rFactor Information, Mod Links
VRE-LNR page
rFactor-news website


GTR is DEAD.
A moment of silence please.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Long Live rFactor

Get the full version of rFactor here

	The much awaited rFactor was released today and all I can say is "WOW". From the INTENSE graphics, to the superb sounds , to the stable net-code, to the awesome physics, the game just plain rocks. The download seemed to take forever but in real time it went quickly at around 200 kbs.
Once downloaded it was a simple matter to follow the screens, install and purchase the license. The game was up and running in minutes. Once setup and running it was off to our first online meet. The host's choice of car was the open wheel trainer, and the first outing had me wondering how I was going to pick up some 4 or 5 seconds, (7 in the case of the leader), until it was observed that the faster drivers all had the first upgrade. Once I had figured out how to upgrade, my lap times joined with the leaders. A word of warning. Don' t try to race the open wheel cars at night. They do not have any headlights and the track is almost impossible to see in a few places.

VRE and LNR, (Late Night Racing), combine forces and have 2 dedicated servers for your racing pleasure and will be running the Escort mod on both.

LNR is also hosting all the tracks to make it easier for all to find, get them HERE
You will find the Pits announced in the SimBin main lobby as LNR VRE and VRE LNR

I HAD to put this up.

It is not enough that GTR requires us to type in our password EACH and EVERY time we log in, (Even my online banking saves my password), but they then give us this extra click.

I really don't know what
I would do without it.

Our VRE member Jedi was competing at the SCCA Solo2 National Tour, Peru Indiana, in STX and saw the following winged car competing in A mod class.
 

The car with driver weighed right at 1330 pounds.
1300cc snow mobile engine. 3 cylinder 2 stroke, 280hp!
"It produces down force at 50mph equivalent to the hand of God reaching down and holding the rear end to the ground!"

rFactor - Great Racing and a superb MP experience.
Get the MP demo here:
http://www.rfactor.net/downloads.shtml

I just cant get enough or rFactor. IMO the racing MP experience is the best ever.

On the other side of the coin is the problems that GTR owners are having.
If you are an online player and considering GTR you should first read the "Turn Three" and "The Back Page" in the April issue of AutoSimSport linked below.

April issue of AutoSimSport available (17.04.2005)

The News—All the Sim-News that Will Fit to Print
The Military Affairs Desk—Steve Smith Reviews GTR
Turn One—Jackson Loves His 69! GPL69 Mod Preview
Turn Two—Jon Denton’s Interview with BRD’s MD Simon Ball
Turn Three—SmokinBob Considers GTR Nonline—The Good, the Lag & the Ugly
Turn Four—Jon Denton’s Interview with RBR-Online Developers
The F1 ChampASS Column
The FrontStraight—Jon Denton Inspects Ageia’s Physics Processing Unit and Wonders What the PPU Can Do for You?
The Aus-ASS Column with Mike Crick—1998F1C Mod
The Fifth Column—Mike Tyler Takes a Look at Racism & Racin
The BackStraight—GTRank’s Uwe Schürkamp Interview
The T1 ShuntFest—SRC: Simracing Centre Takes the UK by Storm
The Paddock—Christoph Schirmer Catches up with Gábor Wéber, Sim-legend, Race-driver, F1 Commentator and Proud Dad
Track Building with Lou Magyar, Pt. 4
Comet GTR League—Race Reports, Stats, and All the News
FILSCA Driver Of the Month—Jamie Klootwyk
In The Mirror—FILSCA Race Results & Stats for March
The Back Page - Mike Tyler's letter to PC Gamer regarding their MP review of GTR
AutoSimSport-Italia—Brought to You By: www.m4driving.it

rFactor shows great promise!       (March 22 2005)

Tiring of the hassles and finding fewer players interested in playing GTR I decided to give rFactor another go. It had been awhile and my previous install had not worked, but good things were being said by my fairly wide circle of racing enthusiasts.
Get rFactor here:

A few problems were encountered getting it running again but were quickly fixed thanks to their forums at http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~hg/forum/viewforum.php?f=72.

Once up and running I quickly followed their instructions in setting up a private room, setup my player, and headed out on the track.

Knowing in advance that rFactor is using the latest ISI engine I was most anxious to start tossing the car around to see how the physics felt.

Recovering from the intense pleasure of throwing the car into a medium / low speed slide AND being able to control it with a much greater precision than in any other sim yet, I started to look around and tweak.

In my tests I found that with TC and ABS off, the cars felt more "real" than with them on, (The exact opposite to GTR's physics).

The cars feel real.
While sim physics in general have been improving, there has, IMO, always been that 30mph spin out that should not happen, or the instability in the modeled weight transfer transition.

This seems, for the most part, gone. While i did spin out a few times, it was always from pushing the envelope and not due to unexpected physics.
In fact it was with great pleasure that I did some 8 or 10 laps without losing it, despite continually raising the bar.

The addition of AI on the multiplayer track is a great option, giving one a baseline to shoot at.
I consider myself a "fair" driver. I have a lot of track time as well as a real world racing background, and dicing with the AI set to 100% and 50% aggression was a pleasure.
The fact that I won my 2nd race was a bonus.

I think I can safely say that the VRE team is anxiously awaiting its release and we put ourselves at the disposal of the developers (http://www.rfactor.net/index.shtml) if they should need any experienced beta testers.

 

SimBin pulls access to their download section.      (March 20 2005)

After VRE Rik replied to SimBin pointing out that the fix for their multiplayer problems could be found on their own servers, they closed the download section. Updates now have to be done in-game, which rules out rolling back the game so that they may race uninterrupted.

Fortunately a good number of sites are still hosting 1.2.3
 

We lost a download location for the GTR multiplayer fix. (March 19 2005)

SimBin REALLY wants to keep you hostage.
Ian Bell is calling the GTR LAN Fix Patch a "crack" and has had the download at bhmotorsports pulled.

I guess it is easier for SimBin to threaten than to fix.
See the full story here:

On the bright side, it has come to our attention that a number of leagues have chosen to forgo the 1.3 Version update in order to have uninterrupted racing.
 

GTR 1.3 Multi player problems?

In review, it has come to our attention that with the update of SimBin's GTR FIA-GT Version 1.3 that multiplayer is suffering.

Since the inception of the keycode checking protocol, which mandates that the players are connected through the SimBin  lobby, players have complained that they are suffering multiple disconnects when the SimBin server checks for duplicate key codes.

SimBin replied to their customer base saying "The lobby gets periodically fed current online racers to check for duplicates. This was the reason for the disconnections during the updates."

Translated into "People Speak" this means "Because we are so paranoid that ANYONE should use a pirated copy of OUR game, we are prepared to put our customers to great inconvenience to satisfy our anal fixation."
"We have demonstrated in the past that OUR way is the ONLY way and we see no reason to change our stand, regardless of consequences."

From a post on http://www.adonf-fr.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1017 MaD King says that the disconnects happen about every 30 minutes.

Great! So just be prepared to lose connection with your race rooms about every 30 minutes, or at the whim of SimBin.
Happy Racing.

It saddens me to see run away egos destroying what could be a superb MP experience. 

If you are unhappy with the way you are being treated you can write:
SimBin Development Team AB
Development Admin
7 Sandy Banks
39 Southbourne
Overcliff Drive
Bournemoth BH63PL
England

Tel: +44-1202-434 241
Fax: +44-1202-434 241
dev@simbin.com

 

More about the 1.3 GTR "Upgrade"

As all versions now sold are 1.3 the folks getting the latest release are getting the short end of the stick.

While it was possible to use GTR in the IP race mode without SIMBIN verification before this update, it is now impossible.

If the SIMBIN servers are down, you are out of luck, even in IP to IP races.

While this *might* be a small point, but as I write this, their servers are down and no one is racing.

And what happens when sales decrease to a point where it is not profitable to keep the server running?
Given SIMBIN's history of abruptly removing support, why should this be any different? Heck, even a deep pockets company like EA pulled the plugs on (old) race servers.

If you buy GTR, you are at the mercy of SIMBIN when it comes to how long your game will work.

From examination of the 1.3 files it has been determined that the "upgrade" includes re-arranging of some teams, and the addition of StarForce 3 in tandem with the code forcing players to register if they want to play ANY kind of multiplayer sessions.

SimBin in their arrogance has gone light years beyond what Microsoft did when they instituted mandatory registration for XP home.  Talk about inflated egos and/or paranoia.

NEWS FLASH.
Download GTR LAN Fix Patch here
or from http://www.m4driving.it/files/1,1.html
or from
http://www.bhmotorsports.com/
download/9203
or from (Sorry folks, due to Ian Bell this download was removed.)
http://www.64.40.110.56/LT/

If you do not want to be held hostage by SimBin, then there is a solution.
VRE Rik (AKA BB)

has developed a method of changing version 1.3.0.0 to 1.2.3.0 keeping the game changes but removing the need to validate using their servers.

Using this patch will allow you to race even if the SimBin server is down.

Suggested installation.
Copy your V1.3.0.0 to a new folder.

Install Patch.

You will be able to run either copy.

Using this patch will not allow you to join V1.3.0.0 rooms.

However, if the SimBin server is down, you wont be joining ANY rooms.

Boycott SBDT's GTR.
Since SBDT has seen fit to "protect" their game with the most invasive StarForce 3 system, in the 1.3 version, I am recommending that sim racers DO NOT buy GTR.

StarForce 3 users report that the software gobbles up computing cycles, slows CD drive read-times, creates CD-R read errors even after removal, and is responsible for a number of device conflicts - particularly with external USB drives. Users who have tried to remove the product manually have often damaged their systems to the point of needing a fresh OS install.

If users aren't irritated by the system issues, the unannounced installation, or the privacy implications of such a program, they usually are bothered to learn that the drivers are not removed when a user removes the host application. Users also aren't alerted to the driver installation by the end-user license agreement present in most of the games that employ the protection technology. More-->