A small bit of explanation. I started getting into racing playing GranTurismo 3 on the ps2 when I was very young. My mom saved her money and bought me a logitech driving force wheel which I used for the next 15 years on various racing games. I had a major life change when I discovered raceroom and pcars 2. Actual attempts at simulation compared to what I had been playing before. I started buying gear. Thousands of dollars later and I'm still loving it. I can spend hours just in practice mode, having fun just driving the cars. But recently I have been doing actual races against the ai. The problem is the only ai I actually have fun with is raceroom. But I don't really like raceroom anymore. The graphics are outdated and the ffb feels unhelpful to me. So I spend most of my time in ams2. But the ai is just so bad. Just a train of boring drivers that aren't great drivers but never make mistakes or challenge me. When you've finally had enough of changing difficulty settings and restarting your race, you can get the ai very close to your level. But then you notice how bad it is. They are slow into corners, impossibly fast out of corners. You just can't race them because they are so incoherent. You're either passing them all in one corner or rubber banding with their inconsistencies turn to turn. Don't get me started on how hard it is to race them in the wet. Long story short, I want to get into online racing. The problem is I'm not very good. All I've ever done is drive laps aimlessly in practice or "race" against bad ai. How do I get into online racing without ruining other people's races and having them upset with me? If I brake too early and everyone crashes into me with ai, they just go right back on track with no problems. But an actual person would have his race ruined and be very upset. How do I get started? I tried iracing but the ffb was horrible and the other drivers kept crashing me! I'd prefer to stick with ams2. Sorry for my bad English and thanks for your help.
Just find a lobby with a combo you're comfortable with and jump in. The overall skill level in the open lobbies is so poor, you're likely to be better than half the drivers in there anyway.
With the skill level being poor, is there a chance I can still find some good drivers to follow? Or will I be getting crashed off the track and penalized for it like Iracing? I just want some good lines to follow to understand what the better drivers are doing and what I should be doing. I often just felt I am struggling to keep my car on track while trying to keep up with better drivers when I have tried online racing in the past. It made me quit for a few years because they would crash at me and send me unpleasant messages about my bad driving.
First you need to git gut. Know where to avoid overtaking, know how to tackle T1 without crashing, etc, etc. Getting top 5, 3, pole, etc. Then you can look forward to leagues. They often have a bit more skilled players.
To learn better lines for a given car and track combo, I'd suggest time trial mode vs other drivers' ghosts. Some things like the tyre wear and fuel usage are locked in TT but I don't think that would make a difference for you. Pick a car and rack, run 5 laps or so, then exit to the menu and see where you are ranked. Then load the load of someone a bit faster than you and try to catch them. Once you have beaten them, reload again with a faster ghost. Eventually you'll get much faster at the car and track. The downside is it's possible to see some bad habits from the ghost depending on how they are driving, but you'll also see a variety of lines and approaches to the lap which might help you reflect on your own strengths and weaknesses. For instance you might find that your mid corner speed as on par but you can't brake as late as others and this will then be an area to work on.
You can also enter a race and opt for 'Spectate' or 'Monitor'. That way you can watch the racing lines of the player you want to see. This way you will be in the car, but not driving it. Then you will experience that other driver also make mistakes
I agree with this in principle but have found in AMS2 the experience to be very buggy. From the litle things like the gear indicator changing and the driver's hands moving over an invisible steering wheel to car that vibrate back and forth to the po8int it can make you feel sick to watch.
Unfortunately I am finding that the car/track combinations I feel comfortable with aren't very popular in the mp lobbies. I've checked the multiplayer tab many times over the past couple of weeks. There's usually like 10 to 15 lobbies and they're usually the same few cars and tracks. Mostly open wheelers, which I can't use in ams2 due to the in game wheel not switching off. There are also small lock icons next to many of them which I suspect means I can't join. I may have to go to another game for multiplayer unfortunately
Have a search through Facebook to find AMS2 groups and join the AMS2 Facebook page, because people promote their private AMS2 groups in there and links to their discords too. You won’t have any real fun or variation with public lobbies, but the private lobbies created by the Facebook groups and discord groups will give you an enjoyable time in AMS2 online. Hopefully one day AMS2 will run servers similar to raceroom and iracing and then their online will be worth a look for variety and safety rating etc. In the mean time, I highly recommend jumping into Facebook groups and discord groups to find far better, more enjoyable and varied alternatives to public lobbies.
@Anthony 123 Have you tried JustRace.net? You're welcome to join the AMSU Discord: Join the AMS UNOFFICIAL Discord Server!
Joining a league is the best thing I ever did in order to learn and enjoy online racing. Dont worry about not being good enough and look for something beginner level. Youll never join another public server again.
