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!

 

[9kret9]

Giulia! Oh Yes please

 

[Fat Rich]

....
It must be the same with tracks as you have Brands but no other MSV tracks, where PCARS have Snett and Oulton do they not? They paid for each one? say a £1k each or got all three for £2500 in a deal?.....

£1K? Add a zero or two on the end! Marco said on Twitter that tracks want license fees equivalent to a line of cocaine the length of the circuit

Bringing as much content across from AC1 will be very important otherwise AC2 may have a difficult birth like rF2..... lots of great features but not much content.

I suspect SMS knew when they negotiated licenses for pCars1 that they would immediately start making sequels and factored that into their negotiations... whether Kunos did that or not I don't know. They seem to have very good relationships with the car manufacturers in the sim so hopefully they can sort things out.

 

[TylerDurden4321]

That is one awesome generous cat.

 

[Celestiale]

My question would be, why on earth are cars like the Porsche SUV and some other cars in the game? They serve one purpose, marketing. No other purpose whatsoever. They are free so you can't complain, but once you have them, you drive them once then never use them again.

That to me is failed marketing, nothing more. Fair enough if you get 5 Maser's and one free 4x4 SUV. As all I think is, why are they giving me this rubbish? All I want is the good stuff I don't think bad of Kunos as I am sure they would far prefer to let us have a Bora, or Jalpa or even better one of their single make series cars. But they are seemingly saddled sometimes with stuff they are forced or can only afford to give us rather than anything else?

I am glad for the huge variety of cars to be honest. I don't use AC as a "racing simulator" a lot (i think Raceroom is better in that respect, better AI, better classes / full grid rosters, better collision physics which is very important in multiplayer). I use AC as a "top gear simulator". I love to load up some mod road ala Transfaragasan and test different supercars as in the famous Top Gear episode, or take some SUVs and see which one can cope best with a tight bumpy mountain road like Monte Erice. For that matter i wouldn't even mind some more SUV's like the X5 or a Merc G-something, to have more variety in that respect. And all that while i hate SUVs in real life (for several reasons), and would never buy one myself.
I think the Quattroporte is ugly as hell, and i am a little bit sad that they didn't include the Ghibli. But on the other side the Panamera will finally have something to play with (at least when we get the GTS, what i hope and expect). And that is what it's all about, for me anyway.

pCARS 2 kept pretty much all its content.
I'd call it an industry standard not to launch with less content these days. You'd get ripped apart by media outlets.

Unless of course there is a super huge jump in technology or so.
But not sure if the mere addition of rain and night time would justify this.
My gut feeling here would be 'no' but then again Kunos by size isn't SMS, of course.

So yeah, I guess we can only HOPE

I think it would be a fair deal to get all cars that have been released in AC1 in the AC2 release version without any DLC. Take AC1, add properly implemented night and weather, including a "livetrack" and dirt physics (which are essential if you want to properly model a livetrack), and i would gladly pay 60 bucks for the content that currently makes up AC1. Then make DLCs with additional cars, and earn additional money (i would keep buying them of course). I think that would be a fair business model both for old and new customers.

 

[Mr Latte]

Finally got the chance to watch this again taking more of it in.
Excellent interview, thank you to all involved for sharing this and making it possible.

It's great to see developers take note of the community but also gain or earn their trust in delivering to the sim things they request and desire.

May Race Department continue to strive in networking with the industry and personalities within it.

 

[mopro]

I presumed the delay was due to Kunos working on other more profitable project(s)?
That's great if true. Kunos will get lots of money to keep going, and we get the free DLC!

 

[Franz Surowetz]

Wieder nur Streedcars, kein realistisches Wetter und Tag, Nachtwechsel, wie immer angekündigt wurde, so wie immer! große Redewendungen: teuflisch: : poop:

Mod-Edit:
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[Andreas Knöpke]

Wieder nur Streedcars, kein realistisches Wetter und Tag, Nachtwechsel, wie immer angekündigt wurde, so wie immer! große Redewendungen: teuflisch: : poop:

Weather and night was never ever announced, dood!

 

[Tberg]

Frostbite is owned by EA, so no.
Unreal4...maybe.
I wouldn't be surprised if AC2 ended up running on Unity, it has come a long way and the physics are pretty good.

This time around, I think they won't write their own engine, but we'll see

 

[SteffenLS]

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

/ Kneel down in respect for Kunos - what a DLC, and its for free

 

[Charles Amyouni]

Free Laguna SECA *drools*

 

[Amir Vodokotlic]

What a great interview.

Stefano looks excited something good must be cooking at Kunos

Laguna Seca and free pack sounds great.



I hope they don't build graphics engine from ground up again.
It would probably take several years for them to come up with AC2.

Unless the current engine can be modified.
Considering rf2 graphics engine started with rf1 version, and studio 397 ported it to DX11 in less than year. Maybe anything is possible.

Can't wait.

 

[CC]

What a great interview.

Stefano looks excited something good must be cooking at Kunos

Laguna Seca and free pack sounds great.



I hope they don't build graphics engine from ground up again.
It would probably take several years for them to come up with AC2.

Unless the current engine can be modified.
Considering rf2 graphics engine started with rf1 version, and studio 397 ported it to DX11 in less than year. Maybe anything is possible.

Can't wait.

Stick it on UE4 , That will make the graphics pop

 

[Chobonator]

Wieder nur Streedcars, kein realistisches Wetter und Tag, Nachtwechsel, wie immer angekündigt wurde, so wie immer! große Redewendungen: teuflisch: : poop:

Fuchsröhre! Eine kleine Nachtmusik! Rudolf Schenker!

Stick it on UE4 , That will make the graphics pop

Has any UE4 engine game to this day offered good anti-aliasing?

 

[CC]

Fuchsröhre! Eine kleine Nachtmusik! Rudolf Schenker!


Has any UE4 engine game to this day offered good anti-aliasing?

Not seen any issues to be honest and Ive watched 100,s of hrs of Dev videos in the last few years ,
its actually used on TV and adverts for CG , the technology is simply mind blowing
"but in the right hands"
lets wait and see what they do with the current engine

 

[Amir Vodokotlic]

Fuchsröhre! Eine kleine Nachtmusik! Rudolf Schenker!


Has any UE4 engine game to this day offered good anti-aliasing?

Well first test sector3 did with unreal engine 4 looked real good.

http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/more-unreal-4-simbin-in-game-gtr-3-shots-released.131425/

Plus with Stefano's talents it could look spectacular.

 

[Chobonator]

Well first test sector3 did with unreal engine 4 looked real good.

That's a mock-up.

 

[Amir Vodokotlic]

That's a mock-up.

No it wasn't.
http://www.bsimracing.com/sector3-studios-reveals-unreal-engine-4-powered-raceroom-screenshots/

 

[CC]

Well first test sector3 did with unreal engine 4 looked real good.

http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/more-unreal-4-simbin-in-game-gtr-3-shots-released.131425/

Plus with Stefano's talents it could look spectacular.

I believe they run on DX9 also but dont shoot me if I am wrong ,
imagine that with DX12 they also have really good partical systems , dynamic weather the engine is simply unreal!
also the amount of triangle is far greater than the current AC engine , so would mean higher poly tracks and cars could be possible but currently they look awesome around 250-300k like that last DLC

 

[Chobonator]

No it wasn't.
http://www.bsimracing.com/sector3-studios-reveals-unreal-engine-4-powered-raceroom-screenshots/

Have you seen any footage in motion?