Studio 397 Confirm rFactor 2 Code Not Licensed To Rennsport, Rennsport List Other Things They’ve Licensed (Updated)

Update (original post available fully below):

In an attempt to answer the observation (not accusation) that Rennsport contains parameters and files that are a part of the rFactor 2 codebase, Competition Company have just issued a statement that suggests the content to be “licensed appropriately” (without mentioning rFactor 2 by name) and then, for some reason, lists most of the other technologies they are using with just one notable exception. Can you guess which?

Unreal: Core, Graphics
FMOD: Audio
Physics: ?
Sentry: Crash detection

The final paragraph, on physics, doesn’t talk about physics development but instead about tweaking handling. These are different. This entire statement seems like an attempt to deflect, with no actual denial (which, should be easy), and I’m not sure it has successfully moved the issue forwards for the company.

After reading the text below do we still call the physics and tire model scratch built?

Full statement text:

Addressing the online rumours about RENNSPORT
We want to take a minute to address the current rumours and accusations that have been circulating in our community recently.

Hey everyone,

I want to address some of the rumours and accusations that have been circulating in our community recently. We are proud to say that all content and libraries used for the production of RENNSPORT are created by us, commissioned, or licensed appropriately.

RENNSPORT as an ecosystem is designed to be modular, where best-in-class solutions are available we would be remiss to avoid them. This is why we use Unreal Engine and some of our in-game content is licensed on commission, such as laser scans for our tracks and several other parts of our ecosystem. It is our desire to work with external partners for the lifetime of the project, so this has always been a core value for us.

Our current technical direction is to first improve what we can with state-of-the-art technology and if we find fundamental limitations, we rewrite it. One example of this methodology is already apparent in our network replication implementation. There are also cases where we have intentionally chosen compatibility and thus will have some code that resembles other software. For example, our simulator supports exporting MoTeC Telemetry. At some point, there is only one way to implement a particular format and you will inevitably have similar code to serialise data that every other implementation also contains. There are, no doubt, countless other examples of software that is used in developing software such as this. In our case, we also use licensed software such as FMOD for audio, and Sentry for crash collection. Unreal Engine itself is a licensed technology, and so on.

Creating a really good product requires using really good technologies, not all good technology is technology that you create.

In the end, we want RENNSPORT to feel like RENNSPORT, and we are tweaking, changing, and refining the systems all the time. When we do physics implementations in the game, we work closely with the different car manufacturers and their car-specific data to ensure that every car in RENNSPORT feels unique and represents its real-life counterpart. That combined with our own interpretations of what digital racing is, and the direct input from esports drivers and real-life drivers will let us push further and further forward, and evolve the racing genre.

Morris Hebecker

CEO & co-founder

Original post:

As I previously reported, parameters and code that is only commercially available in the rFactor 2 product and any official derivatives has been found within the Rennsport product. Today, Studio 397 released a statement that confirms that no rFactor 2 code should be in any other product than their own.

An important note, perhaps, is that the statement (below) does say that they are aware rFactor (1) code is being used as the foundation for other projects. However, as I stated before, what I have seen is not commercially available rFactor (1) content. As this story develops, we await to hear from Competition Company on whether they believe they have a license to use this technology.

Continues below…

Continues…

As I said in my previous news post, regardless of whether there is licensed or stolen code that somehow found its way to the Rennsport product, I find it worrying that it was felt to be acceptable to claim Rennsport to be built from scratch in multiple interviews, articles and across their own outlets while talking in disparaging ways about aging software engines that it turns out they are also using.

^ Rennsport FAQ entry.