AMS 2: New Game Footage - Plenty of News in July Roadmap

[Paul Jeffrey]

Reiza Studios have been teasing exciting sim racing news once again... with a nice comparison video thrown into the mix for good measure!

Anyone here ever heard of Automobilista 2? Yeah, I thought you might...

I did something I never really do yesterday, I announced an announcement for an upcoming announcement. Sounds silly doesn't it? Well to be honest with you, I was just so excited about the prospect of more AMS 2 news, I really, really wanted to put a little flag in the sand of the internet and give us all somewhere to go roast the marshmallows for a while and pass the time until said announcement wanders into the wild.

Well that time is now, so I'll step aside and hand over to Reiza Studios to share the latest happenings over in Brazil...

………………….

Hello everyone! We are back with another Dev Update to bring you the latest news about our active projects.

This has been another very busy month for the team, and possibly (hopefully!) the last in which we have worked in 3 different sims simultaneously (AMS1, rF2 & AMS2). It´s fair to say switching back and forth from engines doesn´t make things easy for the devs who are involved in all these fronts, so kudos to them for continuing to push hard in order to bring us up to the status I can now present to you

On rF2 there´s not much news yet as we´re still working on small update for the Bundle to fix a few remaining issues. This should not take long now.

For AMS1, we also didn´t quite make to release before the end of July as we had been aiming for, but August will surely see the release of Snetterton and Donington Park as final DLC items for Automobilista 1, along with a small patch for a few tweaks and minor bug fixes.

Both Snetterton and Donington have been modelled with the aid of LIDAR data and are along with the previously released brit tracks some of our most accurate models.

Here´s a preview of Snetterton in AMS1:

The main focus remain of course in Automobilista 2 and things continue to come along strongly there too, with a bunch of fresh cars and tracks being brought up to spec for the new engine as you´ll see peppered through this Dev Update

AMS1 vs AMS2 - Ultima GTR @ Snetterton Comparison

We found ourselves in an unusual position the last couple of months as we developed the same content both for the old title (AMS1) and the new one (AMS2) at the same time, as both Snetterton and Donington Park are being released as DLC for AMS1 and will be part of the base game in AMS2. It made for some interesting back and forth, and we thought it was worth putting together a comparison video. Check it out:

Opinions may and will vary as they always do and obviously nothing from the AMS2 video is quite the finished article yet, but in any case we found it made for an interesting comparison. From a devs POV we left the experiment feeling both reassured that the old dog AMS1 was well put together and is still holding up, at the same time with confidence that AMS2 moves every front up a notch or three in the right direction and with lots of room for improvement still.

The most improved part is actually the physics as this is one of the cars that drive substantially better in AMS2, although you can´t see that in the video

It will take a few months still until you all can compare for yourselves but at least there will be some fresh AMS1 content to race with in this time!

Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit coming in AMS2!

We are happy to be wrapping up a licensing deal with the historical Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit which will see the track featuring in multiple versions from its rich history as base game content in Automobilista 2.

The recently upgraded Kyalami is located in Johannesburg SA, it has hosted the South African Grand Prix several times from the 60s all the way to the 90s, and as a Grade 2 FIA certified track it is currently one of the few viable options for a future return of F1 to the african continent.

Kyalami will feature in Automobilista 2 release with its latest revision along with the sweeping, high speed historical 1976 version, with the 1992 version to be added post-release.

This is an exciting deal for us as not only it highlights our goals of expanding the horizons for Automobilista 2, but also from a sim perspective it adds an interesting challenge as the track is located over 1500m above sea level. In AMS1 we unfortunately didn´t get around to completing our thermodynamic model, but with AMS2 we luckily have that out of the box as part of the Madness engine so when racing in Kyalami players will have to contend with the extra challenge of a high altitude location and the resulting significant toll in engine and aerodynamic performance.

Sprint Race also coming in AMS2

Sprint Race is a new Brazilian series which we are excited to officially include in Automobilista 2.

Managed by ex driver Thiago Marques, the series offers a low budget entry point for new drivers and has remained a healthy popular series for several years now. It has recently made its first venture abroad for races in the USA.

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.

A reminder that you can already pre-order Automobilista 2 through the AMS2 Early Backing Campaign. We´d like to thank everyone who already bought in, the extra revenue stream is most helpful and it´s being put to good use with some fresh licenses already secured and others already lined up. More information on this program and how to participate here.

If you are looking forward to Automobilista 2 but would rather wait for release, you may opt instead to add the game to your Steam wishlist via the AMS2 Steam Store page - Steam will then let you know as soon as it´s released.

We got some more exciting news coming up but these we have to save for next month. Look forward to catching up again then, possibly a little earlier than usual

Well folks, take a breath, have a relax and go enjoy that video again!

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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[Kenny Paton]

Mijuki
I can't believe that after the last time you still cannot think about your language before you post.
I think you need a break from this thread to maybe exercise some self control.

 

[Nick Hill]

All the exciting AMS2 news lately incited me to fire up AMS for the first time in a while. It really is the sim racer's sim - it feels like no expense has been spared on the driving experience itself.

It occurred to me today that I see a parallel between my car and AMS. I drive a Scion FR-S (which is, unfortunately, how the Toyota 86 was branded in North America from 2013-16). When I talk to enthusiasts about this car, I hear how cool it is that a "car like that" (i.e. a lightweight, low cost, low frills sports car) is being produced today. I hear it must be a hoot to drive (and it is!). But, fellow enthusiast, would you ever own one for yourself? "Oh, hell no! That thing's got less power than my wife's minivan!!!"

Now, look at AMS. I feel like there is much of this same sentiment: so cool how Reiza has spared no expense in crafting this no-compromise amazing driving experience in today's flashy, big feature market. Go Reiza! But, fellow sim enthusiast, do you ever lap in AMS yourself? "LOL, yeah, right! You think I built this $2000 rig to run rFactor?!? Get lost!"

But I think that speaks to why I think this is such a great move for Reiza - i.e. moving to the SMS engine. For all the fun I've had in AMS and all the goodwill I feel towards Reiza...I hardly ever fire it up. It's just like I said in the paragraph above: "a great sim that I hardly ever play". Great physics and attention to detail, but no VR, dated graphics, etc.

Reiza knows their stuff, I think they know what they are doing here with this move. I am guessing they probably had a chance to crack the hood on the SMS engine and see if they could make it work before they pulled the trigger and licensed it. The cars in PCARS2 that aren't borked (either by apparent bad physics modeling and/or wonky default setups) are really fun and believable to drive. I have a good feeling Reiza is going to deliver something really special - can't wait!

 

[Marc Collins]

The only conclusion I can draw from all this discussion is that Reiza will post fewer WIP videos, since until the content is basically 100% finished visually and aurally, they are only bringing themselves pain to show us "WIP." Since we cannot deal with "WIP" as WIP, we'll just have to suffer with less to preview. Great...

 

[bmanic]

The only conclusion I can draw from all this discussion is that Reiza will post fewer WIP videos, since until the content is basically 100% finished visually and aurally, they are only bringing themselves pain to show us "WIP." Since we cannot deal with "WIP" as WIP, we'll just have to suffer with less to preview. Great...

Let's be realistic though. If you look carefully at the truly illogical SMS/pC2 and now AMS2 haters you'll quickly see that they are a rather small but vocal minority.

I don't think Reiza is all that worried about them. They are way stronger than that. Also, it's not the first time Reiza get some flack from people who can judge physics and everything about a game simply from a simple video. Simulators in general seem to attract a certain minority demographic that easily falls into cult like mentality. Every single sim community, be it flight, trains or cars have these same personalities iterating the same old stories.. and because it's simulators, it's almost always about physics. Armchair warriors at their best.

 

[John-Eric Saxén]

I don't need to read pages of comments from various fan boys on how the Madness Engine is based on ISI Technology, It is not, maybe older revisions of the Madness Engine is, but the version used in Project CARS2 is not, Slightly Mad Studio has already confirmed that it isn't on some of their project CARS 2 promotional videos, only 1% of the drivetrain code remains ISI tech.

Ian Bell also said his new game will be 200% better, do you believe that number literally as well? I believe the 1% number is as much true as this 200% better pCars 3 claim, in other words it's probably a good idea to take anything that Ian Bell comments on Twitter with a grain of salt. There is probably quite a bit of ISI code left buried in pCars 2 and it's not a bad thing, after all, F1 teams using rF Pro all rely on core ISI physics. There is no need to rewrite fundamental physics equations.

Anyway, apart from a couple of users who complained several pages back, it looks like most people here are rather happy on how things are progressing. It doesn't matter what sim racing forum you visit, there will always be negativity if not else just for sake of trolling. So let's not complain about complainers and give them more attention.

 

[Spinelli]

The madness engine is also ISI pMotor based. Not shure about the gMotor part, they might have skipped that. Maybe more knowledge peeps can comment on that.

<Not aimed at You> I don't need to read pages of comments from various fan boys on how the Madness Engine is based on ISI Technology, It is not, maybe older revisions of the Madness Engine is, but the version used in Project CARS2 is not, Slightly Mad Studio has already confirmed that it isn't on some of their project CARS 2 promotional videos, only 1% of the drivetrain code remains ISI tech.

I would tend to believe them, Slightly Mad Studios, than some Enumbered filled individuals that like to think they are experts that post here on RD.

Trust me, I'm not a fan-boy of any sim nor sim's physics engine, I'm only a fan-boy of real-life's physics engine. Project Cars 1 is so obviously still full of ISI's physics engine (pMotor). It's easy to tell not just from driving but videos too.

You know what happened the very, very first time I ever played Project Cars 1 having absolutely no idea the physics engine was based on the ISI pMotor (besides the tyre model which apparently was not evolved nor modified from pMotor but literally completely replaced by something completely separate)? Within the 3rd turn of my first ever lap of my first ever time playing I experienced some very particular ISI physics engine peculiarities that I am extremely familiar with...Instantly I said to myself "wow, rfactor physics?"...So I go online and do research and, low and behold, PC1 uses the ISI physics engine (albeit with core adjustments/modifications). PC2 is a further evolution from PC1 in terms of both tyre model and physics engine as a whole and there are definitely core physics traits in vehicles that seem improved from PC1 and RF1/RF2/AMS1 but, from the very brief amount of time I drove the Lambo in the PC2 demo, I could sense the pMotor still but definitely less of it compared to PC1. Actually it was quite fascinating, I know how to get a car to do a certain type of behaviour mid-corner which I think is way over-exaggerated in the ISI/pMotor physics engine. When driving the Lambo in the PC2 demo, at times it seemed like this was gone/improved due to the PC2 physics engine changes and at other times it felt like the original ISI/pMotor engine coming out. Depending on what I did with the throttle and grip/slip mid-corner, I could make it seem like there were 2 different physics engines (original ISI and PC2) taking turns taking control. It's like if I did something particular then ISI physics stepped in, as soon as I backed out, PC2 physics stepped in.

That's all based on literally less than 10 laps of 1 car (the Lambo) in the PC2 demo so I know it's not even close to a fair assessment but there's no way there's only 1% of ISI code remaining...at-least not in terms of how the physics engine coding translates into final vehicle behaviour.

By the way, I've seen lots of situations with how vehicles behave at and over the limit in PC2 videos which look fundamentally improved from the original ISI/pMotor engine and also from PC1's iteration so I'm definitely not against the PC2 engine, I'm actually excited for Reiza to get to grips with it and extract what they can out of it for maybe the next 3 or 5+ years . All I'm saying is some aspects of ISI/pMotor can still be sensed in PC2 (and big-time sensed in PC1).

If PC3's core physics engine is even further updated from PC2's then I'm even more excited!

 

[CrimsonEminence]

Now, look at AMS. I feel like there is much of this same sentiment: so cool how Reiza has spared no expense in crafting this no-compromise amazing driving experience in today's flashy, big feature market. Go Reiza! But, fellow sim enthusiast, do you ever lap in AMS yourself? "LOL, yeah, right! You think I built this $2000 rig to run rFactor?!? Get lost!"

But I think that speaks to why I think this is such a great move for Reiza - i.e. moving to the SMS engine. For all the fun I've had in AMS and all the goodwill I feel towards Reiza...I hardly ever fire it up. It's just like I said in the paragraph above: "a great sim that I hardly ever play". Great physics and attention to detail, but no VR, dated graphics, etc.

If a sim enthusiast can't appreciate some good ol' rFactor based stuff, he is going to sim-racing-hell!

I have spend the most hours of all owned racing sims (AC, rF2, ACC, R3E, GTL, GTR2->played the most before...and so on) and also games in my Steam library in AMS...and it is still not stopping to give me the best driving feel and new experiences and combinations. If i would own a 2000$ sim rig, i would use it exactly for this game the most. I even find the dated graphics more beautiful, than rF2 in terms of tracks (even the Reiza Pack tracks are not as "eye candy" there, like in AMS, for me).

I couldn't care less for the look of AMS2, it is a nice to have, if it is graphically more fleshed out, but the driving and overall feel is more important. 200% more important!

 

[M D Gourley]

'Some say'...the Graphics are dated in AMS1...I say, it depends on what time of day I race...just my personal preference.....so if Reiza can make the rF1 engine sing, I feel the Mad Engine for AMS2 is in good hands
Screenshots from AMS1...and these still look great in my book...without nitpicking...LOL

 

[Alex72]

Video: shifting sound in AMS1 but not in AMS2... Please Reiza bring the shifting sounds over. Make them clear like in AMS1. I love hearing the shifts. It just feels satisfying. I hate when they cant be heard. Feels weird.

Looking good otherwise. Cant wait.

 

[Atom1kk]

I also hated PC2 because of the strange floaty behavior. After a year I decided to give it a try again and after turning over the settings I found that the problem is incredibly not in physics. It's a camera setup that made all the difference to me: "100% world movement". It's weird I know, but now I just love the physics of PC2 and eliminated the floaty behavior. I consider it one of the best simulations today.

Tried it out. Its amazing how much better the game feels now. this floaty feeling is gone. THanks for the hint.

What I can recommend is Christiaans Pure FFB. for me and T300RS it feals great. tried alot of different setting but this one is one of the best in my opinoin

 

[susuwatari]

I am surprised to hear Ultima in AMS2 drives substantially better than the Ultima in AMS1. Of course i don't know the IRL behaviour of the car but for me it just feels so satisfying as is. So i can't even imagine "substantially better". ^^ ... Despite i won't be able to buy AMS2 in near future, i am excited.

 

[Miguel Batista]

Tried it out. Its amazing how much better the game feels now. this floaty feeling is gone. THanks for the hint.

What I can recommend is Christiaans Pure FFB. for me and T300RS it feals great. tried alot of different setting but this one is one of the best in my opinoin

With a T300 try to edit the file to give 150 strength instead of 100. It makes it even better as it gives you more grunt so you can run lower ffb and keep tone set at 50.

 

[Chobonator]

I could understand this manchild community for shunning PC2 after the poor PC1, but now that the engine has been confirmed to be flexible and incredibly complex and high-quality, perhaps it's time to try it out again instead of throwing Reiza under the bus for wanting to use the best tech for their new project.

 

[bmanic]

I am surprised to hear Ultima in AMS2 drives substantially better than the Ultima in AMS1. Of course i don't know the IRL behaviour of the car but for me it just feels so satisfying as is. So i can't even imagine "substantially better". ^^ ... Despite i won't be able to buy AMS2 in near future, i am excited.

Keep in mind that "satisfying" doesn't always mean realistic. I also like 80's synthesized analogue drum sounds. They were meant to simulate real drumkits. Yeah.. they didn't do a very good job of it but I still absolutely love the sound! Satisfaction ≠ Realism.

 

[bmanic]

I also hated PC2 because of the strange floaty behavior. After a year I decided to give it a try again and after turning over the settings I found that the problem is incredibly not in physics. It's a camera setup that made all the difference to me: "100% world movement". It's weird I know, but now I just love the physics of PC2 and eliminated the floaty behavior. I consider it one of the best simulations today.

Tried it out. Its amazing how much better the game feels now. this floaty feeling is gone. THanks for the hint.

This is one area that SMS could still further improve. pC1 and pC2 are still the only simulators as far as I know where the virtual view is 100% stuck towards an arbitrary center point somewhere in the horizon. There is literally no true sideways movement inside the virtual cockpit. Thus the virtual pilot, us, easily feel disconnected from the rest of the 3D world as we don't feel like we are realistically in the cockpit.

I'm 100% sure this is one of the main ingredients for people thinking the "physics rotate around a center point" or something like that. What happens is that the camera literally only has the capability of "rotating" around a point instead of truly moving laterally within the car itself like all the other simulators. So there is a completely artificial "magnet" of sorts keeping the virtual driver stuck towards a center and it's impossible to truly move within the 3D world. In all the other sims this is what happens:

3D world -> car moves within 3D world -> driver moves within the 3D car -> driver moves also independently from the car within the 3D world.

This scenario is currently impossible within pC1 and pC2 and for all I know completely impossible within the SMS Madness engine. Yes, the virtual driver moves up, down, left, right.. sort of.. if you look very carefully it never moves within the actual outside 3D world but rather "rotates" so as to always face a stuck center point somewhere in the horizon.

This is absolutely the cause of the "floaty" feel and detached feeling from the physics in my opinion. This is probably also why pCars 2 is such a mind blowing experience in VR because that center forced point is removed and the virtual driver actually becomes a proper 3D object within another 3D object (the car) and also within the 3D world.

I hope SMS will "fix" this problem with their Madness engine at some point. It would be yet another step towards a more realistic and common ground among the simulators as we are used to seeing and experiencing them.

 

[David Wright]

This scenario is currently impossible within pC1 and pC2 and for all I know completely impossible within the SMS Madness engine.

This is absolutely the cause of the "floaty" feel and detached feeling from the physics in my opinion.

Got to love bmanic. Two people say changing world movement cured the floaty effect for them, but no. But apparently they are wrong. There is no cure short of VR. And what about those who never felt PC2 physics were floaty, probably because they were brought up on Simbin titles such as GTR2 which use the same default world movement as PC2 i.e. 50%? We are wrong too apparently.

 

[bmanic]

I don't think you completely understood what I wrote though. GTR2 has proper 3D movement of the virtual player within the virtual car which in turn is within the virtual world. pC1 and pC2 do not. As far as I know they are the only sims with this flaw. The earlier Shift games may have had them too.. not sure on that one. Just because there are same or similarly titled options like "World Movement" doesn't make it function exactly the same in different games.

I'm also NOT saying that this is the only reason why people might think pC2 feels floaty, I'm mainly speculating that it may be _one of the reasons_ for some people to think that. I do not get bothered by it so much any more as I'm used to it now.. but this lack of full 3D movement of the virtual driver in the cockpit view (or any view for that matter) is something I and several others mentioned already back in pC1 days of WMD, quite early on in development. It was also mentioned yet again during pC2 development.

Not sure why you feel the need to belittle people or me for these statements. I guess it's too easy to jump to conclusions when feeling all superior and being slightly ignorant of the issue presented?

 

[Ghoults]

I could understand this manchild community for shunning PC2 after the poor PC1, but now that the engine has been confirmed to be flexible and incredibly complex and high-quality, perhaps it's time to try it out again instead of throwing Reiza under the bus for wanting to use the best tech for their new project.

Has it?

 

[Duke55]

Who would've thought so many simmers could past judgement on a game months out from it's release.

How does one acquire such powers?

 

[Gevatter]

Has it?

Renato said in interviews that the engine as a base is very capable, but you need to take appropriate care with the values you put in.