What do you think is the most significant reason AMS2 userbase is so small?

Being left out in the cold, where a lot of people place it in the same category as unfinished physics projects as people have stated in this thread isn't good for the future of AMS2 single player...

Bad word of mouth about the lack of features, cars and tracks to fully represent series will continue to be problems without the boon and solid future that a solid MP core would guarantee...

The lack of SP features will give the new releases over 2023-2024 the chance to steal the thunder that Reiza could have with their physics model matched with a MP experience that is at least on par with the current competition...

Given the state of MSGS and their licences it's very possible they could all be up for grabs soon, and if the sim racing market is positive or negative about a sim even if it isn't out yet will make a large difference as to where they go...

 

i thought it was pretty common knowledge that ams2 has poor player numbers because it has a terrible mp experience

on the other hand look at ACC, it has a terrible SP experience with horendously bad ai yet is still miles more popular than ams2 because it has a polished multiplayer experience with dedicated servers, entry lists, pratcially bug free mp experience and also TEAM RACING(whcih is huge for popularity)

 

The problem with these sorts of threads is that people just say what they want to see and thinks everyone else also wants that.

All we can see is that over time the number of players is moving in the right direction on steamcharts (albeit quite slowly). Reiza will have more information about how people play their game and what features/content offer the best return on investment.

 

Is there a way too see the #’s in the past

 

There is.

The last 3 months have been the first with over 300 average players in a row. So it looks like the updates are keeping more people each time. Peak is about 600-700 a day. Usually about 8-10pm GMT.

 

No, the most active time is evening in Europe. Currently everybody is at work. Weekend peaks currently are around 700 players, weekdays peaks around 500. It's been relatively stable for the past months, and overall there are more people playing than last year, going by the averages.
Automobilista 2 - Steam Charts

You also have to account for players who use the Beta version, which isn't counted here, and isn't available in Steam Charts. Maybe @CrimsonEminence can shaed some light on the Beta player numbers?

 

Users numbers take a dip this time of the year. Same you can see with ACC

 

Another issue with steamcharts is that for >6months ago it uses peak players instead of average which is why you see that big drop from May.

 

And that is without a real focus for MP... Imagine what a proper focus on competition servers and a reliable MP platform could do to those 500 people peak

 

This ^^^
here are the 8pm euro prime time numbers.. (my guess is mostly single players)
and here, one of the 'other games' lol with solid MP

 

Here's another game with heavy MP focus and even VLM e-Sports credentials:


As little as I care for MP, it definitely helps, if even a little, bit I'm sure AMS2 could beat rF2 no problem. In ACC's case, it of course also helps to focus on one of the most popular category of racing, having an official partnership with one of the biggest promoters of that category and therefore having tons of marketing and advertisment at their events and two prominently placed stickers on every car.

Another one, not sure how much of that is MP. Maybe a fleshed out SP campaign (and a famous category) helps as well:

 

This 90’s forum makes it easy to attach pics. 11,396 online @iracing now

 

I bet once AMS2 has a reliable MP and some recurring servers numbers will double up or more for AMS2.

 

Tough to believe p2p can be reliable. I guess it is possible, but very unlikely for this sort of game.

I believe AMS2 can only be reliable if everyone in the lobby is connecting from the same country or, at most, from the same continent. If the server is a mix of players from everywhere, due to the nature of p2p, the session has a very high risk of something bad happening.

Regarding recurring servers, we already have it (JustRace) for a while now, but it doesn't seem to get popular at all.

 

Yes, the AMS2 numbers are close to the rF2 numbers! & I believe those rf2 numbers are 98% MP while the AMS2 numbers are 98% SP.. the potential is there & don't forget LFMs poll had AMS2 winning by a landslide to be their 2nd sim but it failed in the MP/server-side & won't work with their system set up..

 

yes .its a great platform but they all end up suffering from the same things..

The online action is not to bad right now
But then you compare them to just 1 hourly LFM session and its quite telling
this was 19:15 GMT (i'm in the US so eu prime time is 11am-2pm my time)

 

Current MP is not in good state and there has been zero advertising and support by Reiza to JR.
Once that is in place the word will spread and numbers will surely increase.
P2P is not the most favorable option but I'm sure there can be at least significant improvements that can be achieved even with P2P architecture compared to the state of the art of AMS2 today.