"I spent a bit of time watching this picture, thinking about the fact that the mood and this kind of magic that the development of Assetto gives to me everyday, late or before, will end, and it will not repeat in future. I mean, we have already done, we are doing or scheduled to reproduce most of the cars I ever loved. No doubt about the fact that Car manufacturers are producing and will produce awesome cars in future, so this journey potentially will never stop. But all my favourite cars are already in AC, or will do, in the short of mid period. And, when we reproduce a new car, it's a so special process, that you can live once.
The process needed when you build in a simulation a new car is very challenging, but very special as well. You study its documentation, its story, you take a lot of photos and measures, discovering and appreciating a lot of details, technical solutions, pros and cons of the car. And, when you reproduce a vintage or historic model, and CAD files are not available, the overall process requires also more attention and dedication. Therefore, usually - at least for me- a sort of relationship between you and the car starts, while the virtual counterpart of it comes to life. Many times I've found a lot of inspiration and "energy", I mean, excitement, watching the TV format National Geograpic's "Megafactory", when car engineers, designers and production managers of famous brands tell about the processes that bring to the creation of a new model, the goals they want to reach, the kind of challenge they join, and so on. And, in what they say and do, I find lot of inspiration, when I'm thinking about new licenses for AC, even if we "just" reproduce those models in a virtual simulation.
Well, the Sauber-Mercedes C9 for me represents in some way a symbol: it was one of the most iconic cars in the never-played World Sport Cars simulation, and I never found a simulation that represented this car like it should be (for me). So, for years it represented for me a sort of unicorn. And it's not the kind of car you see in your everyday life. Or yes?
Well, you can imagine how I felt the day when, going to work, I found it right down the steps of my office: it was like a starship from Mars landed right on our track. Since then, the strong determination to get it in Assetto has never left me. Now this journey is coming to its end. Other cars, other features and challenges will come, but tonight I feel that this kind of magic is something beatiful, but not repeatible, once you reproduce a car like this for your first time. It's like Lego: you enjoy more building things, rather than playing. Then, you need to build something new and different.
But anyway, I get other great satisfactions when we share our passion and work with lot of people who can recognize, appreciate and enjoy the work there is behind all these pixels."