AMS 2 | Update 0.8.7.1 Is Here - Now Includes Time Trial

[Paul Jeffrey]

Automobilista 2 Early Access fans rejoice - a new build, new features and new content is now available.

Released last night, version 0.8.7.1 of AMS 2 is in the wild, and with it comes a first pass at the new Time Trail functionality within the simulation, as well as the inclusion of the very cool looking 1986 Opala Stock Car season!

V0.8.7.1 CHANGELOG:

GENERAL

• Enabled Time Trial Mode
• Player now has complete control in pits if Pit Stop Control is set to "Manual" in Gameplay Options (no longer gets automatically held up due to incoming traffic)
• Implemented new CutTrackFraction logic for detecting how far back a track limit infringement in previous lap invalidates the next one (5% of track length in practice, 10% in qualifying, 15% in Time Trial)
• Fix bug where spawning in garage in between sessions would cause Trucks to crash into the garage

CONTENT

• Added Opala Stock Cars 1986 Season

UI & HUD

• Added missing F-Trainer A vehicle specs; Corrected Puma GTB, Super V8, Lancer R & RS, Copa Classic specs
• Fixed AJR V6 short name in session config screen
• Added new 'Full' variation of the Laptime Info HUD element (gives past lap info or Time Trial info depending on game mode/session)
• Moved Laptime info position slightly higher in default layout

PHYSICS & FFB

• Added "Tyre Scrub to Rack" effect to FX FFB slider (New Default profile only
• Added "Min force" FFB funcion, disabled by default (can be activated in custom FFB file)
• Minor FFB adjustments to various cars to better suit New Default profile
• Increased FFB smoothness for FWD cars
• Fixed remaining issues with excessive brake wear
• Revised drivelines for all TC Classics, AJR, F-Vintages, F-Classics Lancers, Ultimas to correct excessive drivetrain losses & inertia
• Fixed suspension physics for Copa Classic B Passat
• Minor adjustments to tyre tread & carcass for Copa Classic, Lancers, Opalas, Ultima Race, AJR, Stock Car & F-Classic
• Added wet tyre options for Lancers & Copa Classics
• Corrected excessive engine boost in Lancer R & RS
• Fixed wrong default tyre option in some TC Classics that could cause CTDs
• Reduced front ride height range & moved diffuser center of pressure forward by 8cm in Metalmoro AJR for more accurate aero balance (all variants)
• F-Classics Gen1&2: moved diffuser center of pressure forward by 2cm for more accurate aero balance, increased diffuser downforce loss with yaw
• F-Classic (all Gens): Adjusted default setup (stiffer rear ARB, corrected ride height inconsistencies); fixed V8 engine wear range

AI

• Disabled glitchy AI function that would cause it to behave erratically while trying to weave out of the way under blue flag in Practice & Quali (AI will now just reduce speed to let faster car by)
• Adjusted AI behavior under yellow flag (a bit less overzealous)
• Revised AI damper rates for all cars
• Minor AI performance tweak to Londrina (both layouts)

TRACKS

• Corrected environment & track temperature ranges for South American tracks
• Interlagos Kart: Fixed layout 3 fences and walls missing when running less than High Track Detail

VEHICLES

• Passat Copa Classic B: Updated interior textures, corrected collision mesh
• Puma P052: Updated cockpit interior textures; updated liveries for #03 #05 #08 #35 #36 #52 #65 #78 & added Community skins #55 #56 #58 #60
• Sprint Race: Added rear brake lights

To get an idea of the future development direction for Automobilista 2, check out the recent development roadmap HERE.

Original Source :Reiza Studios

AMS 2 is available now in Steam Early Access.

If you need help and support getting the most from AMS2, start a thread in our AMS2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment and let our great community help you out.

 

[M D Gourley]

Finally then, having removed my book of excuses* from under my pedals, just for @M D Gourley I've set a new more competitive lap time for you to shoot at

Ah, dang it MarkR, you just had to ...fantastic lap time in Timetrial and Video is awesome and nice touch finding a red AI car to follow as well ...well, at least I had a few hours of knowing that I beat a real life Race Driver in a Sim , only to be shown how it is really done when he takes that book of excuses out from under the pedal.

 

[MarkR]

Nice, feel less alone now on that board! The Uno can be pushed really hard driving it as stolen car as you say. This car can really be abused in creative and fun ways to make the most of it.
Amusingly, while you had a go at the Uno, I was trying to beat your lap time with the Lancer RS and did it after about 45 mins or so trying .
TIP: you can push a tad harder in the first sector.

Well played, I like a bit of friendly competition on the leaderboards too!

I have to make a mindset shift with cars like the Uno, there's no way I'd push a real car at Cadwell that hard through the right/left Gooseneck, I've seen plenty of cars end up down the bank there, it's scary drop off for real! Real-life preservation of life and limb kicks in so I have to turn that off for the game!! It's similar through the Hall Bends, before the final hairpin, that section is tree-lined and there is often less grip so pushing like you can in the Uno would be risky.

All that said it's a ton of fun driving the Uno on the ragged edge and it's that 'edge of grip will it stick' feeling that sets AMS2 apart from the other games, especially the likes of AC that require a more clinical approach to each corner.

I look forward to chasing more of your times!

 

[MarkR]

Ah, dang it MarkR, you just had to ...fantastic lap time in Timetrial and Video is awesome and nice touch finding a red AI car to follow as well ...well, at least I had a few hours of knowing that I beat a real life Race Driver in a Sim , only to shown how it is really done when he takes that book of excuses out from under the pedal.

Thank you, these games are so good now they are close to as much fun as the real thing and making the videos is fun too. Who'd have ever believed we'd have access to such realistic simulators in our own homes?

I'm sure you can beat my time, my coordination is not what it once was as our local kart club instructors often like to remind me, I'm a decidedly mid-pack racer these days! The even better thing is time trialling can be a lot of fun, I often start out thinking "how on earth did they achieve that time?" and then learn each corner by braking point, turn-in and exit, notice how to keep the car balanced, when to shift to keep momentum and chip away at those tenths.

Keep having fun, that's what AMS2 captures best of all.

 

[M D Gourley]

Speaking of Cadwell Park, I feel really alone there with my Copa Uno. The Uno is a super fun car for time trials, spent the majority of yesterday evening time trialing with it on various tracks (Adelaide, Guapore, VIR, Ibarra, Donington National, Oulton Fosters). Give it a try !

I tip my hat to you 'b)b' , that is indeed a great time, as well as MarkR's time...could not even get close at approx 1:55...must be the way I was driving the little Uno as I got quite a few of what the below screen shot states .

 

[M D Gourley]

I'm sure you can beat my time

LOL...my time was the best I can muster, maybe a few 100th's faster but not seconds faster....possibly because I consider myself a 'Sim Driver', not a Sim Racer...more into cruising around the track. .

Keep having fun, that's what AMS2 captures best of all.

...and that statement is so true

 

[TonyPanda]

will it be adding other V8 australian supercars cars?? and some more australian tracks, like Gold Coast?

 

[b)b]

View attachment 370302

Ah yes, this is familiar and happened to me more than once, especially towards the end of a great lap

The Uno can be pushed super hard, but it requires a particular driving style and techniques:

- it's super important to push each gear to the maximum, especially 3rd gear
- for some hills you must keep 3rd gear while keeping the engine rev at max and not shift into 4th (example: hill just before the end of 1st sector at Cadwell)
- it's important to keep engine rev as high as possible in slower turns
- large curves (like in Guapore) are best passed with a bit of controlled drifting, attempting to keep engine rev as high as possible for corner exit
- there are other cases where minor drifting is useful to not lose speed and momentum, such as the first S at Adelaide.
- it is crucial to follow the optimal racing line (true for all cars but even more for this one)
- aggressive braking can be effective in some occasions

 

[ermo]

The Uno can be pushed super hard, but it requires a particular driving style and techniques:

- it's super important to push each gear to the maximum, especially 3rd gear

Yeah, the gearing between 3rd and 4th seems sub-optimal in that the power drops too much if you shift where a sane person with mechanical sympathy would shift.

Great little car though!

Actually, the fact that AMS2 is so much fun even in slower cars (on suitably tight and twisty tracks) owing to the organic feel of the STM is one of its best hidden features IMHO. If you like the Uno, you should try the slowest Copa Fusca too -- that's also got its own set of tradeoffs to master. I especially enjoy flogging it on VIR Grand but YMMV obviously.

 

[BrunoBæ]

mechanical sympathy

Haha good one

 

[MarkR]

@BrunoB I know it sounds funny to talk about things like mechanical sympathy in regard to games but that is what sometimes marks them out as games too. If anyone drove the Uno the way you have to in AMS2 to achieve those times in real life, holding every last RPM in 2nd/3rd and jumping across the raised kerbs you'd need a big repair budget! Also if I saw anyone driving like that on track for real I'd give them a very wide berth, it's an accident waiting to happen when people push that hard - see any number of Nordschliefe crash compilation videos for what happens when people push on an unforgiving track. We often play a game of spot the one who will crash today during the track familiarisation session - the one who goes out hot pushing from the start is usually a safe bet, a PlayStation T-shirt is a close second .

I've had the real-world expense of blown engines, broken clutches, driveline failures and countless tyres, discs, brake pads and consumables. Believe me, after that you quickly learn to have some mechanical sympathy before driving like a video game/or you stole it. The track biased Lotus cars with manual gearboxes have a specific warranty clause for early downshift and over-revving of the engine (that's operator error, not a warranty claim). It's easily done in the real car and in games I often see people use the over-revving as another way to slow the car down - you wouldn't be doing that twice for real. When you hire track cars they often come with an RPM limit, on up and downshift, or you lose your deposit.

If you run one of these on track the engine has to be rebuilt every 40 hours...massively fast and fun but you need seriously deep pockets.

Anyway, it's all good fun and just one part of racing games that no one has come close to bringing over realistically yet (iRacing sem to be making a decent go of it) in the way DCS does for aircraft. In most games, we can smash up and down the gearbox at will, jump kerbs with abandon and crashes don't hurt you or your bank balance.

Also in games, you don't have to worry about someone turning up at the track in a TVR because whenever they do you can be sure the track will be shut for 30 minutes while they tow it and mop up the inevitable oil spill.

It'll be interesting to see how much damage is modelled into AMS2 as the game develops, personally I hope it's quite a high level especially as those who don't want it can switch it off!

 

[BillGuy]

I’ve been playing around with the Uno and the Copa Classic Chevette at Cadwell since it was brought up yesterday. Fun combination…sort of. Is it just me or does the surface at this track feel like it has a really low grip level compared to other tracks?

 

[UMC 22]

I know it sounds funny to talk about things like mechanical sympathy in regard to games but that is what sometimes marks them out as games too. If anyone drove the Uno the way you have to in AMS2 to achieve those times in real life, holding every last RPM in 2nd/3rd and jumping across the raised kerbs you'd need a big repair budget!

Funny, I had a conversation with someone regarding something similar just yesterday. In that case it was people demanding tyre wear be disabled in certain events, because they couldn't make it to the end of the 20 minute races with it set to realistic levels. It was only the fastest guys complaining, and checking their replays showed that they were essentially power-sliding their cars on every single bend. So yeah, my response was that if the real drivers drove that way, they wouldn't be able to make their tyres last 20 minutes either.

It'll be interesting to see how much damage is modelled into AMS2 as the game develops, personally I hope it's quite a high level especially as those who don't want it can switch it off!

This is something I'm looking forward to. Having a specific option for mechanical failures is a very nice idea, so that those who want to drive without consequences still can while those of use who want "sympathy" to be a requirement can have that too. Doesn't work too well at the moment but I getting all the cars working properly is more of a priority I would think. Be interesting to see where they take it, and I too hope they go for realism.

 

[MarkR]

@Goffik spot on with the tyre wear! This is how much I managed to chew up a brand new Toyo R888 front tyre on the R26.R in one morning at a boiling hot Pembrey track day, front-wheel drive and with an effective diff it can hook up the tyres superbly. the tyre was slightly over-inflated due to the heat and it was destroyed in about an hour of on-track time chasing my best lap time, and a friend in his Elise SC, and abusing the kerbs. The video Aris made about setting individual tyre pressures, running a few laps and resetting the pressures is some of the most realistic sim to real advice I've seen.

This was the other front tyre after the same session, mostly unloaded, basically like new (ignore the marbles pick up). Like most tracks, you're almost always turning right so one tyre takes far more of the load.

I was popular with the local Toyo dealer that's for sure, these days I use some much longer-lasting Michelin's!

I think it would be great if our racing games could capture that, if the fast guys are driving the cars hard and taking all the life out of the tyres then there should be real consequences too. In the real world brake temperature and boiling the fluid is an issue too, the pedal often gets long after a few laps but I think we're quite a long way from that in games yet. As always though yes the option to turn the wear/damage off should also be there for those who want it that way.

 

[s2173]

It took me 30 laps, but it did it.. it felt like I was torturing the poor car all the way through, I'm not sure if I liked it or not... there are atleast 2 cut corners in the hotlap, no bollards in sight and sort of handbrake turn for the last hairpin (69 brake bias)

I will try the lancer tomorrow. Havent driven cadwell before, it's pretty insane.

 

[pennywiseguy]

Kyalami 2019 in the 0.9 beta!

 

[MarkR]

I will try the lancer tomorrow. Havent driven cadwell before, it's pretty insane.

Firstly well played, that took some real effort!

Secondly, you do know its nickname? Cadwell Park. Also known as the “Mini Nurburgring”

 

[BrunoBæ]

@BrunoB I know it sounds funny to talk about things like mechanical sympathy in regard to games but that is what sometimes marks them out as games too. If anyone drove the Uno the way you have to in AMS2 to achieve those times in real life, holding every last RPM in 2nd/3rd and jumping across the raised kerbs you'd need a big repair budget!

I hope you understand that the reason I commented: Good one - was solely (I guess) I did understand 100% what you ment.
Its a great expression because if you have the slightest feeling with the mechanical processes in a car you intuitively understand the meaning.

 

[MarkR]

I hope you understand that the reason I commented: Good one - was solely (I guess) I did understand 100% what you ment.
Its a great expression because if you have the slightest feeling with the mechanical processes in a car you intuitively understand the meaning.

I did understand that, I think you also make some good points, and I hope you knew that by the smiles and (attempted!) jokes I included in my reply. I equally was only making the point that games - as good as they are - still have a reality limit. Mechanical sympathy not included ought to be a warning on some!

 

[M D Gourley]

It took me 30 laps, but it did it.. it felt like I was torturing the poor car all the way through,

LOL ...I hear ya and a great Timetrial time also ...fantastic little car, (as are all Reiza's content), but hard to drive fast on a winedy track....which to me personally is awesome

 

[b)b]

It took me 30 laps, but it did it.. it felt like I was torturing the poor car all the way through, I'm not sure if I liked it or not... there are atleast 2 cut corners in the hotlap, no bollards in sight and sort of handbrake turn for the last hairpin (69 brake bias)

View attachment 370496

I will try the lancer tomorrow. Havent driven cadwell before, it's pretty insane.

Congrats ! I see that you are 1 second faster (!) than me in the last sector, which is huge. Might have a go at it again tomorrow.
And to say all this hard work will be wiped when 1.0 is out !