Automobilista 2 V1.5 Officially RELEASED - Now updated to V1.5.0.5

basically I started using sim since the release of rF1, and the GTR series. I have always used online since the very beginning. Offline for training only.
Of course I don't know all the sim-racers, but the point is that everyone I've known in the last 20 years, continues with online.
I understood that AMS2 is fine for you and it is not a problem since you will surely use the SP. But your certainty that there are only players mostly in SP and therefore the MP shouldn't be developed, I want to remind you that there are many players who play in MP, but use the SP to make race simulations, and prepare in practice, and it widens the catchment area of the SP.
Your reasoning made in a few posts back, practically makes it clear that "REIZA, don't develop MP, so few use it". Nonsense speech and it is not possible to prove it.

 

No, I think you misunderstood what I'm saying. I'm probably also garbage at getting my point across. I'm an online player btw.

 

I personally think the comparisons to ACC are not appropriate to be honest, that game was solely built on the competition aspect with only one BoPed series in mind (even though they added more now), while AMS2s content lends itself much better to single player in general, being able to recreate historic races or championships with its many cars and unmatched time-accurate historic tracks. Also many series don't even suit that competitive focus with some completely unbalanced classes where 1 car ist just clearly the fastest in almost every constellation.

On the other hand, a good and stable multiplayer experience is important to a big part of the simracing playerbase, which is a niche in a niche already as mentioned a few times before, and also to this community as can be seen in every dev-update thread.
It is also really important for the longevity of a racing sim if you don't have the infinite mods incoming like Assetto Corsa does.

 

Speaking for myself, driving the cars on practise with AI, adjusting setup's and then doing races with the AI. Mainly testing different track/cars combos with different conditions

 

That is actually not true. I have a nice rig and enjoy AMS2 in SP and so do many others here. AMS has a history of being a SP friendly Sim unlike most other Sim's out there. I have done MP in the past in closed leagues but it is not a "must have" for me.

 

I have been sim racing on pc for some 16 years and have never been an online racer, have done the odd race or two here and there but never a championship or league. At first I couldn't be bothered to set time aside for the schedules and now I simply have no time and prefer to play at my leisure.

My offline racing is basically a roleplaying one, I use almost exclusively the carrer/championship mode on most of the sims I play. Sometimes I do some time trials to see how competitive I can be, but that's about it.

That's why as good as RF2 is I lose interest in it quickly because setting up championships is a hassle and in need of other programs and setting up drivers. AMS2 while still in need of some immersion features, is still the best and more importantly easiest to set up offline championships and roleplay with the sim.

 

It saddens me to say this, but the league racing model is slowly dying. Times have changed.

 

I can only speak for myself, but i use Test Day to test changes in beta, and I also like to experience driving cars. I already liked to do that in AC. I also do shorter or longer single races against the AI and I usually have either an active Championship or I play with the external carreer Apps.

 

If i were Renato, i would absolutely prioritise the multiplayer aspect of AMS2.

There's so much amazing content in the sim already.
The physics are at a level that are believable and perfectly adequate for 95% of racers.
The performance of the graphics engine Reiza decided to go with is already far beyond most other sims (especially in VR).

The one thing that now lets AMS2 down, and i believe stops league and online racers taking up this sim is the online multiplayer/dedi server.
It's just not anywhere near the level it should be for a 2023 sim title.

"If you build it, they will come", as a film once proclaimed

 

I don't know, if I were Renato and I knew I have a 100k player base and only 20k do race online, I'd be mad if I started working on the online side of things first.
It is indisputable that an improved MP experience, maybe with scheduled races and proper tools for league racing AMS2 would get much more exposure and bring in online players from other titles.

 

You only say that because it's your preference. I would prioritise the SP aspect, because then i could be different from the other sims that all focus on online stuff and don't offer any real gameplay. And because SP is my preference ^^

SP can just as well be a draw for people as MP, if done well.

 

It is mainly online for me and AMS2. I use the Test Day to, well, test things for races or to just have a hit out in a favourite car on a fav track - MP4/5 and Jacarepagua historic, say.
I don't think I've done more than 2 actual SP races, and then only to test out situations and settings for online races. R3E used to be my jump-in-and-go sim, until AMS2 came along. But RaceRoom was strictly off-line as I found the ratings system and weird H pattern online settings a turn off. AMS2 though, as easy as it is to just fire up and go off-line, also lends itself to MP racing through the ease of both ingame lobbies and dedicated server setups. The MP just needs many of the weird bugs to be squashed, and a stable platform to be both the expectation and the rule, to flourish.

 

If I had any influence on Reiza I would advice them to keep the simple set up PtoP MP system they have now.
BUT advice them to buy or licence a stable 3rd party server based MP system beside the PtoP thing.
And then create some kind of interface between this and the Madness engine.
With a switch between the 2 systems.

Because then Reiza could (hopefully) handle the bugs one by one in the old PtoP system,
and at the same time get a lot of satisfied customers because the new professional server based system was functioning at least as good as the competition.

ByTheWay: Wishfull thinking because I have absolutely no influence on Reizas decisions

ByTheWay2: Yeah thinking about it Reiza could ask iRacing to buy the old NR2003 MP system they have in their cellar

 

I got a pretty serious sim rig. I race offline and online with friends. No leagues or iracing or ACC at the moment. I have in the past sporadically. Been sim racing with a wheel and pedals for 25 years.

 

"Times have changed" how ? What does that even mean ? I am in an AMS2 league for nearly a year now and we have an average 15 people per race every single week. Nothing has been changing there at least for the time that i am in there.

 

where are all your peeps, proximity

 

See your logic is wrong and very close minded to only see what you see as right...... Which is a very bad take.... And anyone who has this take is completely wrong. You need to open your mind and realize that you are not the only person on this earth. Every single person on this earth does not live your life.

I've been "sim" racing since I purchased my first wheel back in the very late 90's and have played a good number of racing games since then.

My setup is 'ok' (check signature) and does what I need it to do but I play ZERO online.... ZERO... in ANY game / sim. The only thing I've participated in is the beta tests because when they came up I was able to play during that timeframe online.

Any other time of my day I simply CANNOT play online.

My life isn't as wonderful as yours is to have free time to spend in my rig. This is because at ANY point in time I NEED to be available to help which means if I'm driving then I have to hit pause. The last time I checked you can't hit pause in an online game.

The reason is for the past almost 4 years now I no longer have any free time or time to myself because my daughter suffered a major... major brain injury which requires nurses to be in my house for up to 20 hours A DAY. With that and my wife I NEED to be available to help out and sometimes that's every 5 min or sometimes it's every 20 or 30 min. But the thing is.. I never know when I will be needed for help or when something is going to happen.

So again. I CAN'T play online because of this reason.

So no.. I'm not just practicing... I'm not just waiting for the next online race.

I race the AI and the AI ONLY because I LOVE to drive and it's the ONLY way I can use my very VERY limited free time to enjoy the thing that I LOVE most.... Driving.

 

I guess by now you must have already figured out the AI racing pattern (which corners they go wide, which they go too slow, too fast, etc, etc, regardless of AI talent files). I'm surprised it doesn't bother you, because that is the thing that kills AI racing for me

Finetuning is happening sure, but still... it will take forever to cover a large portion of the combos, and so far there isn't an official or unnoficial list of "hey, play this combo because it has been finetuned to a great degree".

 

Of course. But I don't have any other options...

I play AC as well and the AI there are just... Well you know...

 

I have other racing games for just pre AI racing too because i also want to just enjoy driving with a full field of cars on whatever car and track i feel like, and unfortunately because the AI racing in AMS2 is mostly still just nowhere near a satisfying level. It has improved a lot, but the list of problems is also still long, and at least the devs are aware of them.