Automobilista 2 March 2023 Development Update

My point is, with 3 tracks, a modded car, and no specific AI tweaks, AMS 2 is a better Nascar game than the offical Nascar Game...

 

I have three reasons why I like nr2003 over Iracing despite having time in both

1: mods, you can race any era in NASCAR history at a vast majority of the tracks ran. Iracing doesn't have Riverside, 90s Atlanta, Walt Disney World Speedway, Air Base Speedway, Pikes Peak International Raceway, Nazareth, you get the point. Iracing barely cares about historic content, you can't re-do the thrilling finale to the 1995 season because both the car and the track don't exist in Iracing. Hell up until very very recently Iracing didn't even have a Gen-4 car! Iracing doesn't have the winged COT even though they could easily release it as legacy content. And that doesn't take into account the fact that Nr2003 track creators have made versions of Albert Park, 90s Spa, Monza, Bahrain, Yas Marina and various other road courses. And that's not even diving into physics modding (which Iracing killed in its prime and is now a very niche thing but that's a story for another time)

2: Easy to customize. Your experience is your experience, anyone who can type in a simple Google search can find out how to modify AI track files and can even make you're own AI line. Me at 15 could modify and tweak the track.ini file and modify AI grip, the pacing speed, and how close the AI's will be willing to race with eachother. That's just what I knew how to do when I was 15! Anyone with more knowledge than that (which is atleast 80% of people) can do way more. I know someone who made a version of Daytona Beach (yes THAT Daytona Beach) where the AI cars will slip and slide on the sand without crashing!

And that's just with the track, the way you can customize AI driver attributes is amazing. Skill on certain types of track, qualifying, consistency, aggression and finishing are all things you can edit with the driver and they will have an effect. Not impressed? Engine, areodynamics, chasis and reliability can be changed so you can have however much or little parity you want. Oh and I almost forgot you can change the speed, consistency and strategy of the pit crew. If you want Ferrari to be in NASCAR you got their strategy blunders covered!

3: all of this is 100% free and can run on old and outdated machines. You can do everything I mentioned without spending a dime or buying new PC hardware. There is zero reason any simracer doesnt have this installed on their PC other than being ignorant of what the sim is capable of. Racing GTP cars around 90s Spa for $0.00 how can anyone say no to that?!

Is it perfect? Well it's 2 decades old so of course it isn't. The AI is awful at avoiding wrecks that happen infront of them, there are a lot of very lazy GPL track conversions, only 4 different body types per mod with only 4 different types of physics. This makes multiclass racing impossible which is a shame. Lapped cars don't get out of the way of the leaders, getting it to look as good as possible requires some .ini editing and the 4gb patch. No freecam or modern NASCAR caution rules without the help of external programs (Freecam and Better Cautions respectively). And things like creating new seasons, editing qualifying order, requires the Nr2003 Save Game Editor and bulk modifying driver stats require NRaitings. And there is a lack of mods for things like F1, GT3's and Prototypes. But IMHO it's a small price to pay when considering it's 100% free.

Ps: if you want to know how good the game looks I attached a few screenshots I took a year or two ago. One with the help of Reshade and one without it. And yes, these were taken on the old laptop with the Intel HD GPU.

 

Just found this.
Eventhough its taken from the GTP mod its exactly the same possibilities you have in the orig NR2003.


ByTheWay: Conserning the millions of free mod tracks out there for NR2003 and all its mods I can remember one of my long time favorites Paris town track

 

Eye cancer....

 

No you evil man.
Its obvious you have never tried a race in the GTP mod round on the streets of Paris.
So you dont know what you have missed

ByTheWay: Its even more fun if you (like moi) have visited Paris in RL.
Check the Paris map out here.

 

Honest question: has AMS2 race start a fixed countdown to go green?

I ask because I feel like I've unintentionally memorized when to launch the car with the lights still red to get a massive race start advantage.

Sometimes I miss the sweetspot, but in general I believe I'm far more successful than not.

 

Honest answer: Never Understood this logic

I'm only saying, If your in 1st or 2nd I understand.
If your in 7th, 10th after qualifying, you accomplish what exactly. Going 3, 4 wide into turn 1, that usually turn out well.
Getting past 4 or 5 cars that are faster than you.
So now what you create a bottle neck, someone will crash out for sure. I rather settle in and have a smooth race.. See you at the Finish

 

Meh,meh......
I had that sim bought as it was fresh and i had a BIG 3DFX Voodoo Card.
Just installed it again today after 20 years on win10 and oh,is it ugly and runs like a bag of nuts...
But in these days i had top notch harware,now it is more than outdated.
There were better tracks in GPL.

 

Moi was there when he was young.A three day trip by bus.And much beer...

 

In your 2 latest posts this Voodoo thing is the only thing that sounds sober
I was a bit too hesitant to be able to get onboard the Voodoo train before the company was killed/bought out by nVidia.
To be fair I will probably admit that by todays standards the NR2003 and its mods graphic wise does show its age. Slightly.

ByTheWay: Ahh. Conserning Indycar and ovals then Im pretty sure the sim near us cant even cope with this NR2003 Indy mod. OK?

 

I did not try mods or pimed the Nascar thing.Was great in that days.Maybe the best sim.

 

Sure, do whatever fits you the best.

But the question has not been answered. Is AMS2 race start a fixed countdown? It sure feels like that.

 

It is always the same countdown during the start, unfortunately. You can double check by taking a screen recording of a few races - every start will last the same amount of frames before lights go green.

 

So many bizarre choices made by those who built the engine...

 

it's now april, what's happening with the off road pack?

 

It continues to be worked on in the background...? Same as last week and last month and last year?

 

I have a glimmer of hope that we might see random green light delay arrive as a feature with the Adrenaline pack part that focuses on Rallycross, since nailing the start is such a crucial part of a rallycross race

 

Even with the .ini tweaks and 4gb patch? Because those are absolutely necessary to make the game look good and run well

Edit: should probably say why the 4gb is so important. It let's the game use four gigabytes of RAM instead of two thus making the game run smoother and preventing CTD's on more expensive tracks like the BB-MC ones.

 

I also hope they fix the "no practice, no quali" situation with rallycross and allow more than 6 grid spots. I used to run a PC2 rallycross event for a league and it was deeply frustrating for the guys who didn't know the tracks.

Ideally, a heat system like iRacing's or the ability to set the grid manually would help online, but I highly doubt it'll be that in-depth. The quirks in PC2's format discouraged people trying RX, which is a shame because the racing was great. A pack of 60's Mustang on Wildcrest, full lock sideways, picking an angle just off of the throttle... so good.