Automobilista 2 November 2023 Development Update

The issue with AMS2 is it gives false hope and causes unnecessary spikes as you can join a lobby but then find it is too late to join the race as the previous session is almost finished so you leave. How many times are we finishing a qually session for loads of people to enter the room, see they can´t get into the race then leave?

I am not against people joining between qually and race sessions and starting from the back or during a practice session but the lobby should go invisible and be locked once the cut off point occurs. It would actually be a good point to be able to configure when setting up a room - how much leeway to joining to give players.

I think for P2P open lobbies a lot join as close to the race as possible as who wants to be waiting ages?

The lower the number of people joining and leaving, the less spikes and freezes it causes.

 

@BrunoB said:
ByTheWay: Personally I dont think a modern racing game will survive if it doesnt include a reasonable stable MP part. Even SP users of a game will be influenced if they know or hear that their games MP part sucks.[/QUOTE]

sorry i don't know how to use the quote function


Yes, and I liked Renato's long post in general, but I can't help but feel AMS2 is selling itself short with this strategy. Once it gets to a polished state of physics in general, reaching diminishing returns, it already has enough content and a variety of unique settings and incredible immersion which could elevate it to the best and even most popular sim overall. It definitely has the most potential.

With a novel MP aspect to it that actually makes it an attractive option for online racing, I think this sim could actually become the number 1 sim for the groups of people who Renato mentions as casual players, who currently use rf2, iRacing or something else as their go-to simulator. Which then would elevate the overall profile and sales figures even more, I think AMS2 is in a remarkably good place to position itself in the next few years in this market. Maybe Reiza has other plans, but I think it's a missed opportunity. It is already the most enjoyable sim overall in my opinion

 

[/QUOTE]
I think it depends on what sort of game they want it to be. If it´s a sandbox like AC or Beam NG that people play for a little while just to explore and unwind then there is no need.

If the competition aspect is important, then like ACC and iRacing you need to have that part polished and populated because you just don´t get the same enjoyment from single player.

I remember the best online racing experience I ever had was in Level R - the game itself was dated and nothing out of the ordinary compared to what we have now but when it was popular you had dozens of full lobbies with queues to get in and the races were really exciting, as was the community aspect where you got to know some of the folk and even made friends in real life.

Of course there were noobs, rammers, cheats and aliens but the challenge of improving and beating your mates or even helping each other draft in oval races was what kept people coming back and spending money.

 

I’d like to pile on this and ask for the replay cameras to stay long enough for us to hear that sweet sweet rear sound. Right now, the replay cams seem to favor the cars always approaching. Let us hear that nice Doppler effect and listen to the rear exhaust for a while longer.

 

My two cents about MP topic, more casual user oriented and less e-sports:

P2P works nice. You can jump in a MP lobby and have fun, and is easy to create a race. Some reliability issues but really good netcode for P2P connection. This with the amazing visuals and performance of game engine, provides this level of experience:

I understand Reiza development map: first create content: cars, tracks, physics, GUI, all SP and MP core... And when all good to go with a solid base, the only thing missing is a real dedicated server support for more reliable and "serious" MP racing. And the work of MP aspects of the game will be logical to do with a polished core game.

 

It is on my list. That means, I know about them, and plan to one day get to them. That day may not come though. Depends on many factors.

But thanks for the report.

 

I apologize for being persistent in asking this, but are there plans for the next, or upcoming release to allow the turbo boost to be mappable to controls? This would be a godsend for the F-USA cars, where drivers often would adjust boost throughout the lap or during sessions. I realize the fuel map is adjustable, but with only 3 settings, I find the lean and medium setting to hinder car performance too much to be viable. Thanks!

Also, this development update resulted in me needing to change my pants! An F1 friend of mind was over and he was astounded at the images of the active suspension cars. We played AMS2 before the Vegas GP and he went home and bought the game!

 

Exactly, the legacy Project CARS lobby system was a bit of a blessing and a curse. It's still probably the easiest system to load up a lobby and start racing, but it has drawbacks that prevent serious, long-format racing. The netcode is fairly reliable for what it is, it's not perfect, no sim is, but as someone with 1200 online races in AMS2 and an equal amount of Pcars2 races before that, I've had just as many weird netcode moments with iRacing as I have the Madness engine titles.

Where the current system falls apart: player count, syncing issues (specifically the start lights after the random start length), legacy bugs (the lobby hang bug), and driver swaps. I am optimistic that many of these issues will get addressed eventually given the long-term nature of this title, but I don't expect it to be fixed in the next year. Reiza has shown more willingness to fix long-standing issues than any other studio, so it may take a while, but they're definitely not afraid of making broad sweeping changes late in development.

 

AMS2 bringing in seven figure $$ and turning down merger offers says the concern of not surviving makes that statement misguided.

 

Racing stripes?

 

You are talking to Bruno, the author of the famous book: "1001 time trial excuses and how to skin a moose", this will not end well for you

 

I think its about time the mp talk got dropped and perhaps given its own thread.

We have all been well informed on how the game will evolve in the future to include a fair bit of work on the mp. I really dont see you getting any further joy at this point in time regardless of how many times its brought up.

Be patient or just keep your demands to your thoughts. Its getting boring now

 

Don't really understand why Nr2003 was brought into this as while it did have a great multiplayer system which certainly helped it sustain its popularity but then Iracing came out and many of those players started to make the switch. As time moved on Nr2003's multiplayer became more and more outdated but it's offline experience remained the cream of the crop.

Nr2003 continued to live through the 2010s, and a lot of it had to do with how good it's offline content was and the dedicated community it has. Infact there was (and still is) a whole community on YouTube dedicated to just watching the AI race. You can look up "Nr2003 Sign Ups" or "Nr2003 Offline League" on YouTube and see for yourself. Crash compilations/ reenactments, meme videos, and let's plays are the most viewed nr2003 videos right now, the vast majority of which is using exclusively offline content. The most popular of those videos have millions of views, which undeniably had a large impact on the longevity of the game.

Nr2003 is a perfect example of a good offline experience leading to the game have a longer shelf life. Multiplayer did at first also have a large impact, but that impact diminished as Iracing started setting the bar higher and higher while the standards for AI stayed the same.

Edit: sorry to the person above trying to stop the MP talk and me starting it back up again. It takes me a hot second to write these so I didn't see their message.

 

Pls admin give them there own thread

 

There was never ever any word about AMS2 and eSport in the same sentece as far as i am concerned. Also what does "esport oriented" even mean when it comes to sim racing ?

 

it gives the children something to brag about to there facebook friends

 

Check it out!

 

I'd like to say thank you for the great read as always. I say this every single time and I'll say it again, I love reading all that technical stuff, I think most of us do.

This is the first time I see Renato getting into the financial aspect of AMS2. I hate talking about money but I'm glad to read that AMS2 is far from having failed (quite the opposite) and the fact that Reiza resisted two offers is further proof of their passion. I really hope the positive trajectory and the success continues and that the hard work's paying off. It is well deserved.

It's a great journey with Reiza quite frankly, and I'm excited to see where they‘re going to take us in the months and years ahead. Next stop has to be Le Mans, pretty sure. ^^

 

EDIT and new thoughts:
Onboard recordings between 91 and 93 still show the engines sound is different between cars, like the 93 has a much lower pitch and having more of a "grainy" noise, while 91 is "screaming".

Even if onboard recordings are not totally reliable, and yes that makes sense that sitting in the actual car would have it sounding somewhat different, i would still assume it should sound different between the HighTech Gen 2 and Classic Gen 4.

Classic Gen 4 has truly been nailed perfectly along with many of the other cars of their respective era and category.

 

Christ those "Benetton" cars look amazing. The one thing I'd love is for Renato to share his exact graphics settings - his video looks way better than what I have at the moment...