Automobilista 2 | New Update, Loads Of Content Now Available

[Paul Jeffrey]

Reiza Studios have released their much anticipated new 'landmark' Automobilista 2 game update - including a whole heap of new content for the simulation.

Yes it's here folks - the new build release of Automobilista 2 and some nice new free and paid content for good measure. We've got GT3 and GT4 cars from the likes of Mercedes, Porsche, McLaren and Chevrolet, the German Nurburgring circuit in different configurations, some fresh updates to the force feedback of the game, AI improvements and a load more goodies - certainly marking this one out as a key new update in the development of Automobilista 2 since it left Early Access.

Before we move on to the update notes, be sure to check out a couple of key messages from Reiza about this build:

Release Promo - Temporary free access to the Nurburgring track!

With the Nordschleife and 24h layouts not quite ready for this release, we have elected to temporarily offer the other modern Nurburgring layouts FREE to all users until the long layouts are added to the package at some point next week.

Please be advised that upon the addition of the Nordschleife & 24h layouts, all Nurburgring versions will revert to being available only for owners of the DLC or packages that include it.

Updated Force Feedback

This update adds fresh Force Feedback developments, the most significant being:

- Damping now adjustable via in-game FFB menu *
- Enhanced tyre flatspots **
- Enhanced feedback during braking
- Enhanced road feel (adjustable via FX slider) ***
- Improved scrub effect (adjustable via FX slider)
- Effectively eliminated FFB "deadzone" around center in some cars
- Improved gyro moment accuracy
- Now using SETA patch offset/deformation for mechanical trail (much more "organic" feel on edge of grip)
- Tyre temperature and pressure will affect feedback
- More distinctive oversteer / understeer feedback

* We recommend using damping in game vs on wheel setting. Damping in game scales with vehicle, so roughly same level for all cars. On wheel / driver damping doesn't scale with wheel gain, so if you have gain too low, damping will overwhelm FFB signal.

** flatspots are currently presented in "raw" form. Given tire is split into many small patches, you will receive "impulses" as there are "flat patches" on tire. It depends on amount of wear on individual patch. Hence the note "raw signal".

*** Road feel is based on physical surface mesh roughness / bumps - which on real vehicles would be "fed back" to the driver via vibration "travelling" thru chassis and as a result will be felt on steering rim especially cars and race cars that have racks bolted directly to chassis, without any sort of insulating "rubber mounts" - take note this would only "vibrate", not "move" wheel rim left-right. Given our gaming controllers are effectievly "1DOF" device - ie. able to move only left or right, we are shaping this vibration such that it can be felt on them too.

IMPORTANT: Custom Force Feedback profiles may be affected by code changes to the FFB system and not work as before the update. If you find that is the case consider sticking to the default profile until the author of the custom alternative updates his version.


Update Notes;

CONTENT

• Added GT3 series (currently featuring 2015 Mercedes-AMG GT3 & 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 R & 2019 Mclaren 720S GT3)
• Added GT4 series (currently featuring 2018 Mclaren 570S GT4, 2017 Camaro GT4-R & 2016 Porsche GT4 Cayman Clubsport)
• Added 2020 Porsche Carrera Cup Brasil (featuring Porsche GT3 Cup 3.8 & 4.0)
• Added Nurburgring Track (GP, Veedol & Sprint layouts - DLC TRACK, FREE TO ALL USERS FOR A LIMITED TIME

GENERAL

• Added support for overriding default liveries with user liveries (more info for this soon)
• Updated Force Feedback system & Added Damping slider to FFB menu
• Championship mode: Adjusted Stock Car championship rules to better match real regulations ( refuelling permitted in pitstops; use formation+rolling start; added mandatory pitstop; increased minimum race to to 15 mins to allow AI sensible pitting options

UI & HUD

• Added support for additional UI track filters
• Fixed incorrect label on FOV options tab when in unselected state
• Disabled 'Reset to defaults' button in main setup screen when fixed setups are used
• Fixed RR compound decrease button altering wrong value
• Further reduced opacity of disabled menu options on in-game screens
• Fixed incorrect current lap in displayed on HUD when rolling start used
• Gaps now shown in laps rather than time for lapped vehicles on weekend results
• Added lobby detail page to multiplayer browser
• Extended MP player interaction dialog to include Vote To Kick
• Allowed Player interaction dialog acces to all users (previously host only)
• Updated all in-game leaderboards to allow access to Player interaction dialog (left click / Joypad X)
• Fixed player name clipping on in-game MP leaderboards

PHYSICS

• Revised tyre treads in GT, Prototypes, Stock Cars, Super V8 for more longitudinal slip & improved force combining
• Slight reduction to parking force FFB (all cars)
• Fixed missing autolift function in Mini gearbox
• Adjusted Max force for MRX (all variants)
• Reduced default viscous lock & preload baseline in cars in LSD diffs
• Slightly increased speed sensitivity in road tyre tread (60s Classics, F-Vee, Copa Fusca & Uno)
• Slightly further reducing lock per clutch in LSD differentials
• Corrected rev range error in Group A engines
• Adjusted default gear ratios for Group A
• Adjusted F-Ultimate sidewall stiffness

AI

• Scaled the pit exit speed by the outlap slowdown factor (this prevents the AI going offroad after leaving the pits in Taruma)
• Adjusted AI code to minimise weaving
• Adjusted AI calculations for enforced pitstops in timed races
• Further AI callibration pass for Group A, Procar & 125cc karts

TRACKS

• Added animated helicopter & drones to Adelaide, Brasilia, Brands Hatch, Cadwell Park. Campo Grande, Cascavel, Curitiba, Imola, Jerez, Silverstone, Montreal, Silverstone 2001,
• Hockenheim (all versions): Minor art & performance pass
• Montreal: Object LOD fixes & Minor art & performance pass
• Londrina: Adjusted triggers & start location
• Donington: Object LOD fixes; Minor art & performance pass
• Added VR cams for Adelaide, Kansai & Montreal
• Goiania: Fixed marbles
• Taruma: Minor art & performance pass
• Oulton Park: Fixed broken pitcrew/pitbox marker animations in Oulton / Fosters layouts
• Added helicopter & drone animations to Granja, Londrina, Hockenheim, Ibarra

VEHICLES

• F3 (F301) - Revised and updated liveries including new community skin; Updated leather textures on head rests.
• Metalmoro MRX: Added dirt / damage effects + Dangling damaged parts + new colliders (all variants)
• Camaro SS - Corrected LOD D glitch
• Added Gol) Dirt/Damage effects + Detachable boot lid (all variants)

Original Source: Reiza Studios

AMS 2 is available now, exclusive to PC.

The AMS 2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment is a great place to hang out and discuss the simulation with your fellow sim racing fans. Head over, say hello and come join in the action - start a new thread today!

 

[Peter Kerényi]

I feel I may be repeating myself here, but since people keep wondering why we do things the way we do, let me try explain once again

Some of the more active users here which are also part of the Beta forum and tend to more heavily involved are adamant we should never release something until we reach at least enough of their standards, and seem to take personal offense for any piece of content or development that is not delivered to that standard. Unfortunately that´s not how things work - I run a small business, this is not a mod project where we can not release things until we are 100% happy with it; We are not painting the cistine chapel or delivering the cure of Covid here where any flaws in the results are fatal - once we have invested 5-to-6 figures into licensing and producing updates to the game, we don´t really have the luxury of just keeping things in the oven because otherwise some forum warriors will say mean things about us or a segment of the hardcore simracer crowd will feel we deliberately failed them. Even tho we obviously don´t want either to happen, we do need to start earning a return on the investment on a schedule, so we can both keep making more of it, and keeping making what we already made better. This is a racing game, and the goal is to deliver something fun and worth playing. Maybe our first release of a new car or track will not reach that standard for the sample of people who are usually active in these topics, but even for a small game like our own, there is a World with tens of thousand of players, many of which feel differently and are already having fun with the new content. And that ultimately is the point of the exercise.

Now, does it mean we are OK with a car bouncing over high bumps, or a certain car not generating enough loss of traction, or anything that has been correctly pinpointed as an issue so far? Of course not - I´m a hardcore sim racer and in charge of developing the physics, so I´m not oblivious nor satisfied with those issues. Now knowing the issue doesn´t mean I can press a button and make it go away - development is a process and sometimes that doesn´t match the schedule our business needs to run on. Does it mean we should not release the content? We see plenty of people having fun already, so I´d say not, and denouncing those who "dare" to have fun with mostly correct virtual representations of race cars as having poor standards is really missing the point.

Now here is the great thing: we can keep making things better, as in right now - we are in fact already working on a hotfix for some issues today. And then we´ll have some more next week; and then more again next month, and by then most of the issues some users find so egregious will be all but gone. Anyone who is keeping track of these monthly changelogs will know we are not ignoring anything, even if some things take more time to fix than others.

This is how we are going about it, and it was always how we were going to go about it - not everyone has to like it or be onboard for it, and we don´t expect everyone to. There are literally a hundred options to pick from in the game already now, many of which mature enough that most sim racers should be able to pick from and get their money´s worth out of. They can use those while they feel the new content is not up to par, or they can jump into one of the other great sims out there which already have had 2, 5 or 10 years of this maturing process and enjoy those - they are still imperfect like our is, but most things in life tend to be

With this said, it´s back to work for us to have this update out later today. Be chill folks, life is too short

Of course I see your point. But maybe, since you're "not oblivious nor satisfied with those issues" and you are "in fact already working on a hotfix for some issues", it would not be contraproductive considering your aggressive release schedule to put a known issues category in the changelog so the community doesn't raise the pitchforks immediately.

I won't rate your GT3s/GT4s/PSC since I did only one lap with the Porsche. But considering these cars are very well represented in other titles to a very high level of quality and detail (ACC comes to mind first and foremost, but there's also AC, rF2, R3E), it does leave a sour taste and can turn off people. But of course you have the numbers and the statistics if this strategy works, and of course you have to decide based on the return.

I wish you and the team the very best, and I am sure you will deliver a great great sim as you did magic with the rF1 engine before! And the feedback of the community has one single goal, to help you make it better. It's all we want. Cheers and stay safe in this crazy world right now

 

[Ciccina2016]

I feel I may be repeating myself here, but since people keep wondering why we do things the way we do, let me try explain once again

Some of the more active users here which are also part of the Beta forum and tend to more heavily involved are adamant we should never release something until we reach at least enough of their standards, and seem to take personal offense for any piece of content or development that is not delivered to that standard. Unfortunately that´s not how things work - I run a small business, this is not a mod project where we can not release things until we are 100% happy with it; We are not painting the cistine chapel or delivering the cure of Covid here where any flaws in the results are fatal - once we have invested 5-to-6 figures into licensing and producing updates to the game, we don´t really have the luxury of just keeping things in the oven because otherwise some forum warriors will say mean things about us or a segment of the hardcore simracer crowd will feel we deliberately failed them. Even tho we obviously don´t want either to happen, we do need to start earning a return on the investment on a schedule, so we can both keep making more of it, and keeping making what we already made better. This is a racing game, and the goal is to deliver something fun and worth playing. Maybe our first release of a new car or track will not reach that standard for the sample of people who are usually active in these topics, but even for a small game like our own, there is a World with tens of thousand of players, many of which feel differently and are already having fun with the new content. And that ultimately is the point of the exercise.

Now, does it mean we are OK with a car bouncing over high bumps, or a certain car not generating enough loss of traction, or anything that has been correctly pinpointed as an issue so far? Of course not - I´m a hardcore sim racer and in charge of developing the physics, so I´m not oblivious nor satisfied with those issues. Now knowing the issue doesn´t mean I can press a button and make it go away - development is a process and sometimes that doesn´t match the schedule our business needs to run on. Does it mean we should not release the content? We see plenty of people having fun already, so I´d say not, and denouncing those who "dare" to have fun with mostly correct virtual representations of race cars as having poor standards is really missing the point.

Now here is the great thing: we can keep making things better, as in right now - we are in fact already working on a hotfix for some issues today. And then we´ll have some more next week; and then more again next month, and by then most of the issues some users find so egregious will be all but gone. Anyone who is keeping track of these monthly changelogs will know we are not ignoring anything, even if some things take more time to fix than others.

This is how we are going about it, and it was always how we were going to go about it - not everyone has to like it or be onboard for it, and we don´t expect everyone to. There are literally a hundred options to pick from in the game already now, many of which mature enough that most sim racers should be able to pick from and get their money´s worth out of. They can use those while they feel the new content is not up to par, or they can jump into one of the other great sims out there which already have had 2, 5 or 10 years of this maturing process and enjoy those - they are still imperfect like our is, but most things in life tend to be

With this said, it´s back to work for us to have this update out later today. Be chill folks, life is too short

Spot on..

 

[CrimsonEminence]

@Renato Simioni
I really didn't understand that now. Why do you have to justify yourself here and at the same time you close the thread in the beta forum? your team wouldn't be that small if you included the beta testers. We all want one thing: to make AMS2 as good as possible. As many people as possible should have fun with it. The content is great, now it still needs fine-tuning and this is where the beta testers can best help you.
But this statement now goes exactly in the other direction.
Too bad.

The thread switched into a debate of principle and was going totally off-topic, while the obvious issues are already known, it's also mentioned, that it will reopen, when the hotfix arrives. Stuff is hard to find, if 60% of the thread are discussions about what is how to be discussed.

 

[UMC 22]

I feel I may be repeating myself here, but since people keep wondering why we do things the way we do, let me try explain once again

I really appreciate a developer coming to these forums and putting their own views across. Reiza, and you in particular, do that more than any other sim developer I know of. However, you can't expect to bludgeon people into accepting your views or chosen way of doing business by repetition. People will disagree with and dislike the way you do things, and that's ok. Granted some people put their views across more maturely than others, but that's the nature of the internet.

For my own part, I still support Reiza but am starting to become a little disillusioned by the release of broken content. You say you're a small business that needs to see a return on the work they've put in, and that's fair enough. As a small business myself, I understand that entirely. However, most of the content released so far is free... you're not directly getting any income from it. What it does do is encourage more people to buy the sim itself, but if they're buying it on the strength of the new pop-content you've just added and they find it broken, how does that help your business or income? All it does is hurt your rep, resulting in refunds or the sim lying dormant in people's Steam libraries. Short-term gain, long-term loss... a short-sighted business plan, in my view. If I ran my business in a similar way I'd soon be out of customers.

Also, if you look at other small developers, you'll find that the successful ones tend to favour quality over quantity, building a good rep for themselves and their product. In a market with so much heavy-weight competition like sim-racing, I really think the same focus would pay dividends. If AMS 2 gets a rep as "that buggy sim that won't be ready for a couple more years" then people will just stick with what we've got and your returns will be far, far less... not more.

So yeah, long story short, I think you should put more focus on relatively issue-free releases, in part by making use of the large team of paying beta testers you already have... they cost you nothing after all! Appeasing the impatient vocal minority with quick releases is going to bite you in the arse eventually, and I'd prefer to see AMS 2 succeed myself.

 

[BorisK]

TRACK, FREE TO ALL USERS FOR A LIMITED TIME??? Really? 9€ per circuit? Maybe cheaper iracing, i hope they change this way cause i never pay 9€ for one track, good luck Reiza

I have a season pass (got at the start of sales) and don't care about such little things

 

[JohannesK]

TRACK, FREE TO ALL USERS FOR A LIMITED TIME??? Really? 9€ per circuit? Maybe cheaper iracing, i hope they change this way cause i never pay 9€ for one track, good luck Reiza

imo its fine considering how many different version they include. I just got the track pack for 26 euro, which includes Spa, Silverstone, Nürburgring + Nordschleife, Hockenheim and one unknown track. They all include at least 3 or 4 versions some even more and they have great historic versions. Thats like 10 totally different layouts, at about 2,6euros per track + some more similiar variations.

 

[Tarmac Terrorist]

I am happy to have GT3/GT4 in this sim. So happy that i bought Silverstone DLC (reduced price).

Maybe all the cars are not perfect, but I have faith Reiza will get keep fine turning. My only issue, to not to wait until the very last moment before advising of delays (give yourself "wiggle time").

As i said earlier something is a bit weird with these new cars, but i know that Reiza will release something with a few probs and a couple of days later there is a hotfix that sorts it all out so ive got faith that thats gunna happen, hope so anyway. If it does then i'll be dropping some more £'s on this

 

[Michal Burisin]

I tried little bit last night, but new FFB is not working for me very well on SC2 Pro, can anybody share in-game / True Drive settings?

I was using Silver Raw v6.6.5.9.9.9.9 custom FFB file before with some tweaks, and I was very happy with it, but with the update, it's broken. With new default FFB, I don't feel very connected to the car.

I was jumping between ACC, PC2 (with PopsRacer custom FFB) and AMS2 for testing.

ACC is another level for me basically in all areas compared to PC2 / AMS2. I would love all games to get to that standard, but I understand, it's not possible at the moment, because ACC is focusing on GT3 / GT4 at the moment and they had available all the data and lot of cooperation from the manufacturers / SRO, got laser scanned tracks, new engine etc.

I'm looking for sim / game to use with different cars - GTE, road cars, open cars, prototypes, formula etc.

I was trying AMS2 just for a while, but I still cannot get to like it - too many work in progress content or missing content for me at the moment.

I was comparing it to PC2 and even though PC2 has many flaws it feels much more complete to me. Seems like a lot of custom FFB creators are focusing now more on PC2 and the FFB is getting really awesome - for me FFB was quite comparable to AMS2 custom FFB when it was working for me, so then deciding factor for me starts to be content / content quality / physics.

Regarding physics, I'm no racing driver so I cannot comment on that very much, but ACC feels best by miles. PC2 makes lot of sense to me, except some cars in PC2 are just weird. In AMS2, lot of cars I tried felt weird and didn't make sense, I'm not sure if I'm used to ACC / PC2 style physics, which feels easier to drive to me, or I just need get used to AMS2 more to understand it.

I was thinking about trying RF2, but from comments, it has too many flaws from what I read on forums - weird setups hacks to be fastest, terrible UI, no MP, AI not very good, various quality of content, old engine, no gearbox / drivetrain simulation, need to mess with mods with stolen content to get good tracks etc., so I'm still holding off.

Some of my problems with AMS2 - cars feels like they miss assists on others it feels like assists are permanently on, physics feels weird to me, some cars too slidey / bumpy / impossible to spin / impossible to burnout, not much cars I would be interested in or the groups don't have enough cars. Some sounds doesn't feel right - I cannot hear rev limiter at all on some cars.

I will wait if custom FFB files will be fixed and then I'll try again. If the connection to the car will be better, maybe I'll understand the physics better. If it will be at least passable, I'll probably buy DLCs / year pass to support Reiza - they are obviously trying their best, but for me, it feels like PC2 mod in proggress (I don't want offence anybody, but that's just how it feels...).

 

[Dady Cairo]

@Renato Simioni
I really didn't understand that now. Why do you have to justify yourself here and at the same time you close the thread in the beta forum? your team wouldn't be that small if you included the beta testers. We all want one thing: to make AMS2 as good as possible. As many people as possible should have fun with it. The content is great, now it still needs fine-tuning and this is where the beta testers can best help you.
But this statement now goes exactly in the other direction.
Too bad.

Maybe because of psychological wisedome?

 

[Tarmac Terrorist]

I feel I may be repeating myself here, but since people keep wondering why we do things the way we do, let me try explain once again

Some of the more active users here which are also part of the Beta forum and tend to more heavily involved are adamant we should never release something until we reach at least enough of their standards, and seem to take personal offense for any piece of content or development that is not delivered to that standard. Unfortunately that´s not how things work - I run a small business, this is not a mod project where we can not release things until we are 100% happy with it; We are not painting the cistine chapel or delivering the cure of Covid here where any flaws in the results are fatal - once we have invested 5-to-6 figures into licensing and producing updates to the game, we don´t really have the luxury of just keeping things in the oven because otherwise some forum warriors will say mean things about us or a segment of the hardcore simracer crowd will feel we deliberately failed them. Even tho we obviously don´t want either to happen, we do need to start earning a return on the investment on a schedule, so we can both keep making more of it, and keeping making what we already made better. This is a racing game, and the goal is to deliver something fun and worth playing. Maybe our first release of a new car or track will not reach that standard for the sample of people who are usually active in these topics, but even for a small game like our own, there is a World with tens of thousand of players, many of which feel differently and are already having fun with the new content. And that ultimately is the point of the exercise.

Now, does it mean we are OK with a car bouncing over high bumps, or a certain car not generating enough loss of traction, or anything that has been correctly pinpointed as an issue so far? Of course not - I´m a hardcore sim racer and in charge of developing the physics, so I´m not oblivious nor satisfied with those issues. Now knowing the issue doesn´t mean I can press a button and make it go away - development is a process and sometimes that doesn´t match the schedule our business needs to run on. Does it mean we should not release the content? We see plenty of people having fun already, so I´d say not, and denouncing those who "dare" to have fun with mostly correct virtual representations of race cars as having poor standards is really missing the point.

Now here is the great thing: we can keep making things better, as in right now - we are in fact already working on a hotfix for some issues today. And then we´ll have some more next week; and then more again next month, and by then most of the issues some users find so egregious will be all but gone. Anyone who is keeping track of these monthly changelogs will know we are not ignoring anything, even if some things take more time to fix than others.

This is how we are going about it, and it was always how we were going to go about it - not everyone has to like it or be onboard for it, and we don´t expect everyone to. There are literally a hundred options to pick from in the game already now, many of which mature enough that most sim racers should be able to pick from and get their money´s worth out of. They can use those while they feel the new content is not up to par, or they can jump into one of the other great sims out there which already have had 2, 5 or 10 years of this maturing process and enjoy those - they are still imperfect like our is, but most things in life tend to be

With this said, it´s back to work for us to have this update out later today. Be chill folks, life is too short

Don't worry mate we love ya! Thats coming from someone who's already made a post about the traction and brakes issues with the new cars, yes there are problems but as ive said in another post, this usually happens and then a couple of days later there is a hotfix that sorts it out. We've got faith in ya! Wish i could write more but short on time as ive got an event to run today, just wanted to show some love to the best company in terms of communication to their customers, there is no one else that comes close in terms of keeping us updated on whats going on, and thankyou for the new cars, problems or no problems, i understand you're dev process, its a good idea! Nuff respect! (as the kids say)

 

[Dady Cairo]

So yeah, long story short, I think you should put more focus on relatively issue-free releases, in part by making use of the large team of paying beta testers you already have... they cost you nothing after all! Appeasing the impatient vocal minority with quick releases is going to bite you in the arse eventually, and I'd prefer to see AMS 2 succeed myself.

I can full agree to that part.Nothing else what i said before,but now it seems legitime,Friday night not

 

[Blashko]

Jogar com o gamepad está uma porcaria. Parece que herdou o mesmo defeito de Project Cars 2. Reiza, perde um pouco de tempo e melhora as configuraçãoes. Muito obrigado.

 

[Leynad777]

I won't rate your GT3s/GT4s/PSC since I did only one lap with the Porsche. But considering these cars are very well represented in other titles to a very high level of quality and detail (ACC comes to mind first and foremost, but there's also AC, rF2, R3E), it does leave a sour taste and can turn off people. But of course you have the numbers and the statistics if this strategy works, and of course you have to decide based on the return.

So you've done one lap with one car (so cold brakes, tyres and low tyre-pressure) to form your opinion about the hole new content. I've done many laps in all sims with those car-classes and IMO AMS2 nailed them the first time from what I think is believable. I also did some testing with the Porsche Cup in rF2 and ACC just yesterday and enough in Raceroom, AC and iRacing, but none of them comes close to what I think a Porsche Cup should handle. Most are handling so bad, you would need a dozen per race-weekend to get through it. The real Porsche Cup had a better survival rate during the 24h Nürburgring last year with lots of rain than the GT3-class, so can't be that bad.

And racecars bounce, especially if they are not equipped with 10k adjustable four-way-dampers like in the GT3 class and especially with cars like the Porsche and it's missing weight in the front. In games like iRacing and AC the physics and graphics are on different layers, so what you see and what you get are two different things. If the car in AMS2 bounces, it will bounce physically and visually like in the real cars. Real racing is not the smooth ride that most sims are pretending it to be...

My tip: higher frame- and herz-rates help and the visual bouncing has a great advantage: You can setup the car accordingly and see the effect, not just have a subtle feeling if the change was helpful or not.

 

[Renato Simioni]

@Renato Simioni
I really didn't understand that now. Why do you have to justify yourself here and at the same time you close the thread in the beta forum? your team wouldn't be that small if you included the beta testers. We all want one thing: to make AMS2 as good as possible. As many people as possible should have fun with it. The content is great, now it still needs fine-tuning and this is where the beta testers can best help you.
But this statement now goes exactly in the other direction.
Too bad.

As I said on that very thread linking to my post here, the topic was temporarily closed because instead of discussing and reporting on the latest build, it had devolved into users ranting about the game and people who like it ranting back, as these things usually do. As such, those looking to rant are better off ranting in a release topic such as this one, not in the development forum. Once we have developments added to the game, which we should have later on today the topic will be reopened so people looking to contribute can continue doing so as always.

I really appreciate a developer coming to these forums and putting their own views across. Reiza, and you in particular, do that more than any other sim developer I know of. However, you can't expect to bludgeon people into accepting your views or chosen way of doing business by repetition. People will disagree with and dislike the way you do things, and that's ok. Granted some people put their views across more maturely than others, but that's the nature of the internet.

For my own part, I still support Reiza but am starting to become a little disillusioned by the release of broken content. You say you're a small business that needs to see a return on the work they've put in, and that's fair enough. As a small business myself, I understand that entirely. However, most of the content released so far is free... you're not directly getting any income from it. What it does do is encourage more people to buy the sim itself, but if they're buying it on the strength of the new pop-content you've just added and they find it broken, how does that help your business or income? All it does is hurt your rep, resulting in refunds or the sim lying dormant in people's Steam libraries. Short-term gain, long-term loss... a short-sighted business plan, in my view. If I ran my business in a similar way I'd soon be out of customers.

Also, if you look at other small developers, you'll find that the successful ones tend to favour quality over quantity, building a good rep for themselves and their product. In a market with so much heavy-weight competition like sim-racing, I really think the same focus would pay dividends. If AMS 2 gets a rep as "that buggy sim that won't be ready for a couple more years" then people will just stick with what we've got and your returns will be far, far less... not more.

So yeah, long story short, I think you should put more focus on relatively issue-free releases, in part by making use of the large team of paying beta testers you already have... they cost you nothing after all! Appeasing the impatient vocal minority with quick releases is going to bite you in the arse eventually, and I'd prefer to see AMS 2 succeed myself.

I appreciate the thoughtful feedback as always But the thing is, we don´t expect to bludgeon people into accepting anything - I´m quite alright with people disagreeing with how are going on about it, not buying the game or not playing until we get things done to their satisfaction. But I also disagree with your asssertion that the content is broken - with maybe one or two car exceptions with bigger flaws that we just didn´t realize were so big at the point of release, it just isn´t broken at all - still perfectly playable and enjoyable. You wouldn´t know that from reading release topics here sometimes tho, which is why I feel the counter point was in order

As to the merits of the strategy and how well it´s working, the mere fact that we are managing to make these big monthly leaps and adding more and more premium content are the evidence that things are going to plan. Yesterday we had our biggest sales day since release - this is revenue we needed in October to fill our budget for next month, where we´ll proceed with the next step of the plan. If we wait a day more we don´t see that revenue until December, and that would compromise our plans for November. Sitting on a release into another month will cause a hole in our budget we can´t fix overnight, the way we can fix a bug overnight - and with every single penny we make going right back into further developing game by hiring more people, licensing more content, spending more hours on it, it would effectively hurt our ability to make the game better - which in turn it means it hurts you, the user who bought the game, likes it and wants to see it get better.

Now, is there merit to the argument we are overreaching and sometimes stumbling in pushing to make these big scheduled leaps, to the extent a segment of our user base doesn´t really approve, and that the negative comments that come with it mean the results aren´t as good as they would be in an ideal world? Of course, but sometimes you have to take the good with the bad and in this case the balance is positive to our ability to continue making the game better, and that is fundamentally the point.

 

[MarcG]

 

[leclettico]

Yesterday we had our biggest sales day since release

Maybe because you used the GT3 appeal.
I use this post for a sort of micro survey, Renato.
I am a user who is ready to spend 10 euro more for a well made product right from the start. I no longer have much time to read the forums, try together with the developers, be "one family".
If AMS2 has taken this path (or has always had it and I didn't realize it), then I am no longer a typical AMS2 customer.

 

[Peter Kerényi]

So you've done one lap with one car (so cold brakes, tyres and low tyre-pressure) to form your opinion about the hole new content. I've done many laps in all sims with those car-classes and IMO AMS2 nailed them the first time from what I think is believable. I also did some testing with the Porsche Cup in rF2 and ACC just yesterday and enough in Raceroom, AC and iRacing, but none of them comes close to what I think a Porsche Cup should handle. Most are handling so bad, you would need a dozen per race-weekend to get through it. The real Porsche Cup had a better survival rate during the 24h Nürburgring last year with lots of rain than the GT3-class, so can't be that bad.

And racecars bounce, especially if they are not equipped with 10k adjustable four-way-dampers like in the GT3 class and especially with cars like the Porsche and it's missing weight in the front. In games like iRacing and AC the physics and graphics are on different layers, so what you see and what you get are two different things. If the car in AMS2 bounces, it will bounce physically and visually like in the real cars. Real racing is not the smooth ride that most sims are pretending it to be...

My tip: higher frame- and herz-rates help and the visual bouncing has a great advantage: You can setup the car accordingly and see the effect, not just have a subtle feeling if the change was helpful or not.

Mate, yes, I did one lap, and I said I am not going to give a page long review based on that. But I wrote that "careful" releasing those cars in whatever state because they can be directly compared to other sims. A Fiat Uno, Brazilian Stock Car 2020, not so much.

And if we are going to compare stuff, I jumped into the ACC Porsche Supercup right away, and I wasn't bouncing out of the track. Cold brakes/tyres or not. I have no issues driving that Porsche in ACC and AC, I had problems with AMS2. I haven't driven that car IRL, but my experience with sims and driving in the road IRL tell me that kind of bouncing is not right. I did not enjoy it, so I wait. It's a known issue according to Renato's post and it will be fixed maybe today.

The point is, I repeat, you release unfinished popular cars, people pick up the sim for those cars and get a bad experience, it might give a bad reputation to the sim. Nobody wants that. We want AMS2 to be good to be popular to give them even more opportunities to improve it further and add content.

I am running AMS2 locked at 90 FPS on a 120Hz monitor with adaptive sync, but thanks for your tip. I like to adjust my camera settings anyway to something I feel comfortable with. I maybe found a bearable setting that I only tested with 1 car and 1 track, gotta try it elsewhere. Still, a pain to set it up. Camera movement is all right, but there is no way to adjust amplitude, just "flavor".

 

[Mekonrider]

I'm getting to the stage where I'm almost done with this as a 'racing' game. Hot lapping fine but the AI is just dire. Why can't they drive in a straight line? What's with all the jerking about all over the track? It just sort of seems like we are in RF2 land now where we still underlying problems but LOOK NEW CONTENT!!!

I sort of agree with some of the comments that whilst the new cars are 'fun', I'm not sure they are realistic going by other sims. I still prefer Raceroom as the cars will punish you but you always feel like it was actually your fault. This seems a bit Need For Speed with what it lets you get away with sometimes.

The weighting of the FFB feels a bit off to me but I've been messing about with low gain to try and find my sweet spot so probably more messing required.

 

[Avo77]

I can full agree to that part.Nothing else what i said before,but now it seems legitime,Friday night not

Yeah, but he said it in a nicer way.

The message from Renato can be summarized as follow:

“We already knew the release is not up to our standards but we were forced to release it because our business runs on monthly basis. Most of the potential customers don’t care so much about physics and it’s good enough for them. We will fix anyway soon because we care.”

But it’s much better the way he said it...

 

[G_B]

It's crazy how you can criticize for a game costing a few dozen euros while you are less critical when you buy an oven, a car or a house costing several hundreds, thousands of euros / dollars.

Otherwise everyone is fine ? have a good weekend!