Assetto Corsa

Assetto Corsa is a racing simulation that attempts to offer a realistic driving experience with a variety of road and race cars through detailed physics and tyre simulation on race tracks recreated through laser-scanning technology. It supports a range of peripherals like mouse, keyboard, wheels, gamepads, triple-displays, TrackIR head tracking and VR head-mounted displays as well as Nvidia 3D Vision and professional motion systems. The software can be extended through modded third-party content.

The game allows to adjust realism settings fitting the experience of the player, ranging from artificial to "factory" or entirely disabled assists. A variety of session modes and session settings are available for offline and online play. Offline campaign, special events, custom championships, hotlap, quick race, drift, drag and race weekend sessions can be played alone or against AI. A server manager tool allows to create servers for online sessions, LAN sessions are also supported.

When joining an offline/online session players can adjust their car through a setup interface. Depending on the car this includes gear ratios, tyre compounds, tyre pressures, fuel, suspension settings like anti-roll bars, wheel rates, ride height, packer rates, travel range, damper settings like bump stops and rebounds, heave dampers, alignment setting, drivetrain settings for differential lock and pre-load, hybrid settings, adjustments to the wings, brake bias, brake power, engine limiter, etc. Assists like traction control and ABS, turbo boost, KERS, ERS and engine brake settings and brake bias can be adjusted on the fly through hot-keys.

The in-game HUD consists of multiple "virtual desktops" that allow to manually place a wide variety of "apps" anywhere on screen, and the selection can be expanded through custom apps written in the Python language. The API allows access to the session and simulation data through external LCDs or phone apps and the simulation exports telemetry data in a compatible format for professional data analysis software.[9]

This is a list of all 15 official race tracks; 4 DLCs are marked with (*). Some of these tracks are available in different layouts (45 layouts in total).[10]

Track	Country	# of layouts	Layouts
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	Belgium	1
Nürburgring	Germany	4	GP, GP (GT), Sprint, Sprint (GT)
Nürburgring Nordschleife *	Germany	4	Normal, Endurance, Endurance Cup, Touristenfahrten
Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello	Italy	1
Autodromo dell'Umbria (Magione)	Italy	1
Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari (Imola)	Italy	1
Autodromo Nazionale di Monza	Italy	4	GP, 1966 Full Course, 1966 Junior Course, 1966 Road Course
Autodromo Piero Taruffi (Vallelunga)	Italy	3	Normal, Classic, Club
Trento-Bondone Hill Climb	Italy	1
Drag Strip (fictional)	Italy	5	200 m, 400 m, 500 m, 1000 m, 2000 m
Drift (fictional)	Japan	1
Circuit Park Zandvoort	Netherlands	1
Red Bull Ring *	Austria	2	GP, Short
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya *	Spain	2	GP, Moto
Brands Hatch *	United Kingdom	2	GP, Indy
Silverstone Circuit	United Kingdom	4	GP, International, National, 1967
Black Cat County (fictional)	United States	3	Normal, Long, Short
Highlands (fictional)	United Kingdom	4	Normal, Drift, Long, Short
Laguna Seca Raceway	United States	1

Kunos Simulazioni built Assetto Corsa on the experience acquired with the development of netKar Pro and Ferrari Virtual Academy. The studio acquired practical knowledge working closely to real motorsport as their R&D office was located at the time on Vallelunga Circuit, Italy. The game includes renditions of international circuits (surveyed using both traditional and laser scanning technology) as well as many cars from global car brands, ranging from everyday road cars to racing prototypes and historic vehicles. As in case of most car simulators, the car performance is one of the most important factor, including the torque and power in function of the RPM.[11]

Assetto Corsa started development in 2010 with a driving school project for Automobile Club d'Italia. In 2011, Kunos moved to developing the game in Unity engine, however, due to constraints of external integrability i.e. not being modding friendly, and due to long loading times, they decided to leave it be and at the end of 2011 built a new engine completely in-house from the ground up instead.[12][13]

The game is coded in multiple programming languages. C++ is used for the simulation part and Go for the multiplayer server. The user interface and launcher core is coded in C#, but the interface frontend in HTML to allow users to create interface modifications. Python can be used for developing plugins for retrieving simulation data in real time. APIs used are DirectX 11 for graphics, FMOD for sound and ODE for collision detection and rigid body physics.[12][13]

The game was designed to support extensive modification and creation of additional cars and tracks by users themselves. A special WYSIWYG editor, bundled with the game, enables importing of 3D models (in FBX file format) and allows artists to assign properties and material shaders to objects, with an emphasis on ease of use. The editor exports a single game model file and does not allow opening of, or addition of objects to, an already exported file. The game also supports addition of third party widgets and plugins written in Python, C++ and C#, for uses such as telemetry or interface enhancements.

On 10 April 2015 Kunos Simulazioni announced a partnership with RSeat Ltd. and France Simulateur SARL and the release of an Assetto Corsa-branded full simulation rig named RSeat RS1 Assetto Corsa Special Edition, supporting a wide range of peripherals and capable of being upgraded with full motion systems. The Steam version of Assetto Corsa is included in this package.[43][44][45]

Assetto Corsa (PC) received mostly positive reviews. It received "generally positive" reviews from critics. The PC version received an aggregated score of 85/100 rating on Metacritic, with the PS4 version receiving 73/100.[60]

Eurogamer.net, in its January 2015 PC review, writes that "Kunos' solution is simple, elegant and—if there's any common sense knocking around other developers—surely a standard for all driving games that follow in its wake" and concludes that "Assetto Corsa's laser focus on the driving experience works wonders—and when it comes to replicating that simple, brilliant pleasure, there's no other game right now that does it better"; it awarded the game a score of 9/10 and a silver 'Recommended' label.[53] Eurogamer.net's Italian sister-website Eurogamer.it reviewed the game earlier on 16 October 2014 and awarded it the same score of 9/10.[54]

Motorsport.com's Justin Sutton writes that "Assetto Corsa is a beautiful game, the result of laser-scanning accuracy and precision, with good sound, AI that needs improving, and a multiplayer community that could really benefit from more clean racers. The mods available for the sim, however, take it to the next level", concluding: "If you're looking for a good sim to enter the sim-racing community with, Assetto Corsa is a fantastic choice that will provide an incredible number of cars and tracks for a one-time payment."[61]

On 15 May 2015 Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Tim Stone put Assetto Corsa on place five of its "The 25 Best Simulation Games Ever Made" list.[62] The game has been regularly featured in the website's simulation and wargame-focused The Flare Path section.[63]

In its 2015 review of the PC version, British automobile magazine Evo highlights Assetto Corsa's physics, writing that "some aspects that other games barely touch on, such as tyre deformation and accurate friction models, are impressively accurate", and concludes: "What Assetto Corsa neatly demonstrates is the variety available in the racing simulation game market, and also developers’ different interpretations of the term ‘simulation’. [...] While lacking in vehicle and circuits right now, Assetto Corsa is one of the best simulations we’ve tried".[64] However, in September 2016, The PlayStation Official Magazine said "as an actual racing game, it's rather sedate, feature-light and often unfairly difficult."[58]

Declaring 2015 as "Year of the racing game", British automobile magazine TopGear's Mike Channell writes: "Released at the tail end of 2014, Assetto Corsa is a spectacularly tactile PC sim that offers up a garage full of cars that will tug at your very loins".[65] In a preview of the upcoming console version in January 2016, TopGear writes that "Assetto Corsa might not have the same storied history as Forza or Gran Turismo, but it's established its brilliance on PC already and as with just about everything built by Italians it's forged with all-consuming passion."[66]

Previewing the game for the upcoming console release RedBull.com's, Curtis Moldrich states that "although we didn't get a chance to play the game with a controller, with a steering wheel at least, Assetto Corsa is a revolution. By embracing reality and modelling it perfectly, Assetto Corsa actually makes for a more entertaining game. Throw in super-realistic sound, solid AI and smooth graphics, and Assetto Corsa could well be the benchmark that Gran Turismo Sport, Project CARS 2 and Forza 7 will have to beat."[15] In contrast, GamesMaster said that it is "lacking in most areas compared to its rivals."[55]

As of May 2016 the game is ranked among the most played racing sims on the Steam platform.[67][68] There are more than 900 active multiplayer servers for Assetto Corsa and the game is used by several leagues around the world.[69][70] On racedepartment.com, more than 9000 modifications have been published for the title until October 2018.[71]

Kunos Simulazioni has stated since game release that, due to engine limitations and due to the small size of the software developer, the game would not support features such as wet weather conditions, rain, night racing, or multi-class racing compatible AI.[72][73][74] According to simulation engineer James Dover, the game does deliver in terms of graphics, but he reckons its physics engine "lacks seriousness".[75] As of May 2016, various updates to the game solved or improve upon many of the listed issues like AI, netcode, physics and single player AI pitstops, and the game continues being updated in all areas with regular cadence.[76]

The game reached number 8 in the UK sales chart.[77] It got to number 3 in Australia and number 5 in New Zealand.[78] The game has sold a total of 1.4 million copies.[79]

• Official website
• Assetto Corsa Mods