AMS 2 Development Roadmap - More News, Videos and Pictures

[Paul Jeffrey]

Reiza Studios have released their 'Development Roadmap' for September, and it's packed full of exciting Automobilista 2 news!

Proving themselves to be as versatile as ever, Reiza Studios have released a new development roadmap for the month of September. This month, the Brazilian studio have shared plenty of details about the upcoming Automobilista 2 racing simulation, plus further news about the ongoing work that is taking place for the (fairly) recent rFactor 2 'Reiza Pack' DLC.

Full roadmap post from Renato Simioni below:

Hello again everyone

September has been another busy month in an ongoing run of busy months that shall continue as we push flatout with development of Automobilista 2 - so let´s cut to the. chase and go straight into what we´ve been up to this past month.

AMS1 / rF2 Bundle Updates

We still have a few updates and fixes pending for these two releases which (at the risk of sounding repetitive) are due out soon. Please bare with us a little longer here

AMS2 Community Skins

We have recently announced in our development forum (restricted to Reiza Backers) that those who joined the AMS2 Early Backing Campaign will have the opportunity to become part of Automobilista 2 by submitting their own paintjob and driver name for any of the various fictional or semi-fictional series which will be present in the sim. and for which backers can apply to become one of the official drivers in Automobilista 2.

If you are a Backer and a capable skin painter, check out the various topics in Reiza51 for instructions on how to apply.

All talented skinners are welcome to come showcase your skills by submitting your application for any of the many series in Automobilista 2 open for community skins, such as this revamped Formula V12:

For the more prolific skinners out there, be advised we are also on the lookout for someone to join the team in an official capacity - if you´re interested in taking this a little more seriously, shoot me a PM

New and familiar Brazilian Series for AMS2

As previously announced AMS2 will see the introduction of Brazilian Sprint Race Series. Powered by a 260HP V6 engine with RWD, sequential 6-speed shifter and with a central driving position, this car serves as an excellent training tool for several types of racing and should be a perfect option for door-to-door action.

AMS2 will also continue to feature the popular Brazilian Formula Vee, the popular trainer now in its latest model featuring a new engine and suspension geometry.

Making the Game Engine Tick

Back when we were developing Stock Car Extreme into Automobilista, a small but significant adjustment we made was bumping the physics tick rate from the original 360hz to 720hz, along with controller rates from 90hz to a (potential depending on setting) 360hz - what this effectively results in is noticeably higher fidelity from physics and better feedback for the controllers, as the game is running physics calcs and outputting feedback at a faster rate.

With the Madness engine we have been looking into it again and finding some good room for improvements. Tick rates are a simple thing to change but something to experiment with carefully as audio, physics and controller rates all interact within the game engine and ought to remain somewhat in sync, so a good deal of testing is needed to find the balance between what rates bring significant improvements without causing problems or performance issues.

The original tick rates had to mind performance on lower end consoles where there are more performance bottlenecks - given we don´t plan to release AMS2 in these consoles and PC hardware has continued to evolve over the years, combined with the fact our assets are generally lighter on resources has given us a little more leeway to tune up those tick rates and get a bit more fidelity all around.

The biggest boost this time so far has been on the audio front where tick rates have been bumped to substantially higher rates than it was and higher than the AMS1 audio engine (which ran @ 120hz) - the difference is even visible when analyzing the graphs below, showing two 100ms chunk of audio curves under the old and new rates:

Old Audio Frequency

New Audio Frequency

This naturally also results in substantial higher fidelity audio in-game, particularly with high revving F1 engines which are capable of covering a respectable RPM range over 100ms.

You can hear what we´ve got so far in the video below featuring 3 of these high-revving engines over a lap at Interlagos - (please keep in mind the usual WIP disclaimers):

On the physics front, the margins for upscaling tick rates were smaller as both physics and controller tick rates were already set at 600hz,but physics has also been bumped up to AMS1 level @ 720hz, as when you´re trying to tame a 1000bhp monster on slicks over standing water you need all control you can have - see for yourself

As before all videos are captured with fairly standard system specs (i7-3770k CPU @ 3.50GHz, 16gb RAM, Geforce GTX 1070) so rest assured we´re not planning on blowing any gaskets here on the contrary, AMS2 should remain very accessible in terms of hardware requirements.

Grinding the Tranny - Manual Transmission Model

Further development on the physics have been made on the drivetrain model, specifically for cars with manual boxes so as in AMS1 the driver can´t get away abusing his gearbox speedshifting or skipping gears without clutching or rev matching.

Here again we´re fortunate to rely on SMS legacy code which was somewhat similar to what we had in AMS1, so re-enabling it and merging with our own model has been relatively straight-forward - it´s already working reasonably as can be seen in the video below:

Obviously everything seen and heard here is early WIP and subject to a lot of fine tuning, but the good news is that this compounds what is overall a more advanced model which will among other things eventually include damage to gears and gearbox altogether from recurring miss-shifts.

London Team Meeting

One of the catalysts for the recent developments has been our team meetings in London - for those not aware Reiza doesn´t have a physical studio so devs work from their own location worldwide, and all team work is done remotely. This is suits us fine generally but we also find it productive and personally rewarding to get together once in a while to perform a few days of intense in loco team work.

Unfortunately not many from Reiza could make it this time but the London setting wasn´t accidental as there we also got the opportunity to meet some of the key people at Slightly Mad Studios, and for a few days consult with some of their lead devs over various topics regarding the development of Automobilista 2 with the Madness engine.

From left to right: SMS Andy Garton, Myself, Reiza Dom Lovric, SMS Ged Keaveney and Reiza Dave Stephenson

From the start of the relationship SMS has proved themselves to be great and enthusiastic partners, generous with their time, knowledge and assets, without which we wouldn´t have a chance of meeting the very aggressive development schedule we have set for ourselves with Automobilista 2. This again proved the case in London where we were treated with great hospitality and able to feed on their expertise, for which we are most grateful.

That cover it for September! We have a couple more updates to go so expect things to pick up steam from now onwards with more info about the development of AMS2 and our longer term goals for it, the premium licenses we are in process of securing and everything else we´re aiming to deliver for it´s initial release and continuous development over the coming years.


Automobilista 2 will release for PC December 2019.

For the latest Automobilista 2 news and discussions, head over to the AMS 2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment and get yourself involved in the conversation today!

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[numbersevenhull]

As a VR user, I'm perfectly happy with 2D trees in my racing sims. As someone else mentioned, why waste processing power on them? I honestly don't know how some people even notice this kind of thing while actually playing. I mean, they're supposed to be racing, not sitting still staring at the scenery. Put the detail where it's really needed, that's what I say.

Well I'm very sorry, but I often simulate a 40 minute race with one picnic stop .

Previews continue to make me feel very excited, nothing can quell my anticipation for day one, open lobby, full grid of Brazilian Stock Cars all in VR. I've had hours of joy racing the Reiza content offline, but with a new audience, solid participation online, that really is Christmas. I hope the game brakes free of the GT3/Spa/Monza shackles and we see an active online community on those wonderful South American circuits with garage of unique vehicles.

 

[Andy-R]

Well I'm very sorry, but I often simulate a 40 minute race with one picnic stop .

Previews continue to make me feel very excited, nothing can quell my anticipation for day one, open lobby, full grid of Brazilian Stock Cars all in VR. I've had hours of joy racing the Reiza content offline, but with a new audience, solid participation online, that really is Christmas. I hope the game brakes free of the GT3/Spa/Monza shackles and we see an active online community on those wonderful South American circuits with garage of unique vehicles.

A small caveat of the agree... Those stock cars are just GT3 with a different name as far as I'm concerned

 

[numbersevenhull]

A small caveat of the agree... Those stock cars are just GT3 with a different name as far as I'm concerned

Politely disagree, how you have to feather throttle and brake application on the Brazillian Stock cars share a lot more in their DNA with Australian V8 Supercars, as does their weight transfer, they get an awful lot looser, and I must have missed that push to pass button on GT3's. There is of course some GT3 DNA in there too, but they really are their own beasts.

 

[Alex72]

Really hyped for AMS2, and im not usually hyped because im too old for such childish things as being hyped, but still...

 

[Andy-R]

Politely disagree, how you have to feather throttle and brake application on the Brazillian Stock cars share a lot more in their DNA with Australian V8 Supercars, as does their weight transfer, they get an awful lot looser, and I must have missed that push to pass button on GT3's. There is of course some GT3 DNA in there too, but they really are their own beasts.

It's OK, my views on the subject are probably not mainstream. For me GT2 is also GT3 and sometimes they get sneaky and try and disguise the GT3 with other names such as DTM, Super GT and underwater hockey.

 

[Boby Kim]

...is this a tree simulator?

 

[Dethrone1427]

As a VR user, I'm perfectly happy with 2D trees in my racing sims. As someone else mentioned, why waste processing power on them? I honestly don't know how some people even notice this kind of thing while actually playing. I mean, they're supposed to be racing, not sitting still staring at the scenery. Put the detail where it's really needed, that's what I say.

I can't say I've ever noticed either when I have my headset on. Seems a slightly redundant thing to complain about.

 

[Alex72]

...is this a tree simulator?

Sure was a lot of talk about trees all of a sudden. Good thing is people seem to be in a majority view that the 2D trees look good and they save us performance. Win win.

 

[David Wright]

Let's bring back 2D sprites for cars I say

On a more serious note, great to see the nice tweaks to the Madness Engine and the good working relationship with SMS.

 

[Rafael Placce]

A small caveat of the agree... Those stock cars are just GT3 with a different name as far as I'm concerned

I agree that they are not a a "real stock car", but it's not a gt car either. At this point it's more of a prototype.

Next year there will be a totally new regulation, with more manufacturers, and the cars will be based on road cars. For sure it will come to AMS2 at some point.

 

[Enoneado]

i still bet for RF2, is a winner horse

 

[Ben Lee]

2D trees can look really good, its all down to how they are employed and set up against the environment. Assetto Corsa and PCARS both use 2D trees for the majority of their landscape, but the PCARS trees are on another level.

 

[Robert_S]

Will we be able to tear down the trees to build the wooden garage ? If not I will not buy it

 

[Ghoults]

Will we be able to tear down the trees to build the wooden garage ? If not I will not buy it

Well at least you can cut down the 2d trees with scissors.

 

[susuwatari]

Nice trees.

 

[RockettSally]

Don't forget the Nordschleife

Bruh

There's a thousand of games that covers the Nordschleife, with rF2 releasing its version this month, so honestly we don't need to care too much about this track.

 

[UnixRoot]

But there is not one game with Reiza physics and FFB which contains the Nordschleife.

 

[Jach]

This looks (and sounds) promising
BTW I hope they'll fix PCars 2's annoying bug that still exists today like SMS just don't care. In replay the driver will turn more steering wheel angle than what we actually did when driving. As a former steering designer I just cannot stand it, why a "serious simulator" even changes steer ratio (although it's just replay)

 

[Alex72]

Bruh

There's a thousand of games that covers the Nordschleife, with rF2 releasing its version this month, so honestly we don't need to care too much about this track.

Would look awesome though misty morning, water puddles, in the forest areas as the sun is coming up with AMS2 graphics...................

 

[nangu]

Don't forget the Nordschleife

Nah, there are a lot of trees there