Automobilista 2 March 2023 Development Update

Answer 1: AMS2 had a bad release because they became the immediate focus of all the cumulated hate for Ian Bell, SMS, PC2 and everything that smells like them and on top of this nobody listened to Reiza when they said AMS2 was a long term project and to quote what Renato said almost 3 years ago "Rome wasn't built in a day". Yet lots of people/influencers with a Master's Degree in simracing (but without the first clue of real life vehicle dynamics) promptly concluded that Madness Engine was doomed to "simcade" (whatever that means no one knows yet) forever by its own "limitations" without even knowing what is under the hood.
Answer 2: see Answer 1
Answer 3: see Answer 1

 

New Indycar is out on RD, I think this mod will prove to be very popular and hope it inspires other modders to participate.

 

I think it's expected for racing simulators like AMS2.

Firstly, if you visit their website or read the Steam store page Reiza are up front about this. They clearly state that development for this project will be on going for years.

But more generally, titles like AMS2 are developed by independent and/or smaller studios that do not have the same capital backing as a larger studio might. This means that income needs to start flowing earlier in the project, so that it can continue to be viable.
If you look at the history of racing sims over the last 20 years, or really any large indie project, you will see this is a common approach.

Personally, I love jumping on board for the development journey - watching improvements evolve and new content come in.
If you don't share this view, I'd strongly recommend you wait until Reiza stop developing AMS2, then decide whether or not you want to buy it.

 

Indycar made such a massive mistake turning down Reiza...

 

This... This 1000%...

Every sim has gone through a development cycle and as everything, not just the coding, has gotten more complex the room for error has increased drastically... There's not 1 sim on the market right now that didn't go through a post release development cycle... So anyone holding true to the standards of 2001 for a 1.0 game aren't living in reality any more... Game development, especially in the sim racing market has moved onto the perpetual BETA as the standard model of operation...

It's not just the small teams that do this it's something is all throughout game development... CyberPunk 2077 or Skyrim anyone???

I don't expect anything different from the newly announced titles either... They'll take 3-5 years before they'll be worth the investment... I just hope that none of them end up with development cycles similar to that of pCARS or rF2... Where SMS moved onto the next title too quickly and rF2 has taken over a decade to get to where it is...

 

It'll be interesting to see how AC2 and GTR Revival (GTRR?) progress. If GTRR offers 3rd party DLC (they say they'll support mods but traditional modding will probably be limited to PC, so they need a way to sell officially licensed "mods") it would be cool to have Reiza's content exposed to the console world, as more people need to experience it...I wouldn't be surprised if there's already development work for UE5 going on behind the scenes, maybe that'll be the key to us getting our hands on some of the top wishlist tracks...

 

Traditional modding shouldn't just be limited to PC... If Skyrim can have mods on the previous generation of consoles, sim racing titles can have mods on console too...

 

I didn't know Skyrim had mods in the console versions, that's awesome! Makes you wonder how popular a mod-enabled console release of AC would be nowadays?

 

I hope these large organisations start to realise this soon. Exclusivity is futile.

Hopefully Reiza succeed in making mods easier to install as well.

 

How many years has the GPL community worked on tracks and cars to improve the sim after it was finished.Papyrus implemented FFB with a patch later after release.And it still lives...

 

they can take as much time as they need

I aint in a rush m8, i have patience with rF2 which is broken for much longer than AMS 2 and have a team with more resources than Reiza.

Criticism is valid but i think its more useful to point out individual issues at a bug forum and have some patience.

 

They can still change their mind in the future

 

Never underestimate the talent of American open-wheel racing to shoot itself in the foot...

The history of OWR in America is just one dumb decision after another. It's a miracle Indycar still exists. I thought that things would change when Penske bought the series, but no.

 

Indycar is too stupid, they haven't made a single good video game related decision since 1995.

 

I'm sure Reiza and some other companies don't want/cannot spend more than some thousends.
So maybe its too much effort to earn just peanuts in their eyes.
MSG could have spent such a big value for the series, that every other compeditor is out of interrest.

Its more or less a simple calculation. (very simpified)
Take 36$ game prize and take away 32$ for team, distributor, marketing etc
Divide the rest through about 200 (cars & tracks ) and then you get the amount of license fees left per item.
This 1 to 5 cent multiplied with paying users is? NOT really much
Maybe just a lunch for 4 persons in their VIP club.

 

I'm willing to bet that's what actually happened. MSG said, we'll give you (Indycar) $xx,000,000 for a 10 year excusivity deal, and Indycar said yes because at the time they look posed to become a decent game studio and it was money in the bank after Covid.

Then MSG made Nascar 21, the worst licensed sports game ever created
Then we hear about the horrible work conditions and lack of vision.
Then the Russia vs Ukraine war started crippling their mostly russian dev team.
Then they went bankrupt
Then the entire board resigned
Then they came within days of being delisted for the stock exchange

The only reason MSG still exists is they got bailed out by their parent company, and while they were floundering, that's when Reiza and Indycar were in talks... Sadly they turned down the kings of Open Wheeled racing sims, (And Iracing for that matter) in exchange for the polished turd that has "Time trials and Photo Mode" as back of the box features...

But where Indycar fails, the Indycar fans step up. Now we have a incredible mod, for free, that is on par with Reiza's own cars, where the only downside is it's mildly annoying to install, and you can't race the ovals. (yet)

 

From comments from iRacing devs, IndyCar didn't really see the potential in sim-racing until the pandemic. iRacing claimed they didn't have access to all of the data on the IR18 to bring it up to the standard of most cars on the service, then they got butchered by the drivers publicly bashing the physics of the car. While I don't like iRacing's tire model, you have to feel bad for them given IndyCar wanted the publicity of official events without giving them the tools they needed.

The MSG situation just wreaked of corporate speak and brands not doing due diligence. Maybe the bail out and a restructure could salvage these projects, who really knows.

I'm fine with AMS2 not having an official IR18 if modding becomes easier and good enough. Look at the quality of paid AC mods from VRC, RSS, etc. from a sim way past it's dev cycle. I haven't tried the new IndyCar mod yet, but the overall response looks good.

 

Hear, hear! I tried the mod last evening, thinking that it might be "decent"... Wow! I was blown away! It's a *superb* mod, worthy of being a DLC on the Steam store, and it's *free*! Some people have noted that the traction of the rear wheels is a bit too forgiving when you step on the gas, could be, I honestly don't know because I lack experience with Indycars. But it feels great and it's an amazing gift for AMS2 users.