Automobilista 2 | The Ultimate Formula 1 Season Guide (Updated)

Automobilista 2 F1 Ultimate Season Guide.png
When it comes to retro content in sim racing, it is hard to ignore Automobilista 2 – the selection is overwhelming, especially for Formula 1 fans. The sim currently offers no less than 15 Formula 1 seasons, spanning six decades – but which exact years are represented is only undoubtedly made clear in very few cases. To give you a better overview of the historic F1 content, we have assembled a guide to the different classes for you and also refreshed things to reflect the state as of late February 2024.

Last updated: November 30, 2023

No less than 51 cars from six decades – the amount of choice is a sight to behold and cannot be found anywhere else, except with mods. The best part: Most of the F1 cars in Automobilista 2 are free and already in the sim, all classes except both F-HiTech generations can be enjoyed without additional DLC.

Thanks to the incredible work of the RaceDepartment community, all generations of F1 cars in Automobilista 2 now feature a livery pack for at least one season they roughly represent.

Accurate Tracks & Locations​

After the update to the first version of this guide in May 2023, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has been added to AMS2, expanding the potential calendars of several seasons.
Additionally, we have also added an "Accurate Locations" section to most seasons, meaning you will be able to see tracks that have hosted an F1 event that year, but used a different layout.

The differences to what would have been run back in the day have also been added to the guide - a nice bonus for everyone who is interested in how circuits have changed over the years or wants to know why they are not listed in the "Accurate Tracks" section.

How to Install Skin Packs​

For increased immersion, we recommend skin packs to match the respective seasons. They usually come with AI files, so you will be able to compete against virtual versions of real drivers in singleplayer modes.

If available, the skin packs are linked on the respective season's page. Need a hand with installing them? Check out our handy guide on how to add mods to Automobilista 2 to get up and running!

What would you like to see?​

What other F1 seasons would you want to see represented in Automobilista 2? What are your favorites that are already in the sim? Let us know on Twitter at @RaceDepartment or in the comments below. Please also post about what elements you would like to see added to this guide in the future. Happy racing!

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About author
Yannik Haustein
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

Heel & Toe Gang 4 life :D

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Comments

Yannik Haustein
Staff
Premium
BrettSinclair1 said:
The choice of cars is great - but the choice of period tracks prevents any proper F1 season experience.
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Depends what year you're looking at. I took a deep dive a while ago to try and see how accurately some seasons could be replicated, and surprisingly, 1983 is one of the easier ones to do. Only three tracks they ran on are completely missing (Paul Ricard, Detroit and Watkins Glen Zandvoort), and three more are present with altered layouts (Long Beach, Monaco, Montreal). The other nine are accurate regarding their layouts (I did not count Brands Hatch as the reprofiling was very slight). These season overviews might be something to add to this guide later on :)

I would not be surprised if the Glen is added later on, as well as a 2001 pre-Mercedes Arena version of the Nürburgring is added later on along with the 1971 Nordschleife that's in the works. Not too bad of an outlook I'd say.
 
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Kryztov
Premium
Yannik Haustein said:
Depends what year you're looking at. I took a deep dive a while ago to try and see how accurately some seasons could be replicated, and surprisingly, 1983 is one of the easier ones to do. Only three tracks they ran on are completely missing (Paul Ricard, Detroit and Watkins Glen), and three more are present with altered layouts (Long Beach, Monaco, Montreal). The other nine are accurate regarding their layouts (I did not count Brands Hatch as the reprofiling was very slight). These season overviews might be something to add to this guide later on :)

I would not be surprised if the Glen is added later on, as well as a 2001 pre-Mercedes Arena version of the Nürburgring along with the 1971 Nordschleife that's in the works. Not too bad of an outlook I'd say.
Click to expand...
Watkins Glen is there though in the last DLC
 
AtomicD0G
Yannik Haustein said:
Only three tracks they ran on are completely missing (Paul Ricard, Detroit and Watkins Glen), and three more are present with altered layouts (Long Beach, Monaco, Montreal) ... I would not be surprised if the Glen is added later on
Click to expand...
Watkins Glen is in the Racing USA Part 2 DLC. I attended the Detroit race and would love to see it in AMS2. Completing the season with Paul Ricard would be the cherry on top.
 
Yannik Haustein
Staff
Premium
Of course, I even got it penciled in as a replacement for Zandvoort, which is the actual track that isn't there in this case :roflmao:
 
BrunoBæ
TurboT said:
I hope that more public online lobby's will use the historic Formula 1 cars.

Almost all of them are awesome to drive with
Click to expand...
Hey if you get one one(1) choice which one of your socalled historic Formula 1 cars would you recommend?
I dont care if they fit to particular historic tracks because I allready have my own favorites.
But which one would you recommend?
 
John B. Ellis
Premium
Thanks for clarifying some of the season details regarding the historic F1 content in AMS2. I have to say, I bought AMS2 and its Season Pass so long ago that everything they release at this point just feels like top-shelf freeware. And Reiza’s communication and targeted monthly update schedule sets the standard among developers.

By the way, is there a 1988 F1 skin & AI pack out there for AMS2? There is a 1989 one available here on RD, but that doesn’t seem quite right….
 
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Yannik Haustein
Staff
Premium
John B. Ellis said:
By the way, is there a 1988 F1 skin & AI pack out there for AMS2? There is a 1989 one available here on RD, but that doesn’t seem quite right….
Click to expand...
Not that I know of, at least not on RD. 89 is nice and underrepresented in sim racing but does not really fit with the turbo cars unfortunately.
 
gamer19
wolftree said:
Barcelona, Buenos Aires (coming eventually), Hungaroring, Melbourne, Mexico City, Paul Ricard, and Zandvoort are the big missing ones. They can leave all the post-2000 Tilkedromes.
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yeah and the licensing is much cheaper right ? :)
Buenos coming, really ?!? :confused:
man I loved that (mickey mouse:D) track in the old F1 games ahhh :inlove:
 
R
gamer19 said:
yeah and the licensing is much cheaper right ? :)
Buenos coming, really ?!? :confused:
man I loved that (mickey mouse:D) track in the old F1 games ahhh :inlove:
Click to expand...
Well, yes mickey mouse track during Tilke era with one of the shortest circuits. But F1 didn't use those layouts in the 70's.
 
gamer19
Racer63 said:
Well, yes mickey mouse track during Tilke era with one of the shortest circuits. But F1 didn't use those layouts in the 70's.
Click to expand...
I'm afraid we're not on the same boat here :alien:
this is mickey mouse track
Buenos Aires IS mickey mouse track.
and I loved it !!!
I think I've played it in F1 challenge 99-02
 
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S
I've written it before on this site. My first time impressions of Reiza's work with the Copa Petrobras de Marcas and StockCar Extreme sims as "major mod overhauls to official sims", has influenced my first time acquaintance of AMS2 16 months ago, with any AMS2 update considered as a free "mod" update with side benefits of improved physics.

So why not take the step further, with modern AMS2 versions of the large amount of high quality F1 mods from rF1, covering 8 decades of which the vast majority consists of full season series, ie. full driver - and track lineups?

If that happens, open wheeler racing will definitely be my prime sim hobby again :inlove:
 
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MrLonguinha
*Since the official "owner" doesn't do something for the more than "70 years old" of the category, at least the Brazilian Reiza, does her part. 1) Could include the 50/51 season as it is inaugural 2)Season 54/55 for the new projects and regulation for the season as well as variety of brands 3)Season 58/59/60/61 transition of two eras, front to rear engine 4)Season 64/65 practically what we already have in the vintage version I 5) Season 67/68/69 we already have, maybe some more cars 6) Season 73/74/75 we already have, maybe other cars 7) Season 78/79 we already have, include more variety of cars 8) Season 82/83 the last one released, waiting for Piquet champion Brabham to compose. It would be perfect. And to give it an extra shine, they could include new variants of classic circuits. a) Montecarlo from the 50s/60s, (76-85), (86-97) b) Monza (73-75) c) Classic Zandvoort d), Reims or Rouen e) Long Beach '76 or Phoenix '91 f) Montjuich or Jarama g) Buenos Aires in the 1950s h) Mount Fuji
 
Jugulador
Don't need to build old calendars... play a championship as done for Old Stock Car, Formula Classic (both in AMS2) and FIA Historic Racing Championships for GTC and TC cars.

EDIT: Or just pretend you are a very busy driver than can't race the full season lol
 
Last edited:
R
gamer19 said:
I'm afraid we're not on the same boat here :alien:
this is mickey mouse track
Buenos Aires IS mickey mouse track.
and I loved it !!!
I think I've played it in F1 challenge 99-02
Click to expand...

Buenos Aires track has had 11 layouts throughout its history.

The "mickey mouse" track was used in F1 years 95 to 98 (Circuit #6 with 4.3 Kms)
The longest layout #15 is 6 kms long and was used by F1 from 1974 to 81.
Finally #9 with 3.4 kms even more mickey mouse:unsure: was used in 72 and 73.
 
A
The 23 and the black/gold of that mid 80s turbo is clearly suppose to be Minardi. The car shape doesn't match, it's somewhere between the 86 and 87 Minardis but with some editing.
 
P
Have fun parked at the hairpin in not Monaco waiting for the AI to sort itself out.
Shame, I love AMS2, but it's not ready for full seasons against the AI yet, it's often too easy or too stupid. That said, sometimes it's just brilliant and feels just right. Hopefully they can transfer that brilliance to all the tracks and make offline seasons worthwhile.
 
G
Thank you for this article! I've always loved the classic F1 content in AMS1 and 2 (especially the Formula Retro around the older version of Kyalami...that's just SUCH a great driving experience)! It's easy to get confused with all of the different generations (especially with similar names like Vintage, Retro, and Classic), so this article really clears it up for me - thanks again! :)
 

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Table of contents

Overview 1966/1967 - Formula Vintage Gen 1 1969/1970 - Formula Vintage Gen 2 1974 - Formula Retro Gen 1 1978 – Formula Retro Gen 2 1983 – Formula Retro Gen 3 1986 – Formula Classic Gen 1 1988 – Formula Classic Gen 2 1990 - F-Classic Gen 3 1991 – Formula Classic Gen 4 1992 - Formula HiTech Gen 1 1993 - Formula HiTech Gen 2 1995 – Formula V12 1997 – Formula V10 Gen 1 2000/2001 – Formula V10 Gen 2 2011/2012 – Formula Reiza 2019 – Formula Ultimate 2019 2022/2023/2024 – Formula Ultimate Gen 2 View full article

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