Reiza Studios have been pretty busy throughout the last month, so it’s a good time for Renato Simioni to share the latest news and plans from the team in the Automobilista 2 August 2020 development update.
Unsurpisingly some of the highlights already available include the release of the McLaren MP4/12 and arrival of update V1.0.27 which is apparently close to what the team hoped for their official release – so they’ve certainly made up ground since then.
We’ll let Renato continue in his own words…
“It´s not all about bringing in the new content however, as with Automobilista 2 we continue to strive to keep every car and track up to a reasonable standard, so that the package works as a whole, as this will be important for what will come later on in its development cycle.
Some of this work is already in progress – August has seen the picturesque Spielberg Historic receiving a substantial revision relative to its original release, as you can see from the comparisons below:
More of the “older” content should receive similar revisions as we continue to learn how to get the best out of the Madness engine.
Speaking of exploring the resources of the Madness engine, we have now begun the work on implementing its full damage system to all cars, with scratch & dirt maps along with deformable mesh and a bigger set of detachable parts to all cars in the game – currently only the Ginettas and more recently the Stock Cars from the 2020 are using all of these resources, but by the next update we´re hoping most if not all cars in the game will feature some proper wear & tear looks as per below:
The latest version has also seen the introduction of the Director Suite, to offer more broadcasting tools for leagues looking to stream their races.
VR Spectator Cameras
We´re working on a new feature that should considerably enhance the experience of watching replays or spectating online with a VR headset, as the usual TV cameras (which most of the time currently aren´t best suited for VR) will be replaced by VR-dedicated cameras placed on grandstands, marshall posts and other interesting positions on the race track one could reasonably access if you were just roaming around trackside with a very special general admission ticket
It should add a cool new dimension to spectating races in VR, allowing one to get a sense of how it is to sit on the main grandstand at Interlagos or at the top of hill in Mount Panorama, and even get to do some time travel if used with a historical car-track combo, going to sit up close to the fence at Silverstone to hear late 90s V10 cars flashing by!
Camera positions, LOD and sharpening settings are all WIP here of course and to some extent so is the audio, for which we have some interesting developments incoming that should really boost the experience of watching a race be it in VR or not – in any case this gives an idea of how it´s going to work We will be gradually adding these VR cameras to all tracks in the game over the coming updates, with the initial batch already coming with the September update.
Other Upcoming Developments
Since we have touched on the topic of audio development, we´d like to assure again that similar efforts are also ongoing to improve every area of the game – some on the short term, others on the longer term but generally you can expect AMS2 to play, look and sound better with every monthly update, and also become a more pleasant game to use as more quality of life improvements are integrated and further customization options added so users can tune it more to their own preferences.
To give a better clue into this ongoing process, below you have the unusual preview of what our code taskboard looks like, giving you a glimpese into the various tasks we have worked on, are currently working or will come to work in the near future – there are similar boards for every development front in the game, and they are constantly expanding not only to include the developments necessary to fulfill our own plans, but also to attend the more common requests we gather in any of the ongoing feedback topics here in the forum and in other communities:
So while can´t promise to deliver on everyone´s personal wishlist within a couple of updates, we can at least assure we´ll be giving our best shot to implementing any reasonable request we come across towards making the game better.”
Renato goes on to mention the release of the two new Steam bundles with the Automobilista 2 Premium Track Pack, and the Automobilista Ultimate Edition + Automobilista 2 Bundle. And he also gives a shout out to Slightly Mad Studios for their support along with licensing the Madness game engine.
You can keep up with all the latest Automobilista 2 news, updates and DLC here. Or check our everything available already with our Automobilista 2 car list and Automobilista 2 track list.
Automobilista 2 is available on Steam for the PC, along with the Ultimate Edition, the Season Pass bundle and the Silverstone and Hockenheim DLC track packs.
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