Since it came on the scene about a decade ago, Assetto Corsa’s been firmly near or at the front of the pack when it comes to racing sims.
In a genre that’s grown to arguably outshine all but the biggest blockbusters in the arcade scene that long dominated the corner of our hobby filled with games that let you pretend you’re Lewis Hamilton — or at the very least someone who can afford to be a bit more liberal with the gas pedal than you are on your daily shopping runs — it was a winning formula, especially on PC. Why? Well, I’d argue one of the biggest keys — especially when it comes to AC’s longevity — is versatility.
As Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport have long striven to do, it was here to let you walk into the showroom, pick a car, pick a track, and boom. Go. However, on PC, AC had the ace of modding up its sleeve. Built to allow people to add as many extra cars and tracks as they wanted, as well as tweak a litany of other stuff, it became a thing pretty much all petrol heads had long dreamed a racing game could be – ultimate freedom.
If you want to drive any car in the world on any track in the world, the odds are pretty good you can do it via Assetto Corsa, right now.
Everything from modern racing and road cars anywhere in the world, to the kinds of uber-accurate, time machine-esque recreations of retro racing enthusiasts have put together. It’s all there, just waiting to be fired up.
No pressure then, Assetto Corsa EVO, the long-awaited successor to this killer robot that fans have since added about 15 thousand different weapons to, as well as polishing its paintwork while they’re at it. AC Evo came out in early access last week, and after a weekend of playing it so far, it’s clear that it’s got a long way to go as part of the roadmap Kunos Simulazioni has planned to lead up to a full release in fall this year.
At this point, what you’re getting if you buy EVO is essentially an offline hot lap and single-make racer. There aren’t any online elements on the go yet — though the game does bizarrely try to connect like an always-online thing whenever you boot it up — all you’ve got are solo practice sessions and standalone races (no qualifying, full race weekends are still a work-in-progress).
There’s a decent starting roster of cars to choose from, across a variety of brands. Those looking to hop straight in something a bit out there like a Le Mans prototype or anything built prior to the 90s are gonna be left wanting, but that’s to be expected. What you’ve mainly got are a selection of hot hatches, sports and muscle cars, supercars, and a few single-make championship style racers that’re reaching towards the GT3-spec machines AC’s spin-off sibling Assetto Corsa Competizione has as its specialised bread and butter.
There’s just enough choice that you’ll not feel too pigeon-holed, and plenty of these are fun to drive. The track roster’s about the same, with both variations of Brands Hatch, Imola, Laguna Seca, and three variations of Japan’s iconic Suzuka all being the kinds of tracks that are exactly the sort of early staples you’d expect. The legendary Bathurst/Mount Panorama track that’s no doubt been brought across from Competizione is the only one I’d argue’s a bit less common, and the Aussie rollercoaster ride’s a welcome addition.
So, on to the big thing. How’s the driving? Good, in a word. On a wheel — which is definitely the way you should play this — each car feels weighty, but not more cumbersome than it should be. You can get a nice feel for the tyres gripping the road if you’re not being a hooligan, and feel things biting as you slide if you’re not, which is as real a risk as it should be if you do what I did and what the stability aids down to nothing. The grunt under your right foot is something you’ve got to wield carefully, especially if you’re wrestling with a fire-spitting Camaro or a 911 cup car with flat six screaming away in the rear. Speaking of, the car visuals and soundscapes are pretty great, with each ride having its own trademark engine roar.
There’s a good challenge there for those who want it, plenty of aids for those who’re after a gentler cruise, and plenty of stuff to fiddle with if you want to up the realism and bind everything down to switches that change brake bias by one tiny notch and flick your rain light on manually. You’ve got enough different stuff to try and master too, with Bathurst especially being even more different in what it demands than the minor differences between the other more traditionally open circuits.
If you want to spice things up even more, you’ve got the option of changing the time of day slider so you’re running at night, or dialling in some light to heavy rain to make the road that much less forgiving and force yourself to deal with spray if you’ve got competition. If you do make a mistake though, you’ll lose time, but not much more. Aside from punctures, the game’s car damage model did feel to me like it’ll need turning up a bit – assuming we’re not going for a retro Gran Turismo-style ‘every car is made of stone cos the manufacturers don’t really like seeing their babies get trashed’ thing. For instance, hitting big sausage kerbs isn’t quite as punishing as I reckon it should be.
I did also run into more teething issues when I took on some races against the AI. First of all, I’ve got a pretty beefy PC and while AC games have generally been quite hardware-intensive if you’re not prepared to dial stuff down to guarantee the great frame rates you need for racing, any time I’m racing against more than about 10 AI opponents, I got a bit of slowdown. It was especially bad on starts, and adding rain made things worse with it. So, maybe a bit more optimisation needed, if possible.
The AI driving itself is also a bit suspect at times. The default line for like a third of the field at Suzuka seems to involve dramatically cutting the first corner across the grass, then rejoining mid-corner. They might be scared I’ll Ayton Senna 1990 them, but that’s no excuse. Besides, they give as good as they get. It might be because I’m not as attentive mirror-wise as I could be, but there’s no lifting if someone’s nose gets close to your rear. I got spun a few times, which was probably my fault for not learning my lesson, but I also got a fair few direct mid-corner bumps squarely to the bumper, which unsettled me just enough to spin out on my own.
Basically, it seems like Kunos has based these non-humans on touring car drivers who know they’ve not got another race coming up soon, which’ll take a bit of getting used to if the option to tweak their aggressiveness isn’t added in future.
Overall, though, AC EVO’s a solid opening package to build on right now. It won’t blow you away in its current form, but as the interesting GT/Forza/AC hybrid Kunos seems to have sketched out in its roadmap — especially the interesting free-roamy bits — come together, and it proves as popular modding-wise as its predecessor, it’s definitely one to keep an eye on. It’s not on pole position yet, but it’s gotten round the first corner pretty rapidly, and without binning it.