Automobilista 2 October 2022 Development Update

It was early access in the early days. As with many games these days, it is still WIP long after the official release date. We all like to grumble about that, but it reminds me of Churchill's famous quote about democracy. The only thing worse than going official too early is all those official games that don't have sufficient ongoing support, patching, care and feeding...

 

Mods, runs on older hardware well, and it was just in the humble bundle last week. Also the draw for AC goes well beyond circuit racing. I see people on the AC subreddit complaining that all people want to do in MP is drift and drive and that racing is still hard to come by.

 

Indeed.. 104,000 people is a joke. Most of the series out of GT3s and IMSA struggle to reach official status...

 

Most of the AC users in facts play drift or roaming rather than circuit MP...

 

Segmenting your player base with $15 gates between each car and track is a good way to kill off player numbers. I understand using a safety license system to incentivize clean racing, but there's a reason why rookie series with base content see much higher numbers and almost better competition than the higher ones (other than the occasional first turn hero with a rookie license).

I'm thankful Reiza didn't lock off DLC tracks to MP users. Honestly, it's a better way of advertising the content, and it doesn't segment the already small base.

 

These numbers are inflated by the auto log ins...

However it does show that 2 out of 3 things are required to succeed in the sim racing market...

Those 3 things are...

1. A strong online experience...
2. A focus on a major series with all cars and tracks (NASCAR for iRacing)
3. Mod support

The AI in AC/ACC is far from what we experience now in AMS2 yet both are still far more popular due a strong online experience and either mod support or a focus on a major series...

The direction Rennsport is taking also shows just how much room there is in the online world for something that isn't iRacing...

 

While I certainly think that 100K number is quite... interesting to say the least. I think the people in here are forgetting about the biggest piece of pie, right now Iracing is the only reliable oval simracing platform, and the only mostockcar simulation platform full stop. Key aspects like FCY's and AI are still very much W.I.P's in AMS 2 along with having not many oval tracks. Rfactor 2 doesn't have FCY's and I have heard mixed stuff about the AI due to the recent update. The closest thing us oval racing fans had was Project Cars 1 and 2, which had lack luster AI.

And it isn't just NASCAR and Indycar. Iracing has Sprint Cars, Dirt/Asphalt Late Models, Legends Cars, Street Sticks, ARCA Stockcars and many MANY more. Along with tracks like South Boston, Eldora, Bristol, North Wilkesboro, Knoxville Raceway, and Lucus Oil Raceway (aka I.R.P) all of which have a rich history and legacy that's comparable to the likes of Spa and Monza for us in the states.

If you wanna race short ovals or dirt ovals you only have one choice. There are a lot of people who want this, who like this type of racing. It is a shame it gets ignored because now these people get stuck in Iracing's ecosystem.

Say what you will about ovals, but it objectively isn't a good thing that Iracing has a monopoly on everything that isn't Indycar and NASCAR when it comes to simracing. Iracing will never have a challenger because almost every sim is hyper focusing on a non North American audience. Ovals are a gimmick or DLC (still love you Reiza) not a feature. Project Cars 2 is the only sim that you can actually keep forever that has more than one oval as a part of the base content. The more I talk about this the more I believe those numbers are fairly accurate because Iracing is genuinely the only option for so many simracers out there.

ACC, AC, Rfactor 2 and AMS 2 all have GT3 cars, that audience is split between those four sims and Iracing. AC, Rfactor 2 ans AMS 2 all have grand prix cars so that audience is split between those three sims and Iracing. I'm sure you see where I'm going with this. For almost all curcuit racing series the audience is dived between multiple sims, but that isn't the case for oval racing. It's almost all Iracing, its a no-brainer for someone who likes/specializes that type of racing. No oval racing fan is gonna buy AMS 2 and Racin USA parts 2 and 3 when 90% of the game is stuff they're really not a fan of. While Iracing is more expensive, the hypothetical oval fan does make the most out of that money because it's all stuff they want to race with/on.

Now there is one key demographic that Iracing is sort of neglecting: vintage oval racing. It may seem like an immense waste of time and resources but I highly recommend everyone look at the comments of the video where Iracing announced North Wilkesboro and the 1987 NASCAR stockcars. The last historic oval sim came out in 1999, over 2 decades ago. The game came out exactly a week after Lando Norris was born, and almost every single major record in F1 has been broken. Infact it hasn't even been a blip not even a gimmick or DLC.

This, right here is what Racin USA part 4 should be. A mixture of historic ovals from the 70s - 90s with period correct stock cars and open wheelers along side. Of everything AMS 2 can do, that would be the biggest blow to Iracing because that's the one thing in American motorsport I think Iracing is truly lacking in. And it's something that there is a LOT of demand for. Don't believe me? Just look at the Nr2003 community where you'll find mods and carsets of literally ANY era of NASCAR and historic variants of almost every single NASCAR track currently being used.

Tldr; Iracing has a monopoly on short and dirt ovals along with a near monopoly on oval racing as a whole.

 

The different between iracing and the other sims is that iracing is more than a racing video game, its an mmo with whole social and competitive scene as well as the video game side, and none of the other sims have anything close to it. Yes its expensive but its a drop in the ocean for typical iracer who also has money for expensive equipment. It also fits around someones working hours as you can always sign up to a race that would have the attendance that leagues in ams2 dream of, and you dont have to put time around your schedule to compete

 

Completely agree with the whole post... iRacing started with a prominent series and has since added more prominent series and basically has a monopoly on oval racing in NASCAR and Indycar due to the shortcomings of rF2s development of the features required... As reports are still similar to rF1 on the bugs within the rF2 FCY features...

Even though I'd much rather the Pt.4 be Sebring, Road Atlanta and Portland, historic oval racing is a niche that Reiza could jump on and really get some gains on the other sim racing titles... And choosing tracks that would fit a vintage, historic and modern version would help fill out the CART and modern Indycar experience as well...

 

My picks for tracks would probably be Trenton, Atlanta Motor Speedway (1995, 2005, and 2022 along with a RC varient) and Michigan International Speedway (1981 and 2022 along with multiple RC variants including the external course)

 

I agree for the ovals but you also have to think about the other series. We only have one American street circuit, which is not enough to recreate the indycar and CART. There is also the IMSA which needs an additional circuit. Also, if I had to select tracks, it would be Miami Homestead (historical and modern versions), Detroit and Sebring.

 

What may also contribute at least a little is that AMS2 released in 2020 while iRacing relesed in 2008, which are 12 years difference.

 

good multiplayer, something every other game severley under estimates the importance of

 

Lets hope AMS2 can content in the future

 

Or knows they won't gain a competitive edge in, without unrealistic technical and marketing spend.

 

While I get what you're saying, Iracing has all of those things outside of historical Miami. You're missing the point of my suggestion, it's to do something Iracing and every other sim isn't. You're not gonna make a dent in Iracings numbers if the only thing you got over Iracing is Homestead with the old banking. You will if you do the one highly suggested thing Iracing and every other sim in the past 2 decades hasn't done.

 

It makes sense for Iracing to concentrate on oval (asphalt & dirt) content because it's an north american dev, of course they want to please their US audience. Outside of the USA oval racing is more or less a niché (correct me if I'm wrong but that's how I see it) and that's why all the other devs do not have a focus on ovals. It's really simple.

And I bet not many european, south american and asian (etc) customers are keen to get more oval content. So why should Reiza aim to rival Iracing regarding oval content? Don't get me wrong: I like oval racing, it's something different but if I have to choose I'll take road racing.

Imo Reizas strength is having south american content and especially historic content. That's where they should expand even more. That is their unique strength. Not oval racing.

Just my two cents.

 

I see ovals as boring and most of my motorsport friends see it as boring. There is a EU NASCAR series, but not a lot of people care of ovals here.
Just my European opinion

 

My two cents on this is that Mp and single player against the AI in AMS2 are lacking. Issues have been logged by users here on the forum, so Reiza is probably aware of them and as always, things will keep improving.

My personal issue with it is that although the game has never driven this good before, I don't feel encouraged to play it as often as I play other games where the AI behaves more realistically. Being playing Ams2 since day 1 and currently I can't just stand the AI behaviour. I guess many mp players will feel the same towards mp. Again, change will come, it always does, fingers crossed it makes most happy.

 

I do agree with your point to an extent... More historic street tracks would be absolutely awesome... And I struggle to watch oval racing as a huge part of watching the race is the track and how the driver attacks it from onboard cameras... And ovals just don't inspire the same awe of the driving control for me because there's little to no braking going on...

But I still tend to agree with Lucifer's original point as what they are suggesting combines Reiza's strengths with what they have produced so far in the Racing USA series... Historic and oval content...

Just having a few ovals isn't really enough to tickle the Indycar/CART urges that so many have and will go to the moddable sims that have the other tracks or iRacing to get their thrills...

For me I'd at least want 3 more parts for the Racing USA series...

A part for the endurance racing with Sebring, Road Atlanta and Mid Ohio...

A part for the street tracks with Detroit, St Pete and Surfers Paradise

A part for the ovals that have vintage, historic, modern and road course options...