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.

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

 

[Patrik Marek]

For those interested in following this new title, do so by following it on steam and adding it to your steam wish list, the developer gets all the information from steam, when you have added it to your wishlist and follow it, steam is a wealth of information for games developers.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/805550/Assetto_Corsa_Competizione/

BOOO! 1 friend already owns it! .. but he is one of the devs so yeah, that sounds about right

 

[Luka Berk]

I don't think I've ever been as hyped for a game as I am about this. Feel like this could also be considered as a successor to GTR 2, which is one of my all time favourite games. I guess if GTR and Assetto Corsa had a baby, this is it. And it's an instant GOTY for me!

If they deliver everything they mentioned (career, ranked multiplayer, and so on) it's the perfect sim in my book!

 

[David Peres]

Has it been confirmed anywhere that the game will be exclusively about Blancpain? Because otherwise I'm thinking people are just jumping to conclusions. I don't know, but I guess they would have called it something like Blancpain GT Simulator or something if that were to be the case, rather than Assetto Corsa Competizione.

Automobilista is also the official Stock Car Brazil sim and yet that's not all there is to that title... just saying. Let's wait for more info before starting asking for Assetto Corsa 2 guys

I'm hyped either way!

 

[ltcars]

Has it been confirmed anywhere that the game will be exclusively about Blancpain? Because otherwise I'm thinking people are just jumping to conclusions. I don't know, but I guess they would have called it something like Blancpain GT Simulator or something if that were to be the case, rather than Assetto Corsa Competizione.

Automobilista is also the official Stock Car Brazil sim and yet that's not all there is to that title... just saying. Let's wait for more info before starting asking for Assetto Corsa 2 guys

I'm hyped either way!

Assetto Corsa Competizione is the new official Blancpain GT Series videogame.
Thanks to the extraordinary quality of simulation, the game will allow you to experience the real atmosphere of the GT3 championship, competing against official drivers, teams, cars and circuits reproduced in-game with the highest level of accuracy ever achieved.
Sprint, Endurance and Spa 24 Hours races will come to life with an incredible level of realism, in both single and multiplayer modes.

As they don't state anything else I think so

 

[Alcolyk]

mod-edit: <snip> <out>

 

[David Peres]

As they don't state anything else I think so

I read that and I still think it's too early to jump to conclusions... and I'm going by nothing but the name of the game. It wouldn't make any sense to make a sim exclusively dedicated about Blancpain and yet not have any mention of it in the name, like calling it AC Blancpain GT or something.

Not that I care if this is really Blancpain exclusive sim, but if that's the case then the name would be a mistake.

 

[The Iron Wolf]

wow, if this will get done with quality and internals model will get enriched to match level of rF2, this seems like a dream. I found no rules/safety car in a text though, hopefully this won't be omitted.

 

[Keith Dixon]

Seriously considering flying to Misano just to experience the damn thing since I have nothing better to do. Was getting heavily burnt out on the current crop of sims and this announcement is a breath of fresh air to me personally. This is the exact type of series focused dynamic modern sim I wanted. Good luck to Kunos on the project, really hope they deliver on their goals.

£150 round trip from Southampton, I reckon 5 of us, 3 bundle Aris and Stefano, 2 grab the computer and we run like hell, job done

 

[Paul Glover]

New game then! https://twitter.com/AC_assettocorsa/status/966352788648267778

 

[Case_]

I wonder where this leaves SimBin? Most of us kind of assumed that they would probably get the Blancpain license but looking at the excellent trailer Kunos have been working on this some time aready.

Might be one of the reasons why it's so quiet on the SimBin front - licensing issues...

 

[MarcG]

Incredibly excited for this new title from Kunos, the announcement came as a lovely surprise and I'm as happy as a kid on Xmas morning. The move to the Unreal Engine is an interesting one, I'll be eager as any to see how it performs on my mid range PC. I fully respect these guys for the hard work they do and for getting where they're at today, AC is a fantastic title and this new one looks set to push the boundaries further.

I just hope that VR is supported, just because AC has it doesn't necessarily mean ACC will (see the DiRT Series for reference!).

 

[Ricardo Rizzo]

Bye bye GTX 1050

 

[gianlucaP]

ì

 

[Christoph Laux]

Now we just need someone to do the same with the IMSA license!

 

[Shaun Clarke]

I read that and I still think it's too early to jump to conclusions... and I'm going by nothing but the name of the game. It wouldn't make any sense to make a sim exclusively dedicated about Blancpain and yet not have any mention of it in the name, like calling it AC Blancpain GT or something.

Not that I care if this is really Blancpain exclusive sim, but if that's the case then the name would be a mistake.

I think the title speaks for itself?

 

[Dave_6]

I know I read this morning that VR support is in but now I can't find where it said that.

 

[paracletus]

Good gracious - what a surprise.
This will be the greatest computer game of all time.

 

[Shaun Clarke]

People are coming up with upgrading PC, but I haven't seen Rec Spec yet, or am I missing something....again LOL

Shaun

 

[ouvert]

Did NOT see this coming. Kunos to produce GTR3!! And so soon. So many surprises including Stefano not coding his own engine. I'm sure he deserves a bit of a break. I think focusing on one series will help Kunos to get the AI and wet racing right.

well I think we will se UT4 engine in more sims .. my guess is 3 more .. they were bit close minded when it came to features in AC, focusing on one group of cars, one set of rules could be what they need ... 2018 could be even better than 2017 for simracers

 

[8bar]

Dear Kunos, do you think that it is a good idea to take drivers away from Assetto Corsa Multiplayer to a new game? Why not implement the new content into our well known, so much loved Assetto Corsa and making it just bigger or better?