What do you think is the most significant reason AMS2 userbase is so small?

Is the user base small?

Anyway, assuming it is, I suppose the main reason would be market saturation and the niche-within-a-niche syndrome already mentioned in the thread.

Secondly, I'd guess there could be some bad vibes associated with the SMS engine among the 'serious sim racing crowd'. The PC3 and PC GO credibility suicide certainly didn't help.

Finally, I think AMS2 had a rough start from the word go. I was one of those who got a forty-eight hour refund because I simply felt the product wasn't ready for release. It's kinda tough because that's when most reviews were written.

The game has come a long way since, and maybe it just takes time to win hearts and minds and establish a title. First impressions tend to last and all that, but that said, I can't think of a similar product where you can drive a more than reasonable variety of Formula 1 cars from the mid '70s to present day on a fair selection of period correct tracks. That's actually a feat on its own, I think.

 

I think the user base is considered small due to it being behind Raceroom, RF2 and PC2. However...it's growing, slowly but surely. The 2022 F1 car is going to bring the numbers up significantly.

It currently crushes Grid:Legends though lol (sadly that franchise is probably going to be no more). With Dirt Rally being shuttered as well I wouldn't be surprised to see some former Codemasters/SMS devs create a new studio. Better yet, maybe they join Reiza so they can start bringing the fight to Kunos and Motorsport Games (don't laugh, they are making slow but steady progress in RF2 and the upcoming Indycar game is their best chance for redemption).

 

inactive social media. lack of exciting modern content. fix the 2 and the game atleast in public perception will get alot better. I still love it for the fact how easy it is to set up any kind of online event, no need to rent servers etc.

 

At least one of those is incoming with the 2022 F1 cars! Now, if it arrives strong and is well-received hopefully it will get some social media attention too.

 

From complaints observed on this forum it seems like support for hybrid control, multiple tire compounds and hiding the halo are the main concerns. Let's see what they've been brewing these past few months...

Maybe the recent ICU changes were part of an overhaul to allow hybrid control? Which might then allow direct mapping of those controls plus fuel maps? Speculation of course but it's fun with AMS2.

 

So, the April dev update confirms that ERS control is incoming, which is cool! Looks like there will be another season pass for '23+ as well!

I am happy they are in a good place financially and are not being forced to change their strategy. This can only be good for all of us, as they can shift focus to the squeakiest wheel (multiplayer) while keeping up with the DLC content and QoL improvements.

 

I'm still waiting when physics will be even close to another titles. This game just doesn’t feel like you’re really driving a car. They just make more content that has no value because the physics are so bad. Fix the physics and then make new content if you want more users for this game.

 

If you think the physics are good, I would like to hear in which planet it is possible that when you do maximum brake and keep the pressure and just turn the wheel to the corner it starts to oversteering not locking the front wheels and start understeering, and in which planet it is faster to drive corners by drifting, not on the grip?

 

On a planet where the brake bias is sufficiently far rearward.

Which car is this? It might need a tyre model revision.

 

In fact, the soapy feel of the sliding tyres in ASM 2 often reminds me of Forza Horizon 5. And a lot of the cars still seeem to have defective dampers. mainly in the rebound part. The sliding around part of cornering in AMS2 is much to safe and predictable.

 

Porsche 911 RSR -74. Yeah I think that tire model is biggest problem why that car handle like that.

 

Yeah driving with sliding is pretty easy in this game. Biggest thing to me this game feels not realistic is when I try to drive without sliding near to the limit of the grip like in other sims I am so slow, but when I overdrive the car I am so much faster. I think it’s mostly due to the tire model.

 

What makes you think you are "near to the limit of the grip" then?

 

That when I am close the to that point when car start sliding

 

For me AMS 2, as AMS 1, is the best racing car game. I enjoy a lot with AMS 2.
Reiza should advertise more the game with youtubers, press etc... with content prewiews for example.
AI editor and custom liveries are greater strengths as a lot of cars and circuits.
But in my opinion there are many bugs to fix.
For example:
1) with custom liveries there are duplicate liveries
2) in qualifying AI cars blocking each other
3) improve AI race overtakes
4) realistic tyre wear in formula ultimate with change type of tyre after pitstop
5) custom championship not fully implemented
For a user that play many racing games these things are obvious.
In my opinion Reiza should create a group of testers and fix problems.

 

It turns out that "release current gen F1 cars to AMS2" was the correct answer.

 

I know people are not going to like this post, but the question was asked. This forum tends to be a little biased, but if you want actual feedback from the regular simracing public, this is probably as close as you're going to get. rFactor 2 shows that terrible user interfaces AND ugly graphics are not a problem for most. So those are irrelevant.

The problem is, honestly, the lack of polish in almost everything in AMS2. Content is released with blatant, horrible bugs and problems and bad physics all the time, and new content is released before those bugs and problems are fixed. Moreover, they're always tweaking the physics (and they should), but it results in loving a car one update, and then hating it the next. But it's the bugs, inconsistencies, weird physics, and lack of play testing that hurt the user base at this point.

How could anyone drive the Formula Retros on day 1 of official release, and not realize they had a major problem with the differentials? I dont expect people to know what the specific problem is but they should be able to tell something is wrong. I called it that first week, that there was a differential problem. By the way, some cars in the game right now have their ramp angles set up backwards from what they should, so setup adjustments behave the opposite of what you would expect. Especially confusing since they're perfectly fine on other cars. But what blows my mind is that they released those cars with the problems they had. Everyone who drove them could tell something was wrong with how unpredictable and frustrating they were to drive. But Reiza thought it was fine. THIS is the problem. They dont polish their content before they push it out. People try new stuff and it's terrible and move on. Furthermore, they find cars they once loved suddenly drive completely differently from one update to the next. How can you settle in and enjoy a game when it's constantly shifting?

Even a few weeks ago, I noticed the Mclaren MP4/4 has one of the front tires rotating backwards. It's super obvious. All it took was one person to play test this thing and go "Yeah, the tire definitely shouldnt be rolling backwards!". But no, that's how it was released. Assetto Corsa mods are often released with more attention to detail than AMS2 releases.

The lack of attention to detail and the constant tweaking of things means content is unpolished and amateurish upon release and good content that exists cant be guaranteed to be good later on.

This is ignoring the problems with multiplayer, between randomly fogged over mirrors, pit strategy menu tweaks forcing a game crash, people getting dropped from the server during session changes, weird lack of synchronization for the starting lights... The problems never seem to end and most would seem to be solved by a little playtesting and attention to detail.

Its definitely possible Reiza will figure it out. It's made big improvements. I've got over 1000 hours in AMS2 at this point. But my friends and I never really bother driving it in much any more. Every time we do we see the same problems and shortcomings. To me AMS2 is just rF2 with worse physics and force feedback and better graphics.

 

I think you really nailed it here, there is nothing to add. I see it for myself and my twindling online race group. Now with summer at the doorstep my attention for this title is passing out fast. Gaming in generall is a wintertime thingie for me.