Assetto Corsa Preview: Version 0.3.1

Kunos Simulazioni stormed onto the sim racing scene in 2006, with their innovative simulator, Netkar Pro. The simulator boasted features such as advanced tire wear including flatspotting, a dynamic cockpit a la flight simulators, and telemetry from AiM-Sportline.

7 years later, Kunos has brought forth another title, Assetto Corsa, anticipating to bring the diversity of Gran Turismo and Forza titles, while bringing a physics fidelity and open ended structure to rival rFactor 2.

In November of this year, the long awaited release of Assetto Corsa came, but in the form of an Early Access Beta, with a planned update schedule to add new content, vehicles and tracks every 2 weeks. I joined in after the second update to the Early Access, version 0.3.1.

In this preview, I will give my impressions on the driving feel, and the content so far:



Part 1: The Cars and Tracks

Version 0.3.1. of Assetto Corsa currently has 16 cars, ranging from FWD sub-compacts to high powered race cars, with many more to come! Each car is meticulously modeled and can be explored in the Showroom feature, which is like Forza's AutoVista mode where you can look around, open the door, and enter the car. A couple things I would like to see in later builds is the ability to open the hood and trunk.

The latest build of Assetto Corsa has 7 circuits with 9 configurations. The tracks all are laser scanned and are meticulously accurate in feel and visual accuracy.

Part 2: Driving Feel

The best way to describe the feel of driving in Assetto Corsa is that the cars are "deceptively simple", which isn't exactly a bad thing. The cars feel like they have mass, and actually have to be driven. From what I can tell so far, the cars are easy to drive, yet extremely tough to drive very fast. I'm not exactly a slouch when it comes down to driving, but I feel truly humbled trying to get the achievements for beating hot laps.

Force feedback is also exceptional and I have had some feelings through the wheel that truly put a smile on my face. The feeling of driving over the curbs is incredible. Feeling the tires on the road also is an important part of a simulator, and I really think AC is on the right path, with a good weight to the wheel and a feeling of tires sliding on the asphalt.
It is worth noting that I did experience some clipping in some situations that I felt like shouldn't have happened, but I really think that things will be a little tighter as things go along.

Part 3: Race Modes

Right now, Assetto Corsa has no AI or Multiplayer, but will be implemented in later updates. There are a variety of solo car modes to have fun with. There is the standard practice mode, a time attack (where you try to beat a countdown timer), and also a drifting mode, which felt clearly inspired by Gran Turismo's drift mode. This update definitely has a good amount of content for such an early release, but it will definitely be nicer when we have more content to check out. The early access also has teased a "Career Mode", which will lead people to speculate about how thorough the career mode will be.

Part 4: Additional Notes

One thing I have found somewhat disappointing is that a lot of features that have made NetKar Pro so great have been absent from Assetto Corsa so far:

-The damage model has not been implemented yet, but the groundwork has been put in place. When you hit a wall, the damage indicator does pop up, but no visual or mechanical versions. From what I can tell now, I think the damage model will be fairly comprehensive, and at least somewhat realistic.
-The tire model with flat spotting has not been been represented, or from my knowledge has been confirmed to come up.
-The dynamic cockpit has been absent from the game, but I am hoping that they will put it back in, it is a truly interesting feature, that could also be elaborated in their new showroom feature.


Some new features have made their way into the sim though:

-The groundwork has been put in place for the dynamic racing groove, that lays down rubber as you drive. Currently reports are that the dynamic groove is just visual, but the physics side will be implemented soon.
-Drag racing will make their debut in a major PC racing simulator in a future update. It is yet to be revealed as to how comprehensive the racing will be.
-The simulator features DirectX 11 rendering to bring a high level of graphics

More previews to come as future updates are released.