Greetings Everyone!
It´s been almost 5 months since our last Dev Update in June and almost 3 months since our last public release - not exactly a lifetime in game development, but a first for AMS2. Never since its original Early Access release has there been such a big gap with neither new game updates nor detailed news about them.
This isn´t a sign of AMS2 development slowing down – on the contrary, behind the scenes this has been one of the most intense and productive development cycles we have had, the results from this especially long cycle soon to be shared with you all.
Those of you used to following these dev updates will have read a lot about the challenges to develop and manage a game of this size – many cars, many tracks, many simulation variables, all of which under constant development with new features and new variables being brought in all the time keeping goalposts ever moving and making it harder to make it all work cohesively. The game by design been a constant construction site and some untidiness comes with the territory - the only manner we could tackle such an ambitious project was by leaving perfectionism at the door, and just keep building it one update at a time Deliver good first, then push to make it better - this has been the approach for every new car, track or feature. Sometimes that initial “good” wasn´t even that good, sometimes it was more than that but up to this point we never set out to make everything as good as we could make it to begin with – that would have to come later, once more building blocks were in place.
With the release of v1.5 we have reached the point at which it´s finally time to focus less on creating potential, and more on fulfilling it. After the last v1.5.0.5 that has been the primary guideline for all dev fronts – polish everything, to the best we can within the window of time we have.
As we dug into it, what was at first a development guideline became a bit obsessive – simply put, we would not have a new public release until we felt everything was as good as we could possibly make it, or at the very least heartwarmingly close to it as far as the core of the simulation is concerned – physics, FFB, AI, audio and all related functionalities.
Under that approach and with no clearly defined goals, timelines became even harder to assess as the more we polished the more room for improvement we dug into, which then required further polishing, with then brought up further room for improvement in what seemed to be a never-ending loop. And as we went through that loop days became weeks which then became months, and ultimately we decided to merge what were supposed to be two separate development cycles into one, and now we are finally about to wrap everything up for AMS V1.5.3 release.
This isn´t meant to overhype the new update much to less to pretend perfection has been reached, not least as we don’t believe that is an attainable goal in sim racing yet - everything can always still be made a little or even a lot better, that goes for the core simulation as well as the whole production surrounding it. After this release we´ll certainly still have great many new things to achieve, a few solvable niggles will have slipped by which will demand quick fixing, and bigger problems will remain to be understood and improved on – plans are already in the works for 2024 and beyond for further substantial progress, including a complete GUI overhaul (an area we didn´t do much work on for this update), some updates on the rendering engine (another area we´ve haven´t dug into beyond adjustments here and there); a content management system (for those who are interested in parts of the game but not in others, and who might want to combo that with mods for a more focused experience), a more robust Multiplayer dedicated server tool, as well as plenty more cool cars and tracks to fill up all the dots towards the endgame of an-encompassing career mode that ties the whole thing together, among other things that will certainly lead to AMS2 taking further leaps until its development finally wraps for good.
In light of the above, the next update could be seen just as another step towards the next step just as all that came before it, and in terms of introducing new content, features and improvements to the sim within a single update there certainly has been bigger ones before it; and even though we are satisfied with the results right now, that satisfaction is bound to be short-lived as further development makes the current obsolete a urge to move bar for the whole thing higher inevitably kicks in again. It´s difficult to gauge where you are in a journey when you´re not sure how far away the destination is, but this update marks the first time we have delivered everything we had in reach at the point of release, and that makes v1.5.3 a milestone update in its own right.
Enough with the rambling then and let´s have a look into the specifics of what you can expect from the new update!
[h3]Update on Time Trial Leaderboards[/h3]
Firstly we´d like to acknowledge this fumble and assure all TT boards will be back live upon the release of V1.5.3. Long story short, as we had mentioned in the last dev update before v1.5, the new physics overhaul would require resetting in setups and TT leaderboards, the latter being held back until we had had another cycle to fine-tune the physics revisions. We did end up resetting the boards at the point we believed to be on the verge to wrap up for release only to pull it back due to another minor physics breakthrough, leading to the boards staying out since. We couldn´t reinstate old boards once they were cleared and there wouldn´t be much sense in having new boards up only to reset them again now, so leaving it off until the update was the only choice after the deed had been done. We´d like to apologize for that and assure users we will be more careful in how we manage future resets if they are ever necessary again.
[h3]Historical Track Pack PT2 - The AMS2 History Tour Continues[/h3]
All the ongoing groundwork on the fundamentals wouldn´t hold back the content teams from doing their thing, and on this front track and vehicle teams have continued to deliver brilliantly with some exciting new content coming up with the new update in the form of two DLC packs, one of which being this second Historical Track Pack featuring four additional historical versions for modern tracks already present in the game:
Barcelona 1991 – Earlier this year we release Circuit de Catalunya as it is today, and with v1.5.3 the shorter National layout will be added to that DLC pack. The track already has some history behind it now, having inaugurated in 1991, having hosted rounds of many high-profile championships and becoming a staple in F1 the F1 calendar hosting the Spanish GP in every year since. The track back then looked distinctively modern vs the other tracks in the 1991 calendar, and while it has proved to be ahead of its time managing to remain one of the top-Grade A tracks in the world with minimal reforms in these 32 years, it looked quite different back then. In terms of layout, the amazingly fast Campsa corner was even faster back then with a shallower angle leading to another fast right / left S corner that still exists but was retired from use back in 1994.
Interlagos 1991 / 1993 - the classic Interlagos circuit in two slightly different versions, as they were in Senna´s two Brazilian GP victories, fresh out of the reform that reduced its total length from the amazing original 7,873km layout (already featuring in AMS2) to the shorter but still excellent 4,325 km layout has by and large remained the same to this day – most of the track changes were in its topography, with a big climb in between T6 / T7 (Laranjinha) where the new layout “shortcut” to the infield section getting smoothed out in the 1995, and run-offs around the track being mostly off-camber, including at the exit of T11 (Mergulho, the fast downhill left-hander) which made going off there particularly hairy back In the day.
Montreal 1991 – Another track which features in AMS2 with an older version from 1988 and the modern, which 1991 being and interim evolution between them as in that year the track was reformed to lower the very high curbs it had up to that point, and tighten the previously absurdly fast last right / left S into the last chicane that remains pretty much unchanged to this day. The track was still tighter in places than it is currently, and big sawtooth curbs and lack of run-offs anywhere meant the room for error was much smaller.
Despite the superficial layout similarities, as you get to drive each of these historical tracks it should be evident how different they actually are how far the overall standards for race tracks has shifted in the 30 years since these versions were raced on – from the bumps and the curbing to the barriers and run-offs (or lack thereof) these tracks provide a very different experience and some additional challenges relative to their modern counterparts, and are thus more suitable for the race cars from this era (of which AMS2 has plenty) to be raced on.
Given the limited rework involved in these alternative historical versions, Pt2 will be priced a bit cheaper than Pt1 – for a very reasonable $7.99 you´ll get all four layouts described above.
[h3]Formula HiTech - AMS2 Goes Active[/h3]
The early nineties tracks as featured in the Historical Track Pack Pt2 were notoriously bumpy – luckily, we have just the right machinery to handle them as AMS2 V1.5.3 will introduce the Formula HiTechs, headlined by two official McLaren F1 cars from an era in which technology truly started to pervade Grand Prix racing.
Cars of this era were equipped with various gadgets such as traction control, launch control ABS and active suspension. The first three need no explanation as they have continued to be used in various motorsports classes ever since, but active suspension was so revolutionary and so distorted the nature of the competition that it got banned within two seasons never to return - and for the first time in sim racing AMS2 users will be able to experience what it was like to drive with it!
The system had already been experimented with on and off through the eighties but only in the nineties was there enough computing power to make the best of it. The system did away with the usual springs, dampers and roll bars of a typical passive suspension and replaced with electronically-controlled hydraulic actuators that actively managed the vehicle´s vertical movement in order to optimize ride and ensure the car was always at its ideal ride height irrespective of the bumps it was going over and the loads it was under. The demo video below demonstrates how that works in practice – notice the lack of movement from the chassis in the active car relative to the passive:
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Beyond that obvious performance benefit, the system allowed teams to get creative in exploring other ways to gain lap time – one of which being the original "Drag Reduction System", with which drivers could with the press of a button change the car´s attitude on straights and with it stall the rear wing in order to gain top speed – then pressing the button again to restore the car to its appropriate poise for the next corner.
Formula HiTech Gen1 features four distinct generic models along with officially licensed McLaren MP4/7A. the first year in this technological revolution, in which Williams got the jump on everyone else by introducing at once traction control, launch control and active suspension to the 1991 passive car to deliver the FW14B, and with that car it dominated the season with qualifying times that were often 2s faster than the first conventional car.
The other teams scrambled to try catch up, and as the season went on a couple of them introduced traction control to their cars, one of which being McLaren with the MP4/7A. The car was a tidy evolution to the iconic MP4/6, finally progressing to semi-auto gearboxes following the lead of both Ferrari and Williams and with the Honda V12 more powerful than ever, overall though a step-up that proved insufficient against the mighty Williams FW14B which Senna once described as being "from another planet".
