a bit to try and get rid of a wrong cut detection on the start/finish area.
  
  

Today's update is mostly about maintenance and fixing issues reported since the December 2019 update. You will find all the changes below.


[h3]Update details:[/h3]
Download size = 1.9 GB
Client version = 0.9.0.921
Client BuildID = 4639903
Dedicated server version = 57.0.1077
Dedicated server BuildID = 4640022


[h2]Changelist:[/h2]

• Dedicated server now offers the possibility to set an incident point limit. Any player going above that defined amount will get instantly disqualified.
  
• Dedicated server manager page now shows the points accumulated by each player in real time, rather than the amount of incident events involving that player.
  
• Reputation - Improved detection of Non Starter participants on long tracks such as the Nordschleife.
  
• Reputation - Car to car collisions are now worth 4 points. Losing Control of the vehicle is now worth 2 points.
  
• Flat Spots - Reduced further tyre wear on flat spots, which makes them vanish quicker with tyre wear.
  
• Flat Spots - Fixed some bad framerate when locking a tyre on a flat spot while in gravel or grass.
  
• Suspension damage - Fixed some cases where a car with suspension damage could sometimes be seen shot into the air.
  
• Car Setup - Fixed Setup rules are now properly affecting the car setup menu.
  
• Car Setup - Changed so 4WD cars differential changes affect the rear differential instead of the front.
  
• Fixed shift sounds playing twice in replays.
  
• Fixed an issue where HUD elements would show in replays if the client was started with -broadcastUrl=http://**
  
• Fixed some sorting / timing issues in client's position bar
  
• Fixed a case where entering the pitlane could sometimes result in the lap being invalidated
  
• Fixed rolling start qualifying where the car, under AI control, would try and dodge other players around the spawn location, even though they're invisible.
  
• Fixed wrong values fed to Spectator overlays for live gaps between cars.
  
• Fixed smoke not rendering from Aerial TV cameras.
  
• Fixed an old Helpdesk URL that the client was attempting to load after throwing an error. It's now changed to point to the Sector3 Studios forums.
  

[h2]Content updates:[/h2]

• Bosh DDU4 - (data display seen in cars such as the Tatuus F4) - Fixed the Oil and Water temperatures that were swapped.
  
• Aquila - Physics updates
  
• Audi RS TT VLN - Physics updates
  
• All Manual Gearbox cars - Reduced dogbox RPM to encourage more lifting when changing gears.
  
• BMW M1 - Updated cockpit art
  
• DTM (all years) - Reduced default FFB multipliers
  
• Formula RaceRoom 90 - Tweaks to AI behaviour
  
• Group 4 and Procar classes - Increased tyre heating and reduced default tyre pressures accordingly
  
• GTR3 Car Class - Tweaks to AI behaviour
  
• GTR3 Class BOP - Improved BOP of the older generation of GT3's. Porsche 911 GT3 R (2019) +20 Kg ; Mercedes AMG GT3 +15 Kg
  
• GTR4 Class BOP - Adjustments
  
• Hyundai I30 TCR - Reduced rear ride height and its adjustment range
  
• Lotus Evora GT4 - Tweaks to pit limiter timings as well as engine orientation
  
• Nissan GTR R32 - New sounds, updates to cockpit art.
  
• Porsche Cayman (all types) - Adjustments to car physics
  
• Porsche 911 GT3 Cup - The current model has now been modified to Endurance specs. The car now has Traction Control as well as more car setup adjustments allowed. The Cup specs will now be only available in upcoming Porsche Carrera Cup classes.
  
• RUF CTR3 + RT12R GT2 and GT3 - Fixed a bad collision box
  
• Silhouette Class - Physics updates
  
• WTCC 2015/2016 - Fixed Chevrolet Cruze not having adjustable Tyre Pressure
  
• Mount Panorama (Bathurst) - Tweaks to pitlane ambient sounds
  
• Ningbo - Flipped the starting grid so the pole position starts on the right side, on the trajectory.
  
• Nuerburgring GP Fast Chicane - Fixed rolling starts that could sometimes be bad for AI.
  
• Portimao (all layouts) - Moved the spawn location used in Time Attack and rolling start qualifying.
  
• Silverstone - Fixed AI running wide in turn 1 after a rolling start on GP and International layouts.
  
• Zhuhai - Improved performance
  
• Zolder - AI control in pitlane should no longer result in hitting a guardrail
  

[h3]Announcement:[/h3]

In this update, we had to heavily modify the looks of some fantasy liveries that had Red Bull sponsoring since their original release. The Red Bull brand guidelines now enforce the brand to only be used as replica's of existing cars and liveries, never on fantasy cars. As some of the liveries were sold, we will be looking into refunding the 29 vRP's to your in-game wallets in the coming days.

The liveries affected are:
- Formula Raceroom 2 #1
- Formula Raceroom 2 #2
- Formula Raceroom 3 #2
- Formula RaceRoom Junior #18
- Pagani Zonda R #73
- Porsche 911 GT3 Cup #11
- RaceRoom Canhard R51 #15

Since our december update, you may have stumbled upon Multiplayer sessions called "[RR] #** RANKED" in the lobby and wondered what that was about.

It has been stated in the past that we're working on bringing a fully fledged online career element to RaceRoom through scheduled and ranked multiplayer series. We are working towards that goal and a first step was to bring an early taste through ranked racing that's clearly advertised as such, but also exposing the rating to everyone.

The rating, your reputation and your full racing history will eventually be displayed in the new menus (work in progress) but until that's done, we have a page you can bookmark.


Ranking list (updated every 15 minutes) http://game.raceroom.com/multiplayer-rating/


How to participate?
- Race in any of the [RR] RANKED servers available in the lobby and see your rating and reputation scores evolve.

What do you need?
- Bring your best behavior: all your actions on these sessions are monitored and linked to your game profile's Reputation score.
- Intentional wrecking will result in a ban from ranked servers or a full game ban for the worst offenders.
- Many tracks are on rotation for each server.
- Upon joining a ranked session, you will see a Message box confirming this is a ranked session. You can dismiss that message by pressing the Brakes or just leaving the pitlane.

How does it work?
The rating and reputation scores are only calculated from events occuring on servers called "[RR] #* RANKED". You will find them in the list of multiplayer servers inside RaceRoom.

Rating
Our formula is based on an ELO rating system with many refinements to accurately rate racing events. Each player starts at 1,500 and can then go up or down depending on results. We take into consideration several variables to compute the rating of each driver who took part in a race. The more races you do, the more accurate the rating will become.

Reputation
The reputation score reflects the behavior of each player on track. The more incidents you get during races, the lower your reputation. The reputation starts at 50 and will slowly rise (or drop) as more races are recorded until reaching a stable and accurate value.

Let us know what you think!

--> Join our Discord : https://discord.gg/raceroom
--> Write your feedback on the forums : https://forum.sector3studios.com/index.php?threads/feedback-on-beta-ranked-servers.14152/