Assetto Corsa Competizione, The Official Blancpain GT Series Game Announced!

[Paul Jeffrey]

Top GT3 licence, UE4 graphics, day to night cycle, dynamic weather, advanced physics with a focus on realism.. is Assetto Corsa Competizione the sim we've all been waiting for?

When Kunos Simulazioni hinted at a big announcement a few days ago, many thought it would simply be a case of confirming another licence for the already well developed Assetto Corsa software, or at the very most a potential AC2 first announcement. Not so, the team over in Italy have been hard at work behind the scenes developing a very exciting new piece of software, and what is more the new Assetto Corsa Competizione title will focus on a single racing category, the incredible Blancpain Endurance GT3 series.. a welcome hark back to the days when racing simulation developers focussed all their attention to detail on a specific racing series, something that Kunos are keen to replication with this newly announced IP.

Set to feature a pretty significant shift away from the basis of the Assetto Corsa title we all know and love, Kunos have confirmed that AC Competizione will feature what are described as "photo realistic" graphics thanks to the use of the incredibly powerful Unreal Engine 4 graphics engine, allowing Kunos to move away from the single light source solution of Assetto Corsa and finally bring both time of day and weather effects to their racing game - a must when you consider the Spa 24 Hour is a key event in the real life Blancpain championship.

As well as the obvious visual benefits brought from a move to Unreal 4 (see screenshots attached to this article), another key talking point from the simulation announcement comes by way of confirmation that Kunos are looking to build a sizable offline career mode around the new game, with driving school tutorials making a welcome return to a popular modern day simulation.

Alongside what promises to be a substantial offline element, the initial press release indicates that Kunos are also aiming to make considerable changes to the way Assetto Corsa veterans experience online play, with an eye on the emerging eSport marketplace the Italian developers are promising a well rounded ranking and matchmaking online system, potentially encouraging a much more evenly balanced online experience and less of those famous public lobby first corner crashes...

Although only initially announced this afternoon, it looks like development is well on the way with this exceptionally exciting new title. Projected for a summer Steam EA release, I'll leave you with the new trailer to get the juices flowing for now...

Assetto Corsa Competizione should be available on Steam Early Access Summer 2018.

Check out the Assetto Corsa Sub Forum here at RaceDepartment for the latest news and discussions regarding the sim. We host quality League and Club Racing events, have a selection of fantastic mods to download and some of the best community conversation. Join in the discussion today.

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Excited? Looking forward to the new title? Let us know below!

 

[Daggerman]

I’d like to know more about the benefits and limitations of moving to UE4. Have they hired someone with expert knowledge of UE4? They mention they have hired 4 new programmers, is one of them an Unreal Engine dev?

 

[Helmut Skrdla]

From the Blancpain website...

"There will also be the opportunity to compete in different moments of the iconic Total 24 Hours of Spa, with a dynamic weather system recreating the famously unpredictable climate at the Ardennes track."

I don't like that sentence. It shouldn't be "different moments" of a 24h race...

 

[RMR1]

From the Blancpain website...

"There will also be the opportunity to compete in different moments of the iconic Total 24 Hours of Spa, with a dynamic weather system recreating the famously unpredictable climate at the Ardennes track."

I don't like that sentence. It shouldn't be "different moments" of a 24h race...

Stefano already confirmed it was a poor choice of words. It will be a full 24h cycle and a full race.

 

[Helmut Skrdla]

Thanks, sorry if I missed that correction earlier in this thread.

 

[ShredatorFIN]

Stefano said it on official forums. But yes it will support full 24h cycle, not just "moments."

 

[alfini]

I’d like to know more about the benefits and limitations of moving to UE4. Have they hired someone with expert knowledge of UE4? They mention they have hired 4 new programmers, is one of them an Unreal Engine dev?

According to what Marco said during the italian podcast, I don't think they hired UE experts. He told that they've spent almost a year studying and testing the new engine with some support from Epic. They wanted to be confident that UE4 was suitable for their needs.
It has been probably a trial and error phase: Marco mentions big performance issues (-40%) with their first mirror implementation during the early developing stages.

 

[bigbawmcgraw]

You're talking about something a-la iRacing, done by Kunos. It would be great!
But I don't think such a small team could bear such a great project.

Kunos is a much bigger team now than it was in 2014. More people have been signed up just in the last few months for ACC too.

 

[Patrik Marek]

Even if there is no fully fledged out particle system at work, there is no reason not to move the racing line in wet conditions.

well but racing line is drawn by where players drive? So if people do different racing line , it would draw on different spot. Right? Not for AI though

 

[throughalens83]

Kunos is a much bigger team now than it was in 2014. More people have been signed up just in the last few months for ACC too.

At the moment they are 25. 25 great people, but just 25 people.
Anyway, In Kunos I trust. Let them work and see what they will deliver!

 

[ltcars]

AC is dead! Long live AC

 

[Full_Ninja]

When racing in VR at night i really hope you can see the glow from your own cars position number and roof strips, complete immersion boner! also hope theres a catogory behind AM where people just get a turd on the back of the car (a glowing one) if you have a bad rep.

Also another thing for vr we need some kind of hand tracking so during endurance races we can hold one hand up to block the setting sun as it tries to blind us.

 

[BhZ]

Also another thing for vr we need some kind of hand tracking so during endurance races we can hold one hand up to block the setting sun as it tries to blind us.

At that point i want to be able to scratch my nose as well.

 

[Neils on Wheels]

2006... we need better graphics, new DirectX

2018... graphics are overrated... DirectX 9 is nice

Go figure

Not sure if that's aimed at me, but im talking about the bus driving game. Wouldn't buy a titan xp if i thought graphics are overrated.

 

[bigbawmcgraw]

At the moment they are 25. 25 great people, but just 25 people.
Anyway, In Kunos I trust. Let them work and see what they will deliver!

I'm sure there's more than that now. There were 30 to complete AC, more have been hired for ACC.
Edit: they started with 10

 

[Full_Ninja]

You're just seeing the tree and not the wood (don't know if it translates that way from spanish)

You are focusing on a single tree a missing the glorious forest

 

[Full_Ninja]

oh yeah one last thing.... i hope we're not driving round nighttime spa with a constant fireworks display cos that'll just make it look like a cheap arcade racer

what I thought with ACC I would be able to shoot fireworks out the window as I pass cars. That's what I got from the video. Jk

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

I'm sure there's more than that now. There were 30 to complete AC, more have been hired for ACC.
Edit: they started with 10

I asked and they are now at 21-22 full time employees

 

[BhZ]

I asked and they are now at 21-22 full time employees

They are 25, they said so in the interview.

 

[Full_Ninja]

Amazing news. Huge!

Ps. Will we be able to run the game with DirectX 7? And Windows 95?

I still have a win 3.1 box that I could dedicate to just ACC that would be perfect. But because of greed it won't be supported

 

[Michael Hornbuckle]

They are 25, they said so in the interview.

21-22 is the answer Stefano gave me an hour or so ago when I asked him. (not that it really matters if it is 21 or even 30, still a very small dev team compared to most)