Assetto Corsa on Console - New Trailer Released

[Paul Jeffrey]

With the build up to a console release for Assetto Corsa in full swing, Kunos Simulazioni have released a new console trailer titled Built for Racers, showing off the sim in spectacular fashion.

Assetto Corsa on console has been fraught with delays and issues since Kunos and 505 Games first announced the move, however it now looks like the long awaited release is finally happening, bringing the popular simulation to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 gamers for the very first time.

It is expected that build 1.8 and the Tripl3 DLC for PC will be released to coincide with the console launch.

Catch the new trailer below.

Assetto Corsa Built For Racers Trailer:

Assetto Corsa will be released for console on 26th August (Europe) and 30th August (North America) respectively

Check the Assetto Corsa sub forum for Xbox, PS4 and PC news for the Italian racing simulation. Look out for the latest and greatest mods, club racing events for all versions of the game and of course the great community spirt here at RD.

It's close, very close indeed... looking forward to Assetto Corsa on console? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Globespy]

Assetto Corsa does not support cross-platform play, each platform's online component is independent of each other. The 16 player limitation is due to the limit of threads that can be dedicated to the processing of the physics of each car.

I find it amusing when people say things like "cross platform" or "port". They are buzzwords from the past that just aren't relevant any more.
A gaming PC and an Xbox one are almost identical. They both run on the exact same X86-64 architecture that game developers use as their framework. They both run Windows 10 operating systems. The only difference is that Xbox has a locked down UI overlaying vanilla Windows 10. There's no such thing as a "port". The only significant difference between PC and Xbox versions is that Kunos had to develop a front end UI as the PC uses HTML main for this purpose. They will have had to optimize some code (a great thing for you PC guys as the code behind AC is known to be extremely inefficient and the improvements will benefit your experience) and turn off some graphical features to maintain frame rates, but it's essentially them automating what PC users would have to do manually based on their PC's capabilities. The beauty of a windows 10 console (Xbox) is that the level of hardware optimization is far superior to that of any gaming PC. There are literally thousands of different hardware configurations on gaming PC's, which developers have to consider. With a console there's a static hardware configuration, in the case of the Xbox and upcoming Scorpio, hardware that is custom built for Microsoft, who will have a lot of input into the design of the 'system on a chip' hardware they use. This allows a level of performance at a price point that a consumer simply can't replicate building their own PC. From a bang for your buck standpoint, you cannot beat an Xbox or PS. Let's not forget that Microsoft is a software company, not a hardware company. Xbox has always been sold at extremely low profit/break even price point because the more people using the console the more they profit from their real business. Software and services.

 

[Globespy]

nah it wont be .. consoles are always limited by design ...

trailer is nice .. I don`t think it is showing how I see AC more how they think console market wants to see it (which make sense) .. hopefully it will do alright .. too much hype produce disapointment

PC's are also limited by design in exactly the same way my friend. Except the design limitation is decided by your wallet.
A $3K gaming PC will ultimately offer everything a game has to offer but if you can't pony up that cash then you're gaming experience is limited by your PC design, controlled by your wallet.
And the fact still remains that if you wanted to attempt to build a custom PC right now that would match Scorpio's expected performance, you would be $1500-2000. And even then it may not match because the optimization around console development is so much higher because devs have set in stone parameters to squeeze every last ounce of performance from.
I've been a PC gamer for many years and I'm not knocking anyone's choice. I'm simply bringing objectivity to an unfortunately 'blinkered' society caught up in clichés and myths of old.

PS - of course AC will look better on a high end gaming PC!! But I'm sure it will still look pretty good on console if you can appreciate it for what's essentially the price of a decent PSU!

 

[Alberto Llinares]

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but at the end of the trailer when they're showing the 488, SF15, and FXXK, the garage they're in is the garage at Fiarano. I've been playing this game for almost 2 years, hoping for a Fiarano mod, and now we're likely getting a laser scanned version, a first for any simulation to my knowledge. Kunos never fail to surprise me, and knowing that they have not only licenses to use top brands in their game, but actual relationships with top manufactures like Ferrari, and now Porsche, only shows what an amazing game this is.

It's most likely a new showroom, since there is no driver on the car.

 

[Christian Moreau]

@Globespy I completely agree. The fact that the current generation consoles operate on a similar x86 architecture is fantastic. The level of performance and relative ease of use you get for the price is fantastic as well.

The bottom line is, each platforms operates on different networks and the back-end tweaks/support that needs to happen to support this type of play is considerable, which isn't something Kunos has the manpower for at the moment. Even though the Xbox simply operates on a modified version of Windows, it runs over Microsoft's Xbox network, so, even though you have similar architectures (x86), online between platforms still isn't plug and play.

I'm no developer, and certainly no programmer, but I'm sure the amount of work it takes to support that kind of feature is considerable. I don't think "cross platform" is a buzzword, it still holds true.

Let's not forget, you open cross-platform, you open a can of worms. If you allow consoles to jump onto PC hosted servers, you need to take mod support into account, player count limitations, etc. You're bound to have a ton of complaints from users who demand equality, it becomes a little complicated.

Just my opinion on this whole thing, but I appreciate your post and am happy that the subject could be brought up in a civilized manor. Usually these conversations don't turn out too well.

 

[Globespy]

@Christian - appreciate your response.
I worked for Microsoft for almost 10 years and keep in touch with many people.
I suspect that in the coming few years you will see perhaps the name "Xbox" being dropped from the service "Xbox Live" and the infrastructure being used as a premium multiplayer network for both windows PC's and consoles. It's already happening with several titles being played by PC and console players, and it's just the start. The recent push for "play anywhere" games is fairly obvious in terms of the end goal here.
Many won't like this and will resist, and that's fine. But I'm pretty sure the plans in motion will offer a global gaming network that only the 'cut my nose off to spite my face' stubborn dinosaurs will refuse to use. And we all know what happened to the dinosaurs (excluding creationists theories of some kind of 'prankster' God running around burying dinosaur fossils to "test their faith").
Cheers.

 

[Brandon Wright]

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but at the end of the trailer when they're showing the 488, SF15, and FXXK, the garage they're in is the garage at Fiarano. I've been playing this game for almost 2 years, hoping for a Fiarano mod, and now we're likely getting a laser scanned version, a first for any simulation to my knowledge. Kunos never fail to surprise me, and knowing that they have not only licenses to use top brands in their game, but actual relationships with top manufactures like Ferrari, and now Porsche, only shows what an amazing game this is.

That's the new showroom, doesn't mean we're getting the full track so don't get your hopes up. Also, Ferrari Virtual Academy (also by Kunos) had laser-scanned Fiorano.

 

[Blimey]

Looks like the Fiorano pitroom at the end of the video.

 

[Alex72]

I hope they will not change their minds/plans. Because we know the power of money ($$$$$) when users (ie console users) will say : it's to hard for playing on television !

They already said they wont "go arcade" because Assetto Corsa can not compete with the bling bling + 1000 cars in the other titles so what they CAN compete with is realism and feeling. Something the other titles dont have. So Kunos laugh and think its ridiculous when people ask because if they did the same gameish physics as the other titles then AC has nothing competitive against the other titles (and because they answered this question about a 1000 times already).

Sure there is a lot of people out there often shouting "make it easier boohoo", but fact is that Kunos already made very well without console and they are top sellers on Steam again and again. If anything the money from console will let Kunos make AC even more realistic and bring more functions/features. The best part with AC is that its easy to get into due to the driving isnt "coded" to be difficult just to feel "simulator". Its easy to get into driving moderately fast (like a real car), and then pick up speed more and more until you master the limit. I have seen people with gamepad in AC drive really good and they never drove a sim before, and thats because of 2 things: well implemented gamepad support and physics that make sense to a human being. There is no fakeness to grasp. Just drive and see/feel what the car is doing. So, there wont be any reason to dumb it down. People also have SC(!) if it gets too tough. I see no problems tbh. Console sales will just make AC better. Im pretty sure about that. And staying positive feels so much better than constantly being worried!

 

[Vincent.C]

You underestimate console users
We are all gamers just on different platforms

No no ! It's not the aim. Sorry if I hurt console players. PS/Xbox users are gamers too... thanks God !

But they play differently :
- most of them play with pad controller (not wheel)
- most already play more casual game like Granturismo or Forza
- ultrasim like rFactor or GTR... was never port on console.. Why ? Idk but maybe they are reasons.

As me you know AC and you know how much it's important to drive again and again to make really good times. I'm not sure all gamers are ready to do that.

Developing games with licence for PlayStation or Xbox cost lot of million $ and Kunos must sell lot of copy so if players claimed to casualised the game... I think they can change their original plans..

Hope I'm just too paranoid and Kunos stay on its line !

 

[Radu Oros]

No no ! It's not the aim. Sorry if I hurt console players. PS/Xbox users are gamers too... thanks God !

But they play differently :
- most of them play with pad controller (not wheel)
- most already play more casual game like Granturismo or Forza
- ultrasim like rFactor or GTR... was never port on console.. Why ? Idk but maybe they are reasons.

As me you know AC and you know how much it's important to drive again and again to make really good times. I'm not sure all gamers are ready to do that.

Developing games with licence for PlayStation or Xbox cost lot of million $ and Kunos must sell lot of copy so if players claimed to casualised the game... I think they can change their original plans..

Hope I'm just too paranoid and Kunos stay on its line !

But you're buying Assetto Corsa on consoles? And have you played it on PC?

 

[RC45]

No no ! It's not the aim. Sorry if I hurt console players. PS/Xbox users are gamers too... thanks God !

But they play differently :
- most of them play with pad controller (not wheel)
- most already play more casual game like Granturismo or Forza
- ultrasim like rFactor or GTR... was never port on console.. Why ? Idk but maybe they are reasons.

As me you know AC and you know how much it's important to drive again and again to make really good times. I'm not sure all gamers are ready to do that.

Developing games with licence for PlayStation or Xbox cost lot of million $ and Kunos must sell lot of copy so if players claimed to casualised the game... I think they can change their original plans..

Hope I'm just too paranoid and Kunos stay on its line !

I agree and share your concern.

I further more think the only reason Kunos went console, was for the money - not that there is anything wrong with that. I would have also done this move as there is more money in console game sales than just PC game sales.

The reality is that because consoles are cheaper and the games are able to be played with cheaper hardware (controller versus wheel) most of the players are more casual.

Sure, there are wheels sold to PS2, PS3, PS4 and XBox, Xbox360 and XBone players - but there are far fewer Sim fans on console than on PC.

I have AC on the PC and enjoy the Oculus support, so have no reason to get the PS4 or Xbone versions - I also enjoy the mods and the ability to tweak a few things manually on the PC.

I keep the PS4 around in the hopes Kaz and PD finally release a good GT again and keep the Xbone around for the Forza franchise.

The irony and reality may turn out to be that BECAUSE Kunos is such a small studio, the PC unique flavour of AC will be diluted by the console version, it stands to reason it will be if console sales overtake PC sales of AC.

I mean we already see that even Turn 10 is making concessions on the Windows 10 version of Forza compared to the console version. Same thing will happen with AC as the reality sets in that the largest share of AC users will now be casual console games rather than hardcore PC gamers so that platform will get favoured attention.

Be careful what you wish for, it may cone true but turn out not always be what you wanted - In my mind a "simulation" on consoles was a solution looking for a non existent problem.

Oh well, just so long as they don't drop Oculus support and mod capability on the PC I am ok with the new trajectory AC is taking.

 

[Vincent.C]

But you're buying Assetto Corsa on consoles? And have you played it on PC?

No console at home. Yes I bought AC and all DLC twice for me and a friend. No regret it's good for the moment.

 

[Stereo]

Sure, there are wheels sold to PS2, PS3, PS4 and XBox, Xbox360 and XBone players - but there are far fewer Sim fans on console than on PC.

If so why are 99% of ffb wheels marketed to consoles? They wouldn't have G29 for PS4 and G920 for XB1 with PC as a complete afterthought if consoles weren't where they sold the bulk of their equipment.

 

[RC45]

If so why are 99% of ffb wheels marketed to consoles? They wouldn't have G29 for PS4 and G920 for XB1 with PC as a complete afterthought if consoles weren't where they sold the bulk of their equipment.

I have been in and around PC's and games since before the console was invented. Seen it all. Bought it all. Even had steering wheels from the early 90's, one was actually a flight sim yoke, but served as a wheel for early NASCAR and Indy 500 play - and then the PC/PS3 compatible wheels, the first MS FFB wheels for PC and watched them not have support for the original XBox, the original Fanatec wheel for Xbox... took delivery of one of the first T500RS's, Fanatec wheels for XBox360 and XBone and on and on.

I only mention this info to show my opinion on the state of the market/gaming/driving games and sims is based on almost 30 years of playing and purchasing experience.

At the end of the day there are STILL more PC sim players than console SIM players. Care to count up the number of people that bought GT3/GT4/GT5/GT6 and had wheels that STILL seem to think GT3/4/5/6 is actually a SIM and not just a cools console game?

What about all the Forza Fanboys that are CONVINCED Forza 2/3/4/5/6 is a SIM and not just a cool console game?

Well both the GT and Forza camp are wrong, neither is a SIM and both are played with the CONTROLLER more than the a wheel and there are MORE Forza/GT sales than PC SIM sales.

99% of wheels are not sold to Console only gamers and all wheels have PC/console support for a reason.The numbers may be going up, but the reality is the majority of GT and Forza players play with controller - that's why both GT and Forza are optimized for controller rather than FFB wheels.

Hopefully Kunos wont forget us PC AC players

 

[David Wright]

I would add that arcade racers are very popular on PC - far more popular than sims.

 

[hitm4k3r]

Anybody, who can count one and one together and has actually played a simulation in a more serious manner, should know that the goal of this release is not to bring a real racing simulation to the consoles but just to offer the product to a wider audience. Nothing wrong with that. But I can only laugh at the people who want to tell me that playing race sims on consoles is the future especialy when I take a look at the PC version of the game that I personaly own and what is going to be released for consoles. Despite the fact, that Assetto Corsa still lacks some of the basics features that we had ten years ago on the PC for basicly every sim, I don't see how this version of the game should compete with it's PC version nor any other sim for competetive sim racing when it is a stripped down version. Lets just take league racing as an example: you get 16 people playing at max, no possiblity for driver swaps, limited options for players and server admins alike. There might be the possiblity to increase the maximum player count in the future, but I believe it when I see it. Next to the fact that you need an extremely good netcode and colission detection for racing sims. What it also lacks is flexibility, like everything that is connected to console gaming. Where are the mods, the plugins, user created skins, the whole community that gets build by that flexibility? I am not saying, that the console market is not big enough nor that people can't have fun with it, but Kunos is just going to deliver another hop in and driving game for that crowd, given the fact there are like ten other hop in and drive game that you can drive with a gamepad.

On a final note: what we see now is basicly nothing else like Race Pro. A console version of a race sim that flopped heavily compared to it's PC version due to the reasons listed above. Why should I buy a game, that offers much more on the PC?

 

[RC45]

I would add that arcade racers are very popular on PC - far more popular than sims.

This is true. Look at the sales of the later NFS and other arcade racer franchises. Those also have console ports and pretty much all those players are controller players rather than wheel players.

A... I am not saying, that the console market is not big enough nor that people can't have fun with it, but Kunos is just going to deliver another hop in and driving game for that crowd, given the fact there are like ten other hop in and drive game that you can drive with a gamepad...

Great observation but perhaps some concern may be that they actually sell more copies to this "hop in and go crowd" and then cater more to this money making crowd to the detriment of the now smaller PC AC customer base.

Then again, the "hop in and go crowd" may be so disappointed they don't even buy any DLC and the console version of AC dies on the vine

 

[ouvert]

PC's are also limited by design in exactly the same way my friend. Except the design limitation is decided by your wallet.
A $3K gaming PC will ultimately offer everything a game has to offer but if you can't pony up that cash then you're gaming experience is limited by your PC design, controlled by your wallet.
And the fact still remains that if you wanted to attempt to build a custom PC right now that would match Scorpio's expected performance, you would be $1500-2000. And even then it may not match because the optimization around console development is so much higher because devs have set in stone parameters to squeeze every last ounce of performance from.
I've been a PC gamer for many years and I'm not knocking anyone's choice. I'm simply bringing objectivity to an unfortunately 'blinkered' society caught up in clichés and myths of old.

PS - of course AC will look better on a high end gaming PC!! But I'm sure it will still look pretty good on console if you can appreciate it for what's essentially the price of a decent PSU!

performance is only one of its limitations

 

[hitm4k3r]

@RC45 I don't expect Kunos to abandon any of the platforms unless something dramatic happens. It will most likely be the same as with Project Cars. After a first hype it will most likely be forgotten. DLCs might help to keep it alive a bit longer, but consoles are not made for sustainable gaming. If you want to compete with the likes of Forza or Gran Tourismo, you got to bring something to the table. And I don't mean features: a console racer will not look through pages of motec data and work on setups and strategies.

 

[Mr.Mugel]

There are a lot of posts in here, that I agree with, at least partially, but being idealistic, I criticise that the terms "was", "has been", etc. are used a lot. Why don´t you expect things to change? There has been hardly any sim offered on console and from that result people say that console players only use arcades? What could they have used? If there were no sims on PCs, most of the PC people would do arcades or other genres, too (Well, no choice than, is there?).

And what about the practical use of consoles, I have thought about getting one of these things (never had in my life before) to easily connect a wheel to a TV in a small flat. Maybe I can´t do modding there, but for a couple of races when I feel like it, it would be damn awesome and still cheaper than adding a second full fledged gaming rig. And when I say a race here and there, I mean a couple of hours a week, and even if it was just one hotlap, I´d still prefer to do it on a sim rather than an arcade title these days (got past puberty). Yeah, I´d miss the cfg. file fiddling and stuff, but it´s definitely an alternative.

Why PC gamers are so critical about a console release is far beyond me, what is the downside? We get a shitload of upcoming content because of this, things like Porsches, American tracks and so on, not that bad I think? Servers are still platform based, so no "non master race" player will ruin your own "master race" experience. I personally wish Kunos the biggest of success on the console release, with the course announced by Kunos so often, it´ll only give us benefit. And if those new platforms should overtake PC, I am sure we can remind the guys behind this sim where they actually came from, and not to forget us.