I want to run rFactor, but what do I need?

[Keith Carter]

Ok, here's a beginner's guide to get rFactor working.

1) You need a PC (or Mac if you run Bootcamp and Windows XP) with these requirements

2) You need rFactor (downloaded or hard copy)

3) You SHOULD have a sim wheel (see link in #1). Some great wheels are: (Logitech Driving Force Pro, Logitech Driving Force GT, Logitech G25, Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo Wheel

4) You need whatever mod and track you want to run. For instance, here's what we're running in the league:

• The mod we will be dependent on the league. Most are available on here or internal to rFactor already.
• Most (if not all) of the tracks we will be using can be downloaded from here.

5) In order to race online with us, you need the server information:

• rFactor Server Name: ApexSpeed
• Address: keithcarter.redirectme.net
• Password: rfactor

6) In order to race in the league with us, all league information is here.

7) To "unlock" all the cars in a specific mod simply go into a session (testing, race weekend etc) and type ISIBABYFACTORY in the chat bar and hit enter. Then exit the session and you will have a ton of cash AND all the cars available to drive now.

If you have any techincal questions, RACE SIM CENTRAL is the best place I've found to get information.


If you get hung up anywhere, post it here and we'll help out as much as we can!

[Matthew Inge]

So I go into rFactor under the Try/Buy section and there are several links to choose from. Which one? I want to try it out and make sure my Computer has the right requirements. ALso, how much does the game cost to download it, or is it easier to buy at a gamestore?

[Keith Carter]

It shoud be around $30 whether you download it or get a hard copy. A GREAT price for the quality of sim you get. They're all just mirrors so that you can download from more than one place. Here is a direct link to the demo/install.

The demo is the actual full install, it's just locked until you enter your code once you buy it. You can pay for a license and they will send you a code to register it with that will unlock everything.

If you don't like the idea of downloading the license, you can order a hard copy of the game from GoGamer.com. It's the only place in the US to order from.

[Tifosi]

Matthew,
rFactor is free to download and try. You cannot access all of the cars and tracks or race on-line with the demo. Download the v1255 Full Install from any one of the links.

[Matthew Inge]

Cool
Thanks guys! I hope to buy a wheel soon and start racing. Will let you know how it goes


ALso, Im looking at the Logitech Drving Force Pro as Keith suggested. I see it doesnt have a clutch petal. Is it still fun and does the sequential still provide a realistic atmosphere? ALso, it says for PS3 and PS2, im assuming it can work on PC?

[Keith Carter]

I typically use the paddle shifters for all sims, but the sequential on the DFP does the job. I owned an early version that had weak plastic pots on the pedals so I recently upgraded to a G25 system. If I were to buy an inexpensive wheel today I would get the Driving Force GT most likely and then the Driving Force Pro if I couldn't find a GT. To give you an idea on the models I listed, here's a basic summary:

Logitech Driving Force Pro:
Older than the others listed
tried and true good wheel
good force feedback
plastic pedals (no clutch)
no clutch
inexpensive (around $100)
Rubber steering wheel
Sequential or paddle shifter (plastic buttons)
Lots of buttons on wheel
Can be used on Playstation 2 or 3 as well as PC

Logitech G25:
Arguably the best readily available wheel on the market for under $300
Beefy pedals which has clutch (metal pots and pedals)
Expensive (around $270)
Sequential, H pattern, or paddle (metal levers)
Leather steering wheel
minimal buttons on wheel, but lots of buttons on remote shifter
Smoother/better feedback than Driving Force Pro
Can be used on Playstation 2 or 3 also

Logitech Driving Force GT:
Newest Logitech Wheel
Good blend of features between the G25 and DFP
Force Feedback similar to G25
Buttons on wheel including a brake bias dial (not usable for PC though AFAIK)
Sequential or paddle shifter similar to DFP
Plastic Pedals similar to DFP
Can be used with PS2 and PS3
Approx $125

Fanatec Porsche 911:
Most expensive out of group and hardest to get at retail stores
Wireless
Force Feedback similar to G25

[dc]

I used to own a Logitech Wingman Formula Force GP, and I have played with a few others in the past, and I wound up buying a Logitech G25. I don't regret it at all. I absolutely love it. If you are at least half serious about SIM racing or at least using SIMs to learn new tracks, this wheel is a GREAT purchase.

Now if I could only find some space for THIS.

[dc]

Oh, and for you guys who use Macs and have felt like you are out on an island with SIM racing and games, I am playing on a MacBook Pro using BootCamp. It's running flawless, though I am using an aluminum fan tray for extra cooling (boy, XP is SUCH a clean OS ).

More info here.


Running rFactor on a wireless Mac laptop... whoddathunkit?

[Matthew Inge]

Okay got it up and running. Played breifly with the keyboard and it seemed pretty cool. I cant wait to get a wheel though and have a wider variety of cars and tracks. Thans for all th help! Now I need to get some practice so I can play everyone in the Mod.

[Matthew Inge]

Now all I need is to figure out where to type in the server info. and how to join the league? I went to the trackpedia site and just found out information, but couldnt find how to actually be apart of it.
I downloaded the SRF mod already and used it.

[Keith Carter]

To join the server to race online is easy.... The only thing you'll need to do is select "Join" for online racing and then you should see a list of available servers to race on. By default it should look to the Internet for servers and you should have a whole list to choose from. Look for the ApexSpeed server and join it. If it isn't listed, just click the blue [+] button and enter the server information:

rFactor Server Name: ApexSpeed
Address: keithcarter.redirectme.net
Password: rfactor

[jjstecher]

Hey Matthew...glad your going to be joining the crew of folks whipping up on Keith's ass. I'll get ya marked down on the list of folks racing. Here is the main link for the forum page where folks are signing up.

http://www.trackpedia.com/forums/sho...?t=4623&page=6

I'll be posting week by week results and intros to the race on that site just to keep comments and trash talking in one place.

Glad your racing with us man...its a blast.

[rmccown]

OK, I definitely need a wheel. My old wingman joystick is busted, its like I'm always hard on the brake. I could barely get out of the garage, and when I did, I couldn't pull more than about 3500 in second gear, and nothing in third. UGH! Tried with the keyboard, and Im dangerous with it.

[jjstecher]

You did turn the pit lane speed limiter off right? Its the 'L' key on my machine but you can map it to whatever you want on your config. I know because my first time running I forgot the car had it until someone told me. :P

[rmccown]

Yep, I did that the first time I ran, too! But no. I ended up un-mapping the break from the joystick to the spacebar, and that got me running, but, dang, its hard to drive like that!

[rmccown]

OK, a couple hours in Photoshop, and I've got my skin all set.

[dc]

D'oh!

Guess I won't do my Gulf paint job...

[rmccown]

Whoops! Sorry! Of course, you could always do the rounded-nose style, and I bet you wont have this on the rear.

If you want my PSD as a starting point, let me know.

[Matthew Inge]

Not sure if I have a huge problem or not. I got the wheel today, logitech driving force gt, and hooked it right up. WHen i start to play on a track, the other cars are walking me. I couldnt get out of fourth gear because the car wasnt pulling. WHen it displays the pedals and wheel and I hit the gas, the red bar doesnt fill the space, only going 80%. IS there a way to calibrate or am I doing something wrong?

[Keith Carter]

Yes, it sort of autocalibrates when you first plug it in. The autocal is set for the first time you push the pedals down so if you only push them down half way, that's your range. To recalibrate, get out of rFactor completely, unplug the USB plug on the wheel wait to hear the "disconnect beep" and then plug it back in and the wheel will spin and recal. Once that is done, go into the control panel on your PC and open the Game Controllers option. It should have some sort of Logitech wheel listed there. You can open up the properties option and make sure you go through the full range of the pedals when you press them for the first few times. Then it should be ok for when you go back into rFactor. Once in rFactor you can check your controller settings to make sure you have full pedal travel.

[jebfour]

I just picked a copy of rFactor today. Seems to be a lot to learn. I don't have a wheel (yet) but I don't even see instructions on how I can play around with the game using the keyboard...at least they didn't come with the disk.

Looks like it could be a lot of fun, but I'm going to need to take some time to figure things out.

I hope to be racing with you guys soon... Are you guys still racing in a league?

[dc]

Footballs are being thrown around the country in training camps, the smell of the RunOffs is in the air... the 2009 Winter Trackpedia/ApexSpeed racing league can't be that far away.

[Keith Carter]

No league going on right now, but we'll most likely have one this Winter. To get an idea of how you'll mix in with the pack you can check the lap times from last season HERE. We had a blast last season and everyone had someone to race with. We'll most likely be racing a faster formula car than the SRF. We tried to appease the people who wanted a fendered car, but they dropped out early on in the season so we're done trying to make them happy.

[rmccown]

I'm ready to battle for last place in the standings again! Who's taking me on this year?

[Jerry Santucci 33]

any idea of which formula car you will be using for this season's apex leauge?
i "finally" got a puter and service that will handle rfactor, but i realy need to practice. been a while since i did a racing sim.
just got rfactor this week and will no doubt have a lot of ???'s
thanks in advance...

[dc]

I think Keith and John were talking about the Barber formula cars the last time I asked them. I think we all learned from last year's SRF league that slower, spec cars were not only easier to drive, setup and have fun with, but the number of cars regularly on the grid at the start of the race made it REALLY fun for anyone who participated—regardless of the skill level or time invested.


As long as we give Skeen a 100 lb weight assessment, I'm fine with whatever gets picked.

[Keith Carter]

Not 100% yet on the mod. We may do the Formula Ford NetKar conversion, the Skippy Formula car, or the F3 most likely. We tried to appease the fendered guys last time with the SRF mod but most of those guys dropped out early on in the league anyway so we're going to run what we want. The SRF's were fun, but not what I really would've wanted to run (being a formula car). I would say train with the Skippy car for now on popular North American tracks and you'll at least not be clueless when it comes league time. We'll probably start talking about the coming league soon and most likely start something in the next couple months.

[Tifosi]

Does that netkar ford have a fit option?

[dc]

The FF conversion is cool and very much fun, but there are some view issues that need to be ironed out if you don't like to drive in cockpit.

And it's an illegal hack, so you didn't hear about it here.

[Jerry Santucci 33]

i will get the f3 and bounce between it and the skippy.
please let us know as soon as you know keith..
now - i just got to find the time to practice

[George Main]

In Rfactor, Is there some type of instruction manual or help files, on using the software such as:

1)Acquiring cars and tracks?

2) I read that a FTP client (such as Filezilla) is needed to view the cars and tracks, is that all that needed to acquire cars and such to race others?

3)What cars/tracks are you guys using (other posts say SRF and Russell cars) any reccomendations would be appreciated.

4)The graphics seem less than Irace, is there a way to change it to a higher pixel rate for a better picture?


Thanks in advance,

G

[spdcomp]

I'm having the hardest time getting up to speed with rFactor online racing with or without Apexspeed.
I try to race online only to get booted right out.
I finally figured how to get the Apexspeed IP address right.
I cannot race because I guess I don't have the right car? Skin? Track?
I have downloaded the SRF but have no idea how to get into the game???
Do I also have to find and download a skin???
What about track? Do I need to find tracks and download them??
Once they are downloaded how do I get them into the game??
I must say I've been frustrated before and I'm positive all the info is right in front of me however I have found so much forum info and get really frustrated reading page after page of technical (programming info?) I think I'm stuck racing the commercial games that lead one by the nose to get to where they can race others online.
What a dumb sh$t I am, but the time I've spent trying to learn how to use this program is taking me out of the arena.
Please give a shot to help me before I slash my wrists. LOL!
How embarrassing!
Bob

[Keith Carter]

Try here:

http://www.simracingworld.com/conten...de-to-rfactor/


and here:

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/help/install_tracks.cfm

Yes, you would need the track (same version too) and mod we're using on the server or else you would most likely get booted. Try it out and let us know.

[dc]

Also, the SRF was from 2009 and this year, the ApexSpeed Winter League is using the rF3 car that is built into the game. Go slow and do one thing at a time. EVERYTHING is instructed here on the ApexSpeed SIM forum. If I can do it with ZERO PC background (I am a Mac guy and race through BootCamp using Windows on a partition), anyone can do it.

[spdcomp]

Thanks guys. Just completed a track and car download and they both actually showed up after installing one and the other I had to move the folder into the proper place.
Guess it's just gunna take a bit of time to learn the idiosyncrasies of the program.
I'll be back with more questions and thanks for helping me out.
Bob

[Raido]

Just for completeness' sake, I'd like to mention that you don't necessarily *need* to reboot and start Boot Camp just to run rFactor (or GTR2) on a Mac.


I'm running it thru an emulator called CrossOver Games and this allows you to run rF directly on Mac OS X, just like any other program.
It's a bit tricky to setup and probably not quite as fast as running it directly 'on the metal' like Boot Camp... but it does work quite well, and it does mean total avoidance of Windows - including all its issues.

Would run on Mac laptops as well (2008/2009-era and beyond - I'm using a simple 2 GHz Dual Core Mac mini from 2009 myself). To run full fields though, it's best to have a fairly fast Mac.

Regards, R