Today i'm taking a look at just how good rFactor really is. I'm going to be testing rFactor to see just how well it has stood the test of time!
If you don't mind reading the whole review, but do want a clear answer, I suggest you to scroll to the bottom of this page.
Thanks to: www.rfactor.net
rFactor is a multiplayer racing simulator, in which both offline and online is possible.
Starting of with the offline mode:
Offline racing is a good way to train your driving, and rFactor offers you a great offline driving experience. You are able to drive yourself upwards in a championship or normal racing events.
For every good move you do in offline races (for example good lap times and good finishing positions), you earn points. With these points you can buy upgrades to your car. Also at a certain point a new vehicle class will be able to drive, how fast you can drive these cars depends on how good you score in races and championships.
Not all car classes and car mods have unlock abilities, for example with the most mods you are directly able to drive any car of any car class with all the car upgrades.
For today we take the following mods for a offline drive:
F1 2009 F1RL 1.41 and Megane Trophy 2.02.
Our first run is with the Red Bull Racing RB5 around Spa Francorchamps.
We are doing this test drive with a Logitech MOMO Racing Wheel.
It's practise no. 1 and we are leaving the pits. Once we're out of the pits with the limiter released, I get a great feeling of speed. The car's handling is great and the force feedback feels very close to reality.
As I take it flat out trough Eau Rouge the back end gets a little loose, which is realistic since it happens in real life to. Whilst coming full speed at the first corner where I have to brake I press the brake pedal softly. The braking in this simulator also seems to be really realistic.
After driving some laps around the Belgian venue, I had an accident at Eau Rouge and slammed my car frontally into the tyre barriers. The damage seemed to be pretty realistic, the wings, tyres and suspension broke off.
The car was also a little bit crushed en bended. So all by all this was pretty good, but though I do miss other parts breaking off, since it was a heavy accident.
Then the qualification starts. I had put the AI's difficulty to 100%, so it will be a tough job. I managed to qualify 5th at the starting grid.
The race is starting, I press the button "Join" to get lined up at the grid. We're seeing an overview of the starting field and then the warm-up lap is starting. After seeing that the AI drive in one pretty boring line we are lining up. At the green I have a pretty good start and manage to take 3rd position in the first corner, where all the AI have braked early and in one single line. When driving up to Eau Rouge I'm next to the second position Brawn GP of Rubens Barrichello. We're going side by side in the Eau Rouge I almost lost control but managed to keep straight. After my moment of loose I got back behind Barrichello. In the upcoming corner I easily out brake him, and go trough to 2nd position. A few corners later I'm pretty close behind 1st place man Jarno Trulli. In an action I try to out brake him, but fail and run to wide. Some corners later we're at Blanchimont, and I'm right behind him again. At the Busstop I manage to take the inside and pass him. First lap is finished and 4 positions won. 2 laps later I cross the finish line and win the race.
After the race I had mixed feelings. At one side, the handling of the car was really realistic. But on the other side, the way the AI react and drive isn't any close to realism. But after all I did have some great battles, and left the race with a good feeling though.
One hour later I'm doing my second run with the Renault Megane around Silverstone.
Once again we are driving with the Logitech MOMO Racing Wheel.
Whilst leaving the pits I'm having a view at the cockpit.
It looks really great and multiple gauges are working.
After releasing the limiter we're off.
Coming trough Becketts and Maggotts the car's handling feels pretty good. After driving some laps at the venue, I decide to go for a qualification.
I manage to qualify at 6th postion.
I decided to take a rolling start. This function works really good inside rFactor and is also very cool. At the first corner I'm still at 6th postion. At Becketts I manage to get side to side with the 5th position car. Finally at Chapel I manage to pass the 5th position car. Racing at Hanger Straight up to Stowe I get into the slipstream of the 4th position car. The slipstream effect is average, I would rate it a 6,5 at the scale of 10. Once arriving to Stowe I manage to take 4th position. Once being in the 2nd lap I overtake the 1st postion car at Club. And continue to lead the field to the finish.
After this race I still have the mixed feeling.
There's good feeling and slipstream effect, but the AI are still driving in 1 straight line.
I decided to go for an online experience.
I joined an American server with the Megane Trophy 2.02.
At the time I had joined the qualification was underway. I set-up my car and drove some laps. There was an incredible amount of players, I had 17 rivals on track. I qualified 12th on the grid.
The race went underway and I had a bad start. I dropped back to 14th position. But in the first corner mayhem occurred and 4 cars had a big accident. Luckily for those drivers the damage was disabled on this server. I managed to avoid the mayhem and go forward to 10th position. I closed into the 9th position driver and had a great fight. Sometimes there was a bit lag but not so bad that it disturbed the fight. The one time I passed him and the next corner he was already passed me again.
Then a blue flagged driver didn't pay attention and knocked my rival off. Because of that I managed to take 9th position. I would be 9th for the rest of the race until it finished.
After this race I had a great feeling about rFactor. I had a superb race with a superb fight.
So after these experiences I had to make up my conclusions.
AI's, are they any realistic?:
The AI in rFactor can be really good drivers. But the bad thing is they drive in 1 straight line and don't do much fighting. Also they can drive into your back without braking.
AI Rating: 6,7
Multiplayer, is there a good experience of online multiplayer inside rFactor?
The online experience in rFactor is superb, apart from some noobish drivers you will find yourself really enjoying this part of the game. I can only say thumbs up for the multiplayer part.
Multiplayer Rating: 9,1
Pick up racing, is it easy to join a random server?
One bad part the online multiplayer of rFactor is that there is not many pick up racing possible. Almost every server online has a mod, however there are quiet a few servers dedicated to one specific mod. Some also have custom tracks, but you'll need to download them in order to drive.
Pick up Racing Rating: 6,0
Handling:
I quiet enjoyed the handling in rFactor, sometimes it was a little to stiff or a little to much oversteer. But overall it was pretty close to reality.
Handling Rating: 8,7
Damage, is it realistic?
The damage physics in rFactor are on one side close to reality and on the other a bit less. It is pretty good and the breaking off body parts, blowing engines and such are pretty realistic. But when losing body parts on some mods there's a tiny bit lag before the part comes lose. Also when you crash your car at full speed, it might not broken, and still drivable, which isn't to realistic.
Damage Physics Rating: 7,5
Final Conclusion:
rFactor is a very good racing simulator, where there's plenty enough add-on content available such as car mods, tracks and so on. However this causes the game to have minimum pick up racing.
The feeling you get in online racing is incredible.
The handling and damage physics are pretty close to reality in this simulator.
Offline is a bit disappointing, but very good for training!
AI is still a thing to be improved.
My thumbs up to Image Space Inc.!
Overall Rating: 7,6
