Free Content, Future Development and Stefano Casillo Interview (Part 2)

[Paul Jeffrey]

We spoke at length with Stefano Casillo of Kunos Simulazioni about Assetto Corsa, some new free content incoming and all things racing...

The Sim Racing Expo was a wonderful opportunity for sim racers, developers, hardware manufacturers and the media to get together to celebrate the wonderful hobby we call sim racing. Thanks to the great access and atmosphere of the event we had the opportunity to chat with one of the key figures behind Assetto Corsa, Stefano Casillo, and he was more than happy to give us an insight into the behind the scenes workings at Kunos, plus revealing some exciting new free content coming to Assetto Corsa in the near future.

You can check out the interview below:

Originally planned as part of a standard paid DLC, Kunos scheduled the highly anticipated laser scanned version of Laguna Seca to release alongside a pack of new performance road cars for the simulation. Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances the launch of Laguna hit one or two delays against the original schedule, slipping to much further in the calendar year that was the intention when the announcement was first hinted at several months ago.

In something of a generous gesture from Kunos, the popular Italian developers have decided to release both circuit and accompanying cars to the base game for free, bringing with it a very popular drivers circuit and six new cars to the title.

The confirmed free bonus pack DLC will contain:

• Laguna Seca Circuit
• Alfa Rome Giulia QV
• Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale
• Lamborghini Sesto Elemento
• Lamborghini Huracan Performante
• Maserati Quattroporte
• Pagani Huayra BC

No exact release date has been confirmed by Kunos, however it is expected that players will be in receipt of the new content before the end of 2017.

If you missed it earlier, don't forget to check out our previous interview with Stefano where we talk about the new update and Ferrari Celebration DLC.

Assetto Corsa is available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC now.

Assetto Corsa and online racing = Love! Check out our brilliant Assetto Corsa League and Club racing forum for great racing events suitable for all skills and experiences. We host regular events using popular content and guarantee a great time for all. Additionally we have a very active sub forum for the game where players can catch up on the latest news and engage with fellow community members here at RD. You can download mods from our modding archive, discuss W.I.P projects in our Modding Discussion Forum and try out a selection of car setups for a wide range of vehicles. Come on, get yourself involved in the action today!

Happy to see more free content coming to Assetto Corsa? Which car most grabs your attention from the list above? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[StefanoCasillo]

haha, you talk about profesionalism,
you mean like that time you talked to the sim enthusiast and real life racer, with tons of experience, who was trying to help you improve your sim, "respect and friendly" yeah those are really the words I would use

and AC does use my stuff, in case you haven't notices Primera BTCC is amongs many considered to be one of the best cars in AC, and that includes cars by kunos

as I've said.. no shame.

if you really were so sure about your "best this and best that" you'd let the quality of your work speak for itself instead of patrolling other games' communities with the only intent to put down what's not yours.
But yeah.. we all have different standards... so go on and laugh more at it, it just confirms what kind of person you are.

 

[CC]

not really true, if the game is written in that way that everyone has the car model downloaded, and buyign DLC only unlocks it, then it is absolutely possible to race against cars you don't own in MP, even Gran Turismo have done that on PS3

well that is consoles and minimal at best , I can not remember the last steam racing title I purchased that had all the DLC already installed and waiting for you , its correct maybe what you are saying but refers to a few % of titles at best as an whole , either way like I said roughly on all games the DLC issues are the same and have been for quite some time .

 

[Patrik Marek]

well I wasn't saying that it's the norm, I suppose the downside is that people will complain that they already "own" it, becasue it's installed, and that it's BS that the paying DLC just unlocks it

 

[Patrik Marek]

as I've said.. no shame.

if you really were so sure about your "best this and best that" you'd let the quality of your work speak for itself instead of patrolling other games' communities with the only intent to put down what's not yours.
But yeah.. we all have different standards... so go on and laugh more at it, it just confirms what kind of person you are.

I can have oppinon, can I ?
Plus if I'm making fool of myself, I'm not damaging my compay/my game, becasue unlike you I don't have any

belive it or not, I want AC to be better, which is why I suggest things,
that you don't want to hear them, it's a different story

 

[Rob Every]

I have never seen the point in having a realistic weather element to sim gaming.

While I understand why devs want it to be there, to be honest as someone earlier said, if I join an AC server and it is foggy I will quit as it makes the experience a crashfest.

Weather just brings out the noobs even more, they have spent a few hours in the dry and their experience is not enough to cope with it.

Weather is glitz, looks good on videos, adds an amount of realism. But really, does it really add much to the game? For me no.

 

[Patrik Marek]

it can add lot of fun, if it's done well, and you want to take a break from serious racing

 

[StefanoCasillo]

I can have oppinon, can I ?

yes but if you are part of the industry you should have some decency.
As I've said.. how would it look if went around pointing out flaws in other games because "can't I have an opinion? I just want game X to be better!"? How would that fly? I have opinions too, LOTS of them.. it doesn't make it professional for me to go to game forum X to point out stuff claiming my stuff is better.. you know? bad taste and all that.

But I understand you don't get it.. I only hope other companies see the kind of man you are and use that information to decide whether or not connect their company's name with yours.. I am sure I don't want people like these in my team... but ya, obviously other teams have less problems with guerrilla marketing tactics disguised as "but I just want the game to be better".
And that's the end of it for me... if you get it fine, if you don't get it (I bet you won't) just keep going, what goes around comes around.

 

[Stelios]

Guys, stop wasting Stefano's time with these discussions, he needs to do some R&D for the you-know-what thing

 

[AnGeL LuiS R]

Hi Stefano, I want to know your opinion about my post:

http://www.racedepartment.com/threa...-interview-part-2.141518/page-10#post-2588186

It's very important for me know what do you thing about that, if you like, if it's impossible to do, if you don't like...

Thank you very much.

 

[Patrik Marek]

I really dont' want to argue, but what do you think are your post on AC forums about other games?
or because it's on AC forums it's fine and professional thing to do ?

"But I understand you don't get it.. I only hope other companies see the kind of man you are and use that information to decide whether or not connect their company's name with yours."
yeah, this really shows exactly how quickly you know everything about everyone ...

and making fun of other projects, especially if person is in CEO position is imo way worse behavior, then just point out flaws and saying wishes for improvements , but I guess you don't see it. in your eyes AC is of course the best thing that has been done, which is understandable becasue otherwise you wouldn't be so attached to it

but if you read from my stuff, you will not find things said in offensive ways, .. not against AC
it's you who is taking this on personal level, blowing it out of proportion and for nothing good what so ever

 

[Patrik Marek]

Guys, stop wasting Stefano's time with these discussions, he needs to do some R&D for the you-know-what thing

sorry but if someone is perosnally attacking me, I won't let it fly, I dont' care who he is
yes he has achieved many things to be proud of, but that doesn't give him right to make fun of people who he knows nothing about, and even less to attack them

 

[Gergo Panker]

This thread was starting out so well...

 

[StefanoCasillo]

Hi Stefano, I want to know your opinion about my post:

nice post

I don't know exactly what you expect me to say. We did, do and will do whatever it's possible to do and whatever we consider important to do.
You can ask 10 people and they will come up with 10 different basics .. so your basics are just the opinion of 1 user over 1 million AC users and that's exactly the amount of weight it brings with it.

You can be sure I try to read every feedback I can on AC in order to improve it.

 

[Ben Lee]

Stefano, is there anything in AC you would do differently if you could go back with a different approach?

 

[AnGeL LuiS R]

nice post

I don't know exactly what you expect me to say. We did, do and will do whatever it's possible to do and whatever we consider important to do.
You can ask 10 people and they will come up with 10 different basics .. so your basics are just the opinion of 1 user over 1 million AC users and that's exactly the amount of weight it brings with it.

I appreciate much your reply, it's an honor for me.

I have an idea. I'm web developer. I think that you and your team appreciate the opinion of the users, because you make polls and then you make content based on that polls and you always look the opinion of the people on forums, Twitter... I can create a web (totally free), called for example acpolls.com, and ask to the users a lot of things about Assetto Corsa project and next projects. If you and your team will consider it as reference, I can work on this if you want.

Thank you Stefano.

 

[StefanoCasillo]

Stefano, is there anything in AC you would do differently if you could go back with a different approach?

TONS of stuff But it's too easy to be the smart one once the pieces are all on the table

 

[Poloman]

I have never seen the point in having a realistic weather element to sim gaming.

While I understand why devs want it to be there, to be honest as someone earlier said, if I join an AC server and it is foggy I will quit as it makes the experience a crashfest.

Weather just brings out the noobs even more, they have spent a few hours in the dry and their experience is not enough to cope with it.

Weather is glitz, looks good on videos, adds an amount of realism. But really, does it really add much to the game? For me no.

Well,i dont believe i ever gonna join a random public server with "bad" weather.
But,for club races and high mr server its a great feature,even more when you can sync it with the real weather.

 

[manu68]

I see as stefano is in the Area.
so please !!!!
Could you bring us somedays the fantastics F1600 / F1800 / .. from your fantastic Netkar pro ???
so as the tracks.
I will be in first position to purchase the DLC, as I have been among the first to support netkar pro from the early stage of betas version, long before the final 1.3

 

[F_B]

I have never seen the point in having a realistic weather element to sim gaming.

While I understand why devs want it to be there, to be honest as someone earlier said, if I join an AC server and it is foggy I will quit as it makes the experience a crashfest.

Weather just brings out the noobs even more, they have spent a few hours in the dry and their experience is not enough to cope with it.

Weather is glitz, looks good on videos, adds an amount of realism. But really, does it really add much to the game? For me no.

Granted the people are capable of driving the car you share the track with it can add a certain aspect of chaos to it, which can be fun. I just experienced that yesterday when I was on a server when the conditions changed from dry to wet. It is not a must-have in my opinion but it spices things up. Day to night transition is more important though, if I had to chose.

 

[Ben Lee]

I have never seen the point in having a realistic weather element to sim gaming.

While I understand why devs want it to be there, to be honest as someone earlier said, if I join an AC server and it is foggy I will quit as it makes the experience a crashfest.

Weather just brings out the noobs even more, they have spent a few hours in the dry and their experience is not enough to cope with it.

Weather is glitz, looks good on videos, adds an amount of realism. But really, does it really add much to the game? For me no.

I have to disagree, with respect.

I had some classic wet races on GTR2, really great strategic battles with different tyres, people faster at different parts of the track etc. I do agree it raises the skill bar a notch and people can be caught out by it, I think if wet weather was twinned with a rating system server it could be OK.

I personally think that wet weather wins every time over night drivjng (if I had to choose between the two) for the simple reason that driving in the wet fundamentally changes the driving dynamic, you have to adjust your driving style according to the conditions. Night driving is essentially the same driving as in the daytime, except it's darker, that's pretty much it.