Automobilista 2 May 2024 Development Update - The Road to V1.6 Pt1

Hi.
I found reducing the throttle sensitivity extremely useful also. I found that at default if I held the throttle down by only 25% the revs would steadily climb to almost maximum!
Regarding the logitech pro wheel base, would you recommend it?
I also have a ps5 and am looking to replace my Simplicity dd setup ( which is excellent btw) for something that is cross platform compatible. There's really not much choice in that regard apart from fanatec who I'm not keen on these days.
Your thoughts would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

 

I can’t reveal anything which hasn’t been announced so read the dev updates to see if there’s anything audio related

 

from my little experience, the AI in AMS2 is one of the best, but you have to use at least 105 difficulty, in stock car 2024, I have great races against the AI, I run with 112 difficulty, as for GT3 G2, I run with 109, apparently if you lower the difficulty, the AI doesn't simply get slower, it seems like it gets less intelligent, so to speak.

 

It is not an update. IMO It is a full reboot.

 

Why wouldn’t it do that? It doesn’t mean it’s producing net torque (positive - losses) at redline so this by itself isn’t an issue.

 

Well let's just say that in the 35 years of driving 100s of cars I've never encountered a throttle response like that!
Now I admit none of those were race cars but saying that neither are all of the cars in ams2.
So are you saying that a small input on the throttle while in neutral should max out the revs?

 

From my tests (and boy have i done many of them) there is no "inteligence" difference between difficulties because in the current release built the AI does not have abilities that would make the racing proper. Yes since the Le Mans update they finally are able to properly follow the draft and get the speed beneffit from it but it was still nowhere near strong enough to give them a fighting chance.

I keep hearing that 1.6 has improved the AI massively again and i will definitely start doing tests again Day 1, but try something like GT3 Gen2 at the full Le Mans track at 120 difficulty and you will keep going forward with no resistance from any of the other AI drivers, in fact they keep giving you room when you as a driver do not deserve it and yield far too quickly even when it is clear for them.

The AI has great features like random accidents and small mistakes but i have yet to enjoy an AI race with how easy it is to exploit right now, and with the difficulty only changing how quick they are. Until these things get fixed the offline mode is just racing around the AI, and not with them.

Aggression levels anything above Medium will lead to AI being out for blood and causing nonsense crashing, especially with open wheel cars which i have not been able to have a good race with at Monza 91 ever because how they hook each other coming through the chicane every time.

 

I almost got a heart attack but then I realised it was just fun (and almost got another heart attack)…

 

Yes. If the throttle is able to flow enough air to produce peak power near redline (and doesn’t suck for its displacement) it can be quite closed and still win its own losses thus climbing to redline. It’s hard to say what input % exactly, but 25% is quite a bit. It also depends on the engine, could need a lot less, a bit more. There is of course the issue of mechanical vs throttle by wire as latter can be whatever is programmed. But from what I found online for example RX-8 needs only about 20% input to redline from latter category of throttles.

Btw. I’m in no way saying that it isn’t sensitive, just merely addressing the 25% to redline thing. If some car does it with 8% that’s another conversation. Also there are other aspects to it as throttle input curves (whether they ”fall out of” mechanical throttle physics or designed like torque demand tables) are three dimensional

 

Let's not get carried away. If Crammond was still making racing sims, we'd be 10 years ahead of where we are now.

 

80% is the default setup for many cars (the ones I drive, at least).
I have a different take... I always put the brake pressure at 100% because those cars don't lock-up brakes even at 100%! On other sims, I do find the max break pressure by doing a full brake at max speed. A car cannot lock-up fronts in those circumstances and 100% brake power in those sims will do it.
On a high downforce car (like Porsche 963), the fronts lock-up at 100-120Km/h which, in my opinion, is not the most realistic (the downforce is long gone by then) - these cars can take 100% break for a brief moment (0.3-0.5s) with straight wheels and then is brake lift all the way to just before the apex (the inside wheel is going to give up very quickly, be prepared ).

Like in normal road, a slow driver is a living hazard. AMS2's AI is (currently) too cautious leading to dangerous situations. For instance, an LMDh will leave 1-2 car lengths when approaching a GT3 if it's near a turn. I guess that behaviour is just the result of the half-cooked AI v1.5 has. It has not there before and (my wild guess) will not be there in 1.6 .

Uuhhh... a modern car will limit the revs but a car with no ECU rev control (for instance, with carburator) should go to max rev with just small throttle input. It just have to overcome internal engine frictions etc.

 

Anyone excited for the LMDh bump starts? Would be cool if there was an option to start formation laps from the pitlane. I have been nerding HARD over the new IMSA content, was the main reason why I got this sim in the first place lol.

 

The bump starts are indeed cool

 

Not mate that's completely wrong. Had various mk2 rs escorts over the years, some on twin 45 carbs and you could balance the rpm at whatever you like with progressive throttle inputs.

 

I've had a few Ford/Weber combinations in the past too and entirely agree, however I have no problem at all balancing the throttle in the game in just the same way. it is at the best I've felt, the fine control perfect.

 

Only the Aggression setting affects how the AI sees and behaves around other AI and us. As others have said, sometimes a more aggressive setting can work better than a lower one even if you are not wanting highly aggressive opponents. Worth experimenting with. The Strength setting is simply the speed of AI...you can try to match it as well as possible to your own lap times, but there is zero value in increasing it significantly past your own level. The more differentiation there is between the AI speeds and your speed, the higher the likelihood of inadvertent accidents between the AI and you.

The throttle response is authentic and yes, when driving on the edge of grip (on race track in a race car or in a boring economy car on snowy/icy suburban streets), extreme care is needed with the throttle. Feel free to turn it down if it helps enjoyment of the game, but it might also be useful to learn careful throttle control as it is a major part of racing. One of the reasons race cars may lean towards more sensitive throttle than in a road car is because the goal of a good race car setup is one that you can balance the car in a corner with the throttle as much as the steering wheel. I am happy to report that this is one of the areas worked on (successfully IMO) in the new version 1.6

And yes, if you apply throttle in neutral in any car, you should easily be able to hit red line with not much pedal application. The throttle map (or cable activation in an older car) is designed to have a pleasant result (closer to linear) when the car is in gear and moving (and the engine is therefore under load). Many modern road cars purposefully use a reverse curve for the throttle (especially in North America)--making it very sensitive in the first quarter or third of the pedal travel to trick you into thinking the car has high performance. It works great until you need to pass another vehicle on a small highway and realize the car has no oomph left in the lower half of the throttle). Marketing over engineering sense...

 

I think you’re just disagreeing on the semantics of small input at this point if you agree with the sim . Joaquim has a point, and it doesn’t exclude fine control as first quarter or third of throttle pedal travel is still plenty to work with. Or did those carbs have a cable linkage that lowered initial sensitivity?

Anyway probably enough said already, throttle sensitivity is obviously there for a reason so feel free to use it . There can be differences in how easy it is to modulate the first third of input with everyone’s setup after all and that’s what counts.

 

Actually, I think the same as you about AI. But it would be possible that the AI and its programming would work better if we had to fight harder to get to it.

e.g.: Defend the position when the rear vehicle is 5 meters away, but make room when it shortens to 3 meters.

If we now need longer to work our way into the attack area thanks to an AI at 110%, the AI could probably block significantly more often than before.

maybe...

 

Re: My original point on throttle sensitivity; I really think it might be something to do with my particular rig (Logitech Pro). Maybe it’s just calibrated differently than some of the other available options. But someone asked what I am used to- On AC, ACC, LMU, RRE, F1 23, this doesn’t happen to me. Turning down the throttle sensitivity to 0% fixed the issue. I sat there with the haptics and looked at what the throttle was doing on different sensitivity settings. Just the input meters. I tried many different settings. 50% being linear. For me, the way I like it to feel and respond, 0% felt normal. I’m just saying what worked for me. And here we have found other users with the same wheel who are reporting it also helped them. So I believe there is something to it!

Visually on the input meter, the throttle is clearly not linear at 0%. You get much less input until halfway through the pedal input. But oddly, is literally the only setting that allows me to control cars in AMS2. For a while I was only playing AMS2 and I sort of got used to 50% linearity. But going back to another sim, come back to AMS2, it would feel uncontrollable again.

I don’t know what’s more realistic or not but I have driven a pretty powerful car in real life and it didn’t behave like that so I’m just saying what works for me. It’s not a negative or a positive comment! Just hoping it helps any other users who may be experiencing things similarly to me enjoy Ams2 more, as I have!

I personally have more fun in this sim than any of the others. Some have said the graphics look cartoonish but I find them beautiful to look at. The graphics are amazing and the performance of the Madness engine on my almost 10 year old gaming rig is stunning. 100fps or more usually.

Also Aza340 asked about my opinion on the Logitech rig- Personally I love it, but it is the only real wheel & pedals setup I’ve ever had. I find the quality and feel of it to be amazing. I love the pedals. The wheel build quality is beautiful and has a great feel. I had no software issues with PC or PS5 *EXCEPT* that Logitech Ghub usually causes AMS2 to crash on launch. And it hangs the entire computer and you can only do a hard power off and restart manually. No software restart via Windows is possible when this occurs. So just make sure Ghub’s not running before you launch AMS2 and you’re golden. I feel like they fixed that with the most recent Ghub update because it hasn’t happened recently when I accidentally left it on but it is just something to be aware of.

Otherwise I did have one hardware issue with the Pro Wheel rim which I reported to Logitech. It was a pain but I shipped it back to them and they sent me a new wheel rim. Can’t fault them there.

I do think the design of the rim is somewhat flawed. I literally have calluses from the stitching of the wheel. It ends in a bunch where your thumbs rest. Poorly thought out, should’ve been stitched on the top. And the rotary dials which I usually map to TC/ABS are in the way if you need to make a quick huge turn, you’ll often bump them and adjust a setting unintentionally.

Otherwise it’s been super solid, very high quality, and feels great. Fanatec- No thanks! Everything you read or hear about them points to the demise of that company.

Disclaimer* the same reason as you, I wanted ps5 compatibility. Had it not been for that, I would’ve gone a different direction. Now I realize GT7 sort of sucks even with a wheel in terms of being a “sim” I might’ve gone a different way anyway, but I am still very happy with the Logitech Pro anyway.

Cheers mates! Can’t wait for v1.6! The Caddy bump starting and the new windshields look and the tyre updates coming and the IMSA and Alpine partnership- Who wouldn’t be stoked for 1.6?!