Greetings everyone!
We are on the verge of a new update for Automobilista 2, packing many substantial gameplay & simulation improvements as well as a free new car.
Let´s go over the highlights then to give you an idea of what to expect as AMS2 hits V1.6.9.95!
The upcoming V1.6.6.95 will include a free new car – the imposing Panoz Esperante GTR-1 arrives as a fresh new contender in the GT1 class, the fastest ever GT class now featuring five models in total.
The GTR-1 was developed by Panoz in partnership with Reynard Motorsport, with a distinct long-hood layout earning it "the Batmobile" nickname amongst the fans with whom it became an instant cult-classic; powered by a thunderous 600 HP Ford V8 placed just behind the front axle, the car traded designs conventions of the era for retaining a more distinct American character, managing to remain competitive against the top cars of the class competing in both sides of the Atlantic from 1997 to 1999.
Keeping the tradition from recent updates, V1.6.9.95 will bring another fresh batch of AI improvements – more substantive this time with three major developments that should carry fruits all the way to V1.7 later in the year.
The first big development is an overhaul of how the AI “sees” the race track edges, improving its ability to detect the useable lanes at any given time and where to best place itself in it both in terms of optimizing performance as well as avoiding hazards; In practice this should result in far less frequent off track excursions curb and wall clipping by AI cars; smoother & more purposeful movement both while adhering to the racing line as well as when negotiating traffic, and improved race craft both against the player as well as against each other.
The second big development breaks down how AI race lines are defined; instead of the single dry and wet fast lines which all AI cars would tend to gravitate around at any given point, AI drivers will now be able to follow distinct lines from each other, with these distinct alternative lines now possibly being self-generated based off a set of existing recorded lines; this is also the case for the wet lines introduced in the previous update, which up until then were only working for the handful of tracks that did get these manually crafted wet lines.
This development greatly expands the scope of what we can do with the AI in AMS2, but the best results from this feature are still to come when it reaches maturity in V1.7, but even at this early stage users should already be able to witness cases of the AI being a little more diverse and creative, especially when conditions switch from dry to wet or from wet to dry.
Finally, new AI customization options in the form of AI Traction Skill & AI Brake Skill Scalars, which much like the existing AI Wet Skill Scalar and their own names suggest serve to scale AI performance specifically in traction and braking zones; users can adjust those settings in order to trim the AI performance to their preference and / or to better suit their own driving style (with late brakers for ex likely finding value in running a higher AI Brake Skill scalar combined with a lower AI Traction Skill scalar, so that the AI will be braking later than at the default scale at the expense of losing a little time on corner exit).
Qualifying rules made user-configurable outside of presets in all game modes (including Multiplayer)
Parc Ferme made user configurable outside of presets in all Single Player modes
Added 'Same Class' private qualifying option for all game modes including Multiplayer
Improved CPU performance during weather slot transition (should clean up most if not all those specific hitches and frame drops)
Fixed a couple of critical Multiplayer crash sources
Fixed Live Track state being lost in Single Player sessions following an Instant Replay
In our previous dev update back in June we covered the ongoing issue of officially licensed F1 cars in AMS2, and the rising new conflict presented to us during our attempt to extend our license agreement with McLaren Racing; right after the publishing of that article, we agreed to the requirement of retaining a single official F1 manufacturer in AMS2, and a new agreement conforming to such terms was presented to us which we readily commited to; there has been no progress since however on that being signed into effect by the other party. From the little we have heard from them since, this might have been down to an unfortunately timed personnel shuffle, regardless of the circumstances, until the matter is resolved in some direction we are not able to take any action with regards to these formula cars, which thus continue as they currently are for another game update.
If we manage some resolution on the matter within a short enough time from the upcoming release, the might be another update to reflect this development; if things continue without a clear resolution however our focus will shift to the development of the major V1.7 update, which is currently targeted for later on the year, and any changes around this content will only take place with then.
Once we do shift our focus towards V1.7, things may become a little quiet again as we focus on the integration of the bigger structural changes that we have been working on for this upcoming milestone update for Automobilista 2.
That covers all we had to share for now! We hope this update will leave AMS2 at a very solid state for you to continue to enjoy it, as we retreat to the shop again to prepare for its next big leap!