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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[Case_]

"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

Honestly, I don't think it is, you might be reading too much into it. It is a simple statement on what data the track is based on. There's not even an implied comparison to "true" (as in what people generally consider true laser scan) laser scanning.

 

[dajdosta]

"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

The sentence doesn't read like that at all.
There is no mention of laser scanning.

 

[LilSki]

The sentence doesn't read like that at all.
There is no mention of laser scanning.

I didn't say that it hinted that it was laser scanning. I said that it hinted that it was different from laser scanning which it technically isn't.

All I'm asking is to stop using the term "LIDAR" as if it is somehow different from laser scanning. It is all the same technology. Just different capture methods.

 

[MarcG]

I didn't say that it hinted that it was laser scanning. I said that it hinted that it was different from laser scanning which it technically isn't.

All I'm asking is to stop using the term "LIDAR" as if it is somehow different from laser scanning. It is all the same technology. Just different capture methods.

...but if they used LIDAR data then what are they supposed to say? "We used potato data folks!"

I think you're literally reading too much into it and at the end of the day it matters squat, especially when all that ultimately matters is the feel through the FFB for the user, not what it's called.

 

[Case_]

@LilSki Doesn't using the term LIDAR kinda do the exact opposite of saying it is different from laser scanning, given what the term means?

Also, surely you are aware the descriptions of your own mod tracks state they're built "using LIDAR data", right?

 

[dajdosta]

But it didn't hint that it was different from laser scanning, only
you read it like this (I hope).
Not sure why you feel that and even more so because as you said this two terms mean the same thing.

Maybe "finest work" part made you think that but I guess they could be referring to textures or trackside objects or whatever that takes effort?

 

[Marc Collins]

I didn't say that it hinted that it was laser scanning. I said that it hinted that it was different from laser scanning which it technically isn't.

All I'm asking is to stop using the term "LIDAR" as if it is somehow different from laser scanning. It is all the same technology. Just different capture methods.

Sorry, but you are the only one interpreting it that way.

Reiza has been very clear that laser scanning is a great tool and aid, but is not the centre of the universe for track building. You can produce a great track without it. You can produce a great track with it. Different work flow. Differences in result may be imperceptible to the end-user (unless they have a hundred laps of direct experience at the track right ahead of when it was scanned). If the laser scanned digital surface is not carefully and lovingly transmuted, the result may be worse than a non-laser scanned version of the same track. So fretting over use of the terms "LiDAR" versus laser scanned versus distinguishing aerial versus ground-mount seems a bit over the top when the original post was making no such distinctions.

 

[MarcG]

Acronym - Definition
LIDAR - Light Detection and Ranging
LIDAR - Light and Radar
LIDAR - Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging (system)
LIDAR - Light Intensity Distance and Ranging (surveying)
LIDAR - Laser Identification Detection and Ranging
LIDAR - Laser Induced Differential Absorption Radar

Call it what you will, it's all about the driving at the end of the day

 

[Marc Collins]

Acronym - Definition
LIDAR - Light Detection and Ranging
LIDAR - Light and Radar
LIDAR - Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging (system)
LIDAR - Light Intensity Distance and Ranging (surveying)
LIDAR - Laser Identification Detection and Ranging
LIDAR - Laser Induced Differential Absorption Radar

Call it what you will, it's all about the driving at the end of the day

It's LiDAR = Light Detection and Ranging

 

[DerpyDays]

i really liked project cars 2, and i think this one will be as good as that game as well.

i love that there is a bigger emphasis of open wheelers than in PCARS 2, since open wheel was quite limited and formula x was kind of a weird car.

 

[Yeschristopher]

Seeing as this engine supports dirt racing and rally cross will we be seeing more of that in AMS 2? Would be cool to get some point to point rally stages... moddable?

 

[Salvatore Sirignano]

... moddable?

Nochristopher

 

[Boby Kim]

I really hope VR is laserscanned so i can mod the cars

 

[F_B]

I really hope VR is laserscanned so i can mod the cars

 

[The Walker]

Reiza: we laser scanned a track
People: cool, how? Ground laser scan? LiDAR?
Reiza: we can't tell, there are people who get mad if we name the technique we used

"I'm asking to stop using..." who the fook do you think you are?

 

[Mickstix]

Seeing as this engine supports dirt racing and rally cross will we be seeing more of that in AMS 2? Would be cool to get some point to point rally stages... moddable?

Just as cool would be some dirt oval racing!! They'd grab a large chunk of American rednecks (me included) if they modeled up a sprint car, dirt late model, midget, etc. and a few of the famous dirt ovals (Eldora, Knoxville, Volusia Speedway Park, etc.. I'd buy the sim on that "niche" alone..

 

[Nick Hill]

Sim racing devs: deliver a steady stream of better and better sim experiences.

Sim racing consumers: get in fight about meaning LIDAR.

 

[RaceNut]

Seeing as this engine supports dirt racing and rally cross will we be seeing more of that in AMS 2? Would be cool to get some point to point rally stages... moddable?

IIRC, there will be some "Dirty" content but, as DLC to be added later.

 

[Hor-hay]

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

I hope your right because as of now, Career is a joke, multiplayer is dead (my time zone), VR isn't great.

 

[Renato Simioni]

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.

The bolded part is exactly why we specify it´s LIDAR data, which as you explain has a lower degree of accuracy than ground capturing. It could be seen as misleading if we just said "laser scanned", leaving it open to be interpreted it was as accurate data as other types of scan.

I agree with your last paragraph though in that if used properly (ie with some scrutiny and hand-crafting), it can lead to almost as good results. Hence "modelled with the aid of LIDAR data"

The results are now available for those who want to check it out!