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Kyalami 2019 track familiarisation, Formula Classic Gen 3, 120% a.i.

 

Sound levels are out Video software test. (they were fine in the race)
Damp in places!!
Ai at 70/50
best viewed in HD

 

driving like an idiot...

 

Test 2 livetrack, crewchief, ai proximity

 

@GregzVR are you physically leaning you're head or is it a setting?

 

physically

 

That's me leaning-in, without realising, when I feel a bit of understeer, lol.

 

A recent one i did tonight around Kyalami in the F Classic 86 car

 

Complains of understeer as he sends it down the inside whilst locking up

 

This one needs a bit of explanation so, for some Sunday fun, I ran a comparison between the 4 Caterham models in AMS2 v0901 in Time Trial mode at Brands Hatch Indy using Oculus Rift. The cars are all superbly lifelike and here we have something rare in a racing game, the chance to move up from a low powered Academy model of the same car, to track biased super-machines and on to the insanity that is the 620R. Experiencing all these in real-life took about 10 years and via the joy of racing games, we can now experience them in less than an hour! In my opinion, AMS2 is as close as you'll get to experience the thrill of these Caterhams unless you've got a spare £££ to rent them or £££££ to own and run one on track.

All the cars cross the finish line at 1:06 despite the different video start times. When the model name is on screen the audio is on for that car too.

What I really enjoy here is the chance to experience the progression between cars, using all standard setups. I've also included the DD2 Gain settings I find most like the real car wheel weight in case anyone might find that useful.

Academy - who fitted trolley wheels? The Academy captures its real-life counterpart perfectly, just 115bhp and low grip tyres, basically a road car on the track. The handling is designed to teach car control at low speeds so that slides can be caught and practised. Turn in and skinny front tyres lose grip and weight in the wheel. Wait for the car to settle and you can use the throttle to catch the slide, adjust the line and power through. The AMS2 car is as intuitive as the real thing. Sliding the nose and into the Apex of Druids and then managing the rear wheelspin to push the Academy out towards the exit is just joyful. The lack of front grip means a small lift is needed to get the car to turn in to Surtees. McLaren into Clark sees the front end go light again and needs a 'wait for it' approach to hook the rear tyres up and maintain momentum. A 58.07 lap is about all it has to give in my hands. (DD2 in-game gain 42 / on wheel 35). My realism rating 10/10, the perfect track training car.

Supersport - grip and stability. After the Academy, the Supersport has so much more grip with its slightly sticky tyres, arbs and stiffer suspension. Where the Academy slides the Supersport requires more precision, it's so much easier to know when tyres have found grip in Druids and Mclaren, no chance of spinning the rear wheels out of Druids here as the tyres have more grip than the 125bhp can overcome. No need to lift to turn into Surtees this time, there is more than enough grip at full throttle to pin the apex and power through. In many ways, it's less fun than the Academy but easy to see why these cars are the start of the more serious track and racing adventures. With all that grip I'm often left wanting more power to use it, safe yet enjoyable to race is the style here. With just 10bhp extra the lap-time difference isn't huge with less than 1-second advantage at 57.34. (Oddly the Supersport wheel is lighter than the Academy so I had to turn the in-game gain up to 46 (same 35 on the wheel) to get a realistic wheel weight). Mt realism rating 9/10 - the real Supersport is a little more playful but it's still close to real.

Superlight - the sweet spot? For me, the previous R300 and now the 360R has always been the sweet spot of the Caterham range, reasonable cost, fast enough to have fun and embarrass cars costing 10x as much but not so fast they are an accident waiting to happen. It's the same in AMS2, now the extra grip from the specialist track rubber is matched by the power to exploit it. Holding the Superlight right on the edge of grip is easy, the whole chassis flexing and feeling the tyres fighting to point straight as they load up in the corners is superbly real. With the extra power come more handling options. Turn in too slowly and there is understeer. Turn in just beyond the grip of the front tyres and the nose tucks in and the throttle can be used to adjust the line, it's just a case of feeding the power in carefully until straight. If it does all start to go wrong just a small lift of the throttle is usually enough to restore grip. It easiest to be most precise with the 360R. The advantage in terms of both grip and the 175bhp power is obvious in the 5 seconds quicker 52.0 lap times. (In-game Gain had to be lowered back to 40 here otherwise there is some strange kickback in the wheel as the tyres load up or cross the kerbs). My realism rating 10/10 - everything from the way the Duratec engine builds revs to being able to balance front and rear grip with the throttle feels perfect.

620R - power corrupts. As bonkers as the real 620R is the best compliment I can give the AMS2 620R. The huge power requires a recalibration of the senses and especially the braking points as you arrive at each corner faster than before. Taming the power to get the nose to turn in is now the biggest challenge, it's a direct reversal of the Academy car. In the Academy you fight to maintain momentum, in the 620R you struggle to contain the sheer speed. Turn in too fast and speed is washed away in understeer hunting for the apex, especially in Paddock Hill bend. There is so much power on the straight that lifting to turn into Surtees is essential or power understeer makes turning in impossible. Avoiding power understeer is the first problem and it's quickly followed by a switch to oversteer if you get too greedy with the throttle. There is enough power to overwhelm grip at any point. The exit of Druids is basically a long power drift hoping the 620R will hook up before you run out of track. It's the same in McLaren into Clark when it's a game of finding where the grip is and then putting down as much power as possible in the final push for the line. It's as intoxicating as the real thing for sure. In my experience, the AMS2 car is a little more prone to understeer than the real car (though understeer in the 620R is a good thing imo as the switch to understeer can be tricky), the AMS2 car is also a little easier to drive on the throttle as both of the real cars I have owned/driven had spikes in the power maps that made the throttle quite lively. The 310bhp is the reason for the more than 3-second advantage over the 360R and 48.7-second lap. (In-game Gain 40 and on the wheel 35 as for the Supersport world well here). My realism rating 9/10 - it's almost as crazy as the real car but the real thing gives me more scary 'how did I get away with that' moments.

When I look for what AMS2 adds to the huge variety of great racing games we already have this is it. The unique chance to drive cars that mirror the very different character and abilities of the real thing and feel the progression from low to high power and grip. For four versions of the 'same' car they couldn't be much more realistically different. Like the real cars, I could happily lap these all day.

I'm sure more will change in further updates but for now, I say bravo Reiza, this game is so much fun and I look forward to seeing just how much more it improves and develops.

 

Formula Classic Gen 3 race - 16 laps of Kyalami 2019. 103% a.i.

 

A couple more I did tonight. One is a time trial in the Formula Classic around Montreal, its MENTAL having that much boost. No one needs that amount of boost!

And then a Quali lap when playing online around Monaco/Azure.

 

Imola TT CHALLENGE.

Anyone know how to make the underway noise not so loud?

 

Formula Ultimate, 20 race laps of Spielberg(Red Bull Ring).

 

****in love the FFB on V8

 

amazing write up, i never drove these beasts either on track nor sim. I love them in ams2 though, we had a race tonight in the 620 with couple guys from the forum here, on Oulton and it was superb.

If you dont mind me asking, could you please have a look at your cornering force output in NM on your DD2 in Catarhams? I have DD1 and trying to make it as close as possible in terms of torque. And it seems like you know what they feel like

tia