Automobilista 2 V1.5.5.0, Le Mans & Endurance Pack Pt1 RELEASED - Now Updated to V1.5.5.6

Could you provide a few bullet points of summary for those who can't spend more than an hour reviewing? Thanks for making the videos--hopefully informative.

 

First thing that I immediately notice is how the audio in ACC is way more ... "layered"? It's difficult to explain, but I find the AMS2 audio to be a bit 'shallow' in comparison, like you're listening to a mono speaker playing the sound rather than being enveloped by the actual sound. In the real car you are surrounded by the many noises around you, engine, kerbstones, random belts rattling, gear noises, etc. I find ACC does a better job at this aspect for sure. Some people will probably say that ACC is a bit over processed, but the cockpit in a racing car is not a orchestra hall, it's a mosh pit.

Secondly I can't help but feel the ACC AI looks way more natural. It doesn't drive on the grass like it does in AMS2, it doesn't try to pit maneuver you into a corner when it sees the tiniest of gaps, it just looks more natural overall.

I hope Reiza can improve these things in the near future.

 

in a real race car , wearing earplugs and a helmet , you aren’t really going to hear much but the deep noises from the engine .
That’s why the ACC effects are so over the top . It basically treats it like what a small go pro system would pick up .

 

30 mins is fine for testing some on track behavior, but by not doing longer races you'll miss important things like how AI handle pit stop strategies.

 

The MP4/7A AI still bogs down on race starts and clogs up the whole field. This happens 100% of the time, no matter the track, the skill level or how many restarts I do.

Also, the Ayrton Senna equivalent AI seems to be the worse regarding that. However his team mate also has a massively slow reaction after the green light.

 

You’d be surprised how loud the kerbstones are, I hear them even with earplugs.

 

But you known what? I find it much more immersive and "cool" to hear all those sounds. The in car "atmosphere" in ACC is top notch. Maybe muffle the sounds in the helmet cam, and leave the more raw and go pro sounds in the in car/roof views.

 

Daniel Morad in his "review" of ACC said the same, that you don't really hear the sounds anything like that IRL as it is in ACC. I do presonally really like the over the top ACC sounds/effect myself, even if it wouldn't be what the drivers actually hear, it's just cool.

 

I find both are equally good at dealing with traffic, but ACC does look a bit more natural. But at the same time AMS2 is better in wheel to wheel against the player and more dynamic overall.

The biggest issue that makes AMS2 feel less natural is the tight bumper to bumper pack racing, but that horse has been beaten to death so I will leave it at that.

 

Reiza and Renato Thank you!!!!!! Used to be really active on here in early development and got burnt out, just now coming back to things after a few months away and what a difference. Late 90s/Early 2000s F1 cars were my favorite growing up and you've turned them in to the best part of this game IMO. I'm so glad a game finally nailed the TC feelings. Previously the TC was overbearing and made it so you could floor it out of any turn. Now it's just enough to let you use more of the power while still managing a 1000hp monster. They're much fun. I only wish we had more early 2000s track configurations. Keep up the amazing work and thank you thank you thank you

 

I think the real thing to take away from this was the last line, which was "I've just had great fun racing in both of these sims". That's what it's all about.

 

That is also the case for the MP4/5B, the MP4/6, and the F-Classic Gen1 Model2

 

no doubt . Like I said low frequencies would be prominent, because you would hear them as much as feel them in the inner ear . It’s like an old motor bike, it sounds amazing with your helmet on, but sounds like a bucket of bolts with it off .

If people like it the way acc does it then that’s fine . It’s just funny how sim racers always demand realism….until it doesn’t suit them .. I dont think AMS2 has to follow,that’s all .

 

And yet there's a recent article on RD about how simplistic the ACC AI is and how it needs some serious improvement so not sure ACC AI is much of a benchmark

Calling for Better Assetto Corsa Competizione AI | RaceDepartment

But I agree there still seems very odd overtake attempts by AMS2 AI.

 

Nice test.
I did a bit of the same and had a look at rF2 on Le Mans e.g. and Raceroom recently to check how they are dealing with lapping and overtaking of slower classes in the current builds (with the knowledge they are more or less on the same ai-engine running). I will test ACC today for a longer race (1h) and will throw GT3, GT2, GT4, Porsche Cup and also BMW M2s in to have even a more diverse field. Also checking how much of an issue it is when a way slower car (M2) must be lapped.

Your summary of the test and comparison would be interesting too. What do you think how the sims are dealing with it?

 

Its apparently same issue with FUSA gen ? With ovals and street courses cars are stuck in one profile in championship e.g. stuck in oval config. I made a report in the bugs thread based on a report on steam.

 

In my personal opinion (I play ACC regularly), the AI in AMS 2 is much better than in ACC, even without considering the wide variety of cars the AI in AMS 2 needs to be able to driver.

AI in ACC is much less likely to go for an overtake, they don't really handle door to door racing well, and will usually bail out of a fight. They also very rarely overtake each other. Also changing condition behavior looks less natural in ACC, it has the usuall AI behavior where if a track reaches an arbitrary track wetness, all AI go for pits. AI in AMS 2 is more natural in these condition, and it looks like it actually evaluates if pit stop makes sense time-wise (so they will not stop for wet tyres on last lap).

From all the sim I play regularly (AMS2, ACC, RF2, R3E), AMS2 has (for me) the best all-around AI package. Sure, there are things other sims do better (i.e. the ability of AI to do multiclass overtakes in R3E is top notch), but as a package it does more things right. What is even better, is that AMS 2 looks to by the only sim atm that has significant AI updates. AI racing R3E, ACC, RF2 hasn't changed a lot in the last year, while in AMS 2 it was vastly improved.

 

Did a test at Barcelona....GT multiclass ACC, AMS2, iRacing.

Some takeaways (we know due to all the ai topics and information: It could be only a small snapshot,I also did not prepare any matrix to define criterias and to check each of them thoroughly. It would be a topic for a Bachelor Thesis ):

ACC:
- Slower classes reacts on blue flags. They move away, sometimes also breaks too heavy which can cause some issues on the track. But there is a reaction and that helps for a more efficient overtaking/lapping procedure by the ai's
- Faster classes change their paths more fluent. Also if they stuck behind a slower class and they go right or left to start overtaking, they also do not wait and wait and wait before they go full throttle again (like it often is in AMS2). If they can run free, they accelerate which helps a lot to lose not too much time

I had fun in my 60min race.

iR:
- has by far the cleanest and smoothest level of overtaking/lapping. It's technically working very well
- All ai's are more or less running in order. Almost no fights. It feels like a lack of competition and entertainment on track

Although it's so well working (traffic control) I had the least fun with it. It feels too "scripted" and clean to get me the impression, they are all fighting and racing against each other.

AMS2:
- struggles the most in overtaking/lapping. Followed a AMG GT3 who needed 1 lap to take a Porsche Cup although he was directly behind him on the Start and finish straight
- Many fights on the track. Looks and feels nice to see those battles as always

I had also fun with it. If Reiza could get this overtaking issues sorted it would be so much of a leap forward. Something I'm interested in: if the Madness engine and it's concept of handling ai's will not turn out in the way we all hope. Could it, hypothetical, an option to rewrite this code in future for better results?

 

Exactly this is what i´ve observed.
That's actually a shame because AMS2 wants to offer the best single player experience. And in my opinion that is not necessarily the case, precisely because of this point (quite apart from incomprehensible pitstops and pitstops in which damage is repaired for minutes even though damage was not selected at all).