Automobilista 2 V1.3.5.1 Officially RELEASED - Now Updated to v1.3.5.2

First off: Congrats to everyone at Reiza for reaching another milestone, especially given the circumstances. And thank you for making these RCs available as beta going forward.

I tried the new/revised content earlier today and this is what I found:

The F-Ultimate Gen 2 is fun to drive and feels fast. What I didn't like was the tendency to lock up under heaving breaking, even with reduced brake pressure. I tried figuring out if it was the front or rear brakes that locked up earlier (quickly whipped together a diagnostic screen in SIM Dashboard that shows exactly when any given wheel locks up), and ultimately settled for a 53/47 balance during my test runs.

Additionally, the car does seem very likely to suddenly lose grip on turn in, particularly in mid-speed corners at the end of long braking zones (I tried Monza, which has its share of those).

The F-Ultimate Gen 1 is even faster (for me it was easily more than 2 seconds faster on Monza), although it doesn't necessarily feel as fast as it is. It's very planted, and overall I think this is by far the best this car has been. Similar to the Gen 2, but more forgiving all around (especially in the aforementioned scenarios).

On a sidenote, I had originally hoped to see an actual Generation 1 without the HALO, as we had those in AMS1. But for now I guess I would settle for an option to completely make the HALO disappear from all vehicles that have it (not just making the center bar transparent). Yeah, I know - not a trivial task.

Next up was the new Stock Car Pro 2022 Series. So far I only tried the Chevy, but I assume that for most intents and purposes the two models behave identically. And I must admit that this car was a massive disappointment. Just a short while ago I found the new generation Stock Cars - which I never really liked - to be the best they ever were. But with those new tire changes (and revised setups, I think?) something feels even more off than it has been before. Anything but the smallest amount of maintenance throttle after turn-in will almost always result in excessive tire spin - and most likely the rear coming around violently. Honestly? If I was paid to drive these cars for a living, I would be looking for a job in a different racing series ASAP...

That being said, I didn't spend any time fiddling with the setup yet. I have a hunch that the differential can (mostly) solve this issue, at least to some degree. Still, I'm sorry to say that for a default setup this car behaves horribly. I do remain hopeful, however, as even the worst handling vehicles have seen considerable improvements and transformations in the past - so why would this one be an exception?

Oh, and the new track seems cool. I find it somewhat easier to follow the layout visually than Cleveland, and it must be an absolute blast in some vehicles (CARTS, maybe?). Only did a few laps in the aforementioned new Stock Car Pro, and that wasn't as much fun as it could have been.

Oh, and was also curious about the AI doing mistakes now, so I did a quick 6-lap race around Donington National in the P3 class (at 85/60). While I didn't see any real mistakes during this short race, I watched the replay and noticed how the AIs were taking slightly different lines and were more willing and able to go side-by-side now. There were a few overtakes among those sticking together closely in a group, although the AI was often too careful and conservative and passed by opportunities to attack an opponent. Still, the AI vehicles did look more alive and dynamic in their behavior.

That being said, I noticed that their pace was close to mine at 85/60 while I was fighting them, yet when I had reached P1 it appeared as if they were suddenly losing a lot of pace compared to me. Maybe the old "fighting tooth and nail until overtaken and then falling back" thing?

Could it be that the brakes suffer too much wear even at low temperatures? As I was lapping around Monza earlier today, Crew Chef actually warned me that "the brakes are getting hot", even though they were only in the ~400°C range - or slightly above that for a short amount of time. Maybe the warning was getting triggered due to excessive wear setting in (which of course it should not at these temps).

Either way, I'm sure it'll be fixed quickly.


P.S.: I almost completely forgot to mention how massively impressed I am by the enhanced implementation of ERS. This is a real gamechanger - I and could easily see this being beneficial for LMP-style prototypes or other hybrid vehicles as well... Even if they were fictional. Oh well, a man can dream...

 

I'd argue it's also not helpful at all to say stuff like "RF2 FFB is way better, industry leading, etc" without stating clearly the reasons why. It's super subjective. Me, and I assume many others, think AMS2's FFB is better.

 

do not agree with you. I prefer Reiza's approach which gives 4 or 5 vehicles per class. There are so many other classes to explore: TCR, Copa Petrobras, Rally cross, Group 5, BTCC...If you want GT3s, there's ACC.

 

Is that in reference to my comment about the FFB then? In which I did state the reason I thought this.

 

In what world does AMS2 miraculously implement a full GT3 class, scheduled multiplayer races, and beat ACC out of the niche it's already dug itself into? I get wanting AMS2 to be better but that's just straight up asking it to be something it's not: A full GT3 sim. It's focus is not GT3 solely, and I think it'd be detrimental for it to become one since there are so many GT3 sims available these days.
"To be competitive" That's not competitive; Going after the same thing everyone else does totally mutes the qualities AMS2 has over its competition.

That being said, I sympathize with at least wanting the class to be filled out more; There's a variety of classes in the game I'd like to see get a few extra cars in the future. But take it as we go, and moreover give an extra thought to what gets the sim where. Even if they giga-slammed GT3 and added literally every car ever driven in GT3, I don't see it ever knocking ACC out if only because ACC is dug in now as, "The GT3 game." AMS2 is never gonna be, "The GT3 game." But it will have GT3 as an option, alongside many more options than most sims. If you ask me, AMS2 could do with more vintage tin tops, but I'd choke before ever saying anything like it'd, "Make the game more competitive." It's silly.

 

I was so excited to try the new formula car. But unfortunately only to find that there is yet another wheel that can't be turned off in game. Please, PLEASE allow us to turn off the wheel. So many cars are useless to me because this huge stupid wheel right up against my real wheel. Please! We've been begging for this for years to nothing but silence. We don't need or want a static wheel when we've opted to turn the wheel off!

 

What we need now is people using the scheduled races 3rd party systems out there. They are ready, but mostly empty for AMS2

 

Which 3rd party systems are there for AMS2?

 

JustRace
Sim Racing System
https://simracing-gp.net/

 

But is ACC really so perfect that everything must be measured through it and AC2 is already the benchmark before it's even coded? Not everyone seem to agree, so maybe it could be better for AMS2 to find their own way of raising users' interest, no?
https://clips.twitch.tv/MotionlessMildGalagoJonCarnage-vlX8hBvoz7t8_ldq
https://clips.twitch.tv/PuzzledBlindingDelicataOpieOP-vx80t_jDp79iyzTw

 

The "revised performance levels of all AI drivers for all classes" comment got somewhat lost in that section and it may be unrelated to this but has anyone noticed that some of the big torque cars (eg. V8 Super Cars) now seem to accelerate out of corners at a more reasonable speed now (ie. we can now keep up with the AI)? The AI in these is actually worth racing against again.

Saw my first clear unforced AI error today - 1990s German Touring Cars - he lost his back end accelerating out of a corner and spun 180. Very cool to see. Although after he spun, he did wait until precisely the moment I was passing him before turning his car back round and seemed to try to drive right into me .

 

The tyre carcass revisions (I assume it's because of that) makes the Formula Ultimates and the Stock cars feel so so much better and drive just as I would expect them to in real life. Can't wait until this is rolled out to all the other cars too.

 

Is it already possible to create custom liveries for the F-Ultimate Gen 2? I see no Gen 2 folder in Automobilista 2\Vehicles\Textures\CustomLiveries\Overrides

 

I don't understand the sentiment of comparing AMS2 to ACC. If you prefer what ACC is doing, play ACC, stop complaining in the forums, and enjoy the sim you prefer. AMS2 has it's own style and audience, as does ACC. Where AMS2 excels IMHO is the more obscure range of content you don't find everywhere else (except maybe iRacing given they've taken interest in some of the same series).

Where else can you find rental karts, grassroots Beetles, Formula Vee, Formula Ford, late 90's CART, current IMSA, Brazilian prototypes, MASSIVE TRUCKS, multiple F1 cars from nearly every decade since the 60's, classic tourers, etc.? AMS2 has GT3/GTE, but there's much more to enjoy than just those cars, so much so that many Discord groups don't even touch GT3 because there's so much else to enjoy.

 

I'm not really sure. When I heard CC about brakes getting hot, temps were about the same as you and in the green, but the warning was just couple of seconds after a hard brake zone where temps were really high and in the red zone.

I think CC messages were somewhat delayed and referenced the hard braking I peformed earlier.

 

I'd say there's at least a F1 car from every decade since 60s
There's the Formula Vintage for the 60s
There's the Formula Retro for the 70s
Formula Classic Gen 1 for the 80s
Formula Classic Gen 2 and 3, Formula V12 and Formula V10 Gen 1 (and the Mclaren MP4-12) for the 90s
Formula V10 Gen 2 for the 00s
Formula Reiza and Formula Ultimate Gen 1 for the 2010s
and now we got the Formula Ultimate Gen 2 for the 2020s

I've literally never seen so much love and passion for this category in motorsport

 

I think ACC is excellent. I love AMS2 but it might not be a bad idea to look to ACC for inspiration. This might be an unpopular view here but if ACC was a multi class game it'd be a killer.
Anyway, I'd like functioning wheels / cockpits in all cars. ACC is brilliant on that department. It should be a check point before release for all cars. Most AMS2 cars have non functioning (or partially) wheels and dash. I'd rather wait longer to avoid getting a car with useless display. I'd pay for it too, no problem.

 

I think there is a lot to be taken from the "environment" embedded in ACC which is great, the best in the market: from the overlays, to the car dashes to the context of the tracks and many other similar things.
However the subject of the conversation was FFB and physics on which I think ACC is just little over average, certainly not the bible as the reference post was implying.

 

Formula Retro Gen 3 is the early 80s