Sim Discussion Monday - Assetto Corsa

[Paul Jeffrey]

In today’s edition of ‘Sim Discussion Monday’ we talk about all things Assetto Corsa!

Love it or loathe it Assetto Corsa has quickly become one of the most popular racing simulations of the modern sim racing landscape. Bathed in exotic licences the likes of Ferrari, Porsche and Lamborghini all pitched together on laserscanned tracks, with high quality graphics and physics and a vibrant modding scene, Assetto Corsa from Kunos Simulazioni has very quickly picked up the mantle once held so tightly by Image Space Incorporated and the venerable rFactor platform.

However despite the popularity of the software Assetto Corsa still lacks many of the features considered essential in a modern racing title (think day / night transition, weather and driver swops), leaving many to feel the sim is so close to the top of the mountain, yet just falling short as it scales the summit.

Now in its third year of development, let’s use this article as an opportunity to discuss the game, share tips on optimising the experience on screen and through the wheel, highlight some great content and basically just talk about anything and everything Assetto Corsa!

Mondays be like...

 

[RufGTI]

I would not be surprised if Assetto Corsa's lifespan would end in 2018.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

is there a difference between the percentage of players who think bad weather is essential and the number who actually would use rain if it was there?

Ha interesting comment and the subject of next weeks 'Have Your Say' article!! (unless something topical comes up before then anyway...)

 

[leseb64]

Little sim, nice for hotlaps...not more...

 

[DKGORACE]

Lets talk about payware mods .

Indeed, and in just mods/downloads themselves. It's rather obvious that Assetto Corsa is in a league of it's own when it comes to DLC itself (6866 as of today). There are old cars and tracks converted from other formats to A/C that interest me, without the massive pay for play concepts from other SIMS.

That being said most of the pay mod builders are absolutely brilliant! ASR, VRC, and of course our newest member RaceSimStudio, as well many others. These builders are keeping one another as well all concepts of SIM racing engineers and designers on their toes. I personally have no issue what so ever to cough up a few pounds or euros for a high quality mod. Keep up the amazing work lads!!!

A few other classes other than F1 would be great...wink wink.....

I think the sad point of the DLC is Q.C. The issue there is the slackers that do not do their own development and design and hack and slash their way to copy and paste a nice livery on an old mod..... scamming into our wallets..... It usually just takes one time, but that could be a total of a lot of money across the globe. No need to end on a sour note......
..........there are lots of choices of what SIM to use, I have been around since the GPL and GTR days, and still drive many different brands. I'm not your typical full time racer, but have enough money and time invested to consider myself a loyal fan of all SIM racing.

And a big thank you to everyone here at Racedepartment!!!! For giving the racer fan a platform to view, post, and participate in the wonderful world of SIM racing.

Cheers to all and thank you for reading my novel ..........DKgorace

 

[lhcaetano]

A small sim from a small team that became huge.
KUNOS with Reiza is a really nice studio with clever and honest individuals.
It lacks some features but this sim would never suppose to have them from the 1st time.
On the contrary we got for free many more features that were advertised on the 1st place.
Maybe it's the best sim regarding modding which adds value.

Summarize:
Not the best in all areas but it scores really high in all of them all tops in many of them.
It gives me the best feeling in my hardware (G27) , combined with really good presentation , superb community with excellent mods and apps (like minorating, srs, ptracker etc) , great netcode, official cars and tracks gives the best package overall.

Superb value.
Thanks guys @kunos @Aristotelis and the rest of the team.

I don't consider day / night and weather to be an essential, but that's not to say I'm not in the majority there.

I thought I did, then VR came to rF2 so I played a lot of it. I never thought once to switch weather or time of day settings. Maybe I'll get there, but it wasn't the first thing I thought.

I played a bit of pCars online a year or two back but was always disappointed if an online race was night or rain, in a whingey 'oh no it be slippy' kind of way.

is there a difference between the percentage of players who think bad weather is essential and the number who actually would use rain if it was there?

Positives - early VR adopter; accessible (this was my first sim really); looks nice; good selection of high quality tracks (at expense of DLC)
Negatives - handling / FFB doesn't communicate to me the way some cars in rF2 and RRE do; sound can be a bit flat compared to others

Mate, I'd say AC has the best FFB around, with the best physics. Maybe you need some more time adjusting the FFB to take the best experience from it. And the sounds in AC are spot on, despite some times you might think the sound in RR is better, just go on youtube and search for the real sound and you'll understand what I'm talking about.

 

[lhcaetano]

AC has a lot of good things like has been said. For me one I most appreciate is the VR implementation. I don't think there is another title that shows the interior of the cars so realistically and whith such fluent graphics.

But on the other hand one thing I really miss is a better FFB. In the last few weeks I've been playing more to RF2 and there's a huge difference. The better your wheel is the more you feel the difference. In AC as you increase the ffb strength the only thing you notice is more spring force to the center, while in rf2 you feel more the forces of the car.

All other things, like weather or night and day transition, can wait for a next version of ac, but force feedback should be improved, because a great sim like this dosen't deserve a ffb so poor.

What wheel do you use?

 

[lhcaetano]

I could spend hours here talking how awesome AC is, and how it out-stands other sims.

But one concern I have is the little things that it still lacks here and there, which by the way are provided by MODs.

The down side about this is that new comers won't have a clue about these mods, so... I guess as a near period improvement for AC is to develop a way so that new comers can find a way to learn these essential mods as quick as possible. For instance, there is a mod that permits DRIVER SWAPPING. Who else didn't know about this?

 

[testover]

Full disclosure, I consider myself a very, very casual "sim racer". I'm past the Forza stage but I just tool around on a very low end machine in short races against AI and I'm pretty new to it within the last few years. I don't have a regular time I can be available for uninterrupted races, making league racing a difficult proposition, so I'm basically limited to racing against AI.

I started with a wide assortment of titles - The F1 franchise, Project Cars, Simraceway (because FREE!) and Assetto Corsa. I did get into AC really early on, before its full release. And maybe that was a mistake, because early on it was brutal for a novice like me, really unforgiving physics - instant terminal lift-off oversteer on the Lotus Exige V6 Cup and the rear brakes on the F40 that would lock if you even thought about touching the middle pedal immediately come to mind. The graphics were underwhelming, the content was light, quality mods were sparse, and the AI was totally oblivious. As a result, AC spent a lot of time sitting unused in my Steam library and the hours played statistics backed that up.

The corner really turned with the Nurburgring expansion. At the time I was going through the whole Project Cars thing and growing disillusioned there (a side topic I'm sure no one needs me to go any further on). I like the Ring as much as the next guy and was intrigued by the prospect of a full scanned version. My expectations were moderate and I expected to get the standard Ring layouts - full loop, plus point to point segments. Kunos made no claims to the contrary. Then they release it, and it comes with everything - multiple endurance layouts with the GP Strecke, the typical full layout, and even the Tourist layout to capture those coveted Bridge to Gantry times in time attack. The contrast with Project Cars blew me away. While I was frustrated with SMS overpromising and under delivering, Kunos did the opposite, setting expectations low then surprising me with more than I dreamed. That brought AC back to the front of my queue.

Since then it has been my primary title. They've made further improvements that have made it even easier for me to keep it at top dog status. The physics have become more forgiving. Now I'm not the most experienced driver so I can't say with absolute authority, but in what experience I do have real-world cars on track weren't as unforgiving as early AC builds made them out to be. Whether they've gone too forgiving is certainly up for debate, but I appreciate having something approachable but with more nuance than PC, Forza, and the like. Tire models have, like most sims, had their ups and downs, but they seem to be in a decent, stable place right now. The latest AI improvement knocked it out of the park. In my opinion, it is the best AI out there. The skill, aggression, and variety adjustments actually seem to make a noticeable difference, and I rarely experience something truly bone-headed from the AI (though it still has the all-too-typical issue of AI being impervious to damage and spins while you're 100% vulnerable in a collision). Content is still lacking and the mods are still hit-or-miss (but the few that are hits are really top notch, looking at you Riverside, you beautiful thing you) but at the end of the day, if I have a limited amount of free time to get into a sim (which is the only conditions I can really sim under), AC is the easiest one to fire up, navigate a decent UI, make a few selections, and get straight into a quick, entertaining race.

 

[Rob]

After bashing Kunos because they failed to release a game on console that has private lobbies, I am now league racing at Race Department with Assetto. It's like feast or famine, since the new lobbies are both server connected, lag free, and relatively bug free. So, if this holds, it's officially, as predicted, one of the best games on the console, as opposed to just a hot lapping game. The physics were never in question.

If this game is tweaked further and maybe a sequel is made, then barring pCARS being as good on the wheel (jury still out), I can't see anyone knocking the crown off of Lord Kunos' head. . At least on console. It really matters not which car you drive...the wheel users immediately know what they have with this title.

 

[F_B]

Great sim. The only thing that is lacking are more official tracks imo. Day/night transition and weather would be the cherry on the cake.

 

[Haiden773]

I love AC. It might not be the best at everything, but, currently, I think it's the best package overall, a nice balance of physics, FFB handling, graphics, and AI. That's why it's my go-to sim right now.

That said, I also believe it's time Kunos started seriously thinking about AC2 and adding features that are quickly becoming the standard expectation. I understand their perspective and why they haven't pursued these things up to this point. But they're starting to sound a bit like Turn10 did, resisting change for years for one reason or another, and getting to comfortable in their position.

Reality is, Kunos won't be able to keep AC alive without adding transition features and some of the other things sim racers want, not in the long run. They've only been able to resist up to this point, because of the limited competition. But the landscape is quickly changing. So, the only question is, how long is the long run and whether or not Kunos will keep trying to swim upstream.

 

[Ryan Robbins]

Probably my favorite sim right now, and I have them all. As someone else mentioned, I enjoy all the Sims. AC is a great overall package. Generally, most feel it has great FF. Feels great on my T300, and G25. FF is personal preference anyway, to some extent. Great graphics and optimization.
I often ask myself...if a friend came over to try a SIM, which one would I show him...probably AC. When I found 3out Kunos was working on a new SIM, I was excited because I loved nkpro

 

[Greg Latty]

I was going to say the exact same thing. I like both and despite I have played Assetto Corsa for like ten times more hours than rFactor2, after some weeks playing rF2 and making some adjustments to the graphics I don't feel comfortable at Assetto Corsa anymore (regarding FFB). Even with the FFB Clip app, I don't seem to find the sweet spot... I'll try the Look Up Table thing and see if it improves.
.

wow. its crazy that i'm seeing people say that. I've been a long time Assetto fan and still love it. But for the first time since I've owned it, I see why people don't like the FFB. I've been playing RF2 and AMS a lot more lately and i came back to assetto after months of not playing. The FFB felt so weird to me after those game. Like the car is floating above the ground. I don't know how to explain it. I've never had that feeling with Assetto before. Drive the 650s in both games at Zandvoort and you will see what i mean. I still love this game though. Im just glad us sim racers have so many options

Edit.. Im using a TX wheel for the record.

 

[Giovaneveterano]

AC deserves a special place into the sim-racing masterpieces.

 

[IMrIMike]

And the sounds in AC are spot on, despite some times you might think the sound in RR is better, just go on youtube and search for the real sound and you'll understand what I'm talking about.

Uhm, can you give a few examples? There are a few cars with a brilliant sound yes, like the Audi S1 E2, Aventador, Maserati GranTurismo GT4 or some of the Porsches. The rest is either okay, meh, or even below that.

FMOD is such a powerful tool, yet the whole potential really comes to life in just a few cars. I think AC could be one of the best sounding games easily, with many dynamic audio features directly connected to physics. Unfortunately, when it comes to audio, lots of people either don´t seem to mind or don´t hear the quality, so I guess that fell way down on the priority ladder.

 

[testover]

It feels weird to say this, but I wouldn't be opposed to Kunos stopping AC as it is now, and doing AC2 with full day/night and weather cycles designed in, plus getting funding for more content. They've nailed the basics with the existing game, so I think this would be a good point to leveraging that solid basis into a big new thing.

 

[Nevini]

My 2nd VR love after Elite, I mainly hotlap for my VR fix and once a week race online. this is my go to sim and the one I use to show off my rift to friends and family members. Not bothered about night racing or racing in the rain, hell I live in the UK I do not want rain in my sims.

AC requires more tracks from the developers, that's my only gripe.

 

[Manfredk2]

Assetto is my number one because of the great modders. Thank you all

 

[FernandoAFM]

After the AI update, AC has become one of my favorite sims when I'm not on iRacing. I just find AC really natural to drive. I also have been meaning to try the AC club races here.

9,0 / 10

I can live without rain, but I'd love night racing.

More tracks would be great also. But there are great mods that help fill the void.

 

[TheMattyOnline]

Everything about AC says I should really enjoy it. Great cars and tracks. A decent tire model and physics / ffb. Really nice, smooth VR with super interior modeled cars.
And yet, every time I play it I'm underwhelmed and go back to rFactor 2.
Really can't put my finger on it. Maybe I'm just not giving it was enough of chance.
Someone recommend a car/track combo that I will find impossible to not like !