Slicks tyres grip in rain & other problems in AMS2

I didn't say I'm leaving the game, I tried to say my enjoyment playing it is getting worse because of it. I am reluctant to use the suggested workaround though, for a couple of reasons:

1. I wish for randomness and unknown in my races. As far as I'm aware AMS2 is (or was supposed to be) the only game that offers that kind of unknown when it comes to weather. (there is random weather in ACC, kind of, RF2 is supposed to have it too, but I don't use rF2...). Set a random date with historical weather, have a race, see what comes and adapt if necessary. It's the promise I keep returning to AMS2 for. I won't be surprised by setting up some weather slots.
2. When real historical weather is one of AMS2's strongest selling points (or should I say marketing points?) I want to use it as advertised. If that doesn't work than it's just a marketing gimmick in my eyes and would like to see it improved.

Don't get me wrong - I have and will use workarounds. But I shouldn't be forced to in order to play a game enjoyably. There is definitelly space for improvement and that was the intended point of my rant.

Yes, I'm aware of the AI situation in corellation to computing power. My rant wasn't as much about the AI as it was about miscalibration of weather and grip simulation.

Regards, TM

 

Your OP states the opposite...

That's time acceleration of the weather...

 

I was under impression that if the time scale is set to 1x there is no time acceleration of time or weather. Thank you for clearing that up for me. So how does that work? I set up a 30 minute race and real weather is synced to the race time. Why doed it change so fast then?

 

Yeah I agree, maybe a specific combo. For me it was the Group C Chev at Monza in qualifying, went from dry to wet in the space of one corner. ironically in the race it started raining from half way through so I changed to wets expecting the same rain bug but it only rained lightly for the rest of the race and I burnt up the wets I changed to.

 

That's a good question actually, I dont think sync to race works with real weather, cant be sure though. The weather changing fast has nothing to do with any time or weather acceleration, it's just an annoying bug that choosing real weather in a custom championship will get you these random alien planet weather changes. One race might by fine while the other will be crazy.

Did a test in single race mode with real weather on Imola 1991, and the weather was pretty accurate to the real Grand Prix.

 

My understanding of the real weather is that it's a marker for all of the 24 hours of that day... So there's essentially 24 weather slots for any specific day and they are tied to the time of day... The 4 custom slots change every hour without acceleration...

Sync to race speeds up the transition between the slots... So an hour long race with custom weather will have it's weather start changing at the 10-20 minute range for an average of every 15 minutes... Real weather in an hour long race would change to a different slot on average every 2.5 minutes...

 

Thank you @Scar666 for the explanation, sync weather to race is a no go in my scenario. That explains the extremely fast weather changes inside 30 minute session. Will try other suggested options.

Regardless I still think the user experience could be improved. Maybe simply gray out combos of options in the race setup screen that are not supposed to work together? (PS: it actually is...)

Also, slicks & street tyre grip in wet, either player or AI or both, should be looked at IMO.

Regards, TM

PS: I'm currently sitting in my rig, looking at AMS2 championship race setup menu. In my setting description I was wrong from the start. The option of Sync to race weatheR progression is NOT available with real weather at all. Only real time. Sync to race and other weather progression options are available only with 1-4 weather slots selected.

Sorry about that...
However my OP observations still stand regardless of that.

 

Have to agree with the wet weather running problems stated in the op . I think the thing that ruins any wet racing for me is the clear advantage the ai have in grip levels compared to me . If the whole field gets caught out on slicks in heavy rain I can barely touch the throttle without the car spinning one way or another, the ai although slower just carry on regardless!
If the overall grip level is a little low or high I'm not bothered but it really needs to be comparable with the ai .

 

Most of the confusion regarding Real Weather and track progression would disappear if Reiza explained the subject, and a lot more besides, on its website. That would be no small task for the development team but it would only have to be done once, freeing the devs from having to answer the same questions over and over again in the forum, and it would be immensely helpful to AMS2 players.

 

I feel that isn't far enough... I think it should be made clear on the session set up page similar to the help on the car set up pages...

 

Heavy rain in AMS2 are conditions that are red flagged in todays races...

For races closer to reality that wouldn't get red flagged today with minimal aquaplaning use light rain if you want to stay on slicks or rain if you want to use the wets... The real life tyres aren't designed for heavy rain even in F1 they are red flagged these days... Anything higher than "Rain" and you are asking for a different experience than the AI as they don't care about puddles...

Your track progression settings also make a huge difference... Damp, one of the dry settings or progressing is all that should be used unless you want to aquaplane... Soaked is red flag conditions with rain so it takes a few laps for a non-soaked line to appear...

Due to the complexity of the players physics it's going to be a long time before all the different AI issues are ironed out and believably be running on something remotely similar to the same physics as the player... It's down to the madness engine and Reiza's magic work on how close they can get it...

When on a stable server the rain physics are brilliant as long as they aren't in heavy rain, but even then it's all even for the drivers in an online scenario... I've had some absolutely amazing experiences online with the weather...

So for me well over 90% of the problems in this thread are to do with the AI and their different physics and not the tyres... I can't speak on the street tyres but theoretically they shouldn't aquaplane on anywhere the level that the racing wets do...

 

Yes I agree the storm and heavy rain settings are unrealistic in today's racing championships . Trouble is I really like to set two or three weather slots with one of them being random , just so you don't know what's coming but if you get storm or heavy rain as that random slot it ruins the whole session in my opinion. Would love to be able to disable certain slots so they don't get chosen .
As for the ai I'm well aware of the fact that most if not all ai in SIM racing don't run in the same physics model as the player but that's not what I'm suggesting. I just think the overall lap pace in those conditions on slicks is way to fast .

 

I completely agree on the disabling of certain weather conditions in random slots, especially for offline with the AI... It's sad that it has to be scripted or you have to look for a day where the weather that had a lot of showers on that day so you can pick some times of that day to race with randomish weather...

The random option can completely kill your chances against the AI because of their lack of a need for a wet line or avoiding puddles...

I think one of the hardest parts it's already done with the AI, as it's within a window that it thinks, there's a lot of areas that it needs improving on, but I just do not know how far that will be possible... There's most likely going to have to be some sort of fudging to make it more realistic along the way... Like a new parameter for wet skills/speed on dry tyres or something to that effect..

 

As already mentioned the main issue with the AI on a wet track are the puddles, they do slow down, just not enough. So I think there are 2 main fixes.
1. Adjust the live track wet buildup to decrease the amount of puddles on the racing line. I mean, some lakes form up in the middle of the road and you have nowhere to go.
2. Make the AI slow more on the puddles, simple enough.

I have 0 issues against the AI (besides their inconsistency depending on car/track, but that happens on the dry to) when the track is wet or drying, so the main culprits are those nasty puddles.

 

I am with original poster on this one. Random weather completely ruins any sort of immersion for me and seriously makes me dissapointed with this game. Don't get me wrong, in dry weather AMS 2 works like a charm and more or less you can get exciting races or championship series vs. AI. Also VR is pretty rad, and I love to use it from time to time. In the rain though AI drive in some other dimension, where rain works like a rubber and puddles are non existant. Today I tried to race on Spa and this race broke a final straw for me, when AI cars just ignored puddle sitting before Eau Rouge in rain and went full throttle through it. Meanwhile I was fighting for my life trying to survive in my Nissan R390 GT 1.
The point is I am starting to think what is the point of AMS 2? AI is wildly unbalanced in rain, there is no career mode, MP still needs a lot of work and Championships, while fun to play, are wildly ruined by wet weather AI. As it stands only VR experience remains - but I don't think it gives enough legs to this game. When I started AMS 2 i fell in love - it singlehandedly made me stop playing F1 2021 and Dirt Rally 2.0. Now I just want to go back to those games to erase AMS 2 wet races from my memory.

 

I like hot lapping, but Reiza will hopefully change for the best very soon

 

Wet races with the AI are no fun, but then the AI is far too easily gamed and anything longer than sprint races isn't fun either... Wet races with good pings online are great fun... Sure there's a few hoops to jump through to get to that but I've had an absolute blast driving in the wet... The AI is AI and will always be gamed... The MP experience certainly can use some improvements, but when the stars align it's where to race in the wet in AMS2 for sure...

 

Sadly I have to agree . Find myself using AMS2 less and less recently, just too many niggly faults ruin the overall experience.
Such a shame really as the potential is massive but for me unless the big issues are addressed soon I can't see myself racing it much in the future.

 

Not all. ACC for sure (maybe also AC) AI is on the same physics as player. To be honest for me it does not make much sense to race against computer, that is using different physics. Its like 2 players on one playground. One playing baseball and the other one playing softball.

 

I disagree, when calibrated correctly it doesnt matter what physics the AI is using. Yes, AMS2 AI has its faults, but it's much better than ACC boring endurance processions where nothing happens, people criticize GT7 AI (rightly so) but ACC is very similar in how boring it is. And AC is just bonkers, lets not go there, so it really doesnt matter whether they are on the same physics or not, just how well programmed they are.