Automobilista 2: strengths, weaknesses, who it suits
Automobilista 2 examined honestly: the published requirements and features, where its breadth pays off and which drivers it genuinely suits.
Automobilista 2 is the simulator that gives you the most different things to drive for the least money, and the trade behind that is worth understanding before you buy. Breadth is a design decision with consequences, and this one commits to breadth harder than any competitor.
What the official listing actually says
The base game is listed at 36.99 euro and released on 31 March 2020, with a downloadable demo. The published system requirements are 8 GB of memory minimum with a GTX 680 and an i5-3450 or FX-8350, and 16 GB recommended with a GTX 1080 Ti and an i7-8700K or Ryzen 7 2700X. Storage is 120 GB either way, which is by far the largest figure among the major simulators.
The feature list explains where that space goes. Dynamic weather with 24 hour cycles, real weather built from 40 years of meteorological data, Full Course Yellow support for oval racing, VR through SteamVR or Oculus, and single player and multiplayer including online and LAN. Six languages are supported with full audio and subtitles in English, French, German, Spanish for Spain and Latin America, and Brazilian Portuguese.
The content strategy is visible in one number: 23 expansion packs, priced from 6.89 to 19.99 euro, covering track packs, car packs and historical content. A driver buying everything spends several times the base price, and a driver buying nothing still has more variety than most simulators offer in total.
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Base price | 36.99 euro |
| Release | 31 March 2020 |
| Minimum memory and graphics | 8 GB, GTX 680 |
| Recommended memory and graphics | 16 GB, GTX 1080 Ti |
| Storage | 120 GB |
| Expansion packs | 23, from 6.89 to 19.99 euro |
| Weather data | built on 40 years of meteorological records |
| Languages | 6, with full audio and subtitles |
Where the breadth pays
Historical racing is the clearest case. Group C prototypes, older single seaters and classic touring cars exist here as licensed content rather than as community mods, which means they come with support, updates and a working online component.
The second case is weather. Building the weather system on 40 years of meteorological data and running 24 hour cycles produces conditions that change during a race in ways a fixed weather setting never reproduces, and it is the feature that makes long races feel different each time.
The third is oval support. Full Course Yellow handling is a specific piece of engineering that most road racing simulators skip, and its presence signals that ovals are treated as a discipline rather than as a track shape.
What breadth costs
Depth per car is the honest trade. A simulator covering historical prototypes, modern GT3, stock cars and single seaters cannot model each class to the depth of a simulator that models one, and drivers coming from a narrow simulator often describe the cars as feeling closer to each other than they should.
Online population is the second cost. Variety splits the player base across classes and eras, so finding a full grid in a specific car is harder than in a simulator where everybody drives the same category. Organised leagues solve this and casual matchmaking does not.
And the storage requirement is not a rounding error. 120 GB before expansion packs is a real constraint on a machine that also holds two or three other simulators.
Who it suits
It suits drivers who want to try things: someone who races a GT3 car on Tuesday, a Group C prototype on Thursday and a stock car at the weekend gets more from this simulator than from any other. It also suits drivers on a budget, because the base price covers more content than most simulators do at three times the money.
It suits less well the driver chasing the last tenth in one specific car, or one whose racing depends on a large matchmaking population being online at the same hour. Those are both legitimate priorities, and both are better served elsewhere.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
Do I need the expansion packs?
Not to start. The base game covers a broad range, and packs are worth buying when a specific class or circuit interests you.
Is 120 GB really necessary?
That is the published figure for the base game. Plan the drive space before installing, especially alongside other simulators.
How is the weather system different?
It draws on 40 years of meteorological data and runs 24 hour cycles, so conditions develop during a race rather than being set once.
Is it good for oval racing?
It is one of the few road racing simulators with Full Course Yellow support, which suggests ovals were engineered for rather than tolerated.
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