Automobilista 2 Updated to Version 1.3.3.0, Adds New Cars and Road America

Automobilista 2 Jan 2022 Update 01.jpg
The first major update of 2022 for Automobilista 2 has been released, and it includes new content, improved cockpit view effects, physics updates, and dozens of other changes and fixes.

Reiza Studios’ major monthly updates for Automobilista 2 have rolled into 2022, and January’ update is an impressive one. Reiza’s updates tend to be either heavily focused on new content or heavily focused on improvements to the underlying driving physics in the title, but this update seems to strike a balance.

In terms of content, Reiza has expanded Automobilista 2’s Formula USA cars, which are part of the Racin’ USA DLC Pt 2. These cars grabbed the attention of the sim racing world when they were released and received praise from many in the sim community. Not content to rest on that success, Reiza has added a Gen3 class including the Reynard 2Ki and Lola B2K/00 cars. Fans of historical F1 cars will also enjoy some new content, as AMS2 now has a Formula Retro Gen3 class including the Mclaren MP4-1C, F-Retro Gen3 Turbo, and the F-Retro Gen3 DFY Aspirated. Lastly, the Volkswagen cars in the title got an update with the addition of the VW Polo GTS and Virtus GTS to the TSI Cup class.

But the biggest news on the content front is the addition of Road America to the Racin’ USA DLC Pt 2 pack. Located in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, the 14 turns and 4 miles of Road America has been almost unchanged in the past 60 years.

On the physics, UI and AI front, AMS2 has been given a huge list of improvements and fixes. The full list of changes is listed below, but among the most notable improvements are revisions to the cockpit view effects. These changes give the player more detail and better control over how much the camera moves under acceleration, braking and turning.

Also, the driveline elasticity improvements that became part of the sim late last year have been applied to the Lancer Cup, TSI Cup, JCW Mini, Copa Truck, and F-Ultimate, which should increase the enjoyment and realism of driving these cars.

The changlog is listed below. Be sure to let us know your thoughts on what has changed in this major update to Automobilista 2.

Automobilista 2 Jan 2022 Update 02.jpg


V1.3.3.0 CHANGELOG

CONTENT
  • Added Road America (part of the Racin´ USA Pt2 DLC pack)
  • Added F-USA Gen3 class featuring Reynard 2Ki, Lola B2K/00 (part of the Racin´ USA Pt2 DLC pack)
  • Added F-Retro Gen3 class featuring Mclaren MP4-1C, F-Retro Gen3 Turbo, F-Retro Gen3 DFY Aspirated
  • Added VW Polo GTS & Virtus GTS to TSI Cup class
GENERAL
  • Enabled G-forces for cockpit camera (previously G-forces were only enabled for helmet camera)
  • Made the helmet and cockpit cameras orientation change that comes from G-force effect be scaled by the G-force slider settings (previously only the camera position change was scaled, not the orientation)
  • Fixed in-game session details not accounting for session scaling in championship mode and rounding to multiples of 5 in multiplayer.
  • VR Camera Settings: Enabled legacy/new head movement toggle for VR users; World Movement renamed to 'Head Movement' (current user World Movement setting will be maintained and converted to an equivilent 'Head Movement' setting)
  • Enabled camera G-force settings for TrackIR users.
  • Enabled look to apex and leaning in cockpit camera
  • Shared Memory: Updated header to V10; Added Tyre temp L/M/R, Ride height, Session duration which were previously only available via UDP; Added DRS State; Added session additional laps information; Extended CarFlags to include TCS/SCS active state; Latest header/changelogs/sample project now available in the 'Support' directory of the game install
  • Fixed an issue with championship editor which would lead to incorrect race 2 starting order if both races did not use the same duration type. Added a fall back to find any race 1 result as the basis for race 2 in existing savegames
  • Default weather progression for official championships are now sync to race
  • Fixed an issue where default weather progression for official championships was extremely high (existing saves will revert to sync-to-race on load if out of range)
  • Made brake pedal sensitivity linear by default for most Thrustmaster wheel types.
  • Fixed issue where HUD leaderboard would cut off the local player row in some cases
  • Fixed stale drive button state requiring double click of race ready button if a user drove a previous session of a Multiplayer event.
  • Actual timestep is now passing to FFB scripts
UI & HUD
  • Added Front/Rear tire selection to quick setup menu
  • Fixed selected row visual states on Game control assignments tab
  • Added current lap info to position widget HUD in timed races
  • Fixed in-game camera options screen not correctly hiding VR options
  • Corrected engine displacement info for F-Classic Gen3 models 2 & 3
PHYSICS
  • Minor tire tread adjustments for F-Reiza, F-V10 G1, F-V12, F-Ultimate F-Classics (all gens), Group C, Group A, BMW M1 Procar
  • Added driveline elasticity modelling for cars that still didn´t feature it (Lancer Cup, TSI Cup, JCW Mini, Copa Truck, F-Ultimate)
  • TSI Cup: Improved clutch smoothing
  • Revised wheel spin inertia for all cars
  • Reduced front splitter pitch sensitivity for Group A & Procar
  • Slightly improved rear wing baseline downforce of Group A cars
  • Disabled now redundant autoclutch forced off in semi-auto F1s (fixes cars stalling even with autoclutch set on)
  • Adjusted Corvette C3-R final drive ratio
  • Further clutch heating/wear improvements and adjusted update rate
  • Reinstated auto-clutch logic for sequential shifts that do not have autoblip/autolift
  • Updated clutch models to include flash and burst parameters
  • Changed clutches on some cars
  • All street cars now have clutch damage
  • Revised F1 driveline inertias
  • Improved sequential F1 shift reliability
  • Added clutch damage and heating model.& clutch damage attributes for DPI, GT1/GTE/GT3, C3/C3R/Omega, multiple F1s
  • Prevented needless autoclutching in clutchless sequentials
  • Updated default setups for M1 Procar, Groupa A (both models), GT3 (all models), Corvette C3-R, Porsche RSR 1974, Ginetta G40 Cup, G40 GT5, Porsche Cup, Stock Car 2021 / 2022, Mercedes CLK, AJR (all variants), MRX (all variants), Roco (setup reset recommended), F3s,
  • Adjusted engine wear increase with boost settings for F-Classic turbo engines & eeduced default wastegate setting to account for higher engine wear at higher settings
AI
  • Increased hardcoded radius values for AI detection of corners ahead (this should fix some existing AI logic not triggering in some corners)
  • Added a AI series-specific radius check and distance ahead to look at before trying to overtake (customization per car type still to be implemented)
  • Adjusted AI decision behaviour when an AI driver is attempting to avoid cutting the track but has a player vehicle on opposite (should prevent some cases of AI hitting player laterally)
  • Added a per-weekend based consistency personality logic for AI
  • AI calibration pass for F-Classics (all gens)
  • Slightly increased AISidecalc range to further reduce chance of AI cars being "scared" out of the way by player coming up behind it
  • AI rolling resistance adjustments for GT3, GT4, GTE, P1, P2, P3, P4, Stock Cars
AUDIO
  • Updated crash sound effects
TRACKS
  • Updated weather & climates change in European and North American locations to ease transitions in seasonal foliage (so early spring the foliage is still looking dry, early summer still lush green; and early autumn still green)
  • Adjusted rolling start and TT start points for Kansai, Monza, Ortona, Silverstone, Snetterton, Spielberg, Velocitta, Velopark, VIR
  • Watkins Glen: Added barriers on the bypass road for inner loop layouts
  • Monza: Added missing grandstands, ad boards / gantries; grounded floating poles at Lesmos in Monza 1991
  • Silverstone 1975: Add more cones marking pitent/pitex, Adjust a few 3d people, LOD adjustment on flags
  • Ortona: Fix for outer houses LODs; Trimmed the apex corridors
  • Daytona: Updated AI lines & corridors
  • Updated trackside cameras for Brands Hatch, Curitiba
  • Nurburgring: Fixed Cam 01 clipping
VEHICLES
  • Reynard 98i: Fixed left mirror bug): Added dirt/damage texture; Changed rain tire texture; Updated cockpit tires
  • BMW M8 GTE: Fixed brake discs glow issue
  • McLaren F1 GTR: Fixed conflicting #8 livery
  • Adjusted suspension animations for all F-USA models
About author
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

Comments

i tested the new track and i found a bug cant press drive the car if you return to garage in multiplayer mode
 
Seriously, what are you on about? It's never going to do Forza numbers but given the constant developer input and new content it's not 'dead'. If they stopped adding content now, there's still plenty to go at for a long time compared to ACC.
Again the awkward moment in almost RD AMS2 threads when AMS2 fans start talk about other sim especially ACC and then complain 10 pages later that other sim steal the show :O_o:
 
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OverTake
Premium
Just got around to trying the update and new content. What Reiza keeps doing to improve AMS2 is crazy - both the 83 F1 cars (all three of them) and the new CART cars gave me that feeling where you keep telling yourself "just one more lap", and the next time you look at the lap counter, you've done about 20 more :D
Can't wait for skin creators to work their magic on both classes to have accurate representations of both series' seasons.

Road America is just beautifully well done. I loved the track before anyway, but this one feels like a lot of love went into its creation, the atmosphere is great!
 
Premium
Drives great, looks stunning.

Did it always look this good?

Maybe the last two weeks looking at the ugliness of iracing has given me a fresh set of eyes for this game.

Maybe I'm bashing iracing too much, But I find it hard not to when so many other titles (such as this one) are on an entirely different level.
 
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There is no need to resuscitate something that is already alive
AMS2 isn't going to do crazy numbers but it's doing fine

I don't know about that. The average player numbers are around half that of Raceroom and that's a 9 year old game on a now very dated graphics engine. For a new gen sim I'd be very worried, AMS2 looks good, runs well and has a decent selection of content, so why is it only just ticking over in terms of user numbers?
 
Drives great, looks stunning.

Did it always look this good?

Maybe the last two weeks looking at the ugliness of iracing has given me a fresh set of eyes for this game.

Maybe I'm bashing iracing too much, But I find it hard not to when so many other titles (such as this one) are on an entirely different level.
Seriously the only thing iracing has going for it is the great online system and the massive hq content list (locked behind insane paywalls). But yeah AMS2 is beautiful. Itd be awesome if we ever get a better photo and replay mode.
 
Gave it a go before bedtime last night, trying one of the new CART at Road America and the 1983 F1 cars at Silverstone 75.

RA looks and feels lovely on the autumn season that comes with default date. I think it's lacking some trackside objects, but after the outlap I could not pay attention to it, the driving is so enthralling...these Gen 3 F-USA are more refined than Gen 2 in both downforce consistency and power delivery, so everything is both easier and faster now, but they still feel like proper beasts. You can pick up everything the car is doing in all 4 wheels all the damn time. It's mindblowing, never felt so connected to a virtual racecar before AMS2 1.3, and it has just only kept getting better.

1983 cars are very interesting, each one has a distinct character, pros and cons. On a short race the Turbo will dust both atmos, but would like to see what happens on a longer race where fuel consumption and tyre wear play a bigger role. Also, these cars had refuelling.

Was going to make a comparison with AC and rF2, as I have been going back and forth with those sims thanks to the 1991 full season release by ASR in both titles. But I don't want to contribute to the thread derailing that seems to happen at every single AMS2 update post, so I will just say that on pure driving terms, this is far and away my favourite racing title atm.
 
Premium
Can’t wait to try this later, RA is one of my favourite tracks. Not a big fan of single seaters, but I found the CART content a hoot to drive so I’ll combo these two tonight. (Also, why do people always talk about ‘player numbers’ in these threads? I’m genuinely intrigued)
 
Again the awkward moment in almost RD AMS2 threads when AMS2 fans start talk about other sim especially ACC and then complain 10 pages later that other sim steal the show :O_o:
I'm not a fanboy of any of them. I own everything current but iracing and go between them as I please depending on what mood I'm in.

I rather this existed than it didn't and it's very good value for money imo.
 
I spent hours in RF2 last weekend (what a brilliant UI update, therefore I treated myself to some more of the amazing DLC whilst it was on sale!) and I think this weekend I’ll be spending hours in AMS2…

…I can’t wait for the talented skin modders to give us the skins & AI data for the 2000 Cart season & 1983 F1 season!
 
Admittedly, I have no qualified inputs for the latest update yet, just 2 cents on my general opinion:
I have read many AMS2 posts with severe wry remarks about RD's "news flooding" of Reiza's prime sim.
But IMO is nothing superfluous.
Today, exactly 13 months ago, I acquired AMS2 and I was about to throw it out the window due to hit-and-miss experiences regarding FFB.
But when I look back on the past year, AMS2 has - in some imperceptible manner - caused me to transform from a simhead switching between 10-15 new and classic sims over a quarter to now enjoy 1 primary sim and then 3-4 new and older sims as secondary.
And I'm even an old fanboy of mods, all the way back to the first mods of Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix 2. In AMS2 I have strangely enough not missed that part yet, but absolutely gratifying if there is possibly something going on (when I listen to the water pipes). At least it will not make me lose interest in AMS2!

Well, now I've probably branded myself as a hardcore AMS2 Fanboy :D
Maybe it's due to my satisfaction way exceeds my expectations a year ago. When I think about it, I still start up AMS2 without having set a goal in advance. Whereas I think it is different with other sims. As e.g. rF2, where the expectations have been towering due to old heritage from rF1 (and it's huge universes of fantastic mods of which are still impressive racing even today).

I'll promise to come up with my harsh criticism once I've had the opportunity to try out the updates. Until now it has always ended up that I sound more grumpy than I am.

Edit: OK maybe I'm becoming a fanboy of Reiza's progress.. One can only praise Reiza's small team for what they have achieved during the last year :inlove:
 
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