Assetto Corsa Rally’s first big update adds in snow, an ice circuit and a majestic 70s stage smasher
Having launched with plenty of tarmac and dirt spaghetti for your car to be violently spit from into a tree or hedge, Assetto Corsa Rally now features the usual third type of surface that’s rallied along. Supernova Games Studios have let snow and ice encrust their sim in its biggest update since it took off from the early access start line.
“The Assetto Corsa Rally physics engine continues its evolution with the introduction of all-new Snow Physics and support for studded tyres,” Supernova wrote in their announcement of update 2.0. “Rally drivers must now adapt to a dedicated layer of technical challenge, where control and precision are pushed to their absolute limits under low-grip conditions.”
Despite that snow chat, there aren’t any full snow stages in the game just yet, with this update instead bringing the Ghiacciodromo Livigno Circuit – an ice and snow track you can use to get some practice in via AC Rally’s time attack and free practice modes. The other addition’s a fresh car, the iconic Alpine A110 group 4 coupe, which won the Monte Carlo rally in 1973. It’s an utterly beautiful blue machine, and I can’t think of many better cars Supernova could have picked to look good as they slide past the snowbanks.
Anyway, my petrolheading aside, this update also brings a number of handy tweaks. “Based on new field research and validation from professional rally drivers, the gravel and tarmac physics and tyre models have been improved across the board,” Supernova wrote. “The force feedback system also sees several fixes and refinements, including better consistency and improved behaviour under braking.” The likes of general wheel support and car sound mixing have also gotten attention. Finally, there are 25 new events to give a go.
I’ll definitely be making time to give AC Rally another extended go over Christmas, having not currently been back to see how I find it now Supernova have deployed a fix for the Logitech G29 wheel-specific issues that marred my pre-release rallying.