RaceRoom’s FIGHTBACK plan with studio lead Jean-François Chardon - Podcast INTERVIEW

He didn't promise anything but he talked about that, no?

Technically it's not a concern but an almost 100% guaranteed outcome. The question is, how soon it happens, and I think it's still pretty far away.

 

He did for like 2mins you are right
To explain they failed with current engine

And the only solution could be a different engine which would possibly then get us to a new game

Corroborating my last concern

Anyway we should not, including myself, overthink whats going on and just enjoy this great Game

 

A new game doesn't mean Raceroom servers will be turned off immediately.

 

Lets hope you are right

 

I notice that the average number of players now during the free access period, combined with summer sale is around 1k players. Before this it was around 750. In the three previous free access periods (excluding the March 2020 Covid one) the numbers were 1.5k during free access vs 1k for a normal period, so basically the figures now in the free period and sale are the same as what they used to be under normal conditions and the same as pre-pandemic figures.

It´s better than AMS2, Dakar Rally and Nascar Ignition but even the deleted PC2 is still getting 500 players and it is light years away from the Assetto games or Beam NG.

 

We're back to pre-pandemic numbers, and the beginning of the free trial gave a temporary boost. That's on top of the usual summer drop in player activity, and the stagnation in development and communications in the last couple of years. Surprisingly steady behavior, I see nothing to worry about.

 

optimism is really important for RRE future.

now looking at the numbers, so taking 2019 as reference and what they are today during this free access period.

it is telling me that RRE is actually not attracting more players, coming from other Sims or new to Simracing. Simracing being a niche is showing off here and if I also want to maintain my own optimism for the Game, this analysis is not very promising to be honest.
My 2p

 

Honestly, I believe it's in KW's best interest to keep investing in Raceroom instead of creating a new title. Even if it means writing Raceroom from scratch. How so? Licenses. Making a new title will mean all the content they currently have licensed will probably have to be licensed again. And the amount of unique content is Raceroom's biggest competitive strength.

Of course I don't know the exact details of license contracts and that's pure speculation on my part, but given how content stays in store for years I believe it's some sort of indefinite title-bound license.

AC and BeamNG are not predominantly simracing titles. BeamNG is a car sandbox with realistic physics, and so is AC at this point. They have much broader focus and thus wider appeal.

ACC has a significant playerbase advantage, but let's not forget that it's in big part due to third-party tool fixing its biggest blind spot, which is online matchmaking. If it was possible to mod out all the Raceroom flaws, it would be more popular as well.

 

They all started from zero, though. Some have flourished, some have perished and some continue to limp along. I don´t think that hitting 1k users during free access after ten years on the market is much to high-five about and one of the reasons is exactly what you mentioned - the hermetic design of RRE.

Until the day mods and customisable liveries can be used, it´s always going to be a niche game, despite all the content it has.
With a bigger multiplayer base, one can even forgive the older graphics engine - during a really good race I don´t think many people are too bothered about the quality of shading or track objects.

 

But it's not losing them either. Which it should have, given the circumstances (no advancement in features + summer).

 

Anyway, RR could be more alive now if the decision to revise the simulation had been taken earlier (as demanded by part of the community).

 

Perhaps the decision was taken but the implementation wasn´t.

I am personally looking forward to a backend rehaul whereby the menus and loading are much slicker, rather than the current one, which is like running an iPhone in low battery mode.

 

J-F also talked about how they only just recently got more independent in what to do with the game. It sounds like they simply couldn't make the decision earlier because it wasn't in their control.

 

I think you know what I meant. It's pointless to decide and then do nothing. The question is also who can make the decision.
But I agree, besides the track there is also a lot to do.

 

I agree and I didn't say S3S/KW-Studios missed the decision. Please see answer above.

 

My point was that AC and BeamNG - car sandboxes - is not the success this game is supposed to pursue, and so it's not a good reference point. AC may be a more popular game in general, but when it comes to competitive racing - be it online or offline - it seems to be barely used for that purpose, mostly limited to leagues.

ACC on the other hand is just as hermetic in its design as Raceroom is. The difference is that there's a tight, modern package of features behind that hermetic design, and that's what pushed people behind LFM to put the work into alleviating the game's blind spot in the first place.

Raceroom can be just as successful with its hermetic design, but the features locked behind it also need to be up to snuff. And J-F seems to be aware of that, pointing on the engine, back-end and visual side as the priority.

 

I think it's great that J-F "came back from the shadows" and spoke frankly and openly about the sim. It seemed quite honest as he acknowledged the game's shortcomings and drew a sensible way forward.
I must admit, I was quite salty when for quite some time we only had paid content drops and very little game/dev updates.
This podcast gave me some hope for RR's future