If you go on the internet and talk about Codemasters with even a hint of positivity, chances are that you’ll be stoned to death with sticks for not instantly following that up with, “But it is not a real simulator.” Unless you are spending upwards of a couple of grand, you are so far from Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, and every other motorsport team’s simulators, even the really basic ones. Gran Turismo 4 is hoisted above all for its ability to accurately capture several aspects, but play it now (as I have) and you’ll feel a great difference to modern examples.

Automobilista 2 is a sim racer from Brazilian developer Reiza Studios, which has specialized in several racing disciplines. A sequel to 2016’s Automobilista, the focus is on a few series: GT cars, Formula racing throughout the decades, stock car racing, karting, and even trucks. No, not Stadium Super trucks, I mean tractor units painted in luminescent colors doing stupid speeds. Released in 2020, the DLC focuses on cars and tracks throughout the decades, including Monza with the banking, the Nordschleife, and some American circuits too.

Not everything under the sun is fully licensed, as F1 and Indy Car are lumped into legally distinct yet recognizable variations of their real-life counterparts throughout the years. Some are licensed including Senna and Prost’s MP4/4 or several recognizable brands of “normal” cars and several racing too. To be entirely honest, I don’t know what makes a “real simulator” any more than I know the difference between two blank pieces of paper. What I do know though is what makes an enjoyable game, so that’s the perspective I’m coming into this with.

I also say that because I took the Faux-1 car that is closest to the current generation of cars that sees Max run away with championships, and put in a sub-6-minute lap on the Nordschleife. Given the latest data on that is a 2007 Sauber doing a demo run that was limited to 275KPH (in English, 170MPH), and a projected 5:15 run if you’re criminally insane, sub-6-minutes isn’t bad but is possibly unrealistic given safety concerns. Though as can be pointed out by several YouTube channels, Automobilista 2 is one of the few games that you’ll find not only these odd combinations but also classic versions of these very tracks.

Yes, you’ll find the far more dangerous versions of Spa, the Nordschleife, the stupid version of the Hockenheimring that means you are lost in the forest though with the chicanes, Imola before and after Senna’s death, Spielberg configurations, and more. Most importantly to take you back to racing fundamentals, there are some karting tracks and progressions of karts too. This helps when the tire model demands you to learn how to properly heat them instead of doing what you do in F1 games, just letting the downforce do a large portion of the work.

Is Automobilista 2 totally realistic? No, and honestly it doesn’t have to be as you have the malleability to race odd combinations every which way to Sunday. I’m not looking at it with a frowny face, poking it with a stick, and saying “Do something [that I can get from something else].” If I want the simulator experience Prema and such use, I can go play a modded version of Assetto Corsa, and I do. The difference here is that I’m having fun and it is still challenging to race effectively with a box of light strapped to my face.

If there is one thing I have major issue with it is the need for modding, at least to be serviceable to the community. Beyond the want for more karting tracks, maybe adding in Knockhill, the Top Gear and The Grand Tour test tracks, the number of F1 tracks not included, Le Mans, Sepang, and probably others I’m missing, not to mention additional cars. Of course, it is easy to say that, but I also need to acknowledge that Reiza Studios continues to put out DLC (lots of DLC) which does that very thing quite well might I add.

The thing is, it isn’t as quick as mods would be. Of course, that’s the trade-off between DLC and mods: Quickness versus quality. I’m not saying it is a must-have to produce every track and car in the known universe, that would be stupid to suggest. Nonetheless, it does feel like you only have a handful of options depending on your preferred form of racing: Indy has a couple of tracks, F1 too, historical F1 tracks as well, some are GT and Stockcar focused, and most recently Rally-based. Mostly through a South American lens, which is understandable.

The reason I’m looking at Automobilista 2 as a game as much as it is a simulator is simply the fact it is sold on Steam, a games storefront. I’m not here to debate what Steam should and shouldn’t allow on its platform or where Reiza Studios should sell Automobilista 2. My point here is simply the fact that there are few explainers and tutorials on how to go about setting up a car properly. Similarly to other sim titles, GT4 and otherwise, I might be slightly confused by the final drive, LSD, toe-in angle, bump stop, fast rebound, and everything else.

I might enjoy cars but I’m not an F1 mechanic. I’m not too familiar with Newton meters. I have no idea what advantage I’ll get from raising the ride height by 7 millimeters, don’t come looking at me to find out what a 3rd spring is, and I only know a little bit about camber and the anti-roll bar. Thankfully there is support from the Steam Workshop to help with that, though if you want to get something a bit more precise to your driving style, then you need to learn all of this. If only there was an easy way to teach it outside of paragraphs of text.

Realistically, you don’t need a degree to drive a car quickly, even I can do it. Though putting a car together that is quick and works for you and your driving style, that’s a whole other story. For the most part, I get by fine changing the anti-roll bars, tyres, break pressure, and wing level, but as I’ve said, I’m not taking it seriously. I’m not competing in an Esports league, I’m not doing anything of the sort, all I’m doing is enjoying playing around with a racing game/simulator, jumping in and out of different cars, different eras, and on different tracks.

Without the toxicity of the modern F1 fandom, I am someone who has only in the last few years started to enjoy racing. More importantly to my next point, I was born in the 90s. As much as Kyalami is held aloft, I’d never really understood why because no one talks about why a track like Kyalami is great. Getting into an F1 car of X or Y year, putting my foot to the floor, and putting in a sub 1:25 lap feels great. There are very few other games that will offer that as an experience, especially in something like VR.

I’ve played Automobilista 2 in both triple-screen setup and in VR, as well as playing some other racing titles in VR. While F1 23 gives that experience with the official license, you have some things that are not quite right, and Assetto Corsa is maybe the closest. Automobilista 2 seems to blow them out of the water in terms of performance, graphical fidelity, and generally the user experience. Driving Long Beach in Indy Car is an experience like no other, as is Monza with its banking, Daytona, Interlagos in a truck, Estoril, or in an act of madness F1 at Bathurst.

Ultimately, the consensus for racing sims leans towards Assetto Corsa and I can’t help but agree. However, Automobilista 2 does offer something quite interesting in contrast, especially with the latest addition of dirt-based DLC. With plenty of tracks, cars, and opportunities to see racing series throughout the decades, Automobilista 2 is unrivaled in that regard. It is fun, exciting, sometimes scary in VR, and a little confusing when setting a car up properly. Automobilista 2 is a fantastic racing sim for fans who enjoy more than one series.

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Automobilista 2 (PC) - Review

$39.99

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Great tyre model.
• Such a wide-array of tracks and cars.
• Such a fantastic VR option.

Cons

• A lack of easy/native modding support.