AMS 2 | Release Delayed to March 2020 - Jerez Confirmed

Paul Jeffrey

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Reiza Studios have released their October 'Development Roadmap' for Automobilista 2... and it contains plenty of interesting news, a new laser-scanned circuit and a delayed release window.

With the successor to fan favourite Automobilista well into development prior to hitting public release, these Reiza roadmap posts keep getting juicier and juicier each month - and the October edition is certainly no exception!

Although packed full of interesting news, images and videos, one bit of information that will undoubtedly cause some disappointment amongst the community is confirmation that the release window of December 2019 has slipped to early 2020, with March floated as a provisional new release period for Automobilista 2.

With that news aside, you can check out the full October roadmap below:

Hello again folks!

October has come and gone - another month of intense work for us as we enter the latter stage of Automobilista 2 development before its initial release.

After months grinding away producing, updating and exporting a large number of cars and tracks, figuring the ins and outs of the new game engine and developing the required additional resources, things are now beginning to take form and potential is starting to turn into reality as the focus shifts from assembling the meat and bones of the sim to fine tuning the game into a cohesive whole.

There´s a lot of work still to be done to achieve that, so let´s go over where we are
:)


AMS2 Release Schedule Update

Beginning with what may not be so good news - although things have been progressing nicely and more or less within the planned schedule, with most major issues already cleared and a large content base already in place, we have decided to push release a bit from December 2019 to March 2020.

This is not a decision we have taken lightly - we understand many people are anxious for AMS2 to come out (not least ourselves), and even if we might have been able to just get to a releasable state by December, the content, features and polish we can add in these 3 extra months more than justifies the delay and will ultimately lead to a stronger launch for Automobilista 2.

For Early Backers the wait will be a little shorter as Automobilista 2 Beta should become available in February.

In the next two months we will be fleshing out our plans for Automobilista 2 in more detail, which hopefully will make the extra wait more understandable as well as more bearable
:)


For now, here is what we have been up to this past month:

Progress, Progress Everywhere

AMS2 super v8.jpg


On top of many cool cars and tracks continuing to make their way into the game (like this sweet new and revamped Super V8), we covered a lot of groundwork in various essential fronts of the sim. Some of the highlights:

Physics & FFB - We have made a couple of small but significant adjustments to the physics code, crucially fixing a bug in unsprung inertia calculation (which was already fixed in AMS1 but not yet in this version of the physics engine).

We are also working on a new FFB system which basically works very similarly to Realfeel system used in AMS1 (basically converting the forces coming through the steering arm into the FFB).

The combination of bridging these gaps with the ongoing development of the physics derived from AMS1 and a growing understanding of the SETA Tyre Model is starting to net some very exciting results - Over the next two months I´ll try to expand a bit more on where these improvements are coming from, but for now I can say we´re growing more confident that the overall physics and resulting driving experience in AMS2 is going to deliver the step forward we hoped to achieve.

AI - A lot of attention was given to AI this month. One of the main differences vs AMS2 AI is that while the player physics run the SMS SETA Tyre Model, the AI runs on a Brush Model similar to what we had in AMS1 which was by and large the same as the player´s.

This means both models need to be developed for each tyre type so that the AI has tyres that match the characteristics and performance of the player be that on straights, in and out of corners, running cold, hot, under or over pressure, come rain or sunshine and over a wide range of difficulty and aggression settings - a lot of variables to fine tune.

Luckily we do have quite a bit of experience with a similar AI code and this fine tuning process, and elsewhere in the code SMS has been very thorough in making AI functions fully parametrized, making it an easier (if still time consuming) process to experiment and fine tune the AI to get them to perform, behave and battle as one would like in all conditions.

There´s still some ways to go to make things work smoothly accross the board, but the good news hopefully demonstrated in the previews below is that we have the resources we need to get the AI as good if not better than AMS1 already for initial release, and then build on that with new features to try make AI racing more satisfying than ever before.


AMS2 Dedicated Tool - Another important milestone has been putting together the AMS2 Dedicated Tool so servers can host multiplayer sessions not necessarily through the game itself - this was one of the main requests we received from leagues and luckily here too we were able to rely on SMS providing us with something that was already over halfway there and we are now pushing accross to hopefully a releaseable state in v1.0

Weather & Climates - Similarly we´ve been doing some work on various weather and climate profiles to achieve more accurate rain volume, lighting and temperature ranges for the various locations we have in the sim - significant even within a country of continental proportions like Brazil where climate varies a lot from the southern tracks to the ones further north.

These weather and climate profiles also affect how much rain you may get in different places and the temperatures will affect how quickly or not it dries up.

It also helps recreating the kind of warm summer sunset you´d experience at a seaside italian kart track as can be seen here in intense VR glory:


3D Animations

One new front we have started tackling this month are 3d animations, as even though we have been able re-use some of the assets that came with the engine for things like driver animation, animated crowds and pit crews, there is a lot more that can be done elsewhere. For cars specifically, the suspension assembly is now fully articulated; then there are wipers, vibrating components, damage, switches and a bunch of different things we can add to make the environment both inside the cockpit and out more lively.

To help us out making quicker progress on this front we have partnered up with a South African Studio whose expertise is already proving invaluable getting us up to speed on this front. Below you can see a demo reel of various such animations being added to the Caterham:


Jerez Coming for Automobilista 2

AMS2 Jerez.jpg


We are thrilled to confirm another traditional circuit is coming for Automobilista 2: Jerez de la Frontera is a challenging Spanish track of rich heritage, having hosted several GPs in the 80s and 90s and continuing as popular testing venue well into recent years.

Jerez was stage to several historical moments in F1, from the classic 1986 photo-finish between Senna and Mansell, to Senna´s record-breaking 50th Pole Position in 1990 following Martin Donnely´s massive accident, to the infamous Villeneuve-Schumacher title deciding collision in 1997.

As with other recent tracks, Jerez has been modelled for Automobilista 2 with the aid of accurate LIDAR data, and will be included in the initial release of the sim. Also as per usual when going for circuits of such history, we plan to include the historical layout used through the 80s, although most likely after AMS2 release.

Jerez has been one of the tracks we have managed to fast-track licensing and production thanks to the influx from the AMS2 Early Backing Campaign, so thanks to everyone who has already opted in and helped us move this along!

Automobilista 2 Community Skins

Last month we announced that those who joined the AMS2 Early Backing Campaign would also have the opportunity to become part of Automobilista 2 by creating their own livery for any of the various fictional or semi-fictional series in the sim.

Some great results are already coming in and several drivers have already earned their place in the AMS2 grid, such as this beauttiful F-V10 by @Bruno Mendes

AMS 2 Community Skins.jpg


If you also want to be a part of AMS2 there is still time - check out the AMS2 Early Backing Campaign!

That is all for October! Even though release may not be quite around the corner anymore we are confident there is still plenty to look forward to before the end of the year as we outline our 2020 roadmap for Automobilista 2 - plenty of exciting news on the way still so stay tuned

AMS 2 Cars.jpg



Automobilista 2 is expected to release March 2020 for PC.

Keep an eye out on the AMS 2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment for all the latest news and discussion about this exciting upcoming new game.

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Sim Racing is awesome!
 
And please understand, I wasn't tearing it down, I saw the screens from months ago (beautiful). Its just that when the videos were posted, I thought, what the hell happened? It was like development went backwards... or something. :sneaky:
And of course the photos posted above are excellent. But to be honest, it wouldn't have mattered to me anyways - I'm still buying it the day it comes out heh.

Look forward to January, and the monthly updates of course.

edit: you posted the exact same time I hit Enter :roflmao:
 
Still I don't know if Madness engine was the best choice. Except for the light occlusion, AMS 1 in 4k with all maxed out and a proper PPfilter to remove the saturation of the palette looks a lot better. Those videos reminds me NFS shift 2.
What PP filter do you recommend? I agree AMS 1 does look good when maxed in 4k but always like trying new filters to get the color right.
 
Cheers, and apologies if that came off a bit defensive - the guys are really working super hard on all these tracks in what is a pretty grueling schedule, it may be Im the one not doing them enough justice in these dev updates :)
Looks really nice mate, I appreciate all the works Reiza are doing. I have a question of trees, are they just place holder atm in the Caterham video? They look like AMS 1 trees but not even as nice, will you be making the trees 3D like pC2 or using AMS 1 billboard trees? If it's billboard type will you make them better than in that video?
 
I am very confused about this...



Does it mean that, in the rain for example, the human player will struggle to keep the car on the track while the AI will just whiz by like in Project Cars 2?

Why does the human player and the AI do not use the same tyre model?
It may be something like how ACC use the same physics as player for their Ai so CPU suffers massively when trying to play with large grids. Maybe....
 
Looks really nice mate, I appreciate all the works Reiza are doing. I have a question of trees, are they just place holder atm in the Caterham video? They look like AMS 1 trees but not even as nice, will you be making the trees 3D like pC2 or using AMS 1 billboard trees? If it's billboard type will you make them better than in that video?
Those are/were placeholders indeed. Majority of trees will be indeed billboards, but there are changes in BB shader that are in progress now. There are few reasons why they're left billboard. But I'm looking into the ways of incorporating some 3d trees alongside with billboarding. The key factor here is minimizing the inevitable unwanted side effects you get with 3d trees more or less in any current game engine. But for majority of tracks the foliage will remain billboard, with some new features though.
 
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Those are/were placeholders indeed. Majority of trees will be indeed billboards, but there are changes in BB shader that are in progress now. There are few reasons why they're left billboard. But I'm looking into the ways of incorporating some 3d trees alongside with billboarding. The key factor here is minimizing the inevitable unwanted side effects you get with 3d trees more or less in any current game engine. But for majority of tracks the foliage will remain billboard, with some new features though.
Are you part of Reiza?
 
Have I missed something? I've already spent $130 aud on this sim, is this including said track pack?

Thats base game content, not including DLCs (although to be precise it will be closer to 40 tracks in initial release, with 10-15 more being added as free additional content over its life cycle).

It sounds like you bought into the Early Backing Campaign which also includes various DLC packages (cars and tracks).
 
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Thats base game content, not including DLCs (although to be precise it will be closer to 40 tracks in initial release, with 10-15 more being added as free additional content over its life cycle).

It sounds like you bought into the Early Backing Campaign which also includes various DLC packages (cars and tracks).
Yeah mate , i have level 3 (i think) pre order purchase and saw this 50 tracks for $40 and wondered if that was in the season pass pre order i already had or if there was more needed to get those track . I need tracks over cars as long as the cars i want are there i just learn new tracks instead of changing cars until i feel im close to its limit .
In other words TRACKS TRACKS TRACKS is what i want to hear :cool:
 
I'm glad it's delayed. I'm a fan of Reiza and delays usually means more work and a better final product.

AMS1 is currently the sim I play most and yet I've barely played with more than 5 or 6 cars and 10 or so tracks the last 2 or 3 years, not because the other cars are poor or anything like that but because I have so much fun and challenge with the cars I am using that it just doesn't really occur to me to change cars.

Then there's the tracks. I could probably stick with the whole AMS1 track-lineup and nothing else for the rest of my life, at least 10 years. The tracks are so good!

The combination of amount of cars & tracks and also the variety of types of cars in AMS1 could honestly last me over 10 years. So many combinations!


Back to AMS2.

I still think there's work to do in the physics engine. Most oversteer is still very ISI/RF/ProjectCars-ish with more of a reaction-snap-then-snap-back moment (from both the driving technique perspective as well as the way the car itself behaves). The slides are controllable in the sense that you can save them and therefore not spin but there's sooo much more to oversteer and rear-wheelspin than just "can I not spin."
The slides in that Caterham video, while obviously being very saveable, just don't look realistic and they're always so similar: the car steps out. apply opposite-lock (or do the weird rFactor thing where you just return the steering to centre while the slide dies on it's own), and the car snaps back in line.
There's also still this elastic-like, reboundy snap-back when it's time for the car to reduce it's slip-angle and straighten back again. It's like a rubbery tension where the car is imprecise and dare I say "sloppy" when the car reduces slip-angle and the rear comes back in line to finish re-gripping. It's kind of like a damper (shock absorber) has failed.
Also, the "middle" portion of the oversteer is still severely lacking (like in so many ISI/rFactor/ProjectCars-based games/cars) - the middle part of the slide is when the slide is not getting bigger nor smaller but staying static while you hold the opposite lock while the car follows it's line. During this "middle part," you can adjust the wheelspin and vehicle's attitude in a very controllable manner and you can dictate whether the slide continues or re-grips, whether the slide-angle gets bigger or smaller or stays the same while you keep enough throttle on to keep the wheelspin going. You don't need to have a drift car or a specific setup to do this. This is often done in pretty-much any vehicle (F3, road cars, karts, trucks, F1), in any condition (rain, dry, snow).

Also, with regards to the kart in the video. It has a very, very Project Cars-ish sense to it. It steers into corners with so much steering lock, not to mention the grip changes during that front steering lock seems very, very unresponsive & sluggish. It looks like a heavy car driving with a flat or partially deflated front-tyre (while using a kart body as placeholder graphics). The AMS1 karts are more kart-like, let alone KartKraft, RF2 (old ISI karts, not KartSim), and Kart Racing Pro. If Reiza can get a combination of let's say 50% KartKraft physics + 25% RF2 kart physics (the old RF2 karts from 5-ish years ago, not the KartSim karts) + 25% Kart Racing Pro karts, they would have some pretty special karts.


P.S. True story. I actually raced an F2000 with a failing rear damper. At first, the mechanics didn't believe me that it was failing. They even got a "more experienced" driver to test the car who said it was fine. I was trying to convince them it wasn't fine and that it was VERY obvious. Well, a week or 2 later, that same rear-damper completely failed out on track. The mechanics never even came back to me to tell me I was right or to apologize for so strongly disbelieving me when I tried so hard to convince them (jerks, lol).
 
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Reiza isn't very good with deadlines either huh?? Considering the rF2 Reiza pack got delayed by 8 months!!!
Speaking of rF2, now I wonder what will come first, rF2 UI or AMS2?? :sleep:

Who cares about game deadlines, that’s like a child waiting for a toy.
Sure it may disappoint a little if you are eager. It is not like we lack alternative distraction...

We can discuss maturity of the product and post release support, butbthat would be preaching for the choir, right.
 
yes, track dev.

Just do them in 2D please, computers nowdays are not ready yet to renders good looking real time trees with heavy physical calculations, I am done taking performance hit because of ugly looking 3D trees and vegetations, I much prefer some good textures and shaders craft with good the track surrounding over bugy herbs ,this will truly make the game immersive graphics wise.

Focus on good texturing and shading, look at ACC, they have a very powerful graphics engine but it still looks average because of the half assed tweaked shaders.

Madness engine is a very good compromise in term of performances, but there is some room for improvements, like the sky clouds fake volumetric do sometimes looks wrong (bizzare edge light diffuse), and at the night the wet track surface which look very weird too.
 
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I wonder how a lot of people in here will react when they realize that this is PCARS2 under the hood. Oh no.....i spoiled the surprise....

You are very late to the party. Find out how they reacted here

 
In itself, it's better to have a game almost finished marketing, than a game whose final version will be released a few years later.

It's even better when you know that the game will actually come out and it's not an effect of an ad or a project that disappears from the radar
 
No different to how they reacted to GTR1, 2, GT Legends, 2PEZ sims, Sim Raceway, The Race 07 series of sim, Race Room all being rFactor under the hood. :sneaky:
GTR1 was released before rF1, like some others of ISImotor offsprings. The ISImotor foundation is from the late 90s :sneaky:

But yeah, it is surprising, how many titles are indeed still Image Space Incorporated infuenced...heck, they were published by EA one day :confused:
 

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