Why Automobilista has outdated graphics?!

[Mike85]

Seriously guys, i would lovely buy this game and i know it's amazing! But the graphics engine is outdated as hell... It's something like 15-20 years old but with higher quality textures.. It destroys any kind of immersion.... :-(

 

[Chris]

I think you kind of answered your own question there
Why does it's graphics seem outdated? Because it's running on an older engine.

Having said that, the graphics are perfectly fine. Sure they're not as good as something like Assetto Corsa, but for what it is, AMS has excellent graphics.

 

[Kenny Paton]

That may be true for you but obviously isn't for many others. To those of us that remember guiding a couple pixels around they seem okay and the feel and physics make up for any graphical shortcomings

 

[ouvert]

well I don`t think any of us drives in AMS for the looks and shines .. it is like girl that is dressed in normal clothes, not ugly, but just regular one, perhaps with geeky glasses ... but she is so smart, funny, parents love her, she cooks in her underwear and rocks in bed .. you just have to love her ... you wanna physics, audio, FFB, immersion you are on a good place, you wanna heavy makeup, busty blonde with skirt barely covering her ass that is gonna stick with you for a week cause you have convertible corvette go somewhere else ... or stick around till Reiza 17 is happening in hopefully not that far future

oh, so much stereotypes in this post, shame on me

 

[Mike85]

Amazing post! Now i understand!

 

[AndrewBo]

Damnit @ouvert .
I cannot get those pictures out of my brain now. Looked at my wheel, and thought about *heavy makeup, busty blonde* ....... You my friend are the Devil.
Now, for everyone that is infected by ouverts post, Please click on the *Spoiler*.

Spoiler: Cure inside.

 

[aleph]

I may be ranting a bit here, but I think were are becoming too obsessed with graphics in games. I see this as the classic Short Blanket problem: no matter what, something will be left uncovered. In their frenzy to provide the absolute best graphic experience, game developers are often overlooking some aspects that are equally, or even more, important.

Specifically for driving sims, we have plenty in the market, but I would guess that none has as many players online right now as GT6. Why? Because its online mode works flawlessly and, well, because it is fun. Graphics only go so far. It may look good on YouTube, but nobody stops to enjoy a perfect sunset during a race. There are many people still playing GTR2 or Race 07 because they are immersive and have good AI.

So, the questions to be asked, in my view, are: does the driving feel REAL? Is it FUN? I own practically all sims offered in the market, as well as old ones, and those I always go to now, for very different reasons, are Forza 6 (which is actually lots of fun) and AMS (which answers both questions very well and looks pretty good without requiring me to spend gazillions in the ultimate gaming machine).

If you offer me the choice between perfectly rendered tree leaf shadows and lens flares or consistent 120 fps per second, good AI and perfect FFB, I will always go for the second. In fact, I hope Reiza avoids this trap with their Reiza 2017 title and, faced with the choice of sacrificing graphics or simulation quality, sticks with what they have been doing brilliantly so far.

 

[quicksilver384]

well I don`t think any of us drives in AMS for the looks and shines .. it is like girl that is dressed in normal clothes, not ugly, but just regular one, perhaps with geeky glasses ... but she is so smart, funny, parents love her, she cooks in her underwear and rocks in bed.
oh, so much stereotypes in this post, shame on me

Love it lol.

I have to aggree though the graphiocs may not be top notch but they are not bad either, There are still loads playing GPL which is ~20 years old and it is because of the amount of enjoyment one can have playing the game with others.

 

[Jempy]

The perfect solution ? ...
Drive AC for graphics and car realism
Drive AMS for the driving pleasure of a nearly complete simracing game
Drive RRE for its sounds
Drive GTR2 ( or Rfactor ) if you like AMS and all kinds of good old mods

NB: as long as it doesn't Drive you crazy !
Driving pleasure is the most important thing. ( word of an old back-mid marker )

 

[ouvert]

I may be ranting a bit here, but I think were are becoming too obsessed with graphics in games. I see this as the classic Short Blanket problem: no matter what, something will be left uncovered. In their frenzy to provide the absolute best graphic experience, game developers are often overlooking some aspects that are equally, or even more, important.

Specifically for driving sims, we have plenty in the market, but I would guess that none has as many players online right now as GT6. Why? Because its online mode works flawlessly and, well, because it is fun. Graphics only go so far. It may look good on YouTube, but nobody stops to enjoy a perfect sunset during a race. There are many people still playing GTR2 or Race 07 because they are immersive and have good AI.

So, the questions to be asked, in my view, are: does the driving feel REAL? Is it FUN? I own practically all sims offered in the market, as well as old ones, and those I always go to now, for very different reasons, are Forza 6 (which is actually lots of fun) and AMS (which answers both questions very well and looks pretty good without requiring me to spend gazillions in the ultimate gaming machine).

If you offer me the choice between perfectly rendered tree leaf shadows and lens flares or consistent 120 fps per second, good AI and perfect FFB, I will always go for the second. In fact, I hope Reiza avoids this trap with their Reiza 2017 title and, faced with the choice of sacrificing graphics or simulation quality, sticks with what they have been doing brilliantly so far.

I think they need new engine for more important reasons than how it looks... Newer dx, VR, 64bits, getting free from that stupid "just rF mod" pre judgement..
Reiza seems to be one of two studios really sticking with their principles, I'm not really worried they start to lack in other departments (ffb, audio, physics, ...) just to attract more players..

 

[aleph]

I think they need new engine for more important reasons than how it looks... Newer dx, VR, 64bits, getting free from that stupid "just rF mod" pre judgement..
Reiza seems to be one of two studios really sticking with their principles, I'm not really worried they start to lack in other departments (ffb, audio, physics, ...) just to attract more players..

I fully agree. What I meant is that, given hardware limitations, even with a brand new engine at some point they will have to decide what to prioritize and what to tone down, and at that moment I hope they won't go for the good-looking blonde...

 

[tpw]

I'm pretty sure the move to a new gfx engine won't involve toning down the other aspects that make AMS great.

 

[Gringo]

Its true the graphics engine is very old.

We are now at the point where the sim is crashing under "normal" conditions because Reiza has pushed the engine to the very edge of the limits.

I am looking forward to what might come. Hopefully the focus will remain on the sim experience.

 

[Tony]

Put a giant turd inside a pretty box and well its great to look at until you open the box and guess what, inside is still just a turd

 

[xnorb]

Let's just drop that here again because it fits

AMS' graphics are fine, there are only 2 very problematic areas:
a) Dynamic Lighting / shadows
b) Gras textures

My AC looks pretty much like AMS except for it's 2 weakpoints described above.
That's because i disable all the "looks great on youTube" eye candy that turns the game into a Fast and Furious movie but has nothing to do with a representation of the real world.

Of course for Reiza17 they need to step up the game and put their wonderful baby into new clothes.
DX11 shaders and lighting, VR, dynamic weather...

 

[Paul Watkins]

Reiza to me look to have a great team and seem to know and agree with what most of us want. Which to me is a balance of a very playable and fun Sim with excellent physics, very decent graphics without having to have extortionately priced PC's.

I do agree that for Reiza17, "they need to step up the game and put their wonderful baby into new clothes.
DX11 shaders and lighting, VR, dynamic weather..." as Herbert mentioned. Hopefully if they do go down that route, I have a feeling they will try their best to keep performance of the new Sim within easy reach of the average Sim racers PC. For now though I'm just enjoying a great Sim in Automobilista!

 

[David Wright]

I fully agree. What I meant is that, given hardware limitations, even with a brand new engine at some point they will have to decide what to prioritize and what to tone down, and at that moment I hope they won't go for the good-looking blonde...

The irony is gMotor2 was the good looking blonde when it came out in 2005. That's why its still playable 11 years on. I hope Reiza really push the boundaries with graphics in Reiza 17 so their new engine has a potentially long life.

 

[Ho3n3r]

well I don`t think any of us drives in AMS for the looks and shines .. it is like girl that is dressed in normal clothes, not ugly, but just regular one, perhaps with geeky glasses ... but she is so smart, funny, parents love her, she cooks in her underwear and rocks in bed .. you just have to love her ... you wanna physics, audio, FFB, immersion you are on a good place, you wanna heavy makeup, busty blonde with skirt barely covering her ass that is gonna stick with you for a week cause you have convertible corvette go somewhere else ... or stick around till Reiza 17 is happening in hopefully not that far future

oh, so much stereotypes in this post, shame on me

You win the internet for today.

 

[David Dominguez]

I find AMS visuals very decent, it's a bit sad to see that the concept of graphics comes only from post process effects. I think the cars could be better, but the tracks for example have an excellent modelling and very good texturing on the most important areas, like asphalt, kerbs etc.

 

[TheGrunt]

I also don't see anything to complain about AMS looks. It sure isn't a best looking game out there, but graphics engine does its job and can simulate also dark conditions, unlike some simulators out there. Then again, I find modded nr2003 also adequate, so I can deal with obsolete engines just fine.

When graphics are discussed, I'm always little bit baffled why AC's is often praised so much. Sure, car models and cockpits do look extremely good, but to me the tracks and surroundings look just incredibly lifeless, almost like they are built out of cardboard. AC simply is a sterile looking game, but that is of course only my opinion. rF2 is usually bashed for its graphics engine, but with well made tracks, surroundings look far more alive compared to AC. There can be moving ferris wheels, flags, occasional birds, helicopters, Air Dancers or what you call those inflatable tube air characters you see in sport events and so on. AMS has some of those features too, although track side animations aren't that refined as they are in rF2. My main gripe for rF2 graphics is that it is still heavily CPU limited, while you can get decent looks out of it if you can run on mostly high settings. I have quite good computer (i7-3930k@4.5GHz, 980ti) but certain car, track and day time combinations with multiview enabled can really tank the FPS. And it's not usually the GPU that struggles.

Otherwise, AC's graphics engine is modern and does good job. For example, triple screen support is absolutely the best out there, both the implementation and efficiency (small FPS loss). AC runs very well with full field of cars on my systems pretty much all settings cranked up.