Kunos Simulazioni Celebrates 8 Year Anniversary of Assetto Corsa Launch

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Assetto Corsa 8 Year Anniversary 01.jpg
Eight years ago today, Kunos Simulazioni released Assetto Corsa into Early Access on Steam.

A tweet from the official Assetto Corsa account reminded fans of the title that it has been eight years since the sim racing title was released into Early Access on Steam. They also used the moment to thank the community that has stood behind them through the years.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1457754631136858119

If there were a Mount Rushmore of racing simulators, Assetto Corsa would rightfully have a spot on it. AC has become equally well known for its third-party mods as it is for its base content. Thanks in equal measure to a very active community that has grown the available content for the title to an almost inexhaustible amount, and to Kunos’ work in delivering a solid base game, the sim is more popular than ever eight years after its release.

Other than a few small tweaks, development work has ceased for Assetto Corsa. Kunos shifted their focus to Assetto Corsa Competizione after AC, which has been another successful title for the game studio. While there are very few public details available at this time, Kunos has confirmed that Assetto Corsa 2 is in development.

On behalf of the RaceDepartment staff, congratulations to our friends at Kunos for the eight-year anniversary of your timeless racing simulator.

RaceDepartment continues to be among the most active sectors of the Assetto Corsa community, be sure to check out the Assetto Corsa Community Forums and the huge Assetto Corsa Modding Database often for the latest cars, tracks and more for AC.
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About author
Mike Smith
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

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Comments

wein
Premium
I think a big part of the success of Assetto Corsa is that it has been modifiable by the community. In fact, I'm sure that if Kunos released new content for AC, many users would buy it without hesitation. I think it would be a great success that if they make an AC2 it is not only modifiable, but also that AC mods could be used in it. This would ensure immediate success and expand your possibilities right from the start. And the community could enjoy it to the fullest. Many of us would buy it without hesitation from the launch.
By the way, I got Assetto Corsa in Early Access and it was difficult at first, but afterwards I really enjoyed it. I love AC and also ACC.
Congratulations to Kunos for his great work.
 
D
Happy Birthday AC best sim beside IRacing and ACC but as a whole package with mods and everything its unbeatable. On to the next 8 years in this lovely Sim. Thanks to Kunos and the Army of Modders.
 
Ghoults
The game did a lot of things right. It really played to its strengths. Having their own game engine allowed them to be really open with modding even if at other times the limitations of having to use their own tech hurt them on some other areas. Ac2 has probably the easiest time improving on physics (because they have learned a lot with acc and improved their physics engine) but if they are using any kind of ue4 or ue5 engine then they are against vertical wall with good mod support.

That being said I can't imagine ac2 not being moddable. It is the same as windows 12 operating system being for mobile phones only. Or ferrari stopping making cars to focus on selling clothes. It would be nonsensical. Ac is a modding platform first, online racing game second and anything else third. If the next kunos game is AC2 then it has to be moddable. If it is AC: something something-zone then I'd guess anything goes but a direct sequel to a modding platform that is not moddable would be weirder than all rf2 development decisions combined...
 
couri
I'm not a "mods" enthusiast, Assetto fails by offering few original tracks but it has great car content, I prefer games that offer solid and diverse original content as AMS 2 has been doing.
 
mantasisg
Ghoults said:
I'd guess anything goes but a direct sequel to a modding platform that is not moddable would be weirder than all rf2 development decisions combined...
Click to expand...

Haha, laughing at this.

rF2 certainly is an epic story lol YOU GO TEAM

For us AC might associate with modding in first place, as we did mod. For most people AC associates with AC. It has well known name now, which automatically caries on selling power. Kunos had little following at start of AC, it was massive risk for them, and modding was supposed to battle anticipated lack of content, AC was probably saturated by content as soon as 2017 or 2018. The day Kunos closed modding subforum in their official forum was probably day they were certain they were doing ACC.

I certainly hope AC2 would be moddable and actually more red pilled than AC, and ACC, hopefully on iR or even rF2 realism level. I hope so, because it is already pretty much certain that nothing truly good anymore will ever evolve from rF2, which is last hope of proper simulation with available modding possibilities. My prediction about AC2: no modding and that it will be blue pilled. Wish being wrong.
 
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G
frankonia said:
You are exactly right.
A sim with no modding possibilities is not very interesting for me. That's the reason I never bothered about AMS2.
Click to expand...

The content of AMS2 is great and very consistent in quality(IMO the best). I don't see why it must explicitly be modded content to be good? Good content is good content, no matter how it's generated. I recommand you to try AMS2, IMO it has surpassed AC atm! AC was great for the time, but it's really shown it's age now so great that AC2 is in the works! :D
 
Kyuubeey
gamma123152 said:
The content of AMS2 is great and very consistent in quality(IMO the best). I don't see why it must explicitly be modded content to be good? Good content is good content, no matter how it's generated. I recommand you to try AMS2, IMO it has surpassed AC atm! AC was great for the time, but it's really shown it's age now so great that AC2 is in the works! :D
Click to expand...
I dunno, I quite like making my own physics for the sim rather than being stuck with what cars the devs decide to do. Game devs are also timed limited, while I can take as much time as I want, so generally I'll come up with more accurate models than the devs do. Why settle for good content if you can have great content? ;)
 
Bobby Pennington
Fortunate enough to have stumbled upon netKar Pro years ago from this tiny little studio with the Black Cat. Was a game changer for me. When they announced the early access of AC on Steam, it was a no brainer for this slow poke. Thanks to AC, it led me to do my first online racing here at RD in 2017 and running things on the AC side here for 18 months. I've made many wonderful online friends here and throughout the sim world and it's all thanks to Kunos. May they continue to have great success and surprise us everytime they make a new sim.
 
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Pigsy
With all the lastest mods going on, it's reverted back to my favourite sim. With SOL and shaders patch, not to mention all the modded car packs available it's like a new sim again.
 
John B. Ellis
Premium
I remember driving the Lotus Elise SC at Magione in the original demo for Assetto Corsa and thinking, "Kunos is really on to something here" in terms of recreating the actual feel of driving within a virtual environment. For me, at least, no other sim has such a broad assortment of QUALITY vehicles, circuits, and apps, whether original content or mods by the community. And driving the BMW M3 DTM at the first laser-scanned Nordschlieffe in Assetto Corsa never gets old. Happy Birthday, AC!
 
T
So glad a studio like Kunos exists, they hit exactly my nerve with their games, the design etc. Can't wait to see what AC2 will be like after having hundreds and hundreds of hours already in AC1 and ACC
 
V
AC is the best driving sim ever made.

Not the best racing sim. it's absolutely godawful trash at actually simulating racing. The reason 95% of AC mods are street cars and free-roam maps is because the sim basically sucks at anything outside of that. Terrible AI, no night/rain (no, the CSP doesn't count, that's a mod), damage system is quite weak, and I'm pretty sure the game doesn't have flag rules.

But it's still worth owning, if only for experiences like sending a Corvette up and down the Tokyo C1 loop. I just wish the game were fun outside of free roaming and hotlapping.

AC's release showed the sim racing community one thing: there was a completely unsatisfied demand for sims that were more about the joy of driving civilian vehicles as opposed to racecars. I fully believe AC is so popular because it's basically the only sim for doing things other than racing motorsports vehicles. Kunos clearly knew that because AC's carlist is like 80% street cars and only a smattering of racecars. Why they decided to then make an extremely focused and hardcore GT3 racing simulator, though...that one's beyond me.
 
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Lizard Of Bodom
Cheers for the Creators! :thumbsup:
I remember to this day when testing green Lotus on early version of game and thinking "wow, that game is something else". Had G25 back then used casually for NFS and TDU games and so on.
AC is what made me dive in the sim world and built whole room/rig around it and enjoying it every day either competetively racing others in Nur or cruising around LAC or PCH. Modding, diversity and community - thats what making it what it is.
Its the best sim ever! period! :)
tmp.png
 
F
The sim which gives me the feel of another rFactor or GTR2
The base may not good but after some people's great effort, it came pretty well long-lasting sim like the most-loved 16-year-old sim we know
 
Alex72
The Kunos team was a passionate smaller group from the get go and because they were making a product they themselves wanted they created something great. Having been part a little bit on the sidelines during some of the development (some testing and talking to guys around the team, and to Kunos members themselves) i can only say good things about them.

Congrats guys.
 
passenger
Didn't Kunos say that AC was going to be updated in terms of physics?
Will there be an update soon? I think I read that somewhere some time ago... That would be great.
 

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