Davide Nativo
Premium
Looking into one of the most debated arguments about the Italian sim.
One of the usual complaints regarding Assetto Corsa was that it does not feature many tracks. Criticism usually revolved around the quite heavily presence of Italian circuits, even minor ones, but almost no tracks from the Asian or American continent. European selection is also limited to a handful of renowned locations.
Personally, I see the reasons behind the discontent, as the total number of tracks is of about 15, 16 whether you consider or not Trento Bondone and the historical ones. Adding to that figure are some fantasy venues like Black Cat County or places like the Drag Strip or the Drift pad, which are limited to very specific use. At the same time though, I stand with those who value quality over quantity, and having a decent collection of laser-scanned tracks is preferable to me than having more but with lower grade consistency.
I am also convinced that this issue is mostly limited to the console players. Why I say that is pretty obvious, I believe: Modding. Xbox One and PlayStation 4 users have no possibilities to extend the AC track roster in any way. PC players instead have a fine selection of circuits available at their disposal, and 90% of these are gratis to download for anyone.
Quality is also very high, with many of these recreations being very faithful to the original, result of many hours of work spent on every fine little detail and sometimes started with even LiDAR data at hand. I think that no one can really argue that at the moment of writing of this article, we have many beautiful tracks free for AC, expanding further the possibilities of the sim.
It really is a matter of being able to make the most of the resources available, searching in the download section, looking for what could suit your needs and enjoy it while thanking the author for his/her work. A suggestion I dare give also is - take your time. Unfortunately, we as simracers have become rather spoiled. When we had just a half dozen cars to be run on a handful of tracks in just a couple of sims, almost nobody used to complain that there wasn’t enough to have fun with. Now that we have a half dozen different sims, each featuring quite a selection of different vehicles and circuits, we always pretend more.
I believe the problem lies within the fact that we do not commit to a car or a track for more than a few hours, after which we feel bored and in need of a change. That is not constructive, and makes us unable to fully appreciate what we are given. Practicing, doing some time attacks, developing consistency, should take days. All that should then converge into racing the AI, looking for or hosting multiplayer competitions on that specific venue. Jumping from place to place, vehicle to vehicle, does not help. I maybe take this a stretch further, but isn’t this kind of behaviour also making us unhappy most of the times in our real lives? Commitment is the answer. As I said in another article of mine, having many choices means that you actually have to make a choice.
Allow me to tell that once again I think that simracing can teach us to be a better person, if we use it as a proper tool of personal growth. If used improperly, it can favour bad habits that we already exhibit in our daily lives, and maybe worsen them. If put to proper use, it can become a way to weed out those bad ways and help us find a better balance.
Therefore, look back now at the circuits you have in AC, both official and 3rd party ones, thinking what would happen if you’d decide to spend even just a week on each, perhaps with different cars and in different conditions but always on the same location. With the clear intention of knowing it by heart and learn it in every detail, appreciating all that went behind it, whoever built it. Now tell me you still believe there are not enough tracks for you to have fun with, if you do.
Oh boy do we like mods! If you do too then we have you covered with our fantastic Assetto Corsa modding archive. From downloads to a place for mod discussion, we have it all for you to enjoy, check it out today! If you don't fancy trying out some of the awesome community created tracks and cars then drop in on our Assetto Corsa sub forum to chat about the game with your fellow fans. Interaction and threads make forums fun, so start one today!
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