Free Content, Future Development and Stefano Casillo Interview (Part 2)

[Paul Jeffrey]

We spoke at length with Stefano Casillo of Kunos Simulazioni about Assetto Corsa, some new free content incoming and all things racing...

The Sim Racing Expo was a wonderful opportunity for sim racers, developers, hardware manufacturers and the media to get together to celebrate the wonderful hobby we call sim racing. Thanks to the great access and atmosphere of the event we had the opportunity to chat with one of the key figures behind Assetto Corsa, Stefano Casillo, and he was more than happy to give us an insight into the behind the scenes workings at Kunos, plus revealing some exciting new free content coming to Assetto Corsa in the near future.

You can check out the interview below:

Originally planned as part of a standard paid DLC, Kunos scheduled the highly anticipated laser scanned version of Laguna Seca to release alongside a pack of new performance road cars for the simulation. Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances the launch of Laguna hit one or two delays against the original schedule, slipping to much further in the calendar year that was the intention when the announcement was first hinted at several months ago.

In something of a generous gesture from Kunos, the popular Italian developers have decided to release both circuit and accompanying cars to the base game for free, bringing with it a very popular drivers circuit and six new cars to the title.

The confirmed free bonus pack DLC will contain:

• Laguna Seca Circuit
• Alfa Rome Giulia QV
• Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale
• Lamborghini Sesto Elemento
• Lamborghini Huracan Performante
• Maserati Quattroporte
• Pagani Huayra BC

No exact release date has been confirmed by Kunos, however it is expected that players will be in receipt of the new content before the end of 2017.

If you missed it earlier, don't forget to check out our previous interview with Stefano where we talk about the new update and Ferrari Celebration DLC.

Assetto Corsa is available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC now.

Assetto Corsa and online racing = Love! Check out our brilliant Assetto Corsa League and Club racing forum for great racing events suitable for all skills and experiences. We host regular events using popular content and guarantee a great time for all. Additionally we have a very active sub forum for the game where players can catch up on the latest news and engage with fellow community members here at RD. You can download mods from our modding archive, discuss W.I.P projects in our Modding Discussion Forum and try out a selection of car setups for a wide range of vehicles. Come on, get yourself involved in the action today!

Happy to see more free content coming to Assetto Corsa? Which car most grabs your attention from the list above? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Nick Hill]

Just a try to help you
Night and rain will be NEVER added in Assetto Corsa by Kunos. But whatever will be the next project of Kunos Simulazioni (maybe a cat- or a spaceship simulator) will have this features for sure.
But NOT AC
Please get it now

I am a professional software developer...granted, not game development, but at the same time I'm not totally naive as far as what goes on "under the hood".

My 2 cents...day/night cycles seems like it would not be too bad to implement. I did not say "easy" - I think you'd need to create some elbow room in your roadmap to get it done, and that would mean cashflow disruption if you are counting on DLC. I don't want to trivialize it, but it seems to me to mostly be a question of enhancing the graphics engine (a true physics engine such as what is present in AC can already handle the temp changes that would come along with simulating nighttime).

Rain on the other hand...that one scares me a bit. Not only is it a very intense graphical change - bear in mind none of us are gonna be happen with a binary "downpour or dry" modeling - we're gonna demand that it clouds up, starts to sprinkle, then starts to pour, then goes in reverse and starts to dry out. But even if you have the resources to tackle that, think of the additional variables this introduces on the physics side. Again, if it were only binary - dry surface vs uniformly soaked surface - maybe that's doable, but again, being who we are, not many of us are going to be satisfied with binary. We're gonna want damp track, actively wetted track, puddles, dynamically drying line, etc.

That's all starting to sound like a frightening amount of work, none of which is going to be directly convert nicely into cashflow. Sure, if AC (or any of the other established names) ever did come out with rain, I think they'd get a small surge in people coming over but my spidey sense tells me they aren't going to break even on their efforts. I think perhaps adding weather as a DLC module is a very intriguing idea, but frankly I think it would be a total nightmare from a PR standpoint ("I got this for FREE back in '06 with GTR2, and now here I am in 2017 getting charged $20 for it?!?!").

For the record, personally I'd be willing to pay the $20 for weather (goes for AC, AMS, and R3E).

 

[F_B]

Let's just wait and see what the future will bring.

 

[Patrik Marek]

you can always buy the ferrrari DLC now that the other one is free

 

[Mitja Bonca]

Track for free?
If this will go on and on, I will need 10 new SSDs

 

[protonv5]

Just a try to help you
Night and rain will be NEVER added in Assetto Corsa by Kunos. But whatever will be the next project of Kunos Simulazioni (maybe a cat- or a spaceship simulator) will have this features for sure.
But NOT AC
Please get it now

Well, whichever. What's the difference? This version or the next version. But it will come.

 

[PhilS13]

I had an AC server not too long ago and no one ever joined because I made it too hard for people. Boo hoo. And really, it wasn't that difficult. Just low grip for the first couple laps and perhaps some clouds. Guys actually told me my server sucked and no one wants those settings. Well, in fact I found that guys only want to race in perfect conditions. Then they will say they love simulations and not arcade games.

Racing in crap condition sucks in real life and it sucks in a sim too.

Looking at how your server test went the simulation aspect seems to be spot on. Nothing arcade going on there.

 

[protonv5]

Racing in crap condition sucks in real life and it sucks in a sim too.

Looking at how your server test went the simulation aspect seems to be spot on. Nothing arcade going on there.

So people want a simulation up until it simulates real life? Huh. Interesting.

 

[Radu Oros]

But super low grip isn't a substitute for "real" rain or snow. In those situations the car reacts quite differently. Perhaps that low asphalt grip is just annoying for racing online. For online I wouldn't go below 94 or 95 track grip. Or try a slower evolution track from 97 or 98.

 

[Ben Lee]

I think part of the reason people don’t like using low grip servers or super low temperature servers is because the grip levels aren’t well shown to the end user. They are written in small text on one game menu, for such an important factor I would have preferred to see some kind of pop up splash screen which appeared as the session started or changed displaying everything in BIG text. It should then be permenantly on display whilst in the pits, say on the bottom right of the screen. This is the problem a quali session takes place in 25 degrees C, then it switches to the race and its 6 degrees C. People aren’t always aware of this change and it catches them out because they are uninformed.

 

[Rob Every]

I do not mind racing in low grip, but as you say a lot of people do not register it.

So if you are at Spa (as you usually are in AC) you get massive straight on at La Source and Eau Rouge is a crash fest with loads of penalties and crashes.

I understand the need for realism, but as we can see above from a software developer, the effort is not going to be repaid with much extra interest.

I would not buy the PCARS games because of the weather, I would buy them based on reviews, content and price. Weather would be a very low aspect that might convince me to buy. It looks nice and offers realism agreed. But in most circumstances I think it's is a token gesture put into games to make a career mode harder or visuals more challenging for the player.

 

[protonv5]

I do not mind racing in low grip, but as you say a lot of people do not register it.

So if you are at Spa (as you usually are in AC) you get massive straight on at La Source and Eau Rouge is a crash fest with loads of penalties and crashes.

I understand the need for realism, but as we can see above from a software developer, the effort is not going to be repaid with much extra interest.

I would not buy the PCARS games because of the weather, I would buy them based on reviews, content and price. Weather would be a very low aspect that might convince me to buy. It looks nice and offers realism agreed. But in most circumstances I think it's is a token gesture put into games to make a career mode harder or visuals more challenging for the player.

With PCars I really enjoy creating a race session that changes from dry to wet say half way through the race. It forces a pitstop with tire change. Those couple laps as you try to stretch out your time on dry's as it starts to rain and gain an advantage are a real blast. Then the pitstop, then running in the rain. Very very cool. This all makes the whole thing very realistic. It adds such another dimension to the SIM. Why people wouldn't want this is beyond me. But to each his own.

On another note though, as time goes by, these sims will get more and more realistic. It's just the way it is. If your sim (AC) in this case just simply stays the same and only adds cars and tracks it will be left in the dust. There will simply need to be additions to it. I know Kunos know this and they will add these things or become irrelevant. If there are limitations to AC 1 if we can call it that, then a new design from the ground up will be needed. But do we all really think AC2 will be the same game again? Shinier graphics perhaps? More cars? Tracks? What would be the purpose in buying it? There will have to be some major additions to the title to justify selling it, or buying it.

They know this, hence the video with cat-man. Also, they are owned by a bigger company now that bought them for a reason. You don't buy a title like Assetto and then do nothing with it. The whole purpose of it would be as an investment. Let's go bigger/better make money take nice holiday's.
So, I think the title will evolve and surprise everyone. And if they do add wet weather, day/night etc and they pull it off with the game's already incredible feel, it will be unmatched. So why not be the best? Go for it.

 

[RMR1]

So people want a simulation up until it simulates real life? Huh. Interesting.

Heavy rain condition in real life triggers the red flag, do really want that in your sim?

 

[Celestiale]

Heavy rain condition in real life triggers the red flag, do really want that in your sim?

Not really. F1 is pretty exclusive in flagging red. Last time i have been at Red Bull Ring there was a downpour, and all classes, TT Cup, F3, Porsche Cup and DTM were racing

 

[RMR1]

Not really. F1 is pretty exclusive in flagging red. Last time i have been at Red Bull Ring there was a downpour, and all classes, TT Cup, F3, Porsche Cup and DTM were racing

Does this look like inPC2?
Realistically implemented weather would result in this.
Does peecars even simulate hail?

 

[Celestiale]

Does this look like inPC2?
Realistically implemented weather would result in this.
Does peecars even simulate hail?

Can't watch the video right now, but i guess it would pretty much look like i imagine this in a Pcars 2 online server with the same conditions

 

[Ralf Brinkmann]

Does this look like inPC2?
Realistically implemented weather would result in this.
Does peecars even simulate hail?

Weather Change is set to 60x, that's for sure

 

[Patrik Marek]

I bet all those guys woudl also prefer turning weather off

 

[Rob Every]

I would never, ever run with weather on.

Was watching some streams recently of newish games showcasing weather, and if you run shortish races, say 15 laps, you get a full year in about 20 minutes, sun, showers, rain, brightening, dry again.

It's not realistic for anywhere other than the Far East, and even then it is stretching realism to extremes.

Might be OK for long distance races, but for short races they feel the need to include it over a 2 lap race, which is plainly ridiculous.

 

[Brandon Wright]

I would never, ever run with weather on.

Was watching some streams recently of newish games showcasing weather, and if you run shortish races, say 15 laps, you get a full year in about 20 minutes, sun, showers, rain, brightening, dry again.

It's not realistic for anywhere other than the Far East, and even then it is stretching realism to extremes.

Might be OK for long distance races, but for short races they feel the need to include it over a 2 lap race, which is plainly ridiculous.

If you're referring to PCars2 the player has full control over all of that. Whatever videos you saw the full year of weather in were because the player set it to those conditions, it isn't the default of how weather behaves so to claim the game is somehow at fault for that is incorrect. There's around a dozen weather events the player can choose from (sunny, light clouds, heavy rain, light fog, etc.) and you can add multiple events per session that it will cycle through during your race. Or you can just add one event and have the conditions stay the same for the whole session. Just like how in AC you can set time progression so your 15 lap race starts in the morning and ends in the evening, not realistic at all but it was chosen by the player, not the game.

 

[gruvendubs]

i know most people play racing sims because of the chance to drive cars they probably won't ever see in person never mind be able to drive but i would love to see more road cars. I used to love forza car selection for the simple fact that you could take a car you could buy in real life and upgrade to be a sportier version of it to your taste. Having that in something like AC would be a game changer if you ask me. I love driving all the vehicles AC has offered and some of the mods available here but would like to take some "lower level" cars out on the track.