Automobilista 2 Development Roadmap

[Paul Jeffrey]

Just prior to arriving at the Sim Racing Expo, Reiza Studios released their latest 'Development Roadmap' for AMS 1 and 2...

This month, high achieving Brazilian sim racing development team Reiza Studios took to the internet to share some of their latest news about the ongoing development of new game Automobilista 2, and give a little look at the upcoming final update for their original Automobilista Motorsport Simulator title.

Our long overdue final AMS update is finally ready - those of you with access to AMS Beta can already enjoy v1.5.2, which among other things includes the two final DLC tracks - Donington Park and Snetterton, each selling for US$ 5.99 but free to those who already own the AMS Season Pass or Reiza backers on any current or past campaigns.

Unfortunately the DLCs didn´t get submitted for review in time for Steam to greenlight it before the weekend, so release will remain on hold until Monday when it should finally be deployed.

Both Donington Park and Snetterton have been modelled with the aid of LIDAR data and represent some of our finest work. They also bring our roster of british tracks up to a total of 5, all of which carry over to AMS2 and serve as a baseline for further very interesting brit-centric series... But we´ll get to that later

In addition to the two brand new tracks, the final AMS1 update packs some extra values with some bug fixes and an extensive update to controller support, with wheels from all 3 main manufacturers receiving attention - highlights include support for the newer Fanatec Podium DD wheels and for a bunch of features from the latest Fanatec models. AMS v1.5.2 allows Logitech G29 - G920 owners to run the game from its main branch, no longer requiring a separate branch.

While another hotfix for minor glitches that pop up post-release is likely, by and large this update marks curtains finally coming down for Automobilista, almost exactly 3 years after its v1.0 release back in August 2016. Automobilista exceeded our expectations in every way and opened doors for us to take bigger steps in the future, and for that we´re very thankful - but it´s the fact many of our fellow sim racers remain so engaged with it is what is most rewarding for us. We hope v1.5.2 is a proper send-off it and that people continue to enjoy it for a while longer!

rF2 Bundle Update

The update for the rF2 Bundle is likewise wrapped for release but on hold for a few more days until S397 has a window to review and prep them for deployment. These cover mostly fixes for minor bugs reported since our last update a couple of months ago.

E Stock

Over the course of August Reiza together with Stock Car Brasil promoted the very first E-Stock competition - the first official E-Sports event for the main brazilian motorsports series.

The event consisted of a week-long Time Trial from which 10 top drivers earned a sit to a single multiplayer race along real drivers and other invitees, with the top prize for the winner being an Extreme P1 Seat. Due to logistics the event was restricted to Brazilians only, but it still proved an intense battle with top 30 in Time Trial covered by less than 1s, and the race itself a fierce battle between Gustavo Ariel and Bruno Fernandes, with the latter eventually coming out on top. The full race was streamed from the official series Youtube channel as per the link above.

There is a lot of buzz for E-Motorsports lately and other series besides Stock Car are looking to explore this further to create venues for sim drivers to make the jump into the real series. Expect these to become regular fixtures next year with Automobilista 2.

Automobilista 2 - the new & improved Formula Classic

You may recall from the AMS2 intro trailer that we already have a few historical Mclaren F1 cars lined up for release in AMS 2 (a lot more to come on that front) - as exciting as it is to be bringing those great classics back to life in AMS2, we find it´s important to give them some proper competition to race against.

Enters the new, improved and substantially expanded F-Classic series, going from one single model from AMS1 to a total of six, fully scratch built models, spread over 3 generations covering different regulations and engines ranging from massive 1400 BHP monters, to glorious sounding V10 and V12 3.5l with everything in between.

This means teams will have unique performance and handling providing a lot more variety and very real challenges within these fictional series. Other fictional series from AMS1 will receive similar treatment for AMS2.

Updating car and track assets for AMS2

With AMS1 being limited by its 32bit architecture and some of its cars and tracks showing its age, porting them over to the Madness engine is far from a copy&paste move - all cars and tracks from AMS1 in fact need substantial rework to be suitable for the new engine, and with AMS1 featuring a roster of over 50 unique tracks and over 40 vehicle models, upgrading and exporting most of these into the new engine is by itself a project of massive scale. To the team´s credit we are not only managing it within schedule, but doing so parallel to development of new cars and tracks.

We spent a good chunk of August focusing on doing these updates, ranging from creating new trackside objects, upscaling models and remapping textures to a complete top-to-bottom overhaul, to outright remodelling them from scratch in the case of the most dated assets.

The upgrades while considerable may still alow sharper eyes to tell which are not quite to the same level of the fully scratch-made models, but they should hopefully be enough to reduce the difference to almost negligible, ensuring we retain a consistency across all cars and tracks, which is crucial on several levels.

As in previous updates we´ve dedicated a lot of space to presenting how we have been going about upgrading old content and bridging the gaps from one engine to another - this has obviously been a big part of AMS2 development so far, in order to ensure it´s a natural progression from AMS1.

This however will be it for talking about the familiar stuff - from next month onwards we´ll start presenting a bit more about what´s fresh incoming with Automobilista 2 - features, physics and of course, some of the new cars and tracks that will come on initial release and beyond - those taking part in the AMS2 Early Backing Campaign can be assured the funding boost is being put to good use


Sorry for the late posting, this originally came out while we were over in Germany for the recent Sim Racing Expo - better late than never I suppose..

Automobilista 2 will release for PC December 2019.

For the latest Automobilista 2 news and discussions, head over to the AMS 2 sub forum here at RaceDepartment and get yourself involved in the conversation today!

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[MarcG]

All aboard the Hype Train CHOO CHOO!

I ask for just three things from first release (after Beta that is):
1 - VR performance on my now aging PC is acceptable, if not that's my problem and an excuse for an upgrade. #CantAffordIt
2 - The AI is of a decent standard from the get go.
3 - There's at least One Aussie track to throw the SuperV8 around should my aging PC be able to handle it, please let that be Bathurst...obviously!

Thoroughly excited for this title, bring it on Reiza!

 

[F_B]

@MarcG

1. VR performance in PCars 2 was pretty decent so I'd expect a similar performance in AMS2.
2. Would be nice and knowing Reiza they’ll probably deliver and continue improving it
3. I hope they port Adelaide. Bathurst also would be great of course.

 

[MarcG]

I've only tried the demo of pcars2 a long time ago and can't recall how it ran on my system, but i have heard good things about performance so my fingers are crossed.

Ooh yeah forgot about Adelaide good shout!

 

[dreamer al]

I believe Reiza stated they will bring over all DLC tracks (includes Adelaide but excluding Hockenheim) in the basic AMS2 title. What gets added after that, we will see. I am also super excited to grab this title (my Xmas present to myself)..

 

[Zainuluk]

I would like to get some information about VR, online multiplayer and esport potential. These are the basics of all sim games now.

 

[blot]

I've only tried the demo of pcars2 a long time ago and can't recall how it ran on my system, but i have heard good things about performance so my fingers are crossed.

Ooh yeah forgot about Adelaide good shout!

PCars2 is pretty well optimised, One thing SMS got right.

 

[Ben Lee]

I am cautiously optimistic about AMS2. It’s a shame the modding potential looks like it will be massively curtailed, but if the things drives well it may become my go to sim.

 

[Renato Simioni]

Renato, i need to have simple word, advert to promote your game to my son. If i fail... it's a shame for me :/ and if i win, i buy the brezilian car of your choice, finally in reduced model

As mentioned in the dev update itself, we have so far centered them around the work involved in upgrading the older assets and bridging gaps from one engine to another as it´s a big part of the production so far. And for many of our existing users and potential ones, AMS1 with updated & expanded cars and tracks (which features a lot more than just brazilian series) plus new ones, a more powerful game engine, VR support and fully dynamic weather & track conditions is already a pretty sweet prospect, and for those we have set up the AMS2 Early Backing Campaign , which revenue is primarily directed to securing some further premium licensing deals for the game´s initial release.

If you find what´s been laid out so far not quite enticing enough you´re indeed probably best off waiting until December. I´m aware we need to go further to bring in other subsets of the sim racing community, and we´re working on that - hopefully in the 3-4 months from now until release and also over the course of 2020 while the game will continue under intense development we can pack enough of an advert to convince them and your son

 

[EduCalza]

Looking forward to this after the disappointment that was ACC.

ACC needs to so much improvements. but are in right way to be a very good sim. Give some time and you see.

 

[Ross McGregor]

Mini Friday using Donington or Snetterton next week @Bram Hengeveld ?!

 

[G_B]

I know, I'm a bit provocative, I know that the forum is primarily dedicated to the passionate but imagining that I was new here, I will have wondered about the quality of the game and why I will buy it.

In comparaison of other market, it is rare to have quality car games that come out in the trade that transparent communication seems important to me, both for fans and virtual drivers of tomorrow.

Thank you very much for your answer, i don't claim anymore. I like AMS content even if i don't have the game (thanks videos and feedback of members of RaceDepartement), just i don't want a fully resmastered version of AMS1 like many game nowdays.

The creation is more important for me than to obtain officials licences, we have all an part of child in us and i need to dream a little even if the vehicule don't exist, the driver in pink and the road in yellow^^.

All that's missing is an event after the game's release, where some will be able to come to Brazil, do the carnival in pilot's costume and ride a few laps on an original track, hum hum Stadium Super Trucks why not

As mentioned in the dev update itself, we have so far centered them around the work involved in upgrading the older assets and bridging gaps from one engine to another as it´s a big part of the production so far. And for many of our existing users and potential ones, AMS1 with updated & expanded cars and tracks (which features a lot more than just brazilian series) plus new ones, a more powerful game engine, VR support and fully dynamic weather & track conditions is already a pretty sweet prospect, and for those we have set up the AMS2 Early Backing Campaign , which revenue is primarily directed to securing some further premium licensing deals for the game´s initial release.

If you find what´s been laid out so far not quite enticing enough you´re indeed probably best off waiting until December. I´m aware we need to go further to bring in other subsets of the sim racing community, and we´re working on that - hopefully in the 3-4 months from now until release and also over the course of 2020 while the game will continue under intense development we can pack enough of an advert to convince them and your son

 

[Tr3voRR]

That last screen, the shadow casted from the tire... is just... AWEFUL!...

 

[dajdosta]

That last screen, the shadow casted from the tire... is just... AWEFUL!...

huh?

 

[The Walker]

The fact there's at least a modern F1 car (so hybrid era) is a buy for me. I hope in a good hybrid simulation, PC2 had a sort of hybrid, so I expect AMS2 to have it.

That car looks like a 2019 spec car, but I'm not sure, the rear wing looks bigger. Also someone pointed out in AMSU discord that the "10 years" is a Ferrari "90 years" reference, so maybe? The front wing endplate is different from the one in the Ultimate 2018, the bargeboards looks simpler. Can't wait

 

[Dann Murillo]

.

 

[passenger]

Nice looking work in progress screenshots. Any chance of a new video clip soon?

 

[Dady Cairo]

@Renato!
I'm always impressed about your team with the support und updates for your "old" AMS sim.Never saw such a company as yours and RF2 in all those years!!

One question: Will there be a wheel profile for the Thrustmaster TS-PC-Racer in the AMS update?

Keep up the really good work with your standards.I wish, other do like your team...with love for detail from the heart...
DC

 

[LilSki]

My only issue with the roadmap is PLEASE stop talking like LIDAR is something different from "Laser scanning"...

LIDAR is Laser scanning and laser scanning is LIDAR.

The BIG difference is ground or aerial capture. Public LIDAR data is often aerial captured and is of a lower resolution but is detailed enough usually to get the important aspects of the circuit very accurate. It is what many modders use and what is being used here for the tracks mentioned.

Ground captured LIDAR or "laser scanning" is either tripod or vehicle mounted and it is much higher resolution and thus more accurate than drone or aircraft mounted. This is expensive and what iRacing, Kunos, S397, rFpro, etc. are doing.

However when utilized properly using aerial data can produce a highly accurate circuit that most wouldn't be able to tell the difference if it was built with ground or aerial data.

 

[Marc Collins]

My only issue with the roadmap is PLEASE stop talking like LIDAR is something different from "Laser scanning"...

LIDAR is Laser scanning and laser scanning is LIDAR.

The BIG difference is ground or aerial capture. Public LIDAR data is often aerial captured and is of a lower resolution but is detailed enough usually to get the important aspects of the circuit very accurate. It is what many modders use and what is being used here for the tracks mentioned.

Ground captured LIDAR or "laser scanning" is either tripod or vehicle mounted and it is much higher resolution and thus more accurate than drone or aircraft mounted. This is expensive and what iRacing, Kunos, S397, rFpro, etc. are doing.

However when utilized properly using aerial data can produce a highly accurate circuit that most wouldn't be able to tell the difference if it was built with ground or aerial data.

Where does the roadmap say LIDAR is different from laser scanning? I don't read that anywhere.

There are non-laser scanned tracks that most wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a laser scanned one. Higher res laser scanning is only as useful as the sim engine can utilize in terms of road surface granularity. There is no need to map a millimetre-precise surface if the engine can only work with centimetre-level precision, or, our computers can only process even less detail at a playable FPS.

Nevertheless, "laser scanning" for tracks in sims has become a lightning rod for some fanboys to equate with quality. Sorry, but an old rFactor fantasy track from 15 years ago like Toban has more (plausible) surface character than some billiard-table flat new tracks in some sims--even though other aspects of those tracks may be pin-point perfect. To massage a digital track surface (laser scanned or not) to marry well with the capabilities of a sim engine takes a lot of skill and manual effort. Reiza has proven to be masters of that with AMS on the old rFactor-based engine. I suspect they will do the same with AMS 2.

 

[LilSki]

Where does the roadmap say LIDAR is different from laser scanning? I don't read that anywhere.

There are non-laser scanned tracks that most wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a laser scanned one. Higher res laser scanning is only as useful as the sim engine can utilize in terms of road surface granularity. There is no need to map a millimetre-precise surface if the engine can only work with centimetre-level precision, or, our computers can only process even less detail at a playable FPS.

Nevertheless, "laser scanning" for tracks in sims has become a lightning rod for some fanboys to equate with quality. Sorry, but an old rFactor fantasy track from 15 years ago like Toban has more (plausible) surface character than some billiard-table flat new tracks in some sims--even though other aspects of those tracks may be pin-point perfect. To massage a digital track surface (laser scanned or not) to marry well with the capabilities of a sim engine takes a lot of skill and manual effort. Reiza has proven to be masters of that with AMS on the old rFactor-based engine. I suspect they will do the same with AMS 2.

"Both Donington Park and Snetterton have been modelled with the aid of LIDAR data and represent some of our finest work."

This sentence is written as if LIDAR is somehow different from laser scanning, which it isn't

And yes there are benefits to having ground scan mm accurate data as it can pick up way more detail and take all the guesswork out of track building. Where using aerial data still often includes some guess work.

Even if the sim can't use all the data from a ground scan it is still very much worthwhile to do if you can. Using free public aerial data is a great alternative and can be used to create a highly accurate track.