Final Automobilista Development Update Released

[Paul Jeffrey]

The long road of development for Automobilista is nearly over, and in anticipation of the upcoming final build Reiza Studios have released one last roadmap update of the year...

Containing the usual level of exciting news and in depth looks at what is to come, the final development roadmap release of the Automobilista development timeline is here, just ahead of the last big build update for what has become one of the best, if not most underrated, simulations available to purchase today.

Development lifecycle of Automobilista was always going to be limited as Reiza Studios looked to move on to their next big project, however many will no doubt be left pleasantly surprised as to exactly how far things have progressed with this impressive simulation over the past 18 months, finally ending in what is set to become the very last major build update before full attention switches to the next big Reiza project.

However despite things coming to a close very shortly, the small Brazilian studio aren't quite finished with AMS just yet, as can be seen by the information released in the new development roadmap earlier today:

Here we are then for the final dev update of the year, just in time for what is to be the final major update to Automobilista.

We´ll begin with the not so-great news - those of you who have been following these dev updates will be aware we still have one final car pack DLC to announce. Our plan had been to deliver a holiday surprise but unfortunately we haven´t quite managed to put everything together in time, so this is going to be our early 2018 treat instead. In the meantime we´ll have to keep the suspense on for a little longer...

While we´ve missed out on delivering that particular Christmas present, we do have a lot of exciting stuff packed in and almost ready to go in what is to be the last major AMS update - one which we hope will keep you warm over the holiday season Here are some of the highlights of what´s coming up with V1.5 and beyond:

Official Multiplayer Ranking System

@Alex Sawczuk and @Dave Stephenson have put together a cool new feature for multiplayer racing - v1.5 will introduce "Race Rank" which is our first steps in creating an online ranking system. Drivers will be able to earn points by racing on our official servers in Qualifying and Race sessions to improve their rank. The scoring will be weighted by the quality and quantity of the opposition as well as the length of the race, as well as the users recent participation. The driver and server ranking values will be visible in-game, with full in-depth details to be found at www.VirtualXperience.net.

The new system will go in open Beta stage with v1.5 initially only with Reiza official servers, with the possibility of being expanded to other open & active servers as it develops. A more detailed breakdown of the system mechanics will be shared in time for v1.5 release.

Limited tire sets

As commented in the previous dev update, v1.5 will add a new realism dimension as users will get the option to limit the number of tire sets available for single & multiplayer races, which will then accumulate wear as they´re used throughout the race weekend. Drivers will then be able to switch back & forth between used and new tire sets (rather than just infinitely reset tires to a brand new set every time he goes back to the pit menu, although this will also remain an option).

Updated UI design

@Alex Sawczuk has done a little further freshening up to AMS presentation in v1.5 with a few UI design revisions, most noticeably being the session monitor UI, now following the overall UI design, with a beefed up timing screen and background nicely filled up by the ongoing track action:

Buskerud - new kart track

@ilka has put together a beautiful-looking surprise Christmas present in the shape of Buskerud KartKurs. This fictional venue is set in a bucolic Norwegian region amidst pine trees, wind turbines, lakes and rocky hills. The two layouts are as close to a roller coaster ride one is likely to get without rails

Some previews:

Mendig Full Course

@ilka and @Alex Sawczuk have also managed to find some time to put together a new layout for Mendig - a respectable 11km course which roams through and around country roads, hills, village and the airport.

Super Formula Dirt

The F-Dirt is getting a new big brother variant in the shape of the Super F-Dirt - an AWD Turbo, more powerful and higher grip version of the F-Dirt currently in the sim for some extra power drifting fun.

Drift Series

On the topic of drifting.. Recently we´d been debating within the team about a fun project to wrap v1.5 with and unwind a bit. @Niels Heusinkveld had been playing with Drift physics for a while so that got things kick started, which in turn got @domagoj Lovric (who had fancied doing some new V6 turbo sounds) going.. Along came @sandro Kholodkevich to pimp up a few existing cars with optionals and soon we had something shaping up for some serious dorifto action So much so in fact that we´ve elected to add a Drift series as a new bonus content to Automobilista.

The series will feature a few of the existing models customized for drifting. We also plan to add some custom Drift courses and scoring system. This however won´t be quite ready in time for v1.5 so will be included in one of the post-release patches sometime in January.

Automobilista Holiday Bundle

Steam Holiday sale starts today and we´ve got a killer offer for those that may still be on the fence about AMS - the Automobilista Holiday Bundle is going to include AMS along with all DLCs released so far - this is a limited-time opportunity to pick the whole package up not only at its best but also at its best price

Individual packages are also on sale with discounts as big as 90% so if you´re missing anything in your collection do make sure to check the sale out

Automobilista Beyond v1.5

While core development of AMS ends with v1.5, the new Drift project and the upcoming DLC means there is still some exciting things to come to AMS in 2018 - Since v1.5 is another major update with substantial new features it´s also very likely we´ll do some fine tuning and deploy a couple of smallish hotfixes early on next year.

By and large though AMS is going to be hitting its definitive and peak form in the coming days. Although we´ll continue to support it with new content & official competitions in 2018, by next year our development focus will be fully on an exciting new challenge, about which we hope to be sharing more news soon.

In the meantime we´d like to thank everyone who one way or another contributed to AMS development - the terrific feedback we have been able to gather here, in the RaceDepartment forum and other AMS communities has been invaluable and your enthusiasm for the sim a source of great motivation for all of us.

In the name of the whole Reiza team I wish you all a happy holiday season - we look forward to catching you for some online action over the break...

Automobilista is a PC exclusive racing game from Reiza Studios, and can be purchased from the Steam network.

If you enjoy Automobilista then take your experience to the next level with RaceDepartment! Join in our brilliant online Racing Club to take part in organised online race events, or head over to the Automobilista Modding Forum to have a look through our community made content, or if this isn't enough to keep you occupied, check out the general AMS sub forum and involve yourself in our wonderful sim racing community.

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Like the sound of the new roadmap? Are you pleased overall with the way AMS has developed? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[catacroken]

Amazing work. All can i say is, for your next project, TAKE MY MONEY

 

[ouvert]

Ohhhhhhh that kart track looks lovely. Is there a way to drive cars on it as well?

you can drive any car on any track ... looks like it will be great for small/slower cars ...

 

[alexSchmurtz]

Reiza have such an impressive pace! They keep adding features, content, for free, sometimes not even clearly announced like this Buskerud kart track or the new layout for Mendig! They keep polishing all the time, all the content is at the same level! Again impressive with so many stuffs now! And they remain so friendly, listening to feedbacks, taking the right decisions, being helpful when something occur. It is a pleasure to follow their development! We're getting to the end of AMS development yes, but that should be a strong fondation for a new AMS, with all this content, solid physics and features; but this time with more eye candy. Probably a natural progression And the continuation of all this development. When I see where we were with Stockcar Extreme, or even how much AMS has changed since its beginning, I guess we will be amazed once again!
Have a nice holiday season!

 

[leseb64]

it's the end of life for AMS vive AMS2 !!!

 

[Yapci]

One can only dream about a Kunos Reiza Team making together the best ever sim, with night and rain, of course! Imagine that amount of content, with the amazing physics and FFB, plenty of features and graphically stunning. And VR, ok!

I mean come on guys! Make us happy!

 

[SovietSenna]

Reiza have such an impressive pace! They keep adding features, content, for free, sometimes not even clearly announced like this Buskerud kart track or the new layout for Mendig! They keep polishing all the time, all the content is at the same level! Again impressive with so many stuffs now! And they remain so friendly, listening to feedbacks, taking the right decisions, being helpful when something occur. It is a pleasure to follow their development! We're getting to the end of AMS development yes, but that should be a strong fondation for a new AMS, with all this content, solid physics and features; but this time with more eye candy. Probably a natural progression And the continuation of all this development. When I see where we were with Stockcar Extreme, or even how much AMS has changed since its beginning, I guess we will be amazed once again!
Have a nice holiday season!

Sometimes i wish i could win the lottery 10 times in a row, buy this studio and pour EVEN MOAR MONEY in this franchise
It's really sad to see franchises like Need For Speed getting licenses and big support yet true superior sims like AMS or rF2 are still using like 10% of the budget big companies have !

 

[Kenny Paton]

It's really sad to see franchises like Need For Speed getting licenses and big support yet true superior sims like AMS or rF2 are still using like 10% of the budget big companies have !

With EA it's all about the money, maybe it's not a bad thing that these smaller studios haven't been infected by the greed virus, and have passion for what they do.

 

[Alex72]

Great news and looking forward to the update and Reiza moving on to and releasing there next title.

Ranking system seems interesting and will hopefully draw more people to mp.....as it stands I dont think ive ever seen more than 50 people online at one time let alone more than 10 people in a official Reiza hosted lobby lol

Love the addittion of limited tires to a session!

My fat, and which is MEGA STRANGE because AMS has EVERYTHING you need to do racing, and then some. The driving experience is great and it features all necessary systems for racing. So its a head scratcher to me personally. If its "graphics" that keep people away then thats very sad. With some nice SweetFX filter (which is built in to the sim) AMS looks great.

I think the more proper sims have less people driving them because it takes concentration to drive let alone win. That and "graphics". Oh well.

 

[SovietSenna]

My fat, and which is MEGA STRANGE because AMS has EVERYTHING you need to do racing, and then some. The driving experience is great and it features all necessary systems for racing. So its a head scratcher to me personally. If its "graphics" that keep people away then thats very sad. With some nice SweetFX filter (which is built in to the sim) AMS looks great.

I think the more proper sims have less people driving them because it takes concentration to drive let alone win. That and "graphics". Oh well.

I think there are many factors in this equation.
Graphics might be one, but then you have hundreds of people on iRacing
Then you have convenience.
That's why i mostly race on iRacing: lots of "try-hards", 50 to 100+ people on each race (991 GT3 Cup). It's the best system. If i'm busy in the week, i might do 2-3 races. If i have time to spare, i can race until i'm burned

I also race on AC with the SRS system. It's great but you don't get a race every two hours 24/7 for each class like in iRacing.

Then you have PC2, it's a bit of a mess but you can still get good racing and you have many people online.

So by the time you come to AMS and rF2, there are not many people left.
SRS is available for AMS and rF2. rF2 runs poorly so i'm not going to race this sim online on a regular basis before quite some time.
I mainly do hotlaps and AI races with AMS. Someone needs to schedule daily races with SRS in AMS and wait for the population to grow, but the competition is already there and it's hard to jump from one game to another when it comes to MP.

 

[DaVeX↯]

If you are interested in some multy you can join us here: https://discord.gg/Pd2yuFb
This is a discord group open to all, we do some quick races all togheter to fill the free time between league races or RD ones!

 

[Rodent]

Looking forward to Reiza 2020!

Joking aside AMS like all sims is one I fall in and out of love with but have always been glad to have in my roster. The dedication Reiza has shown the title promises great things in the future, looking forward to what's coming next.

 

[aleph]

My fat, and which is MEGA STRANGE because AMS has EVERYTHING you need to do racing, and then some. The driving experience is great and it features all necessary systems for racing. So its a head scratcher to me personally. If its "graphics" that keep people away then thats very sad. With some nice SweetFX filter (which is built in to the sim) AMS looks great.

I think the more proper sims have less people driving them because it takes concentration to drive let alone win. That and "graphics". Oh well.

There is also the fact that many people race offline because the AI at this point is quite competent.

 

[ouvert]

One can only dream about a Kunos Reiza Team making together the best ever sim, with night and rain, of course! Imagine that amount of content, with the amazing physics and FFB, plenty of features and graphically stunning. And VR, ok!

I mean come on guys! Make us happy!

well why don`t you just wait for Reizas next game

 

[sebduloiret]

the best game made by the best development team, unfortunately, no serious and hard-working community and most good simracing drivers are on other simulation ...
but I look forward to their next project and will support it with eyes closed

 

[Alex72]

There is also the fact that many people race offline because the AI at this point is quite competent.

Agreed, of course.

 

[NoXiD]

Nice Update

Next Project Reiza.... A new game with official license for the completet Blancpain GT3 Saison 2018

 

[Jens Roos]

I'm mainly using rF2 & AC but AMS and Reiza just seems so awesome, should I get this instead of rF1, RRE or PC2?

triples and osw no problems?

 

[Craig Dunkley]

Reiza have my full respect and admiration ...they have done some terrific work.

 

[Enthilzha]

I have all the major sims (aside from PC2) and AMS was always my favourite and my most-played. I always felt it had the best overall package and the most amazing modding community of all (here's looking at you Patrick!).

Unfortunately it is the only major SIM without VR, and as getting my rift was such a game-changer for me, AMS has taken a back-seat to the others now.

But if Reiza 2018 can build strongly on what they already have, retain that modding community and have VR included from day one, then I will be a very happy bunny indeed and Reiza back to number one in my book.

Reiza - what a dev team!

 

[SovietSenna]

I'm mainly using rF2 & AC but AMS and Reiza just seems so awesome, should I get this instead of rF1, RRE or PC2?

triples and osw no problems?

AMS doesn't support VR, but triple screen works.
OSWs work as well (plenty of youtubers to verify this).

should I get this instead of rF1 --> AMS is rF1 with all the cars/tracks and mods included by default. Just launch the game and play ! And if you still want more mods, most rF1 mods have been ported to AMS

should I get this instead of RRE --> it's a harder question to answer. FFB and physics are great in RRE (on newer cars at least). RRE has licensed and more recent cars but less diversity compared to AMS.
RRE has more relevant tracks, but the AMS selection of tracks is great too.
AMS is one huge package for a small price.
With RRE you have to pay for every car and track. You have more people playing RRE online but you start to fall in the "iRacing scenario". Unless you've find a class that you really like and it's popular (say the new GT3s), i would not use RRE for offline play/hotlaps.

should I get this instead of PC2 --> if your main goal is enjoying the dynamics of racing/driving, feeling the car ... then its AMS all the way. All the official Reiza content in AMS is at the same level of greatness ! The best cars in PC2 are nowhere near the weakest car in AMS (well there is no weak car in AMS but still ...)