Gah, where's the damn manual??
Now, the first thing you should know is that rFactor is available either as a download or from the shelves in a retail box. Does this make any difference? Well, no, not to the game itself, they’re identical… but it makes a mass of difference to you as the download package gives you the game and sod all else. Yes, I know that you can’t download a box and the CD but what about the manual? You’d have thought you could grab that as a PDF, no?No. And I can’t for the life of me find it anywhere on the rFactor website either meaning that for a complex sim, if you download it, you’ll be left floundering around with barely a clue of what to do or how to do it. Certainly, for some of the more intricate set-up options, you’ll be doing as I did and heading off to Google to find out what the hell a new part does, how it affects performance and just which bit of its tweakables you should tweak and what you should just leave well alone.
Click for larger imageThis is actually bloody annoying as you can tell that rFactor has masses to offer the race sim fan and, if you are a race sim fan, you’ll very likely feel right at home and be sitting there wondering why I’m whinging about it. But look at it this way: if a game isn’t at least mildly accessible, how’s it ever going to be a success? Yes, give me loads of depth and loads of fiddly options that’d daunt even a Ferrari F1 mechanic… but at least give me an rFactor version of a Haynes manual so I’ve got a clue where to start.
Of course, all this is negated if you get a retail version but upon checking the shelves of Game, Gamestation and a few independents, I couldn’t find a copy… and if I’m going to order from Play or Amazon, why not just download it and get it quicker? Come on, it can’t be that hard to PDF the manual, can it?
Ok, so let’s just get past the lack of instructions and look at the game itself where we’ll rely on my uber-Google powers and limited knowledge of mechanics, physics and the art of not smashing several hundred thousand pounds worth of finely tuned racing car into a concrete wall.
Click for larger imageAs I mentioned before, rFactor is from the same team that EA used to produce their F1 series of games… but since Sony bought the F1 license, the ISI guys have turned their attention to other areas of racing. And to be honest, that’s all the better for us. For a start, there’s a load more racing going on than the cheat-riddled 200mph procession that F1 has degenerated into and anyway, it’s all been crap since the end of the superb Mansell/Senna battles.
But I digress. The whole point about mentioning ISI is that these guys, as well as being brilliant coders for racing games, are obviously massive believers in the modding community and as such, rFactor has been designed from the ground up to be as accessible as possible to modders, allowing them to build their own tracks, cars and scenery and change or add in just about anything they fancy.
Why is this important? Well if you’re a fan of a particular genre of racing or track, (I can’t but help love Magny Cours), and you don’t think the track is true to life or, as with Brands Hatch you want the short course or the Rally Cross course, then no doubt some similar minded fan will make a mod for it. The same goes for the cars, so you can take a Bugatti Veyron out for a spin (probably literally) at the Adelaide F1 circuit if some like-minded modder makes the track and another makes the car.
So, there’s plenty of options here for rFactor to enjoy a long and healthy life thanks to the mod community support and, for a serious sim of any genre, that’s essential.
But enough of this, let’s get in the game and get racing!