5 things I Love about Automobilista 2 - The Love Hate series

Hate and Love are strong words so think of these as more the opinions of a casual sim racing Pleb on random annoyances and enjoyable features of the various simulations we have in 2023.
fanboism sucks and I think every platform has its fair share of pros and cons. If you want to get the best out of the sim racing hobby make sure you try a bit of everything, as every platform will offer that little edge in some way over its rivals in one or two random areas. As the Skittles adverts says, taste the rainbow, we have a whole bunch of platforms, taste as many as you can.
Let us know in the comments what are the things that annoy you about Automobilista 2?
Want to come race with us, join our twitch channel here for some live racing and gaming across various platforms; / lewisbloom
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[@channelvr1293]

Winter, early morning 8 o'clock , Germany , Northsleife in a Porsche GT3 . The morning fog hanging over the track , sun piercing through the trees . And this in VR. Thats what i like about Automobilista 2. MIND BLOWING !!!

[@lewisbloom]

110% the weather the fog layers look stunning on a monitor and in VR its the cherry on the top, out of this world!

[@nakazonegamestreaming896]

Yeeeh! You right there on the spot!

[@ChrisTian-co4oc]

What i love about AMS2: The sheer variety of cars, even without mods The variety of tracks, historic tracks Historic formula cars Prototype classes The BMW M1 Procars The light in various weather conditions The screaming of the Gearbox in the 911 GT3 The ability to have some single make races or cups

[@lewisbloom]

Agreed the out of the box content is a big part of the plug and play aspect, nigh on always something new to try or just enjoy existing combo's you have discovered.

[@Burl_Hurlbutt]

Semi-related to the weather point, the awesome details of the seasons that they've added to each track is just something I can't live without when trying to race other sims. While I do wish it had the snow effects of Project Cars 2, it just looks so awesome seeing Bathurst with bright green trees and grass, Virginia with dead trees and snow on the ground off the track, all of that sort of stuff.. Absolutely love it.

[@lewisbloom]

ha, yes we often joke that if you set Brands to winter its like racing in fallout as its so rare to see winter UK displayed IRL at a track due to off season. Trees with no leaf/foliage and lots of browns replacing the normal greens of the spring and summer months. Amazing to see in a sim.

[@ChrisTian-co4oc]

@@lewisbloom As i found out AMS2 features seasons, i was in Brands Hatch and struggled to recognize the track, after a few seconds i noticed the trees have no leaf, giving me a hard time to remember the spots i'm at. It was just a Wow moment for me😁

[@nakazonegamestreaming896]

I play 99% Automobilista 2 in VR I´ll tell you guys right now it is just awesome! Hey man loved your channel will be coming for more that´s for sure. Cheers from Brazil.

[@lewisbloom]

Thanks Nakazone, I agree for VR racing AMS2 is just such a brilliant experience!

[@garnhamr]

i found it encouraging as a newby sim racer. load it up and it works how it should. now i understand how the ffb and physics should be.

[@lewisbloom]

Great to hear the plug and play and gateway sim ability are so important for the newer players, glad it worked out for you. Welcome to the hobby there's a shed ton of platforms and content to try once you have your rig sorted and feel confident enough to jump in.

[@ElShogoso]

5 things I love about AMS2 1. Brazillian representation. As I'm a Brazillian myself, there's a lot of cars and tracks I can really relate to (especially series like the stock cars obviously but also the Uno and Fusca cups and 80's touring classics, those cars have a big impact in Brazillian car culture). 2. Not CPU intensive: In assetto corsa, if I want to race with AI on my machine which doesn't have a super beefy CPU, I can throw maybe 6 or 7 cars to have a comfortable race without any hiccups. In AMS2 (and Project Cars 2) I can easily make a full grid of 20 cars and my PC isn't gonna break a sweat. Makes it my go to sim for AI racing, along with the first Automobilista (which had better AI and is still one of the best sims imo). By the way, weather stuff in AC doesn't even compare. RainFX looks beautiful, and there are some physics implemented, but there are no puddles and no dry line, it's just the entire track uniformely wet. AMS2 rain is a lot more realistic. 3. Best weather system on the market: rivaled maybe by rFactor 2 and Gran Turismo 7 but I think the weather stuff in AMS2 is market leading. Rain driving is extremely immersive and the real time weather stuff is something I'd expect from a flight simulator but not a racing sim. (Edit: I wrote this before watching the video BTW but you said the exact same lol) 4. Polished, easy to use UI. Could still use some improvements here and there, such as being able to quit the game without navigating all the way back to the main menu, but it's still a very straightforward AI to use. 5. Lots of content even without DLC + fantastic DLC content: Unfortunately, AMS2 modding isn't much of a thing yet, so you have to rely on Reiza to deliver content. Thankfully, they deliver. The recent Brazillian F1 cars DLC got me back into the sim chasing lap times on that MP4/4 (which I think is only officially available in this sim and GT7, obviously can be modded into other sims though). The Nordschleife track is probably the most up to date in the market including the recent 2020 changes.

[@lewisbloom]

Brilliant comment, thanks so much for taking the time to post. Great to hear from across the pond and down in Brazil too. I love what is to me totally random series in AMS2, really opened my eyes to whole new series and ultimately ways of racing.

[@ElShogoso]

@@lewisbloom Yes, this game represents some of the Brazillian car culture icons really well. Cars like the brazillian Chevette (probably the favorite car of drift fans in Brazil), the VW Gol with the AP engine which is possibly the most popular engine in Brazil, people have swapped that thing in pretty much every old car you can get here, the Uno which has legend status here and became known as pretty much the ultimate work car as well as many Brazillian's first car, (for example, cable TV companies, electric companies, etc, all those companies used Fiat Unos). Those cars aren't raced for the memes either, people are seriously passionate about them. One car that I think is missing that should be added to AMS2 at some point is the Chevrolet Celta, which was a brazillian budget car based on the Corsa platform and is probably the most common car to see in track days and cup races, due to being a great platform to convert into a track car (despite being originally econoboxes). But all those other cars I mentioned, you are gonna see in track days, drift events, and cup races around Brazil (as well as maybe some less legal environments).

[@lugs118]

When 3 out of 5 appear on both the love and hate lists that can’t be a good thing. I think you could have mentioned the track list, all of the highest quality and the historic versions are fantastic. Force feedback is very good and although I only use the default profile I love the fact you can use custom profiles.

[@lewisbloom]

Its funny you say that as I am writing my 5 for the next sim and its happening again. I wonder if it will be a pattern how many points in sim racing that we criticise are also heavily linked to high points from a different angle. Its a fascinating exercise to sit down and write these out. And yes the tracks are so cool, for me though I didn't mention it they come under the content, the amount of cool tracks esp the non mainstream stuff is just awesome.

[@zedwarddogg]

I find it strange to agree with a YTer’s opinion, but (The BTCC comparison aside) you are bang on. The weather and the ability to host your own server are 2 areas where AMS2 top trumps all other titles. Why is this the only sim title with plug and play server set up? Like you said, that used to be standard fare and greatly missed.

[@lewisbloom]

Hey I ain't a KZbinr, Just a casual sim racing pleb wanting to get some content out that isn't from the Pro's or those that say they are not quick but in fact are quicker than the casuals lol On the BTCC thing do you not agree? For me its the rose tinted glasses of BTCC on playstation 1 in the 90's and that mad feeling

[@zedwarddogg]

@@lewisbloom TOCA series for me, I think that was PS1? Long time ago. I get what you mean, but for me BTCC is slower cars and mostly fwd. I get more TC feel from the newer Mini, but if I want a BTCC experience I go to AC mods or R3E WTCC, plus they can handle some serious door banging on R3E. TBH, when I commented I was thinking about the Aussie supercar, so hands up for that. 🤦‍♂️

[@kevinmee9042]

I could not agree more, AMS2 has been a breath of fresh air to sim racing.

[@lewisbloom]

Been brilliant having an actual PCars3 haha, a nice upgrade over the PCars2 little different on the content but that plug and play love is right there.

[@kevinmee9042]

@@lewisbloom Exactly and it runs just awsome in VR. I have AC and ACC but spend more time in Automobilsta 2 now.

[@lewisbloom]

Yes I've got a nice range of sims I dive into and AMS2 tends to be the one I load up the most purely because of the plug and play

[@Chris-tu3xx]

I have most racing sims. This one is my "go to!"

[@lewisbloom]

It is a great sim from the plug and play aspect, something so often over looked I feel. That almost console feel of load up and go is not seen much outside of PCars and AMS2.

[@phazon_kiwi]

Know nothing about the game, or cars, but I know they go vroom vroom! Good video!

[@lewisbloom]

Hey Phazon, thanks! Cars do indeed go vroom, though with me at the wheel in sim its also crash bang + wallop!

[@christopherpope1800]

Fantastic game/ sim for me as I only play in VR, I love driving all the variety of cars and tracks. Suggest if you buy it, get good at gt3 as unfortunately its 90% of public lobbys

[@lewisbloom]

Hey Christopher thanks for the comment, yes GT3 is the "in" thing in racing these days but you can get great races outside of it too, ive made my own lobbies and had 15+ grids for retro F1 and all sorts, so it is certainly possible. A friend recently had a night hosting and we had just JCW mini night and the grids where 20-25 strong all night, it was a blast!

[@ukjim_sim]

Frames in your face! I have to agree with all of your love and hate lists. One thing you mentioned but it really does it for me, is AMS2 VR performance and quality. It's superb compared to other sims. Cheers mate 👍

[@lewisbloom]

Yes Jim it is so good in VR isn't it, it just runs so nicely in the context of other games and platforms.

[@Maddesen]

AMS2 and PC2 are my go to's. They both look great, while PC2 might be a bit easier driven than AMS2, its great for social racing.

[@lewisbloom]

Agreed, bloody brilliant plug and play sims!

[@FumbleFellow]

5 things I love about 'First wifey comment!': - I - got - more - wifey - points

[@lewisbloom]

Bloody hell, your gonna have hundreds and I already awe you a sub for January

[@nephildevil]

PC2 got me to buy a wheel and into simracing, tried all what i could get my hands on compatible with the wheel but kept returning to old pc2, esp since i tried vr racing with my oculus, and now just discovered ams2, and what can i say i just upgraded to a quest 3 today for vr and ams2 is perfect. SO now lets watch that hate on ams2 vid lol i cant even think of anything bad so this is gonna be interestimg haha

[@shadostorm8375]

Between ACC and AMS2, im having more fun w AMS2! Tons of cars, decent gfx n lotsa cars to choose from. I wish they have more supercars tho.

[@lewisbloom]

Yes I tend to float around the platforms a fair bit, well worth having as many installed as you can thanks to each doing its own little bit better than others etc. For the supercars check out the AMS2 mod scene, its very new, quite rough and ready but there are a chunk of supercars of various eras already.

[@KerbYourEnthusiasm]

I’d love to give it a go, particularly in VR - but haven’t been able to map my throttle, brake, steering & paddles for months now 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@lewisbloom]

What's your kit? Have you ever had it working ok? If you check out my AMS2 5 things I hate video then I mention the issue with the templates included and that its best to go full custom for some users, I had to do full custom myself.

[@KerbYourEnthusiasm]

@@lewisbloom I’ve had it since beta & it worked fine with the G29 I had at the time, but it (the physics, not the wheel) felt off the way the car would catch its own slides so I checked in after every update but always ended up playing something else. Then I became a fannaboi with a GT DD pro/V3 combo June-ish last year & I’ve not been able to successfully map the steering, paddles & pedals all at once in AMS2 ever since. Funnily enough I had similar (if not quite as infuriating) issues mapping the fannaboi’s in ACC too.. iRacing, with the base in PC compatibility mode is the only one that even remotely resembles plug & play, so that’s all I’ve played for nearly a year. Have tried pretty much all the different combos of profiles (including custom), separate & combined pedals, PC/PC compatibility modes on the base etc several times in the past year but never managed to get it going. Either I could steer, throttle & brake - but not shift 🤨Closest I ever got was steering left, braking & shifting - but the game wanted me to use the throttle to steer right, so…… After a couple of hours fiddling, watching YT vids, reading forums etc & STILL not being able to manage it the frustration got the better of me & I went off to do something else. My last attempt was straight after watching your last vid about the 5 things you hate maybe last week (also had a mate telling me for weeks that recent updates had eliminated that weird feeling of self catching slides) so you could say I was highly motivated to give it another go but again my patience with it ran out… Only thing I don’t think I’ve tried is plugging the pedals into the base, so am currently downloading it again now to try that too. But I couldn’t watch this vid all the way to the finish because your first point (that it is plug & play) is the polar opposite of my experience - wish me luck. Will report back how I get on… 😋

[@lewisbloom]

@@KerbYourEnthusiasm what pedals do you have? I have separate pedals and so have to use custom. If you have fanatec pedals and base I believe you should be plugging them into the wheel itself the same as with the fanatec shifter.

[@KerbYourEnthusiasm]

@@lewisbloom Clubsport V3’s. No shifter as yet, didn’t see the point in spending the dosh when I’ve got enough of a headache getting the paddles going. I’ll give plugging the pedals directly into the base a go, it’s probably the only thing I haven’t tried yet. Stay tuned ✌🏽

[@lewisbloom]

@@KerbYourEnthusiasm fingers crossed for you, Ive Thrustmaster pedals and a Fanatec base and its the seperate pedals that seemed to cause me to have to use the custom preset which seems to just mean everything is mapped manually. I have a fanatec shifter but its mostly in SQ mode so basic operating procedure is that it just replicates the paddles for me. One thing I have noticed and again I should probably do a wee video on it as its the same in the land of flight sim is that the budget hardware is always a lot less hassle than as soon as you spend the dosh and upgrade to better kit lol. Such a royal PITA at times. Hope you get your issue sorted as the sim has a bunch to offer!

[@darrenwhitehouse7665]

I adore this sim for the phenomenal vr experience immersion but I do have soft sides for pc2, ac, and acc my other sim I adore for vr is msfs

[@lewisbloom]

Haha, you sound like me, though recently I have been mostly pancake mode, AMS2 in VR is bloody amazing!

[@darrenwhitehouse7665]

@@lewisbloom ever since I got quest 2 I can't go back Lewis flight racing oh yesssss 😂

[@lewisbloom]

Yer the videos and streaming means I still use the pancake regularly, but I loves me my index and quest!

[@msilgaming]

Couldn't agree more, good job!

[@lewisbloom]

Thanks MSIL, check out the 5 things I hate too for some balance, what are your loves and pet peeves for the AMS2 platform?

[@ChrisAce117]

Love the game only a couple things I want added to it: Ranked race hoppers; Safety car on the double yellow period (just ands a little more immersion); Better Ai driving instead of having them cheat (their wet weather and over hundred level driving is blatant cheating)

[@lewisbloom]

Good thing Chris is that 2 of those things "should" be coming, with the MP apparently getting some better rank system (Though personally I think they should work with LFM guys) and the AI getting some constant updates almost every cycle getting better and better. In the meantime for the AI I would certainly recommend some modded AI packages to try as they can help lots in immersive behaviour for the AI.

[@XCougar85X]

That wet weather cheating was a massive issue in PC2 as well.

[@roy_33nl]

Great video mate, just to add to the multiplayer, whats also great is that you can race on tracks you dont own, as long as you own at least one of the cars used. And i would say ams2 looks better then ACC, as ACC has an awful blurry mirror, they also used to have a weird blur on the tyres, but thats gotten better, and looking at the Rennsport esports event, that has the same issue, so it seems that the unreal engine isnt great for racesims

[@lewisbloom]

damn yer that is a good point of MP the only owning a single car in a given lobby to drive, a feature about to drop for rf2 also albeit about 5+ years late.

[@roy_33nl]

@@lewisbloom yeah, but on RF2 you need to own at least one car thats used on the server, and the track, on ams2 you need to own only one car thats used on a server, no need to own the track

[@lewisbloom]

Ah yes true, though I think standard system rf2 is introducing is very fair its amazing that Reiza added the extra bonus of not even needing the circuit.

[@roy_33nl]

@@lewisbloom yeah, absolutely, hopefully it brings more people into rf2, especially the btcc races on lfm

[@lewisbloom]

@@roy_33nl haha yes my hope too, more LFM drivers outside of the porsche rookies which are a blast but be nice to have other series with the same driver numbers

[@RacingWithChuck27]

Love the graphics but again, the bugs and bi polar Ai trump the beauty. Making it fun to drive the CART cars, Senna cars, Group C for hot lapping.

[@lewisbloom]

Are you only doing ovals for the this? The AI can be fixed, or at least many issues addressed using custom AI or creating your own to suit your needs. What I've found as an offline mostly player is that the AI for me is the best in class. Its not perfect but then neither is real racing or online racing but its def got a nice balance between good and bad that mimics real and online racing for me. But again this isn't ovals and isn't open wheeler as I tend to drive tin tops.

[@RacingWithChuck27]

@@lewisbloom no, I got ams2 for CART stuff but they ran ovals and Indy. The Ai was better when you could adjust the aggression by numbers. 25 was the sweet spot for me and 105-107 skill. The grip with the Ai on any course is like their tires have ran 3-4 laps at the race start lol. I’m normally a league guy at iracing but I’ve been bored lately. Everyone runs gt3 😑 I prefer the gt1 C6r vette

[@lewisbloom]

Are you aware of Jake from GPLaps youtube channel?, I reckon his channel you would enjoy greatly as I do too. Not sure if links work in comments but this stuff is lots of fun to watch; kzbin.info/www/bejne/rGixk5V-dtCcrNk

[@RacingWithChuck27]

@@lewisbloom yes I like his videos

[@lewisbloom]

@@RacingWithChuck27 yer he makes some awesome stuff. I guess ultimately the unfortunate truth is if you want immersive offline oval you've gotta go retro to old games.

[@RTPJu]

This week I reinstalled AC because I miss the free roaming, the track day option (within the CM) and the huge selection of road cars (even considering only the original Kunos content). Yeah... it's hard to come back after play AMS2... and I kinda love AC (the third most played game on my Steam profile... more than 1000 hours)... it was not easy for me to bench the Kunos sim, but Reiza make it happen lol

[@Lifeguruonafence]

Do you get the puddles in heavy rain like in project cars where they cause aquaplaning?

[@lewisbloom]

Yes certainly, had some fun with them the other night when re-creating some of the fun from the British GT at Oulton park last weekend, mixed conditions, dry and wet and puddles all in the same multiclass GT race, bloody brilliant fun!

[@NinePercentOfNine]

300 pages in reiza forum about custom ffb...

[@lewisbloom]

I am not sure what you mean with this comment, a good or bad thing as it can be both and maybe points towards another white elephant in sim racing, that FFB is in the eye of the beholder and a good and bad FFB isn't really something that exists due to this?

[@NinePercentOfNine]

@@lewisbloom I just comment "plug and play" because not all steering bases good working in ams2, personally me try a lot custom files for normal ffb for my base.

[@lewisbloom]

@@NinePercentOfNine yes there's lots of mods but tbh the best is still default+ across the board.

[@ihamptonii]

Nice video! What is the track's name at the 8:00 time mark? Looks fun to drive on.

[@lewisbloom]

Thanks for the comment Isaac, that circuit is one of the old Hockenheim layouts, perfect for the older F1 cars, loads of fun with a nice mix of relaxed straight's and mad heart stopping braking zones for yeeting your virtual life through chicanes.

[@virtual_GaRy]

video starts at 1:12

[@lewisbloom]

intro will of course be in the videos as context is needed but next will be shorter in the next one

[@virtual_GaRy]

@@lewisbloom haha dont worry i was just in a bad mood

[@lewisbloom]

@@virtual_GaRy nah you are correct, need to be more to the point at the beginning and spread out the other bits throughout

[@theleakyvalve]

I need to get your settings for running it clean aha. I’ve found that I get stutters and feeezes in offline races at time. Almost like online lagging. Watched both videos and I’m on board with all your points. Good and bad! I really wish this game got more love and tlc for things like the ai and such. Only thing I think I would note is, for myself any ways, I needed to quickly run the pedal and wheel calibration before I started racing. After that it was just my own preference for keybinds and such on the wheel. But after calibration it’s jump in and race

[@lewisbloom]

What are your specs, and what hardware sim rig and software extras are you running, crew chief etc? One thing I recently found out thanks to twitch streamer BCRCGaming was that the SS AA in AMS2 looks great but can utterly destroy performance, esp if you are recording and or running other software in the background.

[@theleakyvalve]

Ryzen 7 3700x and a 2080 GPU 32g of ram 200hz monitor Thrustmaster tlcm pedals. Tx base with open wheel add on In the background it’s usually only crew cheif. I run a separate audio app for streaming. And didn’t have any issue when I streamed the other day I’m curious if it’s a display issue. As I changed my display settings from native at 60 hz to native at 144hz. Also worth maybe noting the race I did had 27 cars on grid including myself. Most of my settings are on high. And running the steam fps counter usually has me in the high 150s for fps

[@lewisbloom]

What's your AA settings running at and yes worth noting the 144hz too, things like making sure v sync is set correctly. For the AA settings trying turning it down a smidge

[@theleakyvalve]

@@lewisbloom I turned the msaa or whatever it was off and turned on tmaa. Seen a few others with the same issue so hopefully it’s a fix!

[@lewisbloom]

@@theleakyvalve fingers crossed for you that you have the solution. The ssaa thing was the issue my end and I've started to turn it off in other games too

[@MrAlexvizz]

I just started playing sim racing with my VR headset. What would be a good career mode in a racing game? I got Assetto corsa, but it's not great at all and I kinda hate having to download 1000 things to make it work great.

[@lewisbloom]

Unfortunately if you don't have Project Cars 2 in your steam library already you're a bit out of luck. The title is a great gateway sim and isn't for for sale any more. Currently if you do have AMS2 though there is a racing life career mod you can download, search youtube for others who have done videos on it, how its works and how to set it up.

[@MrAlexvizz]

@@lewisbloom I found project cars 2 for cheap online. I might give it a shot!

[@lewisbloom]

@@MrAlexvizz its a great gateway sim, loads of context esp if you have all the DLC packs, great in VR and runs a nice career system

[@vimtoglass]

🥚

[@lewisbloom]

Good Egg