Assetto Corsa 1.3.4 Released

[Paul Jeffrey]

Kunos Simulazioni have released another update for their Assetto Corsa title on Steam. Containing numerous fixes and improvements, the latest patch is another positive step towards the continual improvement of this already impressive racing title.

Following hot on the heels of the latest Dream Pack 2 DLC which added several new cars and a host of feature enhancements and improvements, Assetto Corsa has made great strides these last few weeks.

Details of the full changelog are below:

• Replay in x64 are now capped at 1Gb instead of 500mb
• Fixed turbo in form gears
• Physics multithread is now disabled with less than 4 cores
• Fixed backfire animation on Lamborghini Countach
• acServerManager: admin password is mandatory
• acServerManager: fixed uploader not saving surfaces.ini of multi-layout tracks
• Fixed Lamborghini Countach S1 UI for customers who do not own DLC2
• Fixed Alfa Romeo 4c peak slip angle value on rear street tyres.
• Fine tuning of tyre heating model for GT2 and GT3 cars. Tyres now might need 2 laps to heat up the core temperatures. Core temperatures are now much more stable during a lap and cool down slower.
• New power loss calculation for GT2 GT3 cars engines
• Corrected rolling resistance calculations for GT2 and GT3 cars tyres
• BMW M3 E30 Drift and M3 E92 drift has new tyre heat calculation following the GT2/GT3 logic. Experimental.
• Balancing of GT3 car performances. The balance does not make all cars equal, but just brings their performances closer. Leagues can now add a small amount of ballast to equalize the cars performances even more.
• Fixed dirt texture and headlights in Ferrari 458 Italia
• Fixed headlights indicator on BMW Z4 GT3
• Fixed transparency issue on Ruf Yellowbird
• Added leds to Mercedes SLS GT3
• Fixed TrackIR support for x64
• Added Force Feedback Controller app
• Fixed acServer corruption of internal buffers leading to packet losses
• Added benchmark mode
• Real-time app now uses magenta to signal fastest lap in the session
• New “camera facing” spectators are now controlled by the “world detail” settings. Allowing users with older machines to achieve better FPS
• Minor AI race craft tweaks (a bit faster to change lane but bit less “punchy bumpy”)
• Remapped some functions associated with Numpad “+” and “-” * +/- = Change Force Feedback (disabled in replays) * Ctrl +/- = Change onboard FOV * Ctrl Shift +/- = Change saturation

Have you tried the latest update yet? Leave your opinions in the comment section below!

 

[Ian Cameron]

First lap when everyone is close? In real life is also like that. They also slow down right before Eau Rouge, on first lap - traffic.

Thanks for posting video, that's almost exactly how my races with AI start, and I was thinking they are bad braking hard at Eau Rouge. Think it proves AI are not bad.
I find with online racing I don't stand a chance because all the fast drivers IMO, for what it's worth, are too good and perhaps not reflecting real life as the video shows.

 

[Tobbe Bergman]

on first lap - traffic.

Because the first ones are too slow !

Thanks - interesting vid !

 

[kamackeris]

Does the ai race each other well or do races turn into processions? Do they make mistakes or drive on rails? How do they react to you?

 

[Tobbe Bergman]

Does the ai race each other well or do races turn into processions? Do they make mistakes or drive on rails? How do they react to you?

They race each other and makes mistakes and react if you change position.
But if you just stop, the ones behind you usually just stop.
Occasionally they drive into you behind and run you off the track.

All in all they are actually really fun to race except for the few times they drive into you behind and run you off the track.

 

[kamackeris]

They race each other and makes mistakes and react if you change position.
But if you just stop, the ones behind you usually just stop.
Occasionally they drive into you behind and run you off the track.

All in all they are actually really fun to race except for the few times they drive into you behind and run you off the track.

Sounds promising.... I'm tempted to give it a go. Do they do a trial period or money back offer?

 

[kamackeris]

I probably shouldn't though I have rf2, gsce and raceroom. Raceroom ai has really turned me off it. Rf2 feels so right to me and I love gsce.

 

[Tobbe Bergman]

I probably shouldn't though I have rf2, gsce and raceroom. Raceroom ai has really turned me off it. Rf2 feels so right to me and I love gsce.

I simply cant live without:

rF2
Dirt Rally
Assetto Corsa

Total Addiction

 

[Tobbe Bergman]

Sounds promising.... I'm tempted to give it a go. Do they do a trial period or money back offer?

I've heard that Steam have some sort of money back guarantee.

IMO AC looks nicer with better content but rF2 has better FFB/Physics.

 

[kamackeris]

might wait.....the ai needs to be better for me to purchase. granted it looks gorgeous.

 

[HypoToad]

The thing that I see in "real" racing videos is that things seem to happen more slowly than in racing sims, the drivers have more time to react because they can feel the g-forces, they can feel how the car is reacting to everything, even though sims are a lot of fun they can't deliver the feel of the real thing IMHO.

 

[bmanic]

AC is getting closer and closer to rF2's FFB/Physic's territory

... not. The FFB is still "rubber band weird" and every car feels pretty much the same. FFB wise AC is still a million miles from rF2 but at least now the latest tire model starts to resemble something that could be considered closer to reality.

To be frank though, they have a very long way to go but I'm finally having some serious fun in AC. It's still just a hotlapping sim due to the poor AI but at least it is a fun hotlapping sim with an awesome laser scanned Nordschleife!

 

[Tobbe Bergman]

... not. The FFB is still "rubber band weird" and every car feels pretty much the same. FFB wise AC is still a million miles from rF2 but at least now the latest tire model starts to resemble something that could be considered closer to reality.

To be frank though, they have a very long way to go but I'm finally having some serious fun in AC. It's still just a hotlapping sim due to the poor AI but at least it is a fun hotlapping sim with an
awesome laser scanned Nordschleife!

You need a better wheel

 

[Radu Oros]

You need a better wheel

Or not use low-medium ffb% where a lot of details feel the same, because the dynamics are reduced. Some cars need 85-100% of force.

I don't see how it can be a million miles behind in rf2 about ffb, when the ffb in AC is generated directly from the tire alignment forces to go through the suspension geometry, which then generates a torque that is then put into a multiplier value so our wheels can read it. So in this sense, the ffb you get in AC is pure because it comes mechanically from the cars.

I don't know which wheel you have, but try to enable gyro force, in assetto_corsa.ini, in \Steam\steamapps\common\assettocorsa\system\cfg, changing the 0 to 1. But even without the gyro physic in the steering wheel, the feel is still detailed, where the smoothness also depends on the track road and tyre type. But I think this gyro helps with the counter steering, because of equilibrium-balancing forces.
In the same file, using ff skip steps to 0 instead of 1, will update the ffb frequency a bit faster, which can make the ffb "tighter", so just experiment.

 

[Tobbe Bergman]

Or not use low-medium ffb% where a lot of details feel the same, because the dynamics are reduced. Some cars need 85-100% of force.

I don't see how it can be a million miles behind in rf2 about ffb, when the ffb in AC is generated directly from the tire alignment forces to go through the suspension geometry, which then generates a torque that is then put into a multiplier value so our wheels can read it. So in this sense, the ffb you get in AC is pure because it comes mechanically from the cars.

I don't know which wheel you have, but try to enable gyro force, in assetto_corsa.ini, in \Steam\steamapps\common\assettocorsa\system\cfg, changing the 0 to 1. But even without the gyro physic in the steering wheel, the feel is still detailed, where the smoothness also depends on the track road and tyre type. But I think this gyro helps with the counter steering, because of equilibrium-balancing forces.
In the same file, using ff skip steps to 0 instead of 1, will update the ffb frequency a bit faster, which can make the ffb "tighter", so just experiment.

I really can't take someone seriously (bmanic) when they spend so much time on the pCars forum anyway

 

[HypoToad]

What I find odd is that GTR 2 on the highest settings has tracks that look great, the car visuals and sounds are great, you can adjust everything on your car like AC and you get over 4 times the frame rate of AC. What's going on behind the scenes to burn up all that processing power?

 

[bmanic]

I really can't take someone seriously (bmanic) when they spend so much time on the pCars forum anyway

... just shows why there's no point hanging around here. Just look at your own posts. Toxic environment like crazy on these forums. If you'd see my steam profile you'd notice that I've mainly been driving AC since the v1.3 release and you'd also notice that I quite like it. It's by far their best update and the cars are fun to drive.. but as a rabid fanboy/girl you can't be arsed to read anything negative about your dear game. Sigh..

As for the wheel I am using, it's a TX 458 so it's decent for a low end wheel.

I've driven AC with a direct drive wheel too and it's the exact same problem. Strange "rubber band" feel and each car very similar to one another.

Mod edit: Insults are not tolerated.

 

[bmanic]

Or not use low-medium ffb% where a lot of details feel the same, because the dynamics are reduced. Some cars need 85-100% of force.

I have ALL the cars set to around 85% FFB (100% total strength). You do realize that I can actually read and comprehend what I am reading, right? I followed the developers patch notes of v1.3 and made sure my FFB is as good as it can be. I'm not new to tweaking FFB in games.. nor am I new to simulators in general.

I don't see how it can be a million miles behind in rf2 about ffb, when the ffb in AC is generated directly from the tire alignment forces to go through the suspension geometry, which then generates a torque that is then put into a multiplier value so our wheels can read it. So in this sense, the ffb you get in AC is pure because it comes mechanically from the cars.

Oh if it only was that simple. If you are interested in learning why your statement is naive at best you may want to follow Niels Heusinkveld and his various youtube videos and blog posts to get a really thorough understanding of the current situation with FFB, consumer wheels and the myriad of ways to implement (and "fudge") FFB in a simulator.

In short: All the other simulators do this as well but they still have to "translate" the simulated forces through a simulated steering rack (and get all the ackerman angles correct as well!! Not a trivial task mind you.. it requires quite a bit of research) so that it falls within the "sweet spot" of a consumer wheel which is highly non-linear. I suspect that Kunos did a lot of tinkering of the FFB system during the early alpha and have constantly changed it over the various patches. They are not entirely transparent when it comes to their FFB implementation. As I have a lot of experience in tinkering with FFB and in tinkering with non-linearities in general (audio engineer) I have a fairly decent understanding on what Kunos is probably doing under the hood.

The absolute worst they could do is to send straight "raw" forces from the simulator to the FFB wheel. This would result in highly unrealistic FFB and feel completely weird for the vast majority of gamers. Only those with proper high-end direct drive wheels (no, the accuforce isn't one) that can output sustained 20+nm of force would be able to enjoy the "realism" in the single seaters. That still leaves the road cars that in real life have power steering and all kinds of complex systems that dampen and change the steering wheel behavior and feel.

In the end I still suspect one of the major problems with AC's FFB comes down to the tire model. It simply isn't as nuanced and detailed as the rF2 tire model is and that is most likely one of the major differences between the FFB feel. It's undoubtedly the reason why different cars in rF2 feel so varied.

We've noticed this in iRacing over the years too. All cars felt quite similar in terms of FFB feel when there was the OTM (old tire model) but once they switched to a dynamic physical model of a tire the FFB came alive.. and every update to that tire model has made the FFB more detailed (especially the latest v6 update). So FFB is definitely highly depending on the tire model too.

.. which is why AC FFB now suddenly got quite a bit better as well. It makes a lot more sense, especially for counter steering, because the actual tire model now makes a lot more sense.

I don't know which wheel you have, but try to enable gyro force, in assetto_corsa.ini, in \Steam\steamapps\common\assettocorsa\system\cfg, changing the 0 to 1. But even without the gyro physic in the steering wheel, the feel is still detailed, where the smoothness also depends on the track road and tyre type. But I think this gyro helps with the counter steering, because of equilibrium-balancing forces.
In the same file, using ff skip steps to 0 instead of 1, will update the ffb frequency a bit faster, which can make the ffb "tighter", so just experiment.

I have a Thrustmaster TX 458 that I use most of the time. Also got an old Logitech DFGT but that one I rarely use for anything.

Anyhow, great tips! Will try this immediately and see what happens.

Cheers!
bManic

 

[bmanic]

What I find odd is that GTR 2 on the highest settings has tracks that look great, the car visuals and sounds are great, you can adjust everything on your car like AC and you get over 4 times the frame rate of AC. What's going on behind the scenes to burn up all that processing power?

The AI uses up quite a lot of CPU cycles as they use the same physics as the player (which is quite awesome and unique.. also difficult to get them to drive properly).

Personally I think it runs pretty well considering the amount of detail of the tracks and knowing the physics calculations are fairly heavy.

GTR 2 is a really old game by today's standards so it's no wonder it runs fairly well.

 

[HypoToad]

The AI uses up quite a lot of CPU cycles as they use the same physics as the player (which is quite awesome and unique.. also difficult to get them to drive properly).

If I play AC on hotlaps and GTR 2 with AI cars in a race I still get over four times the frame rate.

I also really think the AI in GTR 2 is first class, they get out of your way, they don't play follow the leader and you can turn the aggression up and down. It's a shame that SimBin didn't make GTR 3 IMHO.

 

[Radu Oros]

I have a Thrustmaster TX 458 that I use most of the time. Also got an old Logitech DFGT but that one I rarely use for anything.

Anyhow, great tips! Will try this immediately and see what happens.

Cheers!
bManic

Also try the understeer effect, is in the advanced tab where you tune the ffb.