Automobilista 2's Convenient Online Feature You May Not Know Yet

Automobilista 2 GT1 McLaren F1 GTR Mercedes CLK LM Laguna Seca.jpg
A large selection of content is usually good for sim racers, although this tends to be achieved via the DLC route. This can make joining lobbies online difficult for those that do not own all the content a sim has to offer – this is not necessarily the case in Automobilista 2, however: Reiza Studios' title has a neat feature that many sim racers may not know about.

Most who have organized an event or a league in AMS2 likely have come across the question of whether or not DLC is necessary to participate. The good news: You do not need every piece of content to be safe – should you not own a track, you can still join a session and race at the circuit as long as the server host does own it.

This basically allows all AMS2 players access to every track if they are racing online, making it possible to participate in leagues and championships for which they do not own every single circuit on the calendar. They will have to rely on someone else to host these tracks to practice for the event, however, as they cannot be accessed in single-player modes.

Cars Work Differently​

Cars, however, are exempt from this feature. Luckily, this means that only a few vehicle classes are not accessible to anyone, as they are comprised of DLC-only content: Fans of DPI, GTE and CART/IndyCar racing need to invest into the first two Racin' USA Packs – which also come with three tracks each - to be able to drive these vehicles, and the same is true for the Supercars Pack Pt1.

A practical example: You want to join a race at Hockenheim 2001 in the Formula V10 Gen 2 cars, which emulate the 2000/2001 season (as you can find out in our AMS2 F1 Season Guide), but have not bought any of the circuit DLCs. You can then still join the session and take part as someone else is hosting the event.

Automobilista 2 Formula 1 Jaguar Hockenheim 2001.jpg

Want to race a 2001 Jaguar at Hockenheim online but do not own the circuit? No problem!

On the other hand, if you want to take part in a F-USA Gen 2 race with CART cars of 1998 at Montreal, you would have to buy the Racin' USA Pt2 Pack. In this case, even though you own the track as it is stock content in AMS2, you need to own the cars as there is no stock content in the F-USA Gen 2 class.

Automobilista 2 CART 1998 Montreal.jpg

Montreal is stock content, the F-USA Gen 2 cars are not - so this combo is out of the question if you only own the base game.

If you are on the fence about which DLC to buy, you should consider the car-based packs first as a result. This way, you will be able to participate in any online event you can find (save for the password-protected ones, of course. As a nice benefit, many of them come with some circuits included, so you can enjoy them in single-player modes as well.

List of AMS2 DLC Tracks​

  • Bathurst 1983 - Historical Track Pack
  • Cascais 1988 - Historical Track Pack
  • Cleveland - Racin' USA Pt2
  • Daytona (including oval version) - Racin' USA Pt1
  • Fontana (Auto Club Speedway) - Racin' USA Pt3
  • Gateway (World Wide Technology Raceway) - Racin' USA Pt3
  • Hockenheim (including 1977, 1988 & 2001 versions) - Premium Track Pack (also available separately)
  • Indianapolis - Racin' USA Pt3
  • Jerez 1988 - Historical Track Pack
  • Laguna Seca - Racin' USA Pt1
  • Long Beach - Racin' USA Pt1
  • Monza (including 1991 & 1971 versions) - Premium Track Pack (also available separately)
  • Nürburgring (including Nordschleife & 1971 versions) - Premium Track Pack (also available separately)
  • Road America - Racin' USA Pt2
  • Spa-Francorchamps (including 2022, 2020, 1993 & 1970 versions) - Premium Track Pack (also available separately)
  • Watkins Glen - Racin' USA Pt2

  • Racin' USA is available as a Full Expansion Pack
  • Premium Track Pack circuits are excluded from the Premium Expansion Pack, which contains all other DLC

Your Thoughts​

Did you know about this feature? What are your favorite tracks in AMS2? Let us know in the comments below!
About author
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

Comments

Much as I recognize Jimmy Broadbent is a YouTuber who (literally) lives off clicks... he's been around sim racing a long time, driven a lot of time on sims in diverse cars, has a track record of frankness, and as of the last couple years also has significant real world racing experience under his belt. Not surprising to me he'd be discerning enough to quickly pick up on this kind of issue and speak his mind, even just when quickly jumping into AMS2 to see how it feels on the latest update (as he did in those videos where he was flamed by ardent AMS2 fans and even, privately, someone at Reiza).
Someone save that video and its comments before it's deleted from Youtube! :D
 
Off topic:
Has AMS2 introduced offline flaws in relation to championships?
<snip>
But during first race at Jacarepaguá, mid race, just before my planned pitstop, game crashes and my AMD Adrenaline software reset all my special settings. <snip>

Root cause: Free M$ OneDrive 5Gb store limit exceeded (due to heavy amount of sim test garbage).
Now just had an exhillerating 1st race of the F1 1988 season. Don't say AMS2 AI sucks - it rocks!
 
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Much as I recognize Jimmy Broadbent is a YouTuber who (literally) lives off clicks... he's been around sim racing a long time, driven a lot of time on sims in diverse cars, has a track record of frankness, and as of the last couple years also has significant real world racing experience under his belt. Not surprising to me he'd be discerning enough to quickly pick up on this kind of issue and speak his mind, even just when quickly jumping into AMS2 to see how it feels on the latest update (as he did in those videos where he was flamed by ardent AMS2 fans and even, privately, someone at Reiza).
JB made a lazy and sh..y review admittedly (by himself) not following the developers instructions for deletion of documents folder and not having spent any time in the sim in months.
He got torched by many users for the clickbait slacked effort not for the judgement he gave.
No matter how much Ogonoski and RandomCallsign tried to speculate making videos on the event JB isn't really a victim.
As much as he has the right to judge the developers' work users and developers have the same right to point out his shortcomings.
Such is freedom of speech.
 
Root cause: Free M$ OneDrive 5Gb store limit exceeded (due to heavy amount of sim test garbage).
Now just had an exhillerating 1st race of the F1 1988 season. Don't say AMS2 AI sucks - it rocks!
Well donyou recommend settings for the AI? I launched a race on Interlagos with Group C cars, with 100% AI and max agressivity (I had read it was recommended) and ,just before a corner I was side by side with a competitor, who passed me just before my breaking, and he immediatly got in front of me braking like hell into my racing line and I had to go into a spin to avoid him, which obviously ruined my race. A really bad move, it seems the AI immediatly got back on predefined rails after having passed me, without being aware I was just behind.

It may be a too specific situation to program, the AI passkng the player in a straight line (the AI behaviour would be normal) but just before the braking zone which would require the AI behaviour under braking, but before the braking zone. Sime refinement is necessaey as, any player on the outside would decide to brake earlier to get a better racing line than the AI, but he would immediatly get the AI moving in front of him just before the braking zone. Or it may be the agressivity. Which level do you use?
 
AMS2 is just held back by it's MP system...

They've got on top of so many things that were wrong in the madness engines physics profile and are on the verge of making another huge step in the tyre model...

But the MP is just a crap shoot... Even in league events where you can figure out whose running decent connections and who isn't... It's just random pot luck if things will run smoothly or not... Even if everyone is from the same country...

Dedicated servers actually make the system worse forcing higher pings and creating larger problems than are seen on the p2p system...
 
He got torched by many users for the clickbait slacked effort not for the judgement he gave.
May be... I can't say for certain. But one thing that's for sure (regardless of what's going on in this particular situation) – it can be hard to tell the difference between legit criticism and people claiming something is "clickbait" or "not trying hard enough" simply because someone criticizes something they like.

JB made a lazy and sh..y review admittedly (by himself) not following the developers instructions for deletion of documents folder and not having spent any time in the sim in months.
Although I don't watch Jimmy's stuff all the time, I've never heard of Jimmy himself saying the review was "lazy" or "sh**ty*. Got a source for this?

This particular thing with Jimmy aside, I'd also argue that there is value to the opinion of someone who hasn't spent much time in a game. For me, with significant time in a game, I can become blind to its quirks that may be a deal-breaker or annoyance to other users. Also, raw first impressions matter and can be informative to watch.

As much as he has the right to judge the developers' work users and developers have the same right to point out his shortcomings.
Such is freedom of speech.
Eh. Just because you're "free" to do it doesn't mean it's a good idea. Private or public, personal insults are never okay. And generally, it's terrible PR to criticize your users or public figures trusted by your users – e.g. Renato's recent "typical shallow YouTube punditry" and "silly YouTubers" passive-aggressive comments.

Moreover, it can be a cop-out for developers to blame customers for not enjoying the way their game feels or using it "as intended". If enough criticism mounts from a number of directions (as it has with AMS2) it suggests much of the problem is not "silly users" or "shallow reviewers" but the product and/or the devs' communication about it. In that light, discoveries like those post-1.4 about significant tyre model and undertray bugs are no surprise.

Also, a requirement to manually fiddle with files (e.g. deleting a folder as in AMS2, or editing JSON text files as in rF2) is risky. Sure, a dev could blame an unsatisfied user for not doing what's needed... but it ultimately reflects that the product is not as easy to use as it could be.
 
Well donyou recommend settings for the AI? I launched a race on Interlagos with Group C cars, with 100% AI and max agressivity (I had read it was recommended) and ,just before a corner I was side by side with a competitor, who passed me just before my breaking, and he immediatly got in front of me braking like hell into my racing line and I had to go into a spin to avoid him, which obviously ruined my race. A really bad move, it seems the AI immediatly got back on predefined rails after having passed me, without being aware I was just behind.
Heh, only occasions for me using max AI aggressivity is when I need a good laugh.

Just as my first time Stock Car Extreme experience using aggressive AI for certain track mods, racing the excellent Porsche Carrera SCx mod, was like being in an online iRacing rookie lobby :D Just as I've experienced in rF2 - where it seems 3point model makes the AI's quite unpredictable setting max AI aggression, compared to likewise settings in rF1 for similar car series.

Setting up championship for Formula Classic Gen2 30 min sprint race series with forced pitstops and scripted weather in fact works quite trustworthy for me by setting Opponent Aggression to 'High' with Opponent Skill Level to 100-110 (or whatever reflects personal skills here), Authentic gameplay with Random Failures also to 'Authentic'.

However, my modern day GT 24h NS 2.4 hour race went quite well for the AI part with Aggression 'High' and think even 'Max' aggression could go OK here. Which at least for me is some quite of proof that AMS2 is on the right track here.

Edit:
But must admit the AI authenticity / aggression level parts are highly dependent on the AIW work , i.e. "per track experience" and here I miss AMS2 options to script everything per venue at the calendar.

Or maybe a tool like AC standard development tool for improving AIW lines , e.g. one for dry, one for damped and one for stormy weathers or changing - i.e. a built in AMS2 development tool for improving standard AIW lines. Please feel free to tip me if I oversee something here and it's already avalable between the lines :)
 
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Heh, only occasions for me using max AI aggressivity is when I need a good laugh. Just as I experienced forst time in Stock Car extreme using aggressive AI certain mods were like being in an online iRacing rookie lobby :D (just as I've experienced in rF2 - seems 3point model makes the AI's quite unpredictable compated to likewise settings in rF1 fpr similar car series).

Setting up championship for Formula Classic Gen2 30 min sprint race series with forced pitstops and scripted weather in fact works quite trustworthy for me by setting Opponent Aggression to 'High' with Opponent Skill Level to 100-110 (or whatever that reflects personal skills), Authentic gameplay with Random Failures also to 'Authentic'.

However, my modern day GT 24h NS 2.4 hour race went quite well for the AI part with Aggression 'High' and think even 'Max' aggression could go OK here. Which at least for me is some quite of proof that AMS2 is on the right track here.

Edit: But must admit the authentic and aggression part is highly dependent on the AIW work , i.e. "per track experience" and here I miss AMS2 options to script everything per venue at the calendar. Or maybe a tool like AC standard dev. tool for improving AIW lines , e.g. one for dry, one for damped and one for stormy weathers or changing - but in all just a built in AMS2 tool for improving standard AIW lines.
I'll lower the agressivity setting to high then, although it will be hard to reproduce the exact same situation to sdd how the AI behaves :D .

If the AI lines need some refinement I just hope Reiza will do the job. I can understand the need for adjustments on modded tracks but official tracks should be correctly set imo. Each thing on its time but a satsfiying AI is now a crucial feature for racing sims.
 
Although I don't watch Jimmy's stuff all the time, I've never heard of Jimmy himself saying the review was "lazy" or "sh**ty*. Got a source for this?
I said that this is what he did as he in the same video showed he did not follow the requirement of the developers. That is what triggered the people to torch him (hence I am not alone in saying that the review was so rushed that it was poorly done). It's a factual thing.
As it is a factual thing that someone with such a high number of viewers follows high standards rather than rushing a video made in 30 minutes with no previous preparation (as it was apparent from the video itself) just for the purpose to surf the hype for an update and get clicks/views.
 
Eh. Just because you're "free" to do it doesn't mean it's a good idea. Private or public, personal insults are never okay. And generally, it's terrible PR to criticize your users or public figures trusted by your users – e.g. Renato's recent "typical shallow YouTube punditry" and "silly YouTubers" passive-aggressive comments.
Do you have any proof of the personal insults JB received? If so whoever insulted him should apologize. Toxicity is never a good answer.
Yet some streamers act like they are meant to be untouchable no matter how obviously sh...y and low quality a certain content they made is. And this also should not be condoned.
If the Rolling Stones made a bad album they deserve criticism for that, not RandomCallsigns and Ogonoskis defending them out of the principle that they are Oracles with the TRUTH in their hands. Even when those streamers make a video where everyone sees they are not following the instruction from the developers.
I don't recall any time Reiza attacked their users, like ever. Unlike other developers.
Also other developers ban fom their forums users that are complaining too loudly or aggressively very quickly, which Reiza has never done.
It's funny how some people are painting Reiza as the new villains in the simracing world out of what in the end is a private incident.
All of that while if there has been a community that has been consistently bullied and border line insulted is mostly that of the AMS2 users by fanatical users of certain other sims.
Like I said, whether you are a developer or a streamer you are a public persona and as such bound to be criticized even harshly. Live with it or leave is the rule. Nobody is above criticism.
 
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This particular thing with Jimmy aside, I'd also argue that there is value to the opinion of someone who hasn't spent much time in a game
Everyone is entitled to his opinion.
However, you expect persons with hundreds of thousands of subscriptions to have high standards and this is what transpired as the criticism that Reiza brought forward to JB. When you watch BBC News you know there may be opinions in it, but you expect that the basic quality checks and verification of facts are done.

If you fire up the sim once a month when an update is released and don't even read the changelog instructions or you don't even get informed of the known bugs and want to make a review your review is likely to be of low quality.
Just as an example, there was a pretty known streamer/reviewer that not knowing about a bug on certain cars and knowing even less about the sim ended up choosing a car that had a known bug that caused the wet tires to be installed when the "based on weather" option was selected in the garage. He made almost an half an hour video on how mushy the car was without knowing it.
Another one made a review of the GT3s (the McLaren) at Nurburgring where he complained about the rear being very unstable: someone in the comments mentioned that rear tires were getting extremely hot with baseline setup and that was the cause which required a bit of setup changes to be reduced. He invited him to monitor the telemetry HUD and this known streamer/reviewer replied he didn't know where it was.

Just a couple of examples to say that "reviewing" things as streamer/influencer/expert requires deep knowledge of a sim, otherwise you just produce garbage that is just good for discussions at the pub. Instead many just decided it was good to piggyback on Reiza's work for clicks not having the first clue of what was going on with the sim and that is sad and a very bad service to the community.
 
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I love AMS2 enough to work around its issues to enjoy it, but I would be blind to not recognize they don't exist. There are some Quality of Life fixes improvements that are sorely needed, to name a few:

Mouse cursor losing focus and forcing you to wander over other options to wake it up
No replay jumping
Trackside cameras on VR replays work awfully
Setups having to be constantly saved and loaded on some cars
Need to setup to defaults on every car after an update
Need to wipe your Documents folder after a bigger update

And I won't even talk about the online problems that you have to work around.

The list above is enough to make somebody refund a game on Steam.

That being said: I expect for a reviewer to actually push his way through the issues, find out what the actual game is or can be, and then give an honest assessment. And some YouTubers failed at doing this. Mainly because the business part of YT channels is getting so big, that giving out a free copy for review does not seem to be enough. They expect to get extra money for "promoting" the software, and will bash it if they are not paid for it. Which is an extorsive behaviour in my books.
 
I said that this is what he did as he in the same video showed he did not follow the requirement of the developers. That is what triggered the people to torch him (hence I am not alone in saying that the review was so rushed that it was poorly done). It's a factual thing.
As it is a factual thing that someone with such a high number of viewers follows high standards rather than rushing a video made in 30 minutes with no previous preparation (as it was apparent from the video itself) just for the purpose to surf the hype for an update and get clicks/views.
I recognize all this. But I was solely asking about when you wrote "admittedly (by himself)" which I interpreted to mean that you had seen Jimmy say something himself about the quality of the video.

Do you have any proof of the personal insults JB received? If so whoever insulted him should apologize. Toxicity is never a good answer.
Yet some streamers act like they are meant to be untouchable no matter how obviously sh...y and low quality a certain content they made is. And this also should not be condoned.
I have no direct first-hand knowledge but we have his word on stream saying so, and I personally would trust this. You may feel differently... up to you. I'm not heard about an apology, but hopefully one has quietly happened (or will happen) in private conversation.

Yes, 100% agree that creators (low-effort content or otherwise) are not above criticism, even if I do think it's risky PR strategically for devs to criticize content creators promoting their game.

If you fire up the sim once a month when an update is released and don't even read the changelog instructions or you don't even get informed of the known bugs and want to make a review your review is likely to be of low quality.
Just as an example, there was a pretty known streamer/reviewer that not knowing about a bug on certain cars and knowing even less about the sim ended up choosing a car that had a known bug that caused the wet tires to be installed when the "based on weather" option was selected in the garage. He made almost an half an hour video on how mushy the car was without knowing it.
Another one made a review of the GT3s (the McLaren) at Nurburgring where he complained about the rear being very unstable: someone in the comments mentioned that rear tires were getting extremely hot with baseline setup and that was the cause which required a bit of setup changes to be reduced. He invited him to monitor the telemetry HUD and this known streamer/reviewer replied he didn't know where it was.

Just a couple of examples to say that "reviewing" things as streamer/influencer/expert requires deep knowledge of a sim, otherwise you just produce garbage that is just good for discussions at the pub. Instead many just decided it was good to piggyback on Reiza's work for clicks not having the first clue of what was going on with the sim and that is sad and a very bad service to the community.
I 50% agree and 50% disagree. Yes, you want expert reviewers to have sufficient research and experience to present an informed judgement. But issues such as defaulting to wet tires or poor default setups are not the fault of the user, but are ultimately problems with the game... part of the blame lies with the developer and their faulty product. For expensive current products, in an ideal world, we shouldn't need to check for big issues like these upon release. Also, I personally feel there is a place for less expert reviews – more like the "average consumer's" first impressions – but it sounds as though you personally wouldn't watch these; we all have different preferences.
 

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Yannik Haustein
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To join the OverTake Racing Club races I want them to be: (multiple choice)

  • Free to access

    Votes: 66 88.0%
  • Better structured events

    Votes: 10 13.3%
  • Better structured racing club forum

    Votes: 12 16.0%
  • More use of default game content

    Votes: 6 8.0%
  • More use of fixed setups

    Votes: 19 25.3%
  • No 3rd party registration pages

    Votes: 23 30.7%
  • Less casual events

    Votes: 7 9.3%
  • More casual events

    Votes: 23 30.7%
  • Other, specify in thread

    Votes: 3 4.0%
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