The first Automobilista 2 update of 2022 is now live! V1.3.3.0 adds the F-USA Gen3 with the Reynard 2Ki & Lola B2K/00 & Road America to the Racin´ USA Pt2 DLC, the new F-Retro Gen3 class featuring the Mclaren MP4/1C, the GTS variants of the Polo & Virtus to the TSI Cup class along with several other improvements, the most notable of which developments to the cockpit camera physics & related options.

Below some important notes regarding the updates to the cockpit camera physics:

• Before V1.3.3.0, the camera g-force effect was only enabled longitudinally (braking and acceleration), with no lateral g-force effect (from corners) or vertically (from bumps & suspension movement) even at 100% g-force setting; we have now added settings for lateral & vertical g-force effects like in AMS1.
  
• Before V1.3.3.0, g-forces, leaning effect, and look to apex effects would only work in helmet camera mode - now these effects apply irrespective if you´re running helmet camera mode or not.
  
• As of V1.3.3.0, TrackIR users are able to change the camera g-force.
  
• Before V1.3.3.0, VR and trackIR users were forced to use the SMS legacy camera head movement mode. Now, VR and TrackIR users can enable our camera head movement mode in the camera settings screen if desired. It allows for example for the driving to align with the horizon in banked corners like Daytona's without having to resort to camera orientation. Note however that for existing profiles your previous VR settings are preserved, so nothing will change for you unless you decide to change it in camera settings screen.

Below are the updated default camera settings - these however will only take effect if you create a new profile, if you do not want to create a new profile you can adjust these manually:





CONTENT
Tracks

• Added Road America (part of the Racin´ USA Pt2 DLC pack)

Vehicles

• Added F-USA Gen3 class featuring Reynard 2Ki, Lola B2K/00 (part of the Racin´ USA Pt2 DLC pack)
  
• Added F-Retro Gen3 class featuring Mclaren MP4-1C, F-Retro Gen3 Turbo, F-Retro Gen3 DFY Aspirated
  
• Added VW Polo GTS & Virtus GTS to TSI Cup class

GENERAL

• Enabled G-forces for cockpit camera (previously G-forces were only enabled for helmet camera)
  
• Made the helmet and cockpit cameras orientation change that comes from G-force effect be scaled by the G-force slider settings (previously only the camera position change was scaled, not the orientation)
  
• Fixed in-game session details not accounting for session scaling in championship mode and rounding to multiples of 5 in multiplayer.
  
• VR Camera Settings: Enabled legacy/new head movement toggle for VR users; World Movement renamed to 'Head Movement' (current user World Movement setting will be maintained and converted to an equivilent 'Head Movement' setting)
  
• Enabled camera G-force settings for TrackIR users.
  
• Enabled look to apex and leaning in cockpit camera
  
• Shared Memory: Updated header to V10; Added Tyre temp L/M/R, Ride height, Session duration which were previously only available via UDP; Added DRS State; Added session additional laps information; Extended CarFlags to include TCS/SCS active state; Latest header/changelogs/sample project now available in the 'Support' directory of the game install
  
• Fixed an issue with championship editor which would lead to incorrect race 2 starting order if both races did not use the same duration type. Added a fall back to find any race 1 result as the basis for race 2 in existing savegames
  
• Default weather progression for official championships are now sync to race
  
• Fixed an issue where default weather progression for official championships was extremely high (existing saves will revert to sync-to-race on load if out of range)
  
• Made brake pedal sensitivity linear by default for most Thrustmaster wheel types.
  
• Fixed issue where HUD leaderboard would cut off the local player row in some cases
  
• Fixed stale drive button state requiring double click of race ready button if a user drove a previous session of a Multiplayer event.
  
• Actual timestep is now passing to FFB scripts

UI & HUD

• Added Front/Rear tire selection to quick setup menu
  
• Fixed selected row visual states on Game control assignments tab
  
• Added current lap info to position widget HUD in timed races
  
• Fixed in-game camera options screen not correctly hiding VR options
  
• Corrected engine displacement info for F-Classic Gen3 models 2 & 3

PHYSICS

• Minor tire tread adjustments for F-Reiza, F-V10 G1, F-V12, F-Ultimate F-Classics (all gens), Group C, Group A, BMW M1 Procar
  
• Added driveline elasticity modelling for cars that still didn´t feature it (Lancer Cup, TSI Cup, JCW Mini, Copa Truck, F-Ultimate)
  
• TSI Cup: Improved clutch smoothing
  
• Revised wheel spin inertia for all cars
  
• Reduced front splitter pitch sensitivity for Group A & Procar
  
• Slightly improved rear wing baseline downforce of Group A cars
  
• Disabled now redundant autoclutch forced off in semi-auto F1s (fixes cars stalling even with autoclutch set on)
  
• Adjusted Corvette C3-R final drive ratio
  
• Further clutch heating/wear improvements and adjusted update rate
  
• Reinstated auto-clutch logic for sequential shifts that do not have autoblip/autolift
  
• Updated clutch models to include flash and burst parameters
  
• Changed clutches on some cars
  
• All street cars now have clutch damage
  
• Revised F1 driveline inertias
  
• Improved sequential F1 shift reliability
  
• Added clutch damage and heating model.& clutch damage attributes for DPI, GT1/GTE/GT3, C3/C3R/Omega, multiple F1s
  
• Prevented needless autoclutching in clutchless sequentials
  
• Updated default setups for M1 Procar, GT3 (all models), Corvette C3-R, Porsche RSR 1974, Ginetta G40 Cup, G40 GT5, Porsche Cup, Stock Car 2021 / 2022, Mercedes CLK, AJR (all variants), MRX (all variants), Roco (setup reset recommended)
  
• Adjusted engine wear increase with boost settings for F-Classic turbo engines & eeduced default wastegate setting to account for higher engine wear at higher settings

AI

• Increased hardcoded radius values for AI detection of corners ahead (this should fix some existing AI logic not triggering in some corners)
  
• Added a AI series-specific radius check and distance ahead to look at before trying to overtake (customization per car type still to be implemented)
  
• Adjusted AI decision behaviour when an AI driver is attempting to avoid cutting the track but has a player vehicle on opposite (should prevent some cases of AI hitting player laterally)
  
• Added a per-weekend based consistency personality logic for AI
  
• AI calibration pass for F-Classics (all gens)
  
• Slightly increased AISidecalc range to further reduce chance of AI cars being "scared" out of the way by player coming up behind it
  
• AI rolling resistance adjustments for GT3, GT4, GTE, P1, P2, P3, P4, Stock Cars

AUDIO

• Updated crash sound effects

TRACKS

• Updated weather & climates change in European and North American locations to ease transitions in seasonal foliage (so early spring the foliage is still looking dry, early summer still lush green; and early autumn still green)
  
• Adjusted rolling start and TT start points for Kansai, Monza, Ortona, Silverstone, Snetterton, Spielberg, Velocitta, Velopark, VIR
  
• Watkins Glen: Added barriers on the bypass road for inner loop layouts
  
• Monza: Added missing grandstands, ad boards / gantries; grounded floating poles at Lesmos in Monza 1991
  
• Silverstone 1975: Add more cones marking pitent/pitex, Adjust a few 3d people, LOD adjustment on flags
  
• Ortona: Fix for outer houses LODs; Trimmed the apex corridors
  
• Daytona: Updated AI lines & corridors
  
• Updated trackside cameras for Brands Hatch, Curitiba
  
• Nurburgring: Fixed Cam 01 clipping

VEHICLES

• Reynard 98i: Fixed left mirror bug): Added dirt/damage texture; Changed rain tire texture; Updated cockpit tires
  
• BMW M8 GTE: Fixed brake discs glow issue
  
• McLaren F1 GTR: Fixed conflicting #8 livery
  
• Adjusted suspension animations for all F-USA models

Greetings everyone!

It´s now New Year´s eve - or maybe even already the New Year depending on where you are in the world! It´s been a busy month on a personal level in and out of Reiza to cap what has been another very busy year, but we couldn´t let it end without a proper send-off and some important updates to all of you!


What a year it has been for our team & AMS2 - 12 new tracks, 22 new cars, and a long list of new features & improvements have been delivered to the game over the course of the year, developments which we can all agree brought the game to another level relative to where we started 2021.

From the very first announcement, we´ve always maintained that AMS2 was a long-term project which would evolve considerably over the years, but even for ourselves plans are only reality after they have been successfully executed - although there´s been some stumbles along the way and still plenty to be done, as we enter the third year of development we feel AMS2 is where we hoped to be at this point, and confident we have all we need to fulfill our remaining targets.


While we have covered a lot of ground this year and are proud of the progress we´ve made overall, we´d also like to acknowledge the bits where we´ve fallen short - contents due from already-released DLC packages are a commitment we´ve made to the people who bought them, and if a schedule was proposed for releases and not quite met, then some explanation is due - the remaining Racin´ USA Pt2 items especially which had been projected to be included in the latest update haven´t quite made it in yet. We´d like to assure all who are eagerly expecting the remaining cars and track of this pack that these are well on the way and will be part of our first update of 2022 in late January.


Also pending on the DLC front are additional historical versions of Spa and Nürburgring from the early 1970s which, both part of their respective DLCs which will be delivered within the first quarter of 2022 - the first milestones of a year that should see AMS2 greatly expand further its historical reach for all types of motorsports.

Furthermore, a roadmap outlining plans for remaining items of the Season Pass & Premium Expansion Packs in 2022 will be presented in our January Dev Update.

We are also in process of putting together some updated documentation on the latest Force Feedback system and the new Multiplayer Rating System - these and other valuable info and instructions are being assembled for a digital user manual similar to the one from AMS1, also expected for the early weeks of 2022.

Here it´s worth perhaps to make the distinction between plans and commitments - there are naturally many other features, improvements, content and bug fixes that are eagerly anticipated and that we are pushing to deliver to AMS2 in the coming months, and these development updates are meant precisely to offer some perspective on what we are working on and where we intend to the take the sim; while we obviously fully intend to adhere to any plans we make public, these remain subject to changes as circumstances require over the course of development.

With this bit of housekeeping out of the way and hoping we can extend everyone´s patience a bit more for what´s still due to be delivered, let´s take a glance into what else you may expect already for the beginning of the New Year!


Our first update of 2022 will expand our F-Retro series into the early 80s, bringing 1983-spec Grand Prix cars to AMS2.

The 1983 season was technically a turning point in the series history - a ban on ground effects from side skirts used by previous gen cars (the Lotus 79 already present in the game being the pioneering example) lead to regulations mandating all cars to feature flat bottoms, promoting diffusers as the standard device for generating downforce from the undertray; the first carbon monocoque & the first coke bottle-style shape car as featured in the the MP4-1C from this season set standards that remains to this day; turbo engines and carbon brakes also became the standard as of this season, both featuring in the championship-winning car.



All of this makes cars from this era great choices to sample in the sim - the new class will initially feature the McLaren MP4-1C and a generic turbo F-Retro Gen3, but more will join them over the course of 2022 - it will indeed be a very exciting year for the fans of classic Grand Prix cars from the 80s and early 90s,with many more iconic models from Brabham, Lotus and McLaren expected to arrive to AMS2 over the course of the year.


New cars from premium brands filling up existing classes as well as well as branching out to new ones, new tracks, historical tracks, further AI development, more multiplayer features, Steam achievements, full course yellows, oval racing, dirt racing and maybe the beginning of what should be a very elaborate career mode are just some of the highlights of what we have planned for Automobilista 2 over the course of 2022 - we´ll naturally share more specifics as we progress through the year, but for now the important thing we´d like to assure everyone is that we go into the new year as went into 2021: full throttle, monthly updates and with no intentions of slowing down. It should be another exciting year and we look forward to having you all along for the ride!

For now, we´re back to enjoying the remainder of our holiday break in order recharge our batteries and get ready for the new season - we sign off from 2021, with the whole Reiza team thanking all our users for your support over the course of the year, and offering our best wishes to you all for a fantastic 2022 filled with great racing!

Automobilista 2 has now been updated to V1.3.2.0 - this update is largely focused on bug fixing & bringing further quality-of-life improvements to the game to wrap up the development in 2021. More to come soon in 2022 - look forward to the upcoming Dev Update for further info!

IMPORTANT: As previously announced, following the extensive physics and setup revisions from recent months the Time Trial boards and its setup database have been reset and are starting fresh as of this update.


GENERAL

• Added Fanatec CLS DD control sets
  
• Fixed view changing to default attached camera instead of last driving view after switching camera on session live timing boards
  
• Fixed MP Opponent type spinner allowing wrap and causing class list display issues
  
• Fixed missing player avatar image on profile affinity tab
  
• Fixed incorrect wheel range for some controllers
  
• Rate limited Fanatec rumble motor updates

UI & HUD

• Fixed an issue that would prevent driver profile details being saved in some instances.
  
• Added user option to configure ICM auto-close time (options > gameplay > display > ICM Auto-Close)
  
• Replay screen: Allowed info elements to remain visible when controls are hidden and added watched driver overview.
  
• Added "Favourite Content" info to Profile screen.
  
• Added "Outlap" status to session overview screen.
  
• Fixed main menu replays button not opening correct profile tab
  
• Fixed incorrect environment info on advanced setup screen
  
• Adjusted scaling of weight distribution values
  
• Added option to "unready" in pre-race screen
  
• Fixed Online Opponent Settings page not showing all set classes
  
• Fixed track map overlap on lobby details page

PHYSICS

• Revised ideal temperature & range for all tires (generally slightly lower ideal temps and wider operating windows for road, vintage & harder semi-pro level slicks & semislicks, higher and narrower on higher top level compounds)
  
• Slightly reduced road & vintage tire tread velocity sensitivity
  
• Revised tire carcass of F-Classic (all gens), Group C, F-Ultimate
  
• Minor tire tread adjustments to Group C cars, F-Classic Gen 1 & 2, Street & Vintage tires
  
• Further driveline flex adjustments & added flex to remaining driveline models that still didn´t feature it
  
• Revised aero drop-off with yaw angle for all formulas, GTs & Prototypes
  
• Minor default setup adjustments to Stock Car 2019, Stock Car 2020/2021, Camaro GT4-R, BMW 2002, Porsche GT1, F-Ultimate, Super V8, Porsche RSR 1974, BMW M4, GTE, GT3, GT4 & Group A cars (setup reset recommended)
  
• Porsche Cayman GT4: Corrected weight distribution & adjusted default setup (setup reset recommended)
  
• Super V8: adjusted gear ratios
  
• Reduced FFB parking force (correcting error that increased the parking forces in a previous build)
  
• Fixed incorrectly pre-warmed tires for Stock Car 2019, Copa Montana, Stock Car 2020 & 2021

AI

• Fixed AI issue that would result in pit entry/exit overshoots/slides
  
• AI in process of retiring before making it to main racing line merge will now do so immediately instead of waiting some time and risking tangling with other AI cars
  
• Adjusted AI behaviour if encountering understeer on pit entry
  
• Fixed AI sometimes getting stuck on track in reverse gear
  
• Revised AI pit entrance speed tweakers

TRACKS

• Cleveland: More details to the airport buildings, few material fixes for other buildings, added collisions for planes, trackside vehicles and structures that are visible through all the sessions; the cement wall on the exit of T8 has got some rubber battle scars; Adjusted brightness of night lighting
  
• Watkins Glen: Added crowds at Turn 10; Terrace, restaurant, few more outside buildings More AIW tweaks (short layout); Rolling start P1 is now on the right hand side added small grandstand before T1, slightly corrected marshall huts; rubber marks on the tirewall at the exit of T9; updated trackside cameras
  
• Salvador: Added wall at the monument chicane to avoid AI cars getting stranded on the grass island
  
• Distance from start-line from which a track limit infraction would invalidate the following lap is now customized per track
  
• Daytona: Moved rolling start location to exit of bus stop chicane, increase gap between grid rows
  
• Monza (All layouts): Revised rolling start location; Fixed graphical issue on the tunnel
  
• Long Beach: Revised rolling start location and rolling start velocity; Switch P1 to left-hand side
  
• Azure 2021: Add some missing flower boxes to runoff at the chicane; Remove some out of place 2d ivy and cleanup the foliage clipping the walls at the hairpin
  
• Interlagos Historic: Adjusted AI path for better pit-in behavior; Moved pit guy to minimise clipping into garage wall; Adjusted AI line to reduce corner cuts at Descida do Lago; Smoothed out an abnormal dip on the outer loop junction
  
• Interlagos: Adjusted pit lane entrance path
  
• Curitiba: Adjusted fastline at Entrada do Miolo / Esse de Baixa; Adjusted corridors; Move rolling start location 250m back before last corner
  
• Campo Grande: Fixed garage depth causing AI to hit wall on pit exit; Adjusted AI fast line through S1,S2; Improved pit entry path
  
• Kyalami: Fixed gap between grass and road ; Fix gravel traps resistance (switch sand to gravel); Corrected 3d crowd LODs
  
• Speedland: Added rain blockers to indoor segment
  
• Spa-Francorchamps 2020: Added rain blockers to garage building
  
• Spielberg: Fix gap in pitlane mesh; Minor LOD fixes & optimization pass
  
• Brasilia: Fixed garage depth causing AI to hit wall on pit exit
  
• Added VR cams to Brasilia, Spielberg Vintage
  
• Jacarepagua: Adjusted rolling start locations and speed
  
• Jerez: Adjusted AI fat path & Fixed garage depth causing AI to hit wall on pit exit

VEHICLES

• F-USA: Revised & fixed driver animation issues (all models)
  
• Swift 009C: Fixed cockpit windows issue
  
• Reynard 98i: Fixed steering rack default position (animation). Fixed tire glitch
  
• Formula Classic G3M2: Revised the driver animation, fixed driver head position
  
• McLaren 720S GT3 Material: update for liveries #27 #90; New sponsors added for liveries #11 #22 #87
  
• Stock Car Omega: Updated windshield textures
  
• VW Polo/Virtus: Updated custom materials
  
• Formula V10 Gen1: Updated driver animations.
  
• Roco: Fixed left tires sidewall issue

Automobilista 2 update V1.3.1.1 is now live - this is another hotfix to complement the latest release with some further improvements & fixes.

As this update roll-out ran a bit late, the free period for Racin´ USA Pt1 & Pt2 was extended to suit, keeping them free to all AMS2 owners until this release - they are now available only for owners of either or both packages.

GENERAL

• Added Real Weather historical data for Cleveland & Watkins Glen
  

UI & HUD

• Fixed instances where custom AI drivers would have the wrong nationailty
  
• Fixed an issue where all AI would have incorrect nationality in session results screen
  
• Fixed leaderboard not being enabled by default in cockpit view
  
• Added tyre wear and temp info to damage widget (this can be disabled by selecting the minimal version
  
• Equalised opacity across all tach/damage modes.
  
• Corrected engine layout UI info for Camaro GT4R & Copa Classic FL Fusca

PHYSICS & AI

• F-USA: Adjusted tire tread for both compounds; adjusted default gear ratios & added extra final drive options; increased aero drop-off with yaw; switched off downishft autoblip; adjusted pit stop rules & timing
  
• Made AI vehicles uncollidable earlier on pit entry

TRACKS

• Cleveland: Enabled standing starts & moved rolling start position 300m back
  
• Watkins Glen: Enabled standing starts & moved rolling start position 300m back; Added watchtowers; start gantry, warning light poles, worn maps mapping for tirewalls/tecpro barriers, garages scoretowers, more buildings and gantry structures, tweaked startlight gantry, added startlight; Reworked T1 curbs to minimise issues with AI; Adjusted track limits to not allow running wide into escape roads

Small hotfix now with some minor fixes and bits that didn´t make it in time for release last night - build 1912, no change in version number as exe has remained the same.

Changelog:

• Added F-USA Gen2 to Formula vehicle filter: Fixed F-USA Gen2 being incorrectly sorted in non-English languages
  
• Corrected engine specs for F-USA cars in vehicle info
  
• Adjusted tire wear rates for F-USA, F-V10 Gen1 & F-Ultimate tires
  
• Slightly reduced ideal opearing window for F-USA tires
  
• Adjusted AI suspension rates for Cadillac DPi, F-Ultimate, P1, GTE, GT3, GT4 class cars to minimise issues when running over curbs
  
• Updated F-USA onboard sounds
  
• Watkins Glen: Reworked marshal huts, added tall watchtowers, updated trackside cameras
  
• Added cockpit antenna vibration to Swift 009c

Automobilista 2 V1.3.1.0 is now live along with the release of Racin´ USA Part 2, featuring 1990s american open wheelers from Reynard, Lola & Swift as well as the Cleveland Burke Lakefront Road Course & Watkins Glen International - Road America to be added to the pack later on the month with further machines from that same era!


No need to get your wallet out just yet - both Racin´ USA Pt1 AND Pt2 are free for all AMS2 owners from Dec 3th to 6th - from Dec 7th onwards you´ll need to buy the DLCs to keep playing.

Happy Racing!


CONTENT
Tracks

• Added Cleveland Burke Lakefront airport circuit (part of the Racin´ USA Pt2 DLC pack)
  
• Added Watkins Glen International (4 layouts) (part of the Racin´ USA Pt2 DLC pack)

Vehicles

• Added Reynard 98i, Swift 009C, Lola T98 to Formula USA Gen2 class (part of the Racin´ USA Pt2 DLC pack)

GENERAL

• Optimized FFB/custom script performance
  
• Further revisions to shadow cascading parameters
  
• Revised AI suspension rates to minimise some cars appearing to "jitter" in online races (as prediction netcode for human opponents in Multiplayer uses those same AI parameters)
  
• Fixed selection issues in Custom AI grids feature
  
• Further adjustments to shadow cascading parameters

UI & HUD

• Added engine displacement, weight distribution, wheelbase specs to vehicle browser and loading screen
  
• Added driver flag to pre/post session leaderboards
  
• Fixed online rating regulations options being visible in single player.
  
• Fixed stretched fuel icon on session overview screen
  
• Fixed stretched flag textures on nationality selection screen
  
• Fixed aspect ratio of loading screen vehicle render
  
• Adjusted mouse activation zones on monitr screen
  
• Updated credits list

PHYSICS & AI

• Minor tire tread revisions to GTE, GT3, F-V10 G1, F-V10 G2, F-Reiza, Super V8
  
• Revised rain tires for all classes; Increased slick dropoff in wet for GT cars
  
• Further fine-tuning for ABS system
  
• F-Trainer AI Calibration pass
  
• Revised rain tires; Increased slick dropoff in wet for GT cars
  
• Added wet & hard compounds for F-USA G2; medium & revised hard for F-ultimate
  
• Adjusted helper spring rates for Porsches Cup, GT3-R & RSR GTE
  
• Updated SuperV8 suspension (reducing sprung mass), revised splitter aero
  
• Revised AI suspension parameters should minimise issues with AI potentially rolling or bouncing off high curbs on some tracks

V1.3.0.1 is now up - this is a minor hotfix to add some fixes & improvements to the latest release.

The AMS2 Demo has also been updated with the latest developments pertinent to it.


GENERAL

• Fixed default Formula championships crashing from targeting old Azure track instead of updated one

UI & HUD

• Fixed throttle/clutch pedal values inverted on full tacho variant
  
• Fixed replay list not correctly aligned in ultrawide resolutions

FFB

• Optimization pass on Default+ profile
  
• FFB adjustments to BMW M4, M6 & M8 GTE; F-Vee, Mini 1965, Corvette C3 & C3-R, TSI Cup

PHYSICS & AI

• Further tire tread revisions & AI Calibration pass for F-Trainer, Caterham Academy, Vintage TC1, Vintage TC2, Copa Fusca, Copa Uno, TSI Cup, Opalas, Omega Stock, F-Vee
  
• Further fine-tuning of Traction Control slip ranges
  
• Adjusted crankshaft mass for Vintage Touring Cars & Copa Classic
  
• Corrected VW Polo & Virtus mass
  
• Increased preload resistance in cars with open differential

AUDIO

• Adjusted traction control sounds for all cars

TRACKS

• Azure Circuit 2021: Reduced AI on AI trapping against armcos causing crashes/pileups; adjusted line at the chicane to reduce AI going 2-wide and clipping the barriers causing crashes/pileups; Reposition the rolling start location to before last corner and reduce rolling speed to 60 kph

VEHICLES

• TSI Cup: Fixed missing custom livery folders causing mix-up with Mini liveries; Fixed small gap in cockpit dashboard

Automobilista 2 V1.3.0.0 is now live! The first of several updates on this dev cycle is heavily focused on physics and FFB - extensive revisions to driveline and tires of all cars and addition of a new FFB profile as elaborated in our November Development Update Pt2 makes this our biggest physics overhaul yet.

The extent of the physics updates have required default setups & AI performance to be adjusted accordingly, a process that remains ongoing for the next few days so you may expect some small hotfixes to be deployed before the release of Racin´ USA Pt2 next week.

AMS2 V1.3 introduces new FFB profile (Default+) in parallel to the old "Default" profile which remains available for users who may prefer it. Information on these FFB updates along with an updated tutorial to best set it up will be posted on a dedicated thread soon.

The update also introduces the beta version of our Multiplayer Rating System - information on the mechanisms of the system as well as other relevant information for AMS multiplayer and its ongoing development will also be coming in its own dedicated thread soon.

Finally, AMS2 V1.3 also brings some new & updated content - the TSI Cup class featuring the VW Polo & Virtus from the Acelerados Demo released last week is now included in the main game. On the track front, the Azure street circuit has been completely overhauled with the aid of laser scan data.


IMPORTANT: You must delete your Automobilista 2\savegame\[User Profile Number]\automobilista 2\tuningsetups to reset your car setups to their original settings - failure to do so may result in a broken driving experience (it is not necessary to delete your other game settings).

IMPORTANT: The extent of the physics changes means that a reset of Time Trial leaderboards will finally taking place in the coming days, so don´t bother much with previous lap times & setups.


CONTENT

• Added Volkswagen Polo & Virtus to TSI Cup class
  
• Added updated Azure 2021 (replacing old Azure)

GENERAL

• Added support for customizing AI driver names & personalities (See Information for Customizing AI drivers in AMS2 V1.3 for details)
  
• Minor revisions to shadow cascading parameters, slightly improving shadow quality especially for HIGH and lower settings
  

UI & HUD

• Added driver profile statistics page
  
• Added minimum rating information to server browser
  
• Lobby Page: Condensed mutually exclusive icons to one field; Switched to short vehicle names; Added player rank information.
  
• Extended player interaction pop-up to include remote player profile information; Added Steam profile link and friend request button.
  
• Added Full variant tachometer (default option for new profiles)
  
• Reordered vehicles by names/numbers in the vehicle selection screen
  
• Revised & corrected all UI vehicle information, addressing several innacuracies
  
• Updated label of Exit to Main Menu button on multiplayer session results screen
  
• Fixed session overview and pre-event menu alignment
  
• Fixed race session settings being incorrectly displayed on test day session overview

FFB

• Added DEFAULT+ profile
  
• Exposed FFB gain per vehicle to FFB script files.
  
• Adjusted base gyro/damping FFB calculations
  
• Reduced FFB parking force multiplier to minimise rattling when standing still

PHYSICS

• Extensive revisions to all tires & driveline models, with several corrections & improvements; the driveline updates include addition of elasticity moelling & fixing a bug clutch LSD preload calculation
  
• Revised ABS & Traction Control slip ranges & scaling
  
• Adjusted camber & toe step increments (now all camber & toe adjustments are +/- 0.1 degrees in cars that weren´t already set to that standard
  
• Revised default setups of all cars to a more suitable baseline
  
• Revised body drag coefficients of Sprint Race, Caterhams (all models) Caterhams, F-Classics, BMW M6 & M8
  
• Revised Ginetta G55 setup & aero distribution
  
• R-Retro Gen1: Moved diffuser center of pressure slightly forward
  
• Sprint Race: Slightly reduced brake torque, increased body drag coefficient, minor CoG height adjustment
  
• F-Vee: Reduced baseline steering lock by 1.5 deg
  
• Adjusted Super V8 FFB smoothing, wheel rates, raised default tire pressure
  
• Revised drag coefficients for
  
• GT3: Revised baseline rear downforce for all models for more accurate aero balance
  
• Ginetta G55: Revised default setup & aero distribution; Slightly reduced brake torque & default bias
  
• Sprint Race: Minor CoG height, diffuser adjustments Slightly reduced brake torque & adjusted default brake bias
  
• BMW M4: Minor default setup adjustments & aero revision, slightly reduced pneumatic trail
  
• Corvette C3: Revised driveline & suspension geometry
  
• Montana: Minor aero revisions
  
• Porsche Cup: Minor rear wing & default setup revisions
  
• Porsche Cayman GT4: Corrected error switching damper rates to non-existent fast dampers
  
• Revised BMW M6 / M8 body drag coefficent (contributes to BoP)

AI

• General AI calibration for all cars (further fine-tuning still in order)
  
• Bathurst: Revised AI performance
  
• Adjusted AI Grip multipliers for Kansai, Oulton, Nurburgring, Donington, Santa Cruz, Spa 1993 to minimise gaps to player performance based on spreadsheet results
  
• Adjusted AI corner cut scale to reduce corner cutting by the AI
  
• Adjusted F1 AI field spread
  
• Adjusted GT AI brake distance offset

AUDIO

• Updated tires´ road rolling sounds (slightly "drier" with less "windy" artifacts in it.
  
• Updated samples for external camera instead of filtered sample for dry / wet road sounds.
  
• Revised AJR Nissan V6 engine
  
• Porsche GT3-R: Fixed issue where transmission became inaudible off throttle
  
• Porsche Cup: Corrected surface sounds
  
• Mclaren 720S: Fixed missing traction control sound
  
• Adjusted traction control sounds

TRACKS

• Virginia: Several graphical and physical corrections; Minor AI tweaks (North pit layouts); Adjusted brake marker positioning
  
• VeloCitta: Further track adjustments according to latest reference material
  
• Bathurst: Fixed hotel railing transparency in fog conditions.
  
• Kyalami Historic: Fixed red building zfight, Crowds LODs, some minor static object LOD pops; minor Z-Fight in treeline
  
• Campo Grande, Ibarra, Imola, Imola 1972, Imola 1988, Imola 2001: 3d crowd LOD fixes
  
• Goiania: Minor LOD fixes
  
• Monza 1991: Fix hole in grass at Della Roggia Chicane

VEHICLES

• Mercedes E190 DTM: Fixed windscreen issue
  
• Caterhams: Fixed right front cockpit tire spinning the wrong way
  
• Copa Montana: Fixed sticker LOD issue
  
• Chevette: Textures updates & fixed light issue
  
• Puma GTB: Fixed cockpit external mirror flickering
  
• Porsche 911 RSR: Corrected cockpit camera position
  
• Corvette C3: Corrected cockpit camera position
  
• F-Classic G3M1: Fixed RPM display bar
  
• Passat HC: Fixed bonnet camera position
  
• Sprintrace: Corrected RPM lights
  
• Kart Shifter: Corrected RPM lights
  
• Corrected look back camera for: ARC Camaro, F-Classics (all models), F-Retro V12, Lotus72E, Metalmoro MRX P4, McLaren F1 LM
  
• BMW M6 GT3: Fixed display lap time issue
  
• F-Trainer Advenced: Fixed cockpit dashboard issue

Greetings everyone!

Part 2 of our November Development Update has finally arrived with some fresh good news for Automobilista 2 in our final development sprint of 2021!

And what a run of weeks it has been so far - not only have we managed to hit some of the important developments we had planned for the month, we also managed to find and are in process of resolving some other significant issues along the way - in fact our plan had been to publish this article already with our first big game update of November, however spotting a rather sizeable physics issue just a few hours before the update was meant to be deployed has forced us back to the drawing board for a few more days - the new Automobilista V1.3 update is expected to arrive towards the end of this week.

On the plus side, V1.3 will now pack even further value to what is already a landmark update for AMS2 - so let´s get into some of what we have been working on these past few weeks!



Our collaboration with Volkswagen Brasil and the Acelerados Channel has come to fruition this past week with the release of the AMS2 Demo featuring the new VW TSI Cup, bringing the VW Polo & Virtus production cars to AMS2 - more details on this release here.

The delay on our new game update unfortunately has meant the addition of these cars to the main game have also been slightly held back - do look forward to their arrival later this week however with the release of V1.3!


As touched upon in Pt1 of the November Dev Update, physics & FFB are receiving a pretty substantial overhaul this month similarly to what happened earlier in the year in the V1.2 dev cycle, maximizing further knowledge of the Madness tire & driveline models we have gathered in recent months.

Beginning with the latest finding - the issue spotted just this weekend forcing the delay of the update is nothing more than a simple syntax error that resulted in some of the tire models in AMS2 using components that didn´t belong to them. This error - the type you hope not to spot years into the development of the sim - is nevertheless the type of thing that can happen when you are working on someone else´s technology, and part of a learning curve that sometimes can stretch longer than one would have preferred. The silver lining here of course is that spotting and correcting this error will lead to even further progress to what was already proving a very extensive revision of all tire models in AMS2, which combined with the driveline developments have already led to all cars driving substantially better than the current release to one degree or another.

On to the driveline developments: as with tires, we have been constantly learning more details about the complex driveline system in the Madness Engine - a physical model based on masses, friction coefficients, stiffnesses and pairings, which if not configured correctly for each car can easily result in various handling issues.

The first major development here is fine tuning clutch LSD disc friction coefficients to eliminate the infamous "sticky" behavior of the differential on some cars, which could lead to the car balance suddenly changing mid-corner; the differential operation is much smoother now, remaining closed when it should, and opening immediately and yet gradually based on your effective locking amount from preload, ramp angles and amount of clutches.

The second important improvement was made to the clutch engagement formula itself - thus far, preload setting in LSD diffs had far too much importance and ramp angles relatively very little. Reason for this laid in a bug in the underlying mathematical formula combining forces from these two setup factors. With that legacy bug corrected, it´s been possible and in fact necessary to update all default differential setups to more sensible ones.

One neat example is the Caterham clutch LSD that could now get inspiration from a real-life Titan LSD designed for Caterhams: a 30/90 ramp configuration with preload adjusted for each driver's needs. This maintains the Caterham's trademark throttle steer character, while users will remain able to fine tune preload to suit their lift-off behavior tastes.


Furthermore on the driveline topic, we have been literally "flexing the muscles" of the engine by introducing driveline elasticity - with multiple moving parts between the engine and driven wheels (each with its own finite stiffness) the forces applied on these parts can be immense, as gearboxes multiply engine torque - one can often hear these dynamics at play on real onboard videos as engine noise and transmission whine oscillating as the whole driveline acts like a giant spring under changing loads.

We have revised stiffnesses and driveshaft weights in multiple classes, and in multiple points in their drivelines. This creates an immersive and organic effect that fully depends on what is going on in the physical simulation. If you stomp on the throttle in 1st gear, you will hear revs jump up as the driveline tenses up. Lift suddenly, and the driveline releases its tension audibly. Driving over bumps the engine and transmission noises will oscillate smoother than before as the connection between tires, gearbox and engine isn’t as direct.

This isn’t purely for immersion purposes either, as a slight delay in response between driven wheels and engine can have subtle effects on handling - it means for example that tire slip and engine RPM aren’t the only buffers for sudden forces, which can also dampen some sharp jolts in bumpy braking zones.

In the video below comparing a lap with the Mercedes AMG GT3 around Nürburgring in V1.2.5.1 (left) vs the current AMS2 Beta (right) overlayed with wheel speed telemetry, you can see and hear the subtle but noticeable results of the developments described above:


All of these substantial physics developments along with some adjustments in setup options have also led to a big revision of default setups on all cars - so further good news is default setups being as reasonably well adjusted as they can possibly be as universal baselines for all tracks and controller types.

It does also mean however it will be critical to reset all your setups one more time upon deployment of the next update - failure to do could result in some very odd setups that will most definitely spoil the cars´ handling.

A small price to pay hopefully for what is all around a really big step in the AMS2 driving experience - while physics development remains always an ongoing process for anyone serious about simulation, in V1.3 the physics will have reached a level of maturity that we are confident represents our very best work in this area to date.


AMS2 V1.3 will also introduce developments in the game Force Feedback, with the addition of a new "Default+" profile, parallel to the existing "Default".

FFB can be a somewhat subjective matter - while generally steering FFB in-game should resemble certain traits from real world vehicles - self-centering steering wheel, resistance buildup with more steering angle & ramp up of forces with tire load - in race sims that is somewhat restrictive and often leaves us missing the actual feedback we get in our bodies on a real car through its lateral and longitudinal acceleration. Through FFB one hopes to convey some of that mixed in with the usual steering forces, and the way to do that is where things get subjective.

With the new "Default+" profile we have what we believe to be a good compromise, adding further useful information to what you get on the Default profile.

Aside from additional info provided in Default+ , we also did a lot of work on damping, which is inherent to any steering system and something we strongly advise to be used to some degree as it doesn´t take anything away from the feedback, instead working in sync with the vehicle you drive - it depends not just on steering velocity, but vehicle velocity, lateral acceleration, tires slip, oversteer. All of that is taken into account on damping, making it usable and helpful instead of simply providing viscous-like resistance to wheel turning.

While the Default+ expands on the level of information being provided to the wheel, more in tune with the preference of some users, given FFB´s subjectvity to taste the usage of custom FFB profiles will remain an option - some interesting and popular work is being developed by @Karsten Hvidberg and company you may also want to check out. We had in fact planned to add one of these profiles as a third default option in the game, however we found out that the memory load from FFB system is raised considerably by its presence if there is another complex profile present in the "custom" slot, which could lead to various glitches.

We do encourage our users who may still be looking for something beyond what our default profiles are offering to give these a try checking out the Automobilista 2 Custom Force Feedback - Overview & Recommendations thread.

AMS2 V1.3 will bring yet another big step for the AI, with an extensive calibration pass to not only match recent player physics development, but also solving several track and car specific performance discrepancies from the current release.

Driver personalities have been extended with some initial parameters defining an AI driver´s ability in managing tire wear, racing in wet weather & cooperating with blue flags.

Furthermore, V1.3 will introduce the option to mod AI driver names, livery assignments & personalities - you can read more about this new feature on this thread moved from the beta subforum for those looking to get an early understanding of how to go about it.


Last but not least in our big list of V1.3 features is the introduction of the driver profile page alongside the long-awaited Multiplayer Rating System - albeit in Beta stage in this initial release.

The system is heavily based on the legacy system featured in Project Cars 2 with several adjustments - more details about it to be shared in a dedicated thread shortly before release.



We are also working with third party Multiplayer services to best integrate our system with theirs, which should hopefully see the arrival or organized scheduled races in AMS2 in the not-so distant future.

Furthermore, we have also been collecting some valuable feedback from the community for further Multiplayer development, some of which we are pushing to deliver as we progress through the public beta of the MRS - not everything will arrive in a matter of weeks, but we do hope to be fulfilling at least some common requests in the near future.




As previously announced, the second part of the Racin´ USA Expansion Pack is due to be released shortly after V1.3 and before the end of this month.

This time, we will explore what many consider to be the golden years of American single seater racing, as Racin´ USA Pt2 will feature a number of Reynards, Swifts and Lola Indycars & Champ Cars from the 1990s, along with three iconic road courses.

The cars will make up what we will call the "Formula USA" class in the game, in three generations - Gen1 will feature models from the 1995 Indycar season (the last before the series infamously split), Gen2 will have models from the 1998 season when Alex Zanardi reigned supreme, with Gen3 featuring models from 2000 - the performance peak of the Champcar era, enabling historical feats such as Gil de Ferran´s closed course record average speed.


The 3 tracks to feature in the pack will be Watkins Glen (which even though was not raced by these cars during the 1990s, is still one the greatest road courses in the USA fully warranting its place on the pack); the unique Cleveland temporary road course, set on the Burke Lake Front Airport with a fast, flowing and very bumpy layout serving as stage for some memorable wheel-to-wheel battles; and the third one remaining under wraps for a few more days as we finalize some licensing requirements.

Racin´ USA Pt2 itself will be a slightly staggered release - the Gen2 cars along with Cleveland & Watkins Glen will be released at the end of this month, with the remaining models and the third track arriving just before our Christmas wrap-up; there will be further additions to this pack later on in 2022, as the arrival of Racin´ USA Pt3 will introduce oval tracks to Automobilista 2, which will see all Formula USA models in Pt2 receiving their oval spec variants.

While Pt3 of Racin´ USA will take a bit longer than originally planned into 2022, the delay will see more tracks being added to the package than originally planned - at no extra expense for those who already bought the full Racin´ USA Expansion Pack!

Price for Racin´ USA Pt2 will be the same as Pt1 in your local currency.




We are happy to confirm we´re in the final stages of licensing arrangements with Nissan, which should see several models from the brand coming to Automobilista 2 if not already on v1.3, very soon after.

There are at least two more major manufacturer deals we are looking to wrap before the end of the year, all of which leading to various existing classes in the game being expanded with new competitors over the course of 2022 - watch this space!


This covers the main topics we had to bring you on this Dev Update, even if not quite all we have in store for the remainder of the year - we will cover these remaining goodies in our final Dev Update of the year early on December, by which time you will all hopefully already be enjoying AMS2 V1.3 & Racin´ USA Pt2!

We are thrilled to release our latest project developed in partnership with Volkswagen Brasil & Acelerados - The Volkswagen TSI Cup by Acelerados introduces the Volkswagen Polo & Virtus for Automobilista 2, and is also a standalone free demo for those who do not yet own the game.

The AMS2 Demo is now available on Steam from the Automobilista 2 Store Page.

Please note the update including these cars to the main game will be released this weekend - for the moment the cars are available only in the demo, which due to how the apps are configured on Steam cannot be installed in parallel to the full game.


The Demo currently features:

• Custom Event / Test Day / Time Trial Game modes
  
• Volkswagen Polo & Virtus TSI 1.0
  
• Autódromo Velo Città (3 layouts)

This however is not all - more to come here!


The Acelerados channel is doing a series on the making of the demo leading up to the competition that will be promoted by Volkswagen using the Automobilista 2 Demo - you can watch the first 3 episodes of the series here (in Portuguese only):