Wreckfest 2 Content Update #9 Patch #1 Available

Bugbear has released Content Update #9 Patch #1 for Wreckfest 2, bringing some changes to vehicle handling, damage and gameplay based on community feedback. The main focus is making cars more enjoyable to drive, with adjustments aimed at bringing back some of the fun players felt was missing from the previous update.

Handling has been tweaked across all cars, with better grip during slides, improved stability coming out of corners and less aggressive reactions when tires regain traction. Rear-wheel-drive cars should be easier to control when getting back on the throttle, and changes to suspension balance and differential settings should help reduce understeer. Controller steering and driving assists have also been adjusted, along with a rebalance of vehicle performance following a fix to the car rating system.

Damage has been dialed back a bit too, so cars should be able to take more punishment before falling apart. Crashes now cause less damage in Normal and Realistic modes, engines last longer and wheels won’t come off quite as easily. Smaller objects like rocks should no longer cause ridiculous amounts of damage, and Bugbear has cleaned up how body panels bend, windows break and damaged parts come loose. There are also a few fixes for the cockpit view when cars get badly crushed.

Chase mode gets some attention as well, with the option to adjust team sizes and a change that requires runners to be pinned down before they can be caught. Match results now show which team won, and cars that drop out on the same lap are ranked by how far they made it. AI drivers should also put up more of a challenge thanks to an overall speed increase and fixes for crashes at certain corners. Over at The Drome, ramps and loops have better collisions, several visual issues have been cleaned up and a shortcut that allowed players to cheat through the loop has been closed.

Online racing should be a little more reliable, with fixes for community servers disappearing from the browser and official servers unexpectedly ending races after sitting idle. Server names can now be longer, and sorting preferences are saved between sessions. The Design Browser has also been improved, making it easier to browse creations, load additional results and filter designs by creator. A couple of crashes involving the lobby garage and multiplayer cup voting have been fixed too.

Rounding things out are several audio fixes, including overly loud tire sounds during replays and volume settings not loading correctly after restarting the game. Turbocharger and engine sounds have been adjusted on several vehicles, and the flamethrowers at The Drome have been turned down a bit. The full patch notes can be found below for anyone wanting to check out everything included in the update.

CARS & HANDLING

• Increased lateral grip in partial slide, improving RWD stability and ability to exit corners with more power.
• Reduced tire snap when recovering from slide and re-gripping.
• Reduced rollbar/roll stiffness bias effectiveness, mitigating understeer.
• Adjusted stock differential settings to reduce off-throttle understeer.
• Fixed FWD performance underestimation and front-heavy RWD over-estimation.
• Re-balanced car performance after rating system fix.
• Controller countersteer speed is now more predictable, generally slower than before.
• Fine tuned anti-spin and traction control assists for improved maneuverability.
• Cars are now framed better in the upgrades menu.
• Miscellaneous other fixes to cars and decals.

DAMAGE

• Crashes now deal less damage on the Normal and Realistic damage mode.
• Engines wear slower and need harder hits to break on Realistic and Wrecker damage.
• Wheels no longer detach as easily in Realistic damage mode, tires detach quicker.
• Small dynamic objects such as rocks no longer cause massive visual damage to the car.
• Small dynamic objects should no longer get stuck inside the car.
• Bumping into small objects no longer makes the engine misfire or stall in Realistic damage.
• Crumpled bodywork no longer stretches out of shape as much, improving visual damage.
• Car-to-car damage now better follows the direction of the hit, with smoother edges.
• Windows no longer disintegarate from lightest nudges.
• A damaged bumper now detaches completely quicker.
• Hammerhead rear bumper no longer magically floats when partially detached.
• A damaged hood is now less of a nuisance when driving from the in-car view.
• Driver now does a better job at trying to duck under a crushed roof.
• Driver’s hands stay on the wheel, shifter and handbrake when the cockpit is crushed.

STABILITY

• Fixed a crash in the lobby garage.
• Fixed a crash during multiplayer cup voting.

TRACKS

• Fixed floating and clipping objects around The Drome.
• Ramps and loop pieces on The Drome have better collision.
• Closed a way to cheat through the loop on The Drome.
• Improved the look of ramps, barriers and banners on The Drome.

GAMEPLAY

• It’s now possible to set the player split ratio between teams in Chase.
• In Chase, runners can now be caught only once they’re pinned down.
• The Chase result screen now mentions which team won.
• Cars that drop out on the same lap are now ranked by how far they got.
• Fixed Chase wrongly showing “All Hunters Wrecked” after a match ended early.
• Fixed the goal text replaying after leaving the pause menu.
• Fixed AI cars crashing at certain corners (e.g., Finncross Main Circuit).
• Increased overall AI speed.

DESIGN BROWSER

• It’s now possible to step to the next or previous design in the preview screen.
• It’s now possible to load more results with the new LOAD MORE button.
• It’s now possible to filter by creator.

ONLINE

• Fixed community servers dropping off the server browser after running for a long time (“Server update failed! 5024”). The server now logs in to PlayFab again when its login expires.
• The “Server update failed!” console message now shows the actual PlayFab error code.
• Fixed official servers that had been idle for more than a day sometimes ending the first race about 100 s in and disconnecting everyone.
• Server names can now be up to 47 characters (was 31 characters). Note that non-Latin names get fewer characters.
• Server browser now remembers the sort order, sort direction and the “Favorites first” setting between sessions.
• When sorting by name or player count, servers that are tied are now ordered by distance.

AUDIO

• Fixed issue where npc car tire sounds picked up excessive volume gain after switching between cars in spectate or replay.
• Fixed issue where state of some of the audio volume sliders got reloaded incorrectly after game relaunch.
• Car window break sfx distance roll-off is now a lot sharper in order to underline focus on player car window shattering.
• The Drome: Mildly lowered overall mix level and distance attenuation of stage flamethrower.
• Turbocharger, Nami & Valken: Lowered whine & raised blow-off mix levels.
• Turbocharger, Schoolbus: Raised whine & lowered blow-off mix levels. Adjusted pitch response of model for a slower increase over low spool range.
• Turbochargers: Added a bit of extra distance attenuation to car engines that are farther away from camera.
• Roadslayer, Stahlwagen & Jackal: Tweak mixdown to better meet perceived loudness levels against rest of the car pool.