Assetto Corsa Competizione: Release Five Out Now

[Paul Jeffrey]

Kunos Simulazioni have deployed the fifth major build update to Assetto Corsa Competizione today - adding the Emil Frey Jaguar G3 and Circuit Zolder to the simulation.

I suppose anyone who has a passing interest in sim racing has already downloaded, installed and played the new update already, so this article is pretty much preaching to the converted, but just in case you are not still immersed in the new update on your gaming PC, here's the details for what comes included with build release number five:

Release Five Notes:

• New Emil Frey Jaguar G3 car.
• New laser-scanned Circuit Zolder racetrack.
• New special events with online leaderboards.
• Fixed disappearing main menu UI in VR.
• Texture memory optimizations.
• Fixed a chase cam rotation bug.
• Fixed a TV camera bug.
• Car light improvements in TV camera views.
• New inertia calculation method and new more accurate inertia value (advice for setups, use a softer fast damper to let the body move and settle, instead of having the car and wheels jumping)
• New motion ratio calculation for dampers resulting in more accurate values dedicated to each car.
• New ABS feature. ABS now never let’s higher than 70% difference between left and right brake pressure. Improves behavior on extreme torque vectoring, like braking and going through a water puddle with one side of the car, but can result in inner wheel locking if driver insists braking hard while turning into a turn. Might need more rear brake bias on certain cars.
• Improved ABS logic, resulting in better turn-in under braking, on certain cars (most notably modern cars such as the Huracán, F488, BMW M6).
• Improved TC off on gear-change functionality. TC is instantly switched off and on again when a gear change occurs, in order to protect the engine and drivetrain from heavy vibrations,
• especially on situations where kerbs and the engine limiter are involved (part of real cars’ TC logic too, occasionally they will even not allow the gearchange). Now the TC off timing is car-dedicated and optimized. Some cars might handle a gear change better than others.
• Improved tyre thermal model, especially wet tyres.
• Improved tyre grip when tyres are overheated, such as after a spin.
• More tyre wear when tyres are overheated, no free meal.
• Corrected bumpstop position and functionality of the Ferrari 488 GT3.
• New ECU maps for all cars. ECU maps now influence power, fuel consumption and throttle maps. Usually, the lower number is the more powerful and has the most power consumption. After the initial 3-4 values, it switches to wet ECU maps with similar power and fuel consumption but different throttle maps. Please check the official forum for all the released cars’ ECU map characteristics.
• New launch control for all cars. Now with manual clutch, just engage 1st gear, put the clutch and accelerator to the floor and the engine will stabilize around 5000rpm. Release the clutch gradually while keeping the accelerator fully open to avoid stalling.
  Audio engine optimizations
• Fixed potential wrong volumes switching cameras
• Fixed time multiplier for the end race replay
• Fixed wrong track map cars position during replay
• Intro sequence updated

Now that isn't too bad of an update change log is it?

Assetto Corsa Competizione is available on Steam Early Access now. Currently at build release 5 status.

To keep abreast of all the latest news and discussions from the world of Assetto Corsa Competizione then don't forget to check out our very own ACC sub forum here at RaceDepartment.

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[Deleted member 6919]

Looks good. Will do my best to try this release at least. Skipped release 3 and 4 as I was playing other Sims with my Sim time.

Nothing in the release notes about ''Multiplayer Enhanced' features?

There be reason for that:

Having a look at the 0.5 release patch notes, you will find that most changes are either new content or physics related. Regarding gameplay elements – including Multiplayer features – we decided to opt for a different path, which may need some explanation for non-developers.

While developing software, especially games, you constantly invent patterns and concepts. When we built the ACC gameplay during 2018, we aimed for a certain way to write the game logic, including everything from session handling, race timing, laptimes, penalties and so on. Our solution had some amazing feats and ways of working, but we also had to learn that one of the disadvantages was making the development of Multiplayer features not as efficient as we had wished for. You may have noticed that although we met our roadmap targets on time in terms of content and features, several things involving Multiplayer were late. This is not really unusual or surprising; moving a whole development team to a new engine and framework required us to learn about the new situation as the project evolved (but we didn't know where this would happen, obviously).


In December we faced the choice to either keep proceeding like that, adding as little changes as necessary to achieve a stable 1.0 Multiplayer, and then never to touch it again.
The alternative route is a rewrite of (a lot of) the code to switch to concepts that support our current needs and the things we learned. The disadvantage is obvious; we'd have to spend a lot of work to change ACC without – seemingly – adding gamplay related features and fixes for a certain amount of time, however, the gain is a much more stable environment, where we can keep adding features and also speed up future development.


I can tell it's unusual to go for a rewrite, but it expresses our approach and our plans to go on, even beyond ACC 1.0. Technically speaking, a few developers forked off the codebase and worked day and night to do the re-coding, with the goal of bringing those improvements to the main code as soon as possible. The new features on the list therefore are there, but not in this build, and we most probably will also bring them one after another even looking beyond the 1.0 release, since the development will continue to bring our audience the 2019 Season update, and more.

Being myself also responsible for ACC Multiplayer development, I needed to slow down the work on the Rating System, but likely this re-work on some of the code that we use as a foundation will help the Rating System, too, to proceed even smoother.


As a bottom line: enjoy the new content, both the car and track (in my opinion) are fabulous, and see how ACC keeps developing in the future.
I'm writing this between Multiplayer tests (on the new code), we are on a very good way – but sadly we will not see this outside the test systems for the time being.

 

[millen]

There be reason for that:

Ah thank you. I now get what Brun was referring to.

 

[T04STY]

It might not look great, it might not handle as well but damn, does it shout!

 

[omanrak]

I figure enhanced multiplayer means less crashes, but I've already been proven wrong.

 

[mrbungle83]

Until i see people rejoice at the improved visual in particular VR performance i probably won't even bother to click play.

 

[St3fan]

FWIW - Unfortunately, VR (or at least WMR) is still broken - at least for me.

As before, I'm still "hovering" high above the UI screen. However, I did manage to click on single player using the keyboard arrow keys - which placed me in the pits but still hovering high over the car and track (no matter which view I tried).

CTRL-Space did nothing to center the view.

Is anyone with WMR having the same problem? If so, have you been able to work it out? FWIW, I have an Nvidea GTX1060 - 3 Gig vidcard running on Windows 10 - just updated to the latest driver.

Thanks!

On Oculus I get the same issue the same issue but can be fixed by using the "reset view" function from the Oculus software (not ACC's center view). Is there a similar function with WMR?

 

[Jason Mullin]

Very impressed, I like the Jag and Zolder is very well done.

 

[michelforest]

Zolder is excellent and a great track to drive. I've never been there but I get the feeling it is very realistic.

The Jag is not my favorite car, it feels a bit stiff and heavy. I still prefer the Ferrari. Anyway, ACC, however imperfect it is at the moment, is still a blast. Really looking forward to release 1.0.

 

[schlitty]

Thanks for the suggestion, but what do you mean by a "remote" and "going to power"? I have only a steering wheel, pedals and a computer keyboard and mouse (no joystick).

Could you be more specific on what you mean? Do you mean that I should look in a SteamVR menu rather than an in-game menu in ACC?

Thanks.

I'm talking about a WMR remote/controller/wand/whatever they're called. Pressing down on the thumbstick brings up the SteamVR menu while in VR.

 

[newbert]

I'm talking about a WMR remote/controller/wand/whatever they're called. Pressing down on the thumbstick brings up the SteamVR menu while in VR.

Hmmm.... Unfortunately, I don't have one of those controllers. I bought my Lenovo Explorer (WMR Headset) without them (Got a good deal on Amazon) because I wasn't into any VR games other than racing sims.

Is there any other way to do it?

Thanks.

 

[newbert]

On Oculus I get the same issue the same issue but can be fixed by using the "reset view" function from the Oculus software (not ACC's center view). Is there a similar function with WMR?

I've tried resetting the view in WMR's "Cliff House", but that didn't help the ACC situation. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any other way of resetting the view in WMR. Anyone?

Thanks.

 

[RJL]

Paul - how are these beautiful images being captured - seeing as the sim doesn't yet have an activated photo mode? Just curious.

 

[schlitty]

I'm talking about a WMR remote/controller/wand/whatever they're called. Pressing down on the thumbstick brings up the SteamVR menu while in VR.

Not that I'm aware of. Maybe with a xbox controller. But I doubt there's keyboard and mouse controls for the StemVR menu since it's kind of a popup dashboard in the headset and not a separate window on the desktop.

 

[bgil66]

Jag will get hotfix soon as it doesn’t sound like that

 

[newbert]

Not that I'm aware of. Maybe with a xbox controller. But I doubt there's keyboard and mouse controls for the StemVR menu since it's kind of a popup dashboard in the headset and not a separate window on the desktop.

I've got a USB joystick for PC. I'll have to give that a try tomorrow. I just hope that the PC still has a USB port available.....

 

[Isaac Chavira]

I'm waiting for the GT3-R. I'm also curious about the NSX as well.

 

[PoopMan]

Track is really nice, the sound on the jag is all wrong, maybe a place holder? The jag is fun though.

 

[MPortnoy]

For Kunos own sake I hope the multiplayer ends up being good because the AI is pretty terrible.
With each release I find myself playing it less and less and with a bigger "meh" feeling

 

[Mitja Bonca]

For Kunos own sake I hope the multiplayer ends up being good because the AI is pretty terrible.
With each release I find myself playing it less and less and with a bigger "meh" feeling

Thats why I stick to AC, which seem to still be a better sim atm. But Im sure Kunos will fix all, same as it was with AC.

 

[Zoltan76]

I'm waiting for the GT3-RS. I'm also curious about the NSX as well.

They change the roadmap, so Nissan GT-R will come in feb. instead of the NSX which needs some tweaking I guess.
I love this game and love Zolder and the Jaguar, too.