The strongly worded rebuttal comes days after rFactor 2 forum user haunetal1990 shared what is believed to be lines of code from the Rennsport beta which supposedly matches Studio 397’s simulator. This was then shared by the sim racing news repository RaceSimCentral.
Rennsport, an embryonic driving simulator from start-up Competition Company GmbH announced in 2022, uses Unreal Engine 5 for its graphics in combination with what it describes as a custom physics engine.
The recent allegations cast doubt over the legitimacy of the claims and rFactor 2‘s developer Studio 397 appears to be at the centre of the controversy, today issuing a statement on social media that could pressure Rennsport into clarifying its origins.
Sim racing platform rFactor 2 is over a decade old and was purchased in 2021 by Motorsport Games alongside the Studio 397 team. It continues to develop the platform and is planning to use an evolution of its basis for the upcoming Le Mans Ultimate simulation later this year.
Seemingly in light of the recent Rennsport speculation, Studio 397 is claiming rights for the use of its technology have not been secured by anyone outside of Motorsport Games.
“Motorsport Games has not issued a licence for rFactor 2 technology to any game developer at this time nor are we aware of licences issued by Studio 397, a wholly owned subsidiary of Motorsport Games, prior to our acquisition of the game, development team and attached technology,” begins that statement, shared today, 3rd October 2023.
“Studio 397 is, under the terms of previous agreements, the sole owner of the relevant various technologies for entertainment uses.
“We are aware that prior to our acquisition of Studio 397, the original creator of the underlying software as used in rFactor 1, had licensed that foundational technology to various developers. No element from rFactor 2, be that code or assets, may be used without the express written permission of Studio 397.”
The original 2005 rFactor was developed by Image Space Incorporated (ISI), with its foundational technology (isiMotor2) also used by a business-to-business software platform called rFactor Pro.
rFactor Pro is owned by AB Dynamics and is primarily used to create test beds for car manufacturers – not products for end consumers. Previously, Image Space Incorporated has licenced the isiMotor2 technology for sim racing titles such as Race 07, GT Legends and the first Automobilista.
It then worked on isiMotor2.5 exclusively for rFactor 2, which is now developed by the aforementioned Studio 397 and Motorsport Games.
“We have here our custom physics engine, and that’s working in parallel with Unreal Engine,” said Krzysztof Szczech, Rennsport’s Lead Programmer to Traxion.GG in June 2023.
“This is a custom tyre model, but it’s based on some existing models described in some very smart physics books.”
This tallies with what Szczech stated during May 2022’s Rennsport Summit 1, describing physics that were unique to the platform.
Traxion.GG has contacted Rennsport for comment but is yet to receive a statement at the time of publication.
Update – 4th October 2023 8.30 am BST
Rennsport has responded to the claims, with the social media statement embedded below and we’ve published a separate article on this topic.
Full disclosure – Traxion.GG is part of Motorsport Games and the Motorsport Games family of brands. All Traxion.GG content is editorially removed from Motorsport Games video game development and created by a dedicated team.
Featured image: Teyon
