Automobilista 2 September 2024 Development Update - The Road to V1.6 Pt2

It's a driving sim, you're not piloting a submarine to the Titanic. There are plenty of racing games specifically designed for controllers.

 

So I had a short 15 min Formula Reiza race at Donington GP vs AI last night. (It was great btw). But when I looked back at the replay I noticed whenever I was under attack the AI could brake hard AND make quick changes of direction whilst on the brakes through high speed corners, this is impossible in terms of physics. Is this fixed for the beta of V1.6?

 

I play with Xbox 360 controller (realistic assist, manual gears, precision steering), I agree that controller support needs improvement (AMS1 is way better with controller support) but imo cars in 1.6 are more predictable to drive.

 

another fan of: if you don't have a steering wheel, pedals, gearbox... move on.
What elitism!!! AMS2 is above all a video game and everyone can play it however they want.

 

When the planned career mode starts taking shape, it would make perfect sense for Reiza to start preparing AMS2 for console, given that Madness Engine has been built with console support in mind. Currently, there is a good market on PlayStation 5 for a sim racer that is a bit more hardcore than Gran Turismo 7 and with PS VR2 and steering wheel support. For this move to happen, I expect that Reiza will spend some long awaited development time on all the feedback from the gamepad users in our community.

I'm not predicting that it will happen like this, it's just a plan that makes sense to me.

 

I see your point as I do 95% of my racing offline against AI, but imo a good sim racing title will always strive to replicate genuine physics at its core first. Better physics should also make the AI more realistic if they are governed by the same quality physics engine.

Good AI always makes a race more fun & no doubt a sim needs to be aiming for bots that are as high quality as possible, but that is extremely hard to quantify. I mean, unless the bots are doing truly insane things, how do you determine a "higher quality experience AI racing"? What is that? In sim titles I've played the AI always has some repeated behaviors I wish would be a bit more varied, but what annoys me might be preferred by another player.

The AI demoed in the 1.6 pt2 Reiza Monza video seemed good to me. Good spicy battles and not an impenetrable train of cars. Some commented that the gaps between the fighting packs weren't realistic and that was a worry. Others said the car in front defended too much, others too little. Sheesh..

At least physics has a correct answer.

At the full extreme there's always the danger that sacrificing physics for a more fun experience - eventually turns your sim into a fancy Mario Kart racer (which is also still awesome!).

 

That's good to hear. I for exaple started playing AMS2 with gamepad (because I was looking for a racing game I could try with my Quest 3) and only after a few weeks I was willing to invest in a wheel. Without any gamepad support there would be a lot less new players and therefore a lot less sold copies of the game. That should be reason enough for REIZA to at least improve the gamepad support in the menus. Maybe the UI improvements in 1.6 are a first step.

On the track the gamepad handling seems perfectly fine to me. It is harder to controll than GRID or Forza (due to the realism) but it is absolutely possibly to drive clean laps and race against the AI.

Even now that I own a wheel I spent 50% of my time in AMS2 on my Steamdeck learning new tracks etc. And I hope that the 1.6 handling will still allow for that - fingers crossed!

 

As long as I enjoy something, I couldn't care less what others think.

 

How is it elitism? No one is saying you need to spend a grand on a direct drive set up. You can pick up a decent second hand logitech for less than £100 (and if you can't afford that then you probably don't have a good enough GPU to run the game anyway.)
Sim is short for simulation and while it's not a perfect simulation of driving a real car, a game controller just makes a big joke of the whole endeavour.

 

Yeah it's annoying isn't it when someone with a $30 controller is faster than you on your $3000 rig....

Gtr1 was the last sim that I played on a controller. It was very difficult to begin with but with time and patience any sim can be driven competently regardless of the physics. It is highly unlikely anything in 1.6 will stop controller users from being able to drive well.

That being said anyone who can afford a wheel and pedals really should, to get the most enjoyment from sim driving.

 

Claiming that controller players are excluded from AMS2 in favor of flying players is elitism. I invite you to consult the definition of the word because it clearly appears that you do not know what to talk about.
You start the discussion about the cost of the equipment. But who tells you that I don't have the financial means to buy a steering wheel? You are basing your comment on a vague assumption that has no basis in fact. I tell you, not buying a steering wheel is a personal (and not financial) choice. I don't have to give you the reasons here.

 

Well, finally a lovely long update to read! This time I won't let Renato tempt me back to the forum to start waiting though...

....dammit.

 

If i decide do play Autombilista 2 with a guitarhero plastic guitar its my choice, why would anyone bother me to say to go buy a wheel? I play with a wheel, but the game has the option to use gamepad, if its implemented it should be improved if its not enough, like others aspects of the game. If the person cant or dont want to buy one, what is it to you?

 

Daniel Morad on ACC.... He went in depth on what he felt was "off" in the sim.
Rabid fanboys came out all hot and bothered and went straight for him instead of arguing his points.
That really is the darkest corner of our little hobby here.

 

so maybe Reiza should code a section before you can enter the game that assesses your moral compass.

 

This is exactly right and very well stated.

Recently, in iRacing, a pro driver and iRacing fan made a video about how the 911 GT3 Cup did not feel accurate to him. He had driven a current real Cup car on a track day and also had raced in the real series a number of years ago so he was basing his review on that. Sounds pretty airtight, right? Not so fast. The current iRacing Cup car was refined significantly with the help from two current Cup drivers, one of whom also won a championship in one of the Cup series. So who do you believe?

It's just one of many data points that support the quoted statement above. Sim drivers experience of the exact same sim and car is different for all the reasons listed and more. I think we also have very different specifc cues we look for that determines how we judge if the virtual experience is realistic or not. Pro drivers are not exempt from this dynamic.

 

In my case, I have a wheel but space is the biggest issue (now two people work from home) - wheel at weekends when I have time to set up, gamepad in the weekday evenings for me.

 

To play a game with controller is just more convinient for many people. I have five kids, a job, a wife and while I would certainly enjoy the real sim experience, I neither have the space nor the time for it. Besides - you can play way more relaxed with controller than with any other input device imo. Thats why more and more games like ARPGs and the likes implement support in a proper way.

And it is good to hear, that 1.6 will maybe even a better experience ... while the support is meager in the menus I agree that the handling on track is more then sufficient.

 

There's a number of reasons for one to not have wheel and pedals: cost, space, convenience, compatibility with multiple games/systems, etc. Not everybody plays only sim racing games, some of us play a variety of other games and in that case using keyboard, mouse, and controller is more convenient than having a racing rig.

 

I must say some of the crashes I've had at the end of the Kemmel straight have been about as bad as certain submarines trying to get to the Titanic...