ACC Version 1 Won't Have Competitive Multiplayer Events

Paul Jeffrey

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ACC Matchmaker.jpg

A recent clarification by Kunos confirms Assetto Corsa Competizione won't feature online organised racing as part of their matchmaking functionality.


Having taken on something of a life of its own since the online functionality of Assetto Corsa was first discussed post early access release, Kunos Simulazioni have taken to the official forums to offer some clarification on what the online aspect of the title will look like come full release this May 29th - and to clear up some misconceptions around the meaning of "matchmaking" within the game.

Now I'll be honest on this one.. I'm not sure why people clamour for organised scheduled multiplayer racing, similar to the type of events seen in such simulations as iRacing, so this clarification from Kunos isn't personally much of a big deal to me - but, I've had quite a few community members reach out to me over the last 48 hours in various states of confusion and distress, so I thought it good timing to put together a feature and give us a space to discuss this in more detail...

According to the posting from Kunos, which can be seen below, the online multiplayer aspect of the sim will be broadly similar to what it is today, but the developers fully intend to continue working on what is already a very, very solid implementation after the game comes out of early access.

So probably nobody has read any of this anyway, and moved directly to the quoted passage before, so I'll leave off here and let you read and comment away...

We see some occasional confusion and rumors around what 1.0 will change in the Multiplayer system, how to interpret the word "Matchmaking" and especially what role the Competition (CP) rating will play.

Let's go straight to the point: 1.0 will not introduce fundamental changes to the ACC Multiplayer. We used the Early Access phase to introduce, develop and tune the most sophisticated "Pickup Racing" Multiplayer system we could ever imagine, and so far we are very happy how the approach begins to work out. We could preserve most of the aspects of a quickly paced, accessible system that made Assetto Corsa "1" as popular - while improving the situation in the aspects where that way to organize Multiplayer action has issues. We managed to develop and integrate our Rating system without subscription model or a huge shift in pricing. Despite the significant rewrite (which is a confession for a long term strategy) of highly relevant game-play aspects between versions 0.5 and 0.6, especially the Safety Rating is in a very good shape, while the deep integration into the whole system is expected to be a vast improvement especially considering the possibility to find good and clean races.

Of course, Assetto Corsa Competizione is close to be released at the end of May, which is not the end of the road especially in terms of Multiplayer racing. We will listen to the feedback, we will analyze our data and of course - finally - also regularly participate in the Multiplayer races - so an ongoing process of finetuning and improvement is to be expected.


We know there are users that expected us magically switch the focus and go for a completely different way to organize Multiplayer, basically by copying the other title with high competitive ambitions (and a very different scale, focus group, the resulting price price model and so on). It appears that the word "Matchmaking" was mistaken to describe the whole system of scheduled races, instead of just being a tool in the toolbox of suggesting servers that both match your driving/safety abilities, and additionally take care of your preferences and friends. The matchmaking aspect in ACC acts in a quite subtle way, and changes the whole driver flow dynamics (in a non-intrusive way) to overcome known disadvantages of server lists, like we have seen in other titles and also in the AC1 Minorating system.

I do not say we are not looking into our own interpretation of a non-pickup, and more competitive Multiplayer addition. Still, this would have the character of distinct events and being an addition, not a complete move from the Multiplayer system we chose to go for. But for 1.0, we are happy to have both a very solid Multiplayer base, a good concept of a server selection and a well working Safety Rating system including a fairly usable integration. The biggest disadvantage may be that the mechanics are subtle, and it's not crystal clear where the system has its strong points. Also make sure you are aware of especially the SA Rating, and we expect the Multiplayer action to be at least as enjoyable as in AC1 with a Safety Rating plugin.

And of course the list of potential improvements is long, and without a doubt we will receive a lot feedback to become even better during the next days and weeks.


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ACC Approx 15 GT3 cars,10 tracks.Cost £35
Iracing 6 GT3 cars(2 very old ones),10 tracks,Iracing annual sub £100 .Cost approx £350

Sim racers need to understand that if you want something substantial that functions you have to pay for it.
Agreed. I wouldn't mind if S3/S397/Reiza/Kunos/SimBin all came to some agreement about SRS and started supporting it officially with a nice interface.

SRS could be the thing if they don't want to do it themselves.
 
So why is this game called "Competizione" again? :O_o:
Seriously this was the sole reason why i bought into early access. The rating system is a step above iracing in theory, wasted potential indeed.

Click "matchmaking". Vote for your 3 favorite tracks and race lenght for example (not 100 different sliders)
Now you can do whatever, do some singleplayer or random lobby. If critical number of drivers (40?) queued up server will open up. Introduce a honor system similar to league of legends.
Here "safe racer", "great opponent" "helpful" etc.
gTMYXr2.jpg

One can dream right ;)
 
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Imagine if there would be series of SRO games released separately, almost every year, like codemasters are doing with F#uno and Rally titles. Then I suppose optimum longevity for a title for developer is short.
 
WOW.

At first I thought of ACC as a spiritual successor to GTR2. One series well developed and focused, none of that "here's a few cars from this class, a few formula cars, a bus, a spaceship, and a few tracks. Have fun" kind of bullshit.

Kunos has certainly aimed for that role, but without any serious multiplayer competition I don't see why I'd be interested in driving it. AC and SRS provide a nice alternative for iRacing, for much, much cheaper and with many more classes than ACC has to offer.

I was thinking of buying ACC. Now I'm not. Perhaps I'll spend the money on some RSS mods.
 
Hold on, am I understanding this correctly?

They built a game with the subtitle "Competizione", and promised "advanced multiplayer functionality" with a "matchmaking function" which "makes sure that you can compete with opponents of similar skill level and easily find online races to join."

But at the end of the day it's just a basic server browser and filters that every other game already has?

All while a few community members created an iRacing-style app and released it for their previous game, for free?

Holy lel.
 
Hold on, am I understanding this correctly?

They built a game with the subtitle "Competizione", and promised "advanced multiplayer functionality" with a "matchmaking function" which "makes sure that you can compete with opponents of similar skill level and easily find online races to join."

But at the end of the day it's just a basic server browser and filters that every other game already has?

All while a few community members created an iRacing-style app and released it for their previous game, for free?

Holy lel.
Ach Emma Sulkovich, if you could only read, it could have saved your life...

We ALL know you here, know what you did, know what you stand for.
Now go back to your boldmaster and stop dissing other devs without any reason nor substance!
Please, for your own good.
 
Massive disappointnemt and at the same time - not so much.
I guess once you look at it from a business stand point you see that costs add up - servers, developers, maintenance and such. Expecting to get that for free is quite delusional, at least in long term.
I was thinking of getting ACC on it's full release (1.0) but not anymore.
 
I'm not disappointed as i'd never expected them to be able to something like that, i only have purchased it just as dev support in case of AC2 possibility, but hell they have missed a big big opportunity to at least have something in 1/10 of that SRS scale, or at least something that can gives meaning and continuity to the online races not just too many random/one-of races (with random different rules/schedules) between a little player base (that they said they are happy with the size of player base, really?) to attend that their's results will have no meaning at the end unless you are participating in a made up league by some websites.
This pick up races only will work with a very large player base, yes the player base will grow after the final release, but just a little as the offliners are (almost) already there and there will be no ground-breaking appealing online feature like regular scheduled races to bring a large community of online races. (may be i'm 100% wrong)
Please notice that i'm not an expert, just saying my opinion, i'd never expected them to do something like it and i'll get what i paid for(was it 20$ or 25$ at the start?) a few GT3 cars with a few tracks to do what i like to do with them, some offline or online races with "weather-god simulator power in my hand" to shape the atmosphere of the race, then will be bored and get back to racing in AC1 to make the wait for AC2 a little easier :D
 
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Did the (simracing) world go crazy or is it just me? I'm following and playing ACC since EA release and never had the impression that "matchmaking" is that of a big and wanted feature. Suddenly there is no "matchmaking" and the whole sim is not worth playing anymore? People only want to play it if it includes "matchmaking"? Talking about losing the perspective. I'm really surprised and a bit shocked by this.

Maybe it's because I never missed something like that. If I want structured and scheduled races I join a league, if I want a quick race I join a high-SA rated server (rented one myself). Had so much fun since the introduction of SA limited servers.

I'm almost sure if Kunos announced a service where you would need to pay a monthly fee for it people would have started a similar sh1tshow.
 
If you don't understand why people say that IRacing costs way too much, it also means the problems isn't on the side of the people who say it is, but rather on your perspective of what is acceptable or not.

Feel free to keep on paying for IRacing, but at the same time have the respect that many many simracers find it overpriced...simply because it is. Raking in thousands to tenthousands of currency just to be provide an online server service is just insanity and has little to do with paying for a service.
i didnt mean it how you took the post. im saying people are saying its too expensive to have a model like iracing when clearly SRS do it for free in AC. i dont play iracing because its a complete rip off . people are using iracing as an example of why its not feasable for ACC to have organised races.
 
This paired with the bad news akin Marco shrugging his shoulders in a giving up gesture to the shortcomings of the UE4 engine limitations regarding one of Assetto Corsa's best features - it's incredibly good triple screen support and performance - is a bi get down for me.
The reason i didnt pull the trigger a long time ago. With AC and their excellent triple screen setup app i was sure it would come to ACC since it was one of those proper sim features for proper sim rigs.
 
One thing that people should keep in mind is that ( like some add on's ) some stuff can be created by community members that officially is a little more complex to be done by an official game developer, first and foremost because if for some reason ( and lets hope it doesn't happen ) tomorrow SRS needs to stop working, it owes nothing to anyone since it didn't charged anyone any money whatsoever.. also , since it was a tool created on top of the commercial titles to organize scheduled (more on this in a bit) racing, people started slowly adopting it and it started growing gradually, this allowed Henrique to establish limits and more or less study peak hours and usage, so it wasn't swarmed by thousands of players in the first day it was created... that would probably make the all thing blow and the pressure of fixing it and resize it, huge ... a developer like Kunos with an official title for the Blancpain would need to create a serious infrastructure to accommodate thousands of people on the day doors for such thing would open, also, would need people constantly monitoring the service like iRacing has, creating championships, reading reports of people being rammed on a race and whatnot ... all that implies costs... Henrique on SRS did things on a way that he himself can monitor most stuff with the help of a few volunteers, and again, if something fails for some reason remember, he didn't sold you anything :) .

For me iRacing and SRS are scheduled racing, its my favorite kind like anyone else venting in here, matchmaking is what Gran turismo sport for example does, and that is what i thought would happen in ACC, there would be some kind of a button that would place you on an appropriate race for your level by using all the values they are gathering with Minolins system... imagine X official servers on constant loop that are not accessible thru the lobby , they are just accessible thru that magical matchmaking button, that is what matchmaking sounds to me at least ...

Besides im sure that after 1.0 if Kunos doesnt come up with something like that even if on a smaller scale, SRS will do it if possible :)

PS : Also, people need to stop wanting the best of both worlds, iracing like service provided by an official entity, but.... no fee ! if that was possible im sure iRacing would have done it already, lets not forget that all of this for companies is a business, some may do it with more enthusiasm then others but its what puts food in their mouth in the end of the month like everyone else ...
 
Did the (simracing) world go crazy or is it just me? I'm following and playing ACC since EA release and never had the impression that "matchmaking" is that of a big and wanted feature. Suddenly there is no "matchmaking" and the whole sim is not worth playing anymore? People only want to play it if it includes "matchmaking"? Talking about losing the perspective. I'm really surprised and a bit shocked by this.

Maybe it's because I never missed something like that. If I want structured and scheduled races I join a league, if I want a quick race I join a high-SA rated server (rented one myself). Had so much fun since the introduction of SA limited servers.
So you don't care about the matchmaking but you are surprised that some people who do care about it are vocal about this change? All I get from your post is that because you don't have an issue here nobody should? For me the cars and the tracks don't hold much interest in acc. But the competition structure and maybe a good single player career were the things that could push me over. Now that it is revealed that the online "matchmaker" is just a stripped down server browser (and worse than ac) with just driver ratings added on it I don't see anything in it that conveys the meaning of match making.

I'm almost sure if Kunos announced a service where you would need to pay a monthly fee for it people would have started a similar sh1tshow.
Well duh. They said the online will be included in the base package price*. Doing a bait and switch later and taking out a feature from the base game and putting it behind monthly fee surely would be worth at least "a sh1tshow"? That kind of stuff is not just morally wrong but illegal :D. But you have no problem with that..?

*source: https://www.assettocorsa.net/competizione/roadmap/
FULL GAME
Q1 - 2019

All the Officially Licensed 2018 and 2019** Blancpain GT Series cars, teams and circuits.
All game modes including: Career, Championship, Single and Multiplayer.
Complete Rating and Matchmaking System.
 
When a game developer makes a promise, you lot should know by now that it almost never comes to fruition. That's the way they work. That's the way the industry works. They make bold claims to sell EA. It works.:cool:
 
In Conclusion:

- Only GT3

- Only 9 Tracks

- No Mods

- No Matchmaking

Whats even the point of all these fancy Stats then?!

So why is this game called "Competizione" again? :O_o:

Hold on, am I understanding this correctly?

They built a game with the subtitle "Competizione", and promised "advanced multiplayer functionality" with a "matchmaking function" which "makes sure that you can compete with opponents of similar skill level and easily find online races to join."

But at the end of the day it's just a basic server browser and filters that every other game already has?

All while a few community members created an iRacing-style app and released it for their previous game, for free?

Holy lel.

Amen

GG Kunos... :roflmao:
 

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