and I mean features, not content. So for me, certainly it's the bigger field size. 32's always been nice - 25 years ago back when 6 or 8 cars on track at the same time was the peak, having 32 is a luxury. But GTR2's had up to 100 cars on track, I don't know how many rFactor, AC or iRacing allows. I think ACC does do a lot of cars on track also. Obviously AMS2 has the limitation because of higher cpu physics calculations and what not. But I think having 44 (is it 44?) for AMS2 will be very, very nice. It will go a long way to making endurance races feel chaotic the way the do in real life. It won't rival irl Spa 24, but it should match the IMSA and WEC grids quite nicely. What about you?
Well, the new tracks and cars of course. But the one single I'm looking for is a better AI behaviour under blue flags, mainly on multi-class racings. Currently it's almost impossible to have realistic endurance races when you're on the faster class. No matter how bad you drive, eventually the leaders will catch up with the slower classes and stumble behind them, giving you many seconds to catch up. I'm a very bad driver and still I manage to score P1s on every 2-3 hours races when I'm driving prototypes. Also concerning AI, a better behaviour for pit stops strategies on long races (such as a 100% distance F1 GP). Still on the AI topic, a better behaviour concerning karts. I love karts but both the physics and the AI are a complete mess in AMS2. And it's not like Reiza is not able to do a proper kart. They already did it on AMS1, one of the best kart physics in my opinion. And a very good AI. The only reason I see why karts are a mess is because they didn't give it the proper attention, focusing on more important content. And another thing I'm really looking forward is the increase on AI numbers. And the update on the tires physics. And rain. And the new cars. And the updated cars. And the new tracks. And the new UI. And the integration with LFM. And the improved sounds. And the shining wet tires. And the marks and scratches on the windshield. And, and, and...
I think perhaps i'm looking forward to the things we haven't heard about yet. It is easy to be explicitly excited about A New Lambo, but it is less so about General Bugfixes. I have a feeling there will be various changes and bugfixes I wouldn't have thought of, but that I will appreciate a lot once I know about them. That and basically, improvements to AI pit behaviour as Renan points out. It is jarring to lose a race just because the AI did fewer pit stops than you because they are less affected by fuel weight, etc.
In my experience the AI usually pits way more often than the player during endurance races. They consistently, the entire grid I think, puts in just enough fuel as it takes to change tires - for them around half a tank or so. Whereas I usually prefer to start with a full tank and run that 'till it runs out and fill it up all the way - so my pit stops are usually longer, but I pit fewer times. Incidentally, my strategy was slower in GT3s, but much faster in a mod for Group5s.
I agree with you. My problem with the AI pitting is that they do MORE stops than it's necessary. Many times they stop just before 3 or 4 laps to go instead of managing the car, therefore ruining the experience in the end. Let me share a recent example. Last Saturday I raced the 2023 Great Britain GP against the AI at 100% and medium aggression (I'm using a custom AI that came with the 2024 liveries). Everything was set according to the real event, except for the racing distance, which I set for 50% of the real race. Time acceleration, tires degradation and fuel consumption were all set to 2x. I double checked if the max fuel capacity was enough. The rules, of course, were no refueling and a mandatory pitstop with 4 tires change. The first thing wrong was the historical weather, despite being the exact same day and hour. My race was raining a little bit at the first few laps while the real event was partially clouded. I started last with hard slicks. I dunno what the AI was using, but I'm pretty sure it was soft compounds. Somewhere around 30% of the race most of the AI started pitting. I dunno what they went for, but now I'm 3rd. And just a few laps after I'm 1st. I stop somewhere around 60% of the race for medium tires and fall back to last again. But with only 3 or 4 laps remaining all the AI cars stop again for new tires and I win the race. The end. I don't understand anything about programming or artificial intelligence, but it is as if the AI have no other options but to change tires when they reach a certain threshold of degradation. They don't change their pace. They don't have a racing strategy. They always go 100%. On the other hand, I've seen AI going bananas on Monaco, crashing and going on the top of each other like dogs in heat, and then walking away as if nothing happened, without the need to stop for repairs. Only on VERY FEW occasions I saw the AI driving slowly with mechanical damages after an accident and then pitting for repairs. I hope the next development cycle will focus on these small adjustments. They may not be as fancy as a shiny new Lambo or a car field increase, but it's those small details that make people become so passionate about a game.
oof, yeah. I think I've been able to get around issues like that by using x2 fuel and x3 tire wear. So it forces me to pit, and then the AI also pits, and the chips will fall where they may. It'll never be perfect, but it works well enough for me in most cases.
