Welcome to the February 2025 Community Update! We have our regular update for you on the state of development - primarily what we've been working on recently; and what you can expect to see in the near future.
To join the discussion, as well as get more info direct from the development team, you can join us on Discord!
🎁 Online Multiplayer & Testing
Online multiplayer implementation is feature-complete! 🎉 It has been a long road, but we are now finally at the point where we can stop talking about "when it's finished" and start talking about release dates!
We have selected the players to join us for the online multiplayer private beta test - please check your email inbox for an email from us over the next few days (as we decide on specific testing periods and dates). If you've been selected, you will likely be participating in a test sometime in the next 7-10 days. As long as those tests go smoothly - and no major bugs are found - we'll be on the final road to launch! If you haven't been selected, don't worry, it won't be long now until you're able to play GeneRally 2 online 😊
Below are a few questions we assume might be on your mind...
How will the testing work?
We'll be defining a couple of testing periods (roughly 1-2 hours each) on specific dates, where we (the developers) can try out all aspects of the online features with the selected players. We'll be looking for bugs and assessing if the network performance is acceptable.
After these initial testing periods, we'll determine whether we need to do more testing (for example, to try out any fixes we make), or if the feature is ready for release.
Why wasn't I selected for testing?
Unfortunately, we can't select everyone - and we did receive a lot of applications 😢
Primarily, we've chosen people with a range of hardware specifications, and in groups that are located close enough to each other geographically that latency doesn't become a major issue in tests (for example, not mixing people from Oceania and Europe in a test group). We've preferred people who are regular players of the game and who are members of the GeneRally 2 Discord.
When will the Online Multiplayer be released?
Assuming the tests go well, and we find no new show-stopping bugs, we're most likely a maximum of a few weeks away from launch 🙌 We have some other, related things to do before then (such as updating some of our Steam store page texts and images to announce the feature) but it's mostly "admin" work at that point!
Will there be a discount at the launch of Online Multiplayer?
Yes, we will be running our first discount for GeneRally 2 to coincide with the launch of the Online Multiplayer. This should make it a lot easier to convince your friends to join you for some races 😊
What comes after Online Multiplayer?
After the Online Multiplayer feature is released, and we're content everything is in good order, we'll move back onto the other features on the road to v1.0. This includes things like replays and save games; time trial mode; photo mode; physics and AI improvements (including AI driver profiles); and more. We also have a long list of "minor" improvements to make to the Track Editor!
As far as our set of Early Access development features, Online Multiplayer is the last major one - so we'll then definitely be heading towards the end of Early Access ✨
🛠️ Other In Progress Work
Alongside the Online Multiplayer, we've also had a few other things in progress:
- Control Rebinding - Work continues on this system, which we aim to have in place for the Online Multiplayer launch.
- Steam Deck Fixes - We've located and resolved a few issues with both the menu rendering and the default control profile.