VR and Bentley... New Assetto Corsa Competizione Previews

[Paul Jeffrey]

Ahead of the big VR, Bentley and Misano "EA Release 2" for ACC, Kunos Simulazioni have released a few very nice teaser images from the upcoming content release...

With only two short days left to wait for the first major content update for Assetto Corsa Competizione, Kunos Simulazioni have released a nice set of rather attractive preview images in the form of some stunning shots of the mega Bentley Continental GT3 and Misano Circuit, the two major new pieces of content set to hit ACC this October 10th.

Slightly more difficult to reflect in screenshot form, the new release scheduled for this Wednesday will also be notable for the first pass at supporting Virtual Reality (VR) in the sim - a very exciting development for ACC, and something that is sure to please quite a few of the sim racing community (myself included).

Of course this is the first update for ACC since the game deployed into the public realm via Steam Early Access back in September, and it will be interesting to see what other tweaks, improvements and features Kunos can add to an already very impressive simulation in the four weeks since it made its public debut.

Don't forget to check our review article and video, found HERE.

Assetto Corsa Competizione is available on Steam Early Access now.

Check out the Assetto Corsa Competizione here at RaceDepartment for the latest news and discussions regarding this exciting sim. We intend to host some quality League and Club Racing events as well as hosting some great community created mods (we hope!). Join in the discussion today.

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 Looking forward to the next stage of development for ACC? What are you most excited to try, the car, track or VR? Let us know in the comments section below!​

 

[Unionjackstar]

So, now we've got VR and it's... some people did write it before.

My main problem is the heavy blurrishness all over. I tried several settings. Temporal anti-aliasing off got me a better view, but it's garbage. So googled a bit and i think, the reason for like looking into distance and it feels like having - 2.5 dioptrine (and i'm wearing glasses :-P ) has got something to Do with the behaviour of textures. The Unreal Engine allows to adjust the distance of textures with the so called "mip change distance" . This tells the texture when to increase its resolution. You can test i.e. driving at the Nurburgring slowly, watch the Pirelli commercial lebt of the track and see how the resolution increases, the more you get nearer. Maybe Kunos have to revamp it for VR, cause in normal 2D mode it looks nice. You tweak a bit the texture settings with Nvidia Inspector. There you can decrease the mip lod bias. For me, it improved the distance objects in some way, but it's far away from a great experience.

The next big problem is the behaviour of headmovement as at the moment it is awful. But it's so damn obvious, that some programming at Kunos did something wrong, hopefully it will be fixed as soon as possible.

The behaviour of the menu and how it smashes into you face when it starts up, is funny. But hey, we're in EA mode.

So at some point i understand people argueing about the silly VR implementation, but hey: it's VR and we are allowed to follow the increasement of quality with every update.

But i'm confident, Kunos is going to serve us a great simulation next year.

 

[Brandon Wright]

You guys are a trip. Lots of people having no problems but I can't get it to work on my particular system configuration so it's garbage and Kunos need to pull their finger out because they've screwed up and I've uninstalled it because THAT WILL SHOW 'EM!!

I had a go in VR last night and had no real issues. Loaded up just fine on the first try, I actually took a moment to read the release notes so I knew to make sure my wheel buttons were mapped so I could navigate the menus and I knew the keyboard shortcuts to adjust menu/hud size and position, no drama there and no menu or hud up in my face. Certainly room for improvement on the VR front but it was very playable on my end, no stuttering or anything, not bad for a first pass on a new engine IMO. Far distance stuff was a bit blurry and had some anomalies but it didn't bother me and I presume stuff like that will be improved in future updates. Tossed that fat ass Bentley around the Nurburgring for about 45 minutes and enjoyed every corner.

 

[GuitarTech]

You guys are a trip. Lots of people having no problems but I can't get it to work on my particular system configuration so it's garbage and Kunos need to pull their finger out because they've screwed up and I've uninstalled it because THAT WILL SHOW 'EM!!

I had a go in VR last night and had no real issues. Loaded up just fine on the first try, I actually took a moment to read the release notes so I knew to make sure my wheel buttons were mapped so I could navigate the menus and I knew the keyboard shortcuts to adjust menu/hud size and position, no drama there and no menu or hud up in my face. Certainly room for improvement on the VR front but it was very playable on my end, no stuttering or anything, not bad for a first pass on a new engine IMO. Far distance stuff was a bit blurry and had some anomalies but it didn't bother me and I presume stuff like that will be improved in future updates. Tossed that fat ass Bentley around the Nurburgring for about 45 minutes and enjoyed every corner.

I'll admit I never thought to read the release notes, duhh!
But on the other hand, WTF were they thinking to use such a stupid and unlogical system?
What's wrong with adding a key or button assignment ( free configurable ) to centre the display in VR, and enabling the mouse in VR, like all the others do it? ( rF2, PC2, R3E etc)
Why do they have to re-invent the wheel at Kunos? All the time I've had AC, the hat switch was never configurable on any wheel I've tried, AC just ignored it: and what do they choose to use in ACC VR? You've guessed it: the hat switch.
I mean, I know it's EA and beta and all that stuff, but why, just why? What's wrong with doing it the easy way? What were they thinking? It boggles my mind.....

 

[Jempy]

I think to remember it was said that most commands should be possible for buttons assignment in ACC ( wheel or button box ).
For now .... ( I have no VR but just TrackIR ) an important centre the display is as usual a keyboard command.

I really wonder why, if the foreseen purpose is really true, that was not done from the start.
It may come in a next build ( I hope for VR users of course ) just hoping it will not remain as it was in AC.

So I may understand VR users reactions.

When driving ... keyboard and mouse ... are not really compatible with a wheel, still worse with VR

 

[Brandon Wright]

I'll admit I never thought to read the release notes, duhh!
But on the other hand, WTF were they thinking to use such a stupid and unlogical system?
What's wrong with adding a key or button assignment ( free configurable ) to centre the display in VR, and enabling the mouse in VR, like all the others do it? ( rF2, PC2, R3E etc)
Why do they have to re-invent the wheel at Kunos? All the time I've had AC, the hat switch was never configurable on any wheel I've tried, AC just ignored it: and what do they choose to use in ACC VR? You've guessed it: the hat switch.
I mean, I know it's EA and beta and all that stuff, but why, just why? What's wrong with doing it the easy way? What were they thinking? It boggles my mind.....

What part of "early access" do you guys not get? This isn't the final system, I would not presume this is how things are going to remain, it's likely that they're still working on that stuff but had it in a useable enough form that they could let us get our paws on it so they could start collecting feedback. We only have a basic framework of the game right now, some things will be less than ideal for now.

AC used ctrl+space to center the HMD too, I would prefer being able to map it to a button on the wheel but it's not something to have a cry about IMO. I eventually built up muscle memory and could just reach over and hit the keyboard without taking the headset off so it's really a non-issue, unless of course you want make an issue out of it.

 

[GuitarTech]

What part of "early access" do you guys not get? This isn't the final system, I would not presume this is how things are going to remain, it's likely that they're still working on that stuff but had it in a useable enough form that they could let us get our paws on it so they could start collecting feedback. We only have a basic framework of the game right now, some things will be less than ideal for now.

AC used ctrl+space to center the HMD too, I would prefer being able to map it to a button on the wheel but it's not something to have a cry about IMO. I eventually built up muscle memory and could just reach over and hit the keyboard without taking the headset off so it's really a non-issue, unless of course you want make an issue out of it.

Part of the problem is, I never thought anyone would think of doing it that way, it just never occured to me, after using all the other games that have a configurable button to centre, and mouse control in VR.
If you're adding VR to a game, it's just as easy to do it like everybody else does it, as it is to write code for their stupid system. Early version or not, it's just dumb and unnessasarily complex. Somebody aught to tell them about the KISS principle. And my question remains unanswered: why, just why?

 

[Sicario Del Toro]

Part of the problem is, I never thought anyone would think of doing it that way, it just never occured to me, after using all the other games that have a configurable buttoin to centre, and mouse control in VR.
If you're adding VR to a game, it's just as easy to do it like everybody else does it, as it is to write code for their stupid system. Early version or not, it's just dumb and unnessasarily complex. Somebody aught to tell them about the KISS principle. And my question remains unanswered: why, just why?

Maybe they are considering making this — Vr— for consoles , could be the reason why no mouse control yet .

 

[Brandon Wright]

Part of the problem is, I never thought anyone would think of doing it that way, it just never occured to me, after using all the other games that have a configurable buttoin to centre, and mouse control in VR.

So you've never done a project where you encountered a problem and had to come up with a quick solution on the fly even though you knew there was a better solution but you just couldn't implement that better solution at the time? Things don't always go to plan, especially with a complex project. Maybe they're still working on some button binding methods? We have limited options for button mapping at the moment so that would suggest there will be some changes coming to this area in the future. Maybe they're waiting for some kind of update for UE4 that is going to change how some things work so they aren't bothering to put much effort into this particular feature yet because they know they're going to have to re-do it in a month or so? There's any number of reasons why they may have had to go with the current setup as a temporary solution, this is not a difficult concept to grasp.

If you're adding VR to a game, it's just as easy to do it like everybody else does it, as it is to write code for their stupid system. Early version or not, it's just dumb and unnessasarily complex. Somebody aught to tell them about the KISS principle. /QUOTE]

Ah, the classic armchair expert! It's so easy to declare something to be simple when you have no idea what's involved with the process isn't it? I have it happen at my job all the time, customer tells me it should only take a couple minutes to fix the problems with their file because I work on a magical computer and they've seen similar pieces from other printers so I should be able to do it too and it should be simple. In reality it's gonna take me 2-3 hours and a lot of swearing to get their file into print-ready condition despite them declaring it was a simple 5 minute process.

And my question remains unanswered: why, just why?

Do you really think anyone here can answer that? Only the people at Kunos know why and they're not likely to waste time explaining things to forum dwellers who are having a rant.

I think you might wanna sit the rest of early access out because there's bound to be more things like this that will infuriate you and make you want to yell at strangers on the internet.

 

[GuitarTech]

So you've never done a project where you encountered a problem and had to come up with a quick solution on the fly even though you knew there was a better solution but you just couldn't implement that better solution at the time? Things don't always go to plan, especially with a complex project. Maybe they're still working on some button binding methods? We have limited options for button mapping at the moment so that would suggest there will be some changes coming to this area in the future. Maybe they're waiting for some kind of update for UE4 that is going to change how some things work so they aren't bothering to put much effort into this particular feature yet because they know they're going to have to re-do it in a month or so? There's any number of reasons why they may have had to go with the current setup as a temporary solution, this is not a difficult concept to grasp.

Before anyone starts accusing me of being an armchair expert, in another life, I spent years and years writing code in C++, and pearl. I'm not familiar with the code in ACC, but I do know enough about writing code to know that they could've done a better job, and could've have coded mouse support into it without much difficulty.
Other games with UE4 manage it too, it ain't rocket science.
However, I shall give up for the moment with VR in ACC, and drive in pancake mode, as it just doesn't work in VR with my hardware.
CTRL+Space has no effect, nor can I cycle through the menues with F2, or indeed any other keys.
If I look right down, I can see the game screen, but I can't move it up to where I can use it
I have a WMR Acer headset and use it with Steam VR: It works faultlessly in PC2, rF2, Raceroom, and AC. Maybe they only tested ACC VR with Oculus or Vive headsets with their native VR software? They sure as hell did not test it with WMR headsets running inside Steam VR, of that I'm sure.
I have an i5 @ 4.6Ghz, a GTX1080, 16Gb memory, and running Win 10 64bit. My computer is only used for driving sims, and is bang up to date and squeaky clean. So the problem must lie elsewhere. Maybe with the next update? Or a hotfix in the next days? Who knows....
I'm sorry I trod on some fanboy toes here, that was not my intent, I'm disapointed more than anything, I'm sorry it came over as a schoolboy rant

 

[Brandon Wright]

Wow. I'll let you guys get back to your whinging thread, I've got laps to turn in the Bentley.

 

[GuitarTech]

Wow. I'll let you guys get back to your whinging thread, I've got laps to turn in the Bentley.

Me too mate, but in pancake mode, until Kunos pull their fingers out and make the VR useable

 

[Brandon Wright]

Me too mate, but in pancake mode, until Kunos pull their fingers out and make the VR useable

Stop by my house after work and you can have a go with my Rift, it's surprisingly useable.

 

[vegaguy5555]

I agree with everything Brandon is saying but after all the crap I heard about rF2, Project Cars and then again with PC2.
Now I'm hearing about all the same growing pains with ACC.
As much as some of the AC fans deserve this I have to stick up for progress and development. This IS early access. We ARE the guinea pigs. This is the feedback Kunos is looking for. And we did not pay full price.

Still not satisfied then build something better and I will support it and defend you.

Lets stick to the facts. Keep emotions out of it and don't turn this into a PC2 bashing marathon.

 

[Brandon Wright]

Me too mate, but in pancake mode, until Kunos pull their fingers out and make the VR useable

Saw this on the official forum, might help you out.

Ok so for anyone with the menu under their feet, go into:

Documents/Assetto Corsa Competizione/Config/ you find a vrSettings.json

...and change the distance of the menus to higher number, then the menu's won't be under your feet anymore and you can actually see them:

"mainMenuLayerDistance": 240,
"mainMenuLayerSize": 160,
"mainMenuLayerType": 1,
"raceMenuLayerDistance": 100,
"raceMenuLayerSize": 55,
"raceMenuLayerType": 1,
"hUDLayerDistance": 60,
"hUDLayerSize": 47,
"hUDLayerType": 1,
"spectatorScreenMode": 5

 

[2stains]

So after 8 hours in ACC VR i can now say how darn happy i am to have rF2 in VR !
ACC is blurry 45 fps stutter fest and rF2 is clear 90 and smooth as silk .
Im not even going to Compare the FFB or tyre model or the UI controls ! Just the VR implementation that until a few updates ago was pretty bad in rF2 so this is only update 2 for ACC so there is hope !
Im just so lucky to have rF2 while I wait

 

[GuitarTech]

Saw this on the official forum, might help you out.

Ok so for anyone with the menu under their feet, go into:

Documents/Assetto Corsa Competizione/Config/ you find a vrSettings.json

...and change the distance of the menus to higher number, then the menu's won't be under your feet anymore and you can actually see them:

"mainMenuLayerDistance": 240,
"mainMenuLayerSize": 160,
"mainMenuLayerType": 1,
"raceMenuLayerDistance": 100,
"raceMenuLayerSize": 55,
"raceMenuLayerType": 1,
"hUDLayerDistance": 60,
"hUDLayerSize": 47,
"hUDLayerType": 1,
"spectatorScreenMode": 5

Thanks for the headsup It helped some, but the menu screens are still too far down, and much too small. I'll have to play around with the parameters to see if I can get it to work.
in other news: When I finally got into it and could drive the cars, I was amazed: it looks really nicely done, and it was a blast driving in VR. It will definitely be a killer game when it's a bit further down the line. It is EA after all.
But I stand by my original complaint: the menu selection, coupled with no keyboard or mouse support is insanely bad. It's clunky, awkward, anything else other than intuitive, in fact a complete disaster. And completely avoidable, UE4 has native VR support built in, which their in-house program that they used for AC didn't have. How hard can it be? What were they thinking?

 

[Deleted member 197115]

So after 8 hours in ACC VR i can now say how darn happy i am to have rF2 in VR !
ACC is blurry 45 fps stutter fest and rF2 is clear 90 and smooth as silk .
Im not even going to Compare the FFB or tyre model or the UI controls ! Just the VR implementation that until a few updates ago was pretty bad in rF2 so this is only update 2 for ACC so there is hope !
Im just so lucky to have rF2 while I wait

There is a hope that in a year or two it will be as good as AC.

 

[Michael Lowe]

For anyone dismayed with the vr, give this a go. You wont be disappointed, completely transformed the game for me. I am using a creaky old 2500k @4.5 and an msi 1080 armor. I went for TAA Epic by the way.

UE4 sharpening Filter:

(Thanks goes to "Georg Ortner" for sharing this on his Twitter Page! https://twitter.com/6e66o/status/1040526664680255490 )


The ingame sharpening filter in the options menu doesn't work in VR.

There is the possibility to at an sharpening filter manually in to UE4 games.
Make sure you can see hidden folders!!

Go to:

C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\AC2\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor

and edit:
Engine.ini

(Set TAA to 'Epic or High' ingame for this to work properly. Edit Tonemapper.Sharpen how you like it.)



Place this in the Engine.ini file below everything else:

[ConsoleVariables]
r.TemporalAACatmullRom=1
r.TemporalAAPauseCorrect=1
r.TemporalAASamples=4
r.Tonemapper.Sharpen=4

 

[2stains]

There is a hope that in a year or two it will be as good as AC.

Im guessing your talking about ACC....right I think it's going to need more than a year or two even then it won't hold a candle to rF2

 

[Deleted member 197115]

Im guessing your talking about ACC....right I think it's going to need more than a year or two even then it won't hold a candle to rF2

Yes, ACC. I see some people disagree, but I am optimistic and hopeful.