New Player Peak Record, Positive Reception For Automobilista 2 v1.6 - But Reiza Still Has "Plenty To Achieve"

Automobilista-2-Sebring-Update-1.6.jpg
Image: Reiza Studios
Arguably the most hotly-anticipated update in sim racing in 2024, Automobilista 2 v1.6 has seen a very successful launch. While developer Reiza Studios are pleased with this, they also know that their work is not done yet.

It took longer than anticipated for Automobilista 2 to have its big update to v1.6 deployed, but on November 29, it was finally time. With the new version came exciting new content, a plethora of new features and adjustments, the integration with third-party competition website Low Fuel Motorsport - and a new peak concurrent player record.

To be precise, it was three records, even. The previous best was set at 2,547 in December 2023 when the first batch of Hypercars and the Le Mans track were released. Following v1.6 being deployed, that number first went up to 3,624 on Friday, then 3,809 on Saturday, and finally 3,855 on Sunday. Plenty of multiplayer servers could be found, and as @Michel Wolk and I tried the LFM integration, we even found some events closed for registration if you were not quick enough, as they were at capacity already.

Lots of sim racers enjoy the update, with plenty of positive feedback - and some negative as well, of course - found here on OverTake, YouTube, or social media. "We are very pleased with the release of v1.6 - we set a very high goal for ourselves for this update, and it has not been easy to clear that bar. But by and large, we did that, end even exceeded goals in some aspects", a happy Reiza Studios Founder and Lead Developer Renato Simioni told OverTake.


Squasing Bugs & Treating Teething Issues​

Meanwhile, Simioni knows that the AMS2 player base has indeed grown considerably over the four years the title has been out, but it might not always be online at the same time. "With that said, one of the big moves of v1.6 has been a harder push towards making it a viable multiplayer platform, and for that to flourish, sustaining a high number of concurrent players is critical", adds Simioni. "That has worked rather well, and the initial weekend has been mostly solid, but some teething issues and bugs have popped up - it's on us to get on top of as many of them and as quickly as possible to keep that positive momentum going."

Indeed, the online portion of Automobilista 2 provided great racing over the weekend, although not without issues here and there - occasionally, a session would not advance to the next, and once, I hit an invisible car that mostly ended my race, but once a session gets going, there have not been any issues in the vast majority of cases.

As a result, plenty of sim racers who had been unsure seem to have at least given AMS2 a solid look over the 1.6 launch weekend. Despite the many positive reactions, there have been some negative ones as well. "We know AMS2 isn't for everyone, and we don't expect it to be. By its very unique design, it's not ever going to cater to everyone", said Simioni. "Generally speaking, those who already liked it like it even more now; many of those who were on the fence or even slightly negative towards it are now more into it, and those who strongly disliked it by and large still do."

Automobilista-2-Alpine-A424.jpg


"More sim racers start to 'get' what we are going for"​

In that sense, Simioni sees parallels to previous milestone updates. However, "the most important thing for us is that it keeps finding its audience more and more, as it's not typical for a game going into its fifth year to continue to do that in large leaps. But as we bring it all together more and more, more sim racers start to 'get' what we are going for, and we do a better job of delivering and more of them come to see its value", Reiza's Founder stated.

The update did take longer to be deployed than anticipated - initially, the goal was Summer of 2024, most likely referring to the northern hemisphere. That soft target may not have been met, but that was for good reason, as Simioni explained: "For this update, we knew we needed to deliver less potential and more reality, so that's what we went all out for irrespective of how long it was going to take - and even though it took longer than we'd foreseen, it's still a whole lot of progress for just seven months worth of development."

The release of v1.6 concludes a very intense 2024 for the Brazilian studio, and despite the initial success of the update, the team knows it cannot just sit back now. While AMS2 may now be in a position where its physics model is largely what it should be like, according to the devs, Simioni promises: "The push continues - there is still plenty to achieve, so our sights are already focused on these next steps."

Automobilista-2-Audi-R8-LMS-GT3-Evo-II-Mosport.jpg


Career Mode & Online Driver Swaps Next?​

One of them certainly is a Career Mode: Once v1.6 introduced the new UI, a greyed-out Career Mode option appeared in the main menu, and this has been on many players' want lists for quite some time. Reiza has previously stated that they wanted to bring all content in AMS2 to a coherent level first, so it might be one of the next big things.

Another element that could mean another big step forward would be online driver swaps. Currently, endurance events with real teammates are not possible, as Automobilista 2 does not support driver swaps other than with AI drivers yet. The addition of the feature coupled with the day-night transitions and weather system the title already offers could make for some very memorable endurance action - and considering the IMSA licensing deal, it would only make sense.

What are your wishes for Automobilista 2 in 2025? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion in our AMS2 forum!
About author
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

Heel & Toe Gang 4 life :D

Comments

Well done Reiza, AMS2 is getting to be a very attractive package and it is finally time the players number are matching what AMS2 brings to us.
Even if on a personal level those attendance numbers mean absolutely nothing, as a developer, getting a larger audience, presumably willing to spend some money for advancement and content must mean a lot.
I am glad to read that Reiza understand that not everyone will prefer ASM2, as it is impossible, so instead they pursue what they believe is right with a lot of work and passion. Looks like an increasing number of player share their vision. Good for them and good for us.
 
Does somebody know, how i can turn off camera-vibration in cockpit view?

I turned all the movement-sliders to 0 in the options menue - but camera is still shaking. I hate that.

How to turn it off?
 
Premium
Had two online races with LFM today and they have been fun and for the most part quite clean although being Rookie class. Finally some structured online racing which works for AMS2. I can see myself racing regularly there.
 
OverTake
Premium
Does somebody know, how i can turn off camera-vibration in cockpit view?

I turned all the movement-sliders to 0 in the options menue - but camera is still shaking. I hate that.

How to turn it off?
If I remember correctly, head movement needs to be set to 'legacy'. I run AMS2 without any camera movement in the cockpit as well - feel free to try that setting and if that isn't it, do ping me again and I'll have a look at my settings tomorrow to let you know :)
 
Because SOMEONE had to be "Mr. VR", I'll chime in. I love it but wish I could enjoy TV-style replay angles in VR. RaceRoom and iRacing both offer this in VR -- I'm stuck in chase/onboard cams in AMS2, and for a game which takes pride in being a first class VR title, it's a terrible omission.
 
Premium
If I remember correctly, head movement needs to be set to 'legacy'. I run AMS2 without any camera movement in the cockpit as well - feel free to try that setting and if that isn't it, do ping me again and I'll have a look at my settings tomorrow to let you know :)
yes, that's correct, legacy has to be on I think.
 
Premium
Because SOMEONE had to be "Mr. VR", I'll chime in. I love it but wish I could enjoy TV-style replay angles in VR. RaceRoom and iRacing both offer this in VR -- I'm stuck in chase/onboard cams in AMS2, and for a game which takes pride in being a first class VR title, it's a terrible omission.
Actually, you can work around that. If you bind a button to "next camera" and "previous camera" ( easily reachable ones ), you can then follow yourself round on the trackside cameras. It is still not as good as flat screen replays, but it's a lot better than the chase/onboard option and makes for quite cinematic viewing, you feel as if you are at the track watching the race.
 
Premium
Because SOMEONE had to be "Mr. VR", I'll chime in. I love it but wish I could enjoy TV-style replay angles in VR. RaceRoom and iRacing both offer this in VR -- I'm stuck in chase/onboard cams in AMS2, and for a game which takes pride in being a first class VR title, it's a terrible omission.
I know its already been answered, But I just map next camera to space bar and I can easily skip around the track side cameras and track the car in and out of frame.

Some tracks don't or at least didn't have functional track-side cameras and might put you under a grandstand or similar.

If wishes were fishes, I'd have the helicopter camera from iracing.
 
Last edited:
What pisses me the most with this approach is that Renato and his team are tired of knowing that MP issues exist since PCARS1 .... yet you dont see a single line in any patch notes about it , now that theres a bit of traction with LFM for the novelty they will press onto it .... im sorry while some required changes are quite time consuming and borderline redesigns like a proper dedi server, driver swaps etc , many many others are just persistently annoying and totally either ignored or not researched properly for the last god knows how many years ...

BIG ONES - probably require major work so understandable they didnt tackle these yet

- Online desyncs
- No proper dedi server ( new functionality)
- Driver swaps .... so much endurance content and yet ( new functionality )

Minor annoyances

- Broken cars remain visually broken
- qualifying alone you still ear the other cars on track
- Nationalities keep jumping all over in the leaderboards

These ones from just my first online racing in LFM im sure theres plenty more people mentioned that i havent experienced.

I can understand if you take an engine and decide to ignore aspects of it and focus on other aspects in terms of new developments, broken stuff not so much and theres plenty of broken stuff Mr Ian Bell left behind .... to be honest Reiza managed to do some stuff i never thought possible ... but, cant stop thinking if some other now abandoned engine had been taken instead if we wouldn't have a much better product by now ... its been a few years :/

PS: and yes im pushing what interests me, single player AI stuff for me is only good to fine tune my setup , racing against bots i had plenty of that in the years before online gaming and fast internet was a thing , apparently back then developers knew how to code AI because they had no other option :)

PS2: and for those waiting eagerly for AC Evo to be the salvation, mmmm, i have a bad feeling, it seems to me that in terms of systems Kunos is looking too much with pupi eyes to the likes of Forza and GT .... they may retain the physics side of things but all the other stuff that is gold for simmers and not so much for casual players might have its days counted ... i hope im wrong !
 
Last edited:
- No proper dedi server ( new functionality)
I've never used so no idea if that works. But seems it's being updated.

2024-11-12
------------

- Added Vehicles 'Chevrolet Corvette C8 Z06 (+Z07 Upgrade)' (Supercars), Ligier JS P217 (LMP2 & LMPGen2)
- Various track/vehicle/livery data fixes

2024-10-01
------------

- Added Vehicles 'Alpine A424' (LMDh), 'Oreca 07' (LMP2_Gen1)
- Added Class 'LMP2_Gen1'
- Adjusted default date and grid size for varous tracks

1733180324732.png
 
Last edited:
AMS2 rocketed to become the best overall offline racing sim on the market

physics have surpassed AC and match ACC - only RF2/LMU has an edge
While some cars do feel good, if you grab a GROUP A car or a GT1 equal car and the same track in AC you will see the differences still and i disagree completely it "roccketed past" ... as a package for the final consumer in terms of singel player yes it did... on those specific aspects you just mentioned by themselves not at all ... but hey we all have different opinions.
 
The big item for this version and a big well done for Reiza is the packet info size was reduced 4 times in size for the mp communication. that was the only major change i understood was done , probably alogn with alot fo other minor bugs.
 
Back
Top