The Big Assetto Corsa Competizione Interview (Part 2)

[Paul Jeffrey]

Catch part two of our exclusive Assetto Corsa Competizione interview with Marco Massarutto and Ste'fano Casillo of Kunos Simulazioni...

Causing a mass panic of excitement from the sim racing community following the announcement back on February 21st, it is probably fair to say plenty of people are excited for the upcoming Assetto Corsa Competizione racing simulation, and with a potential Early Access release coming to Steam this summer, we answered the community call and sat down with two of the men behind the simulation - Marco Massarutto and Stefano Casillo, founding members of Italian development studio Kunos Simulazioni.

If you are interested in learning more of about the official racing simulation of the Blancpain GT Series, check out part 2 of our exclusive interview at the head of this article.

If you missed it earlier, part one can be viewed HERE. Oh and please consider doing us a favour by subscribing to our YouTube channel if you enjoyed this coverage and are looking forward to more of the same in the years ahead...


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

Check out the Assetto Corsa Competizione here at RaceDepartment for the latest news and discussions regarding this exciting upcoming sim. We intend to host some quality League and Club Racing events as well as hosting some great community created mods (we hope!). Join in the discussion today.

Like what you see here at RaceDepartment? Don't forget to like, subscribe and follow us on social media!

RaceDepartment YouTube
RaceDepartment Twitter
RaceDepartment Facebook
RaceDepartment Twitch
RaceDepartment Instagram

Enjoy the interview? Looking forward to ACC? Learn anything new? Leave a comment below (and subscribe to our YouTube page too!)

 

[Patrik Marek]

if it was me, it would say its waste of money/resources, but Lord Kunos tend to disagree with me, so yeah, they will

 

[MetalMania]

Late to this, just watching the vids recently and full disclosure I haven't read ALL the comments here, stopped at around page 7 or 8 (it's a lot in one sitting). Not to beat a dead horse, but back to the AI - I know we're in a very multi-player centric world, and I'm not convinced it's really for the better. But, like others that have commented here, I am mostly a single player focused sim driver - thus far. It just fits better with my time availability and what I enjoy doing. I just like to drive, and if the AI is good and believable, it doesn't really change my enjoyment of a sim. I recall having really good, intense races with AI back in GTR2, and more recently in RF2 and AC - heart pounding, sweating, nerves on edge... after the checkered flag thinking "that was great". The only multiplayer racing I have done is iRacing, which I just recently joined because for whatever reason I felt I needed to try it. In my admittedly very limited exposure to MP in the iRacing rookie levels... I'm not having as much fun as racing "good" AI. I think I might have been better off seeking out a good rookie MP league in other sims. I'm not saying I'm God's gift to the steering wheel - I make plenty of my own mistakes, but at least idiot AI don't talk sh*t to you while they're wrecking you for no reason. Besides my "experiment" with MP in iRacing, I will not purchase a racing sim if there isn't a solid single player mode. I think you could make an argument that good single player vs AI could also help prepare people for MP, giving the opportunity to practice working traffic, holding your line wheel to wheel, etc. without ruining someone else's session. I applaud Kunos' attention to AI and I really hope other devs of "true sim" racing titles don't abandon it. Hell, even iRacing is working on AI now.

 

[Patrik Marek]

idiot AI don't talk sh*t to you while they're wrecking you for no reason.

gold!

 

[delpinsky]

So basically a SRO game

It all depends on the License Kunos obtained from SRO. Is the game Blancpain exclusive or can Kunos eventually sign deals for other cars and tracks outside SRO Motorsports? From the interview it seems like they were talking about SRO GT4 or Blancpain Asia, es examples.

 

[motoliser]

i guess I'm not real modder then, it gets tiring going to sleep each day 2-3am

That was an answer to the guy that said modders need to take a break from creating mods!!! By the way I am really disappointed with the lack of respect for modders shown here since ACC was announced.

 

[Kenny Paton]

By the way I am really disappointed with the lack of respect for modders shown here since ACC was announced

Don't see that, it's not disrespectful just a discussion about a game that's not released yet which apparently won't support modding. People have different views on it, it's not disrespectful to be happy with the game as is without mods.
I think the vast bulk of players appreciate the work, effort and dedication that modders bring to a project.

 

[mantasisg]

Yes that is not true, though there were a few persons who used ACC as an opportunity to say how much they doesn't care about modding, or even dislikes it. Which is alright with me, but it is sometimes said in a very disrespectful way, like "who cares about modding anyway, they are all terrible", or "it takes so much time to look for gems, daddy doesn't have time"... there are many ways how to show yourself being dumb, ACC unfolded a few.

It is only natural that appreciation curve will be directly proportional with spoilage curve. And ACC has nothing to do with this, it was all progressing all the time. The deal is nearly dead.

So I see ACC lack of content, but very sexy features and graphics as anti-spoilage hope. Perhaps if there will be a few guys to manage way to introduce something third-party, then it is going to be very limited, and only few mods will come. Meanwhile, the focus will be very clear in ACC. Awesome new features and competitive racing, using them all (hopefully) !

 

[CobraCat]

that might be photogrammetry, you are talking about, or aerial lidar, but lidar is just the terminology and when we get laser scans, they are reffered to as lidars

My understanding is LiDAR is typically collected via an airborne platform and LASER scanned typically means collected via an ground based platform ie; a truck driving on a track and stop every so often to scan the track surface. Certainly an important distinction to be clearly on to make sure we are all on the same page !

LiDAR data is typically available for free in contrast to LASER scanning data of a track which is rarely if ever freely available. At least that is my understanding. I think LS is more accurate regarding corner camber angles compared to LiDAR.

 

[unknwn]

My understanding is LiDAR is typically collected via an airborne platform

That would be Airborne lidar.

and LASER scanned typically means collected via an ground based platform ie; a truck driving on a track and stop every so often to scan the track surface.

That would be Terrestrial lidar.

At least by reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar#Types_of_applications

What is Lidar?

Lidar (also called LIDAR, LiDAR, and LADAR) is a surveying method that measures distance to a target by illuminating the target with pulsed laser light and measuring the reflected pulses with a sensor. Differences in laser return times and wavelengths can then be used to make digital 3-D representations of the target. The name lidar, now considered an acronym of light detection and ranging[1] (sometimes light imaging, detection, and ranging), was originally a portmanteau of light and radar.[2][3] Lidar sometimes is called laser scanning and 3-D scanning, with terrestrial, airborne, and mobile applications.

So basically a fancy term for laser scanning.

 

[mantasisg]

Don't worry the badge is safe, ground level scan will always be better. Though I think a scan from air already is enough to please normal people.

I have been thinking recently if there would be a way to find out friction coefficients by using scanning, it should be possible, I think.

One day there will be laserscaned sound, physics, FFB, online ranking system, cars, car handling, and of course - laser scanned rain and night

 

[mms]

[...]is enough to please normal people.[...]

You should be aware by now that the sim-racing community does not fit that label

 

[Radu Oros]

What matters most is how you use the lasercan data. Pcars 1 and 2 did a bad job at that, with both their lidar and lasercanned tracks (the British ones). The surface is all over the place and "polygonal". Not even rf2 does it well.. feels like the surface is over the top exaggerated although they only have tracks with lidar (for example Silverstone, unless they're using an older data where the real track was so bumpy).

Laserscanning like Kunos and Iracing does is closer to the real thing than LIDAR approach. Even if you call lidar as laserscanning, is not the same thing.

 

[LilSki]

I hate the term Laser Scanning. As said it is all LIDAR. Just depends on where you mount the damn scanner. And a good clean modern Aerial LIDAR scan from 2014-18 will get you just about everything you need to reproduce a track accurately. Cambers, elevations, and the larger bumps that matter will all come through in the data. For a community where in many cases are using mod tracks from 10+ years ago with 30'+ of elevation error is "OK" then Aerial LIDAR is more than good enough.

As for rF2 it has its own issues. I am working with ToeBee to get my Riverside into rF2 and what is a nice bumpy track with a lot of character in AC drives like a pool table in rF2. I have to ramp up the bumps to where it is undrivable in AC for rF2 to even start to register them. Not sure what is going on there but something ain't right. As I mentioned in other threads I am really curious how Sebring works out for them.

 

[Emerson Meyer]

That was an answer to the guy that said modders need to take a break from creating mods!!! By the way I am really disappointed with the lack of respect for modders shown here since ACC was announced.

I have a solution for you. Start your own business and stop all this crying. It's just annoying.

 

[mclarenf1papa]

I hate the term Laser Scanning. As said it is all LIDAR. Just depends on where you mount the damn scanner. And a good clean modern Aerial LIDAR scan from 2014-18 will get you just about everything you need to reproduce a track accurately. Cambers, elevations, and the larger bumps that matter will all come through in the data. For a community where in many cases are using mod tracks from 10+ years ago with 30'+ of elevation error is "OK" then Aerial LIDAR is more than good enough.

As for rF2 it has its own issues. I am working with ToeBee to get my Riverside into rF2 and what is a nice bumpy track with a lot of character in AC drives like a pool table in rF2. I have to ramp up the bumps to where it is undrivable in AC for rF2 to even start to register them. Not sure what is going on there but something ain't right. As I mentioned in other threads I am really curious how Sebring works out for them.

I don't know if it's the same in RF2, but I seem to recall RF1 using normals (not just tris/quads) in the physics calculations (so essentially everything is smoothed). I'm not even sure if that's true for RF1, but changing the normals to sharp might be worth at least looking at.

 

[LilSki]

I don't know if it's the same in RF2, but I seem to recall RF1 using normals (not just tris/quads) in the physics calculations (so essentially everything is smoothed). I'm not even sure if that's true for RF1, but changing the normals to sharp might be worth at least looking at.

Nah it's just the fact that you are taking a 600k mesh from AC and trying to make it work with a 90k mesh in rF2. Regardless of sim refresh rate you simply cannot have as much information in that low of a resolution. So you have to ramp up the noise in order for some of it to come through. The same is true in the reverse order for when you take tracks made for rF2 drive like the moon in AC unless you re-mesh them. And how do you re-mesh them you ask? Well you simply take an even lower poly road to shrink to the original road clearing out the noise (bumps). Essentially the exact same thing going from AC to rF2.

 

[mclarenf1papa]

Nah it's just the fact that you are taking a 600k mesh from AC and trying to make it work with a 90k mesh in rF2. Regardless of sim refresh rate you simply cannot have as much information in that low of a resolution. So you have to ramp up the noise in order for some of it to come through. The same is true in the reverse order for when you take tracks made for rF2 drive like the moon in AC unless you re-mesh them. And how do you re-mesh them you ask? Well you simply take an even lower poly road to shrink to the original road clearing out the noise (bumps). Essentially the exact same thing going from AC to rF2.

Didn't realize you were also reducing the resolution...that makes reasonable sense.

 

[delpinsky]

An excerpt of the part 1 of the interview of Marco Massarutto made by Drivingitalia.it staff, at Paul Ricard race track. The theme of the game is in the title:
"ASSETTO CORSA COMPETIZIONE, the official Blancpain GT Series game".

ACC evolution or revolution?
Surely the "DNA" has not changed: we always maintain the approach towards simulation, with an important innovation: last year we hired programmers with specific skills in order to have dedicated resources on specific aspects: graphics, physics, UI, multiplayer, and this is producing excellent results. In addition, focusing on a specific racing series allows us to get more attention to detail than in the past. Since we start from the experience of Assetto Corsa, the physical model of Competizione can be defined as a - sensitive - evolution, while in other aspects (graphics, gameplay, online ranking) ACC will be a revolution. A little bit like we saw in the passage between netKar Pro and Assetto Corsa, seven years ago: between netKar and Assetto Corsa there is an important generational transition: between AC and AC Competizione, there is a new generation leap, from all points of view.

The Blancpain GT is a category in which the pits and mechanics are very protagonists, for this reason there will be the use of motion capture technology for animations?
Our goal is to make the player feeling himself "on track", not just behind the wheel. So we have strongly changed our approach with regard to all the elements of contour: pitlane, race officials, the public, and of course, drivers and mechanics: the sequence of pitstops is very complex and we want to reproduce it at its best. Motion capture is ideal for more natural movements and "forgetting" players to find themselves in a virtual context.

 

[Will Mazeo]

The Blancpain GT is a category in which the pits and mechanics are very protagonists, for this reason there will be the use of motion capture technology for animations?
Our goal is to make the player feeling himself "on track", not just behind the wheel. So we have strongly changed our approach with regard to all the elements of contour: pitlane, race officials, the public, and of course, drivers and mechanics: the sequence of pitstops is very complex and we want to reproduce it at its best. Motion capture is ideal for more natural movements and "forgetting" players to find themselves in a virtual context.

Funny thing is that a few months ago I commented about this and how not having this stuff make sims lack immersion on the race aspect as in a race the driver is not the only star. I got a meltdown answer from community and the devs themselves... now this. Good to see they changed their minds

 

[StefanoCasillo]

I got a meltdown answer from community and the devs themselves... now this.

which dev gave you a "meltdown" answer and where?