As a quite committed Assetto Corsa player with over 500 hours of (mainly online) play under my belt, I read with interest the press releases around the new 'Competizione' title.
One of the first things that struck me was the limit Kunos were immediately placing on the amount of content - cars and tracks - that would be available in the game.
One series, no mods.
As something of a collector of mods, good and bad, for Assetto Corsa - especially old 80s and 90s F1 cars - this struck me as something of a potential issue.
I tried to think of what the original Assetto Corsa would have been like without all those mods. Would it have been boring without them? The answer, when it dawned on me, came as a bit of a surprise.
I don't know.
I don't know, because I haven't actually driven more than 2 laps with some of the stock cars in AC. And I probably haven't driven most of the cars that were in the DLC.
With such choice, such quantity, available to choose from, it was always difficult to actually make a choice. And when I did make a choice, 3 laps in I'd start thinking about the 100 cars / tracks I didn't choose, get distracted, crash, then go and pick something else.
Rinse and repeat.
So, having waded through all that content, good and bad, for the last 4 years, what I actually LOVE about Competizione is the far more restricted choice.
I have no guilt about driving 10 online races in a row using the BMW. I have no guilt about trawling various websites of questionable morals in case I've missed a better version of the Abu Dhabi F1 track which I'll never actually get around to driving.
And my driving skills appear to have improved far more in the few weeks I've been driving ACC than in the years I drove AC.
Being forced to drive the same car on the same tracks means I'm getting far more consistent practise.
Modded content can, of course, be of the highest quality and provide experiences that we otherwise would never have. I'll be eternally grateful for countless hours of work from so many individuals that put me in my favourite F1 cars of all time. The Jordan 191. The Williams FW14. And in VR too. The closest I will ever be to actually sitting in those cars.
But now, it's time for all those cars to get locked away in their fancy showrooms, polish the bodywork, shine the tyres and put them on display. Museum pieces from a different era. My racing is focused now.
And I'm becoming a faster, more consistent, more competitive driver for it.
One of the first things that struck me was the limit Kunos were immediately placing on the amount of content - cars and tracks - that would be available in the game.
One series, no mods.
As something of a collector of mods, good and bad, for Assetto Corsa - especially old 80s and 90s F1 cars - this struck me as something of a potential issue.
I tried to think of what the original Assetto Corsa would have been like without all those mods. Would it have been boring without them? The answer, when it dawned on me, came as a bit of a surprise.
I don't know.
I don't know, because I haven't actually driven more than 2 laps with some of the stock cars in AC. And I probably haven't driven most of the cars that were in the DLC.
With such choice, such quantity, available to choose from, it was always difficult to actually make a choice. And when I did make a choice, 3 laps in I'd start thinking about the 100 cars / tracks I didn't choose, get distracted, crash, then go and pick something else.
Rinse and repeat.
So, having waded through all that content, good and bad, for the last 4 years, what I actually LOVE about Competizione is the far more restricted choice.
I have no guilt about driving 10 online races in a row using the BMW. I have no guilt about trawling various websites of questionable morals in case I've missed a better version of the Abu Dhabi F1 track which I'll never actually get around to driving.
And my driving skills appear to have improved far more in the few weeks I've been driving ACC than in the years I drove AC.
Being forced to drive the same car on the same tracks means I'm getting far more consistent practise.
Modded content can, of course, be of the highest quality and provide experiences that we otherwise would never have. I'll be eternally grateful for countless hours of work from so many individuals that put me in my favourite F1 cars of all time. The Jordan 191. The Williams FW14. And in VR too. The closest I will ever be to actually sitting in those cars.
But now, it's time for all those cars to get locked away in their fancy showrooms, polish the bodywork, shine the tyres and put them on display. Museum pieces from a different era. My racing is focused now.
And I'm becoming a faster, more consistent, more competitive driver for it.
