Automobilista 2 | Game Changing Updates, Including Spa-Francorchamps 2022


Today is a very important day for Automobilista 2 with its most significant update so far set to be a game changer in all sorts of ways, and also the surprise addition of Spa-Francorchamps just in time for this weekend's Formula One Grand Prix

With all of this coinciding with the current Steam sale which ends on Monday, if you've not tried AMS2 in a while, now is surely the time to grab the update and see just how far this sims development has come!

The Reiza forums have been ablaze with anticipation last night and today, with the announcement of what's touted to be the biggest game changing update yet for Automobilista 2, being released today!

Update V1.4 brings the long awaited oval circuits and rules to the sim with the addition of full course yellows and several oval tracks!

Advanced Mechanical Damage Modeling​

It also expands on another recently introduced feature, AMDM (Advanced Mechanical Damage Modeling). There are more ways than one for a race car to fail, and with AMDM (previously covering clutch and gearbox damage modelling), engine damage is also more thoroughly simulated.

Running an engine too hot may not only wear it faster but also risk a sudden failure - these can range from oil or coolant leaks to misfires to an outright blow-up in a plume of white or black smoke depending on whether it was the result of an oil or coolant leak.

You (or your AI opponent) may even get tipped into a spin by the crankshaft locking up upon seizing!

Tire Updates​

Tire physics have been fully revised to bring much more of a connected feel to the road and thermal tire properties have also been revised to more realistically and accurately simulate its their behaviour within and beyond their optimum operating temperatures!

New Vehicles​

Several new cars have been added to existing classes such as the Mercedes AMG GT4, the 6th car to be added to the GT4 field. Ginetta G55 GT3 added to the new GT Open class, where it will share the grid with the Ultima GTR, and also a slick-shod 1965 Mini Cooper is the new competitor in Copa Classic, while the fictional Vulkan Truck will join the Copa Truck grid!

(On that last note from the looks of recent promotional videos we will also be getting proper black diesel smoke from the trucks which should look great in replays!)

New Area Packages​

With the game now supporting alternative configurations of the same cars to be used in different types of tracks, we have also been able to add various low aero packages for cars from F-Classic and up to the F-Ultimate Gen2 - this not only allows the cars to have more appropriate-looking wing configurations in tracks like Monza or the Old Hockenheim, but also offers a more suitable default setup for these types of tracks for player and AI cars. Like the oval configurations, these will be automatically selected by the game for the appropriate tracks in all game modes.

Yes VR = Yes Buy?!​

Adjustable mirrors have been a much asked for feature by VR users for quite some time now and in true Reiza style they have listened to their fanbase and these are now implemented within the sim!

Balance of Performance​

New BOP revisions should be very welcomed to fans of such classes as the GT3's and GT4's. Also a fixed a bug in restrictor code which caused naturally aspirated and turbocharged cars to be too wide apart in performance in some classes, which along with barometric pressure dependent turbo pressure downscaling in heavily BoPed classes like GT3 & GT4, has resulted in BoP being retained in high altitude tracks, so turbo-powered cars no longer having substantial advantages in tracks like Kyalami or Ibarra.

Multiclass Grids​

More customization of multiclass grids is now available with players being able to choose the exact amount of cars from each different class they wish to have on track with them!

More To Come​

There's more to come in the future as well with the news that the Racin' USA packs will be expanded to a part 4 further down the line!

This is without doubt one hell of an update! You can read through the full list of update and content notes below and find the entire changelog on the next page of this article.

Do you think AMS2's physics have now come into maturity, and do you think we finally have a well rounded sim for both off and online oval racing?

Let us know your thoughts and experiences with the new features, content and improvement in the comments below.
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Tarmac Terrorist
If I can drive it, I'm Rocking it!!! Besides writing sim racing articles I am running my own YouTube channel called Tarmac Terrorist

Comments

If any one is judging vehicle behavior based on FFB then, to be honest, those people's opinions aren't worth anything. At least not to me personally. FFB can make me drive better, enjoy the experience better, be more immersed, but I've never felt in 20 years of sim racing that FFB has ever affected my judgement / perception of a game's (or car's) physics.

Games like RF1, GTR2, GTL, PC1 (and PC2 and AMS2 to possibly a lesser extent) can have humungous differences in FFB depending on all sorts of settings in-game as well as in text files. I've seen people say all sorts of negative things about the physics in those games and then all of a sudden do a complete flip and start praising the physics just because they found a bunch of FFB settings that completely changed the FFB to their liking. Well, not a line of code nor any values in any vehicle files were changed therefore the physics weren't changed yet now all of a sudden the physics went from terrible to awesome just because they found a way to make their wheel vibrate & move the way they like? If someone's opinion on physics can change so drastically just because the FFB changed then that, to me, is terrible judgment & perception.


At least you know you don't like how a particular game drives. I'd be more concerned if it was the opposite though, if you don't know if you like how a game drives or not because of the FFB. There are lots of people (as I mentioned above) who think they don't like how a game drives only to like it once they change FFB settings. Imagine those people never discovered those FFB settings and therefore never got to discover and enjoy such great experiences they would eventually have with that game.
FFB can certainly enhance our immersion but, can also provide vital cues that reinforce tire-sounds, grip-loss, self-aligning torque, etc. How vital that is depends on the players reason for playing. People may be motived in sim-racing for different reasons, for competition, friendly fun, immersion, etc. There's no "one right way" to perfect ffb.

So, if it's immersion that some of us seek, then one of the keys to making Simulation more entertaining can certainly be through FFB, at least in my experience.

Ams2 certainly has the potential to do that, perhaps better than other titles given the impressive list of ffb possibilities. I just prefer that approach over the "You get the ffb you get, and don't throw a fit" approach. :p:D
 
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Have been loving AMS2 for some time now.

I am probably doing something wrong (or am just inept) but I just cannot handle any of the F-USA cars Speedway Versions. The cars just suddenly spin round even when going sedately and no-where near full-throttle/high revs. It isn't happening on any other cars on the ovals and the normal F-USA cars seem fine on normal circuits? I even tried downloading other's setups but no difference.

Any ideas guys?
 
Have been loving AMS2 for some time now.

I am probably doing something wrong (or am just inept) but I just cannot handle any of the F-USA cars Speedway Versions. The cars just suddenly spin round even when going sedately and no-where near full-throttle/high revs. It isn't happening on any other cars on the ovals and the normal F-USA cars seem fine on normal circuits? I even tried downloading other's setups but no difference.

Any ideas guys?

There's a known problem and the fix is coming according to @CrimsonEminence
 
Have been loving AMS2 for some time now.

I am probably doing something wrong (or am just inept) but I just cannot handle any of the F-USA cars Speedway Versions. The cars just suddenly spin round even when going sedately and no-where near full-throttle/high revs. It isn't happening on any other cars on the ovals and the normal F-USA cars seem fine on normal circuits? I even tried downloading other's setups but no difference.

Any ideas guys?
Issues were caused with the first hotfix that will be sorted tomorrow.
 
It's a relief to know the oval physics are a bug on the programming side and not a sudden brain lesion on my part. I was thinking I'd forgot how to drive, but on the flipside, the walls at Fontana were a great opportunity to see the new damage model.

It's hard to say more about Reiza and all they have done. The effort they have put into this sim shines.

I too would love to see some old tracks from PC2 ported over, and by "some" I mean Indy and LeMans. I'm not sure if that's practical or not. Also idly wondering why grid editing isn't available for all classes, but I'm sure there's a reason I haven't thought of yet.
 
With PC2 being delisted presumeably due to expiring licenses etc... may mean that Reiza may not be able to rely on future content from SMS to work on - I think, I don't know, just thinking out loud. I'm aware that SMS have been good partners to Reiza in helping them get started with content so maybe they'll work something out. Never really understood the hate SMS received tbh - they delivered a good overall product and like all sims' there's good content and not so good content.
 
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Here is the full list of Fixes

V1.4.0.0 -> V1.4.1.0 Changelog

Content:

Added Spa-Francorchamps 2022 layout (part of Spa-Francorchamps DLC)

General:

Added new exhaust smoke type for diesel vehicles
Added visible undertray sparks from bottoming for F-Ultimate & F-Classic (all gens)
Fixed Green LiveTrack preset not being fully green & revised grip levels for other presets
Reduced FFB fade-in timer from 5 to 3s

UI & HUD:

Added Official Events page and menu entry
Updated Main Menu art panels
Added Manual Grid and Full course Yellow options to championship editor
Added Single Player Gameplay option to enable/disable random failures
Changed Damage Scale option to use predefined levels instead of percentages
Fixed ICM being unable to choose ‘auto’ ERS mode
Altered vehicle/livery selection, showroom, and lobby to display appropriate downforce variants for the current circuit
Changed vehicle reliability to be based on mean time to failure directly
Disabled redundant turbo setting from showing in Copa Uno & Mini 1965 setup screen

Physics:

Completely revised thermodynamics for all tires
Added Advanced Mechanical Damage Modelling for F-Vintage (both gens), F-Retro (all gens), F-Classic (all gens), F-V12, F-V10 (both gens), F-Reiza, F-Ultimate (both gens)
Updated traction control functionality for all cars that feature the device
Fixed autolift value keeping throttle @ 100% during auto-clutch upshifts with F-Vintage (all), F-Retro (all but G3 TE), F-Vee & corrected various semi-automatics that were blipping to 100% in downshifts
Added new tire model parameters to more accurate modeling of slick behavior & performance on a wet surface
Adjusted FFB for F-Classics, F-V10 Gen1, F-V12, F-3
FFB adjustments for F-Ultimate Gen2, F-V10 Gen2
Adjusted brake duct cooling rates for BMW M6 & M8
Camaro SS: Revised body inertia
Mclaren 720S GT3: Slightly raised front splitter height sensitivity
ARC Camaro: Adjusted CoG height
Ginetta G55 GT3: further adjustments to aero balance and suspension Adjusted brake heating & cooling rates
F-Ultimate Gen2: Fixed asymmetrical front brake cooling rate
Sigma P1: Fixed TC & ABS not being enabled
Added LD variants for F-Classic Gen3, F-Reiza & F-Ultimate Gen1
Ginetta G55 GT3: Suspension geometry update & suspension and ride height adjustments
GT1: Corrected engine output of Porsche and Mclaren F1 GTR
BMW M4 GT4: Minor power multi & rear ARB adjustment; Reduced default steering lock
Completed tire revisions for Street Cars, F-Vintage Gen1&2
Adjusted FFB max force & pneumatic trail on F-Vintages, Super V8, Stock Cars, and BMW M6
Corvette C3-R: Reduced brake torque & heating
Mclaren F1: Reduced diffuser baseline downforce & adjusted center of pressure
BMW M6: Default setup refinements
Lancer Cup: revised fuel consumption, engine heating, and wear

AI:

Prevented AI taking damage from small contacts in the wall or in other AIs (which could lead to AIs coming to the pits too frequently)
Fixed AI not pitting for engine repairs if they have an engine-related failure
Improved the way that the AI retires to off track due to terminal damage
Added initial extra compounds for AI on F-Classic, F-Reiza & F-Ultimate Gen2 (WIP)
F3, Copa Truck, Group C AI calibration pass
F-USA (all gens): Added automatic radiator settings for AI for short oval and speedway variants
Slightly increased AI draft scaling
Revised F-V10 Gen1 & F-Classic Gen1 AI names and performance
Revised AI paths & performance for Adelaide Historic, Nurburgring (GP & Veedol layouts) & Hockenheim (GP & National layouts), Spielberg
Prevented AI vehicles from speeding up when they are trying to retire
Fixed some issues with AI behavior during full course yellow
Implemented AI differentials
Improved AI response to overheating due to damage

Audio:

Wall reflections: increased in volume, altered profile.
Enabled new high speed passby wind “woosh” sound
Decreased-distant live-play opponent sound attenuation max parameter increased close distance parameter.
Ginetta G55 GT4 & Supercup: Adjusted on-power volume for trackside & opponent view
Fusca Classic FL: adjusted interior engine sound transition from idle to 3000 RPM
Adjusted engine samples mixing on idle to mid-RPMs for Copa Fusca, HotCars Fusca M1 & M2, and Puma GTE.
Copa Truck: adjusted tire skid parameters, and increased base pitch.
Mercedes AMG GT4: increased interior engine volume, adjusted mixing in lower rpm band (cockpit sound)
Adjusted trackside camera and opponent volume for BMW M8 & Corvette C8.R
Turned off doppler on environment aerial animations.

Tracks:

Livetrack Updates: Added more visible rubbering effect, more prominent dirt buildup & cleaning off on track with car interaction
Added custom LT grip ranges for Adelaide Historic, Bathurst, Brands Hatch, Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Daytona, Donington, Fontana, Galeao, Granja, Ibarra, Interlagos Historic, Interlagos Kart, Jaca Oval, Kansai, Londrina Kart, Long Beach, Montreal, Monza, Nurburgring, Ortona, Oulton Park, Road America, Silverstone, Spa 93, Speedland, Spielberg
Nurburgring: Fixed floating flags in test day session for Nords 24h layout
Road America: Adjusted curb physics for improved FFB feeling; LOD adjustments
Bathurst: Fixed a hole in the CSM wall (T1 exit on left)

Vehicles:

All Cars: Corrected Fresnel Power & adjusted liveries to suit
Corvette C3 RC: Fixed trunk UV mapping issue
Corrected cockpit mirrors position for Porsche RSR 1974, Mclaren 720S GT3, BMW M6 GT3
Puma GTB: Corrected oil pressure gauge; 5 liveries revised
Puma GTE: 5 liveries revised
Onboard camera adjustments for Corvette C3, Copa Fusca, Copa Uno, Roco 001, Lotus 23, Mini Cooper S 1965, Metalmoro MRX, Camaro GT4, Mclaren 570S, Mercedes AMG GT4, Ginetta G55 GT4, Porsche Cayman GT4, Mclaren 720S GT3, Mercedes AMG GT3, BMW M6 GT3, Porsche 911 GT3 R
Copa Classic: Further livery revisions
Vulkan Copa Truck: Added dirt/damage texture
Metalmoro AJR (all models): Adjusted the driver’s animation head tilt
Adjusted suspension animation to rectify the issue with wheels appearing to have positive camber on F-Retro V12 Gen 1, F-Trainer (both), F-V12, F-V10 Gen 2
Mini Cooper S 1965: Fixed speedometer being set as MPH instead of KPH
StockCar Corolla 2020-2022: Fixed steering wheel LOD issue
F-USA Gen1-3: Added custom helmets
Ultima GTR Race: Fixed LOD issue that was causing graphical artifacts; Revised collision mesh parameters; Adjusted rim textures to work better with LODC; Redone the LODC rims; Adjusted LODD; Added damage to LODD
Corvette C3: Corrected engine heat and blown smoke emission point
Opala 79, Opala 86: Changed the driver type to use the 80’s helmet style
 
With PC2 being delisted presumeably due to expiring licenses etc... may mean that Reiza may not be able to rely on future content from SMS to work on - I think, I don't know, just thinking out loud. I'm aware that SMS have been good partners to Reiza in helping them get started with content so maybe they'll work something out. Never really understood the hate SMS received tbh - they delivered a good overall product and like all sims' there's good content and not so good content.
They already mentioned that the river is dry since a quite some time there as all the deals they made with SMS were completed and there is also a new owner. So no further heritage is possible since a while now
 
Said a few updates ago it was primed and hope people make sure u are racing at summer for the most goodness of temp and grip as an example to make a judgement but its going really good. I only wish the abs and traction control was a cycle rather than 0-10, eg 0-10-0. Its very good though and I usually use the in-car lcd menu.

An example of bad judgement is when you race donnington chistmas day and get 16 ambient lol but you do not do 25 july and get 30 ambient temp. Its great now since I was saying or made that post the day to day difference and turn to turn is so much better. The handling is definitely lifted now in the patch and guess they just polish from here.

I had 500 hours on this when it was rubbish, so I am just as happy to drive it when good and call it good I didnt have to sook once about it. I did enjoy the driving but knew and said it was only average, now we see its really good, so I did not enjoy fully the 500 hours over time, now at 650ish the last 150 I suppose increasingly got really good.

So I still race in winter or summer and all over and really like the adjustment over the year and within a day from corner to corner. The lapping has become really good and the track/racing has become ever more diverse. This is pretty good a lot more meat on the bones. Meaning theres a wide range of possibility for speed, braking, tuning>handling; it feels sophisticated now.

So that goes into saying that eg grip and loss of grip and sliding, it grabs and lets go and there is weight to the car more now and its losing momentum and grabs again, its all much smoother and far more believable. So when you go to control the car in moments of sliding and cornering its doing as a car may do, this makes it a lively gaming experience. If that aspect is grown a little more and it continues to give the narrow but good aspects of something like AC (which suffers now from a less diverse physics model usually), then its only going to go well for the developers. The one thing to that I thought of though is something like Rfactor2 also lets you feel more the power of the engine.

So one last thing to add I think is making the tyres and traction control settings allow that over-power feeling; but I know they are still working on it. No matter this is very good now. It exists - I must explain - so setting 8 v 2 is much different, but in future it would be nice if the engine felt super OP compared and you could spin those tyres with finesse haha. So its only balancing I am talking about.

My highlights for this patch beyond that are indy cars and the new wrt track and others in Indy, I think its all a very good showing, well done! I know the rfactor 2 indy is just great too however this I rate near it for driving and fun and all that, as I said I am not into direct dk measurement I think its a good showing and thanks; the wrt course particularly I think its good they got in and got their track out to simming, in AMS2 its a great drive and the indy car spectacle on track feels top notch, pretty sublime experience in ams2 now.
 
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Premium
Is the update location dependant?
And is it more into the VR improvement than just added mirror feature?

Some days ago I regret my GFX upgrade (Sapphire Pulse RX 6700 XT, bit of heating issues) and just installed a fresh Sapphie Nitro+ RX 6800 XT Special Edition (just as my previous RX 580 was the Nitro+ Special Edition with improved cooling design and serviceable opportunities). This card came with a USB-C port, so I plugged in my Quest 2 - in hesitation just kept with VR resolution and a bit higher AMS2 performance graphics values, driving in classic race at Azure Coast in thunterstorm. No problem at all. So maxed out Quest 2 resolution and FOV and a tad more marmelade in AMS2.

Still no performance issues, everything fluent and sharp, even at distant views.

Then turned on the Sappire Trixx Boost, AMD Adrenaline Radeon Super Resolution, Image Sharpening and Radeon Enhanced Sync + AMS2 everything on Ultra except for MSAA still turned off.
Just 2 sec stuttering at race start, but still no problem whatsoever. And still standard clock settings on CPU, GPU, VRAM and RAM.

Didn't measure my in-VR FPS but looked quite flawless (and very impressive).

Then my plan was going full bonkers at accellerated time classic race at Nordschleife in thunderstorm. But just as I via SteamVR was about to enter, I got the message about the AMS2 update.

Now having completed a 15min+1lap sprint race, 5 mixed classic race car classes, even at night and rain. Everything just seems more smooth and convincing than I would even have hoped for.

And my new GFX even didn't run short of breath.

This is incredible VR performance by AMS2. OK coming from a +5 yo RX 580 I might be easy to impress, but nearly maxing everything out in both Quest 2 and AMS2 and seems like still an extra gear or two available.

Just speechless.

And next weekend I'll hopefully have the time to dig into the new content mentioned in this article.
Thanks for the Graphics card review mate, I thought this topic was about AMS2!
 
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Premium
Still no career mode. It's just a "pick a random car and random track and do a race" game like so many others.

We need a career mode where you start at the bottom and work your way up to faster cars and longer tracks / track variations. GT Legends did this perfectly. RFactor 1 is another great example (it's career mode, as well as it's whole credits and purchasing-car-upgrades-system is criminally under-rated and under-utilized in my opinion). This provides a challenge, a goal, and excitements and anticipation when you move to a new car / new track. It gives the player a way to explore the entire game in all it's glory.

A money / credits system isn't even necessary. Just allow the player to move onto the next series as long as they win the current one, or come in the top 2 or top 3 or something.

Have short championships consisting of, let's say, 2 - 8 races so that players are constantly driving different cars on different tracks. You can even set it up so that different cars must be used at different races for championships. There are lots of possibilities and ways to do it.

Assetto Corsa has a career mode too. It starts you in a slow car (street car FIAT 500 if I remember correctly) and has you progress to faster and faster cars.

Project Cars 1 and 2 also have career modes which, I think, do the same thing.

If it wasn't for career mode, I would have never purchased neither PC1 nor PC2 as I already have way too many "random hotlapping / racing" games.

The career modes offer a reason to immerse yourself in the game and explore it's entirety as you experience, learn, and appreciate each cars' and tracks' physics, graphics, sounds, layouts, etc.
I think you would like EA F1 2022 mate!
 
I think you would like EA F1 2022 mate!
Agreed. As someone else mentioned, a career mode is apparently in the plans, but I don't think "we need" it. A racing sim doesn't necessarily have to have it, and I think "we need" other things fixed first.
 
Premium
With PC2 being delisted presumeably due to expiring licenses etc... may mean that Reiza may not be able to rely on future content from SMS to work on - I think, I don't know, just thinking out loud. I'm aware that SMS have been good partners to Reiza in helping them get started with content so maybe they'll work something out. Never really understood the hate SMS received tbh - they delivered a good overall product and like all sims' there's good content and not so good content.
SMS designed the Madness engine and Rieza showed them how good it is if you put the work in!
 
Premium
I certainly don't need or want a career mode, In fact I go well out of my way to avoid them. Though I'm quite happy to step into a structured event or series of events without any voiceovers, characters or supposed drama.

That said, If that's a market worth targeting and it will drive sales and bring wider exposure to the game then I'm all for it....being ignored so they can build us more complete race and car series instead.
 
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Thanks for the Graphics card review mate, I thought this topic was about AMS2!
Sorry :D I could subtract it to "I felt something good happening VR-wise after the update, since any kind of stuttering seems pure gone, even though going berserk in ultra settings."
 
Licensing issues with F USA 2022. Another uncharacteristic delay at the 11th hour. The old adage of "hurry up and wait" springs to mind. Having quite a few issues in v1.4 not starting in VR and FFB is less connected, with these previously never a problem.
 
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