Assetto Corsa Competizione, The Official Blancpain GT Series Game Announced!

[Paul Jeffrey]

Top GT3 licence, UE4 graphics, day to night cycle, dynamic weather, advanced physics with a focus on realism.. is Assetto Corsa Competizione the sim we've all been waiting for?

When Kunos Simulazioni hinted at a big announcement a few days ago, many thought it would simply be a case of confirming another licence for the already well developed Assetto Corsa software, or at the very most a potential AC2 first announcement. Not so, the team over in Italy have been hard at work behind the scenes developing a very exciting new piece of software, and what is more the new Assetto Corsa Competizione title will focus on a single racing category, the incredible Blancpain Endurance GT3 series.. a welcome hark back to the days when racing simulation developers focussed all their attention to detail on a specific racing series, something that Kunos are keen to replication with this newly announced IP.

Set to feature a pretty significant shift away from the basis of the Assetto Corsa title we all know and love, Kunos have confirmed that AC Competizione will feature what are described as "photo realistic" graphics thanks to the use of the incredibly powerful Unreal Engine 4 graphics engine, allowing Kunos to move away from the single light source solution of Assetto Corsa and finally bring both time of day and weather effects to their racing game - a must when you consider the Spa 24 Hour is a key event in the real life Blancpain championship.

As well as the obvious visual benefits brought from a move to Unreal 4 (see screenshots attached to this article), another key talking point from the simulation announcement comes by way of confirmation that Kunos are looking to build a sizable offline career mode around the new game, with driving school tutorials making a welcome return to a popular modern day simulation.

Alongside what promises to be a substantial offline element, the initial press release indicates that Kunos are also aiming to make considerable changes to the way Assetto Corsa veterans experience online play, with an eye on the emerging eSport marketplace the Italian developers are promising a well rounded ranking and matchmaking online system, potentially encouraging a much more evenly balanced online experience and less of those famous public lobby first corner crashes...

Although only initially announced this afternoon, it looks like development is well on the way with this exceptionally exciting new title. Projected for a summer Steam EA release, I'll leave you with the new trailer to get the juices flowing for now...

Assetto Corsa Competizione should be available on Steam Early Access Summer 2018.

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Excited? Looking forward to the new title? Let us know below!

 

[thepharcyde]

Wow, very exciting.

 

[Michael Lowe]

Oooh. This is great news. I am very excited about this game. I haven't felt that for a while. Maybe f1 2017 until it was confirmed vr wasn't coming. Congrats to kunos on securing this opportunity, richly deserved.

 

[Zombie Boy]

well those are minimum specs .. which means it is not tolerable for simracing ..

I've just looked up the specs for Gears Of War 4, which is the most detailed UE4 game I can think of. The recommended requirements are pretty much a mid range PC with a GTX 1060, so not too much of a stretch (and a lot of us are already covered)

 

[Deleted member 6919]

So does this mean we will get these..

• Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3
• Audi R8 LMS
• Audi R8 LMS Ultra
• Bentley Continental GT3
• BMW M6 GT3
• BMW Z4 GT3
• Emil Frey Jaguar G3
• Ferrari 458 Italia GT3
• Ferrari 488 GT3
• Lamborghini Gallardo G3 Reiter
• Lamborghini Huracan GT3
• Lamborghini REX
• McLaren 650S GT3
• Mercedes-AMG GT3
• Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3
• Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3
• Porsche 911 GT3 R
• Porsche 997 GT3-R

 

[M-Bimmer]

Shutup & down my money was the first thought before even watching the trailer on Facebook earlier today.

 

[ronniej]

Loving it, insta buy. Go get em Kunos, dominate the entire genre! Dont stop till your making a sim about electric wheelchair racing for the elderly!

 

[Queequeg]

Not the biggest fan of GT3 in sims, but I am hype! A developer concentrating on a single series with a focus on multiplayer and features like rain and day/night is just what I have wanted to see for a long time!

 

[ouvert]

I've just looked up the specs for Gears Of War 4, which is the most detailed UE4 game I can think of. The recommended requirements are pretty much a mid range PC with a GTX 1060, so not too much of a stretch (and a lot of us are already covered)

well GOW is linear scripted 3th person shooter ..that is bit different I imagine .. but I assume ACC will be on consoles too so they cant go too crazy with specs

also minimum req. can be 30FPS with low.details and lower resolution .. 90+ or 120 FPS with decent details could be other story ...

if they aim for realism there will be between 30 and 55 AI cars on track at the same time .. that will require some CPU too ...

 

[Deleted member 113561]

Looks nice, lets hope the physics are more realistic than in AC, they have proper livetrack (like PC2 or rF2) and driverswap and a lot of other improvements which AC desperately needs.
I will keep an open mind and hope for a great racing game

 

[metaDp]

The wait until this summer will be soooooooo long .

 

[VirtuaIceMan]

If they can get all these licenses they should try to get BTCC lol

 

[ShredatorFIN]

Needs VR support!

It's confirmed. On Steam page, "VR Ready". edit: Removed it seems, but was earlier.

Realism, I bet they will claim to make it realistic but in fact far less ball-breakingly realistic (as rF2) to not alienate their usual fanbase, the Top Gear watching, Ferrari poster hanging on their bedroom wall console gamers...like Battlefield fanboys claim their fave FPS to be more sim compared to CoD (and one had the gall to compare BF3's realism to rF1).

Usual fanbase is on console? AC was PC-only title for years, and grew it's reputation and following mainly on PC. Console version is stripped down downgrade anyway.

Also, this game hasn't been announced for consoles. Steam/PC only. Considering this is official Blancpain GT game, it has to have full grids. Current gen consoles can't handle more than 16 cars in dry day conditions. Put rain and night in there with UE4 and it will be 20 fps.

 

[Zuffenhausen Weiss]

If they can get all these licenses they should try to get BTCC lol

Give it to Studio 397, the world needs more ball breaker sims that makes men out of boys...because rF2 is in a desperate need of more car packs

 

[davyvs]

Bentley, Bentley, Bentley. Aston, Aston, Aston. M6, M6, M6. Jaguar, Jaguar, Jaguar. Lexus, Lexus, Lexus.

I'm hyped, I like this. Although the most moaning on the Facebook channel are, 'can we drive normal cars? Why is GT3 hyped?'

Was at Spa last year, loved it. Really looking forward to this...

??? what was at spa last year ? i think u are mistaking this with project cars 2 !

 

[Shaun Clarke]

MXGP3 which uses same Unreal Engine 4 has following min specs :

• 
  MINIMUM:
  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
    
  • OS: Windows 7 64-Bit or later
    
  • Processor: Intel Core i5-2500K; AMD FX-6350 or equivalent
    
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
    
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 with 2 GB VRAM or more; AMD Radeon HD 7950 with 2 GB VRAM or more
    
  • DirectX: Version 11

Happy days I am safe

 

[Frietpan]

If its really just GT3/GT cars i dont care 1 bit for it, Im not really waiting for a AC2 either, Im just hoping for more content on AC. (like many many many more road cars)

 

[Shaun Clarke]

If they can get all these licenses they should try to get BTCC lol

I really hate to burst your bubble ( as a BTCC TOCA FAN ) but this will not happen, unless they come up with some serious money. Alan Gow is keeping this series really close to his chest and looking for a big money cash out. Microsoft has a couple of cars with BTCC liveries but this is down to the manufacturer, not the series.

We can just wait....and hope

 

[Xzess]

In Ue4 Vulkan, an Dx12 should be an easy option, very very nice for all, much better framepacing, less tearing, and very low proccessor overhead, finally a dx12 racing sim.

 

[Shaun Clarke]

Marco Massarutto, Co-founder and Brand & Product Manager of Kunos Simulazioni: “This announcement represents a dream come true for us. The Blancpain GT Series license is just the tip of the iceberg. By combining the potential of Unreal Engine 4 and the feedback received from our community, we are producing a completely new simulation aimed to redefine the racing game genre, improving the features that made Assetto Corsa so popular, and introducing those demanded by players for a high-level racing simulation game - with no compromise, and remaining loyal to our philosophy."

Source

Lets wait and see...

Key words there, TIP OF THE ICEBERG, so this version is based on Blancpain and Blancpain only, which is endurance and GT only. Opens the door to AC2 I agree, but if I read correctly this is a one series, stepping point for Kunos towards AC2?

 

[Deleted member 503495]

So now all the core advertised racing bits matter, when before they were trivial? "No, yes, but no, but yes. We never said that. We did but no, yes." I wonder if they will try to lock out modding, leaving it to limited level similar to Codemasters', and why the early access if they have backing.