Assetto Corsa Competizione: 2019 AMR V8 Vantage GT3 Preview

Paul Jeffrey · Oct 16, 2019

With the 2019 Blancpain GT Series free DLC close to release for Assetto Corsa Competizione, Kunos have teased a nice preview of the 2019 spec GT3 Aston Martin...

When Assetto Corsa Competizione first hit Steam Early Access earlier this year, developers Kunos Simulazioni announced their intention to add the 2019 Blancpain GT Series cars and circuits to the title as a free DLC download, and now it looks like those cars and tracks are getting very, very close to hitting the public build of the simulation.

Already confirming the much requested triple screen support is right around the corner, Kunos have again taken to social media to tease another aspect of the upcoming build - 2019 specification content! In this reveal from the new car set, we get our first look at the current specification AMR V8 Vantage GT3 machine... and yes, it is one heck of a pretty car!

Stay tuned for more info and previews when they become available...

Assetto Corsa Competizione is available now on PC.

For more from the world of ACC, why not head over to our Assetto Corsa Competizione sub forum and get yourself into the thick of the action? We have a great and knowledgeable community, plus some pretty epic League and Club Racing events, if I do say so myself. Go on, treat yourself!

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garyjpaterson · Oct 17, 2019

Helmut Skrdla said:
@garyjpaterson
I guess you are not allowed to tell us if the #762 car will be included?

I so hope this one has a nice cockpit view (not from modelling - that will be great - but from actual visible windshield area).

726 being one of the Spa 24 cars? I think thats something they are including if you look at past cars/liveries.

Not quite sure what you mean by nice cockpit view, its as the IRL car is so i guess if its nice IRL its nice in ACC too

Helmut Skrdla · Oct 17, 2019

Thanks Gary.

Yes, the 762 was a 24h entry only, which has one of my countrymen racing it, so it's the perfect car for me to pick if it were to be present.

Cockpit view... it's a pet peeve of mine that the Blancpain banner sticker is black as night on the ACC cars (whereas it has some transparency in real life, according to various YT vids). Depending on the angle of the windshield and seat distance, for some 2018 cockpits this creates the feeling of racing in a medieval Knight's helmet, it adds a lot of dark black space on top of the screen that is totally "dead".

So my hoping is that the Aston looks brighter and more spacious from the inside than some of the other current cars.

garyjpaterson · Oct 17, 2019

Helmut Skrdla said:
Cockpit view... it's a pet peeve of mine that the Blancpain banner sticker is black as night on the ACC cars (whereas it has some transparency in real life, according to various YT vids). Depending on the angle of the windshield and seat distance, for some 2018 cockpits this creates the feeling of racing in a medieval Knight's helmet, it adds a lot of dark black space on top of the screen that is totally "dead".

So my hoping is that the Aston looks brighter and more spacious from the inside than some of the other current cars.

Ah ok, I see. Well I think the banner will be black like all the rest of the cars, which is just a limitation of the interior and exterior being totally separate models (so if the banner changes on the skin, it wont on the cockpit side, which would look worse than just being black).

Helmut Skrdla · Oct 17, 2019

Thanks, that's the first time I actually hear some explanation why things are as they are. I've learned to live with the "black tops" in cars like the Ferrari which has a lot of windscreen real estate, but for example the McLaren or previous Aston are to me terrible in that regard.

That's why I meant I hope that the new Aston will let me find a view setup that doesn't feel like my top third of the screen is damaged.

Xela1 · Oct 17, 2019

beautiful ! Really !
Garys hands - thx !

Steve Worrell · Oct 17, 2019

Looks fantastic.

Come on Kunos let us skin these cars. I'm begging.

Paul Glover · Oct 17, 2019

garyjpaterson said:
btw its fair game if anyone wants to point out flaws in the model to me like I did to rF2's version a few months back. I did try to make sure it lived up to the things I was critiquing but you never know

I've got my spears ready

Helmut Skrdla · Oct 17, 2019

^ I'd already be happy if we get a livery editor based on the current JSON system...

Helmut Skrdla · Oct 17, 2019

Mixed something up - disregard.

Daniel Monteiro · Oct 17, 2019

Koen Verlinde said:
Apparently Red Bull, cause the name is on the car, but the engine is a Honda.

The Aston Martin Vantage - and the F1 Mercedes team - use HWA engines, so why does it matter...

Or Alfa Romeo lol. Marketing has become just marketing for the sake of it.

callumjtc · Oct 17, 2019

Helmut Skrdla said:
Thanks, that's the first time I actually hear some explanation why things are as they are. I've learned to live with the "black tops" in cars like the Ferrari which has a lot of windscreen real estate, but for example the McLaren or previous Aston are to me terrible in that regard.

That's why I meant I hope that the new Aston will let me find a view setup that doesn't feel like my top third of the screen is damaged.

Having sat in the real old Aston Vantage GT3 car, can confirm the teribble visibility is accurate

Gergo Panker · Oct 17, 2019

Helmut Skrdla said:
Cockpit view... it's a pet peeve of mine that the Blancpain banner sticker is black as night on the ACC cars (whereas it has some transparency in real life, according to various YT vids). Depending on the angle of the windshield and seat distance, for some 2018 cockpits this creates the feeling of racing in a medieval Knight's helmet, it adds a lot of dark black space on top of the screen that is totally "dead".

It's simply like that:

Not 100% of the time, but having an opaque banner solves the problem of skinning, the problem of having unwiped raindrops on the transparent banner if the wiper extends on top of it, and it doesn't clog performance even more by having yet another transparent material in front of a large chunk of the view. These cars have small dark cockpits and it doesn't matter for visibility because you're supposed to be looking at the road, not the birds.

Eckhart von Glan · Oct 17, 2019

Gergo Panker said:
… because you're supposed to be looking at the road, not the birds.

that kinda solves it

Helmut Skrdla · Oct 17, 2019

Gergo Panker said:
These cars have small dark cockpits and it doesn't matter for visibility because you're supposed to be looking at the road, not the birds.

I get that it doesn't actually change the racing. It' just that for a sufficiently wide view without triples, the top third of a 16:9 screen goes all dark and the experience is like running a normal game on a smaller screen (i.e. unused, expensive pixels).

Have to admit, from the photographs you posted those banners are indeed very dark from the inside, so I'm not saying it's not accurate. It's just been a nicer "reality vs. gaming" compromise in AC1, where the banners were transparent and added some lateral motion to the view that made the entire scene more lively.

Dirk Steffen · Oct 17, 2019

Helmut Skrdla said:
I get that it doesn't actually change the racing. It' just that for a sufficiently wide view without triples, the top third of a 16:9 screen goes all dark and the experience is like running a normal game on a smaller screen (i.e. unused, expensive pixels).

Have to admit, from the photographs you posted those banners are indeed very dark from the inside, so I'm not saying it's not accurate. It's just been a nicer "reality vs. gaming" compromise in AC1, where the banners were transparent and added some lateral motion to the view that made the entire scene more lively.

You can always adjust your view in the cockpit to have part of the windscreen banner off screen and if you like to have a rear view mirror (which then also would move off screen at least partly in most cars) use the virtual mirror.

This way you have the best of both worlds - big part of windscreen banner off screen and a better view of the road ;-)

Helmut Skrdla · Oct 17, 2019

Dirk, that's actually what I did... seat forward, FOV wider, pitch downwards (more dashboard visible, less banner). It works well in the Ferrari, not so well in other cars. If the new Aston has the same rear view screen/tire state gadget as the Ferrari, that should make the view better.

BTW @Gergo Panker - I really appreciate you guys hanging out here and answering questions, offering insights. Apologies if some of the stuff sounds like stupid complaining.