Automobilista new previews and development update

[Paul Jeffrey]

Reiza Studios have revealed details of proposed updates coming to Steam Early Access title Automobilista during the month of June, with some exciting looking new items due to join the game.

Highlights of the latest Development Roadmap announcement include a first view of the new 1960's inspired Formula Vintage open wheel race car and news of further enhancements to the current in game AI. Additional news unrelated to in game content is the new Virtual Xperience portal (VX) developed to further enhance the online elements of the title. Allowing players the ability to set leader board times, compete against each other on official servers and share custom car setups amongst other features should improve the online useability of the title. VX will benefit from further developments due to be released for the portal over the coming months.

Additional to the previously announced content comes news that the team over at Reiza have secured a licence to bring the fabled Caterham brand to the sim, launching with several models from the manufacturer appearing in the first premium DLC package due to become available post version 1 release in July. The Caterham range of high performance low cost kit cars are an entertaining driving experience and popular throughout the club racing scene in the UK. Coming at the same time as 3 high quality British tracks they are sure to be a popular inclusion in the sim.

The full Reiza press release can be seen below:

"v0.9.4 Release
Last friday we released our latest v0.9.4 update. While this update hasn´t added any new content or features to the sim, there has been some valuable progress in particular to graphics & Artificial Intelligence.

Alex Sawczuk has been spending some quality time developing the shaders & RGB settings in order to improve lighting & color accuracy across the 24h cycle. The changes are subtle individually but all add up to a noticeable overall improvement - the environment is more lively and the slightly desaturated & bluish haze from previous versions is now gone. The changes are mostly already present in v0.9.41, and along with ilka´s beautiful new sky/cloud sets, make for some pretty nice sights:

A lot of man-hours & late nights have also gone into fine-tuning AI performance and behavior in close racing conditions across the board - as a result v0.9.41 features our best, most well-rounded AI yet.

Road to v1.0

Things continue to progress nicely towards v1.0, some are further along than others but while official release will not represent the end of new features or content for AMS, we´re pushing to wrap up a rock-solid v1.0 within the next few weeks.

With single player gameplay now mostly in pretty good shape, focus now is on wrapping up remaining functionality tasks, adding a few more options & ironing out the most significant bugs.

Multiplayer in particular will be at the forefront for v1.0 - the AMS Dedicated tool is already available for those who own AMS via Steam Tools, and if you are a league runner you may also PM me (Renato) for a free Steam key for the Dedi Tool.

Content-wise, things are progressing at a nice pace - there´s a good chance the new Formula Vintage series will be added in time for v1.0 (and not post-release as estimated in the original dev roadmap). Below is a preview showing how the 3D modelling is coming along:

The beta is already up to v0.9.5 and it features two new pieces of content - the Copa Montana, which is the last piece of content remaining from our crowdfunding campaign back, and the wonderful semi-fictional Mendig Flugplatz, a vast scenario roaming in and around a german airport, which will present some very unique challenges.

Unfortunately we have had a setback with implementation of driver animations as the developer in charge has left the project, so that´s one feature unlikely to make it in time for v1.0. This remains an important development for AMS though and we´ll be aiming to add it post-release.

Virtual Xperience - Automobilista Web Portal

We´re pleased to announce the Virtual Xperience portal (VX), the place we hope will help stimulate the community´s engagement with & around Automobilista.

From VX you´ll be able to check the multiplayer lobby and join sessions, register & find a league for your favorite car in a time slot that suits you, measure your hotlapping skills in the AMS leaderboards, join one of our official public servers, share your setups & replays and more.

The most complex VX module is the AMS leaderboards and its integration with the game, so this is what Luis Miguel, Dave Stephenson and Thiago Izequie who are the headlining this project have mostly been focusing on - currently only AMS Beta v0.9.5b is hooked up with the leaderboards so those who have it can already get your times up there We hope to integrate the system into the next EA release as well.

The leaderboards are linked to the Time Trial mode, which as you may have seen is effectively a practice session run under fixed configurations (but not fixed car setup) - noon time, max track conditions, no AI, no tire wear or fuel consumption - the sole purpose is scoring hotlaps to the leaderboards & future hotlapping competitions. Player times are automatically synced up with the leaderboards via Steam, and you can check how it ranks against the others both from the in-game monitor while running a time trial session, as well as from the Virtual Xperience leaderboards, selecting the car / track combo you´re looking to check out.

The other VX modules are coming along as well but these will be topics for our next dev update,

Further good news is that VX should be hopefully nicely complemented by developments being made to the Sim Racing System to better integrate it with AMS -Henrique Alves has presented more info about it here.

DLC development - Presenting the "Brit Pack"

Very glad also to confirm the Brit Pack as our initial lot of premium DLCs for Automobilista.

Besides the previously announced 3 tracks (Brands Hatch / Cadwell / Oulton Park) and the Ultima GTR (both road and GT versions), we will also be adding the MCR Sports 2000 and several Caterham models to the roster.

As usual our target with AMS is to assemble a package that delivers the most diverse & fun racing experiences possible, and with the upcoming premium DLCs we aim to retain that focus, at the same time expanding into more international & well-known tracks. England is arguably the mecca of european motorsports with some of the most interesting tracks and cars in the world, and the brits happen to make up a sizeable portion of our user base so it´s only fitting that our first premium pack revolves around a sample of their vast motorsports scene. Most importantly, these kit cars on these tracks represent some of the most fun to be had on four wheels, and that´s what we´ll be push to capture in the sim

The 6 components of the Brit Pack will be sold in a package as well as individually via Steam, with prices at release ranging from US$ 1.99 (for the MCR) to US$ 4.99 for each track, or US$ 19.99 for the complete pack.

You can however secure all this content, plus all the other upcoming premium DLCs by acquiring our membership packs , currently selling for US$ 54.99 (full membership including base game) / US$ 24.99 (membership upgrade for those who already own AMS). Please note that these prices will still be upgraded to US$ 59.99 / US$ 29.99 respectively in time for AMS v1.0 release, so those who have not yet joined in should push not to miss the current pricing. The membership pack also grants access to the Reiza 51 dev forum, Beta development version of AMS, and the chance to try out all this content in advance as they reach beta status.

Worth noting also that while some of this content had already been announced earlier on, the Caterhams and the MCR 2000 have just been added to the roster - that makes our membership packs pretty smart investing for those who had already bought into it at the original US$ 49.99 / US$ 19.99 pricing, as these extras will come at no additional cost to them (or indeed for those who participated in our crowdfunding campaign last year). With a couple of potential additions to the DLC roster still in the horizon, you should expect us to continue the trend in which the sooner you buy into our offerings, the more value you get for it

The contents of the Brit Pack are all officially licensed and we´re working in close proximity with the car manufacturers to ensure maximum accuracy; Alex has recently done recon trips to Brands Hatch & Cadwell Park, with Oulton Park scheduled for the end of the month.

The team is already well advanced on Brands & the road Ultima as you can see below:

We estimate the initial components of the Brit Pack to become available soon after v1.0 release, sometime in july, with Beta hopefully before the end of the month.

This about covers it for this June update - this was a big one! We hope you all enjoy the news. I look forward to catching up again in July, hopefully with AMS v1.0 release already behind us..."


RaceDepartment is the place for all the latest and greatest Automobilista mods and setups. Check out our AMS forum for the latest download links, all the news and discussions as well as our premium club racing events. What do you think of the latest roadmap?

Is AMS developing as you would like? What are you looking forward to the most? Let us know in the comments below!

 

[Ryann]

The Virtual Xperience Portal looks great!

Anyone knows if the improved graphics toning is done via SweetFX or it is present also when running the game without it?

 

[Nick Gregory]

I hope the Copa Montana is released for everyone else soon, I need my truxxin'.

 

[Tim.E]

its luvly jubly,



but i agree.

Thanks, have always been using it wrongly then.

 

[Jim Liak]

As I wrote in an other forum,I would prefer if they drop expanding this obsolete game and instead push the Reiza 17 ( or how they will call it) , with DX12 and all these things that they got by acquiring the gmotor engine.
Don't get me wrong , AMS is a decent game, many people love it but I believe it's time to move on to something new and modern. There is too much potential that gets wasted.

 

[fortyfivekev]

Really happy with the development update and Reiza's work on AMS so far. Currently struggling to start-up any of the other sims and the Brit Pack is only going to make that worse.

Had to screenshot myself at the top of a Time Trial table as once this is released it will never happen again.

 

[xnorb]

As stated on the campaign site Reiza17 will feature a big chunk of the content found in AMS, so releasing content is nothing that holds them back from developing Reiza17.
Also AI and physics improvements will directly carry over as they are working at source code level and not by injection or plugins.

But i assume in the background there is already lots of things happening in regards to the move to another engine or maybe they are even already coding the base for Reiza17? Who knows.

Now to AMS:
I just wish after the sky upgrade they will also take care of gras at some point, this still is one of the weakest points in AMS' graphics department.

20$ DLC sounds a bit on the expensive side but with officially licensed content i guess that's just what you have to pay for. Just leaves a bit of a bad taste as those tracks will not be laser scanned?

 

[Andrew Harper]

As I wrote in an other forum,I would prefer if they drop expanding this obsolete game and instead push the Reiza 17 ( or how they will call it) , with DX12 and all these things that they got by acquiring the gmotor engine.
Don't get me wrong , AMS is a decent game, many people love it but I believe it's time to move on to something new and modern. There is too much potential that gets wasted.

That's a fair point and I totally understand what you mean but having spoken to other users either in chat room or on TeamSpeak a lot of users who love the Reiza series is because it will run on a lower (or older) spec PC. I first got into GSC because it would run on my old PC on high settings whereas Assetto Corsa, RF2, etc just wouldn't. I had lot's of fun racing without the expense of purchasing an all new PC.

I do agree with you though, having raced on Automobilista for a while and then went to Assetto Corsa or Project Cars you realise just how polished the visuals are on the newer titles. Although it's "only" a karting sim I think Kartkraft will show what can be done on a modern engine as well.

 

[Paul Bennett]

I'm stating to think that AMS is just a tester for Reiza17. There seems alot of content planned this year for a sim that has a short self life ?
I'm in the beta so have much respect for Renato an crew , I asked over at their forum were R17 fits in the reply was AMS is the main focus.

 

[xnorb]

As stated on the campaign site:
* Integrates all our licenses & assets (present & future) into the same platform with free core updates + paid DLC packages
* Includes majority of the content base in current sims + expands substantially on official licensed content & international tracks

So adding content to AMS isn't lost, they will use it for Reiza17.

 

[Paul Bennett]

Okay kinda forgot about the integration elements, was just thinking it's alot of work just to be scapped.

 

[Brandon Wright]

Don't get me wrong , AMS is a decent game, many people love it but I believe it's time to move on to something new and modern. There is too much potential that gets wasted.

AMS V1.0 isn't even released yet, but it's time for them to move on to something new? Makes sense.

 

[CCKaren]

But i assume in the background there is already lots of things happening in regards to the move to another engine or maybe they are even already coding the base for Reiza17?

Well Reiza17 is going to be running on ISIMotor 2 with a custom graphics engine just like RaceRoom does, so all the base code improvements they're making with AMS will likely carry over directly.

 

[Tr51]

It thanks all really cool ... but I hope there is better support for DD wheels
Thank you

 

[Will Mazeo]

Well Reiza17 is going to be running on ISIMotor 2 with a custom graphics engine just like RaceRoom does, so all the base code improvements they're making with AMS will likely carry over directly.

They are actually considering UE4, CryEngine and another one I forgot the name. I doubt there will be a new game for 2017 at all considering how long it is taking on AMS (remember AMS should've been released nearly 2 months ago). They also need to go 64bit. Who knows how long these 2 tasks will take, does not look like a easy job as these graphics engine also have a physics engine in it(?) and they'll have to put isimotor into there.

 

[ouvert]

They are actually considering UE4, CryEngine and another one I forgot the name. I doubt there will be a new game for 2017 at all considering how long it is taking on AMS (remember AMS should've been released nearly 2 months ago). They also need to go 64bit. Who knows how long these 2 tasks will take, does not look like a easy job as these graphics engine also have a physics engine in it(?) and they'll have to put isimotor into there.

graphic engine doesn`t have physic engine in it .. just like pMotor doesn`t have gMotor in it. Could be part of the package (like ISI engine) but you can run pMotor with different graphic engine (R3E and their RendR) .. not saying it is CTRL+C/V job but I believe they could handle some kind of beta or EA in 2017 .

 

[Will Mazeo]

graphic engine doesn`t have physic engine in it .. just like pMotor doesn`t have gMotor in it. Could be part of the package (like ISI engine) but you can run pMotor with different graphic engine (R3E and their RendR) .. not saying it is CTRL+C/V job but I believe they could handle some kind of beta or EA in 2017 .

AFAIK they do.. that's why they are gaming engines

 

[ouvert]

AFAIK they do.. that's why they are gaming engines

yep .. gaming engines .. you were talking about graphic engine

"these graphics engine also have a physics engine in it"

 

[Will Mazeo]

Sorry I forgot on the internet you gotta explain all the details or people don't get it...

 

[ouvert]

Sorry I forgot on the internet you gotta explain all the details or people don't get it...

it is not about explaining .. it is about how it works .. I just reacted to your worries about them needed to deal with physics engine that is "in graphic engine" it might be bit less complicated than you implied
For example UT4 uses PhysX 3.3 .. it is not part of a graphic engine, you just wont use nvidia solution and implement pMotor instead ..

 

[Will Mazeo]

it is not about explaining .. it is about how it works .. I just reacted to your worries about them needed to deal with physics engine that is "in graphic engine" it might be bit less complicated than you implied

It's not simple, already said by ISI staff on ISI forums.