Automobilista 2 v.0.9.1.0 RELEASED!

Once the game is released will there be any options where we can single out specific cars we want to race against in multi-class races? Something that RRRE has included. It's a shame that currently it just randomly selects cars for you out of each class.

 

What a brilliant track Kyalami is! Thanks for all the effort put into that.

 

Yes. Though iirc some dev said it might not come with 1.0 but it's on the to do list.

 

Great dog by the way. I've got a Bull Mastiff/Rottie mix. They're the best.

 

That is great to know!! I will reset everything (the car setup and my docs) and try again...

 

That's cool! We had a pure breed Bullmastiff in my childhood home, great dogs. As are rotties, love my old lady.

 

I think it depends on the number of cars and number of liveries for each per class, I've not seen more than three cars in P2 class since the Sigma came. Definitely needs something done there, more liveries would do just fine

 

I like Kyalami more in AMS2 than in ACC. Just wow!! Great Job and Thnaks!

 

So ... first of all, thanks to you guys at Reiza for your incredible work ethic, and for Kyalami, and for these brilliant weekly updates in general. It's like we're getting weekly DLCs, and it's amazing.

I don't know whether you care for some in-depth opinion on the current state of the game and the areas I see the most room for improvement, but of course you can always simply not read some random's ramblings.

Now, on to my personal thoughts and suggestions.

Physics

In general, I like the physics, and on some cars, like the SuperV8, or the Sprintrace Car, or the Formula V10/V12, I wouldn't change a thing about them.
There are, however, several exceptions. I haven't tested all the cars, but I think I've noticed a pattern that most GT cars or those similar to GT cars are a bit strange to drive.

Or, more accurate, to slow down. This game sure loves its lock-ups. There is not a single car in this game I'd say is too hard to lock up. With lock-ups, there's only "seems ok" and "ah well, engine brake it is". Some of the cars I found especially offensive are the StockV8 (though less so in the new version, but the brakes are still weird, more on that below), both Formula 3 cars, Sigma P1, ARC Camaro and the Ultima GTR Race. On some corners, they like to lock up at every single lap, and while that might be due to my driving style, I only have these problems in AMS2.

We don't see real life drivers locking up their tyres every single lap, except if they flatspotted their tyres. From my point of view, it does happen too often here.

Especially trailbreaking is basically impossible. You can downshift like a madman in order to lose speed, but actual breaking - nope.

The behaviour after breaking is weird, too, especially with the Stock V8. Turn in=spin. I can drive like that, but it always feels like something is holding me back from exploring the car's potential, and it's decidedly too fiddly to still be fun. In general, I think that the rear likes to step out too much after I release the brakes. That's maybe ok with something like the Copa Fusca, but with the Stock car, it's a bit bizarre.

Collision Issues Online
They seem to be almost fixed, but only almost. There seems to still be a margin of five to ten cm where still can hit other cars without touching them. It's nothing gamebreaking at all, but it's a bit annoying when you think you've narrowly missed another car and see it flying towards the gravel trap in the mirror.

Reducing Grip Off the Racing Line
I don't quite understand why this was done. I didn't feel like there was too much grip off the racing line before. And even if there was, more grip off line simply increases the chances of going side-by-side with someone else. Why reduce it? Even though it apparently wasn't a hard reduction, it's definitely noticeable.

Game Features & Content
The game has an impressive array of features, and an impressive amount of content. There are, in my opinion, some things missing, though, that would make racing a bit more enjoyable. I've limited myself to six things I'd want to address:

- Weather Forecast. I'd love to have some way to know what weather is most likely to occur during the next half an hour or so. It is, after all, a huge influence on strategy.
- Online Progression Visibilty. You should be easily able to see whether the online lobby you're about to join has already started the race/last three minutes of quali. Some symbol like "Only spectate" or so would be much appreciated.
- AI Time Predicter. Now this is somewhat more obscure, and I don't believe it's ever been done before, but I'll explain: Your AI is inconsistent. Or maybe I am, however, setting them up is a guessing game. Sometimes, I destroy them by four seconds a lap, sometimes, I'm losing 3 seconds a lap, without changing anything. The time predicter would be an extra box, maybe below the circuit map on the custom race screen, where I'd be able to see the times the top AI cars will be able to do on this circuit, depending on the setting.
Or maybe you give out an approximation, like "0-10: 2,00,500-1,57,500; 11-20: 1,57,000-1,53,500; etc... That way, I'd have to do one lap of practice around the circuit, and then be able to estimate which AI setting is my perfect fit, as opposed to fiddle around with several values, some of which too slow, some of which too fast, in order to finally be able to have a fun race.
Now, that surely takes some time, and it's nothing urgent, but it would rectify some of the balancing issues you're having.
- Restart Session Button. Some combinations are simply fun, and after a race, you might want to have another go immediately. As of now, you'd have to wait for the loading screen, be back in the lobby, start the race again in order to do that. That can be solved with a restart button. Also, if something goes wrong at a formation lap, for example, everyone can simply give up and a restart can be done, instead of having to wait for another lobby to be opened.
- Grid Adjuster. For things like reversed grids, it can be very helpful for the host to be able to create the starting grid, instead of letting the qualifying or chance decide it.
- Online Championships. That's a thing I saw in Codemasters' F1 games, where you could create a race calendar and have several successive quick sessions where points tallies were added upon each other. Something like that would be nice to have, even though it definitely isn't anywhere near a "core feature".

Content
I'm not so much a sucker for cars, I'm a sucker for tracks, and I love games that have as much tracks as possible in them. Yours - it does have a lot, and that's great. But I feel like the faster cars are a bit left out - they have some tracks, sure, but I don't count a lot where I'd expect, say, a Formula V10 car to race.
Now, I get that big tracks tend to be expensive licence-wise. However, there might be some exceptions, especially abandoned F1 tracks.
Istanbul, Yeongam, Buenos Aires (long version) - all of these would surely be great to race on with the faster cars on the game, especially if you want to have good battles. As none of them play any big role in racing as of now, I'd imagine they wouldn't be as expensive as other, more popular facilities.
Other recommendations include Dubai Autodrome, Kuwait Motor Town, Igora Drive and Motorland Aragon. I have no idea how expensive they'd be to licence, but I could imagine you'd be able to get a good deal and still have a nice, wide track for faster cars to battle on.

So, that's all I had to say. Keep up the good work, guys

 

@Dicra I think they're doing a great job about grade 1's traks

Already in the sim:
Not Monâco
Imola
Interlagos
Jerez
Not Suzuka
Montreal
Red Bull Ring

Then you have some grade 2 that can accommodate F1 cars:
Brands Hatch
Donignton Park
Adelaide
Kyalami

And the ones we know that will come
Silverstone
Estoril
Hockenheimring

And almost all have the historic versions too

 

A few other tracks,

Phillip Island
Bathurst (which is coming isn't it?)
Potrero de los Funes
Autodromo Algarve
Laguna Seca
Indy 500 Oval
Barber Raceway
Daytona
Thruxton
Castle Combe
Knockhill
Montjuïc Park

Kart Circuits

Bolzano
Thruxton Kart Circuit
Genk
Blackbushe (great elevations, corners that flow into one another, get the first one wrong
you get the next 3 wrong)
Forest Edge
Kerpen
3 Sisters
Clay Pigeon
Buckmore

Sorry had to suggest all that after reading those other suggestions. Can supply onboard footage of a few of those tracks.

 

It is so weird how this game feels from person to person because the Super V8 is undrivable for me! It feels okay until I start pushing the the ffb goes to crap and it gets all reversed and turning a hard fast right the ffb goes limp then pulls crazy to the left the right rapidly giving so many mixed messages of what is happening! This car would have to be the car that makes me want to rage quite AMS 2.
But then I drive the P2 MRX and all is good again. Yet I read that the P2 MRX feels horrible to others! What is going on?

 

Some of the physics need quite a lot of work as yet, some cars are far from anything realistic, but there is some good/promising stuff in there.
The Lancer being a good example IMO. Possibly one of the best physics wise for me so far actually. And with 'decent' FFB.

The variation in feelings basically boils down to: Equipment, settings, driving styles/experience (Gaming or real life) and expectation...

It's a tough one because when I first played on initial release, I was literally smiling ear to ear hooning around in the Caterham superlight, the FFB was superb, it just felt awesome.
But as time's gone on, that feeling has dwindled sadly. I wish it hadn't! But it just has. Some (Pretty much all) of the added content is brilliant don't get me wrong, I love the older stuff but upon driving a lot of it...eek. And the FFB just hasn't felt as good as it has previously for me.

Really hoping the 90's DTM is gonna bring back my buzz for it. I want AMS2 to be awesome, and I don't doubt the guys are working hard to make it such.
EDIT: OK. The physics on the Chevette are also superb.

 

Some thing is wrong with Brands Hatch in offline race, the laps are always in 1, never finish the race.

 

People who have problems with ffb or handling, try deleting the C:\Users\[username]\Documents\Automobilista 2 directory and start fresh.

 

FFB settings produce this effect. If you set your settings for one car or a few cars that are all similar, then a bunch of other cars can feel like ****e. You know few have spent as much time studying and fiddling with FFB settings as me. Just on the weekend I "discovered" a problem when I drove the F-V10 for the first time in a long time. No feel of the back-end of the car whatsoever in low-speed corners...I could barely drive the thing! The down force and steering in fast corners felt great. I had a similar experience about a week or so ago when someone asked about the Fusca at Brands Hatch. Completely undriveable! But, after tuning to make the Fusca feel like it should (rear-engine, RWD), suddenly a bunch of other cars felt better than they did before--even though I thought I already had decent settings. Same thing just happened again with F-V10 that taught me I hadn't properly updated after the 0.8.7 FFB update.

The simple key is that each time I make a change, I try to drive a bunch of different vehicles to ensure that a change to one didn't debilitate another. It is very easy to get one car to feel great at the expense of others. Any change should make the vast majority of cars feel better (there are a few with some tweaking left to do)--because none in the game are way off the mark. If you have a few cars that feel great and a few that feel like crap, you cannot have the optimized settings for FFB (or your hardware prevents them...I will never say definitively that any sim will work on every wheel equally well).

I now know that mandatory vehicles to test include: Copa Fusca, F-V10, SuperV8, Sprintcar, Copa Classics B Chevette and Uno. If you have time, throw in Race Kart and Copa Truck. These represent extremes and will quickly reveal if you have favoured one vehicle over another. I can say that I am looking forward to more tweaks and improvements (see my next post), but now, finally, not a single vehicle feels out of order or would require more than a small + or - tweak to a per-car Gain adjustment to be satisfactory. Any future change to FFB, like somehow adding a bit more feel to the tire biting into the pavement, would be across the board and should not affect the fundamentals.

 

Changes to FWD cars (catching up from prior build):

Using the Copa Classics at the relatively bumpy Guapore as a test base:

• RWD cars Chevette A and Puma B feel great
• Rear-engine, RWD cars Puma GTE and Fusca A feel a bit lumpy over small track irregularities
• All FWD cars feel overly-lumpy, but Gol is worst, Passat in the middle and Uno best in a relative sense

 

I have just noticed when doing some TT in a Formula V12 around Campo Grande, my font left HUD units are imperial and the other 3 corners are metric. I tried out a few more tracks and cars and found the same thing. My display units are set to display as imperial in the settings. Apologies if this has already been brought up and forgive my ignorance if I posted this in the wrong section in haste.

 

I agree... I truly wish they would remove the last reduction of grid and go back to the previous surface settings...

I don't recall many people requesting less grip. It's know they said it's 1% less grid, but it truly feels like 10% was removed forcing the drivers to make a ton more corrections than previously... I even deleted my AMS2 folders, and recreated everything to confirm this loss of grip wasn't due to something else...

 

Like I said and have reported, I've tweaked and tested just about ever possible combo of Gain/LFB/FX! As stated, I found the Super V8 to feel good until the point where the front lifts off the ground or the back end steps out.
It isn't a setting!
Reiza have stated they have some fundamental changes coming as i also said I thought would happen. So I am super excited to test this new ffb when it comes. It's clear that they found the problem from what Renato and Heitor both said to me.