Rennsport Announces Figure-8 Track, Beta Update Adds Multiplayer

Rennsport confuses me, but did get a major update about a week ago that added multiplayer to their closed beta release. I’m confused, however, because this can’t be the only update to the beta since it went live, surely? Understandably it’s a major update, but just contextually confusing if either all the patch notes aren’t public or if this is how major features will be detailed. Or, is this literally the only build since the beta began? Anyway, check out the patch notes below…

Also posted was an “under the hood” blog post that actually does a really good job of detailing how multiplayer will work. I highly recommend reading it as well (quoted below the patch notes). They also announced a figure-8 track for some reason.

Patch Notes:

General
– Added possibility to join scheduled multiplayer races from the game
– Added race history screen to player profile
– Fixed problems with driver’s animations
– Fixed problems with loading screen disapperaring too quickly
– Added animation when new penalty is given to player
– Fixed some problems with displaying car mileage in game

Racetracks
– Optimisation and visual improvements

Under the hood:

Today we will talk about the following:

– RENNSPORT Rating
– Safety Rating
– Split System
– Race Calendar
– The RENNSPORT Summit 2023
– 8ETA

The first update to the RENNSPORT Closed Beta is here, and it introduces multiplayer and our ranking system. During the Closed Beta period, we can test our systems in the wild and welcome all your feedback. The multiplayer sessions available now are a chance for us to monitor and for you to try out our systems. Let’s all have some fun together

As a part of this fun, any mileage you put into the car you picked when you first registered will be saved in your account, in the beta and beyond. You can also access any liveries you collected via stream drops or other activities to differentiate yourself from others.

RENNSPORT Rating (RR)

Let’s start with the RENNSPORT Rating. This is our ranking system for players. Everyone in the Closed Beta starts at RR 1500 and will increase or decrease based on your race results. Higher rating = a better racer. At least this is the ambition, but remember that this is still a Closed Beta, and several systems are still subject to change.

The rating is based on the Elo system from chess and is designed to bring players of similar skill together in a race. It is purely based on the race results. Winning against higher-rated players will award more points than winning against lower-rated players. As a rule of thumb, you can expect to gain a rating if you finish in the top half of the leaderboard, although there are some edge cases where this is not the case. Generally, the higher you finish, the more rating points you will gain.

If the race cannot be completed because of a technical issue on the server side, ratings are not updated. However, if a client disconnects during a race, the rating will still be updated based on the final leaderboard.

There will be unranked races during the beta at a later stage, which do not affect the RR.

Safety Rating (SR)

The second rating we have in the game is the Safety Rating. It indicates a player’s race craft and will increase or decrease based on how safe a driver’s racing style is. Everyone starts at SR 1.00. Getting penalties and being involved in incidents will lower the rating, while driving a clean race will increase it.

We are testing these systems during the beta to ensure they work the way we intend, and we might reset the values at any given time. The ratings will also be reset when the beta ends and RENNSPORT moves into full release.

SR and RR will only be updated if at least three cars participate in a race.

Race Calendar

When multiplayer gets added, you will have direct access to the race calendar, where you can find the multiplayer contests set up by our team. There will be various races every day at a fixed time interval. Every week there will be a set of new combinations of tracks and cars to choose from. Let’s dig into what everything on this screen means:

On the top left, you have the calendar; click on any day to see what races are available. On the bottom left, you can filter out the race you want based on cars and rules. In the middle box, you see the races coming up in chronological order, how many people have already registered, what the format is (P=Practice, Q=Qualifying, R=Race), and what track it is. You have a summary of the selected race in the box to the right.

If you want to be notified when a race is about to start if you’re practising that last sector at Spa (like I need to do every single day), you can enable the notification by pressing the “Notify Me” button in the lower right corner but, don’t forget to register as well which you can do 30 minutes before the race starts.

You can also see races on the RENNSPORT app and choose to get notified before the race start directly in the app.

There are more things that the app is usable for, like checking in your car collection, liveries, and upcoming ESL R1 streams.

or the first week, there will be races on four tracks, Monza, Spa, Hockenheim and Nürburgring, with the following GT3 cars: Audi, Mercedes, Porsche, and BMW. There will be a new race every 30 minutes. To be eligible to join a race, you must register within the race calendar. There will be some differences in these races, like qualifying rules and race length, and we would appreciate your feedback on which combinations you liked the most and what you would like to see in the coming weeks.

Split System

After the contest registration period has ended, the grid is separated into splits based on each driver’s RR. For each split, the driver with the highest rating is assigned car number 1; the second highest is given number 2. Soon we will also enable you to create your contests in the game with the parameters and cars you want, but more on that in the coming weeks.

All in all, this is a beta; we are still testing, and we want you to try with us. Join the multiplayer sessions with an open mind and have fun with other eager races, and don’t forget to give us your feedback on the official RENNSPORT Discord.

A track. That is an 8. Like the 8 Beta keys? 8ETA? Pretty wild, huh? When and if you can play this, we will share more news in the future.

This wraps up the first UNDER THE HOOD, and I hope you enjoyed it and that some of your questions have been answered in what to expect with the next beta update. Next time we will talk about the upcoming steps of the beta and dive into the topic of modding a bit more. If you still need more, jump in on our Discord channel, be greeted by our superb moderators, and share some conversations with the best memers in the world; looking at you, Wolf of no Key…

As a final note, please note that if you’re on the lower spectrum of our recommended hardware, perfomance might be different driving in multiplayer compared to single player. If this is the case for you, adjust your settings in the in-game menu to have a smoother experience.

So there it is, multiplayer is now live and we hope you will have fun with it. And, let me repeat myself, this is a beta, expect some parts to not work as intended and be vocal with your feedback on our Discord!

Until next time drivers, see you online.

Kim