Automobilista 2 V1.5.5.0, Le Mans & Endurance Pack Pt1 RELEASED - Now Updated to V1.5.5.6

Yesterday evening I drove the V10 Gen2, US-2023 and V12 F1. All great and I thought about to give those cars more time in future. It's a big dilemma. So much stuff to drive and you have to make your decisions...

 

Woah, the F-V12 has come alive. Fantastic feeling in this car now.

 

Also tried this car and some others of similar class - felt really good.
Driving in AMS2 now feels rewarding (not just fun for couple of laps for throwing the car around) - no more cranking the wheel to induce 4wheel slide while applying sloppy inputs and just sending where you entered the corner too fast.
Tire pendulum effect appears to be completely reduced (at least the cars I have tried).
Snappy oversteer will occur occasionally and requires faster and more precise corrections instead of feeling like in slow motion...
I haven't tested all the cars - for example LMP1 feels kind of boring and uneventful still - maybe it should be like that - don't know.
Haven't tried formulas yet.

Not saying it's endgame but for me V1.5.5.2 "minor" tire thread adjustment feels like a change that finally passes a threshold where AMS2 feels like it has believable tires instead of bullsh.. fantasy tires which behave like radials but have grip of modern slicks making this sim don't drive like a "sim".

This "minor" change feels "bigger" to making the tires behave behave realistically (finally) at the limit and it's what I expected to see in "big" update 1.5.5.0 that was supposed to have these tire fixes.

 

Yeah, I love that it's quite twitchy now, which seems appropriate for the era.

Although based on my (very very brief) test drive yesterday I got the feeling that the peak of grip was reached and surpassed just a little too early, particularly in mid-speed corners. (That was on Cascais '88.) Sometimes I just wanted to go through a turn without the rear stepping out, so I tried to be constant on the steering and throttle and avoid any sudden inputs, but the rear seemed to step out no matter what. Bear in mind this was just my experience over two, maybe three laps before I had to quit, so maybe there's more to it.

 

Yeah that pendulum effect is very minimized if not gone. Funny how I got trashed for providing a video on that a few pages back and now few days later it was fixed lmao! Honestly so happy to see Reiza keep improving all the time!

 

Is that what that video was about? I thought it was showing what happens when you enter a corner 50 km/h too fast, don't brake, and then go off on to the grass? I'm going to go out on a limb, but I suspect the same thing will happen now with the latest update. And, grass will still be extremely slippy as it is in real life.

...but, I didn't study the whole video rather focused on the time stamp section you linked.

 

Apparently AMS2 got a lot more popular online, so I'll bring back one request I've made years ago: MP feature to filter out passworded lobbies. Also would be nice to either be able to filter out lobbies currently in 'race' status or at least throw these to the bottom of the list.

There are so many of these small MP features still missing.

As per usual. Worst part is when the people with the pitchforks believe you don't like the game.

 

Yes I think everyone missed that, wasn't at all about the grip, he obviously went way too fast, it was about that behavior where it turns in at initial grip then moments later understeers then back again, very odd feeling. And it's just what others have confirmed and I have gotten less of that sensation now since the patch.

So big improvements!

 

Physics improvements are certainly appreciated and awesome, but i am really hoping that the AI will receive some big improvements soon enough because even nearly two years since i started playing AMS2 the AI is still overal bad. They AI doesn't know how to set up an opponent for a possible pass and often times use their brakes unless they are totally clear, never push for any risk which is just unrealistic.

Try the F-Classic Gen 4 at Silverstone 91 and watch the AI only ever make a pass in ONE corner, that being Stowe where the car in front will go wide, basically letting the car behind pass on the inside. Difficulty 104 and MAX aggression.

 

Disagree a fair bit on "AI is still overal bad".
Its not perfect sure but generally have pretty good fun with the AI.
Only game that has significantly better AI is iRacing imo but plenty of negatives there too on other sides.

 

If you think only iRacing AI is better then i guess you haven't played many racing games. And by what arguments do you disagree with me ? Just that you "had fun" and that makes AI somehow good, or are you sure you didn't just enjoy the driving itself without paying any attention to the AI woes ?

I never really had and still do not have good races with the AI because they are too easy to exploit and the difficulty change or aggresssion set to max does not improve anything. I know at least three other games that have superrior AI to any other on the market right now but people do not want to hear about them or find nonsense counter-arguments to it anyway.

I have a higher standard by which i judge the quality of AI and if they are literally unable to recognize a human or AI opponent is about to pass them on the inside and they instead rigidly stick to their race line and give you room and more than you deserve, never block / defend, do not know how to use the draft, won't even attempt going side-by-side through more corners where it is possible and instead always yield, then that is just bad AI. Never mind the never-ending list in the AI report of AI having problems going too fast or too slow on so many tracks, like you cannot even enjoy the Suzuka GP because they are agonizingly slow in the S Curves.

But hey to actually mention the games with amazing AI - F1 22, SRX The Game, World of Outlaws - Dirt Racing. Especially in F1 22 (last one i played) the AI does all of the things i mentioned which the AMS2 AI doesn't do. Hell you have the AMS2 AI even attempt passing on the right side into the wall on ovals...


I would want someone to make a video and show me why they would think the AI in AMS2 is any good. I plan on making a video why i think the opposite and show proper comparisons.

 

Hey you are entitled to your opinion and I think you hit the nail on the head - you are much more critical. So its all about expectations.

AC AI I find impossible to get on with despite the feel is wonderful there, I put up with PC2 AI for a good while so there's that... iRacing AI is superb but the price model is just too much for an offline racer like me.

I had my fun with online but Im not prepared to put the work in (ie Im too slow) / go with schedules / put up with the toxicity - I just want jump in and quickly set up a fun race before bed time or after work without the hassle and for that AMS2 is just perfect especially with Le Mans and the ability to do a bit of WEC/IMSA now (still hoping for Road Atlanta and Sebring).

The issue is the games you mention hold no interest to me - F1 would if it didnt feel so damned horrible - I dont care for all the TV interviews/story lines/research stuff but can ignore those but I cant ignore just how horrible it feels and how poorly the tracks are modelled. I guess although I do find AI important the entire package must also be of a certain standard and F1 falls far behind.

In terms of making the video - it wont be me - Im just not inclined or able to - I just use this as a bit of entertainment but with the proviso it must feel somewhat realistic and be immersive. AMS2 ftw

 

As you say the AI do indeed still have some flaws, mainly their hesitation to overtake, going off track, pack racing and still some inconsistencies in pace between tracks and weather conditions.

But trust me, the devs are working pretty hard fine tuning them and it has improved from where it was 2 years ago. Is the AI better than F1 23? Nope, that is the benchmark IMHO for a cohesive life like race or whole race weekend simulation of any modern sim, and even then they can have some inconsistencies in some tracks. The big difference is that's a focused game with less tracks and cars and many years of fine tuning.

I for one enjoy the AI in AMS2 a lot, specially in their wheel to wheel against the player, I have seen the improvements in my time playing it and can see the potential it has.

It's not all peaches and cream, it annoys me when I see the AI back out of a clear overtake, bounce over the kerbs at Imola 88 like rabbits and turn it into a dirt track, stay in a merry go round between 2 cars for 20 laps and some other stuff I might be forgetting.

But I also love when I overshoot an overtake and they get pass, see them lose it under braking and crash, have a mechanical failure than turns the race on its head, see a driver gain time on the wet because they all have their "personalities" and just simply enjoy doing races with them.

All in all, I am still hopeful that the main flaws can be fixed, so fingers crossed!!

 

If someone here thinks that the AI is bad they should try the new Forza Motorsport

 

I can only partially agree regarding the lack of AI actively defending the inside but the F1 22 example that was brought up, has it's flaws too.
As soon as you are in a certain tenth treshold behind the AI, fake the move to the inside, AI will move to cover the inside 100% of the time and you just brush past around the outside.
At least it was this way on Spielberg Turn one back then.

 

In my opinion the AI being good or bad depends also on what and where you are racing, I have a great time racing multiclass races in Watkins Glen, Road America and Goiania for example, but if I do the same thing in Le Mans, the AI is all over the place honestly... They cant pass, they shove you out of the track and the likes.

 

I haven't played the recent F1 iterations, but while in the previous the AI did all those things, it also felt very scripted. AI finding and loosing pace out of the blue, or AI obviously cooperating to give the impresion of a fierce overtake battle (or the AI was as good to create the impresion).
I'm not saying that's bad, it serves the purpose of what AI is meant to do in the game, to give an impression of a F1 race.

But the AI in AMS 2 has to serve everything, from karts, through wat are essentially road cars, stock cars, modern GTs, old formulas, modern formulas, modern high downforce prototypes, to freaking Trucks. It is hard to do the tailroring so it is all great all the time. That's without all variance in weather (another thing that is very scripted in F1 games).
It isn't perfect. But for me it is currently the best all-around-package.

Some other sims I play
Raceroom - has great overall AI. They can do proper tyre strategy, can double stint, can have close fights between themselves and the player. Their tyre and fuel usage and pace changes matches that of the player fairly well. The issue is that they tend to run in tight packs, and if any AI falls out of the pack, they suddenly start running fastest lap times, until they catch the pack again.

RF2 - AI is very good at finding alternative lines, and defending... But they are pretty oblivious in close fight, and should you have any kind of contact with them, they will ignore it and just power through it, shoving you out of the way. They suck in strategy, they always fill the tank to the fullest.

ACC - AI race in ACC is just a procession. They hardly ever overtake each other, and are super scared of the player. But their pace change between wet and dry is fairly consistent with that of the player.

 

While we're onto that, le tme just add - Moderation tools, moderation tools, moderation tools. Kicking a player, reporting a player, track voting, these are all essential features still missing. I've been harassed by a couple players before saying slurs in the chat and taking people out and there was NOTHING I could have done, the entire lobby voted to kick them and they just came back immediately over and over. This sort of behavior shouldn't be tolerated in any multiplayer game, let alone a game that has been out for so many years. At the very least let us kick players as the lobby owners without the need to get votes from more people, as well as kicking them from that current session temporarily!

 

I'd measure AI at 3.6 Roentgen:



Sure, there's plenty of space for improvement in different areas, but calling it outright bad is just... well, bad.