AMS 2 Announced - MADNESS Engine Confirmed!

[Paul Jeffrey]

The announcement is here! Read on for some very big news regarding the next racing game project from Reiza Studios.

Having earned considerable good will from the sim racing community thanks to their outstanding work on GSCE and Automobilista, Reiza Studios confirmed they planned on developing and releasing a new racing title in the very near future. For various reasons that "very near future" turned into a couple of years or so, and the original working title of 'Reiza '17' quickly became obsolete.

Well folks, wait no more - the announcement is here!

Let’s be honest, we expected this to be good... and good it is. Firstly, let’s talk about the surprise aspect of the announcement today – the game engine.

Most folks would be willing to throw down money on Reiza taking hold of the rFactor 2 ISI gMotor2 and bolting on an external graphics engine… but Reiza have surprised us all with an announcement we didn’t expect – AMS 2 will be using the Slightly Mad Studios developed Madness engine!

So what does that mean? Well it means day-to-night transitions. It means dynamic weather and it means VR! Yes, all those things that sim racers ask for, wrapped up in an impressive graphics engine that gives good framerates. Oh, and with the Reiza magic touch regarding physics and force feedback thrown into the mix. Awesome.

So, what else do we know? Well looking at the new trailer, we see the now legendary StockCar Series and Interlargos circuit, giving us a couple of exceptional pieces of content, and leading me to believe that AMS 2 will once again have a focus on the Brazilian racing scene at its core – which is excellent news in my opinion.

Other highlights from trailer has to be the incredible 1991 Ayrton Senna McLaren Honda! The Brazilian legend, a legendary Brazilian development studio - how awesome is that!

All in, this announcement sounds like fantastic news from Reiza, and well, well worth the wait!

The Reiza announcement in full:

Automobilista 2 is the culmination of a project developed over the course of nearly a decade. At its core, it is a comprehensive simulation of the Brazilian motorsports scene, featuring all major Brazilian racing series, race tracks and manufacturers.

Automobilista 2 will also celebrate Brazilian motorsports heritage by featuring some of the country´s most iconic heroes and achievements through its rich history in the sport.

Packing an even larger roster of diverse cars and tracks than its predecessor, Automobilista 2 will venture further into the best of international motorsports, including prestigious brands such as McLaren and BMW along with iconic venues such as Brands Hatch and Imola, at the same time continuing to explore the more exotic and exciting forms of motorsports from around the world.

Boosted by a new technical partnership with the developers of the award-winning Project CARS series, Automobilista 2 is built on the MADNESS engine, providing incredible graphical quality, the most advanced dynamic weather and track condition systems in a racing simulator and superior VR support, to deliver a substantial realism upgrade and a fully immersive visual experience.

With Automobilista 2 we aim to combine the strengths that made its predecessor unique with major evolutions in all areas. The sim will offer some exclusive features for both single player and multiplayer, which we look forward to sharing over the remaining months of development!


AMS 2 is set to release December 2019.

For the latest news and discussion items in relation to the newly announced new racing simulation from Reiza Studios, head over to our brand new AMS 2 sub forum, and never miss a thing again!

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[DaVeX↯]

Just a note, graphic and physics are strictly related on Madness engine, Reiza is going to use the Madness engine physics not the old ISI code, this means we aren't sure we will see a port of same features from one game to another and I am not speaking only for physics, but rules, AI, etc etc
So being worried is normal. We love every bit of AMS what we asked for was a new graphic engine only, switching to a new physics engine too could be a problem and ruin some game mechanics we are used to love...
Maybe, since Madness physics is an "evolution" of rF code Reiza put some new lines on it....but I don't think so...

 

[jonelsorel]

Simply amazing. Day one buy for me. If they succeed in keeping and improving what they did with 1 and up the graphics department to current standards, it will be epic.

 

[mantasisg]

Just found some modelling/graphical issues in the trailer. Not that much, gotta admit that this engine looks great. It is especially good for replays and screenshots.

0:05 sign shadows gone away 0:08 cloud simply disappears 0:16 white line floats above puddle 0:20 tarmac looks greasy, and kerb edge is too sharp 0:29 specularity over grass is totally missing, very nice grass colour though Everything else looks very nice. I especially like the Caterham shot, beautiful !

 

[mariomario55]

Where's the early backers $1000 option?

 

[David Wright]

Its not an assumption its a fact, why on earth would they use the Project cars physics,
game engines do not come shipped with physics anyways only very basic programming the core features,
they are using the Madness graphics and the famous Reiza physics everyone loves.

While true for engines such as Unreal, racing sim engines do come shipped with physics. ISIMotor2 is an obvious example.

Of course it could well be that Reiza opt for their own physics or tyre model. In PC1 the AI used the rF1-type tyre physics so presumably it could be used for the player as well.

And although Reiza have made some useful improvements to the rF1 physics engine, I would suggest their primary skill is the numbers they put into the engine.

 

[DEXT3R]

That's unexpected.. Why i cannot teleport myself into the future?

 

[M D Gourley]

I would not even mind if Reiza put out an early access trial of AMS2, I would pay for that...much like ACC..how many more sleeps to I have before it shows up...LOL

 

[Ruy Horta]

Its been said many times, but the idea of Slightly Mad eye candy, delicious VR and Reiza pixie dust is simply mind blowing. Reiza is one my of favorite studios, if not the most favorite.

I still have to get the RF2 content, if only to support their operation.

 

[Ghoults]

Its not an assumption its a fact, why on earth would they use the Project cars physics,
game engines do not come shipped with physics anyways only very basic programming the core features,
they are using the Madness graphics and the famous Reiza physics everyone loves.

Just the fact alone that they are using the madness engine AND live track 3.0 tells it is complete package and not a graphics engine with their own physics engine. Live track 3.0 is not something that can be dropped into some other engine as it is hard coded into the physics engine of pcars2. That being said the pcars2 engine is built on top of rf1 I think so there is some continuity for reiza either way with the physics

 

[Andy-R]

I wonder what the exclusive multiplayer features will be. I tried a Pcars demo once and wasn't a fan. Hopefully Reiza can work their magic! Keeping my fingers crossed that Opala stock cars and Copa Classics make it in to the new game.

 

[budlix]

Awesome! Great news, fingers crossed to Reiza.
Seems like we need new thread where we will discuss the best excuse for
"Why I can't attend Christmas day".

 

[Gasper Zupan]

No Fiat Uno - No buy

 

[Roderick Kennedy]

I am sad,cannot find the slot on my monitor to insert the £20.00 note's,checked in vr too.

 

[Robertinotje]

Yes sweet mamma. Bring it to daddy

 

[Graham Botha]

Thank God they didn't go Unreal Engine. I'll keep an eye on this one. Pc2 has its flaws but as far as simulating an encompassing and immersive VR experience, it has its place. So let's see how this goes.

 

[hotak]

As nice as it is, im very much confused. Automobilista was a success because they picked up the rfactor 1 engine and remade it and modernized it. How the hell do they do the same for a game engine that is rather modern? Automobilista and PCARS2 put the same amount of dedication in real cars, real tracks, and as close to real life as they can get (Well, not so much Pcars but you get the point). If there's automobilista 2 then i have NO idea what they would do to set themselves apart, much less warrant a new purchase. I do understand that they would do more realism than Pcars2 could do, but will they do it THAT much better? Or do they have a weird secret reason why people would purchase automobilista if they already have project cars 2?

I think AMS2 will bring an evolution of the engine over pCars2, after all years passed and i doubt SMS were having their 100-people studio doing nothing all day.
Also, if SMS decided to license the engine to a direct competitor, i'm quite sure that either pCars3 will not come before another year or - most probably - their next driving game will focus on something different (i hope for rally).

Anyway, i see everyone talking about "new phisics from reiza", i'm sorry, but i highly doubt they'll use anything different from Madness engine's own physics, at most they may talk with SMS about new needed features, depending on how strict the collaboration is.
I think you'll all be surprised by how advanced pCars2 physics engine is compared to other sims engines (i'm not talking about accurate values, but number of simulated things and how deep they are simulated).

 

[François Strat]

Reiza team, if you read this... I love you thanks for your hard work !!
Day one purchase, of course

But I guess that with the new engin, the rF2 compatibility won't be a thing anymore
Cause I really loved the ams cars and tracks in rF2

Anyways, this will be THE big sim event !!! Can't wait for it

 

[alexSchmurtz]

No Fiat Uno - No buy

Mmmm... Not sure we'll get 100% of the AMS 1 content but that's likely, so... You'll have to buy AMS 2!

 

[BP]

My scepticism flag is flying because of all the potential issues from using this engine. Visually in VR it could look very nice but at certain times of the day with longer shadows across the track and certain tracks with fences is so distracting. Also they use very drastic culling in one eye that again was distracting. I was very hyped for pcars2 and very disappointed by the game they put out and eventually abandoned. Obviously Reiza has a great reputation but so did kunos but ACC is not good in VR. If you are a pancake gamer then not of that will concern you. Also live track 3.0 sounded amazing in the run up to pcars2 but the result is unusable in one player mode. One reason for this is the ai using very different physics to the player resulting in hugely inconsistent ai performance. Hopefully Reiza can perform deep surgery on the FFB ai and physics but I guess gfx will be out of the box.

Couple points:

• The problems you have with VR are all valid points...but maybe there are things that can be tweaked to improve the experience. Kunos said 24 hour cycles and weather were impossible in AC (and that was using their own Kunos-built engine)...and then here comes Sol made by a non-Kunos employee. Proof that not because you built the thing, automatically means you're the smartest at manipulating it to the limit. We won't know until we give Reiza a chance.
• The alleged failing of one company (in this case again Kunos) using Graphics engine A should not justify skepticism towards another company, that has no ties with each other, using Graphics Engine B. That's almost like saying "This 2017 Honda sedan drives very poorly, can't believe I bought this crap. I'm very skeptical towards the upcoming 2020 Ford sedan because they also have a similar shape, so regardless of what the engineers at Ford have in mind and all other variables, it'll probably feel like crap too."
• The AI using different physics I'd imagine was a choice made by Slightly Mad Studios, not something that is hard-coded into the engine. As others have pointed out, the graphics engine can be boiled down to essentially just that and only that: the visuals.
• The things that you believe failed in PCars 2 may not even be implemented in AMS 2 (Live Track 3.0 for example), so no point in throwing a wet blanket over it yet.
• I find it utterly amusing that people were more than just fine with playing all video games on screens for almost half a century (could I dare say...enjoying it?)...and then VR comes around for a mere handful of years and suddenly all these derogatory names for non-VR take flight ("Pancake gamer" and I've heard a couple others). You do realise that VR consists of two "pancakes" jammed right up to your eyeballs as well, right?

 

[Phil Davies]

I thought I had enough Race Sims on my Hard Drive,It appears I may be wrong .