Automobilista 2 V1.3.5.1 Officially RELEASED - Now Updated to v1.3.5.2

I am still not over the disappointment of the new ICM, Would it be possible to always open the menu with "strategy" selected? and can you please make all my strategies browseble, I can now only choose from two options. This ICM keeps me from joining MP. Come on you can think of something smarter than fiddling with a d-pad during a race

 

Is it possible to get an additional transmission setting?
Just 250kph at rev limit

 

Today I finally spent some time with the latest release build, and I gotta say, I am impressed.

So far I did races in both the F-Ultimate Gen 2 as well as the Stock Car Pro (Toyota Corolla).

First off, the new wheel display is obviously modeled after the F1-75... and I love it! As a matter of fact it works well with the F1-75 Leclerc style dash I just released for SIM Dashboard. Now all we need is exposing the ERS setting to the sim's telemetry...! (And of course an update for our corresponding telemetry apps to make use of that data.)

To really get a better feel for the car (and pay homage to today's F1 race) I did a full race weekend on Adelaide, with mandatory pitstops and the race being 10 laps long. AI was set to 85/60.

All three sessions turned out to be dry, so the weather wasn't going to interfere. In the beginning I was struggling to put the power down, and more importantly, to keep the car planted and controllable under braking.

After settling for a softer suspension setup, increasing rear toe by one click, maximizing downforce and increasing the diff power ramp angle by 5 degrees I was comfortable enough with the car to get P1 in the very last lap of Qualifying. Whew!

The race itself was quite thrilling; I decided to pit in early in order to shake things up a bit, so I ended up in traffic. AI performance is still somewhat off compared to the player (braking too much and too early in some places, having unnatural braking power during the last few meters of the braking zones, etc.), but definitely improved to what it used to be like.

The race ended with me taking back P1 from my AI team mate in sector 3 of the final lap... It was actually by accident, as I locked up while trying to out-brake the guy, and when I skidded along track sideways he came to a stop right behind me and I managed to get away quicker. Oops.

As for unforced mistakes, I don't think I got to see any of those yet. Sure, some AI cars were attacking the curbs too hard at times, but I wouldn't count that as unforced mistake but rather a poor choice of racing line for this vehicle.

On a sidenote, on Adelaide you can stick to Qualifying ERS mode all the time, as the battery won't ever deplete - there's too much braking going on and and not enough long straights for the system to run dry. Nice!

Either way, the F-Ultimate Gen 2 is just as rewarding as it is challenging; although if I was an engineer and had the choice I'd slightly reduce the torque output at low gears and RPMs - the throttle is *really* sensitive when coming out of slow corners.


After a fun F1 race weekend in Adelaide I decided to put the new Stock Cars through their paces on the new Galeao track - and today was obviously the most fitting day to do that.

So I set up another race weekend - same settings basically, real weather, default race date, full race weekend and AI at 85/60. Just no mandatory pit stops this time.

Prior to this I had already tried the Toyota on Brands Hatch and I was positively shocked how much it has been transformed due to the latest tire tweaks when compared to the Release Candidate. The current-gen stock cars have *never* been this much fun before! It may not be my favorite vehicle (yet), but it feels predictable, powerful and the feeling of weight is juuust right!

And yet it is still possible to stomp the accelerator and get power oversteer and a squirming rear well into third and maybe even fourth gear on corner exit. I love it.

As for the race, after getting used to the track (which I really enjoy!) I managed to qualify well ahead of the competition at around 1.4 seconds. Now here comes the twist:

Apparently the weather forecast for today's race is heavy rain, as the track was suddenly SOAKED on entering the race session. Oh dear... I did what I had to do and adjusted my setup accordingly (softer and higher suspension, less tire pressure, and a few more adjustments to rear toe, diff ramp settings and rear downforce).

As it turns out, the AI in this class of vehicle is still too fast in heavy rain compared to their performance in dry conditions. While I was struggling to put the power down - heck, I was struggling to keep the car straight! - the AI didn't exhibit a single sign of driving on a soaked track with LOTS of standing water (which was quite impressive - after all, this is basically a runway, not a regular race track!). Instead, the AI cars seemed to handle just as planted as they do on a dry track - except a little slower.

At the end of the race (which saw me struggling to keep up, as well as involving a few, ahem, minor collisions) I had a look at the fastest lap times. Remember what I said about qualifying? Once I had found my pace I was ~1.4 seconds faster than the fastest AI driver. In this wet race I was 0.9 seconds *slower* than the fastest AI even after I had settled in. In other words, if my pace in the wet is *somewhat* comparable relative to my skill level in dry conditions, the AI is around 2.3 seconds faster in the rain than it should be. Let's round that down to 2 seconds for the sake of simplicity. (At 85/60, anyway.)

Which also brings me back to the new "unforced error logic" of the AI. If there is any kind of situation where the AI needs to do visible and noticeable mistakes on a regular basis, it's on a wet track, especially if it is completely soaked. These conditions are challenging - no argument there - but the AI behavior does not reflect this fact yet. Needless to say, as someone who exclusively races offline, this is THE one factor that is still a little too far away from a polished and fully working state in my humble opinion.

To be fair, looking at everything Reiza Studios have achieved so far, I remain hopeful that this can and will be addressed in the not too distant future. I know I'm looking forward to it.

 

Crimson mentioned somewhere that it's a typo. IIRC if you're on build 1984 you're all up to date.

 

I just watched the Stock Car race at Galeao:
-pitlane entry has changed a little.
-during the start cars take a road around the pitlane and bypass the final chicane.
-no track limit penalties for running wide on corner exits.

Race was interesting:

 

ICM strategy only lets you select from two strategies now. Makes it difficult to have races in changing conditions now.

 

Why do real life racing wheels in Formula 1 have so many buttons then?

 

Also, there are huge black walls on entry and exit of the chicane to avoid cutting. Wanna have it to push the AI into it!

 

One observation, the Pitstop crew animations are very shaky for the new F1 Ultimate Gen2 car.
The tyres are going on before the engineers lift their hands...
In general the pits could do with a real overhaul now along with pit crew liveries matching the cars etc...are there any plans to work on this in the near future?

 

Does AMS2 blue flag people on outlaps in quali? If not this needs to be added. It is frustrating to be blocked on your quali lap in the f-ultimates as it takes a cooldown lap just to recharge for another attempt.

 

Ähem... @CrimsonEminence ,i remember..ähem someone said the Stock Cars have no front lights...ähm.
Now i see in the race today there are front lights,no beamers,but front lights.
Ähme... can we have that too,someday?

 

I complained last week about GT3 etc.
IT WAS ALL MY FAULT
Had to reset setups and recalibrate the Wheel etc.
Iam sorry, cars drive now better than in any other Sim, even ACC drives kind of boring now.
And with AMS2 you got the whole world of racing!
I had just to dial in some things, brake balance, pressure was wrong in the old setup.
Wow you can really make the car doing what you want, you can go over the top by dialing the break balance to the rear and loose you rear. yeag! AMS2 really teaches how to DRIVE. So much more freedom and ACC no seems a little "prescripted" when doing really aggresssive lines etc., it punishes you while AMS2 let you really drive.
NEW UPDATE also OP!
WOW!

 

Speaking of the Stock 2019 not having things, I've noticed there's an unmarked set of tires on it (supposed to be soft slicks I think?) Their names are completely blank in both the setup menu's tire changer and those tire icons in the top at the pre-race menu

 

I believe at least the 2021 stockcar has the same issue, it are supposed to be the softs, but they have a name which is too long to fit in that space

 

Well, there was a difference in tyrewear between the blank tyre and the hard slicks, so i assumed those were the soft slicks, also the ingame hud does show a long name which includes pirelli and some more stuff

 

Finally had the chance to install the update and play with the F-Ultimate gen 2.

Full disclosure: I am an F1 fan since I was 4 years old, and watch every race no matter low late at night. That said, when it comes to sim racing, open wheelers have not been my thing. I usually prefer the IMSA/WEC stuff. Well, until now.

These F-Ultimate gen 2 cars are just a JOY to drive. Love how they feel, and their sound is addicting. Reiza has done a masterful job here, and while I’m sure there’s still plenty of opportunity for enhancements (energy harvesting lights, please?), I can’t stop driving them.

Thank you!