rFactor - IRL Style

[RaychelSnr]

Bob Nielsen has submitted another article on rFactor mods, this one dealing with an IRL mod for rFactor called X-Series. Check out the full article here.

"Playing as an Indy Car driver of the same mode as Danica Patrick and her fellow open-wheelers on rFactor is something that is possible thanks to a mod called X-Series."

[catcatch22]

I have Indy Car Series 2005 by codemasters. I would like to move on to the rfactor game but I am still gunshy. I am sort of tired of "mods" and would like an official game at some point.

However this mod sounds alot better than the Indy Car mod for NR2003 in terms of speed. There was this Indy Car mod for NASCAR Heat that was great and had the speeds of the real thing on any track for that game. Thats another thing I don't like about NR2003 and rfactor. It seems you need to download special tracks to make them work better. Too much work. However this has piqued my interest.

[pk500]

Re: rFactor - IRL Style

Forget X-Series. Mike Peters released his long-awaited IRL 2007 mod last night, and I was lapping at Indy until 4 a.m. with it this morning. A few quibbles here and there, but it's very, very well done and superior to X-Series:

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=rF%20Open%20Wheel%20Racing%202007%20Season

Plus it has all of the new liveries for the Champ Car teams coming to the IRL in 2008.

Mike's IRL 2007 mod is the game that IndyCar Series 2005 by Codemasters could have been!

Take care,
PK

[pk500]

Re: rFactor - IRL Style

I have Indy Car Series 2005 by codemasters. I would like to move on to the rfactor game but I am still gunshy. I am sort of tired of "mods" and would like an official game at some point.

You're not going to get one any time soon. There's not an IRL game in development by any developer right now.

Mike Peters' new IRL 2007 mod is as good as it's going to get for the near future, and it is quite good.

Take care,
PK

[mercalnd]

Re: rFactor - IRL Style

Forget X-Series. Mike Peters released his long-awaited IRL 2007 mod last night, and I was lapping at Indy until 4 a.m. with it this morning. A few quibbles here and there, but it's very, very well done and superior to X-Series:

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=rF%20Open%20Wheel%20Racing%202007%20Season

Plus it has all of the new liveries for the Champ Car teams coming to the IRL in 2008.

Mike's IRL 2007 mod is the game that IndyCar Series 2005 by Codemasters could have been!

Take care,
PK

I'll have to give this new mod a look. I never really got into RFactor. There's a lot of interesting mods but it's a lot of work to get everything up and running. Plus I never race online and the AI in most of the mods I tried last year was questionable.

Anyways, I have a few questions:

1-How is the oval racing AI in this new IRL mod? X-Race was pretty good if I recall but most everything else I've tried with ISI's games had ridiculously slow AI on ovals.

2-How well does it adapt to road courses. Again, when I tried X-Race last year I was disappointed to find that using this mod on road courses for which it wasn't explicitly configured the cars wouldn't turn at all, regardless of what I did with my setup. Maybe I could've learned what files to tweak to configure the mod for these tracks but again it seems like a lot of work.

[pk500]

Re: rFactor - IRL Style

Fellas:

This IRL mod is SICK, absolutely SICK!

I ran it tonight on public servers and ended up in a group with seven other guys, all cool, all clean as hell. In fact, the fastest guy there gave his setup to everyone through a very cool function in rFactor where someone can place his setup into everyone else's online setup folders in game. So we all were using the same setup.

In our last race, at Orchard Lake (1.9-mile Michigan clone), I won the pole by two-tenths. We ran a 15-lapper, and I led all but one lap.

The dude who stayed with me -- he qualified second -- was within two- or three-tenths of me most of the 15 laps, jinking left and right to try and rattle me and find my soft spot. On the second-to-last lap, he pulled alongside me exiting Turn 4 but couldn't lead at the stripe.

On the final lap, he tried to go outside on the back straight, and I eased up an inch or two to give him pause. I hugged the low line in Turns 3 and 4, and he rocketed outside exiting 4, cracking the whip. We were side-by-side through the tri-oval, and I edged him for the win by 46-thousandths of a second.

It was absolutely INSANE. This mod fulfills every "What if?" dream I had with IndyCar Series 2005 on Xbox Live.

Take care,
PK

[NEWYORICAN]

Re: rFactor - IRL Style

Fellas:

This IRL mod is SICK, absolutely SICK!

I ran it tonight on public servers and ended up in a group with seven other guys, all cool, all clean as hell. In fact, the fastest guy there gave his setup to everyone through a very cool function in rFactor where someone can place his setup into everyone else's online setup folders in game. So we all were using the same setup.

In our last race, at Orchard Lake (1.9-mile Michigan clone), I won the pole by two-tenths. We ran a 15-lapper, and I led all but one lap.

The dude who stayed with me -- he qualified second -- was within two- or three-tenths of me most of the 15 laps, jinking left and right to try and rattle me and find my soft spot. On the second-to-last lap, he pulled alongside me exiting Turn 4 but couldn't lead at the stripe.

On the final lap, he tried to go outside on the back straight, and I eased up an inch or two to give him pause. I hugged the low line in Turns 3 and 4, and he rocketed outside exiting 4, cracking the whip. We were side-by-side through the tri-oval, and I edged him for the win by 46-thousandths of a second.

It was absolutely INSANE. This mod fulfills every "What if?" dream I had with IndyCar Series 2005 on Xbox Live.

Take care,
PK

Thanks PK for the heads-up! going to download it now. Oh, by the way, which rFactor F1 mod do you recommend?...I see there is a new one called MMG, but I think it is the server version, not the public, correct? I'm still playing GP4...love that game!!

I always trust your judgment on "real" racing, your the expert. Also, what do you think of the F1 season so far, I know it is only two races, I just want to pick your brains a little..lol!

thanks PK

peace
Ernesto

[pk500]

Re: rFactor - IRL Style

Thanks PK for the heads-up! going to download it now. Oh, by the way, which rFactor F1 mod do you recommend?...I see there is a new one called MMG, but I think it is the server version, not the public, correct? I'm still playing GP4...love that game!!

I always trust your judgment on "real" racing, your the expert. Also, what do you think of the F1 season so far, I know it is only two races, I just want to pick your brains a little..lol!

thanks PK

peace
Ernesto

Ernesto:

Good to hear from you, man. You're too kind and too generous with the compliments -- inaccurate, too!

I still think the best current F1 mod for rFactor is the 2007 BMW Sauber F1 car created by ISI, the makers of rFactor:

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=2007%20Sauber%20BMW%20F1

Yes, it's only one team. But the physics are sublime. The car just feels right. Predictable and responsive, but very tough to keep the car right on the limit all the time. Just so much fun to drive, especially with Leo's FFB plug-in:

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=Leo%27s%20FFB%20plugin

The other current F1 mods have all the teams from respective seasons, but they all have limitations, too. Dodgy driving models, crummy AI, big FPS requirements, mediocre graphics or all of the above.

The only problem with the 2007 BMW Sauber F1 car is that no one races it online. The MMG F1 2007 Server Edition dominates online F1 action in rFactor right now. But the creators of that mod are such an arrogant lot, slashing into people who criticized their horrible, beta-like first release a few weeks ago, that I'm reluctant to use their crap. Your mileage may vary.

While I think the pickings of quality current F1 offerings are slim past the 2007 BMW Sauber, there are three superb historic F1 mods for rFactor:

Grand Prix 1979

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=Grand%20Prix%201979

This might be the best overall mod in rFactor in terms of driving model, AI, physics, graphics, sound and immersion. It's just top-notch in every way. Highly recommended.

F1 1988

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=F1%201988%20carrera%2E4

A very good mod, especially considering it's a beta! The sounds are a bit off, and there seems to be a tad too much grip. But driving the turbo cars from this era of McLaren domination and Senna's heyday -- one of my favorite periods of F1 -- is a blast. A very fun mod.

1955 F1

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=1955%20F1

This mod will test your driving skills like few others. These cars had a ton of power on skinny tires, with no aero grip, so you'll slide all over the place without a deft touch with the throttle, brake and gas. This mod is about as close as you'll get to the venerable Grand Prix Legends with rFactor. Your respect for the brave, skilled men who actually raced these cars in the 50s increases tenfold after driving this mod.

As for the real F1 season, it's way too early to tell. But Ferrari or McLaren will win every race this season unless there's a wild-card race with a ton of rain. I still like Raikkonen to repeat, especially since he faces less of a threat from Massa than Hamilton does from Kovalainen.

I was hoping that Australia was the sign of a new dawn for my favorite team, Williams, with visions maybe even of third in the Constructors' standings this season. But the lousy weekend in Malaysia dumped the cold water of reality on that dream.

Let's race rFactor together sometime, man! PM me.

Take care,
PK

[NEWYORICAN]

Re: rFactor - IRL Style

Ernesto:

Good to hear from you, man. You're too kind and too generous with the compliments -- inaccurate, too!

I still think the best current F1 mod for rFactor is the 2007 BMW Sauber F1 car created by ISI, the makers of rFactor:

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=2007%20Sauber%20BMW%20F1

Yes, it's only one team. But the physics are sublime. The car just feels right. Predictable and responsive, but very tough to keep the car right on the limit all the time. Just so much fun to drive, especially with Leo's FFB plug-in:

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=Leo%27s%20FFB%20plugin

The other current F1 mods have all the teams from respective seasons, but they all have limitations, too. Dodgy driving models, crummy AI, big FPS requirements, mediocre graphics or all of the above.

The only problem with the 2007 BMW Sauber F1 car is that no one races it online. The MMG F1 2007 Server Edition dominates online F1 action in rFactor right now. But the creators of that mod are such an arrogant lot, slashing into people who criticized their horrible, beta-like first release a few weeks ago, that I'm reluctant to use their crap. Your mileage may vary.

While I think the pickings of quality current F1 offerings are slim past the 2007 BMW Sauber, there are three superb historic F1 mods for rFactor:

Grand Prix 1979

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=Grand%20Prix%201979

This might be the best overall mod in rFactor in terms of driving model, AI, physics, graphics, sound and immersion. It's just top-notch in every way. Highly recommended.

F1 1988

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=F1%201988%20carrera%2E4

A very good mod, especially considering it's a beta! The sounds are a bit off, and there seems to be a tad too much grip. But driving the turbo cars from this era of McLaren domination and Senna's heyday -- one of my favorite periods of F1 -- is a blast. A very fun mod.

1955 F1

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=1955%20F1

This mod will test your driving skills like few others. These cars had a ton of power on skinny tires, with no aero grip, so you'll slide all over the place without a deft touch with the throttle, brake and gas. This mod is about as close as you'll get to the venerable Grand Prix Legends with rFactor. Your respect for the brave, skilled men who actually raced these cars in the 50s increases tenfold after driving this mod.

As for the real F1 season, it's way too early to tell. But Ferrari or McLaren will win every race this season unless there's a wild-card race with a ton of rain. I still like Raikkonen to repeat, especially since he faces less of a threat from Massa than Hamilton does from Kovalainen.

I was hoping that Australia was the sign of a new dawn for my favorite team, Williams, with visions maybe even of third in the Constructors' standings this season. But the lousy weekend in Malaysia dumped the cold water of reality on that dream.

Let's race rFactor together sometime, man! PM me.

Take care,
PK

Hi PK, lol!!, I'm serious, you know your racing man!!..really. You are a great source for racing information. Real racing and video game racing. You should be writing in Racing magazines man...or maybe you already do? and your not telling us!..lol! You know about all forms of racing! not just F1....which is all I know and only a little bit!

Thanks for the links PK, I will sure check them out. I just recently installed rFactor that's why I'm inquiring about the mods and saw your post about the IRL mod and had to check them out.

The 1988 F1 mod I'm for sure checking out. That's when I first started watching F1 and fell in love with it. I still remember it like it was yesterday. It was the first race of the season in Brazil. ESPN had the rights to F1 coverage in the USA. The anouncers if I remember were Chris Economaki, David Hobbs and John Bisignano in the pits; Those were the days when they actually were at the races on location, unlike now where it is now covered in a studio. I think Senna started from the pits if I remember correctly..something happend to his original car and used the spare...Didn't he come back from last to finish in 3rd or 4th?...man, he was good!!

The 1955 mod sounds good too!!..wow, so many mods.

I will PM you when I get them installed...I want to race on-line myself...I'm thinking about getting one of those Cockpit seats..Playseat?...so I'll be ready!!..lol!!

Thanks again PK for the info...much appriciate it

I'll keep in touch!

peace
Ernesto

[jct32]

Re: rFactor - IRL Style

I'm up for some open wheel racing, what mod are we using?

[pk500]

Re: rFactor - IRL Style

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=rF%20Open%20Wheel%20Racing%202007%20Season

Take care,
PK

[jct32]

Re: rFactor - IRL Style

I go by SoonerMagic on RFactor, hope to see you guys sometime