Automobilista 2 June 2022 Development Update

Ok, coming from somebody who absolutely loves rally and obsessively plays any rally content I can get, I don't think rally stages are a viable option for AMS2. While the audience for rally exists (look at the player base behind DR2.0, RBR, and WRC10), it doesn't make sense to spend the resources putting in a point-to-point rally stage to just sit as a TT/practice exclusive without having some sort of "event" system. Believe me, I would be the first person to buy a Reiza-made rally game, but it doesn't make sense with AMS2's current trajectory.






That said, even though RX and dirt ovals are definitely niche, I don't believe they are too niche to not be beneficial to AMS2. Rallycross has definitely slipped from its peak in the past 6-7 years, but from a purely driving standpoint, it's still a good format. It's most of the fun parts of rally, plus friends. The tracks would be easy to produce (some are just retrofitted to current tracks), the engine clearly was able to handle mixed surface content in PC2, and the cars can still work on other tracks. Viewership numbers don't always equate to whether a series is worth putting in the sim. I can guarantee hardly anyone here bothers to tune into watching Porsche Cup, Ginetta G40 Cup, etc., but the cars are fun to drive. Most of those series are playgrounds for bored rich people or the occasional young kid in a development program. It doesn't mean I can't enjoy the series with some buddies in the sim.

Imho, RX is a seriously underrated format that deserves more attention. If you want a series to watch, but don't wanna pay for a specific streaming service, Nitro Rallycross has a bunch of their broadcasts up from last year and this year on YouTube as well as Peacock if you already follow IndyCar/IMSA. Not to mention a ton of classic World Rallycross content.

Their numbers for the 2022 season are down a bit since they started in Europe and introduced a new electric top class alongside the supercars.

Currently, the only options rallycross in "current" sims are DR2.0, iRacing, and kind of Pcars2. DR2.0 definitely lacks the polish in RX that the stage rally physics has. iRX has a hefty paywall, dirt that behaves like ice, and tires that aggressively punish any slip angle whatsoever. Meanwhile Pcars2 has a great list of rallycross track that is ruined by no option for race sessions beyond random grids. I ran a Pcars2 RX night for a league and the biggest issue people had was no practice session, no heat format, and no quali system to decide the heats. Pcars2 may have nailed the track detail and feel of mixed surfaces, but iRX put in the work to make the race format useable.

As for dirt ovals, iRacing effectively has no competition in that scene, and AMS2 could become a more affordable option for those wanting to explore the format. Late model, legend cars, enduros, etc. are EVERYWHERE in the US. Where I'm from, there is a dirt short track in every county, sometimes more. For those who race IRL and want a sim to practice the same techniques on off weeks, iRacing is the only legitimate option right now. The problem is how ludicrously expensive iRacing can get once you properly dig into that realm. The car/surface physics and track evolution (a key part of that style of racing) would be the biggest hurdle, but designing new tracks to populate a series would be easy. AMS2 could easily produce something just as good as iRacing's current offerings.

 

Rally stages require pace notes, and idk if that can work within madness engine

 

Yeah, I mean no offense but when we haven't even had a proper spotter/crew chief put in (although 1.4 is the obvious update to introduce it in) I don't expect pace notes anytime soon

 

For the Adrenaline Pack we need to remember it will feature "several off-road & Extreme Motorsports cars and tracks". I think the pack will only get dirt and mixed dirt/road tracks for the off-road part, as alongside that we will probably get stuff like AMS1's super truck with their respective tracks.
I don't think Rally and Hillclimbs are worth it from Reiza's point of view, too much effort for what you get, and that's coming from a big rally sim fan. Same for drift stuff (see AMS1's drift SuperV8). Maybe Dirt ovals will be part of Racin' USA pt4, I hope it is.

So yeah, I think it will probably be something like the F-Dirt, an off-road Lancer, a couple RX cars, super trucks and maybe one other type of cars with a couple of each dirt, road and mixed track to go with them. Assuming they go for RX but I think that's one of the best options.
I think that's already a decently sized DLC considering they still have Racin' USA Pt3, the last premium track DLC, a couple of missing DLC track layouts, the adrenaline pack and 3 other DLC to release by the end of 2022. That's 6 DLC for 5 months.

 

No it wasn't. The AI now do actual mistakes, the side-swipes are almost non-existent, and magic acceleration now only happens in a few select corners. Six months ago you couldn't do a FRetro race at Azure without getting the urge to smash furniture, now it's actually okay. It's really not that different from R3E or rF2 now, so AMS2 is definitely catching up. The big issue remaining is the wet weather racing where the player/AI grip seems totally random from car to car. AI racing in the dry works mostly fine now once you learn to give the AI room and don't drive like a YouTube influencer.

 

Generally I agree, their overall behaviour has been much improved, just there are a few remaining issues, like the flawed AI overtaking behaviour and the lack of balancing that not only leads to the AI being faster than me on 100 difficulty at some cars/tracks and being left in the dust at others, but also them being notably faster or slower in certain areas of the track.

The last two points have been tackled to some extent with the physics revisions, but AI still tend to have a clear edge on curved slow (1st to maybe 3rd gear) corner exits.

 

4 june 2021 when reiza released part 1 of the usa pack. They wrote on the description of the dlc that daytona has been released and ovals to be added later (check picture of steam) since this day i was like in heaven thinking: Finally we get some ovals! No other sim has it apart from iracing and nascar game (both games i do not like at all)

When they finally release v1.4 (no matter when ) i will make a big party with my simrig hahahaha

at the meantime waitig with popcorn and a lot of sun for the dev update

Have a great day guys! See you on track!

 

I think my big issue with the AI is, especially in the open wheelers, they seem to have a habit of abruptly slowing down mid corner, which makes not running into the back of them when you're directly behind challenging

 

IMO there has been a massive improvement on the open wheelers AI since the last few updates. However, open wheelers seem to be the most difficult to get right in all sims just simply due their incredible braking power and acceleration out of corners.

 

When do we think the dev update will arrive? I believe tomorrow due to it being the hottest day for me

 

Sooner than you think, but not you specifically

 

The Developer Update must be completed by Renato first. Then his personal secretariat must carry out a verification. Once produced, the text goes through Reiza's international service for translation. Afterwards, the text is sent to the community manager service, first to the community manager assistants, then to the community manager deputy director, and finally to the public relations director. And finally the text is transmitted to the communication department which publishes it. So to sum up, the bet will not be long. this is of course a joke.

 

So basically, Renato will proof-read it.

 

100% agree. I don't want to watch entire races but I do enjoy the highlights, so shows like FastZone (free on motorsport.tv) or Mobil1 The Grid (also free on motorsport.tv) are perfect to show them off. Same for Ferrari Challenge, etc.

What works IRL vs in sim racing is very interesting. Everyone LOVES racing GT3 cars in all sims but have you looked at the grandstands in those races IRL? They are mostly empty, regardless of series.

As for P2P resources, I think we'll get a few, not sure what they'll be but I'd be surprised if we don't get at least 1 with the Street Supercar DLC.

Here's an idea: what if they added Mt. Haruna to AMS2? They'd probably need to get Toyota or some other manufacturer on-board to add a few cars but I already know who would love this road, like 'em or not....modders. That road would motivate them to make more street cars, which would be totally fine since most of the hardcore sim racers don't care for street cars. This would make everyone happy, AMS2 would sell more copies, sim racers could skip the street cars if they choose to and modders could go crazy with street cars and not bother anyone. I don't see a downside. (Akina is one of the AC servers that's populated heavily 24/7, there are not many of those other than Shutoko and Nordschliefe tbh).

 

I wonder if part of the reason for low GT spectator count may be due to the very limited in-person view of road courses.

We get to see much more of the racing action during televised events. Many oval tracks offer a better spectator experience. At least, that's a common response here in the USA, along with not understanding the car-class structure of multi-class racing, in general.

 

GT and endurance racing has always been fairly niche. There are events but there's no series that anyone cares about, however much they try. Events like Spa 24, Nurburgring 24, Le Mans, Sebring obviously get 100000+ but GT World Challenge from Magny-Cours isn't an event with much going for it. A lot of GT racing is held for the people who are driving the cars - wealthy amateurs - and the coverage is a bonus. Occasionally a new event strikes gold; Bathurst 12 Hours is probably the most recent example of that. And these races are great for the people going and for the competitors who are paying for it; you won't get anything like the atmosphere for the N24 or Le Mans at any F1 or touring car race.

Another thing is that it's about cars rather than drivers. GT3's success has been built upon the variety of cars and sounds and this mix and match is an important part of the appeal.

In a world where F1 or NASCAR is the only motorsport any regular folk know, this will likely become even more the case going forward. GT and endurance races in a sterile package on boring tracks offers little of interest (looking at you, WEC) but the big events will hopefully continue to draw big crowds and great atmospheres.

Sorry, I could go on about this for days, so I'll stop there for now!

 

I wonder if we'll ever get a proper engineer/spotter in AMS2. Crew Chief works well enough currently, but it would save time/resources to have an in-game solution. If it's a time or effort thing recording the audio, I'd volunteer to do it (I was a touring musician most of my adult life, so I'm handy with a DAW). The Madness engine still has the code for it, given the same Pcars2 text the Stig used to say pops up as subtitles.

As for pace notes, I'm not a dev, so my knowledge on the topic is quite limited, but I don't think it would be the hard part. Pace notes are simply a script of "pass point X, trigger audio clip X" which the game already does when you: leave the pits, finish the race, start the race, etc. Apps like Crew Chief and the AC Co-Driver mod retroactively added that functionality to Assetto Corsa, with the limitations being Windows Text-to-speech trying to control Crew Chief's inputs. The problem with pace notes is more the delivery and presentation. Compare the WRC series to DiRT Rally's Co-Driver, it's not even close. One felt like a cyborg shouting instructions, and the other felt like a human actually read the notes (because they did actually read the notes). Part of why the latter felt so smooth was they recorded it multiple times, and at multiple speeds, in a motion rig, with real co-drivers.

Same, though I hope they add some free-roams as well. It's part of the charm of Shutoku, LA Canyons, drift mods, etc., just getting to chill and explore the road with friends. The simracing community has been spoiled with all of these amazing community-made projects, and I wish game studios would do something similar.

 

It would be nice some indication from the team (maybe via @CrimsonEminence) to know why it is not active in ams2, and when /if it will be.
Im sure some out there are not aware of having to use the 3rd party app for part of the sim that is just not switched on???, and certainly should work at this stage 2yrs +
1 of those things that a new buyer would find annoying is it not working..
+engineer was ok in pc2?

 

Yep Phill Mills is awesome in dirt rally 2, although his notes arent as detailed as the real ones. Also for some reason the ‘female’ voice in wrc10 is better than the ‘male’ voice so try that one.

 

Vaguely recall that it needed to be turned off due to a licensing issue with the voice