As you may have read from the title, the tips suggested in the following article apply only to RTX graphics card users using a 1080p or 1440p monitor.
I love Assetto Corsa Competizione. While I prefer classic and vintage race cars, with which I am much more skilled and competitive, I really appreciate the idea of having a simulation dedicated to a single series with all the benefits that come with it. It's more focused and I get a lot more out of my simulation time than if I was hopping costantly between wildly different vehicles. I can focus, practice, learn more about driving with the intention of improving my awareness and technique behind the wheel in real life.
Unfortunately, however, ACC really doesn't look that great unless you got a 4k monitor. Aside from scary aliasing, which has alway been a feature of all the Kunos games I have tried (NetKar Pro, Assetto Corsa/Competizione), as they never managed to properly implement efficient AA techniques into their titles, their latest sim also presents washed-out, blurry image quality at resolutions below 4k.
One way to solve this problem, if playing on a Full HD or 2K monitor, is to increase the image scaling in ACC's video options to at least 150%. This makes it much sharper, although at a significant cost in terms of performance.
It came to a point where spending consistent time with the sim was having a toll on my eyes, and I had to take some time off from ACC in order to avoid straining them excessively. I was at a loss about what to do to remedy the situation. Purely by chance, I found the solution.
This technique has its downsides and, ultimately, is not much different from what can already be achieved in ACC using the in-game image scaling option mentioned earlier. Again, improved quality, but at a significant cost in terms of performance.
I learned in fact that you can combine DLDSR with DLSS, if the game supports it, to achieve better image quality at 0 performance cost. Fortunately, ACC has recently introduced DLSS support, which is now available in the video options.
What you want to do then is:
Go into a practice session and enjoy 4k quality at no performance cost.
Now, the image may look a little too sharp. No problem, this is due to the DLDSR smoothing option. This new technique actually makes the image much sharper than the old DSR, with which 0-10% smoothness was generally recommended. With DLDSR, it is recommended to use 40-60%. I personally use 40%.
I'll link a video from Digital Foundry where, as per usual, they take an in-depth look at this technology and its various options.
You don't need much "juice" to make this work; I have a simple RTX 2060, which is the stepping stone for Ray Tracing technology. However, it is damn effective, pardon the language, and has definitely solved my problems with the less-than-stellar image quality of ACC at lower resolutions. Sure, there's still some aliasing in places, but it's totally acceptable now.
I hope this will come useful to you, and remember not to do anything out of the ordinary to avoid breaking stuff you're not supposed to touch. We do not take responsibility for it.
Have fun!
I love Assetto Corsa Competizione. While I prefer classic and vintage race cars, with which I am much more skilled and competitive, I really appreciate the idea of having a simulation dedicated to a single series with all the benefits that come with it. It's more focused and I get a lot more out of my simulation time than if I was hopping costantly between wildly different vehicles. I can focus, practice, learn more about driving with the intention of improving my awareness and technique behind the wheel in real life.
Unfortunately, however, ACC really doesn't look that great unless you got a 4k monitor. Aside from scary aliasing, which has alway been a feature of all the Kunos games I have tried (NetKar Pro, Assetto Corsa/Competizione), as they never managed to properly implement efficient AA techniques into their titles, their latest sim also presents washed-out, blurry image quality at resolutions below 4k.
One way to solve this problem, if playing on a Full HD or 2K monitor, is to increase the image scaling in ACC's video options to at least 150%. This makes it much sharper, although at a significant cost in terms of performance.
It came to a point where spending consistent time with the sim was having a toll on my eyes, and I had to take some time off from ACC in order to avoid straining them excessively. I was at a loss about what to do to remedy the situation. Purely by chance, I found the solution.
DSR (Dynamic Super Resolution)
If you follow tech news, you may know that Nvidia introduced with the Maxwell (900 series) GPUs a new upscaling technique called DSR (Dynamic Super Resolution). In simple terms, this technique improved the resolution by a predetermined percentage that you could choose in the Nvidia control panel (henceforth referred to as NVCPL) and then scaled it according to the actual monitor output. All this was done by applying a Gaussian filter to attenuate any artifacts resulting from upscaling and subsequent downsampling of the image.This technique has its downsides and, ultimately, is not much different from what can already be achieved in ACC using the in-game image scaling option mentioned earlier. Again, improved quality, but at a significant cost in terms of performance.
DLDSR (Deep-Learning Dynamic Super Resolution)
What I wasn't aware of is that Nvidia recently introduced, through a driver update, a new technology called DLDSR (Deep-Learning Dynamic Super Resolution). It is still the old DSR but on artificial intelligence steroids. Taking advantage of the tensor cores on RTX cards, the upscaling process is now handled by AI, leading to massive improvements in both quality and performance cost. Applying a 2.25x filter from NVCPL now achieves the same 4k upscaling result, albeit with better results than the previous DSR, using half the GPU resources than before!Combine DLDSR with DLSS
This on and by itself is already great but wait, there's more.I learned in fact that you can combine DLDSR with DLSS, if the game supports it, to achieve better image quality at 0 performance cost. Fortunately, ACC has recently introduced DLSS support, which is now available in the video options.
What you want to do then is:
- go into your NVCPL
- navigate to "Manage 3d Setting" (or equivalent in your set language)
- look for the "DSR - Factors" option and set it to "2.25x DL"
- leave "DSR - Smoothness" to default 33% (more on that later)
- go in game, open the ACC video options menu and change the video resolution to the new value that is gonna be now available; then navigate down to DLSS, set it on, leaving it on "Quality" with 0% "Sharpness".
Go into a practice session and enjoy 4k quality at no performance cost.
Now, the image may look a little too sharp. No problem, this is due to the DLDSR smoothing option. This new technique actually makes the image much sharper than the old DSR, with which 0-10% smoothness was generally recommended. With DLDSR, it is recommended to use 40-60%. I personally use 40%.
I'll link a video from Digital Foundry where, as per usual, they take an in-depth look at this technology and its various options.
You don't need much "juice" to make this work; I have a simple RTX 2060, which is the stepping stone for Ray Tracing technology. However, it is damn effective, pardon the language, and has definitely solved my problems with the less-than-stellar image quality of ACC at lower resolutions. Sure, there's still some aliasing in places, but it's totally acceptable now.
I hope this will come useful to you, and remember not to do anything out of the ordinary to avoid breaking stuff you're not supposed to touch. We do not take responsibility for it.
Have fun!
