Automobilista - August Development Update

Hello everyone!

Bit of a last minute update to round up this month of August, which as you can imagine has been a particularly busy one with the release of AMS v1.0. It´s still proving busy in fact as along with usual post-release duties we´ve been working since then on addressing some issues for a hotfix due to be released tomorrow (Sept 2nd). For this reason I´d like to apologise in advance for keeping this update a bit shorter than previous entries. The upside hopefully should be a meatier entry next month

While AMS v1.0 bringing us out of Early Access has been an important milestone, AMS development is far from over. Here are some of the things we can share about what the next few months hold for it:

V1.01 hotfix

Since release last week we´ve identified a few teething issues which we have been since dutifully pursuing - one always tries to be ahead of these but unfortunately a full release is always a bit of a leap into the unknown as we go from having a few hundred beta testers to many thousand of users and the vast range of OS, hardware, drivers and third party software combinations that comes with it.

One issue that we have partially identified is that AMS v1.0 is failing to launch with Windows 7 if Service Pack 1 is not installed - we´re still pursuing the reason why this came to be with v1.0, but for now we can confirm that updating Win 7 with SP1 is required.

The hotfix will pack some further DynHUD improvements, fixes to Time Trial mode and some other priority fixes.

Another issue we´ve been pursuing is further optimization, in particular to memory load - since AMS is a 32bit app, it can only use up to 4GB of system RAM, which means whenever AMS is running north of 3.2GB (as measured from the task manager) it may run into some instability issues. As we´ve been pushing for higher details from cars and tracks, this can mean that running a grid over the specified limits for any given series (usually in between 22-26 cars, other than StockV8 which allows 32) has the risk of overloading the system, causing instability issues and potentially Runtime errors or CTDs. We´re working on optimizing some of the higher detail models, as well as having the series´ max number of opponents better enforced to keep the game constantly on a safer range. Some of these updates are already upcoming with this hotfix.

EDIT: We´ve decided to keep the hotfix in Beta release for tonight as we´re still pursuing a couple of other issues, and also not to disturb evening races with an update release. V1.01 release expected for tomorrow now.

V1.1 development

There are some important new features, both planned and already in the works to make AMS an even more complete sim package before we finally wrap up its development.

One of these which we can confirm for v1.1 is the Integrated Spotter, based on the popular Crewchief mod as developed by @gongo - here´s a sneak preview:

Here is some further info about this feature from @gongo himself:

1st DLC - The Brit Pack

As previously announced, our first DLC pack for Automobilista will be the BRIT PACK, comprising 3 classic british tracks along with 4 british club racing cars - these are:

BRIT PACK - Tracks

Brands Hatch

Cadwell Park

Oulton Park
We don´t have a preview of Oulton Park to show yet, but we do have some good news regarding its development as following our recon trip to the track we´ve also managed to get hold of LIDAR data for it, meaning Oulton will have the distinction of being our first track based on laser scan data!

BRIT PACK - Cars

Ultima GTR (road & race spec)

MCR Sports 2000


Formula Trainer - A semi-fictional wingless trainer car based on british F-Ford, featuring both slicks & treaded tires - this is the bonus car hinted in last month´s update:

Caterham (several models) - more details to be confirmed about the included Caterham series soon!

The BRIT PACK is scheduled for official release on September 27th and will sell for US$ 19.99. Subsequent DLC packs will be released in the following months. More details on what these upcoming DLCs will feature will be presented in our next Dev Update


Worth pointing out that the AMS Season Pass is now also available for purchase from Steam - owners of the Season Pass (which includes Reiza Members as well as backers from all levels of last year´s crowdfunding campaign) will already earn the BRIT PACK along with all the other upcoming AMS DLCs.

Besides securing all DLCs with a single specially discounted purchase, Automobilista Season Pass also grants Automobilista BETA - a standalone / independent development version of Automobilista, which receives regular updates of in-development features and content, allowing users an early taste of these upcoming goodies (including the DLC items) as these gradually hit beta status. Brands Hatch & Ultima GTR expected to make to next week´s new Beta build.

That´s about it for this month - now it´s time to get back to wrapping that hotfix I´ll try to follow up on this topic with a few more news and answers to eventual questions tomorrow.