I think people are forgetting what rFactor is. It's been around now for a few years and has been built on. This was the purpose for rFactor. rFactor is a foundation to be built on. Was never seen as a complete gaming format.
In the past modder groups have been making add-ons to other gaming formats like F1Challenge, Nascar 2003 and the like made by companies like EA game and Codemasters. It was getting to the stage when these companies were no in support of what people were doing to their games so rFactor was formed.
As for the interface there are now new interfaces available along with manyother user add-ons all made by you the community and shared freely to the rest of us to enjoy. I'm sure rFactor 2 will be as easy if not easier to work with. We all should be greatfull to ISI for creating the founations to the best mostly free racing sim available today