Is Automobilista 2 As Good As Everyone Says It Is? 

"Who's gonna blink first for the fast right?" **Turns left**

AMS2 has become my "instant gratification sim". It may not be the most realsitic out there, but when it comes to just enjoying driving, I feel like they've hit a really healthy balance. It feels realistic enough that you get a thrill from nailing a lap, but it doesn't require hours and hours of grinding away before you're competent enough to have fun regardless of the car you jump into which is perfect for people who just want to jump in and have fun without taking it too seriously.

Jimmy racing in the shed: racing shoes and gloves. Jimmy after racing the Praga once: slippers.

"part time racer, full time twat" lmao

AMS2 is my new favourite single-player sim. It’s doing a lot of things right in my opinion. Setting up fun time/weather scenarios is a perfect complement to the extensive car and track list. You can run Monaco in the wet in a V10 F1 car, or GT3s at Nordschleife overnight, or the McLaren F1 at Donington in the fog, or any number or Brazilian circuits at sunset, etc, etc. Each has their own challenge and unique wow factor, and the combinations are pretty much endless. The driving physics will be debated forever. I like them and have liked them for some time, but there are many people in the sim community who I respect who don’t like how AMS2 drives. Honestly, there’s too many good sims on the market right now for anyone to waste their time on something they don’t like, so thankfully people can just move on if this isn’t for them. But for me it’s a really fun sim with driving physics that fall within the range of what I consider to be acceptable. But having never driven any of the cars in real life, my opinion is purely based on preference rather than objective comparison to reality.

“This video is made possible by the following cuties”

Jimmy "gonna try for no contact" also jimmy "and we just clip the guy behind"

Jimmer looks so genuinely happy! From where he was a few months ago, I'm so glad to see him in a better place both physically and mentally. Much love to you and congrats on everything you've been able to achieve over the last few months❤️!

There's always these comparisons to iRacing this, iRacing that, but some of us don't have $1500 to get the content you can get for a fraction of the cost in other sims. R3E has loads of tracks and cars, and all of that (if you buy VRP first) you can get for $70.

I miss seeing the full wheel view with Jimmer in his seat. (Flashbacks to Bender using a closet as home)

AMS2 is for sure my new favorite single-player sim. It's just so easy to set up any scenario you want and have fun. The lighting and weather is top notch and really immerses you. The AI for the most part is very consistent and they give you a good battle into every corner. I personally don't really care about the fact that it might not have the best physics out there, or the best car handling, because I just have so much fun with it every time I sit down and drive, and that's what I personally look for. I don't really have enough off-time to delve into iRacing and get competitive in the online scene, so I really enjoy being able to hop into my rig and set up exactly what I want to drive at that specific time. It also steadily keeps getting better, in my opinion. Especially with this latest update, I feel like the handling and physics took a big step forward and I can't wait to see how the guys over at Reiza are gonna develop it further! Most of us simracers are probably never going to have the chance of hopping into a real GTE, GT3, LMP or whatever type of race car, but we're definitely lucky to have all these sims of different flavors to suit our needs. If I don't feel like driving AMS, I can hop into Assetto Corsa, ACC, rFactor, Dirt 2, or F1, to name a few. We have so many choices these days! :)

I know this doesn't really count, but I like to say that I've raced at Daytona International Speedway. It was autocross on the go kart track in my crappy Jetta, and the only reason I wasn't last in my class was because two people didn't show up, but their names were on the timing sheet. Like I said, I don't think this counts, and I only say this sarcastically to my friends and family.

It might not feel that 'good' to someone who is very much invested in the sim racing world - but I wonder if it would be a good introduction step for people who goes from an arcade game into a sim. As you say, the game tries to punish you but it's very predictable, which might be a good thing for brand new simmers.

I want "Part time racer, full time twat" T-shirts

"part time racer, full time twat" love to see it

ah yes racing in slippers the ultimate racing footwear!

As long as its good and fun i'll still play it

The best part - I disagree with you completely and still very much value your opinions and thoughts on the game. I’m VERY happy with the DLC too and excited to see what the other parts of it include…….. IndyCar????

Jimmy! Just want to say you're a major inspiration and an amazing content creator! Bought myself a G920 last sunday, having a blast with it and your videos only increase that enjoyment!

8:25 "Straight line driving; that's what I specialise in" *Looks over at the 1/4 mile streams*

This is what Project CARS 3 was supposed to be.

Best part about AMS2 has always been the AI that doesn't just send it or give up every single time; they're quite clever and play well into the handling model.

Amazing to see the progress this channel has made I used to watch when there we’re only a few thousand subs now closing in on a million so happy for you jimmy wish you all the luck in the world you deserve it

I like what you’re doing and where you’re going Jimmer. Great to watch things unfold for you.

What make me incline to disagree is. Why I always hear the content makers say "Automobilista 2 never feels like a real sim to me" but never seems to list those characteristics about the game that defines it for them. Nothing wrong with it not being realistic but please say those things that you are not realistic so the uninitiated that just bought the game and are not really sim enthusiasts, like myself , can know when the car he is driving acts a certain way.

I think AMS2 does immersion very well indeed. That, plus it’s excellent VR performance and the GTE class of cars makes it my go to sim at the moment. I’m happy with incremental improvements in my racing sims. These days no software launches as a finished product.

Looking good Jimmer. Long time supporter of the channel (as I put on my Doug Henson Le Mans T shirt). As far as the update is concerned, I think its best to look at from where ASM2 has been as opposed to comparing it in the global scheme of this. You're opinions cannot be discredited and I think are valid. However its also important to explore the reasons. The default setups in AMS2 are not track specific and actually designed to be rather accessible to the every day sim racer. I am no fan of them. Speaking from another realism perspective, a one setup fits all, isn't realistic, nor is a specific setup per car per track possible at this point in the game development. That being said, the main reason people lump AMS2 into the PC2 category is simply the tire model. The effects of this model are felt in great detail through the FFB and its just not what people are used to with simpler more "severe" models. This goes with the physics. It all gets translated more than other sims. How the car feels, wobbly or spongy, is the tire model combined with the setup. The DPi will bottom out and feel slidey. Pushing hard on exit will feel oversteery when seeking the proper slip angle. There is a dynamic element to AMS2 that no big time YT mentions though. And that's the effect of pushing the car and how it changes the tire temps, which causes a lot of this back and forth. Pushing the cars in AMS2 has real side effects and with an unbalanced default car. This is exactly what happens. You get grip imbalances and the cars feel weird. A lot of people don't even pay attention to tire temps at all and its 80% of how the car feels in AMS2. Pushing and overheating things is a thing here, and cooldown laps are a thing. Setups help with this as well. Anyway, thats my piece as simply as I can put it. I've followed your career and echo the sentiments of your community. I hope your opinion will change one day and look forward to it.

"it's fun!" that might be the most important part. love ya jimmy

You've hit the nail on the head. I was talking to a mate about this earlier, the cars just never seem planted at all... and that's ALL of them! I'm constantly seesawing with the wheel, constantly correcting. I feel this update is a step in the right direction, but I fear that once again, I might have got a bit caught up in all the fanfare. They've got some ways to go to get it feeling like it does in AMS1. That sim you can really feel the car under you, the car and the FFB generated talks to you in a way that makes sense and allows you to make the right decision most times, whilst simultaneously not being simcade - which unfortunately i STILL feel 2 suffers from.

Jimmie's shed is looking good with new finishes on the walls and even carpeting. I guess having 710K subscribers makes it financially easier to do these upgrades.

Nice to see you Jimmy! I did enjoy the intro btw.

This game in VR 😍 As long as you adjust your cars setup before the race, it’s fantastic.

I am really looking forward to these Days AMS² will get a real Online Community... I love how it looks, I love how it sounds, I love how it feels, every Update is a nice Step forward... I like it

What an intro! So inspirational

Great video jimmer! All the best with the rest of your britcar races your an inspiration to all of us

Loving the rig, loving the gaff'ing it.... loving the Britcar, loving the smashing it! Green screen and that legendary backdrop of the shed next. Don't neglect that hug we all get watching you shedding it and vicariously forging that dream into reality.

I like ams2 for the vr experience Gt1 and the formula v10s are just such a great vr experience

I don't know if Praga has a merch site, but that's a polo top I'd like to buy.

loving the new videos out of the HOUSE. videos look great and thanks for adding back the pedal cam. and what cockpit are you using now? i'm sure we will get a house tour once you make some more $. keep pushing jimmy

Nice review! Try the new GTE the Porsche and use the Rfuktor 4.5 custome FFB.

I think AMS2 does the starter cars brilliant. The cars with light weight and small power. For that, it’s my favorite!

Not related to anything but Raceroom is getting new FFB, Physics, and UI this week, any chance you make a video about it and test it?

Jimmy, all we need now... is the cam on the wheel again. Thanks for all the great content so far!

Been here for years so happy to see you and your channel grow

Love your ultra advanced sim racing shoes btw

Its disappointing Jimmy feels this way about AMS2. The progress that Reiza has made from where it started has been immense, and they're continuously fixing and improving. The DPi wasn't that fun in this DLC, but the GTEs are amazing imo. Its also a shame he failed to mention the server-side tracks for multiplayer which means you don't have to own the tracks from the DLCs to drive them (not the same for cars but thats fine) - its a game changer.

Looking happy Jimmer!! Great to see!!

We need the USB wheel around the Nordie using the T-Racer pedals.

I'm loving AMS 2 !!! It just keeps getting better!!!

AM2 is amazing in VR

I have missed these simple little videos.... Dont worry I still get tingly when I see you IRL Racing!!!

Those plug sockets in shot are doing my head in. I miss seeing hands on wheel action too. Bring back the shed (setup)

Have you consider making a Sim racing tier list? like how close to reality they are and the amount of features?

One day you'll have to teach me how to be critical of AMS 2 without starting a warzone in the comments.

Sup Jimmer i love sim racing and you are right when saying some of us have no idea about set-ups i have no clue how to set a car up and just race base set-up

Thrilled to see pedalcam again! And I'm not a foot fetishist, I just genuinely always liked seeing the pedal inputs in vids and streams. Something I always associated with the channel. So thanks Jimmy! :)

The DPI does feel strange in AMS2, not close to the Rfactor2 version. The new GTEs on the other hand feel nice to drive.

Serious question to Jimmy (sorry) - Since getting racing licenses, getting in the Praga etc and some real world experience, what sims now feel either a bit wronger, or a bit realer in the context of that real world experience? Not trying to defend AMS2, I'm pretty much where you are - looks great, sometimes behaves a bit unexpected - genuinely interested in how sims have stood up to real world, and if that has coloured your feelings. PS slippers in the Praga for the next race or this is all a sham.

I think the summary is pretty fair actually.. there are some things it does very well (still my favourite sim to drive in VR), cool roster of cars (the Chevette, the Uno, the aussie Ute and one or two of the similar "niche" cars are hoot in a private lobby), great roster of tracks.. and then the real key point which is stopping it from becoming great.. "Some cars are decent and some are still awful".. if Reiza can fix that inconsistency and bring up the not so good cars to the level of the good ones, then we'll have something that's truly fantastic.

i'm pretty sure reiza's main focus is on the historic series's and the dlc is just to create influencer hype. The unrealistic aspects of ams2 could be summed up that every car drives like high powered aero car with shitty tires. So when you drive high powered aero car with shitty tires it behaves a lot closer like what you'd expect from it. all the "retro" or "classic" formulas feel really amazing, despite not being licensed. Even the racing usa dlc included 40 years of historic weather data. That's a lot of work that's dedicated to something else than what it says on the tin.

The more pro and irl racer Jimmy got, the less he’ll use driving gear while sim racing

AMS2 has always felt "lurchy" to me - like the car is just lurching around the corner. It's like the car's bouncing on its springs, so it's jumping between loaded and unloaded. The tires have all sorts of grip one second, then none at all. I think the cars are also super-sensitive to weight shifting. Real-life road cars on race tracks can have similar behavior, which might be why PC2 on the same engine felt pretty true-to-life when you drove the same road car/track combos in real life, then the game. But I don't think race cars behave the same way.

Your outro reminds of the outrun. My first moving platform racing simulator at the arcade hall (early 80s). My first racing sim was Pole position for the Atari 2600...

I'm pretty happy with the latest version. Much improved. Previously I would play it, get a bit bugged by some of the handling, and go away but this time I'm probably fairly hooked. Really like the new Porche GTE. Love my iRacing but this sim is just more "alive" feeling and has things that iRacing sorely needs. One example is the way you can feel when your suspension is damaged, particularly if you are using tactile transducers on your rig. I will admit I had to go in and tweak the settings to get the rear-end to behave more like I would expect. Should not really have to do that but at least I was able to get it to where it felt ok to me.

Would u be able to show your wheel in your face cam like u used to?

Simulators are really a “personal” thing: for example I think that Assetto Corsa is a sim I’ll never touch again due to its poor AI, or someone can complain that AMS2 physics are too much forgiving, or that rFactor2 takes 2/3 months of tweaking the settings to enjoy it. There isn’t a perfect simulator - I’m personally into Raceroom, just create a session and you’re good to go

'not feeling connected to the road' is my biggest issue with AMS2 too. It's hard to explain. Best example I can give is to drive the Caterham in AMS2, then do the same in Rfactor2. In Rf2 I just feel what the car is doing and when I'm on the limit. I have that same feeling in AC, Raceroom and especially Iracing. In AMS2 it's just not there, I have exactly the same issue with PC2. But it must be personal preference since I see to many people really adore AMS2. And that's great, whatever rocks your boat, I just have the feeling that I'm 'missing' something in AMS2.

Jimmy I cant stop looking at the two plugs!😂

Day 1 of telling Jimmy I love him till he responds

Jimmy pls try Street cars / Ultima gtr. For me, AMS2 is one of the best sims. But some cars aren't good enough.

Thanks Jimmy for the comments. They're particularly useful when you talk about the slight lack of connection between tyre feel and human perception. It's definitely not easy in code to replicate exactly what a tyre+steering rack does in real life.

So, I’d love for this to be revisited. A couple cool people told me to check out the M1 Procar and turbo 2002 and I did. Now it all makes sense. Not all of the cars are there yet (annoyingly), but dang are the good cars *good*.

a friend of mine has said that a lot of sims/racing games feel like you are driving with wet tyres on a dry track

The best SIM at the moment!

I was about to type a comment about missing the shed background then you broke out the racing slippers and balance was restored to the universe.

Hey Jimmer, love the vid ps why do you only have half a moustache? X

I’d love to see you do a side by side with the DPi’s in rFactor 2 and in this game

Jimmy try the 911 rsr on long beach, that's the best experience ams2 has to offer right now

We play AMS2 in a private league - there are still a few MP niggles around session control, but once going the races are awesome!

I get your point with the base setup. I had the same feeling when first playing Project Cars 2. Coming from AC and basically only driving GT3 there, the PC2 versions of the Cars feel like Nascars like thez have no downforce at all.

Yeah, I'd tend to agree. I pop in and check out AMS2 every now and then and it's a little better every time but the driving still just feels off to me. No sim is perfect and it's harder to have many different cars than just a series like ACC does but I still reckon AMS2 has a way to go before I'll recommend it as a racing sim.

If Jimmy is going to frame his video as a review of the Racing USA pack as a whole (which he clearly has), then trying multiple cars might be a better option. Forming his opinion of how much of a "game changer" the pack is based on a single car seems lazy and given how much influence Jimmy has, somewhat unfair on Reiza as a result.

Re AMS2, Billy Strange, who also has not been a fan of the game's driving, found some out-of-the-box experiences he enjoyed with the new update (I think on old content like GT3 at VIR). Jimmy, might be worth chatting with him about what combos offer a more sim-feeling experience!

100% agree about the iRacing LMP2. It's one of my favorite cars in sim racing right now. Just a great driving experience.

I think it's the best sim to race offline against the AI. Yes, you can have pretty much all the cars and tracks and graphics mods in AC but, BUT the AI is just horrible. It really kills it for me and I don't really hotlap that much anymore, so I've basically moved on to ACC and AMS2. I agree the cars feeling a bit slidey still. It's hard to describe but it doesn't feel natural. It's not your normal push or oversteer, more like a weird four-wheel slide and a feel of disconnection. I still enjoy it though, if I fancy a quick offline race with some nice car+track combo.

I only picked up simracing again after several years away less than a year ago. I bought all of the traditional simracing games (yes, they are all just games) including AMS2. I tried them all out but now I pretty much only race ACC and AMS2. For me AMS2 is easily the most fun and enjoyable sim 👍 I also find it funny when people talk about realism in these racing games. For me they all fall a bit flat because of lack of G forces. Granted I only race in Scandinavian Folk races on occasion but AMS2 doesn't feel any worse than any other game out there. I can easily take what I do in real life and use it in AMS2 (just like most other sims). Funnily enough the game I like the least is the popular iRacing, you know the game with outdated graphics, no weather and where your car can be sent to space just by hitting a kerb at the wrong angle. Now I'm not saying this because I believe my views are a universal truth or anything. My point is that people like and expect different experiences from these games and I think that AMS2 is up there with the best games of today, and I hope that people are not discouraged from trying AMS2, because I have so much fun driving in it 👍

I love AMS2 in VR, purely for the immersion factor. Especially with the weather effects. Agree it’s not the first choice for multiplayer. For a quick fun blast it’ll do me.

I subscribed.. Hoping to see you drive other cars and your opinions.. looks like FUN.. cheers

I love the feel of ams2 personally. I dont know if it's the most realistic one but it's damn fun to drive and the sensation of the progressive grip in the tires is unmatched imo. Except maybe by rf2 tires also feel amazing but that game is lacking in so many other areas

You can tell he's just forcing himself to play it. Yes, AMS2 isn't perfect (what Sim is?) but there are many cars and tracks which are great! Deffo worth checking out!

Hey Jimber, I’m looking to get a pc soon. I was wondering what sim I should try when I do get one. I do League races in PC2 as well as ACC. So I was hoping I could get some advice for a good sim to start in pc?

Nice video, so hope I don't come across negative. But did you pick one car and one track to judge an entire sim, and the changes that have been made since its release? Did I misunderstand the video, and there were actually many hours put in with different cars and tracks during your revisit to AMS2?

Yeah very fair criticism. I think I know what you mean. Feels a bit jello tyres. PC2 had the same kinda feeling. I do think it's fun to drive personally but to each their own. Maybe it's cause I like rally a lot lol.

Please try the Porsche instead, i felt the same with the prototype... it’s the Porsche the most like in the upgrade

Loving the house shoes! On a serious note, the graphics looks great!

One thing I noticed was that your front tires weren't warm (your rear tires looked fine). I've seen that AMS2 seems to be very track dependent when it comes to tire temps, so getting those adjusted would help a lot with the feel. It probably wouldn't 100% solve everything you're saying, but until you get the tires up to temp it's going to feel really under-steery. Project Cars 2 had a "Race Engineer" that would help with those adjustments without really needing know exactly what to adjust. It would be welcomed here without a doubt.

meu deus que horror é uma pena que existem pessoas como essa no mundo :/, melhoras jimmy!

I think you are 100% right 😉. I thought AMS 2 is great, until I tried ACC for the first time.

In understeer circumstances, sometimes tapping throttle is very effective, because you shift car weight on the rear wheels so front wheels can grip again, but in real life you need to have big balls for that

What's left of AMS2? It's a must if you're a VR racer. Of all the current modern racing sims, seems to have the best graphics that are playable at good framerates in VR while having a decent balance of other things.